Our Adoption Journey To Poland

Last But Not Least!

2010-03-08T22:48:00.006-06:00

This marks our half year mark since we've been a family of 3! I can hardly believe it! This will also be our final post on our adoption blog! What a journey it's been! However, we are loving and cherishing this side of the process more than we ever thought possible! Thank you to all of you who have followed our journey and given us encouraging words and prayers along the way. You have been/are such a blessing. I still find it amazing how this "blog" opened up such great opportunities to meet so many families experiencing the same miracles! I feel so priviledged to have "met" you! I feel like I've known you for years even though we truly haven't met! We would love for you to follow along with our family journey at our new site Meet The Kochersperger's (James came up with this title! I thought it was kind of cute so we're going with it!)

As a fun way to end this journey, we thought we would share with you our adoption video. We made this to use in our adoption presentation I gave at our local Right To Life prayer service. If I can brag just a little, I think it turned out really neat! Many, many thank you's to my dad who helped me with it and spent many hours on it! Thank you Dad! I hope you all enjoy it (it took 3 hours to download, BIG file)!

If you are finding our blog for the first time, please feel free to look back in the archives. We started our process in January 2008. Our trip to pick up our son occured in the months of July-September of 2009. Blogs are a great resource and we hope ours will help you on your journey!

God Bless!

From Baby To Big Boy!

2010-03-02T22:17:00.008-06:00

BJ had his two year old portraits taken! This was one of our favorites!

BJ's Dedication at our church with Pastor Ron

Our little Pastor BJ (Doesn't he look so deep in thought?)

That's right buddy, you "hide His words in your heart!"

Our sweet boy on Dedication Day Jan. 17

It has been awhile since I last posted and so much has happened! BJ was dedicated at our church in late January. Most of all the family came from far and near (pictures above) and mommy (Melanie of course) even sang a song to him entitled "Jesus Here's Another Child to Hold." The dedication was beautiful! He is growing (well maturing, hasn't really grown at all height or weight!) by leaps and bounds! His skills are up to par with his age and his language understanding is phenomenal! It's hard to believe that he's only been in the U.S. for 5 months and he's already picked up on so much! We are so proud of him! We do have some speech concerns, although this is fairly normal for a "second language learner" like himself. He tries to repeat everything, but really struggles with getting it out. We are in the process of getting him evaluated to see if there are any issues we should be concerned with. In all, we are overly pleased with his progress and we thought it would be fun to make a top 10 list of his milestones! Yes, I know I'm bragging, but I'm just so proud of him!

10. Can walk, jump, run (hysterical to watch!), climb and dance! (Which is all amazing since he just learned to "crawl" last June!)

9. Feeds himself with a spoon without spilling anything!

8. Can undress himself and tries hard to "dress himself" (also very funny to watch!)

7. Can stack blocks higher than himself without knocking them over!

6. Loves simple puzzles!

5. LOVES CARS! Can make any car and train sound and knows how to push them all over everything and ALL OVER THE HOUSE! (Funny tidbit of info: BJ will not watch much T.V., but will sit and watch Nascar for a 1/2 hour. What's wrong with my child! LOL!)

4. LOVES TO SWIM! He can put his face in and blows great big BUBBLES!

3. LOVES BOOKS! BJ will grab a book and climb onto my lap to be read too! He sits patientely until I'm done reading the page and then turns it! He is such a teacher's child!

2. Has finally taken to a soft blanket! For so long, he wanted nothing to do with anything soft, just hard plastic toys. Now, he falls to sleep clutching his bear blanket or rubbing mommies hair! So Cute!

BEST ONE BY FAR!

1. LOVES TO GIVE KISSES and CUDDLE! BJ is such a loving little boy and has for many months been blowing or giving light little pecks. However, just recently, he's been grabbing our faces, turning them, and planting big, juicy ones right on the cheeks. Then he turns our heads and gives the cutest little peck on the lips! It completely melts my heart and I can hardly get enough!

With this being said, adjusting to being a "working mom" has not been without it's challenges! I struggle with being away from him on a daily basis. I feel like I miss so much and wonder how I'm supposed to do all my motherly duties when I only see him for 3 hours before I have to put him to bed! I must say, I felt prepared for almost everything, except for this. I feel like I'm being selfish and I do have it the best I could (since grandma and grandpa get to watch him), but "I" want to be the one with him all day! Let's just say, it's been a lot tougher than I thought it would be!

Finally, this will be the last update on this blog. We are leaving it "as is" to be used as a resource for our family and other perspective adoptive families. Our next post will be a link to our new family blog, which is still a work in progress. I will also have a video posted that we made (for a presentation I did on our adoption) displaying our journey with BJ from start to present! It is called "Bringing BJ Home!" and is simply adorable! BJ especially loves to watch it and that in itself makes me cry! We hope to post again very soon!

Love you All!

A Very Busy Month!

2010-01-16T00:03:00.004-06:00

Merry Christmas and Happy Birthday, what a month for BJ! December has come and gone and left us with a 2 year old boy with lots of toys! LOL! BJ had a great Christmas and was able to enjoy the experience 3 times. For Christmas day we visited daddy's family in Jeffersonville, IN. He was able to meet Uncle Brandon, Aunt Theresa, Uncle Steve, Alex, Dakota, Luke and Laura. He was overwhelmed at first, but quickly warmed up to everyone. Christmas day brought some fun times as he loved opening up the gifts. BJ's only problem was that he wanted to play with everything he opened. He even become captivated by the pictures on some DVD's he unwrapped! I love it! I just hope he always stays so sweet as to where he appreciates everything he gets.

Then on December 26, BJ celebrated his 2nd Birthday! Grandma and Grandpa Kochersperger threw and fun party for BJ! He looked so surprised when we sang happy birthday to him. He sat perfectly still and silent and just starred at everyone. After the song BJ attempted to blow out his candle! He really did great! His favorite part of his birthday was definitely his big blue frosted cupcake! Has you can see from his pictures below, the frosting was everywhere and he enjoyed every little bit!

When we got home from Indiana, daddy, mommy, and BJ opened gifts at the house. BJ was a pro by then and ripped through his presents. He did of course have to play with each gift so once again it took us as while to get through all of them. How do you take away something you just gave him so that you can move on to another?

We then had another birthday party for BJ at Papa Joe and Grandma's house. We invited BJ's friends and had a lot of fun! Finally, on New Year's Day, we celebrated Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa Oliver. More presents! Let's just say, BJ is well loved!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

It's Christmas Time!

2009-12-22T14:25:00.005-06:00

Wow! What a year! I can't believe Christmas is here already! We've been waiting to celebrate this beautiful Holy day with a child for about 5 years and it is finally here! I've added some pictures that we put on our Christmas card that I thought were pretty cute (of BJ at least)!

BJ is completely loving the lights, glitter, and excitement of the season! In fact, I have to say that it hasn't necessarily brought out the "best" in him. I suppose the time was coming, "the "fun" two's!" He is growing every which way by leaps and bounds and we are relieved to see that yes, he is a typical two year old toddler! His birthday is the day after Christmas! (fun party being planned) He literally grew an inch in 1 1/2 months and is back to sleeping 12 hour nights and 3 hour naps. My little boy might out grow me by 5 years old! LOL! He is picking up skills lightening fast like putting on his shoes, taking off his shirts, walking backwards, running (very cute to watch, he stays motionless for awhile almost like he's thinking about his getaway plan, then he picks up his legs like in slow motion and eventually begins to "run" giggling the whole way! It's hysterical!), climbing (on everything if can do it without mom and dad watching), and pushing toy cars all over the house! It's been amazing watching a baby turn into toddler in 3 months. Oh yes, did I mention he's getting into EVERYTHING! There is nothing that compares to being parents to a toddler! I love it and we are really excited about Christmas day and his birthday. He already had some early Christmas presents and let me just say, it didn't take him long to learn how to open those presents! Of course the wrapping paper and boxes were more exciting then the present inside!

With all this excitement, I have to admit that Christmas so far, hasn't been as beautiful and sacred as I was planning on it to be. As most of you know, Christmas has become somewhat of a "rat race" in our country. It disheartens me as I know this is what God never intended for it to be like. In fact, this is the complete opposite of what should be going on right now. There's nothing like the stress of life to remove the pure and miraculous joy of this season. This year I have noticed it more than ever before because things don't get done as timely and in an orderly fashion like they used to. Yes I know, welcome to motherhood, right?! But it isn't so much that as it is all the "hustle and bustle" that seems to be grabbing our attention and stealing our joy. All I really want grabbing my attention is our precious miracle child. Just by looking at him, he reminds me everyday of our blessed Heavenly Father. So this Christmas Season, we have decided to relax, not worry about gifts, "to do" list, bills, etc. (why worry about them, it's not like they're going anywhere right?) and just immerse ourselves in the amazement of life and be grateful for our health, family, and everything we do have. After all " From the fullness of His grace we have all received one blessing after another. For the law was given to Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ!" John 1:16-17 Who am I to argue with this?! From our family to yours, may you all have a blessed and RELAXED Christmas season as we truly reflect on the real meaning of the Holiday. God Bless You and Merry Christmas! Love You All! James, Melanie, and BJ

Praise The Lord! Another answered prayer!

2009-12-07T23:12:00.003-06:00

"Give thanks to Him and praise His name! For the Lord is good and His loves endures forever, His faithfulness continues through all generations." Psalm 100:4-5

We feel completely blessed in that today we received GREAT results back for two of BJ's major tests. The first was for the possible "premature" fusion of his skull. Although the records from Poland stated that everything came back negative our pediatrician wanted to make sure. She felt that his head was shaped odd enough, to warrant some concern to have it checked out. So we made an appointment with a cranialogist, had a CAT scan done and today found out that there is NOTHING wrong. In fact, the doctor said that his head shape was fairly normal and that it would eventually round out as BJ grew! He even said his bossing (protruding forehead) would even itself out over time. This is GREAT news!

Another test he had done was for his cardiologists (remember, the one who speaks Polish! :). In BJ's Polish records it read that he had some slight atrial flutters. So BJ had to wear a "halter" for 24 hours. I was rather upset about this because supposedly there is no such thing as a "child's halter." So BJ had cables 2 feet long waded up under his sleeper with a pack the size of a large cell phone attached to a belt around his waist. I felt so bad for the poor little guy, but he was a trooper. You would've never known he was all wired up. He never tried to pick at it and did not cry or fuss a bit. I was so proud of him! Anyway, his cardiologists called us today and said everything came back completely NORMAL! This is also great news because it means his heart is perfectly healthy. Is our GOD great or what?!

This is all such a relief! The Polish reports were 100% accurate! So why did we have to go through all this to figure that out? Oh well! At least we have peace of mind! Blessings to you all and enjoy this Christmas season! I know we will and BJ is just loving all the lights and will experience his first snow fall tomorrow. I'll post pictures soon!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-26T00:33:00.004-06:00

Wow! Is it really that time of year already! I must say that this has been the fastest year ever! It seems like just yesterday that we received the call about a sweet little 16 month old! Now he is in our arms and is making huge strides! He no longer reminds me of a baby, but rather a very active toddler! We love it! He keeps us busy, but gives us so much joy! He is eating everything now and no longer wants us to feed him. He eats with utensils and can actually get more in his mouth then what lands on the floor or tray! He does somersaults (what a hoot!), walks backwards (or scoots), can throw a ball well (James thinks he found the next left handed pitcher for the Mets), climbs and slides down a slide, does sign language for please and more (thanks Caroline!), and can a hold a crayon to make a few scribbles. We are still working on his speech, but do notice some improvement in that as well. He can say momma as clear as day, Dada, hi, mine, and is trying to say a whole bunch of other words. We can tell he gets frustrated at times when he is trying to get us to understand what he wants!

In other news, my class is still going well, but I miss my little man like crazy! I'm not quite in tears, but I latch on to him about as much as he latches onto me when I get home. He seems to be bonding quite nicely with both James and I. He loves playing with his daddy about as well as he likes cuddling with me! He still loves people, but in the end will always want to come back to mommy and daddy. This of course makes my heart sing!

Well, tomorrow is his first official family holiday so I am interested in how he will respond. I'm sure he'll do great because he loves all that attention. He will probably also think he's in paradise with all that food! I'm sure I'll get some great pictures! In the mean time, please enjoy these! I'm sorry it has taken me so long to post, but time is just available anymore! Before I know it, it will be Christmas! I can hardly wait! We have already taken BJ to the Festival of Trees and he was simply awestruck! I'll put those pictures in my next post! Enjoy your turkey day!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

B.J.'s Certificate of Citizenship!

2009-10-31T23:13:00.002-05:00

Today BJ received his Certificate of Citizenship! We are so relieved as we started to think it would never show up! This certificate will be the proof we need to apply for different things such as passport, readoption in the U.S., etc. We already have his social security number so that is one less step we need to take. Although he was a citizen upon entry into the U.S., the only proof he had of his citizenship was his Polish passport with the U.S. visa stamp. Now he has documentation. It is so exciting to see these loose ends being taken care of.

On another note, poor B.J. has been sick for over a week with a runny nose that doesn't quite and a whole lot of congestion. On Thursday, he came down with a 103.5 fever. It terrified me as I have had several students out with "Influenza a" and fevers of 106! Yikes! We called the doctor right away, but there wasn't much she could do. She checked his ears and throat and they did a strep test, but it all came back negative. She said to keep the fever down and if he still has it in a few days we need to take him in to get some blood drawn. Poor little guy, he is working on his fourth day with a fever, but at least we have been able to keep it down. Hopefully he'll wake up and it will be gone! No trick-or-treating for him this year, although we did have a darling costume for him that he absolutely hated wearing. I suppose it all worked out fine for him. He isn't old enough to realize that he missed something and he didn't have to wear that "dreaded costume!" Although, mommy has to get pictures so you can bet that costume will show up again sometime soon!

On another note, James is recovering nicely from his surgery. He says his heart feels smoother than it has in years. That is a "very" good thing! Thank you for your prayers and concern! We know they were working!

The Article Was In!

2009-10-27T20:39:00.007-05:00

BJ's article was in the paper this past Sunday! You can view it at the Register Mail. The whole top portion of the page was a big picture of BJ peering into the plastic lid of one of his toys. It was so cute! The above is a picture from the online article! The article, I feel, was well written, but there were several discrepancies. The time frame was a little off and with some other minor things. However, I was disappointed as the paper left out everything we said about our faith and the importance of our church family. I'm not sure why, as the views in the article were strictly ours and obviously not those of the paper! So why would they leave it out when we mentioned several times that God was the most important aspect of our adoption? I have to admit that this was/is very frustrating!

