It's "GOTCHA" Day!

Bracing ourselves for a difficult day...even the boy said over breakfast "I ain't ready for this." (Who's his English teacher anyway!? Oh wait, that's me...) Dad had a good reply - "we ain't ready for it either, but we weren't ready when you came along either! We'll all figure it out together, remember God's in control so we don't have to worry."   wise old man, he is.

We met the foster parents and our girl in the office, and we were taken to a room with some toys in it.

The foster mother quickly handed over a small bag of last minute belongings (we got the big suitcase yesterday), gave us all a kiss on each cheek and walked out of the room with red eyes. All I could say was "Keu-sen-em Say-pen" (thank you very much) while holding her hand. She was handing over her baby to me, never to see her again. I almost lost it AGAIN...but I held in the tears again. If she could go without crying, then so could I.

Sweet girl was just very quiet and reserved, not wanting to respond to much...sad but not crying. Of course daddy brought her out of her shell in no time, making her laugh with wooden blocks. Who can do that!? What a gift he has for connecting with people. It still amazes me.

Then we drove to another office to meet with another lady, and sign the paperwork to officially become her temporary guardians for the next 30 days. This was a longer meeting, in a room with absolutely no toys in it. Enter: Nintendo DS. This is what the original intent of the DS was, back in the day - to entertain kiddos when they are stuck in a room with nothing else to do (the only time we use it). Sweet girl was happy to draw and doodle with us on a piece of printer paper, and in honor of Grampa John I made a couple of mazes which she had no idea what to do with...until I traced the path a couple of times, and then she figured it out and started solving them! Grampa John will be proud, and now she's ready for his mazes. We listened to the Hungarian laws and the Hague treaty rules translated, and signed a bunch of stuff written in Hungarian...that Rita translated for us.

DRUMROLL PLEASE!!!............We are a family of 4! I have some really cute pictures of the four of us, but I can't post them. Imagine how cute we all look.  :)  Here we are asking for directions when we got lost after lunch. Oops. Look at big brother making sure little sis is taken care of. They are inseparable, it's almost too cute to handle.

After lunch, and another trip to Tesco to get a fleece blanket for each of the kids and a swimsuit for sweet girl, we came back to our apartment and showed her around our "temporary" home. Of course our translator Rita helped us out with this. Did I mention how great she is? We couldn't ask for a better translator/facilitator...she's becoming a good friend. Then she left us. Alone. How do you say "let's put on your pj's" and "it's time for a shower" again? Yikes....get out the book again.

Pause, and think what sweet girl must be thinking. Did these people kidnap me? Am I having a sleepover with my new friend (the boy)? When do I go back home? Why are they always smiling at me so much? I want some chocolate milk but I have no idea how to ask for it. I want "fud-jie" (ice cream). When do I go home?  I like Hello Kitty.

I wish I could read minds. That's the super-power I always wanted to have. I'd take that over being invisible or flying any day.

Turns out I don't have to. Miming actually works amazingly well. The kids played with the scooter, water guns, bubbles, and we went in the hot tub, ate dinner on the patio, played a board game, did a puzzle, colored, played with cards, read a book, and went out to eat like it was nuthin. Cute bonus: she apparently LOVES to clean and organize. I watched her take all of her stuff out, and go through all of our stuff asking "A-neem?" which I'm guessing means "mine?" to figure out what was hers. Then she organized all of 'her' stuff several different ways, consolidated containers, threw away all the trash, and organized everything into 'her' cabinet. Then she started cleaning up the boy's toys. Which - get this - inspired HIM to start organizing everything of his. I was in sorting and lining-up heaven. And more amazingly, when we got home and it was time for THE FIRST SHOWER, and going to bed. Surely we are going to have problems now....right? She's only had baths.

I did a mock demo of what to do in the shower (yes, I felt really silly), but it seems like she totally trusts me because she looked up at me with that sweet face and got right in and just stared at me smiling the ENTIRE time I was reaching in through the open shower door (I should have changed out of my jeans first, because I ended up pretty soaked) shampooing her hair and soaping her. She is so CUTE!  The whole time I'm repeating English words to help her learn, which makes me feel extra silly, but hopefully it will work. "Wash! ....Wash! ....Wash!"  ...then "Dry! ...Dry! ...Dry!" ...then for teeth "Brush! ...Brush! ...Brush!" ....and "PJ's! ...PJ's! ...PJ's!" ...you get the picture.

