A Week of Firsts

We safely arrived home last Friday, March 5th. Our first week home has been chock-full of amazing firsts, which we share below:

First Airplane Ride:



First Time in Texas:



First Snuggle with Pongo:



First Time riding a Bicycle:



First Visit to Grandma & Pa's house:



First Visit to Bender's Landing Park



First Time to meet Daddy at work and then lunch out:



First Tractor Ride mowing the grass:



We praise God for these and our many other "firsts" this week. We look forward to the adventures God has in store for us!!

Our last update from Guatemala

Well it is currently 3:30 am and I am sitting in the bathroom writing this blog update so as not to wake the rest of the family. On Wednesday we went to our 7:30 am visa appointment, which did not start until 8:45 am. The appointment was not difficult, as we had Jenny the Paperwork Maestro on our team. It was just a review of the documents followed by more waiting and then a quick trip to the window to hear we were approved and could pick up the visa on Thursday at 3:30 pm. Here are Jenny and the kids on the way to the visa appointment.



By the time we left the US Embassy, we were all starving for lunch and we headed back to our hotel and ate at the food court in the commercial area under the hotel. We thought we might go to IRTRA, but decided to save that until Thursday morning. Instead we came back up to the room and worked on the logistics needed to get the hotel room extended one night, change all the flights and book Luis a ticket home.

For dinner we wanted to celebrate so we went to the Nais Aquarium restaurant in the Oakland Mall. Luis, as well as the rest of the family, had enjoyed it when we went there on our empathy study so we thought it would be a good pick. Wow! Luis, Christopher and Caroline had an awesome time. Luis loved watching the fish and could not contain his excitement with the eels, rays, or sharks. Here is a shot of us at the aquarium.



Yesterday we got up and headed to IRTRA. It is an amusement park in Guatemala City. It is undergoing a lot of renovation right now but that did not stop us from having a great time. They have rides, a dinosaur themed play area and a zoo. Here are some shots from our morning at the park.








After returning to the hotel, I headed to the Embassy to pick up the Visa and Immigration Packet for Luis. There were no surprises, the 3:30 pick up time really meant 4:15, but the visa was correct and I could hardly contain my excitement.

When I arrived back at the hotel, Jenny had already done most of the repacking that was needed and we were planning a pizza/movie night with the Return of the Jedi. Although Luis does not understand all of the dialogue, he gets the main storyline and loved the show and the pizza to go with it. With all the excitement of our trip home today and the movie, the kids were pretty crazy, and Jenny and I were too. But we managed to get everyone to sleep by 9:30 or 10 o'clock. Now it is almost time to wake them up so we can catch the shuttle to the airport for out flight this morning. Can't wait to get back into the states with the whole family today.

En La Cuidad

Yesterday afternoon we had Luis' embassy medical evaluation. It was at a Doctor's office a couple of blocks from the embassy. The main thing we were looking to avoid was having to get shots. I had done a vaccination affidavit while in the states and that did the trick. He will still have to have shots but at least they will happen when we are home. The rest of the medical exam was quick and easy. The doctor asked some questions, checked Luis' mouth and poked around his stomach and then we were done.

We waited the rest of the day, but got no visa interview date from the embassy. So we spent the afternoon and evening playing in the pool and then I went and picked up pizza and bourbon chicken from the food court, before going to bed.

This morning we got up and made pigs of ourselves at the continental breakfast. We ate almost all the watermelon and yogurt as well as the last of the chocolate pastries. Then Chris and Caroline had school with Mom while I worked with Luis. They finished up school around noon and then we headed to find lunch. We got back at 1:30 and I learned we could call the embassy visa unit at 2pm. They told me they had not received our file from the USCIS yet and so could not schedule an appointment. I did everything I could to convince them and she said if they got the file by 4 pm she would schedule us for tomorrow. By 4:40 I gave up and assumed we would be spending the weekend in Guatemala. Just before 5pm we got the appointment date for tomorrow at 7:30am. YES!!!!! We had a giant family hug and headed out to Chili's to celebrate. After Chili's we headed back to the hotel and now we are watching the Empire Strikes Back before we head to bed. Can't wait for our appointment tomorrow.

Embassy Update

Wanted to give everyone the update since Friday. On Saturday, I sent Jenny to the Mayan Spa for a more than well deserved massage, facial and pedicure. I spent the morning playing with the kids around the apartment. When Jenny got home, we were having lunch and we spent most of the rest of the day trying to squeeze all of our belongings into suitcases and back packs. For the most part we were successful and only had a few extra shopping bags of stuff. The real test will be if they weigh less than 50 pounds.