On another note, we have had a very busy week. BJ has (undoubtedly) come down with his first cold of the season. We had to take him to the doctor Friday because the poor little guy could hardly breathe he was so congested. She put him on an antibiotic because he had the beginnings of an ear infection and because she wanted to be safe and make sure his cold didn't turn into something worse. So as of now, he is a "Vick's" baby! He's so little that they won't let him take any decongestants! So we are constantly sucking, wiping, and rubbing on Vick's baby vapor rub! Poor little guy. I have a feeling this will be a long winter for him!

Yesterday, James finally had his long awaited heart surgery. It sounds worse than it was, but it was pretty scary. James was diagnosed with atrial fibrillation with a rapid ventricular response about three years ago. He was treated with medication, but that didn't always work. He was told that the Ablation surgery would take care of it, so they finally got him on the waiting list. Monday was the big day and the doctor feels like it was a success! However, only time will tell!

BJ is doing better with the whole separation thing. But he is still very "lovey" when I get home from work. I have to admit, I love it! What can I say, he just melts my heart! We also had some announcements made that turned out absolutely adorable! A company called the First Glimpse designed them for us and I'm adding the link so that you can see it! They added the Polish flag and a really cute poem. Here is his announcement! Hopefully I don't get in trouble for putting this on the blog! Anyway, I recommend them. They are really good and very timely!

Thanks again for the support, love and prayers! We feel very loved!

Adjusting To The New Routine

2009-10-16T21:05:00.003-05:00

Well, I suppose it's safe to say that things are back to "normal" at the Kochersperger household. Mommy is back to work and BJ is on a new schedule. I do believe however that BJ is doing better than mommy is! I'm so exhausted and after being back for only 4 days, I have come down with a terrible sore throat and head cold. I have had so many students out sick with countless illnesses, that I didn't even want to try and fight it, I just got on some antibiotics right away. I feel much better, but now I am concerned about BJ. YIKES!! The poor little guy! Who knows what I'll be bringing home to him! On a good note, my kindergarten students are great! They are such a nice group of children and gave me such a warm reception. It makes coming back to work a whole lot easier!

BJ is doing well at grandma's and grandpa's house for the day! He's loving all the attention he gets and grandma and papa Joe enjoy taking him around town. They said that he doesn't go to very many people like he used to and they have noticed he's become a little more clingy. We've noticed the same thing. When I left for work the first day, he didn't seem to care much at all. I got a kiss and that was that. However, the next day or two he began to realize that I was gone all day and has become quite upset upon my leaving. Part of me is thinking "Yes! He loves me and actually cares when I go!" The other part of me thinks "I don't want to leave him! He needs me!" The emotions are crazy! BJ has also become very clingy when I arrive back home in the afternoon. He cuddles and coos, crabs my legs (and doesn't let go), and constantly wants me in sight. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE when he wants me to hold him, but I am beginning to get concerned. The intensity of his separation anxiety is building with each day that I am gone. I'm hoping the weekend will help ease his mind and confusion. Any ideas?

On another note, BJ is learning more everyday! His eating skills are so much better, not spitting out as much food as before. He still doesn't prefer milk (or Pediasure), but will down a whole container of yogurt in minutes! He is walking more and more everyday and we are waiting for the day when he starts, running around the house! He has also picked up a very impressive skill! At least I think it is! BJ does not like food stuck to his fingers. He is a very clean eater. So we have been trying to show him how to wipe his fingers on a napkin rather than getting upset and waving his hands around in the air. So last night, while he was eating, he got a clump of food on his hands. I held up a napkin and he took it. He not only cleaned off his fingers, but then wiped his face with it! We were so impressed that we clapped and cheered for him. He of course loved it and 10 napkins later he finally stopped cleaning his fingers and face! What a riot! I told James that we need to be careful because this little guy copies EVERYTHING we do!

He has also taken a huge interest in books and especially loves non-fiction with the "real" pictures in them. His favorite is "Goodnight Baby!" He giggles and points especially to the ones he thinks he knows like his friend Caroline! He is trying to talk and can put the syllables in place, but still not much that is recognizable. The teacher in me is trying not to push, but the poor little guy is having the colors and alphabet recited to him on an hourly basis! However, I suppose he doesn't mind! He just thinks I'm being goofy and laughs at me!

Well that's about it for now! We will post some more pictures soon! He is changing everyday and has finally started to gain some weight! He is at 18.6 pounds and gaining! Our goal is to graduate from size 12 months to 18 months by spring. Oh well, he sure is cute being so tiny! As long as he's healthy! Thanks for your prayers and support! BJ has come such a long way in a short time! God has truly blessed us!

Interview/1st Visit To G'ma G'pa Kochersperger/Another Miracle

2009-10-06T12:00:00.004-05:00

Time goes so fast! I can hardly believe I'm going back to work next week and I'm already missing my little boy! I can rest assured however, that he will be in good hands with his grandma and papa Joe that love him so much! I am amazed by how much he is learning and by what he accomplishes daily! He is now choosing to walk, rather than crawl everywhere! He is doing great, but is still a bit "off balance." His falls are always controlled and he can easily stand up again without holding onto anything! Yeah BJ! Keep up the good work! He is also very independent when it comes to feeding time. He will insist on a fork or a spoon and uses them with ease! The spoon is a little trickier as sometimes the food just slides off before he gets it too his mouth. His expressions are priceless! He is talking more, but usually just babbles. He imitates us quite a bit, especially when it comes to voice inflections and tones. He recently started counting 1,2,3 with daddy as he would get ready to throw him in the air. You can almost here the word "one" but the rest are just tones. It is very adorable and I'm still trying to capture it on video!

The interview with the paper went very well! The photographer took some excellent pictures of BJ and I was really wanting to ask him for some copies. BJ played well and was consistently trying to get the reporter to hold him! He finally got a hug at the end! She asked us some basic questions primarily about the process, being in the country, and the costs. I was able to tell her about our agencies and the organizations that helped us out with some grants. I was a little nervous as I didn't want to leave anything of importance out. There are a lot of adopting couples in our city and I wanted our story to hold the same key principles as theirs. Hopefully we did okay. They are going to run the article either at the end of October or the beginning of November. The article will include adoption statistics from around the world some other interesting adoption facts all in time for National Adoption Month! We are thrilled and honored to be featured!

This past weekend BJ visited his grandma and grandpa Kochersperger in Jeffersonville, IN (across from Louisville). He of course loved them and and all the attention they gave to him. He also enjoyed his grandma's cooking! He ate like a horse! We also visited their church (James' church before we were married) where grandma whisked him away to introduce him to everyone! He of course got showered with more attention! The church has been following our journey and were anxious to see him live and in person! I would certainly say that BJ is lucky little boy! One thing we noticed, was that when we returned home, BJ went crazy! It was almost like he new he was "home." We thought that while in Poland, he was never in the same place twice. So leaving and then coming back to the same place, might have helped him realize that his is 'home" and is were he belongs!

Finally, the MIRACLE I have been excited to tell you about! As some of you know, BJ was a sickly little boy during his first year of life. One reason we didn't get his referral until after 15 months of age was due to his recovery and treatment. However, his referral gave him a clean bill of health with only some minor things to watch. So at his first pediatrician appointment we were referred to several specialist to follow-up with all the medical findings from his Poland records which were of course written in Polish. Our pediatrician was also concerned about his head shape and recommended we see a craniologist. This made us quite scared and we were wishing even more that we could read those Polish records. BJ had contracted the CMV virus at 2 months of age. Although he was treated, there are still some things that needed to be monitored. His head shape was something the doctors in Poland looked at carefully with an Ultrasonography and a CAT scan. It all came back normal, but of course the results are written in Polish. Becasue BJ was also diagnosed with a PFO and and a slight atrial fibrillation (just like his daddy), we were also recommended to visit a pediatric cardiologist. So here is the miracle! Knowing that we needed to read these record, we were getting geared up to find a translator and pay the big bucks to get all (50-60 pages) of his medical records translated. However, Praise God, He had other plans. It turns out our Pediatric Cardiologists just moved here from Poland last July! She absolutely loved BJ and not only wanted to read his records, but wanted to translate them "all" for us! I told her that we of course didn't expect her to do that and that we would be grateful if she could just point out the reports on his CAT and ultrasonogrpahy. She said that it wouldn't be any trouble and the she would prefer to do it, because the translator might not know "medical terms." We were completely overjoyed a couldn't believe what a blessing this was. We don't believe in luck, we believe in MIRACLES from GOD! If we had any doubts about whether or not GOD was going to take care of our little boy, they are now all out the window! This is definitely a GOD THING! You guessed it. Dr. Kulikowska in Peoria is getting a great recommendation from us! As it turns out, everything so far is great and BJ is still a very healthy little boy. It seems we really do have nothing to worry about. Now we just have to get him "plumped up!

Taking Steps!

2009-09-25T23:37:00.003-05:00

Wow! What a week BJ has had! I'm so glad he is a people person because he has met a lot of people! Last Sunday BJ went to church for the first time. It was wonderful being able to introduce him to all the people who loved him before they even knew him! They were so excited to see him and he just "glowed" in all their attention! When he was taken forward to be introduced to our congregation, he started clapping for himself! Everybody laughed and so did he! We were so proud of him! I can hardly put into words what a blessing our church has been to us. It is a living, breathing example of what God intended the church to be. They have supported us from the very beginning and there is no doubt in my mind that BJ will be well loved. As I mentioned before I look at our church as family. In that case, BJ has a lot of brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, grandma's, and grandpa's! What a lucky little boy!

BJ has also being introduced to all of our friends and is still taking it all in stride! He just loves all this attention! He is making such a good impression as he is constantly blowing everybody a kiss and loves to hug and cuddle! Our friends have been very supportive as well and we feel very blessed to have all of them!

Now, why the title? Well, BJ took his first real steps Monday! He has been walking short distances and with help, but Monday he pulled himself up on our banister, let go, smiled at me and walked all the way across the hallway and into his room to me! I was so proud of him! Ever since then, he's been standing up (with no help) and takes off walking in any direction he chooses. It seems like he makes it a little further every time! He'll be walking everywhere very soon I'm sure!

We also found out some fun information this week. Our local paper (The Register Mail) called us and wants to do a story on our adoption for the "Lifestyles" section. We are so excited! We aren't sure why they are so interested in us when so many families from Galesburg have adopted internationally. We are thinking that maybe it has to do with Poland. The country is less common then others. It might also have to do with the "right place at the right time." Who knows?! They will interview us on Tuesday and are even bringing a photographer! Were praying BJ is caught up on his sleep by then!

Of course I can't write without posting pictures. Here a few from our homecoming, play dates, and just some cute pics of BJ! Please enjoy them! We sure do! Now I just have to get them all into scrapbooks!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Discovering New Territory!

2009-09-18T21:47:00.005-05:00

I can say without a doubt that BJ loves everything about his new home. Everything that is except the dog. Maui (our dog) is a lab and collie mix which makes her super playful, hyper and nippy. While BJ is off exploring the house, Maui is just a step behind him making sure he doesn't do anything without "her" permission. It's rather funny! Then when BJ is minding his own business playing with a toy, Maui will come up and shove a toy in BJ's face expecting him to grab on and play a match of "tug-of-war." Poor kid! He's learned to hold his own around Maui and won't scream, but has recently been caught giving the dog a little swat in the face. Goodness! If it's not one, it's the other! Oh the joys of dogs and children!

On another note, we all seem to be adjusting well. BJ finally got caught up on all his lost sleep after sleeping for 13 1/2 hours last night. I had to keep checking on him this morning because I thought something was very wrong. He was fine, just snoozing away. BJ especially loves having his daddy back. He just giggles and laughs whenever he sees him! It's so cute! You wonder how the two ever made it apart for that long!

I will say that BJ is not quite back to himself all though I feel it is getting close. He doesn't talk as much as he did in Poland and seems to be more withheld and clingy. In fact, he screamed whenever it was bath time for the first few nights here. I couldn't believe it! He loved bath time and would literally stop eating his night snack just to take a bath. Then "kaboom" we get here and it all changes! I had to start back at square one and introduce bath time the way I did when we first got custody of him. But, I will say it worked because finally tonight we had a breakthrough, again! He loved it and was back to his old self! I'm wondering (and hoping) everything else will come back to him once he gets settled in. It has to be so overwhelming for him. After all, this was his fourth move since he left the orphanage. That's pretty traumatic if you ask me. Plus, there are more toys here then "Toys'R Us" thanks to our friends and family (even though we are trying to keep them packed away and only bring out a few at a time). Poor BJ is on sensory overload!

We haven't done much this week, simply getting unpacked and FINALLY into a home routine. It feels so good to be able to start living as a family! We love having a son and feel that there is no way we could live without him! He is so adorable, loving, cuddly, cute, etc. the list could go on forever. His personality just cracks me up! Also, the way he stares at us with the big blue eyes and toothy grin could melt even the coldest of hearts! It's just amazing how resilient he is!

He has met a few people this week and has done well. One day I took him after school to meet some of my friends and poor BJ just wasn't feeling like being very agreeable. However, I did wake him up from his nap to go! Big Mistake! He also had his first U.S. play date with a little girl named Caroline. They are very similar in age and almost the same size. I have some cute pictures and will write more and post them on my next entry. For now, please enjoy the trip pics! We have some cute welcome home pics I'll post when I get them!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Home Sweet Home!

2009-09-14T22:25:00.006-05:00

Yea! We're home! We arrived home late Sunday afternoon to a "Welcome Home" banner hung by a really sweet neighbor, on our front porch, a "Welcome Home BJ" sign on the back door, and a Noah's Ark balloon bouquet for BJ stating "S.S. New Arrival!" It was darling! I loved it, but BJ was slightly frightened by it until daddy showed him that he could hit it back and forth. Then BJ thought it was pretty neat and copied daddy! My favorite part about being home has to be my nice, soft, big, cuddly bed and carpeting! Oh yes! I'm also glad to be home with BJ's daddy!

The flights were fairly uneventful except for the fact that we had 5 minutes to catch our connecting flight and I was food poisoned! But hey, BJ did fantastic! Praise God and thank you everyone for praying! If you didn't catch my "vibe," I was pretty nervous! However, BJ took me 100% by surprise! He did great! Our first flight, 1 1/2 hours, he just sat back in his chair and enjoyed! He played with his toys, ate Cheerios, looked out the window, ate Cheerios, sang with mommy and grandma, ate Cheerios, and just all around at a good time!