We're a little smitten with her, and we did a lot of extra cuddling and singing at bed time, because she just behaves so well and just sits there smiling at us so sweetly. I'd be singing and tickling her arms, and whenever I would look over to her eyes her smile would get really big and her eyes would sparkle.

Either she's the sweetest little thing ever, or she's some evil maniac who's REALLY good at fooling us, and she's plotting some elaborate scheme to take all of our ice cream. I'm pretty sure she's the sweetest thing ever. And I'll give her all of my ice cream any day.

Day 6: The LAST day...

It's the last day to visit the foster home.
It's the last day we are a family of three.

To break the ice today, I make little animal hand puppets in the car. This provided entertainment for the next several hours!

We visited the chocolate and wine festival in Nyireghaza today. Kids got to dip a wafer roll in the chocolate fountain...we had chocolate on chins, foreheads, arms...it was great.

I got a picture of the foster parents so I can put it in our girl's Lifebook when we get back. They are such sweet people, and have been so hospitable to us the whole time. They have been taking care of our little girl her whole life, and I can imagine that this is very hard for them to let her go. We went through the suitcase that we had left there the day before, and checked off the list of clothes (a week's worth) that she was giving us, since the government had purchased them we had to sign off that we were receiving them. I gave the foster mother a gift of chocolates and a card that I had a note translated on, and some Kansas memorobilia. I hugged her and she kissed me on both cheeks, and I ALMOST lost it, but somehow I held it together.

Tonight we walked around the block and went out to eat at a new restaurant we found to celebrate our last day as a family of three, and then watched Cars 2 while cuddling on the couch. I'm kind of mourning this, I think....we have such a close family and have so many little traditions and routines...and I know everything is about to change. But I know we'll build new traditions and just build a new kind of normal - and I can't wait for our new addition!

Day 5: Learning together...

She was happy to see us and eager to come with us today! We were dropped off in a marvelous park with walking paths, flowers, a lake with a bridge to an island, and little gazebos scattered around. We found a zip-line in the playground, and it seemed like she had never seen it before. She went from completely afraid of it and unable to do it, to doing it all by herself and brushing us off saying something like "et tehdu"...which we are guessing means "I can do it!" She did the same thing with a big long slide - acting afraid at first, but trying little by little with our help, until she was doing it "et tehdu". I take this as a good sign, that she is willing to try new things, and she learns fast! The same thing happened with this water fountain where the stream shoots over your head. Eventually with my coaxing she went through it a few times.

BONUS: we each got a kiss on the cheek from our little girl when we dropped her off in the afternoon! First kiss :)

Avery also had a good lesson in Hungarian, trying to play with some neighbor girls for the first time after we got home for the evening. It was our entertainment for the night watching them trying to figure out who was "it", and watching them teach each other how to count to 10 for Hide n Seek. He made such an effort to talk to them, and bring them a cup of water when he thought they were saying they were thirsty, and bringing his toys outside to play with.

We had our own little crash course when the repair guy came to fix the shower...and we had to mime the whole thing. The only word he knew in Angolul was "moment", and amazingly he used it in at least 3 different contexts. Ha!

By the way - we got WIFI today at the apartment!! Whoop!! YouTube and Facebook, here I come!

Day 3 & 4: The First of the Firsts

Try this: pick only 8 phrases and write them down. Go through your entire day ONLY speaking those phrases. Everything else you have to mime. Here's our choices of Magyar phrases that we know, with phonetic pronunciation, that we have to go through the entire day with.

1. Yes! "Ee gen"
2. No! "Nem"
3. Hello & goodbye "See ya"
4. Do you like? "Tet seek"
5. Pretty. "Chee nosh"
6. Please "Key air lek"
7. Thank you "Koo sih nem"
8. Good! "Yo"

Try to ask how much something costs, to tell someone to 'come back here!', or tell them 'pick only one', and to tell them you had a great day with them using only these words. Yes, we have a little Hungarian translation book, but when you are in the instant of needing to say something there is no time to sit and flip through a book. I do have a piece of paper with a list of other phrases for quick reference, these are just the ones we have memorized. Thank goodness soon we can start teaching English instead. She already knows 'stop', 'go', 'yes', 'no', 'left' and 'right'...and a little 'mommy' and 'daddy', and can say 'cookie' (which is the most important kid word, of course).
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On Day 3 & 4 we got to take her away from her foster home for a day trip. We took her to the mall (which I think was her first time - because the hand dryers and the escalators were REALLY fun for her) and Tesco the first day.

