It's been such a long time since I've posted anything...geez, sorry folks! We have been feverishly working on what I like to call the "adoption suite" which is our first floor level. Two bedrooms, office, library and family room to be exact. Ron designed the whole thing and it is going to be really nice - I can't wait to fill it with loud, boisterous kids!
We will be meeting our kids in September - I can' believe that it is time! There are so many unknowns, but what I do know is that I am already in love with these children who I haven't even met yet! We talk about them like they are already our children as we plan for them and finish their rooms and wonder what they'll like.....
We have been ready to be a family for a really long time, and I'm so happy that God has brought us to this and so grateful for all the people that have helped us with our adoption suite: our friends Jim, Shelly, Sarah, Mark and Lori, and our family members Jan, Moriah, Julie and my brother Kevin - who has practically been living here on the weekends helping us out! Our parents have been so supportive and wonderful - Ron's folks have been working the garden so we will have fresh veggies for the kids, and my folks have been providing us food and running to the grocery store for us...they are just as excited as we are!
We are also lucky to have wonderful friends and relatives that have been donating clothes and books and some toys and furniture, as well as helping with errands and you name it. Not to mention the many prayers that have been going up on our behalf and that of our children.
God Bless you ALL!!
Until next time - do widzenia!
Carla
Carla and Ron
Happy Together!
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Finally updating again - May 23rd
Wow - it's been a while since I've entered anything on here, and a lot has happened since the last entry. First and foremost Ron and I have accepted a referral of three siblings, and will be welcoming Sylwia (age 10), Michal (age 9) and Aleksandra (age 7) into our family sometime in the next few months. We are so happy and excited to bring them home. In order to prepare for their arrival - we have been working like crazy on their bedrooms and re-modeling our basement as that is where their bedrooms and our family are located.
This means I have learned many new skills including how to place studs in walls and how to measure, cut, glue and screw in drywall with an impact driver - which is kind of fun!
We have had wonderful friends and family helping us to try and complete this task, and we continue to be grateful for all the support and prayers! We couldn't do this without them.
We don't know when we have to leave, but we know that we have to go to Poland to meet and bond with our kids, as well as officially adopt them over their. Then we come here and finish the process over here. We wish we could go now, but that is not possible, so - we wait.
In the mean time we are keeping ourselves very busy by trying to finish everything, and saving some money in the mean time...hahaha! We found out that when we are in Poland, we are not allowed to blog about our trip and our adventures, so that is too bad. So - I'll try to keep everyone posted until we go!
Until later!
Carla
This means I have learned many new skills including how to place studs in walls and how to measure, cut, glue and screw in drywall with an impact driver - which is kind of fun!
We have had wonderful friends and family helping us to try and complete this task, and we continue to be grateful for all the support and prayers! We couldn't do this without them.
We don't know when we have to leave, but we know that we have to go to Poland to meet and bond with our kids, as well as officially adopt them over their. Then we come here and finish the process over here. We wish we could go now, but that is not possible, so - we wait.
In the mean time we are keeping ourselves very busy by trying to finish everything, and saving some money in the mean time...hahaha! We found out that when we are in Poland, we are not allowed to blog about our trip and our adventures, so that is too bad. So - I'll try to keep everyone posted until we go!
Until later!
Carla
Monday, March 7, 2011
Frustration Ensues...March 7, 2010
I just had a nice conversation with my sister in law Beth who has been an awesome source of information and an awesome sounding board since her and my brother Jeff have been through international adoption. They are the proud parents of my awesome godchild Hannah who is a joy to our family!
She let me sound off on how frustrating it is when people don't do their jobs the right way! Ugh! Notaries not using the correct procedure - shouldn't they know this stuff? Agencies not doing what they are supposed to do....and yet everyone still wants their payment while slowing down our progression in this process. Grrr....
No one can every truly understand what it's like to go through this process unless you have done it, or are close to someone who is doing it. I would like to thank our families and our friends for all the love, support and prayers. Keep them coming - please! We are hoping that everything times out the right way for our new family. We are trusting in God and hoping for the best.
Until next time - do widzenia!
Carla
She let me sound off on how frustrating it is when people don't do their jobs the right way! Ugh! Notaries not using the correct procedure - shouldn't they know this stuff? Agencies not doing what they are supposed to do....and yet everyone still wants their payment while slowing down our progression in this process. Grrr....
No one can every truly understand what it's like to go through this process unless you have done it, or are close to someone who is doing it. I would like to thank our families and our friends for all the love, support and prayers. Keep them coming - please! We are hoping that everything times out the right way for our new family. We are trusting in God and hoping for the best.
Until next time - do widzenia!
Carla
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Crawling along...Feb. 23
Finally - the first part of our dossier will be out in the mail tomorrow. So, so much work and so, so many hurdles to jump. Thank God that there is going to be some great joy at the end of this very long tunnel, especially now when things are really weird and rather uncertain in the state of WI....Ron and I are both still determined and it will be as God wills. It might be a bit more challenging, but that's okay, because we have great family and friends to help us along the way!
Do widzenia!
Carla
Do widzenia!
Carla
Friday, February 11, 2011
Frustration Feb. 11, 2011
When it rains it pours....don't you notice that is always the case? There is so much going on in life right now that the piles are just accumulating, and that also includes the laundry piles! We just sent back our revisions to our home study, so we got to participate in it's construction in the writing process, but that was kind of tough. How do you know what to write, and how to say it? We are fortunate to be working with some wonderful ladies who won't let this document go for approval with the wrong information thank goodness. Once we finally have the finished document, then we can continue. Here's hoping that comes sooner than later!
