A Family of 5

Wednesday, August 29

Our last day making 2 round trips to his home village, picking him up and then taking him back again.

We walked to the mall across the street to ride the train and buy some groceries for lunch.

In the evening we had our last dinner as a family of 4. Tomorrow we will go to the court house to become his legal guardians and formally begin the adoption process!

An interesting find - cucumber flavored Sprite 

Thursday, August 30

We met with the social worker at the office. The building was a 5 minute walk from our apartment. The woman was very kind and had already typed up most of the needed information. She printed it, our facilitator translated the documents for us, and we checked to make sure everything was accurate. We will return on October 1 - God-willing - to finalize in this district, then we will head to Budapest to finish at the American Embassy.

Today was also naming day. We changed his Hungarian first name from Tamas to Tomas and gave him the second name James after my Dad and Angel's brother (Diego is James in Spanish). 

We walked to go get a coffee while everything was signed and finalized.

We then went to go pick up Tomas from his foster family's home. His foster mom had gifts for all of us and a bag of personal items for Tomas. It was emotional, but we stayed strong for him. I snapped a few final pictures and we headed back to Kaposvar for our first evening as a family of 5.

Friday, August 31

Kaposvar is a small city, and we have often seen the same people around town. Yesterday evening on our way to the park, we saw our hotel manager. We chatted a bit - she speaks English and lived in Texas for awhile - and finally she asked, what are you doing here? We explained that we are here to adopt Tomas. She was so kind, supportive, and sincerely happy for us. She promised the kids cookies at breakfast tomorrow and delivered on her promise. Caleb, especially, was pumped!

After playing on the playground and trampoline awhile we visited a few shops. I wanted to get some items for our home to honor Tomas's birth country. When we walked to the mall on Wednesday, I noticed a cute, little flower shop selling wreaths and decided to return today.

I loved the colors in this one and that it had Hungarian writing. Of course when we bought it I had no idea what it said. So when we returned, we translated it. It reads "I have been waiting for you."

Transitions

Monday, August 27

Today when we picked up Tomas we had a list of questions for his foster family. We peppered her with questions like - Has he lost any baby teeth? What makes him feel afraid, angry, sad? What are his favorite foods? When does he sleep? Etc.

He was a bit more clingy and not quite as ready when it came time for all of us to leave. We - through our translator - told him we would take him back to the restaurant with spaghetti and that did the trick. Once he was in the van with us on our way back to Kaposvar, he was fine.

So we did the usual: park, lunch, nap, snack, and stroll.

After we dropped him back off with his foster family for the evening, we bought Addy and Caleb an ice cream. These 2 have been such big helpers. I am so thankful to have them with us in Hungary for this process.

Tuesday, August 28

The rains have gone and the day is warm again. We picked up Tomas and drove to check out the town where we will spend our 30 day bounding period. We hope to have Tomas come fully in our care on Thursday, August 30 and will move on Monday, September 3 from Kaposvar to Balatonfenyves - a cute, touristy spot on a beautiful lake.

We drove around, saw the apartment where we will be staying, then walked through the downtown area. There are several playgrounds, big grassy areas, bike and walking paths, and of course a wonderful lake for swimming. It is going to be a good spot for our family.

We took the kids to a playground and had lunch before driving back to Kaposvar for nap time.

By the end of lunch several friends had joined us.

We have noticed that transitions are especially difficult for Tomas. Completely understandable! Most children struggle with transition so is it any wonder that this little guy, who is in the process of experiencing some major changes, would be any different?!

We are doing our best to establish a regular routine to help him with expectations. Some of the daily difficulties include beginning to play at a park - he's unsure and a little hesitant - to then leaving the park - he now wants to stay. And, of course, moving back and forth between Kaposvar and his home town every day.

Tomorrow will be the last day that he will transition between our family and his foster family in the morning and evening. Thursday we will be his official guardians on our way to being formally named his parents. The major transition will be done and we will begin focusing more and more on those smaller, daily ones.

A New Routine

Saturday, August 25

Friday night it rained dropping the temperature several degrees. It has been a welcome break from the heat.