Look really close at this picture. This is the really adorable thing that is happening here...see the kids holding hands? The boy is just smitten with our new little girl, and tells me over his shoulder "I really like her" and "Isn't she great?" and "mommy, I think I love my new sister. she's sweet".  Awww! He gives her hugs and pats her head, and leads her around by the hand whenever we are out. She likes him a lot too, and copies whatever he does.

We had our first family shopping trip at Tesco (I always want to follow that with "where the pets go!"...thinking Petco.) This place is awesome - it has little strip mall including thrift stores inside the store! I got a used pair of pants for $7 (since I mistakenly packed for summer and only brought shorts), exchanged cash, bought minutes on our T-Mobile phone, bought a capuccino from a machine (80 cents, and it was pretty good! Check out the "Automatikus Kave" machine below), bought groceries, toys, and some pastries all in one store. Love it!  Little girl loved to push the cart and help out...and try to put WAY too many toys in the cart. We used "nem" a lot on this trip.

Today we took her to the zoo. Today was different though. She wasn't quite as eager to come with us...and cried when we finally just had to carry her to the car. :(  I could see it in her eyes that she finally 'got it' that we were going to be her forever family for the first time, and it scared her a little to think of such a big change. Our translator explained to her that we want to love her forever, that we have a room at home just for her, new clothes just for her, and we wanted so much to have fun with her that day....and she just stared off without saying anything with little tears coming down her cheeks. 

We shamelessly bribed her with her favorite treat, and promised to buy her 2 "Turorudi" candies if she came with us. Everyone in the car got a few, except me since one gave me a migraine the first day. They are refrigerated chocolate covered lemon cream cheese....mmm.

 

Once we got to the zoo, we were all a happy family for the day. The kids were so adorable getting along so well. Besides a serious case of the "gimmies", she is a very polite and well behaved little girl. My heart is full, and God is good! AND I got to feed a llama, could this day get any better!? 

OH....yes it can! After we dropped her off for the evening we stopped the car (yes, I made them stop the car so I could get out) because I saw a little boy walking his goats. On a leash. Down the sidewalk. We all went and asked if we could take pictures, and made the little boy feel like a celebrity for a day. He said the little ones were 3 week old babies, so soft!! I'm sure he thought we were all crazy.

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I'm so impressed with the plan they have orchestrated for us during these visits. It's all in the best interest of the child...to 'ween' her onto us as parents, and I really see how everyone cares so much for the kids in the system here. First just a one hour meeting, then a 4 hour meeting at her foster home, then a series of day trips. This weekend we are going to bring her back to our apartment for a visit, then take her back to the foster home. We take an empty suitcase for her tomorrow, and pick it up Sunday full of clothes and toys that she gets to take with her (good thing, cuz guess what? I only packed shorts!) On Monday we all meet at the Guardianship office for one last goodbye from the foster parents, and to sign the paperwork to officially be her guardians...and Monday night she comes to live with us! 30 days later, we go to Budapest and make her a Harrington officially.

Thank you for praying...this is a challenge beyond what we've ever undertaken before, and a delicate situation for one little heart, as well as all the people who have cared for her. We need God's help for wisdom and patience, and for her heart to be excited and filled with hope without any fear.

Day 2: The Boy, The Dog, and The Cookie

This morning after some scrambled eggs and toast, we visited the Ministry office again to meet the Director over the adoption program. They are very interested in our feelings about the adoption, if we are excited, and if we still want to go through with it. They seem to love all our questions (and we always ask A LOT of them...) and that we are so interested in knowing everything we can about our little girl's history. One day I know she'll ask us a lot of questions, so this is our only chance to ask them! We are finding out a lot about why she was just put up for adoption recently, and why a lot of other kids get stuck in the system.

We pull up to a house about seven or eight, and we yell to the cabby - oh, oops. Sorry. Who was humming the Fresh Prince tune just then? Ha. Well, we were met at the gate this time by our little one, smiling and happy to see us for Day #2. Hugs are still a little awkward, but we squeeze one in anyway and say "Szia!" to her. I have matured over the past 24 hours, and have graduated to "Jo napot kivanok" for the adults. Don't really know what it means, just know it's a better greeting than just "Hi!" and they seemed to appreciate it.

The foster mother and father brought in a little table and put out a huge spread of sandwiches, cookies, juice, coffee, and carbonated water (still haven't gotten used to that). She is so hospitable, it really touches my heart. I know this must be hard for her since she's taken care of our little one since birth. We really owe her a lot! Dad sat with Rita and the foster mother and asked tons of questions today...and we found out that she's been keeping a diary since she was a baby! She is going to have it translated and give it to us when we leave, so we have stories to tell. We'll also get a bunch of baby pictures and pictures throughout her whole life, and medical records. What a blessing!

