early log entry from Tim

We came to Poland with full hopes and expectations of meeting wonderful children that our hearts were set on. And they were there: Emillia is a beautiful little girl who wants a Mommy, Maciej is a caring and fun little guy who loves family, and Michal is a wonderful little boy who is curious and bold.

We also came knowing it would be a trying period, and this it was. We knew our language barrier was going to be hard since neither of us spoke Polish, but we practiced a lot of basic phrases. Our Polish friends tried to teach us some polish too, and we should have spent more time on BASIC conversation. They were trying to teach us tenses, etc. which is not overly helpful right now. Our recommendation: concentrate on simple conversation, it will be the most helpful and you will be amazed at what you will not remember when you are stressed. Speak English with the children when ever possible, it is not to early to get their vocabulary expanding and it would not surprise me if theirs are expanding faster than ours.

We expected to have difficulty with the children, but were reassured the children wanted families and would strive to be extra good and extra helpful. This is not the case for us! Understand they are WONDERFUL!!! But they are children first and foremost and other than speaking Polish, you would struggle to tell them from an American 9, 8, and 6 year old. Their attention span can be short, they have their own free wills and are very quick to exercise them. Some of the other stories I had heard were that the kids would be very shy when removed from the routine of the orphanage. Not so with ours, they are rambunctious and right out of the gate. So take it slow and don’t expect miracles right out of the gate. Don’t be shy about stating your opinion. We got the children full time after 10 minutes of instruction and it is wonderful and stressful. We are/were jetlagged and really could have used a “routine” for a couple days. It appears to me that we are far more stressed with the change in routine than the kids, with the possible exception of the little one who probably needed a more gradual transition from his routine. They all could have used a more gradual change.

We are using a system of rules: Look us in the eyes when we call your name, come when called, say please and thank you, and hold hands when asked. The first day we thought holding hands might be the most important, but they can run a little more than that, just watch more closely in the busy places. I think Beth and I wanted to hold their hands more than anything.

Well, it is 7:30 and I better shower as things will be getting hectic pretty soon. This is the start of day 4 so I don’t know when I will be able to write again, but you may notice a change as they get me better trained!!!