We drove to the town where Tomas's foster family lives. The next few days we will make 2 round trips every day - picking him up and taking him back. It takes about 30 minutes one way. Addy and Caleb have discovered landmarks to break up the drive. When they see "the castle" they know we are close.

He was waiting for us on the front porch with his sweet little bag all packed for his day trip.

When we arrived back in Kaposvar we took him to have some pictures made for official documents.

Next we walked to the park for some fun play time.

After playing we headed to a restaurant that served special Hungarian dishes. The food was delicious. The kiddos all ordered spaghetti, but Addy preferred eating my meat and vegetable soup - it was that good!

We returned to the apartment for rest/nap/downtime. Tomas and I read books and sang songs, but it soon became clear that he was not napping today!

We put on some cartoons for the kiddos and fed them cantaloupe. Afterwards we took an evening stroll before taking him back to his foster family's home. 

We were exhausted! It was a long and very fun day.


Saturday night it rained again, bringing the temperatures even lower. It is actually quite chilly.

Sunday, August 26

Tomas was ready for another adventure when we arrived on Sunday morning.

We took him to the indoor PlayPlace at McDonald's since outside was wet and drizzling. Addy, Caleb, Angel, and I had already had breakfast, so the adults ordered coffees and an egg sandwich for Tomas.

Addy with her breakfast sandwich

Tomas with his breakfast sandwich

In the picture he looks unsure about it, but he ate the whole thing!

They all played on the playground for quite some time. Angel was the "monster" and would chase them. When he would capture someone, the others would rescue the captive. I do believe they would have played that all day.

Tesco is right across the street so we made a quick run to pick up a few more things to make lunch in our apartment. There was one of these riding things - I have no idea what they are called - so everybody enjoyed a turn.

We returned to the apartment for sandwiches, cucumbers, tomatoes, and fruit followed by a rest time. Today, he napped! The trick is to get Caleb to nap with him. 😊

Super sweet. Super precious.

We ended the evening with another stroll around town. This has become our new routine.

Bubbles Anyone?

When we arrived at Tomas's foster home this morning, he met us with his new helicopter in hand. He kept his new gift close by for most of the morning and seemed to only put it down for one thing: BUBBLES!

Oh my goodness, you guys, Tomas loves bubbles! I blew bubbles, Angel blew bubbles, Addy, and Caleb blew bubbles. Everyone blew bubbles all morning long and had an absolute blast.

We played with kittens and kicked the ball around, then the foster mom served us fresh tomatoes and grapes right from their garden. After blowing more bubbles (of course), the kids played in the swing for awhile. 

We took a short walking - marching, jumping, and kicking in rhythm - and then put together a puzzle. Addy did most of the heavy lifting on this one.

Afterwards, you guessed it, bubbles, then Tomas's foster mom served our family lunch. It was incredibly kind, generous, and delicious - our first Hungarian homemade meal. Very special. Then it was time for Tomas's nap. We tucked him in, gave him a kiss, and said we will be back to play more tomorrow.

We then were treated to some amazing coffee by our Hungarian guide and helper before heading back to our apartment for some rest time of our own.

This evening we explored more of Kaposvar. What a truly beautiful place! We walked to a Hungarian/Mexican restaurant "Gecco" for dinner.

Our waiter spoke English which was a nice break from our usual routine of hand signaling and pointing. Our take on the food - not true, authentic Mexican nor Tex-Mex, but still super yummy. Angel said if he lived here he would definitely go back. 

Later we walked to the plaza, sat around, and enjoyed our surroundings. It is so pleasant to watch families walking and eating ice cream together, friends sharing a cup of coffee under an outdoor patio, and people greeting one another on bicycles - a quiet and relaxing Friday evening: no rush, no hustle and bustle, just being.

Sidenote: we did let our children play in the water fountain so that we could enjoy these blissful thoughts.

Here is how we started our excursion:

Here is how we ended it:

Tomorrow we will pick up Tomas and bring him to Kaposvar to spend the day with us. He will get to eat lunch with us and nap in our apartment before we take him back to his foster family's house in the evening. 