Our second flight, once we scrambled on and got settled in, went just as well! In this plane, BJ found the tray table. He thought it was the best thing ever invented. He played with it (tapping it up and down with his feet and hands, pushing it in and out, slapping it with his hands) for probably the equivalent of an hour. Oh, don't worry! My mom was sitting in the seat in front of him! LOL! She didn't mind having her chair rocked for that hour! God Bless her! The plane was very nice with touch screen TV's on every seat! I was very impressed! BJ hardly played with his toys we so meticulously picked out. There was so much to do and look at on the plane! Once again he sang, ate Cheerios, played with the tray table, ate Cheerios, watched TV, and ate Cheerios. Did I mention he liked to eat his Cheerios?! Okay, we fed him other food, but he was constantly eating his Cheerios. The WHOLE time! This was all good as it helped for take off and landing, which he loved! He simply cracked me up! The part I feared the most for him, he simply couldn't get enough of! While the plane picked up speed to take off, he just started laughing and kicking out his arms and legs. While we gained altitude and experienced the "stomach dropping" feeling, he would smile and start giggling! The same with landing! My mom says I have a "Bungee jumping, carnival ride loving" kid! I tend to agree with that! He loves being upside down and spun around in circles. I can safely say that he does not get motion sickness easily!

On the second half of the ride, he fell asleep! You might be thinking "Oh, what a blessing! She could relax and enjoy the rest of the flight." Well, that is somewhat true. The poor little guy moves around so much in his sleep that I had to watch him like a hawk! I probably scooped him up (before falling of the edge of the chair) and repositioned him about a dozen times before it was all said and done. Needless to say, he slept but not well. He would be half way in/out of consciousness and would just start sobbing. Poor little guy! He was so tired and just wanted his bed!

So, our flight landed on time at O'Hare and we were very glad to see that there was no line at customs. It went very smoothly! We then met up with James and my brother Cary. It felt so good to be back in the US. I missed English more than I realized! We drove to Cary's house and stayed there (in Chicago) for the night as we didn't want to tackle a 3 hour drive until morning. Unfortunately for me this turned out to be a nightmare of a night. I woke up at about 2:30 feeling terrible with very bad indigestion. Long story short it didn't go away and turned into severe stomach pain and you guessed it! The whole nine yards! I couldn't keep anything down for the next day! I had a fever and simply felt awful! We had to get home so I just didn't eat or drink so we could make it home without incident! Thankfully I woke up this morning feeling better and have been getting stronger throughout day! It turns out my parents were both sick as well, just not as severe! I then realized that we had both eaten the same "sausage" on the plane. I am so glad BJ didn't eat the pieces I was offering him! That would've been a disaster! God was watching over that little guy! Once again, thank goodness for those Cheerios!

BJ is adjusting as well as can be expected for being uprooted for the fourth time, sleep deprived for 24 hours and being introduced to a beast of a dog! He has handled it all well, but I feel James and I might loose our minds before it is all said a done. Maui our dog, is slightly (okay a lot!) hyper when it comes to new people. She is extremely cautious about whether or not she can trust them. With children she is more eager to play than anything. Well, BJ didn't think her sticking her big nose in his face was playing so he just started screaming. So now every time Maui comes around, BJ screams. Then on top of that, Maui gets riled by BJ's screaming and nips! YIKES! Things have settled down throughout the day, but you have to wonder if you'll still have your sanity by the time the end of the day gets here!

I can't complain though! BJ is the light of our lives and we would feel so empty without him! God moved his awesome hands and placed us together at just the right time and in just the right way! What better way to remind us of His graciousness than to look into the face of our beautiful son! We truly feel blessed!

Thank you again for following along with us on our journey! Somehow I think that the journey has really just begun! We are so grateful for all of you! I have a lot of pictures I am hoping to post from the flight and first day home, so please stay tuned!

P.S. How many times can I write Cheerios in one post? Hehe!

Looking Back and Proudly Moving Forward!

2009-09-10T17:06:00.010-05:00

This is for sure my last post from Poland! I can hardly believe I am saying that! We spent our last two days relaxing and taking some trips to Old Town and a nearby mall for some last minute souvenirs. I've been trying hard to find some appropriate pieces of Poland for BJ's room. Keeping his history/heritage alive for him as he grows is very important to us! To us, this is who he is and we want to embrace that as much as possible. I think we've done a good job and will display the items on a shelf in his room. We'll post a picture as soon as we get up!

We are (almost) packed and are praying for a smooth flight tomorrow! Thank you to all of you for the great ideas! We are using many of them! I especially love the idea of bringing ear plugs for the nearby passengers! It made me laugh! Unfortunately we don't have any, but I'm hoping we won't need them!

As I've been packing I keep thinking about how my life has changed so drastically in just a month and a half! It's all so amazing and wonderful, but at the same time scary and unpredictable! Wow! It sounds like I've just given birth! I suppose I have, but without the physical pain and hospital stay! I love the saying "You grew in my heart!" That is completely how we feel! This journey that took so long to get here is finally almost over. I am so excited to get home and get settled in with our new son! We already have some fun things planned. Because BJ is so outgoing, we feel fairly confident in introducing him to our friends, family, and church family at a quicker rate than we were originally anticipating. We are sure he can handle them just fine because he loves attention! I just don't know if I'll be able to hold it all together when he holds his hands out to all the pretty ladies that talk to him! LOL! Oh well, I just have to accept that he's a ladies man!

I've also been discussing with James how much BJ has grown! Not necessarily size (although I'm sure he's gained weight), but rather in his abilities and maturity. I thought it would be fun to list them as we are so proud of him! Please keep in mind that when we first gained custody of him, he had the skills of a child less than a year old! He couldn't feed himself (no hand to mouth coordination at all) and had not chewed much. He had also just started crawling correctly a week before we came. Yes! I cannot say enough how proud we are.

BJ's Top Ten!

He can:
1. drink from a sippy cup all by himself.
2. feed himself and can even use a spoon!
3. can bite down and pull off chunks of food!
4. can crawl at the "speed of light" and is walking around all the furniture just as fast!
5. knows how to brush his teeth and loves it! (I'm super proud of this one!)
6. can take a bath without screaming and actually loves it to the extent of never wanting to get out! Plus loves to have water poured over his head!
7. can say: Mama, Dada clearly, but only when he wants to. Can say other words, but only I can understand them. LOL! Okay so he just makes grunts and tones, but I know what it means! I'm the Mama!
8. knows how to crawl onto a bed or chair and has learned how to safely crawl off backwards. (impressed with this one too!)
9. has learned how all his toys work and is always trying to figure out new ways he can use them!
AND BEST OF ALL!
10. He loves to cuddle! When we first met him, he didn't want to be held hardly at all. Now he falls asleep laying on my chest with his little arms wrapped around my neck while I sing "Jesus Loves Me" and rub his back! What a great feeling to know he trusts me!

Thanks again for your prayers and support! Look where they have gotten us! God is sooooooooo Good!

BJ IS COMING TO AMERICA!

2009-09-09T16:12:00.006-05:00

Time to celebrate! We are all done!

BJ is coming to America!

An American citizen yes,

but always a proud Polishman!

In front of the American Embassy with

BJ's Visa package! Yea!

WE ARE FINISHED! What a great feeling! It's crazy, but the whole two year process came down to this one last task! I was very impressed as everything went so smoothly! I was in and out in about an hour (most of the time was waiting) and all I had to do was raise my right hand and say "yes" when asked if everything was accurate. We then had to go back to the embassy and pick up BJ's visa package at the little window shown in the background of the above picture. The package is to be given to the Customs and Border Patrol inspector upon entering the U.S. We also have BJ's passport with his Visa attached to one of the pages. After the U.S. stamps his passport, he will become an American citizen. I read today that BJ will have dual citizenship until he is 18. If he decides to keep it, he has to apply. How neat is that to belong to two countries at once. I think that's pretty special!

Now that we are finished, we have a chance to pack, relax and enjoy two more days of Warsaw before we take off! I am hoping for an uneventful flight home, but I need some great ideas from all of you! How do you keep a 20 month old busy and quiet on a 9 1/2 hour flight? I'm a bit nervous as the little guy can't seem to sit still for more than 2 minutes! Please help if you can!

Thank you and God bless!

BJ's First Play Date/Palaces/Warsaw Zoo

2009-09-06T17:15:00.008-05:00

So much has happened since I last posted, it's hard to know where t0 begin! But, you must start somewhere. On Friday, we walked to a nearby street to see our friends the Andrew's one last time before they left for the USA. We also wanted a chance to get the two kiddo's together on the floor so that they could actually move around rather than being stuck in their strollers. At first, Klaudia wasn't quite sure of what to make of all of us (my parents, myself, and BJ) intruding on her territory. BJ on the otherhand, could've cared less. As soon as we walked into their apartment, he made a beeline for Klaudia's toys. He didn't even think twice or ask for permission! LOL! Wow! James and I sure have our work cut out for us! After a little bit, Klaudia warmed up to us and then her and BJ were unstoppable. They chased each other around, laughed, and played together for a long time before they got tired out! It was so cute! I included some pictures down below!

On Sunday we visited the Wilanow Palace (it was free)! It was so beautiful and the gardens were as spectacular as the inside of the Palace. Unfortunately, I don't have pictures of the inside because we weren't allowed to take any. But I included some below of the outside!

Today, BJ enjoyed his first visit to a zoo! We visited the Warsaw Zoo and were there pretty much all day! BJ did great although he didn't appear that interested in much of anything! Except the donkey that stuck his head out of the fence to see BJ! That he thought was pretty cool! I was so proud of him! He even took a 1 1/2 nap in his stroller (towards the end of the zoo, so he didn't miss much)! After the zoo, we realized that Old Town was within walking distance so we took a stroll across the Wilsa River and went into Old Town. I bought some last minute items and we ate at Subway. I know, daring right! I included some pictures of the zoo as well!

Thanks again for following along with us! I really enjoy reading your comments as they always make me smile. Your support is priceless! If you have found us and have some questions for us regarding our process, country, agency, etc. Please feel free to email us at kochersperger78@yahoo.com We don't mind answering questions and are super excited to share any information we can! We had many families do this for us and it made things so much easier!Thank you all and God Bless You! His blessings are always rich and overflowing if we only ask! I found this to be 100% true!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

BJ is 100% KOCHERSPERGER

2009-09-03T08:05:00.014-05:00

OUR SON!

It is 100% official! Our 14 day appeal period was over on Monday, August 31. We received the official adoption decree from the court in Jozefow and BJ's revised polish birth certificate Monday! Yea! This means the adoption is complete and we can now get all the loose ends together so that BJ can come home! So far we have applied for BJ's Polish social security number and Polish passport, taken pictures for his Polish passport/US Visa, and had a US Embassy approved medical exam. Some things left to do:

A. US Embassy Interview (Tuesday)

B. Receive Immigrant Visa (Tuesday)

C. Receive Polish Passport (? hopefully soon)

D. Hop on the plane to come home! (Saturday, Sept. 12)

In other matters, we are all moved into our new location! I have to admit, I miss the other apartment! We are on a main road now and it is so much louder! Oh yes, we also have a fire station right next to us! Okay, I'm not complaining, but I am grateful for my nice quiet house back in the good'ol US of A! The apartment is cozy and very nice and because the occupancy max is 2, we have two seperate apartments! It is nice having two bathrooms, but it is a bit of a pain having to go back and forth between the two rooms via the main hallway. The rooms are studios, and because it is so noisy, I put BJ in the small hallway by the bathroom to provide a little more quietness for him. It seems to be working as he sleeps the nights through and wakes talking and laughing! I wish I could awake like that!

As I predicted, this apartment did not come equiped with internet or a land line. So for the first few days, we felt quite isolated especially since our cell phone was running low on minutes (and we didn't know where to go to reload)! AGHHHHHH! I almost became paniced because I was fearful of what we would do in an emergency. However, Magda our facilitator came through for us and led us in the right direction for "minutes" and got us hooked up with the outside world! Praise God! We are now more at ease and have spent some time getting to know our new surroundings. Because we are in the downtown, we are much further away from the monuments and museums than we were before. However, we are by many new (and large) parks that we are getting ready to explore!

As promised, I am including some videos of BJ and the Warsaw Royal Castle. It isn't nearly as beautiful on video as it is in person, but you'll get the point! I can honestly say that it is the most beautiful "man made" object that I have ever seen! Please click on the links below and enjoy!

BJ Playing

Warsaw Royal Castle

The Throne Room

The Assembly Hall

The King's Bedchamber

Moving Day!

2009-08-30T10:56:00.010-05:00

Tomorrow, Monday, we will make our final move to another apartment here in Warsaw. I still am not sure why we have to move. Maybe something to do with only being able to rent the apartment we're in by the month and we still have two weeks to go. Our new apartment is in the "down town" area of Warsaw on a road called Polna. I'm actually looking forward to some new scenery and a new area of town to explore. I feel it will help our next two weeks to move along faster. I was told by our facilitator that we will actually have two apartments with an ajoining door between the two. From what I saw online, they should be fairly nice and more modern than what we have now. So, the question still remains whether or not we'll have internet. We are assuming yes, but really will not know until we arrive. If you do not hear from me again for awhile, that is why.

On another note, we have had a fairly long, yet eventful week. On Tuesday we took a Warsaw Tour. We saw many intersting and heart wrenching sights including Lazienki Park. This park was built around a King's Palace. King Sigismundus III Vasa ordered the castle to be built in the 17th Century. The park, castle everything is beautiful. I included some pictures below! We were also taken to the Warsaw Ghetto monument. This is in tribute to the several 100 thousands Jews who were murdered by the German army in World War II. It made me sick to my stomach to even think about! On a brighter note, BJ did great the whole 3 hour trip. He even met some older ladies who sat next to me that just adored him. He of course thought they were pretty neat too and spent some time on their laps. Yes! It was so hard for me to watch him go to them so easily, but then again he always kept his eyes on me! What can I say, he's a ladies man already!

