Informal Update - wait, wait, wait, ----Hurry Up!

We have an informal update from the orphanage director through our Polish interpretor, and the agency we are working with in NY. The judge is looking at a court date of the 6,7,or 8th of July. Prior to the court date you have a "bonding period" of at least two weeks (typically three weeks.) So that means we need to wait almost another whole week to find out our court date, but then may need to leave with two days notice to get there in time to start the bonding period.

The judge is not going to set the date and the bonding period until Tuesday. (There is a holiday tomorrow in Poland so that is probably a reason for the delay.) But once we know this is our current understanding of the process.

The first part of the bonding period we will stay in an apartment in the orphanage. This apartment has a few bedroom/playrooms, a bathroom, and a basic kitchen. This helps with the transition since Maya will start to get used to being with us 24 hours a day in an environment that she is familiar with. We will also be given information on her schedule, food she eats, etc. After a few days we will move to an apartment near the orphanage and the downtown area of the town. During this time the social worker and the orphanage staff will be checking in and making visits to make sure we are making good progress and help with any issues. Depending on the length of the bonding it also seems possible that we might be able to spend some time at the shore which is just 30ish minutes away. Mason is excited about that because Amber washes up on the beach there.

On the court date we will go meet with the judge, answer their questions, and hopefully finalize the adoption. At that time the judge could also decide to extend bonding for almost any reason. (My understanding is that this judge does do that sometimes.) At this court date the adoption is officially granted and Maya would be our daughter if approved. Court is very formal in Poland so kids are not allowed and suits are required.

After finalization, we go to Warsaw and start the paper chasing process. Well, our translator and the lawyer she works with starts the paper chasing process and we show up when and where we are told to. That process can take two to three weeks. When we are ready to leave Maya will have her old birth certificate, a new birth certificate with her new name, a polish passport, and a US visa/passport (with a big folder of documents to give to immigration when we land back in the US. )

We talk to Maya again tomorrow morning. Everytime we talk to her we feel like we need to get there right away. Mason is on a cruise with his cousins and grandparents and will be back later this week. His kids club counselor is Polish and she offered to teach him Polish during the cruise. He went to his first "polish lesson" tonight. We haven't heard how it went yet, but she is going to teach him a few songs, which will be perfect.

I'm used to the proces of hurry up and wait. It seems instead we are following the process of wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, HURRY UP!!!! We can't wait to get to the hurry up phase. Keep up and Maya in your thoughts over the next week. We hope to be together soon.