The time passed so quickly - we ate up a good 4 hours just hanging out together in her room, and we talked her into taking us outside in the yard for a little bit. I asked her "Szeretsz szinezni?" which means 'do you want to color?' and her and I colored a bunch. I brought her a new Lisa Frank coloring book, some markers, and a pad of construction paper. She was really messy at first, but after watching me color some flowers really delicately she started to do it really slowly and started copying me and staying in the lines. She's very particular about keeping things organized, I learned! Don't take more than one marker out at a time, she'll make sure the last one is put back.

Surprise of the day: She REALLY TALKS! We were told that she hardly ever talks and needs speech therapy, but since we met her she has been talking up a storm, seemingly complete sentences. She gets a kick out of teaching us new words and listening to us butcher the pronunciation. She laughs A LOT, she seems really happy...maybe she's just laughing AT us, but that's ok. :)  Everyone is completely surprised at how much she's opened up to us. Dad said it best "My God is a big God, and when he orchestrates something He does it exactly right".

Some of you have asked about the boy, and how he's handling all this. I'm so impressed with his maturity during all this - every time we have to sit in a boring adult meeting he just sits patiently and waits...and he has been excited right along with us every time we see her, or talk about her. He's taking the whole 'big brother' thing very seriously...we've talked about how that's the job God has given him right now, and he's really taken it to heart. The kids get along great and seem to really enjoy each other's company.

The rules: I can't show her face until paperwork is finalized...so we'll see how creative I can be with the pictures.

The Dog: I think the dog's name is "Holey"...and he kept climbing through the back of the swing and licking me, and escaping off his leash. He had a mustache. And bangs! So in order to have a place to go back and remember her dog, here is Holey.

 

I absolutely love their garden and I want to frame this picture - isn't it lovely? It smelled so fragrant...but watch out, the bees are as big as mice, no joke.

And The Cookie: As we were swinging in the front yard I kept showing her my cookie and saying "cookie", and finally she started calling it a cookie when people asked what it was. She also said 'bed', and 'oos' for shoes. First goal - teach her how to say "sh". I think she'll catch on to "Angolul" (English) just fine!

Interesting fact - people in Hungary don't call their country 'Hungary'. Who knew?! Probably everyone but me. But they call it Magyarorser (I probably butchered that too), and the language is Magyar.

 

Today is the day!!!

We were picked up by our entourage this morning bright and early, to pile into the van and drive about an hour to the town where our little girl lives. I feel like I'm cramming for a test in the back seat as I skim down the list of phrases that I had Rita translate for me (well, she re-translated it for me, after we realized how bad of a job Google translate did. For "have you been on an airplane before?" it translated it into "have you ever been strapped onto the nose of an airplane (like suicide)?" Yikes. Can you imagine how scary it would have been if we would have asked our little girl that!)  So we only use Google translate for one word phrases now.

I want to remember how to say hi, and 'you are very pretty'. It's "Szia" (See-ya) and "Nagyon czisnos vagy" (Na-jone cis-noshe vaij). Also 'yes' and 'no' will come in handy, "igen" and "nem". We get to visit her for only about an hour, or hour and a half today.

First we have to go to the government agency to meet the social worker, and so she can ask us some questions about how we are feeling about this whole thing, and allowed us to ask some questions. Then we bring her with us in the van, and we are off to the smaller town.

We pull up into the neighborhood (similar to the one pictured) and we park outside of the gate, and the foster mother we recognize from the video greets us at the gate with yet another social worker. There are now 8 adults walking into the house, all for one little girl. It's amazing how much time, paperwork, money, effort and coordination has gone into making this one moment happen.

We walk into a cute little house with a large flower garden out front, and follow the foster mother into the other room where she brings our little girl to us, saying something in Magyar (Hungarian) while holding her hand. She comes out to see these 8 adults all looking at her, and looks a little shy and stays close to the foster mother. How overwhelming that must have been for her! We all sit together so they can explain that we are a family. At this point I believe she thinks we are just visiting her, and they haven't told her for sure that we are going to be her new mom and dad...although I did here the word mom, "anya" and dad "apa" a couple of times, so I think they are preparing her.