On Thursday, we took BJ to get his picture taken for his passport and he also had his embassy doctor appointment. In his passport picture, he looks completely "spacey" as they were showing him this very odd looking unicorn to make him smile and pay attention. His little mouth is open and he has a very confused expression on his face as if saying "What is up with that thing you are holding?" Oh well, at least he wasn't crying or refusing to sit for them. He did however put up a fight at the doctors office and all they did was weigh him and take his measurement. Poor little man was up the night before several times due to a storm we had. He woke up fussy and continued that way for the whole day. He was such a little bear! Let's just say it was not a good day for him and he needed sleep!

Unfortunately, it wasn't a good day for my dad either. He woke up Thursday, not feeling the greatest and had a very upset stomach. By the time we all got back from the appointments, he had a fever of 102 and his stomach was a mess if you know what I mean! He toughed it out Tuesday and then we called the English speaking doctor at the Marriott on Wednesday to get him an appointment. It turns out that he had eaten some fruit (forgetting that it still needed washed) with "let's just say" bacteria on it. The doctor gave him an antibiotic and 3 other medicines to take with it. Thankfully he started feeling better Friday and his fever finally broke.

Also, a big thank you to all of you who chose to leave me a kind message about going to church. It meant so much to me and got me really excited about going! We even looked up some that were mentioned in hopes of going today! Sadly, we didn't go. I couldn't get my parents to venture into a new church, I didn't want to go alone and we couldn't figure out what to do with BJ if we all three did go. Instead we spent some quit time with Lord and had our own mini worship service. I know my Jesus is with me wherever I go, I just miss worshipping him in crowds of other believers. It will be here soon though! Thank you again! Who knows, I might get brave enough and try it next Sunday at least once before I leaeve. That would be a perfect ending to this completley blessed trip led by God's Almighty Hand. Don't you think?

After out morning, we set off for Old Town to see some last minute details and pick up a couple souvenirs. The walk was long, but a great success. We were able to see the changing of the guards, live music, the President's Home, and the Royal Palace. We toured the Royal Palace and it was astonishingly beautiful! We don't have any pictures posted except one because I videoed the rooms. We'll try to post some next entry!

Enjoy the pics and thanks again for everything you do. Your prayers, encouragement, help, and suggestions is what is making us through and enabling us to have a blast! Thank You and God Bless You!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Afraid No More!

2009-08-26T07:11:00.004-05:00

If you can remember back a few post, BJ was terrified of bath time! He would scream like crazy! After some trial and error, we finally found a way to give him a sponge bath without him flipping out. After several sponge baths, he started to enjoy the water running down his face. So, we decided to fill the tub just a little to see if he could handle it! Handle it he did and now he can't get enough. He crawls to the tub daily and tries to climb in. Sometimes I just put him in there to play with his bath toys and he is as happy as can be. Last night he was having a blast, so we decided to take some pictures! I was holding up a toy with two holes in it and the water was pouring out. He kept trying to grab it and then he would put his head under it! He was such a riot! I couldn't help but realize that this was his first experience ever with water! Just think, he discovered something at 20 months, that most babies discover before a year old. I'm so glad we get to see these milestones, but at the same time am sad that he went so long without anyone! I wish I could have those years back! However, I am thankful that we have him now! Praise God! We love him like crazy! Enjoy the pictures!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Homesick & Cute Pics!

2009-08-24T16:54:00.006-05:00

Babcia, BJ, DziaDzia

There aren't many items to write about as things have pretty much slowed down for awhile. Thank goodness! However, I must say that I have a slight case of "homesickness." Not the typical "mope around and not eat" kind. (Are you kidding! The food here is great! I hardly go 3 hours without eating. I eat whenever BJ does! I suppose it's a good thing I'm doing a lot of walking!) But the kind when you start missing what your used to such as people, places and things (you know, all the nouns in your life). I am very grateful that my parents are both here and we have been having a lot of fun with BJ! However, I do miss my husband very much and of course I can't leave out my dog Maui. I also miss my bed and various other seemingly unimportant yet missable things.

Something that I really miss and am fairly lost without, is my church and church family. For those of you who know me personally, you know that church has always been a high priority in my life. I consider my relationship with Jesus Christ to be my highest priority and church just slides right in there. I have gone to the same church since I was 3 and will hopefully be able to go there for many more years. I love my church family so much and they are always so supportive, loving , and caring. I seriously consider them family! I also miss everything about church. The hymnals, praise songs, our band, and the sermons! I also miss my small group! To be honest, I haven't missed church more than twice in a row in my entire life! James and I even went to church on our honeymoon in Hawaii! So, not going for over a month has put me in a bit of a slump. Our facilitator was supposed to show us a protestant english speaking church, but never had the time. Granted, Poland is a deeply religious country and there are Catholic Churches on every corner. BEAUTIFUL churches! However, I've never been to a Catholic service and am not sure I would know what to do. But as a great friend pointed out "We serve the same God and church is church. It's all about what's in your heart anyway. Give it a try!" So this Sunday, I might enjoy my first church in over a month! What do you think? Should I go?

On to other matters, BJ seems to be getting along well and is warming up to grandma and grandpa nicely. He's been experiencing some rough patches the last few days. Some due to changed schedules and lack of sleep, others to sickness (we're hoping allergies). We've been giving him some Zyrtec, but that makes him grumpy and mean. I can't even tell you how many temper tantrums he had today. He just looked so drugged and tired. I felt so bad for him. So, I think we're going to skip the med. today and begin looking for something else. I want my sweet little boy back. He also has had some rough naps/nights due to what I think could be night terrors. He hasn't had any recently (Praise God!) but I am still keeping track. The poor little guy wakes up screaming and thankfully is able to calm down after I cuddle him and rock him back to sleep (although I'm not sure he was ever fully awake). His Visas and Passports are in the working and our appeal period is almost over! I can't wait until we are done and he is 100% officially ours! Monday, September 1 is the date!

My parents are enjoying it here, but are themselves getting slightly bored. They have already walked a 3-mile radius around Warsaw and are currently looking for specific places to visit. My dad is also figuring out the tram/bus schedules so that they can move outside the radius! If you know my parents at all, you know they don't like to sit, they like to be on the move. I do most the time, but after being here a month, sitting and playing with my son does it just fine for me! We do however have a tour scheduled for tomorrow and one for Thursday that I am looking forward to. The tours highlight the best parts of Warsaw. I'll post about them soon.

Below are some cute pics from the last week! Please Enjoy!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

1 Month Today!

2009-08-21T16:16:00.013-05:00

OUR SON!

Today marks my 1 month stay in Poland. I can hardly believe it has been that long! This has to be the fastest/most life changing month of my entire life! Since I have been here a month, I thought it would be fun to list some of my "Polish Moments" with you. These are strictly some things I have noticed about the the Polish customs/lifestyles here in the large city of Warsaw, since I have been here. Please keep in mind that none of these are facts just observations from an otherwise "ignorant" foreigner.

1) Keep a close eye when walking on sidewalks and crossing streets. Why? No one has licenses and road rules are not "entirely" enforced. Sidewalks are considered extra parking spaces (I have this on video and will upload it soon) and speed limits are strictly there for decoration! Unless you cosider 70 mph on a 30mph stretch of road fun, I wouldn't recommend driving or even riding in a car. Our car trips just about caused me to have a nervous breakdown. James jokes about their four way stops called round-abouts. A car is supposed to stop before it makes it's way around, but usually it is a "horn honking, step on the gas" moment to see who can get in front of who before the car on either side does. It's CRAZY!

2) Apparel:
Women-I usually feel like my clothing doesn't fit in as most women here wear a skirt or sundress (young women short, and older women long), fancy top (wish I could find some like that), and about 1-3 inch high heels. It is surprising how stylish everyone is considering most have to walk about 1 mile to get to where they're going. Another funny obrservation is that many women (all ages) have dyed red hair! My mom tells me everday that she thinks the older women look poorly upon her for wearing shorts. James jokingly said to her to "Wear a mini skirt, get your hair dyed red, and put on three inch high heels! Then you'll fit right in!" All I can say about the shoes is "OUCH!"

Men-Usually suit and tie, or those who are casual wear kakis (short or pants) and generally a button down shirt or polo. Once again, very stylish. I did read that dress in Warsaw is usally very professional. However, there are always exceptions!
We have also noticed how some Poles (older men) seem to be rather "free" when it comes to dress. In the parks it is perfectly acceptable to sun bath in minimal clothing. On more than once occasion we have seen men wearing nothing but underwear sitting on a park bench soaking up the rays, while reading the paper! We even saw one man whip out his shorts, take of his pants, put on his shorts all on the sidewalk in front of us! NO! We did not take any pictures!

3) If you ever visit, bring all the medicine's/health items you need because here they are hard to find. We visited several stores in search of certain health items and all we could find was a small (very small, maybe 3 foot) section of some tylenol or aspirin products. I could hardly believe it! In America we have about 4-5 aisles of cold medicine's, allergy drugs, etc. Here all you get is 3 feet! I was told that you need to go to a pharmacist for almost everything! Strange huh?

4)Always wear a smile! For some reason, the people here always seem to be in a hurry and many don't smile. I read that they can seem "cold"until you talk to them and then they'll warm up to you. I have found this to be true. However, to a foreigner like myself, this can be very intimidating!

5) Bring ear plugs! For those of you that know me and where I am from, I am essentially a country girl. Galesburg can hardly be considered a large city! Here we are living in a 15 story apartment building (1 of many) and the traffic never stops. I know that it is minimal compared to Chicago or New York, but still it is very noisy all the time! Because we have no air conditioning, we leave the windows open all night. I'm not used to the city noises like cutting the grass (we have a small park right accross the walk) at 6:45 am or dump trucks collecting trash at 5:00 am! Let me tell you, there is nothing like waking up to the smell of "fermented trash" blowing through your windows!

6) Bring your dog! Almost everyone has dogs! Dogs go everywhere with Poles! We even saw a few in the mall today!

Please don't get me wrong! There are many good parts about living here during this month and Warsaw is a great, beautiful city! I love looking out my window at the tall buildings on the horizon, especially at night! It's beautiful! Warsaw also seems to be very clean with many manicured, spotless parks! It's buildings are beautiful and it's history is amazing! This city/country has been through so much in the last century! I am looking forward to the next three weeks as we plan to take some tours and learn more about this amazing city. Our goal is to learn as much as we can about Poland so that we can build up BJ's heritage box.

On another note, BJ is doing well although I think he really misses his daddy. James went home on Wednesday so that he could get back to work and manage the house and bills. The first night I put BJ down without James there was very rough. He cried everytime I tried to put him down! I knew it was because his daddy was gone because BJ has always gone to bed just fine. We allow BJ to talk to his daddy daily on our webcam. I'm not sure if it's helping as BJ seems to be very confused when he sees his daddy on the computer screen. It is cute though because he tries to touch James' face with his fingers! Hopefully BJ won't forget how much he loves his daddy when he finally gets home!

My parents are enjoying their time here as they have stayed busy getting to know the area. We plan to visit more parks, take some tours, go to the zoo and hopefully a waterpark! Might as well live it up while we're here!

Thank you again for your love and support!

Gotcha Day!

2009-08-17T15:35:00.011-05:00

James and Melanie Kochersperger Present to you their son:

BARTHOLOMEW JAMES KOCHERSPERGER

Our Forever Family!

Proud Dad!

Proud Mom getting a kiss!

Today BJ was made officially our son and we are so excited! For those of you who are not familiar with adoption terms, today (August 17, 2009) will be called our "GOTCHA DAY!" This day we will celebrate every year! We feel so blessed to have him! Our court hearing went well as we were asked some pretty basic questions. We had to travel back to the town were BJ's orphanage was, Josefow. Present at our hearing was a judge, two jury members (dressed like the judge), BJ's legal guardian, our facilitator/translator, and a prosecuter. Intimidating at first, but with some prayer and a pep talk from our facilitator Magda, we were calm enough to answer the best we could! We were even able to show our slide show of BJ! Tomorrow we will go to the US Embassy to get BJ's Visas started and in progress! We wanted to get some pictures of the court house, but their court house was a multiple story building with many other businesses in it. Our court room itself, was no bigger than a hotel room with just enough room for the judges and the people presenting! It was very intersting.

On another note, Mel's parents arrived safely last night. They were tired, but still couldn't resist giving their new grandbaby some loving! BJ was left with his new grandparents today while we went to court (they don't allow children in court), so BJ was a bit confused and wouldn't eat or sleep for them. Needless to say, by the time we got back, our son was not to happy with us! We'll post more later! Thanks for your love and support! We can't wait for you to meet our son!

Good Friends and Good Times!

2009-08-14T07:24:00.009-05:00

Last night a good time was had by all. We had the privilege of meeting to great couples who are also adopting from here! It was such a blessing that we were all here at the same time! That certainly had to have been Gods perfect timing! You might have read their blogs already as we have been following both their journeys for quite some time: Jeff and Debbie and Ryan and Jennifer .

Jeff and Debbie were in their final journey of adopting two beautiful children (siblings) Kasia 6 and Bartek 11. They are great kids and took their first plan ride to Colorado today to their new home! Ryan and Jennifer are adopting a darling little girl named Klaudia who is only 3 days younger than BJ. We of course photographed their first meeting as it was quite cute! She is so timid and dainty and BJ is "in your face." They both did very well and we can't wait to get them together again!

After we met, we all went into Old Town square and ate some authentic Polish food (who new Black sausage was liver filled? Yuke! BJ loved it! YUM!) We also stopped and had some very good lody (ice cream)! On the way out we stopped by Jeff and Debbie's apartment as they were giving out the last of their groceries since they were leaving today. I was sad to see them go as we just met! But we already have plans in the making for visits! Their boy, Bartek, loved BJ (Bartek) and played with him for quite some time! We have the two pictured below! In all, we really had a great time and plan to see Jennifer, Ryan and Klaudia again tomorrow! Enjoy the slide show below. We have included pictures of Old Town and the group. Also, don't forget to look further! I posted twice today!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

BJ's First Haircut!

2009-08-14T07:02:00.003-05:00

Today was a big day for BJ! He got his very first haircut! Below almost every apartment building here, there is a salon. We asked our facilitator Magda to arranged an appointment for our little guy since he was getting a litte shaggy. (Some people were saying that he looked like a cute little girl with all those curls! Thanks Dad!) So anyway, today was the big day and we documented it well with pictures and video and even saved some cute little curl clippings! We've included a slide show below of his before, during and after photos. He did well at first, but when the stylist got to the front, BJ started fusing. The stylist wanted to stop because BJ started crying, but there were some obvious places left that needed trimmed. So James held the poor little guy still so the stylist could finish. Afterwards, James got his hair trimmed as well, since he was looking a little shaggy too. Finally, when we went to pay, the stylist only charged us for James because he said he wasn't able to finish "the little boy." He was a very nice guy and did well with BJ. It was cute because when we walked in I held up BJ and said "Here he is!" The stylist looked at him smiling and said "He's little." We think Magda might have set up a "child's haircut" and BJ took him by surprise. In all, it was a success, but I already have an appointment set up for him back home with my hair stylist! Thanks Tara! I figure she can take care of all the parts that weren't quit finished. I don't think crying children bother her!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Momma's Boy?!