Sunday we went to Iglesia del Camino for the last time. After church we rushed home to order Pollo Campero for delivery. However the Pollo Campero did not arrive until after our shuttle to the city arrived, so we had to make do with the food we had packed until we got to the city. When we arrived in the city, the documents for the embassy that we expected to be waiting for us at the front desk had not arrived. In fact they did not arrive on Sunday at all. But we spent the evening exploring the Grand Tikal and adjoining commercial area. We found a food court and all had a late lunch/early dinner. Then it was off to the pool for some fun and relaxation before coming upstairs and getting ready for bed.




After having no luck reaching the attorney on Sunday, I decided to venture out to the embassy on hope and faith that we might be able to get the documents prior to 9am when the USCIS starts calling numbers. I was sitting on the ground outside the embassy praying when I got a call from the attorney apologizing and saying he would have the documents to me before I needed to go into the embassy. About 45 minutes later Favio arrived with the documents. Normal Guatemalan time - everything happens at the 11th hour. At 9:30 I met with the USCIS who accepted the documents and said we would get an e-mail. Now we wait.....but not for much longer.

A New Passport!

The last two days have been a whirlwind. Yesterday I had a regional review at work. That is when the South Area Leadership Team comes to our market to review our results and actions. The meeting was scheduled to start at 7 am, which meant we needed to be in the office by 6:15, which meant a 4:30 alarm. One problem, whenever I have something big going on first thing in the morning I continually wake up thinking I have overslept. So, I was up at 4:00 am. The review was stressful, but by 1 pm it was over and I had a wrap up with my team. Then it was time to run to Target and get the last few items I needed to bring down with me. A quick stop at the house to change clothes and it was time to head to the airport. Things went fine on the trip down and I arrived in Antigua about 11 pm. Jenny and I were excited to see each other again, especially since this time we know we will not have to say goodbye in a week. So we were up talking past midnight.

We got and early start this morning. As usual the roosters were crowing at 5:30 am so I was awake. Then at 6 am my phone alarm went off (also with the sound of roosters) and that woke everyone else up. We left Antigua headed to our attorney’s office in the city at 7 am and arrived there about 8:40. The attorney had a package ready for us to take to the passport office and directed our driver where to go. We got to the passport office and I used my very broken Spanish to let them know I needed a passport for my newly adopted son. After reviewing the documents, they sent me to the bank next door to pay the Q250 fee for a passport. Then it was back to the passport office to turn in the documents and receipt. We waited about ten minutes before they called us and sent us down to get Luis fingerprinted and photographed. That process did not take long and then after another five or ten minutes the passport book was ready. Here is a picture of Luis with the new passport.



After our successful visit to the passport office, we headed back to our attorney’s office so they could get a copy of the passport page sent to translations. We will be getting all the translated documents on Sunday so we can turn them into the US Embassy on Monday morning. Then is was time for the return trip to Antigua.

By the time we got back we were all starving and decided to head to McDonalds for lunch. The kids had a great time and while they were still playing I headed over Modelo Barberia to get a hair cut. They do a great job and it only costs Q12 (about $1.50). We spent the afternoon hanging out at the apartment and this evening we watched Star Wars – A New Hope, with the kids. It was the first time Luis had seen it and I think he really enjoyed it. The is familiar with the characters from playing the Legos Star Wars game and that seemed to help him follow the story.

Tomorrow is a packing day. We will be working to stuff all the things we brought down or bought in Antigua over the last five and a half months (including Christmas) into five large suitcases, two carry-on roller bags and five back packs. So, tomorrow we will see what the truly important items are and what can hit the trash here.

On Sunday we will go to church in the morning to worship once more in Antigua. We are really looking forward to being back at TWUMC! Our shuttle van picks us up at 1:30 in the afternoon to take us to our hotel in the city. We will finish the remaining steps in Guatemala City. We are praying that we'll be flying home by Thursday.

Right now, it feels surreal. We started Luis' adoption so long ago and I am so thankful for God's faithfulness in seeing us through this! It is hard to believe we are really close to being finished with the process. Thank you for your prayer support!

Another Week....but more progress!

Good afternoon!

Just a quick blog to let you know our attorney was able to get our certifications from the court on Thursday, and we've submitted our request for a new birth certificate for Luis. We are praying that we can get it by Thursday, but we don't have a confirmation of that. Not having a confirmation on the birth certificate delivery is causing a logistical nightmare for me, a planner who wants to plan!! We are trying to time Victor's arrival so we can get Luis' passport as soon as possible, but we don't want Victor to spend time from work here in Guatemala just waiting for the birth certificate. Ugh! Please pray that we receive confirmation, and that the birth certificate will be ready by Thursday.

It does feel good to make progress and check it off our adoption list. We have been blessed with a lot of progress in the last three weeks. And as soon as we have Luis' passport, we will be done with the Guatemalan side of the adoption. We will then submit our documents to the Embassy and await our VISA appointment. So as you can see, our excitement is growing as flying to the United States is becoming more and more near.

