Bringing Luka Home: Last Days in Poland and Home at Last!

New U.S. Citizen, as of going through Customs/Immigration in Minneapolis.

Last Days in Poland

It only took four days to get Lukasz' Polish passport and the US immigration visa. The US Embassy gave me a sealed envelope of documents to give to customs at our first US destination (Minneapolis). That was on Thursday. We had three free days before leaving for home.

We walked around Warsaw for the last few times. I bought some last minute souvenirs for the kids.

Repair being done to a road in Old Town Warsaw. The stones are huge.

I wanted to take a picture of Lukasz next to the stones.

to give a perspective on how thick they are but he was

having none of it. He was perfectly happy until I tried

to stand him there. I think he thought I was going to

leave him there.

Superman was Adopted. Great t-shirt.
In our apartment's back garden.

On Sunday, we were invited to our agency rep's home for the afternoon. Their house is in a little village outside of Warsaw and the large backyard backs on to a forest. The translator who worked on all of our documents and her family were also there. Ewa, the translator, has two boys aged 7 and 9. The 7 year old was born with a disfigured left arm so it was nice to get her experiences with how her boys react to strangers' and other children's comments and stares, as well as school experiences.

Both of the boys are extremely interested in all things nature. And apparently everyone in Poland has an interest in collecting wild mushrooms to eat. Even the boys were very familiar with the different types of mushrooms, poisonous and edible. They were anxious for the season to start so they could hunt mushrooms. So, after a lovely dinner outside, we all went for a long walk through the forest and the boys picked mushrooms--mostly poisonous.

I spent the rest of the night cleaning the apartment and packing. We woke up at 3:00 a.m. and headed out to the airport.

Getting Home!

When we arrived in Minneapolis, we went straight to Customs with everyone else and I handed the precious sealed envelope to the Customs official. He stamped Lukasz's passport and told us that he is now a citizen, we can apply for his social security card at any time using the passport as his identification and that we will receive a Certificate of Citizenship in the mail within 6-8 weeks. Hurray!

Starting the Journey from Warsaw.

We made it home on June 30, 2012, at about 5:00 p.m. Lukasz was great on the plane except he really hated being restrained on my lap during take off and landing. He was perfectly content to sit on my lap throughout the flight, it was just when he felt like he was not allowed to move that he screamed. Which was for the 20 minutes before, during and after take off (and landing) that we had to wait for the seat belt light to go off.

Note to all the passengers who gave us dirty looks and made nasty comments about his screaming:

If you were strapped in a car seat during all your waking hours in the "play room" for the ten months after you demonstrated an ability to roll over and move independently, you would also resist any attempt you perceive as a withdrawal of your newly acquired freedom of movement. The resentful silence and few hateful comments of the plane full of people during his terrified cries are an allegory for the indifference and apathy of his caregivers, specifically, and the rest of the world, generally, which fails to acknowledge the unacceptable life conditions of so many children domestically and abroad.

Awesome Greeting

Matt and the kids and both of our sets of parents were there to meet us. Lukasz and I exited the terminal at the wrong end of the airport so we weren't in the right spot to see everyone as we came out but we all ran to meet each other. The kids crowded Lukazs immediately. He was so tired, he did not respond as enthusiastically as the other kids had hoped but that did not seem to bother them at all.

I don't know why they covered their faces.

On the ride home, we learned that Lukasz is terrified of balloons. The metallic Elmo and "Welcome Home" balloon kept floating into his face and his one eye got so big and he had such a look of terror I had to twist around and shove them back before they did lasting trauma.

Meeting their new brother.

The adjustment is a little rough. Nothing too bad but Lukasz does want me to hold him almost all the time. That is good as it means he is attaching to me. And he has woken up every morning at 3:00 a.m. and not gone back to sleep until 5:30. We're following his lead and doing our best. We want him to know that we will be here to meet all of his needs and we know that this is his third home in 2 months and that has got to be scary and unsettling.

Yesterday I thought he had FINALLY figured out the "more" sign while we were eating lunch. He repeated it between almost twenty bites of food. I was so excited that he was learning to communicate with language rather than screams and pointing. But later in the day I could not get him to do it.