Postive Outcome: From Orphanage to Family
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A Seamless Blend
Shortly after Karen and I were married, we tried to have kids on our own for about a year. With no success, we started looking at other ways we could have a family together. We were referred to a fertility clinic and after many tests and procedures, we found out there wasn’t an identifiable reason that we were not able to conceive a child. The clinic suggested the next step would be to try in-vitro fertilization. Because of the cost involved, the uncertainty of a successful pregnancy and our ages, we choose to look at adoption as our path to starting our family. I was adopted and knew first hand that the bond between adopted children and their parents are very real and very strong.
We researched both domestic and international adoption from various countries. We chose Poland in part because many of our findings were that the children available were usually healthy and well cared for. We were interested in adopting two children and knowing that Poland generally does not break up sibling groups, made Poland an easy choice for us. Karen’s grandfather immigrated from Poland and both our families are primarily Catholic, which allowed us to have a deeper connection to the country.
We found St. Mary’s International Adoption on the internet during our initial investigation into adopting from Poland. When we continued to look further, we became more and more impressed with their accounts of successful adoptions and found comfort in their shared faith, belief in God and the power of prayer. We were also able to talk to several families who have adopted through St. Mary’s about the process, which helped answer questions from their side of the process. St. Mary’s was very helpful in working through the adoption process. Nick and Lina were understanding and knowledgeable with their positive and encouraging words when we encountered bumps in the road.
It’s no secret that there is a ton of paperwork that needs to be gathered. The more organized you can be up front, the easier the process will be as you go. In our specific case, one of the most difficult and time consuming things was gathering all of the correct documents from various local agencies in the cities that I had lived. Nick and Lina even offered to call some of these agencies to help us. They provided written instructions and links to various forms that need to be completed and were always available to answer any questions that we had.
Our paperwork was submitted to Poland in December, 2013 and we received the referral for our two daughters in February, 2014. However, we had to update some of our documents, which were finally able to be sent to Poland a few months later. We received the call on Memorial Day that we needed to be in Poland in one week! Our children were in a foster family and each day, we were able to spend a few hours with them. To see the girls for the first time in person was surreal and a dream come true. After about 5 days there, we came home. Saying goodbye to the girls was so hard! The wait between our trips seemed to take forever but we were able to Skype every weekend with them. We were able to read books to them, show them flashcards with pictures to help learn English, and show them their bedroom, toys, sandbox, etc. that they would have. It was a blessing to be able to have the kids keep us in their minds even though we couldn’t be with them.
We were able to travel back to Poland at the end of August. Words could not describe how happy we were that we would finally be able bring our kids home and we were going to be their parents! We spent a total of almost 7 weeks in Poland, with the first 3 weeks in Gdansk and the remainder in Warsaw. In both places, we had small apartments with a small kitchen and bathroom.
Traveling to Poland was wonderful – the people were very nice and the landscape reminded us a lot of our home in the Midwest. We tried to think of everything when we packed and we probably brought a few more things than we needed. We basically brought a weeks’ worth of clothes along with a sweater and jacket. In addition, we had to bring clothes for our court hearing. Knowing that we had washing machines made it easy. However, we did not have dryers so everything had to be hung on racks. We did bring clothespins as well which came in handy although you can buy them there. A few other tips:
At first it was difficult to cope – everyone is adjusting to each other, you aren’t in your normal surroundings, you are learning a new way of daily living and you have a limited ability to communicate in the “usual” ways – and at times, we wished we could have come home right away like other countries allow. However, by the end of our trip, we had tears in our eyes because we didn’t want to leave. Poland is an absolute beautiful country and there is a genuine concern from Polish people for their children. They truly want the best for them and we were fully able to be immersed in our children’s history. Lina and Nick shared some advice with us – try to remember that this is probably going to be the longest vacation you will be able to go on and you may never get to spend this much dedicated time with your children again once you are home and work. Keeping this in mind helped when things were a little stressful.
The foster family and Polish adoption officials were very nice and wonderfully kind people who we could tell truly cared about the children and their well-being. St Mary’s kept in contact with us throughout the adoption and we were able to Skype a few times while we were in Poland. I couldn’t be more pleased with this agency and sincerely hope they can help you like they have helped Karen and I. Best wishes and remember To God be the Glory!
-Jim and Karen
Since 2001, our mission is to serve through international adoption. Our prayer is that orphans placed with believers will be told about who Jesus Christ is, and that He died and rose again, for our sins. We’re a highly specialized agency focusing on being an expert in a few countries, rather than offering many. We've served our parents with&nbs...
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