The weather is still amazing, and Guatemala is still in the dry season. What a blessing that our time in Guatemala has been without much rain. Without a car, we've had to walk basically everywhere, and it is certainly convenient that we don't have to schedule our errands around the weather. Actually, my only weather-related thought is "I wonder if it will be warm enough for swimming on Wednesday?" All three kids love the pool and we've already been to the pool twice this month.

We're not sure exactly how much longer we'll be in Antigua (see first paragraph) so I am trying to cleverly use up the food items we have in the kitchen. Yesterday, I had a grilled cheese sandwich and soup, Chris had a "grilled cheese sandwich not grilled" (a Chris specialty), Care had leftover pizza and leftover chicken, and Luis had leftover pizza, a hard-boiled egg and ham roll-ups. I thought we did a great job making use of the little bit here, little bit there.

School is still moving along smoothly for all three kids. We've doing a unit in Language Arts - poetry - and poor Chris and I with our math-y brains are both struggling through it. We're all more excited about our Space unit in science. This week we did some fun stuff learning about the planets, and we're still debating whether we consider Pluto a planet or not. Poor little Pluto, getting demoted. Maybe a field trip to NASA when we get back to Texas will answer the question once and for all, and give us peace of mind about it!!

Hope you have a great weekend!!

Feliz Dia de Carino!!

That's Happy Valentine's Day, in Guatemala.

I wasn't sure how Guatemala celebrates Valentine's Day, so I had asked Victor to bring some Valentine's candy when he came to visit last month. Boy, was I glad he did. It's a big deal here! Antigua was very crowded today. The upper echelon of Guatemala descended on Antigua. Seriously, I saw so many Hummers, Suburbans and Mini-Coopers today that I thought for a second we were already back in The Woodlands.

For breakfast, I made blueberry muffins for the kids and sprinkled them with little candy confetti. We headed to church and lunch at McDonalds. The kids and I stopped at the little market on the way home and bought some knick-knacks. I am not sure how many more weekends we have in Antigua so I want to make sure we bought the keepsakes we would want for later.

Here is a picture of my three valentines, together, at the prettiest McDonald's in the world:



After we arrived back at the apartments, we relaxed together and just played. The next few weeks will get very busy so I am grateful we have been able to rest and have quiet time this weekend. The next steps will be to get Luis' birth certificate, passport, medical exam, VISA appointment, and finally, his VISA. It sounds easy, but in between these steps are translations, packing up the apartment, making flight & hotel arrangements, and trying to continue home school without too much distraction. Please continue to pray that all these steps would go off without a hitch. We are hoping to get home by mid-March.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Adoption Day!!!

Today we heard the glorious news that the Guatemalan Family Court judge signed the approval of our adoption! Remarkably, our file was in family court for less than two weeks! Victor and I are thrilled to now be Luis' parents in the official legal way - although we believed Luis was our son from the moment we were selected by Casa Para Ninos - on August 9, 2007.

Luis and I will have smiles that won't come off for a long, long time. Here we are:



Same goes for Chris and Caroline. Boy, are they excited!!!



It's been a remarkable journey for our family so tonight we celebrate God's faithfulness and sovereignty. (Which by the way for us means ordering Domino's, watching a movie and staying up late)

Our minds are spinning as we consider the next steps and the new timeline. A return date to the USA won't be known for awhile (it depends on the US Embassy) but my mind is in full gear for leaving Guatemala. We are praying to be home by mid-March.

Keep praying that these last steps move quickly and that no additional obstacles get in the way. Thank you for your prayers!!

It's A Wonderful Life

One reason that I don't update our blog more often is that I think there might not be anything interesting to report. What I mean is, most of the time, life in Antigua seems rather routine. Church on Sundays, school at home Mondays through Friday. Luis continues to adjust well, learn English, etc. etc.

But I would be remiss not to recognize treasures in the mundane. Earlier in the week, we made dinner and dessert for a neighbor with a new baby. Luis and I sat in front of the hot oven (with the oven light on) and watched butter melt in my casserole dish. He learned words like "gooey" and "melty", and after we finished making a layered cookie dessert, he said "yummy"! It's been a long time since I had time in my schedule to watch butter melt.

And on another night, after his bath, Luis and I watched the colored water going down the drain. He learned the word, "Whirlpool"!! How fun!

Tonight, Luis asked Chris to a "sleepover" - so here they are enjoying being brothers.



Before they went to bed, we watched another Saturday night Antigua fireworks show. I thought even the fireworks have become a routine occurrence!

But then I realized, how can seeing our dreams of Luis becoming part of our family ever become routine and mundane? How can watching miracles and experiencing answered prayers ever grow old?

So I quickly snapped a shot of the kids, caught off guard, but reminding me that firework shows aren't limited to Disney World and special holidays. Each day is worth celebrating.