To add to our stress, my dad isn't feeling well - so please add prayers for him to your prayer list friends! We really want him to be around to be grandpa to our kids when they get here!
Until next time!
To add to our stress, my dad isn't feeling well - so please add prayers for him to your prayer list friends! We really want him to be around to be grandpa to our kids when they get here!
Until next time!
Sunday, January 23, 2011
It's so humbling.....Jan. 23
Thank you to all our wonderful friends for your support of our little "project" - your enthusiasm for what we are trying to do is really appreciated more than we can say! Please continue to check our blog - especially once we start traveling, as this will be the best way to find out how things are going! We will post updates as things are happening.
The next step for us is getting approved by USCIS and sending our dossier to Poland to get translated...and did I mention that Ron and I are learning to speak Polish??? Ron is doing much better than me - but he did study in a language immersion program in Poland in college, so he does have a bit of an advantage! It's one of the toughest things I have ever tried to do - but we are going to try to be a bi-lingual household for the sake of the children, and it will be good for us too! But, it will be very helpful for their transition into life in America as well as helping them in school, and there is nothing we want more for our children than for them to be successful in all areas of their lives, and if we can help them avoid excessive frustration in their transition once they live here - well, that would be ideal.
Until later - do widzenia!
Carla & Ron
The next step for us is getting approved by USCIS and sending our dossier to Poland to get translated...and did I mention that Ron and I are learning to speak Polish??? Ron is doing much better than me - but he did study in a language immersion program in Poland in college, so he does have a bit of an advantage! It's one of the toughest things I have ever tried to do - but we are going to try to be a bi-lingual household for the sake of the children, and it will be good for us too! But, it will be very helpful for their transition into life in America as well as helping them in school, and there is nothing we want more for our children than for them to be successful in all areas of their lives, and if we can help them avoid excessive frustration in their transition once they live here - well, that would be ideal.
Until later - do widzenia!
Carla & Ron
Saturday, January 22, 2011
The Journey Begins, as does the blogging! Jan 22, 2011
I'm sure that everyone is curious as to how things are going to be happening with the process of our adoption, and it seems to me that the easiest way to get the word to anyone who happens to be interested is to try this blog thing, so here I go!
Ron and I have always talked about adoption and what a wonderful thing it is - the chance to give some children opportunities and a family that they might not otherwise have. After years of trying to have children of our own and being very unsuccessful, even with the help of fertility specialists, we decided - to make a very long story short - that it is time to take that next step.....we are going to adopt (insert cheering here)!
But how to begin this process? I spent many, many hours pouring over the internet - looking at different web sites and at different pictures of children available NOW - that is very misleading by the way.....no child is available now.....and trying to figure out how to start. One thing we knew - we were very interested in adopting children from Poland. It seems like such an obvious fit for us, and Ron is so in love with the country and it's people that I also thought, "sure, sounds great!" But then what....?
First I made some email inquiries....no responses (how rude!). Then, we made an appointment about three years ago with a local agency and after we walked out of that office, both Ron and I thought that there is no way we can do this. These people made it sound like we were on our own, and that their assistance would be minimal....this seemed so impossible to me....how in the world could we do this and not have tons of help? I closed my heart to it and thought that I guess this is just not going to happen.
But then after three years had passed and we arrived at July 2010, Ron came home to find me on the computer looking at pictures of orphans on a site called Rainbowkids.com. He said, "okay - call Lutheran Social Services, we need to try this again." So we met with a wonderful woman named Beth and knew that this time it was the right place at the right time.
We began our paperwork in August of 2010 and are awaiting our finalized home study....talk about hauling on that paperwork! There is so much to do it's unreal. We are grateful for the unfailing support of our families and our close friends. It's an ivestment of not only time and money, but of heart as well and I can't believe that someday - perhaps soon - we will be more than just Ron and Carla, we will be the Dul Family!
More to come later! Thanks for reading!
Ron and I have always talked about adoption and what a wonderful thing it is - the chance to give some children opportunities and a family that they might not otherwise have. After years of trying to have children of our own and being very unsuccessful, even with the help of fertility specialists, we decided - to make a very long story short - that it is time to take that next step.....we are going to adopt (insert cheering here)!
But how to begin this process? I spent many, many hours pouring over the internet - looking at different web sites and at different pictures of children available NOW - that is very misleading by the way.....no child is available now.....and trying to figure out how to start. One thing we knew - we were very interested in adopting children from Poland. It seems like such an obvious fit for us, and Ron is so in love with the country and it's people that I also thought, "sure, sounds great!" But then what....?
First I made some email inquiries....no responses (how rude!). Then, we made an appointment about three years ago with a local agency and after we walked out of that office, both Ron and I thought that there is no way we can do this. These people made it sound like we were on our own, and that their assistance would be minimal....this seemed so impossible to me....how in the world could we do this and not have tons of help? I closed my heart to it and thought that I guess this is just not going to happen.
But then after three years had passed and we arrived at July 2010, Ron came home to find me on the computer looking at pictures of orphans on a site called Rainbowkids.com. He said, "okay - call Lutheran Social Services, we need to try this again." So we met with a wonderful woman named Beth and knew that this time it was the right place at the right time.
We began our paperwork in August of 2010 and are awaiting our finalized home study....talk about hauling on that paperwork! There is so much to do it's unreal. We are grateful for the unfailing support of our families and our close friends. It's an ivestment of not only time and money, but of heart as well and I can't believe that someday - perhaps soon - we will be more than just Ron and Carla, we will be the Dul Family!
More to come later! Thanks for reading!
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