Our Down Right Beautiful Life: Adoption Update: It's Official!

It has been quite the busy week!!

On Sunday we had a lazy/laundry day in the apartment so that Claire could rest and hopefully start to feel better.

Monday we decided to take the train to Auschwitz and Auschwitz II-Birkenau. Our kids are a little young but we felt like this would probably be their only chance to go and we went for it, they did great!!!! We got on the wrong bus initially so the day was much longer than we had anticipated as we had to wait an extra three hours at the train station but they really did do very well. What an experience.

Monday night we got home very late and then stayed up even later packing up the apartment to travel back to Warsaw. I wasn't able to sleep much waiting for court the next day anyway ;).

On Tuesday morning, we had our adoption hearing! It was much more formal than we anticipated. There was a judge, panel, and court reporter. For some reason the prosecutor couldn't make it which we initially thought was a good thing but it actually ended up hurting us because the judge was going to shorten the remainder of our stay by removing some steps in the process (due to Amelia's young age and Claire's need for medical care) but she was unable to without his consent. First she read off all of the documents that we had submitted and then she called Justin to the stand (very formal and "court-like"!!). I think she asked him about 30 questions and then I was called to the stand and asked another set of questions, about 20. Finally, she called Amelia's legal guardian to the stand and had another 20 or so questions for her about Amelia's biological family and their involvement and how she perceived our interactions and relationship with Amelia. The social worker had submitted her report in writing so she did not come to the court and did not testify but the judge said that it was a very favorable report (!!). After that, we waited outside the court for about 45 minutes while they deliberated and then they called us back in (the kids got to come in for this part) to read the judge's final decision! She said that she thought Amelia was very lucky to be adopted and decided that we could adopt her!!!!! So Amelia became "Amelia Grace Howell!!"

Immediately after court, we loaded up and took two trains back to Warsaw where we will stay for the rest of our time here other than one more trip back to the court to pick up the final decision and Amelia's new birth certificate. There are larger hospitals here and this is where our facilitators and another adoptive family are staying so we will have more support.

Now there is a 7-day period during which the judge prepares her final decision and others are allowed to submit an appeal. After that there is a 14-day waiting period before the judge's decision is final. The decision will automatically become final on 11/25 and we will be able to go back to the court and pick up the final decision as well as Amelia's new birth certificate on 11/26 (this date is Thanksgiving back home, what an incredible thing to be thankful for!!!!). We need both of those documents to apply for her new PESEL number (their version of our social security number), passport, and visa. Once we have those documents, we can come home! We hope to accomplish this all within in a few days but we aren't sure how long it takes them to process the passport and visa here so we really don't know how long we will be here. We hope to be home the first week of December but that may not be possible.

While we are waiting during this 21-day period, the only steps we are able to take are to get Amelia's passport photo taken so that we have it ready and we are also able to have her required medical examinations done. She needs these in order to apply for her Visa / entry into the U.S. as a citizen. The purpose is to make sure that she isn't carrying any infectious diseases back to the States. Her first medical exam is on Monday (11/9), we may have to have two exams or we may only need one and then a blood draw at a special lab, it will depend on what the physician says.

On Wednesday we took the kids to a science museum here and yesterday we took them to an indoor playground. We are trying to get settled in as best as we can since we will be here longer than we had anticipated. As you can imagine, the kids are anxious to get home to their toys, friends, and typical routine so we are trying to keep them as busy as we can. We will likely alternate "play" days with "get things done" days but they really are doing a great job considering!

Amelia does a little better each day. Her preference is still to be alone but she is smiling a lot more and yesterday she let me hold her on my lap for the first time without screaming and trying to get away!!!!! She isn't eating any solid foods and I feel like I've tried every last thing I can think of because the orphanage says that she does eat solids, I just can't figure out what. She doesn't even like whipped cream, pudding, or ice cream! I tried vegetables, fruits, soups, pureed dinners, and every single grain they have here (and even combining things) before getting desperate and trying sweets (I figured since they feed her the Kiesel to drink - maybe her solid food is also sweet). We only had that one day that she ate three bowls of rice cereal and than one day a week later when she ate one more, she hasn't touched it since. She gags quite dramatically and spits out everything but she IS drinking 4-5 her bottles (of formula) happily now which is a huge step. When we are eating, she turns herself away and won't even look at our food. I'm sure it is just one more thing that will just take time. I have some ideas about things we can try when we get home and have more tools. You know you're a mom when the thing you miss most when you're living away from home isn't your bed, shower, clothes, food, ... it's your high chairs!!!!

Claire still has a lingering cough and a very runny nose but her fever is gone and her breathing is much better. And now Anna has developed something last night and this morning that looks like the chicken pox (she has been vaccinated) ... so we will be keeping her home for a few days until it passes just in case. She is miserable, covered in bumps and very itchy and has pain in one leg. What an adventure this has been!!

Thank you for continuing to cheer us on! We will be able to share all of our photos on 11/25 after the judge's decision is final. I know you are anxiously waiting and we are excited to share them. Here are some that we can share in the meantime.