She finally led us (a little reluctantly) into her room because they were all asking her about Hello Kitty - which I think is one of her favorite toys. We sat with her on the floor of her room taking pictures and playing with toys, with Dad working his 'twinkle' magic (where he gets this little sneaky smile on his face and his eyes actually twinkle and you can't help but giggle and feel comfortable around him) for about an hour. The others left us alone as soon as they saw us start to interact with her, because they wanted her to bond with us, and not them. We couldn't speak a word of Magyar except yes and no, but somehow Dad had her laughing and giggling and smiling within about 2 minutes. And our little guy stepped right in and started playing with her...and what do you know? They both love playing with legos! It was a little bit magical, actually.

Here's the disclosure, and letdown for the day: We will not be able to post any pictures of her until the paperwork is finalized in July! Rules prohibit public posting of the children until it's 'official'. Sorry :(

Our little mini-comedian takes after his dad and is always making her laugh. One thing she thought was hilarious too was when Dad would try to build something with blocks, I would take it off and say "nem" (no)....over and over. She was so sweet and just listened to everyone talking, played with us, and laughed with us. The foster mother brought us all punch in fancy glasses on a tray, then a while later brought in a little coffee tray with miniature espresso sized cups of coffee. She brought us a stack of pictures from our little girl's past birthdays all the way since she was 2. I hope we get to take a few of those with us! I hear that she will be bringing about a week's worth of clothing with her, and any toys that she wants to take...so next Monday when we get to take her into our custody we'll bring a suitcase with us.

Then when we were in the middle of having a great time, they come in and say 'that's all for today, time to go'. We want to leave on a high note, so that she'll look forward to seeing us again tomorrow. Tomorrow we get to actually take her for about half a day to go get ice cream or something....and she smiled really big when they told her that. The social workers both told us that they were very surprised at how she opened up to us, and they have never seen her like that, so giggly and talkative...and they could tell that she really liked us, and that we would be able to do great things for her development. First visit - success!

We said "Szia!" and waved, and she gave each of us a hug and we started to walk out. But she scampers alongside us and puts her shoes on as fast as she can and comes right out after us, like she wanted to go with us or something. She followed us all the way out to the van and wanted to look inside. They tell her we will see her tomorrow and she waved and smiled to all of us. The hard part was driving away...

I could get used to this....

 We're really 'roughin' it here in Hungary. The weather is a perfect 21.11 degrees celsius (70F), we woke up at 11am just cuz we could...then ate breakfast and checked emails on the veranda (I've always wanted to say that!), rode the scooter around a few times, walked around to the front of the building to the little bar/cafe (which conveniently has a foosball table for Mr. Foosball himself) to get a Cappuccino for only 280 Forints (about $1.25).

 Here's the one "hardship" we are enduring, and poor, poor us for having to go through this. As you know we both work out at the gym about 6 days a week and lift weights...and as we were driving around yesterday to Tesco (like Wal-Mart, a grocery store, and a strip mall all in one) we found a gym! Imagine our excitement at finding a gym within running distance from our apartment! We could take turns and get our workouts in every day, and oh how perfect this is! Let's go in and buy a monthly membership! ....smiles and high-fives, and 'sweet!' can be heard under our breath as we walk up the stairs. What a great find!  ....wait, there's a sign on the door. Rita reads the Hungarian to us, it says "gone out of business as of June 1" (that was yesterday).   Yesterday?  Extreme Fitness fail.

Here's the funny part though. We looked it up online and translated their slogan. It said in big bold letters across the top of the webpage "The Place Where Large Be".   LOL.

Well if that's the worst thing we have to endure, so be it! I'll lift soup cans and hubby can lift me over his head for all I care. Let's go sit in the sauna.

*****TESCO TIP*******
Bring your own bags! They also have ALDI here, so I'm used to bringing my own bags and paying a coin to get a cart loose...but it seems most places are like that here. Good thing we brought a stash of Wal-Mart bags. Yeah, we're feelin pretty savvy now!  And I felt like a real high roller paying 25,000 Forints for groceries. Sounds like a lot! Cheaper than groceries back home for a full cart full though. The best part of the store was trying to tell the deli lady what we wanted. :)  Good 'ole Google translate gave us just the right words, and we walked out of there with exactly what we wanted. Score! Rita told us afterward though that instead of asking the lady to buy some meat, hubby told her "You are a turkey or a ham".   I thought I saw a little smile on the deli lady's face as she cut off that slab of meat.