2009-08-12T14:52:00.009-05:00

Okay, what is the deal. My little boy who could hardly let me out of his sight, completely ignored me today during our visit with the psychologist. Our facilitator, psychologist, and BJ's guardian all came to our apartment for a follow up visit to see how things were going. I thought things would go very smoothly since BJ seemed very attached to us! I couldn't wait for them to see how happy he is! Well, when they came in, I was holding BJ and he just stared at them (like he usually does to new people). Then the (young, cute) psychologist started talking to him and playing with him and before I knew it he was constantly holding his arms up to her to be picked up. He loved her! This wouldn't have bothered me, except I don't think he even cared that I was there. I have to admit, it was a bit heartbreaking! He did however, go to James who had to put him down for his nap (which was an 1 1/2 past due). Oh well, at least I know "I" get to take him home! I know he'll come around and that his actions today were simply "age" and budding attachment. On a good note, they were all impressed with the pictures and videos we have of BJ. They even said that I always seem to be smiling and that I am a perfect match for BJ!

We also found out today that we'll be switching apartments at the end of August. We aren't sure why and haven't had a chance to ask our facilitator since we found out. Also, my parents are flying in on Sunday! We're very excited to have them join us! BJ will be so lucky!

Below is a link and a video of "Old Town." We are returning there tomorrow and hopefully we'll have some nice pictures and videos to post. We are also going to meet two other adopting couples who we have been keeping up with for awhile. We can't wait to meet them! How ironic that we are all here at the same time!

Thanks for your love and prayers!

Czesc! (Bye!)

Click Here for Link! Old Town Buildings!

Our Big Boy!

2009-08-10T06:48:00.005-05:00

Just some cute poses of our big boy! The above is my favorite! Doesn't he look all grown up?! Anyway, we made big progress yesterday! He started feeding himself! We had been working with him since the Friday we got custody, but he simply struggled with the hand-to-mouth concept. Well, yesterday he got mad at us because we stopped feeding him his cheese chunks. So, he grabbed a piece with his fingers and put it right in his mouth! We gave him the shock of his life because we cheered so loud for him! After that, it took about two seconds before he had all the cheese gone! He also started drinking out of his sippy cup! We tried the straw, but he would just bit down on it, not suck. So his sippy cup released liquid when he bit, when he figured that out, he just kept biting on it and would get so excited! So now he asks for it all the time! We figure the sucking will come. He still struggles in swallowing all the liquid. He'll get it though. He's already eating "big people food" and he loves every bit of it!

We hope to download some images of our Old Town tour tonight so stay posted!

Thanks again for your love, support, and prayers. We feel it working! God Bless You!

All Toddler and ALL BOY!

2009-08-08T12:02:00.009-05:00

"Big boy" doesn't even start to describe our BJ! He is so full of life and into everything! Let's just say that he is a healthy (almost, lots of allergies) ACTIVE toddler! As an early childhood educator, I had considered myself prepared to be a first time mother. I do feel prepared in the developmental sense, but as most of you know, you can't prepare for everything! I believe this to be true especially in the adoption aspect of it all! Yes we know, we shouldn't be to hard on him because he was in an orphanage, but when your child starts sticking his finger in the outlets, you have to make sure he knows he shouldn't do that. So we have of course taught him "No." Most of the time, he minds well, but there are times when "no" is funny to him (I know, just like every toddler). For example, when trying to put on his shoes, he began to kick his feet and then kicked us. We told him "no" and he started laughing hysterically. We had to try not to laugh and then used a "stern" voice and said it again. He started laughing harder! We couldn't believe it! Then I realized that more than likely he never heard a "stern" voice before. To him, we were just making funny sounds! So yes, we are experiencing the many facets of raising a
little boy! However, nothing can match his vibrant personality and contagious laugh. Yes! We dearly love our son!

He still loves food and I think we've managed to pack on a few pounds. He's doing so well chewing, he had his first slice of pizza tonight! He loved it! Of course mommy cut it up really tiny and dowsed each piece with milk (he still will not drink). But, he thought it tasted good!

On to other matters, we have been exploring more of the city and today walked down to the Wisla River, which runs through Warsaw. It was about a 45 minute walk one way and BJ did great. He loves walks! He does get fidgety sometimes, but holding him for a few minutes solves that problem. Thanks to a carrier that holds a toddler (thanks Dave and Teresa!) it makes holding him much easier. On our journey, we were able to see part of Old Town (and a whole bunch of tourist). The architecture is amazing! Every building is so intricately built! We also saw something that looked similar to Americas "Tomb of the Unknown Soldier." It was a monument of sorts with two guards posted on either side. We have yet to get a tour book and because we can't read Polish, we have no idea what it said. If some of you know what it is or have been there, please let us know! We will post pictures soon, but I have not loaded them yet.

Below is a video and some video links of our little guy! I am sorry for my "booming" voice in the background, but I just can't help myself. Our little BJ just brings it out in me! Enjoy!

The Hamper

Buckets of BJ

BJ the Mop (notice the matching shirts)

B.J.'s Firsts!

2009-08-04T07:45:00.012-05:00

Our Sleeping Angel!

First T.V. Watching
Ever! (Baby Einstein)

Mommy and B.J.

Wow! What a week and it's only just begun! B.J. seems to be doing quite well adjusting to us and his new surroundings! He has even started to respond to his "new" name! We are having so much fun with him as he seems to laugh and giggle all the time! I'll recap the last few days for you!

Friday
We picked B.J. up at the orphanage. The ladies there were so kind and loving and seemed very happy that Bartek was getting a family. We met his caregiver who was sad to see him leave, but also glad that he was going to have a mom and dad. She was kissing and loving on him and I was happy to see how well taken care of he was. When it was time to leave he went right to his daddy without much hesitation. This made us relieved, although we are sure he was confused about what was truly going on. We then drove into Warsaw to our apartment. On the way there, he fell asleep in his mommies arms!

-Our apartment is right downtown, in between two giant malls and a bunch of tall buildings and scattered around are tons of places to eat! On every corner there is a KFC, Burger King, or McDonalds. We even found a Subway in the mall! We also have two large size parks nearby with one right accross the street. The apartment is very nice and clean, but the furniture is sparce and old. It really isn't bad except we miss our soft large couch and fluffy big bed!

Saturday-Today
-B.J. now knows his new name. We hardly ever call him Bartek. We also thinkg he'll be walking really soon. He stands up with the help of the couch, us, or table and he takes off walking in any direction. The only problem is that he can only go a few steps before he falls. His looks as if to say, "This is frustrating! Why do I keep falling!" He'll get it real soon! We've been working on getting him on a schedule because unfortunately he really didn't have one at the orphanage. They had feeding times, but no set nap time. The children pretty much slept when they were tired. He seems to be adjusting well and is sleeping about 11/12 hours a night and will take about a 2 1/2 hour nap. He never cries when he wakes up, he's always so happy!

-The only problem we are having is his lack of drinking. He refuses a bottle or anything that looks like one. We think he got so tired of his formula that he ruled it out altogether no matter what is in it. We also tried using a small cup and had him sip it, but he won't do that either. Just pushes it away! He won't take anything warm (also maybe from the formula), but looooooooooooves food. Any kind of food as long as he can chew it! The first time we gave him some little chewies he went crazy! All we have to do is pull out his bib and he gets so excited! So to compensate for the lack of drinking we are spoon feeding him milk and juices and are also adding them to his food! It must be working because his diapers weigh a ton! If you have any advise for us please let us know!

-On August 12 we have a meeting with the social worker and BJ's guardian. Unfortunately they're coming right at his nap time, so hopefully he won't be cranky when they arrive. Please pray he's having a good day so that they can see how well he's doing!

-August 17 is our court date and that does make us a little nervous. She told us today that we will be in a large court room. That's scary if you ask me!? I'm sure it will be just fine!

-As of now, we are doing a lot of walking and exploring the big city. We'll write more as things happen! Thanks for your prayers and support! Below are movies of B.J.'s orphanage and first solid foods! Enjoy!

Meeting Bartek (B.J.)

2009-07-28T06:40:00.009-05:00

We had such a busy and emotional day yesterday! We waited two years to meet our son and it is so hard to explain how we felt when they brought him out. We had to keep in mind that he has been in an orphanage and that we cannot expect him to look 100%. With that being said, we completely fell in love with him! He did look quite a bit different than his picture, but that could be because his picture was 4 months ago. We did find out that he hadn't gained any weight, still only 17 pounds, but has grown taller. His limbs are pretty long, but he is only in a 12 month size clothing and those are even a little large! He is still being fed a bottle and only has a few cans of soup/baby food a day. We think that once his diet changes, he's going to grow like a weed!

We were briefed by the orphanage director, doctor, and pshychologist and were very impressed with all the information they had for us. We even learned all about his biological parents, including names! Wow! His mom was 5'9'' and his dad was 6'4" We think that B.J. will grow to be very tall once he starts growing! The orphanage is very clean and has about 30 babies under two years old. Most of the babies are under 6 months and quite a few are newborns! It is very clean, but very understaffed. When we play with B.J. there are about 6 other babies in there with us! It breaks our heart that everytime we pick him up the others just cry and reach for you! I really would love to take two home! Bless their hearts! I spent some time crying yesterday for those sweet beautiful children! I asked how long they would be there before they were adopted out and was told that they would not be because the mom was still trying to get them back. In other words, the children stay in the orphanage until their mommies get their lives back together. It is so sad, but at least the child is safe!

We have had a great time with B.J. and he seems to be taking to us well. He was a bit shy at first not wanting much to do with us, but that didn't last long. He loves to hug and be held and loves to laugh and giggle. He has a very healthy curiosity and climbs all over us! He also loves to play, with everything! I will be posting video once we have custody (Friday) and you will see what I mean! He just started crawling correctly about a week ago and we have been working on his walking the last two days because he appeared so stable on his feet. Today he stood up in the middle of the room and took 3 steps towards me before he fell into my arms. We were so proud of him and are sure he'll be walking in a week! We did have a few medical concerncs, but will discuss those with the doctor on Friday. Either way, he is our son and we will do what needs to be done! Thanks for your prayers and we will post more later! God Bless You!

We've Arrived!

2009-07-26T15:14:00.002-05:00

We made it, but not without a whole lot of tiredness! There's nothing like going 24 hours without sleep! We were so wound up, that we didn't sleep a wink on the plane! We feel so blessed, that everything went smooth! Praise God! Thank you for your prayers! As soon as we arrived at the exit of the Warsaw airport, we met our facilitator! She took us right to our hotel (very nice resort, will post pictures later) so that we could get unpacked and get some rest. Tomorrow she will take us to meet our son (Yeah!) where we will be briefed by the orphanage director, doctors, social workers, etc. about Bartek (BJ). Then they will bring him out to us! We will then go and see him everyday until Friday. Finally, we will be able to take him to our apartment in Warsaw! Please keep us in your prayers! Tomorrow is a big day!

The Date Has Arrived!

2009-07-24T23:42:00.003-05:00

Wow! We can hardly believe it, but we are taking off for Poland tomorrow! The emotions are so hard to explain! I would describe us as a bundle of nerves. Excited, nervous, anxious, thrilled, scared, happy, etc. At any moment, we slide from one emotion to the next in a very unpredictable fashion! I suppose it's due to the fact that we have never experienced anything like this. That makes sense right?! We waited two years for this and now that it's here, it's hard to know how to feel. I'm sure it will all even out once we get there and are given our little boy! Some sleep might help too! We have spent the last few weeks packing and unpacking and trying to figure out what to bring and what we could do without. When you think about it, we pratically have to bring an entire nursery! We were told the apartment has nothing for a baby so bring it or buy it there. Because we have it, we are trying to bring it. However, making everything fit in the weight and size limit allowed has proved to be difficult. Our carry-ons have been especially difficult. Our weight is always over by a few ounces. I'm about to start strapping things to my body just to get on the plan! Oh well, we'll let you know how it goes!

We drove to Chicago tonight (are staying with relatives), so that we would be closer to O'Hare airport for our 2:30 flight. Our trip here was quite interesting in that we drove alongside a severe storm all the way. What a trip! The lightening was amazing! I would have enjoyed it had I not be terrified of being struck! In all, God brought us through safely!

We are due to land in Poland at 9:35 Sunday morning (Warsaw Time), which would be about 2:30 in the morning here. So hopefully Sunday, we'll be able to post about our trip! We are hoping our apartment has Internet in our unit. Then on Monday, we are due to go the orphanage to pick him up! Just like that! All this time and they just hand him over! We are so excited, but know that the little guy might not be to thrilled to go with a couple he's never seen before! We'll leave it up to God and go along with the ride.

On another note, we had two beautiful showers were we received many, many items for B.J. One was at our church and one was hosted by my school with teachers/staff that I work with. To say we were overwhelmed by the generosity would be an understatement! We feel and are truly blessed!

This is our last USA post! We hope to write again as soon as we arrive on Polish soil! So please stay tuned and please continue to keep us in your prayers!

The Best News Ever!

2009-07-08T16:11:00.008-05:00

We can hardly believe it, but WE HAVE TRAVEL DATES! YEA! We are very overjoyed, but I can say without a doubt, that this has been the most stressful week of my life! I'll start from the beginning because even though it's only been two days since the call, I think I have acquired many gray hairs and a heart disorder!!!!

Monday, July 6-We were driving home from a vacation in PA with my parents, when we received "The Call" from our agency. She told me that she had heard from our facilitator that our dates had been made and she would know more concretely on Wednesday, July 8. She then said to me "They want you in Warsaw on Sunday, July 12 so you will have to leave on Saturday." After picking myself off the floor of the car I then responded "This Sunday? Are you for real?!" After her "Yes!" response, I got off the phone and proceeded to tell the rest of the family that we had 4 days to pack for a 7 week trip. Needless to say, we all about went into panic attacks! I never imagined we would only have 4 days to pull everything together!