The Day We Met!

Wednesday August 22/Thursday August 23

After some down time on Wednesday, we walked to this park.

The kids had the best time running, swinging, and doing a tire zip line over and over again. It was a great find for our family, and I am confident we will return very soon.

Thursday, August 23

Today is the day! How could I even begin to describe the emotions? Almost every possible thought and feeling swirling all at once within me, but mostly really excited and super nervous.

Caleb woke up at midnight with - what we hope is - the last bit of jet lag. I woke up super early, mostly because of nerves! We went downstairs to enjoy our morning breakfast spread. 

Then the kiddos enjoyed a few minutes of playtime on the playground and trampoline before we left to meet Tomas's social worker.

We gathered up his gift - a 5 pack of vehicles: 3 cars, 1 snowmobile, and 1 helicopter - color crayons and coloring books, and a few snacks to take with us. I had made a list of questions to ask the social worker and she was kind enough to answer all of them during our meeting, then we went to visit him in his foster home.

Our first meeting was wonderful. He is so precious! He really took to the helicopter (which is the same word in Hungarian). We played cars and colored. His foster mom answered some questions for us. I think it went very well. Tomorrow we will return and stay/play a little longer.

Our first family photo!

On the way back to our hotel, we stopped by Tesco for some groceries. Then, back to our hotel for lunch and some rest time. In the evening, we walked to the mall and bought a book for Addy to take to school.

The tabs change the Hungarian words to English (Angolul).

We finished our day at McDonald's - the only place we have found, so far, that is air conditioned. Angel and I enjoyed a latte outside - we know what awaits us in a few short months in Fargo - while the kiddos played in the air-conditioned indoor playground.

Thank you guys for all of your encouraging emails and texts! We so appreciate each of you! We are looking forward to tomorrow and Day 2!

A Recap of our Travels

Monday, August 20/Tuesday, August 21

We left our house at 4AM on Monday, drove to Minneapolis, flew to Philadelphia then to Budapest, and drove 3 more hours to Kaposvar. I managed to sleep about 2 hours in the 36 of travel. 

This was our grand arrival to the Budapest airport.

Our facilitator had great plans to take us to lunch at the mall, but when we all fell asleep - out cold - on the van ride from Budapest to Kaposvar, he decided to leave us in the hotel to rest for the rest of the day. I went to bed at 5PM.


At 11PM I heard the kids in the next room. "What's going on in here?" I asked. Addy answered, "we have no idea! We just cannot sleep." I have high hopes that tomorrow we will be, mostly, over the jet lag. 

Wednesday, August 22

Waking up at 7AM this morning felt nearly impossible. It hasn't been that hard to get out of bed since high school. We had breakfast, provided by the hotel, and then played behind the building.

We have a playground behind our hotel!

We have spent the morning exploring Kapsovar, walking the streets, going in shops, and looking around.

It is a beautiful town. People really take note of us. I don't think they get many tourists from USA/Mexico, but people really enjoy practicting their very little English with us. We have managed to pick up a few Hungarian words and seem to pick up a few more words after every outing. It is difficult not knowing basic phrases like numbers or excuse me, but we are managing.

Our current method: 

Me: Yo napot kivanok (hello)

*if they respond to us in any way* 

Me: Angol (English)

*pointing, using fingers to make numbers, slashing the air to say "that's good" or "that's enough*

*we look at the numbers on the cash register, take way to long to count out our money, hand it over*

Me: Kusinum Seapan (thank you very much)

Another wonderful thing about Hungary: it is never to early for ice cream. When we went down for breakfast people were already walking around enjoying an early morning cone.

Of course we got one too, but ours was after lunch.

We are enjoying a little afternoon down time (but no napping!) before we head out to do some more exploring this evening. Tomorrow we will leave at 8:25AM to go meet Tomas's social worker and then head over to his foster family's house to meet him! Prayers appreciated! We are all kinds of excited/nervous/overjoyed!