Check out this luscious crusty Hungarian bread aisle. It doesn't even need a bag, because the crusty hard outside keeps it fresh. The boy can't get enough of this stuff! At least every 2 hours he asks me if he can have more bread. Costs less than a dollar for a huge 2 year-old baby sized loaf!

Tomorrow we get down to business - meet our daughter for the first time!

We have arrived!

Almost exactly two years after we put in our application for adoption, we have arrived in Hungary! Honestly I never knew where Hungary was on a map before a few months ago (Geography teacher - fail) and it took me a while to actually find it. Apparently it's in Europe. Who knew?

We flew from Paris to Budapest, about a 2 hour flight over Germany and Austria. I will remember next time to pack only things made out of styrofoam, and very feather-lite clothing since I guess they charge by the kilo! Now, I thought since I had thought so far ahead as to purchase extra bags online when we bought the tickets (which seemed relatively cheap at the time!) that we would be good to go. "We charge by the bag, yes, but you still have your maximum 20 kilo per passenger limit", they told me as I gave the lady the cutest little puppy dog eyes I could muster. No good. So we have 60 kilos total between the three of us....and when the first bag got weighed in at 26.5 kilos I knew we were in trouble.  They charge about $21 for EACH kilo over!  I kept the puppy dog eyes going the whole time, and by the end of it when tears were almost starting to drop, the lady finally took a little pity on my and waived about 30 kilos...and still happily charged us an amount that was about equal to what I paid for the tickets.  Well, at least we got to Paris for almost free.

Anyway, we got here safe and sound, and all of our bags made it with us. I consider that success!

We were met at the airport by our wonderful facilitator George, and a social worker named Rita. They led us out to the van that was waiting, and they whisked us off to a strip mall to eat lunch, then we were off to our little town (about a 3 hour drive). It was SO nice not to have to worry about how to read signs, how to get from place to place, and just have someone showing us where to go. They are both so nice and take such good care of us.

My first impressions of this place: It's just like Kansas only I can't read anything. The airport looked the same, the strip mall looked the same (I could even tell one store was a "Lowe's" but it was called "Practikar"), the interstates looked the same. A couple of times as I was looking out the window along the interstate I even saw the Black Hills of South Dakota in the distance.

What I miss the most: my Culligan water filtration system at home that give me unlimited drinking water (we'll be keeping "Civis" in business during this trip, with as much water as we drink), and my unlimited internet at home. We have an internet stick that limits our bandwidth, and we'll inevitably have to go buy more soon....unfortunately pictures may be sparse for a while. :(

....Tuesday we meet our little girl!  We miss you all - please email us or comment here!

10 things Not to do in Paris

So you have ONE measly day in Paris....what to do!? I'll tell you what I've learned NOT to do:

1. Order water (eau, pronounced "oh") at a restaurant. You'll get a glass bottle of "Vittel" that costs about $6. I'm cheap, so I've learned to order 'l'eau du robinet' which is tap water - after googling it, France has very good tap water to drink! Free, but still comes in a fancy bottle with cute little glasses.

2. Leave the airport without any Euros. All we had is dollars and a credit card, and our purchasing power was greatly diminished...see #3. And if you exchange in the airport, the fees seem astronomical. Watch the exchange rates before you leave on your trip, and bring some with you!

3. Take a taxi to your hotel from the airport. Apparently there was a free shuttle, but the lady at the information desk at the airport told us all the wrong stuff, so we ended up at the taxi line not knowing what to do. We showed the address to the taxi cabby who happily charged us $45 for a 5 minute trip...even though his first price was $30. As he loaded our bags in the back, he proceeded to try to explain his 'commission' he owed if we paid by cash or by credit card since we didn't have Euros. Look for your hotel logo on the Courtesy Shuttle floor!

4. Come here before researching how the train system works. After a day of riding back and forth, backtracking because we took the wrong line, and desciphering several maps...I think I have it figured out now. Don't expect to just be able to read the signs, even though most things have an English translation. Best thing we did though was buy the 1-day pass so we can hop on and off as much as we wanted.

5. Don't forget your spandex pants, tiny shoes, and a scarf! It's June and almost 60 degrees, but EVERYONE (yes, even the men) is wearing a scarf. I felt SO out of place without my tight jeans (which I don't own) and a skin tight winter coat and of course a scarf wrapped around my neck like a movie star. I caved, and bought a scarf on our way back just in case Hungary is "cold" like this too. I didn't think to dress up for our 5 mile walk around the city....but I guess I should have known this is Paris! You could sure tell who was American by their tennis shoes (see picture above).

