Poland

The end of the year trip for Caelyn’s Girl Scout Daisy’s troop was to a Christian Mission in Poland. Elim Christian Mission is located in a very poor section of Poland. The town they are located in just a few years ago had an over 90% unemployment rate. The mission helps the community out in a number of ways. They provide a hot meal every weekday (often the only meal or only hot meal most in the community eat). They have also employed many of the town’s women making a number of crafts to sell. The main craft they make is a Nativity Set. The sets are hand made and beautiful.

We meet the girls at school and had lunch with them in their lunch room. The girls loved their “special lunch”. We brought them happy meals from Burger King! It was a special treat for them… but have you ever eaten in an elementary school lunch room? Lets just say next time I’ll be bring ear plugs!!!

After lunch they got to sign out of school early and we headed over to the girl scout hut to load up all of the food they had collected for the mission. The food drive was a resounding success and the girl collected a lot of food to help the mission prepare their daily meals for their community.

The drive to Poland took about 5 hours… not too bad considering we had three cars with 5 little ones. Normally it takes 4- 4 ½ hours. Caelyn did great on the trip. The girl we were supposed to be car pooling with got sick and wasn’t able to come. So me and Caelyn were the only ones in our car. She did well in the car and slept about ½ the way (due the Dramimine… she gets car sick so easily. I wish I didn’t have to give her the medicine but she gets so sick and is miserable if I don’t especially on long rides).

We got to the mission about 7pm. After we got to the mission (which is in a 450 year old palace! So Cool!) we ordered pizza. The best pizza I’ve every had. It had chicken, red peppers, and corn with a sweet garlic sauce for dipping. Yummy!

After dinner the girls surprised one of the mom’s with signing “Happy Birthday” and giving her a birthday card and a cupcake. (Initially I was going to make cupcakes, as the Daisy Leader called me on Thursday night to let me know it was going to be the other mom’s birthday… but I didn’t have any eggs at home so she got hostess cupcakes instead.)

After getting unpacked we settled the girls into bed. They all went to bed in the same bedroom. Some of the girls can’t fall asleep unless they are watching a movie… I knew that Caelyn would never go to sleep with a movie on but I told her she could stay in there if she laid quiet and at least tried to go to sleep. That was about 9pm. (insert lots of giggling)… after midnight I went upstairs to get Caelyn (still awake) and brought her to one of the downstairs bedrooms to sleep with me. I went out to the living room to grab my sleeping bag (less then a minute) and by the time I got back she was already snoring, haha!

I knew Saturday was going to be a rough day with their lack of sleep and because we had so much planned for them. But overall they did very well. Saturday morning started out with bagels and fresh fruit for breakfast. After breakfast we headed into town for some pottery shopping for the moms. The first place we went to was a large place which had their own factory. The girls were able to take a tour of the factory and see all of the steps needed to make pottery. There were only a few workers in the factory because it was Saturday but one of the workers let the girls stamp a piece of pottery she was working on. Unfortunately it takes a while to process a pottery piece after it is painted so we couldn’t take it with us. But it was still very cool for them to be able to stamp the pottery.

We went to one more smaller shop and I did find some things I like in there. So we came home with a few pieces of Polish Pottery.

After we got back the girls had a quick lunch. Then they were able to play on the playground, tie die shirts, make candy necklaces and take a “hike” around the palace grounds.

We also picked up some trash around the grounds to help them clean up a bit. Caelyn found a water bottle that still had some water in it. She used it to water the flowers so that she wouldn’t waste the water! She’s such a smart cookie!

After that we went inside for a bit and made daisy flip-flops. It was supposed to be a project for the girls but it turned out that the mom’s did most of it… which was ok because it was a nice activity for the mom’s. Hot glue and needles don’t work well with tired 5 and 6 year olds. The girls had no problem entertaining themselves while we were making the flip-flops.

For dinner we were going to roast hotdog over a campfire. Some how I got nominated to make the fire… since I was the only one who knew how. It was nice to have a campfire again! It took at little while to get it started as some of the wood was a little wet but we got it going.

We roasted hot dogs for the girls and then it was time for SMORES! The other mom’s didn’t know how to roast marshmallows either. LOL! So I had to show them the correct way to roast a perfect marshmallow… which does not include sticking it directly in the fire until it catches on fire! I also introduced them to peanut butter smores… yummy!

The girls receive their new badges they earned on the trip and then it was time for bed.

After the girls were in bed I was able to go down and talk to the people who work at the mission. One of the craft projects they have taught the women in the community to make are Nativity Sets. They are all handmade and absolutely beautiful! So I was able to get one. I was so excited. I can’t wait until next Christmas when I can set it all out!

The following morning after breakfast the girls posed for some pictures before we headed home.

It was an great trip. Going to another county and staying in an old palace was pretty cool. Being able to spend some quality time with Caelyn was awesome!