After the call, we all went into overdrive trying to think of everything that had to be done in "4 DAYS!" One thing we thought of was our dreaded finger print renewal. After discussing this with our agency, I realized that we had really made a mistake rescheduling our fingerprints (due to being out of town) because our prints were due to expire Wednesday, July 8! Our agency said to not let them expire as it could land us in a world of trouble and possibly cause us to lose BJ!

Tuesday, July 7-We flew to the post office to see if our renewal fingerprint appointment was in the pile of mail. Sure enough it was, but the appointment date was July 22. To late! I called the number and all she could say was "Drive to your CIS office with your letters and they might try to fit you in!" So we got in the car and drove 3 hours hoping they would accept us. Once there, I told them that we really needed their help as we were due to expire and leave the country on Saturday. After about 20 minutes and a bunch of questions later they informed us that they needed "proof (an itinerary)" we were leaving the country before they could do it. So I had to contact my dad to access my email to get a phone number of the travel agent I had contacted the night before. Luckily he had already reserved a flight for us. After giving this information to the CIS worker, we sat and waited for another 10 minutes. He then comes out and says that it wasn't good enough, we needed to actually pay for the tickets. So, we go back outside, call the "WONDERFUL" travel agent and booked our flights. We then go back into CIS, tell him that our travel agent will fax him our flights and within 3 minutes they finished our fingerprints and out the door we go. All this excitement took about 2 hours!

Wednesday, July 8-We received a call early from our agency telling us that our travel dates had changed. We are now leaving on July 25 and we are much relieved! Our fabulous travel agent changed our dates right away! I'm so glad that is one area we don't have to worry about. He has really taken care of us. If you need a good travel agency for your adoption or mission work, I highly recommend Golden Rule Travel. They are Christian based, very accommodating, and can get some very good prices.

This is it for now! I will try to update you later on more info about our travel! Thank you for your prayers! God has heard them and has done so much for us in the past 48 hours. God Bless you all!

Love,
Melanie

Our Son BJ!

2009-06-22T22:11:00.008-05:00

We have finally had the opportunity to show all our family and church family his picture. So now, we are posting it! We are so excited, we can hardly stand it and we want everyone to see. Isn't he DARLING?! We can't help but wonder how much he'll change by the time we see him again.

B.J. at 15 months

We still have not heard anything about travel dates, but wasn't really planning to until mid to late July, which is still very early compared to how long it's been taking. In the mean time we are getting his room and play room together and today we went to register for a shower. We had so much fun! Registering for a toddler is quite a bit different then registering for an infant! We found so many interactive little "doodads" to add to our list! We had a blast! James found all kinds of things "he" wanted. Including a soccer ball shaped potty chair that "cheers" when flushed! It was adorable and you guessed it, we put it on our registry!

We also found some great Little Einstein DVDs that teach the sounds and also some Elmo DVDs that introduce first words and one for pets. We of course do not intend for the DVDs to teach him how to talk (for Melanie will surely be talking his little ears off!), but we did think it would be a good supplemental tool (the K teacher in her coming out). Do any of you have any ideas that you would recommend to help toddlers pick-up the English sounds/language? I've heard he won't have many problems, but we want to help in any way we can!

That's all for now! Thanks for all your encouraging words! We feel so blessed!

God Bless You!

Faster Than Expected!

2009-06-10T22:18:00.006-05:00

Thank you so much for all of your encouraging comments and support! We are so very excited and found out a few days ago that things might move along faster than we first thought. Due to our son being from Warsaw, our agency suspects that we will travel this summer! We were also told that we only need to make one trip. So the date we are waiting for, will be the date of our "one and only" trip! This was great news, but at the same time took us by surprise. We are now in full "mommy and daddy"mode trying to get everything together before the due date arrives. When the 3-5 months turns into 1-2 months it can make you a little crazy. It is a good crazy though and we certainly aren't complaining! We are keeping busy with updating fingerprints, getting together that last (big) payment, and are even starting to pack. The thought of having a son is finally sinking in and simple things like putting his clothes in his dresser gives us a shot of pure joy and adrenaline. It's hard to explain, but those of you who have been there know exactly what we mean! Thanks again for all your love and support! It is so great being able to share all of this with you! We will keep you posted on our updates and plan to post his picture real soon. It's so hard to believe that it might be this summer! YIPPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

2009-05-25T23:10:00.001-05:00

IT'S A BOY!

2009-05-25T22:08:00.005-05:00

We are so excited we can hardly breath! This process seemed to lag on forever, but when we saw his face, we knew it was all worth it! He is darling and we will post his picture when we are sure that Poland has received our confirmation.

I'm sure you're all wondering how it all came to be. Well, so are we! All we can say is, "God works in mysterious ways!"

Friday night, May 22 we received a phone call from our agency. She wanted to know if we were interested in seeing the information and photo of a 17 month old boy. Of course we said yes and we are glad we did! We fell in love with him the moment we saw him! Some things on his medical record looked a little scary, so needless to say we were slightly alarmed. We made some phone calls to various people asking them to define certain terms for us (one being a local pediatrician) and finally spoke with our agency again. Our fears were quickly put to rest when it was made clear what all those "medical words" truly mean, especially in the case of our son (We love saying that!). In all, he is a healthy 17 month old boy that needs his mom and dad! So today on Monday, May 25 we called our agency and accepted his referral! HOORAY!

We are so excited that we want to share a few fun facts with you! He was born on December 26, 2007 in Warsaw. We think that possibly he would've been a Christmas baby here in America if you consider the time difference. Also, his polish given name "BARTŁOMIEJ" translates to Bartholomew. We have decided to keep his name and then name him after James. So his name is "Bartholomew James" or as we will call him "BJ!"

Our little BJ is our Angel sent from God! We will keep you posted as we receive more information! Thanks for all your prayers! They are working!

God Bless!

Looking Up!

2009-04-04T11:42:00.006-05:00

We apologize for not updating for awhile! Now that Easter Break is here, I can finally breath! Yippee! To get you up to date on where we are at, I will start at the beginning.

-During the time of our last posting, we had just found out that James lost his job. Yes, we were confused and a little lost, especially when we thought about our adoption. After all, we were planning on receiving $5K (per child) reimbursement from his work. Needless to say, that has sent me on a rampage to locate and apply for some new grants and loans. However, God was working from the beginning and has opened up a "brand new path" for James to follow. He is currently subbing in our school district and loves it! He is considering going back to school to get his Masters in Secondary Education to become an art or P.E. teacher. So, our lives have gone from "somewhat predictable" to "hanging on tight and let's see where we end up!" I can honestly say however, that with GOD AT THE WHEEL, I'm not going to panic!

-The first week of March, we had to make a tough decision on whether or not to accept our first referral. We were asked to accept a 2 1/2 year old little boy. After some thought and prayer we decided to say no. We really would like a younger child. Also, we are trying to hold out for two children and would have accepted him had he had a younger sibling. Whoever thought that this process would be this difficult! I was not anticipating turning down any referrals and we have both decided that we will pray long and hard before we turn down another one. I'm just trusting that God has that little guy in the palm of His hand and that a mommy and daddy will be loving on him soon!

-Finally, we have received some news regarding the wait time between acceptance of referral and travel. I must say, it rather "bummed" me out. Because of the new 'Hague Convention' (created by the U.S. to safe guard against 'baby selling') the time between our acceptance of our child and the traveling to go get them, has increased from 2 weeks-month to 4-5 months. I have to say that made me very sad. This means that had we accepted the sweet little 2 1/2 year old boy, that he would have been 3 years old by the time we got him home!I understand that the US is trying to help, but how does it help that the child is spending more time in the orphanage? Some things I will just never understand!

-I'm so glad Easter is almost here! It reminds me of new beginnings and hope! It also reminds me that because God cared enough to send his only son Jesus to die on the cross for us, then surely he won't forget about us in our times of need! I feel so fortunate today to be a part of His kingdom and I can't wait to see what he has in store for us!

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!

HE HAS RISEN AND IS ALIVE!

-Melanie

Changes and Uncertainties

2009-02-28T11:07:00.007-06:00

Well, life sure does have it's way of throwing curve balls! We've recently had some major changes develop in our life which will undoubtedly lead to some major uncertainties! With being more than halfway through this adoption process going back is not an option, which I am glad to say! However, it's at times like these when you think continuing to move forward would be next to impossible! That is why I am glad I serve a God who is generous and kind and who works everything together for our good! We have already seen God working in this situation and it would be untruthful of me to say that I am not already able to see the "Big Picture!" The Bible does say "For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world-our faith. 1john 5:4." There is no doubt in my mind that God will bring us through this victoriously. However, the hardest part is wanting to know now, how and when He's going to provide! We are asking that our friends and family be in prayer for us to remain patient, strong, and positive about our situation. God has already been working in our lives in that we are remaining positive and faithful! But, we all know how time likes to "eat away" at our spirits! Please also pray that we will be good stewards of what we have and that God will provide for the rest! We will keep you posted on how God continues to work in our lives! For we are already so thankful for what He has done!

On another note, my parents have found us the cutest Adoption Baby Book at a good price.

However, we only have one and might need another one if we are referred two beautiful children. Does anyone have any ideas on another adoption baby book? We have looked around a little bit and I am bit skeptical of buying on-line when I can't actually see it. If you do, please leave us a comment. We have found two cute baby books at the Family Christian Store (one for boys and one for girls) and it has some pull out pages for adoptions. However, we would love some more ideas!

Once again, thank you for all your prayers and support! Our life is a walking testament of God's promises and love!

-Melanie

Great Book!

2009-01-30T21:37:00.007-06:00

Melanie Writes:

We've just recently spent a really great evening with a really great family who are adopting from Ethiopia! We had an enjoyable time sharing stories and talking about the next steps to come. It's amazing to me how God always places just the right people in our lives at just the right time! While chatting, the Cramer's gave us this really great book to read. I had heard about it and was really excited to begin reading it! I wasn't disappointed! These stories are unbelievable, yet all true! The book is entitled "A Treasury of Adoption Miracles" by Karen Kingsbury. I highly recommend you read it, even if you're not adopting!

Nursery Furniture!

2009-01-18T15:48:00.007-06:00

We might still be many months from the "big day," but we figured we might as well get ready for it now! As we mentioned before, we are starting to get the nursery and playroom put together. On Saturday, Melanie's parents phoned to say that they had purchased the nursery set that we had picked out (Christmas gift!). The set was from JCPenny's and they had found it on sale for a great price! So as of now, all the pieces are on back order, but we should have it by mid February! Melanie is very excited and can't wait to start setting up the nursery. However, now James has a deadline in which his Noah's Ark mural needs to be done! We'll post a picture as soon as he finishes! In the mean time, here is a picture of the furniture we picked out! All pieces will be in "coffee" color (changer is different below)!

This is our bedding set that we picked out and purchased about a year ago! Melanie fell in love with it when she saw it!

YEAH! Finally Big Progress!

2009-01-02T13:20:00.006-06:00

Happy New Year everyone! We can hardly believe it's been a whole year already! One thing is for sure, we never dreamed it would take this long to get everything together. However, we are okay with it and have decided that the timing is working out perfectly!

We have BIG NEWS! (No we don't have our child yet, put we are closer!) All our paper work is complete and our dossier is finally IN POLAND! HOORAY! Our agency turned it in around 3 weeks ago! We are so excited the "paper chase" and frustration of "getting it sent in" is finally over!

Also, we received some helpful information from our agency. Here is what we know so far about the process in Poland.
*We were told we had to be patient. (as if we didn't know that)
*The paperwork (dossier) is being processed in Poland as we speak. The government there needs to review it all, translate it, and official it again in Polish. Lina (agency director) says that this takes about two months)
*Once this is done, it is sent to a panel/group of other government officials (who meet once or twice a month) who look through all the adoption request they have and start placing the children with families. Lina reminded us that they have many request from all over the world to consider and look through. Once again this group only meets twice a month to match families with children. (this is why it takes several months for a referral)
*The children available come from all over the country of Poland. Our agency works directly with the government, therefore is open to three large public Orphanages. The children available are the "paper ready" children. These are children who have all their files complete (ie. known history, medical reports, etc.)
-Because we put down 1 or 2 children, we may be referred only one. This is because sibling groups take longer and when our dossier is reviewed their may not be any available in our age requirement that are "paper ready." Therefore, when our dossier is reviewed, if there is a perfectly beautiful child ready to go, that would be the one we'll be referred. We have decided that we will be happy with whatever God chooses for us!
*Finally, Lina says that the Polish government will be pleased with us. She says that because we are very young, there should be no problems with us getting a child under a year.

*Overall, Lina says we could expect some news in 4-6 months. This isn't bad at all! She also says it could be sooner as sometimes a child will be referred to one family and they will not accept it (reasons unknown) and if the child(ren) fit our criteria, they could be referred to us!

As of now that is all we know! I'll try to keep you posted on happenings, but now that we are WAITING, there won't be to much to report for awhile! We do plan on getting the nursery and play room together in the months to come so please stay tuned (we will post pictures)! We invite your prayers and support! We still need them and from what I hear, the waiting is the hardest part! Thank you and Happy New Year to all of you! We praise God for the loving support of our family and friends!

Getting Nowhere Fast!

2008-12-15T21:23:00.008-06:00

Wow! Where has the time gone? It's seems like just last week when we became excited about our Immigration Documents being processed! That was six months ago! Oh well, time flies when your busy and that we've been! It's been awhile since we last updated and a lot has happened. So, we'll start with the most recent and go backwards.

December 10-We received an email from our agency that we sent her the wrong notarized document. I couldn't believe it! The one final piece of paper the completes our dossier and we send her the wrong one! She claims that this won't effect how soon it gets turned into the Polish authorities so we hope that's the truth. Otherwise, here is another hold up that is taking up our precious time! Just in case, we mailed the right one TODAY! We'll let you know when our documents are in Poland! Hopefully it will be soon!

(Melanie Writes)

November 28-This was the day of our combined Thanksgiving Service at our church. We were blessed by a very surprising, yet generous outpouring of love from our congregation. This particular morning I was singing on the praise team and James was sitting in the balcony. The Pastor had just said a prayer and I was getting ready to sing a solo, when the pastor called us both to the front. Surprised we came as directed. Our Pastor then started to explain to the congregation what we were doing and how much it cost. He also added what great parents we would be and how we were following the Lords Will. He then asked for donations! By the time he was done and we sat back down I was in tears and still had to sing! Thankfully, I was able to sing with a whole new spirit. The song was entitled "He's Been Faithful!" Fitting, don't you think! We later found out that the congregation donated almost $1000. Now that's what I call "the Body of Christ" at work! (We're still working on our thank yous!)