6. This may be obvious, but I'll reiterate: don't skip the Eiffel Tower! It was built to be the entrance to the World Exposition in 1889, held in celebration of the French Revolution in 1789. It was the latest construction technology back then, and is a wonder to see in person today...even though it was originally intended to be dismantled after the Exposition. We waited in line for about 45 minutes to pay $20 Euros to ride the elevator to the first and second floor where we walked around and could see all over the city, eat an ice cream cone, and take some pictures of hidden treasures (for Jill & Shawn to find when they come to Paris in a couple months!) Random fact: Did you know 50 tons of paint are added to the structure every 7 years to protect it from rust, since it's iron? Hint: if you want to do something cool, bring a metal padlock with your name engraved in it and attach it to the fence at the top. Sieske & Kevin (whoever they are) left this padlock, and I'm guessing they are in love. :)

7. Don't talk when you go through Notre Dame! Signs saying "Silent!" are posted everywhere, and they were actually in the middle of a real Catholic mass when we walked through (making a loop around the perimeter). This one was FREE so we couldn't pass it up, as you know from my cheapness...er, frugality. Everyone did a pretty good job of staying quiet at the beginning...but as the group came to the end most people were talking at normal conversational tone, so that made the other quiet, obedient people (like me) keep turning around and saying "shhhhh!". Apparently 60 people saying "shhhh" to the other 200 people is just as loud as the talking. Poor priest trying to hold a mass. Sorry Jesus! The whole unguided tour (otherwise known as unsupervised wandering) through a holy place with no supervision, a bunch of tourists who mostly had no respect for the holiness of it, and the realization that this place was 850 years old! really struck me as disrespectful. However, it was very cool, imagining how all the different cathedrals were used 8 centuries ago, and appreciating the amazing stone sculpture architecture. How long did it take for them to carve all this!!?

8. Don't forget to save some French bread from lunch to feed the pigeons. These guys are humongous! Very entertaining too...I think the boy's favorite thing all day was playing with the pigeons and watching them strut around, fly right in front of people's faces and making them scream, come right up to you and peck at food.

 

9. Don't miss the life-size labrynth outside The Louvre! The trapezoid shaped bushes are positioned in a type of maze that you can walk through...but wait! There are little holes in the side of some of them, and if a little sparkly-eyed kid wasn't with us we would have missed that you can go INSIDE the bushes and they have seemingly carved out little paths in and out of all the bushes! This was even better than the pigeons for the boy, and we could have stayed there all day if it wasn't getting late already. What fun!!  ...oh yeah, we are at THE LOUVRE! I forgot. Well, we are out of money and time for today, so we didn't go in to this one. Just looked through the glass at some of the sculptures inside, which were again amazing.

On the way out from the Louvre...dad is such a nurturer. He found a sad statue and just had to try to comfort her. Doesn't that sound like him?

10. Don't leave home without the Ratatouille movie! You MUST watch this while you are in Paris, and go out for pasta afterwards. We even found a place by the Seine river that looks like exactly the place where Alfredo Linguini took Remy out of the jar and he scampered away. We thought we saw a rat run by when we were walking away...ha.

...now back to "the pod" to get some sleep (trying not to bump my head again) so we can fly to Hungary in the morning! To the three people reading this blog - leave some comments so I know you are out there!!

The Amazing Harrington Race

One of my friends was telling me about a tv show called The Amazing Race (that I've never actually seen), where they get to the airport and just have to figure out at the last minute how to get somewhere the fastest. It sounded amazingly similar to our method of flying (since dad works at an airline, cheap standby flying) so I'll call this post The Amazing Harrington Race.

3:00 am Wed - wake up after 4 hours of sleep
4:30 am Wed - arrive at airport, somehow carry 11 bags
6:00 am Wed - got on the flight to Chicago! Couldn't sit together, but gave dad a chance to nap anyway.
8:30 am Wed - sit in Chicago airport (with no wifi!) for 9 hours. Thank goodness for the employee lounge! We watched movies, played video games and cards, ate snacks, and ate at Macaroni Grille.

5:30 pm Wed - check in at the gate for Paris, France flight. 4 seats left!  There is only one seat in Business class though - quick, in 2 seconds or less figure out who gets it! Dad very gallantly let me have it, and they both sat back in coach. I was completely spoiled beyond belief, and they were scrunched in the back of the plane next to a screaming baby...with no blankets or earplugs because they were in my bag. :(   I got a fully reclining (flat, like a real bed) seat with a blanket and pillow provided, bose noise cancelling earphones with a Samsung Galaxy Note to watch movies on for free, with a little overnight bag with earplugs, toiletries, socks, and an eye mask, bottle of water....and full meal service with champaigne and wine, appetizers and snacks. The flight was 8 hours long, leaving at 5:30 pm and arriving at 9:30 am Paris time. Too bad none of us really slept, as I felt so guilty about the boys being back in coach I couldn't sleep, along with my very own screaming baby two rows back.

