Counting down the days...to "some day"

Another goodbye tonight. Doesn't get easier. We hugged and cried with our good friends Monika and Maciej tonight, after spending a few hours talking and snacking with them. There are just so many memories. We met those guys our first week in Poznan. Maciej helped us get all of our furniture ordered at IKEA, we invited him and his wife to our place for dinner (bizarre, but we felt "led"), and we become great friends. All this time later we've been through quite a lot together...quite a lot. So, it's tough to say goodbye.

We've got a pretty crazy week ahead. I keep looking forward to the moment when I sit down in the uncomfortable, cramped up plane seat and hear the announcement come over the loudspeaker to "prepare for takeoff". It's still a dream to think about that coming so quickly. Here's a run down of "coming attractions":

• Monday
• Movers come
• We got to Wolsztyn to pickup the final adoption decree
• Vicki and Nancy White go to pickup Ben, Anna, and David's new birth certificates
• Me and Mark White go to pickup Rachel and Mattie's new BCs
• Pay for the kids' Polish passports ($10/ea if you're curious)
• Turn in all of the exciting new documents to be translator
• Tuesday
• Vicki, the kids, and the Whites will head off to Warsaw, our base of operation for the remaining time in Poland.
• Turn in the applications for new PESEL numbers (like our SS numbers) for the kids
• Turn in the apps for the Polish passports
• Pray for super speedy service!!!
• Wednesday
• I finish up things with the movers and close up shop here in Poznan for good
• Have to pickup all of the finished, translated documents
• I take the train to Warsaw to meet up with the rest of our crew
• We continue to pray for speedy passport service
• "Some Day"
• Whenever we finally get the passports we'll be ready to schedule our visa interview. Getting the visas takes only one day, so it's cake if all of your documents are in order...which we pray ours are.
• After getting the visas we'll have the green light to board a plane and head home for the next 10 months!
  

Pretty hectic few days in front of us. Tomorrow we'll spend the morning and a bit of the afternoon with the folks from our church. It's a welcome home party for our pastor and his family...and my guess is a bit of a goodbye party for us (maybe). More goodbyes. Probably more tears. We'll miss so many of them. God has blessed us with family away from family through so many here and they've been through all of the tough times, and good times, with us over the last few years.

Also wanted to give you a heads up that we're sort of "going dark" for awhile and thus I won't be blogging. I'm anxious to get home and have some exciting stuff to write about. I'm going to be traveling to about one speaking "gig" a month which should be interesting. But I think the really good stuff will come from all of the "firsts" that we'll get to experience with the kiddos...root beer...Captain Crunch...Texas BBQ...real TexMex...Six Flags...big churches...American school system...etc. I get all excited just thinking about it all.

Thanks for continuing to pray with us for a quick and hassle-free exit in the next few weeks. We're not out of here yet...so don't stop now!! Please lift our friends, the Whites, up to as they are forming new relationships with their newly adopted kiddos. Pray that God would bless their communication (as the parents learn a bit of Polish and the kids learn a new heart language) and that those relationships would develop at such a pace that only God can be given the credit for it!