November 20-This Thursday night we had the opportunity to attend a special dinner hosted by our social worker through Lutheran Social Services. (Melanie's parents came too!) Everyone there had either adopted, was in the process, or was considering it (as my dad puts it "an adoption support group" of sorts). We met many great couples and kids! It was a great experience and we had a lot of fun! James even won a prize! While there we also met a great couple who live just outside of Galesburg named Scott and Jena Cramer! They are adopting a little girl from Ethiopia and have an awesome adoption story! I hope they don't mind, but I have added them to our list of blogs that we follow! I also found out that Jena used to teach kindergarten in the same school were I teach! What a small world! Here is a picture of the "adoption support group!" I had to scan it in so it's a little hard to see, but you'll get the idea!

The Perfect Song!

2008-11-18T20:58:00.013-06:00

(Melanie Writes:)

I have been looking for the last two years to find this song! I heard it two years ago (December) on WCIC 100.5 fm and absolutely fell in love with it! Knowing for sure I'd hear it again, I didn't try to figure out who it was by. Then I realized that Christmas was over and I hadn't heard it again. Since then I've been trying to remember some of the words so that I could do a search for it. Finally a few weeks ago, I must have remembered just the right words because I found it! It is by a Christian band entitled Third Day and it is on their Christmas Offerings album. The song is entitled Merry Christmas. It puts into words how we feel especially during the Christmas season. If you have a moment to watch the video and listen to the song, I highly recommend it! Otherwise the lyrics are written out below. I also have this song on our Playlist on the bottom left of this web page. Enjoy!

There's a little girl trembling on a cold December morn
Crying for momma's arms
At an orphanage just outside a little China town
There the forgotten are
But half a world away I hang the stockings by the fire
And dream about the day when I can finally call you mine

It's Christmas time again but you're not home
Your family is here and yet you're somewhere else alone
And so tonight I pray that God will come and hold you in his arms
And tell you from my heart I wish you Merry Christmas

As I hang the tinsel on the tree and watch the twinkling lights
I'm warmed by the fire's glow
Outside the children tumble in a wonderland of white, Make angels in the snow
But half a world away you try your best to fight the tears
And hope that heaven's angels come to carry you here

It's Christmas time again but you're not home
Your family is here and yet you're somewhere else alone
And so tonight I pray that God will come and hold you in his arms
And tell you from my heart I wish you Merry Christmas

Christmas is a time to celebrate the holy child
And we celebrate his perfect gift of love
He came to earth to give his life And prepare a place for us
So we could have a home with him above

It's Christmas time again and now you're home
Your family is here so you will never be alone
So tonight before you go to sleep, I'll hold you in my arms
And I'll tell you from my heart, and I'll you from my heartI wish you Merry Christmas

Mailed Off!

2008-11-08T22:27:00.009-06:00

Melanie Writes:

We are officially done with the "Paper Chase" portion of the adoption! Wow! Looking back I never thought it would've taken us this long! But it has and the real "wait time" is about to start. We mailed our dossier this morning to our agency and sometime this week they will check over it and send it off to Poland. We will let you know when it gets there because you'll probably hear us cheer from all over Galesburg! Once it arrives in Poland, it will take them a few weeks to translate then we will send in a "translation fee" and the wait to be matched officially begins.

Thus far our wait time ranges anywhere from 4-12 months, with much uncertainty attached. I plan to talk with Lina (our agencies founder, also our coordinator) this week to see if she has any idea how long this will take. Following along with others who are adopting from Poland (and our agency) they are on their 10 month. It is a bit hard for me to swallow, but I know it is "all in God's timing!" Being a teacher it would be ideal if we could travel in spring and then I would have the whole summer to be with our children. I suppose I'll just have to wait and find out!

Also, I want to thank everyone who has committed to praying for us and our children. We believe in the power of prayer and can already see them working. Please continue to remember us. Another huge THANK YOU to those of you who have been able to support us financially. We have raised enough to not only pay the dossier fee of $5,500 but also to pay most of the $1000 translation fee! I can't even begin to tell you what a blessing this has been! God bless you and to let you know a very special thank you will be in the mail very soon!

On another note, the last step of the paper gathering was to add photos of us and our house. Below are some of my favorite poses that our good friend Melissa Willis took for us. She is starting her own photography business and if your looking for someone good, she's the one! (That is if you live near Galesburg, IL!) (business card below)

O.K. I know, enough pictures of us, but James says I have to include one of him with our dog Maui. (since I put one of Maui and I on last time) So here's Maui and James! (Sorry, she's not cooperating, but that's fairly normal! Hehe!)

Yeah! Praise God!

2008-10-22T21:00:00.005-05:00

Sorry it has taken us so long to update! Time has just been flying and we haven't found time to do much of anything, but keep busy!

Praise God! Thanks to friends and family we have raised enough money to turn our dossier in! With the $2,500 matching grant we received from Lifesong we raised a total of $5,895! Our dossier fee is $5,600 + $1,000 translation fee. We are so excited that through you, God has provided almost all of the dossier fees! We are confident that if God has brought us this far he will be faithful to the end!

We have had several friends ask us if they can still donate. Yes! Our account is open for as long as we like.

Tomorrow is another big day for us! We are driving to Springfield, IL to get the rest of our documents Apostilled. Hopefully we can turn our documents in before the end of the month! "Hold on little Kochersperger's! Mommy and Daddy are coming to get you!"

One reason for our hectic life is due to putting up a new privacy fence. Trying to get this down before the ground freezes is proving to be difficult! Here is a picture of James and friend (Chris) hard at work drilling holes.

Chris' wife Melissa (a good friend of Melanie's) also took a picture of Melanie and the family dog Maui! (Maui is slightly spoiled! She just got done playing frisbee and is a little out of breath!)

How To Thank You?!

2008-09-14T22:44:00.005-05:00

Once again God has overwhelmed us with such love and support from our friends and family! We do not have words that will express just how deeply blessed and thankful we are to know you and have you in our lives. Thank you for your kind words, prayer and support! We are praying that God will richly bless you for the kindness you have shown us!

If you have questions regarding the support letter, please read the previous post. If you still have questions, please feel free to contact us. We're more than willing to clear up any confusion.

Melanie Writes:
As promised, here is a picture of my precious students. They are a handful and exceptionally chatty, but I won't complain. They're very bright and I am excited about what we will get to do this year!

MRS. K'S ANGELS!

Questions?

2008-09-07T15:45:00.004-05:00

Well, we have finally sent out some support letters and it looks like several of you have some questions. Please understand that this is perfectly fine with us and we invite you to ask as many questions as you want! To begin with, here are a few pieces of information that may help with your understanding of our fundraiser and adoption process.

-Our adoption agency is Saint Mary International not Lifesong for Orphans. Lifesong for Orphans is strictly a non-profit organization, started by Christians, to help support adopting families in financial need. We had to apply to Lifesong and were thankfully accepted to receive help.
-Our adoption agency and Lifesong for orphans are both non-profit 501c organizations and have both been cleared by the IRS. We have checked them out thoroughly and know without a fraction of a doubt that we are not being scammed. We invite you to check out their websites listed on the sidebar of this site.
-Lifesong for Orphans has set up an account for us, so we are able to keep track of what is going on.
-Please send your donation to Lifesong for Orphans. The matching grant will only be matched if they receive your donation.
-Yes! All the money donated will be applied to our adoption expenses.
-Questions? Please call us or e-mail us!

Thank you to all of you who are willing to help us out with your prayers and/or financially. We know how confusing this all sounds, but please trust us when we say that this is where God wants us to be. We have complete faith that God will take care of us. And from what we hear, He is using his gracious and tender hearted followers to help take care of us too!

Also, while reading my Adoptive Families magazine, I found some neat adoption "lingo" that I thought some of you might be interested in.

-"Birthparent" or "biological parent" rather than "real parent"
-"Parent" rather than "adoptive parent"
-"International or Intercountry adoption" rather than "foreign adoption"
-"Make an adoption plan" rather than "give up a child" or "put up for adoption"
-"Was adopted" rather than "is adopted"

Back To School!

2008-08-24T16:58:00.005-05:00

Melanie Writes:

Wow! I can't believe it's that time of the year again! Summers go by way to fast! Here I am sitting here updating our blog when I should be getting ready for my class tomorrow. I had an opportunity to meet my students on Friday and I'm really looking forward to this year! I have a lot of nice families and the children seem sweet and energetic! After I take a class picture I'll post it so you can all see!

On the adoption front, we still are working on getting everything apostilled. We have just sent in James' birth certificates to California to get them official at $20 a document. I'm so thankful we live in Illinois! It's only $2 here! Thank Goodness! The rest of our documents are all Illinois issued. We plan to apostille the rest in September and will hopefully be able to turn in our dossier in October!

OUR FUNDRAISER!
The Lord is good! After receiving our matching grant from Lifesong For Orphans we are a little more at ease. We know things will come together, but sometimes it's just hard to trust without anything tangible to hold onto. We have currently finished up our support letter and hope to have those mailed out sometime this week with the help from my precious and hard working mother! Thanks Mom! Deciding who to send the letters to is becoming another hard thing to do. We don't want anyone to feel left out if they didn't receive one and we don't want anyone to think that we're being pushy if they did receive one and feel that they shouldn't have. Does this make sense? Any ideas for us? I suppose that if you don't receive one and want one, please let us know and we'll gladly send one to you and if you receive one and don't want it then just toss it. (No hard feelings here!) I hope this reasoning works!

Thanks again and God's Blessings to all of you! We Love You!
(O.K. now I suppose I better get to work for tomorrow!)

Answered Prayer!

2008-08-18T23:29:00.003-05:00

Well, things can certainly go faster now if we want them to. For the first time since we've started, the "ball is in our court." We are working on getting all our official documents more official (otherwise known as apostilled). Then we will be able to turn in our papers (or dossier) into Poland. This next step is a big milestone in the adoption process, but also a very costly one. God has promised to take care of us if we followed his calling to adopt and he is certainly starting to come through! Praise God! Just last week we received a phone call from Lifesong for Orphans telling us that they had accepted and approved our application for a matching grant! We were awarded a $2500 matching grant! We are hoping this is just the beginning of many miracles yet to come. Thank you for your prayers and support! Now that school is starting up again, our time is becoming very thin and we still have so much left to do! Please pray for patience and faith. Through family, friends, and Lifesong for Orphans, God has done so much already and we can only be thankful!

It Finally Came!

2008-07-22T09:04:00.005-05:00

Hallelujah! We can't believe it! Just last Thursday (right before we left for Louisville) a surprise showed up in our mailbox! We received the APPROVAL LETTER for our orphan petition! This is the document from the Chicago Immigration Office that we thought we wouldn't get for at least 4 more months. It's the oddest thing because their website still says they're processing orphan petitions from November 24 (ours was March). It literally showed up out of the blue! This was the piece of our dossier that we had to have before we sent it into Poland. (Dossier-papers that tell Poland all about us and our intentions to adopt children from their country.)

So what does this all mean for us? It means that whenever we're ready, we can send everything into Poland so that we can be matched with our child(ren)! We still have a few things left to do however. We thought we had 4 months to go so we weren't in a big hurry with anything. We have all the documents we need, but now they all have to be made official by sending them into the state to be apostilled. We're not sure how long this will take but are fairly confident that it won't be more than a few weeks.

We are hoping to have our dossier turned into Poland by late September or early October. Once that is turned in, we could wait anywhere from 4 months to 12 months to be matched with our child(ren). Because we are not being "to picky" about the ages or sex of our child(ren), we're expecting it to go much faster than 12 months. We're hoping to travel in early spring of 09, but we'll just have to wait and see!

Thanks again for all your love, prayers, and friendship! We would be lost without you! God's Blessings!

Still Waiting!

2008-07-14T19:37:00.004-05:00

Hello Everyone!

First off, we are setting a search party out for "Polishmom." She left us such a sweet comment, but we have no way of contacting her! Polishmom, if you're out there, we would love to get in contact with you! We have lots of questions! Please e-mail Melanie at mkochersperger@galesburg205.org.

On another note, we just have to say that this summer is going by fast. But nonetheless, we are having a lot of fun! We are really working on fixing up our house (painting, new landscaping, etc.) because we know once our children arrive, we'll have a lot less time. Things are going relatively smoothly, but there is still so much more to do before school start up again! God has also blessed us with some great friends. New friends and old friends alike have been making our wait so much easier! Praise God for friends!

Not much new news on the adoption front, we are still waiting on Chicago Immigration Services and currently it looks like they're about 4 months behind. We are taking advantage of this time and are currently working on turning in some grant applications. The money is perhaps the scariest part of this entire adoption process. However, it wouldn't be called having "faith" if God didn't give us a reason to use it! We have also been working on our dossier for Poland. It is coming together well and should be ready to go once we get approval from CIS!

Once again, thank you for all your support, friendships and prayers! We love you!

Some Progress!

2008-07-01T00:20:00.002-05:00

We never realized how hard this would be to keep updated! It's hard to do when not a lot changes. We do have some progress however! Just a few days ago I checked the USCIS website to see how they were progressing on our Orphan Petition. Good News! They are now processing applications from Nov. 25. Ours is a March processing date, so they are finally getting closer. Hopefully they can keep up this momentum so that we can get our dossier turned in this fall.

During the wait we're trying to keep up the excitement, so Melanie is reading none stop. We just received a devotional from Shoahannah's Hope and are really enjoying it! There is an article in it from some parents who adopted overseas and they wrote a neat little phrase.
"You're not waiting on man, you're waiting on God!" It helps put things in prospective!

Also, we found another couple adopting from Poland! Like our friends the Baxter's , this couple is getting close to the end as well! We feel so blessed to have found them! It has been neat sharing experiences. To check out Jeff's and Debbie's blog click on the link!

www.adoptingfrompoland.blogspot.com

Thank you again for your love and support! We appreciate you! God's Blessings!

Kicking It Up A Notch!

2008-06-09T11:44:00.005-05:00

It seems we've been stagnant for so long and although not much has changed, we are getting started on some entirely new paper work! We have begun to search and apply for many different grants and feel confident that God will lead us to the right ones. One we are especially excited about is a fundraiser of sorts. This one will match the amount that we raise from our church family, family and friends. We're in the very beginning process, so were not sure of all the specifics, but please stay tuned.

