Today we have changed our plans since Halina is in the hospital we will leave Ostroleka returning later in the trip. After breakfast we drive to Suwalki to visit with my grandmother’s side of the family. We drove from Ostoleka thru Augustow arriving Suwalki .
Our first stop was the church to check records hoping to find my Great Grandmothers birth records. The priest was very friendly agreeing to search for these very old records. He searched for only a few minutes finding a record he thought was my Great Grandmother. Zenon carefully reviewed the record realizing it was not my Great Grandmother. The Priest did not have more time to search however he would be available after mass at 1800.
We then went to visit Antoni and his family. When we arrived Antoni had not arrived home from town. Shortly after our arrival Antoni arrived home on the bus then collect his bicycle at the bus stop. It is truly amazing someone who is 86 years of age is very independent.
We relaxed drinking tea, viewing many old photos of family members. I had not seen these photos on my last visit. Again Zenon copied photos to add to my growing picture album. The images on these photos will allow family of future generation to have a understanding of their polish roots.
We made arrangement to return the next day to visit other relatives in Lithuania.
>We returned to the church to begin our second search of finding my great grandmother’s birth record. I was very excited and hopeful this record would be found. The priest had informed us many of the books we were interested in searching were destroyed in the war. I was hopeful this would be my lucky day. Low and behold after 15 minutes of searching I was holding the birth record of my great grandmother. It was my lucky day.