Introducing….. Kamil and Aneta... the brother and sister whom we intend to adopt! We may add to their names later...Victor suggestions include Basil and Heaven, Bud Bob and Anastasia Grace, Imago Dei and Blessed Zoya, or Bongo Slammer and Rainbow Sparkles .....

We are not allowed to post their photos until they are legally adopted into our family, so here is a cut and paste photo of what our new family might look like.  Two semicentenarians, with four beauty-filled kids.  

Yes, Kamil uses a wheelchair. Kamil was born with cerebral palsy (CP) and has narrow hips, rigid leg muscles and trembling legs.  He can walk short distances with the help of a walker.  He gets Botox injections to reduce the trembling. He recently had a second surgery to correct his club feet. The surgery lengthened his Achilles' tendon, and he is still wearing casts on his legs, so we have yet to see how his abilities will change after this surgery and then therapy in Poland during the coming months.

We think we might be a good fit for a child like Kamil.  We both have an above-average ability to not free-climb Mt. Baker every other summer weekend, not kayak camp around the San Juan islands all July, and not train for Iron-Person-Gaspa-thons. We don't even think about stuff like that. In addition, our house was built for wheelchair use (we were thinking ahead to our older age). The main living area has no steps indoors or outdoors, the doors are wide, and there are wheelchair turning circles in the main bathroom and grab bars already in place near the toilet and the tub (the bars were installed for our daughter).
        Living with disabled kids you often forget about the fact that you do. Which is a good thing in that we wouldn't want our kids to have identities defined by what they can't do.  We are happy to watch Lidia's creativity in living well with one arm.  But then single-footed Sam Sam sometimes talks about his running speed and his wish for more - and those moments bring grief. With our soon-coming adoption of Kamil and Aneta, we are blissfully unaware of all of the ways that having a child in a wheelchair will change our lives. And though we have have pondered and imagined probable daily routines and obstacles and then prayed through those ponderings and imaginings - we also know that we can't predict much and that Jehovah Jireh loves us incessantly.

Kamil and Aneta experienced severe neglect as toddlers. Their mom had brain problems and the siblings were frequently without care. As a result, Aneta, at the age of 2, often cared for her brother’s needs. They were taken from that "home" three years ago and were placed temporarily with a Polish foster family where they have been making up for lost time.  The medical evaluations state that Aneta currently has no known physical or emotional challenges. We hope very much that this is true. Kamil is delayed in his learning, and it is not clear if that is a result of his 5 years of neglect, or because of the CP.  That being said, he has made tons of progress in development in the past three years.

  Next month, Aneta will turn 6 years old. That means that our potential family will consist of Aneta age 6, Sam Sam age 7, Kamil age 8 and Lidia age 9.  Yep!  6-7-8-9.  How fun is that??!!  Our kids are very excited.  Sam Sam is already planning to decorate his new "just boys” room with "Minions" and Seahawks stuff.  Perhaps Minions in Seahawks uniforms, or maybe Seahawks throwing Minions to each other... Lidia wants the girls' room to be full of flowers.

Our home study is still about two weeks away from completion because the caseworker decided at the last minute that she should get background checks on Carina's parents.  They live in an apartment attached to our home.  Once the home study is done, we will go back to fundraising in full force.