We are still waiting on CIS (Immigration Services) and we fear that this is going to be a longer wait than the actual "child referral" process. This document normally takes 2-3 months to process and ours has already taken 2 months and may have another 7 to go. The Chicago Immigration office is so far behind and unfortunately they're not gaining very fast. Please pray that they catch-up at a faster rate than what they are going and/or that we remain patient and calm during this second (but not last) hold-up.

In the mean time, we are rejoicing with our friends Dave and Teresa Baxter! They have experienced quite an adoption journey through Vietnam and are about to be blessed with a referral. Check out their blog as they get ready for the last step of their journey.
Their Blog:
www.threebax.blogspot.com

Once again, thanks for your encouragement and support!

God Bless!

Finally Updating!

2008-05-24T20:43:00.007-05:00

Sorry everyone! I confess I haven't done a good job keeping this blog updated. We've been very busy especially with the end of the school year approaching. We promise we'll do better. There really isn't much to add and that's what makes it so hard. However, I have done some reading and have found some good bits of information that I will share with you after this brief update.

We are currently still waiting on our Orphan Petition from the Immigration Office in Chicago. They are currently running about 4 months behind, but could jump up a few months at any time. Until we recieve this document, we are pretty much on hold. Once this document is returned we can move forward and send all of our papers to Poland. In the mean time, we are getting our finances in order and are applying for some grants and financial aid now that our home study is completed.

Applying for grants is a lot more difficult than we thought it would be. The forms are so comprehensive and they all want some type of testimonial or biography and require just enough "different" information that we really can't use the same one. However, we won't complain because these grants are the reason we felt we could take this big step called "adoption." Please continue to pray for us in the areas of faith, trust, and finances. There have been many moments when we have questioned ourselves wondering if we made the right choice. But we know that this is what God wants us to do and are trying to remember everyday to let it go and let God!

In the mean time, we've been reading the devotional book called "Couples Who Long For Children" by Ginger Garrett. One particular entry gave us a new out look on adoption. It said

"God has the right to give us children through any number of ways, and all are equally His and equally gifts from Him. We do not 'own' a child because he or she developed in our womb. Each child is a gift from God."

Thank you again for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers. It means so much!

Home Study Complete!

2008-04-27T00:03:00.002-05:00

We can finally say that our "Paper Chase" phase of the this process is almost over! Our home study is almost finished! We are waiting for our completed documents! This means that we can finally start applying for some grants and really get this process going. Our next step is to await the return of our Citizen Immigration document. The propsed time for this is approximately 5 months. Once we receive this back, we can turn in our dossier to Poland. Then we begin our "official" wait time for a child. Thank you again to all of you who have been so positive and who are praying for us! We appreciate it and love you all! We will do better in keeping this updated! It's been a very busy month!

Our New Look!

2008-04-06T22:30:00.004-05:00

We hope you like our new design! We saw it on "Final Sense" and fell in love with it! How precious is this beautiful child?! We are still trying to make all our fun little elements fit onto this new template.

On the other hand, I want to bring you up to date on our new "developments!" We are still plugging away on paper work and other specifics. However, we did receive our notices in the mail last week to go for our fingerprinting in Naperville (@ the Immigration Office) this week! So we're making a nice little trip out of it and will spend the night with my brother and sister-n-law in Bourbonnais! We're excited about seeing our 4 year old niece (Kalyne) and 4 month old nephew (Caleb) again!

As we mentioned before, Immigration Services are behind by 7 months, but we did get our request for fingerprints rather quickly! Wouldn't it be nice if their moving a little quicker?!

A positive twist is that we are feeling pretty good about everything despite the long time frame. We had such a great morning at church with our church family asking us how things are going and giving us a plethora of encouragement! Thank you so much! You can't imagine how your comments make such a difference in our attitudes towards the situation. Thank you also for all your prayers. They are making a difference!

God Bless!

Latest Update!

2008-03-25T21:06:00.006-05:00

Since our last update, we have had several more developments in our "adoption saga." To begin with, we want to thank all of our friends and family who are supporting and encouraging us. We feel so blessed! God has also provided us with new friends, whom we've had the privilege of getting to together with, who are traveling down a journey similar to our own! We have also had contact with other couples adopting internationally, which has also been extremely helpful! God is good!

As far as our updates go, we are still very pleased with our social worker and adoption agency. Our home study meetings are continuing and will probably be completed sometime in April. We are thankful for our home study agency Lutheran Social Services in that they are providing us with a very thorough training/counseling/supportive experience.

Our agency has moved us along the process as fast as possible, but I do feel we have hit a wall. We have turned our CIS document (Orphan Petition) into Immigration Services, which is great! Usually this document takes about 3-4 months to process. However, Immigration Services is behind by 7 months and unless they speed up, we won't be able turn our dossier into Poland until September. This part isn't so great. We were hoping to have our dossier in by June so as you can tell, this is much later then we were originally expecting. Our dossier needs to be turned into the country before our wait time begins for a child referral. Our referral time can take anywhere from 4-12 months.

If it really does take Immigration 7 months, then our time frame now (best scenario) is as follows:
March (08)-Turn in CIS document
September (08)-Receive CIS approval and turn in dossier
January (09)-Receive child referral
February (09)-Travel to Poland

It will undoubtedly go faster if our document is processed faster!

Please continue to keep us in your prayers and thank you for your continued support! We love you all!

The First Waiting Game

2008-03-09T15:04:00.001-05:00

Not much has happened in the past several weeks, but we did send in our 38 page agreement a week ago. We are waiting to here back from agency about what our next step will be. I'm hoping it will be to send in our CIS document (Citizens Immigration Services) and begin work on our Dossier (our papers that will go over to Poland). We are itching to get the CIS turned in because it can take 3 months or more to process. In other words our adoption is pretty much on hold until that document gets returned to us!

We have started our home study and are excited that we are at least doing something substantial as far as getting this adoption underway. We really like our social worker and are currently working on some more adoption training which we find to be very beneficial.

We cherish each one of your prayers and praise God everyday for his never ending love and support. God's Blessings!

Could this be our future child?!

2008-02-26T16:22:00.001-06:00

Isn't he adorable? James found this on "YouTube." This is a video of a 4 year old polish boy playing the drums and he's good! His name is Igor Falecki. When the clip is over, you can choose from 15 other clips of him playing the drums. Unbelievable! You'll need to pause the music at the bottom of this page in order to hear it.

The Process Has Begun!

2008-02-23T14:32:00.000-06:00

The process has finally begun! We received our acceptance letter in the mail today along with a 38 page agreement (Yikes!) from our new adoption agency! We are really excited about how fast things are finally going. It took our last adoption agency 1 month to process our application and get everything sent out to us. It took this agency a week! We are pleased with the personal service SMIA (Saint Mary's International Adoptions) has given us and are really looking forward to working with them. They have such a good relationship with Poland and we are looking forward to watching this process unfold.

We have also had our first home study done and are expecting another visit soon. We really like our social worker and feel she is a God send. She is truly wanting to help us and our adoptive child (ren) get ready for this gigantic leap of faith. We really appreciate that about her. Our fears have subsided some and we hope to have the home study completed in a few weeks!

Thanks again for your continued prayers, encouragement, and support. We feel blessed to have family and friends as dedicated as you!

God's Blessings to you all and we will keep you updated as things move along!

New Agency

2008-02-09T19:54:00.000-06:00

It is official! We have a new agency and a new country! I have to say however, this was a very hard decision to make. How does one even go about trying to decide where their child is located? It's such a monumental decision! We came to this decision through lots and lots of prayer/communication with God and secondly through lots and lots of research. Here are some reasons why we changed and why we chose the country and agency we did.

-Our previous agency called us and said that they highly recommend us changing from Kazakhstan to Russia. Kazakhstan they said was giving out blind referrals and they said they had trouble with perspective parents arriving in Kazakhstan to find their child to have some severe medical problems. Enough so that the parent has to turn down the child :( This doesn't happen everytime, but was something we would have to think about.

-Why not Russia? Our agency said that Russia was going through some changes, thus causing the waiting/referral time to go up to 2 years. They are right, Russia is going through quite a bit of changes and have closed the doors on many agencies around the country. However, the other agencies we researched showed the referral time was under a year.

-Why did we change agencies? Well, through all our research, we found that CHI's (our previous agency) waiting times were much longer then other programs. We believe they are a very good agency and we wish we could've stayed with them. But I'm not sure we could wait 2 years if we knew that there were other agencies who could move the process along faster! I'm not sure why CHI seems to be moving slower. Possibly due to an influx in applicants maybe. They are a very good a reputable agency.

-Why did we change countries to Poland? Well, hearing the information about Kazakhstan scared us and Russia seems to be really unstable, so through our research we found the Poland program! After reviewing all the information we could get on it, we decided that Poland was a good match! The country is more stable than the others (hopefully it stays that way), when you get your referrals they are filled with a lot of information on your child, the orphanages are well cared for and maintained, and we could possibly get a child under a year!

Our new agency will be called Saint Mary International Adoptions. They specialize in adoptions in Ukraine, Poland, and Bulgeria. The owner and founder of the agency is actually from Bulgeria and is said to have a good relationship with these countries. We have just sent in our application, so hopefully everything will workout. We had to reschedule our Home Study because our new agency needed contact with them before we began. However, our new agency (whom I've had contact with now for about 3 weeks) is smaller and more personable. I know we won't be lost in the shuffle. We are very confident with them and with Poland.

We're trying to be patient! Keep praying for us! I know it's working! God's Blessings to you all! We'll keep you updated!

Did We Change Countries?

2008-01-28T21:05:00.000-06:00

It may appear from our site that we have changed countries. Well, we think we might have! However it is not set in stone (James just wanted to know what the time and weather were like in Poland). We are still comparing programs and agencies, but are seriously considering Poland. We are still in prayer about this decision and will keep you updated about what we decide!

Thank you to all of you who have given us feed back. We really appreciate it and have checked out all the agencies.

Making Decisions

2008-01-27T16:37:00.000-06:00

Of course things can't go smoothly, that would be to simple! God is definitely trying to teach us patience and how to put all our trust in Him! We are facing a big decision which has really been stressing us out. We found out a week ago that Kazakhstan gives only blind referrals, which means you don't know anything about your child until you get there and meet them. Our organization said that many people have traveled there and have found their child to have some severe medical problems. Therefore, the couple has to get matched with another available child while their there, or they go home without a referral. This usually means that they wait some more and the waiting time is already up to 12-15 months. Frustrated we asked what they (CHI) recommended, they said we should switch to Russia. However, that is a 2 plus year wait and we should put that we will accept a 24 month old. We of course were hoping for a child under 18 months (or infant). Needless to say, we were very upset. We couldn't imagine waiting another 2 years! So, we decided to look around at other organizations to compare programs and wait times. What we found is that many programs are moving much faster (as per web site). I plan to make some calls on Monday to talk to these other organizations. If times are shorter, we may end up switching agencies and possibly countries too. I am disappointed however, because I really like CHI. I feel that they do an excellent job and I believe that is why their wait times are so long. Their are a lot of families adopting through them!

So next time you read this, hopefully we'll have our minds made up about where were adopting from and who our agency will be. Any ideas or advice for us, please let us know! Pray that God will give us insight, patience and trust! God Bless you all!

Home Study Update 2

2008-01-18T23:57:00.000-06:00

Good News! Thanks to an angel named Susan at Lutheran Social Services, we already have a home study scheduled! And it's in two weeks! Thank goodness! How we found her is a long story, but she is out of Moline, IL. I told her our dilemma and she said that all I have to do is get all our things together (CHI is sending us back all our papers) and she will accept them as they are! We only have to fill out a registration form for Lutheran Social Services and were set. As long as everything is in (fingerprints, DCFS documents, etc.), it shouldn't take long to complete our home study! I'm so relieved. Thanks for all your prayers and support! It looks like things will finally get under way!

I also want to thank everyone who has left us such kind and thoughtful messages! I'm sorry I haven't had a chance to visit your sites, but I plan to soon! It's nice to know we're not alone in this "very long" journey! God Bless!

Home Study Update

2008-01-15T19:06:00.000-06:00

Well, we finally have some news to share with you. Unfortunately, it isn't that great, but at least it's news. I was beginning to think we were going to be stuck in the same spot forever. As some of you know, our agency (CHI) had some problems with some of their employees this past summer. The employees were doing some illegal things (don't know specifics) with home study paper work and pretty much got our agency in trouble with DCFS (yes, the employees were let go). Therefore, CHI has been under investigation the last 7 months. They were supposed to have been cleared by the new year, so that they could continue with the home studies! This is what we've been waiting for since October! However, if you know anything about DCFS, nothing ever goes fast. So, today I found out that CHI will not be able to do any home studies until after June 1. So now, we need to find a social worker here in town, or close, to give us our home study. This is a problem only because we had everything done for CHI. Which means, we might have to do several things over again. I'm not looking forward to that at all. However, CHI was very kind and are returning all our documents to us, including our money. So the only thing we really lost was precious time.

On a brighter note! Children's Hope International is still fine to do our adoption and I am still pleased with them. Also, we are remembering that everything is in the Lord's timing. And as James said, "Maybe the children we are meant to adopt, aren't ready to be adopted yet. And this time that we're waiting, is meant to match us with "our" children created just for us!" Thanks again for all your prayer and encouragement. God Bless!

Thus Far

2007-12-27T12:30:00.000-06:00

We started the process in September. At the time, I thought we would get started quickly and be well on our way by Christmas. Well, things didn't quite work out that way, but we know God's timing is perfect, so we are trusting in Him.

Thus far, we have been working on all the mounds of paper work for our home study(fingerprinting, autobiographies, DCFS Foster Family certification, adoption parenting classes, etc.) As of now we are waiting for our home study to be completed. We are projecting it to be completed sometime in January. Once this is done we have to get our dossier together. We are currently working on this now and hope for this to be turned in sometime in January as well. The dossier is all the information about us that goes to the country of Kazakhstan. Once Kazakhstan gets this information we are officially "in the running" for a child. When we started this program in September the wait time was 4-6 months. Unfortunately, because of the popularity of the program (and the closures of others), the time has increased to 10-15 months. So, as you can guess we are itching to get this dossier done. However, there are a lot of things that still need to be done. We will keep you updated! Please keep us in your prayers that we stay patient and filled with faith. We hope everyone had a great Christmas and blessings for your new year!