9:30 am Thurs - arrive in the airport...wondering what to do for about 35 minutes.  No internet or phone service now, and we can't really read French!  Um....let's try to find a flight to Budapest, or a train...or maybe a hotel.  Fun, 11 bags to drag around!
12:30 pm Thurs - finally end up in a hotel (more of a "pod" really) with free wifi! We look up flight options and can get to Budapest on Saturday. The kid is uber excited that he gets a mini bunk bed...that I hit my head on at least 16 times.

7:00 pm Thurs - wake up from a 6! hour nap. Wow, I didn't know we were THAT tired!
Tomorrow: Darn, we'll have to spend a day in Paris.

Wow God.

A week ago we were $5,000 short for our trip. I KNEW God would come through somehow though....even though it seemed impossible. On Sunday our church blessed us with a gift, and some wonderful acquaintances also gave some offerings...getting us closer. Then it came to the day before we leave, and still short. I prayed on my way to my last day of work that the money would come in from somewhere. 20 minutes later I got a call from grant foundation that they approved us for a grant for x amount...which happened to be EXACTLY the amount that we needed to reach our goal. Wow God, nothing like a last minute blessing!

So let's recap - we raised and were given about $20,000 in 4 months. Someone tell me God's not at work here?

Now....the Adventure Begins!

A Week Away!!

In about a week our "Adventure" begins.

Packing list: school work, games, art supplies, swim suits,  books, laptop for movies, protein powder & blender (yes, we are THOSE kind of people), tons of ziplock bags, pillows, receipt book, passports, paper saying we are officially ok to bring someone back with us.  We won't have room for clothes or shoes, so we'll just have to wear 6 layers on the way there.  :)

Itinerary: Here is the REALLY fun part. We fly standby. Eeeks! We like to add as much stress as we possibly can...and flying standby internationally is about the best way to do it. Stay tuned for the final rundown of how we arrived, it should be rather interesting. We will not know which flights we are going to get on until 10 minutes before it takes off. Same at the next stop. Which cities will we be passing through? Who knows, it's a mystery. Kind of like the toy at the bottom of a cereal box. Only WAY more annoying. We've left ourselves 5 days to get there, if that gives you an idea.

Thoughts going through our head: Will the cat and dog actually die while we're gone? (they are REAL old, and get mad at us even when we leave for one night.) Will our cars start when we get back? Will our little girl actually want to go with us? Talk about the importance of "first impressions"! What exactly should we say and do when we first see her? How do you say "Where is the toilet paper?" Will our Google Translate saved phrases work on our phones over there? Is this really happening!? Should we buy a gift for the foster mother, and how do you say "Thank you for taking care of this baby her whole life...we'll take her now." Yikes. Where in the world did I put that Magic Mesh Screen Door for the patio door (as seen on TV!)? Did you call the eye doctor and get your new glasses? Need to write up a list of things that need to be done while we're gone. We have to pay the library fine! HOA says we need to fix the garage trim and the yard or get a fine....thank you so much for the extra stress. Garage door done!  ....and 247 more random worries.

Best thing about this trip: Our first European vacation! Time to unwind and just spend 6 weeks as a "new" family. We'll never get to spend this much time away from everyday responsibilities again, until I win the bonus round on Wheel Of Fortune, which is in my 5 year plan. Focus will be on getting to know eachother and bonding...by the pool of course.

Our "apartment": We'll be staying almost the entire time here. Love the little patio right by the pool!!

God is providing!

Matthew 7:7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you."

Our first grant approval came today! Praise God!! He is being faithful as we trust Him for provision.

Three days ago: one of our parents pledged $2000.
Two days ago: our other parents pledged $2200.
Yesterday: a wonderful friend gave $200.
Today: grant for $1000.
Learning how to trust God & give all worries up to Him: Priceless!!

Four or five weeks to go until we leave on our trip....and I can't wait to see how God works and provides the last $7000. 



On a side note: Adoption fun fact #1 - even Ody has to do his part for this adoption. He has to go get rabies shots updated to show proof that he won't bite the children. Ha