Land of Eternal Spring

In my last post, I mentioned several things we miss about Texas. Today, I'll share our list of things we will miss about Antigua.

We'll miss:
Eating at Pollo Campero
The Weather - it is the "Land of Eternal Spring"
Beautiful scenery
Tuk Tuk rides
Singing "Eres Todo Poderoso" at church

I will NOT miss shopping at La Bodegona. Hopefully the picture I took the other day of La Bodegona will be last time I have to shop there.



For school, we've been having fun, as usual. We enjoyed making patterns with Chocolate Teddy Grahams (quite the find) and M&M's:



The kids and I are enjoying our new friends. Today the kids played soccer with the other family while I had some time (gasp!) by myself in the apartment. I did a little cleaning and organizing as I am starting to pare down our stuff in preparation of leaving. Although we have no idea when we'll leave, I'm definitely in the "getting ready to go" mindset. Hopefully it won't be too much longer!! Please continue to pray for our case in Family Court.

Enjoy your weekend!! We will!

Things We Miss about Texas....

We are really looking forward to being home with Victor, at some point. The best thing about February is we feel confident saying "We should be home NEXT MONTH!" Keep praying about Family Court #3, that we would have favor with the court and move to the next step quickly. Also pray for accuracy with the court so we can avoid common errors. Lastly, pray for our ability to continue in our patience! We are all ready to come home!

Here is a short list of the things we miss about Texas:
Obviously, we miss being home with Daddy
Friends & Family
All things TWUMC!!
One-stop shopping at Kroger
freedom that comes with having a car
speaking English and being fairly well understood*

* I compliment Guatemalans in their overall willingness to try to understand my very broken Spanish....I've never been given a "Welcome to Guatemala. Press 1 for Spanish, all others go home" treatment. I am grateful for that.

We've started our 3rd quarter of "Fettes Christian Academy" - which includes a unit on "Space" for science. We are having a lot of fun with that already. I have enjoyed home-schooling so much and will be sad when it is time to return the kids to traditional school. A favorite part of home-schooling is starting at 8:15, or 9:30, or 10:00 - basically when breakfast is done, kids are dressed, and I feel like starting class!! I know we will get our work done for the day....and I love the freedom of working at our own pace and time. Wow....waking up to a 6:30 A.M. alarm clock will be quite the adjustment for us!!! (I know, you all are rolling your eyes right now..)

Again, please continue to pray over our case and for favor. THANK YOU!!

City Business & Fun

Earlier this week, we spent three days and two nights in Guatemala City. The purpose of our "mini-vaca" was for adoption business, but we were able to enjoy some family fun.

On Monday, we left Antigua early, around 9 am. We had some business at the US Embassy to take care of. This was my first time to actually enter the Embassy, and it was interesting. Security was pretty high, as I suspect it is normally, and we knew ahead of time to leave our cell phones, cameras, etc. in the taxi with our trusted driver. After about a 45-minute wait, we were able to get a document notarized. The good thing about paying $30 for an Embassy-notarized document is we don't have to send it to Austin for authentication.

We got checked into the hotel and contacted our attorney. We had several Guatemalan documents requiring translations. I took the kids to the hotel pool while Victor went to the attorney's office. We were praying that the translator could get everything finished in time for Victor to go to the Embassy on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, we had a free day, as our only adoption "task" was to get our translated documents back. We decided to take the kids to the La Aurora Zoo. We have been to the zoo twice before, and it's a great zoo! I realized I took a lot of pictures of the animals but not too many of the kids!! I'll spare you the pictures of the hippos, giraffes, bears, monkeys, etc. since I know y'all know what they look like! But I can't help but post a picture of a family favorite, the Jaguar....



In the "Pediatria" there was a baby lion, and she was sooooo cute.....



While we were at the zoo, Victor called our attorney to check on the documents. It was here, in front of the guacamayas, that we got the news that our case had finally gone to Family Court!!!! We were elated!!!!



Later, we enjoyed a train ride:





The documents were couriered over to the hotel that afternoon, so we were all set Wednesday morning for Victor to go to the Embassy. It was exciting that we were able to make so much progress on the case during Victor's trip. He flew home Wednesday afternoon. It was hard to say goodbye again, but we were all still on our "Family Court" high.

We were told on Thursday that our case will be handled by Court #3, and we pray that the judge finds our case favorable without requiring additional documents or changes. We are so tempted to guess what this means with a time frame going home, but we just don't know. What we know for sure is that we are one step closer!!!

Daddy Returns

After attending our Verizon Wireless kickoff meetings in Mobile, AL and New Orleans, I flew out form New Orleans to Guatemala, arrving at 8:30pm on Thursday. After clearing immigration and customs I found out the shuttle to Antigua does not run that late and had to catch a cab. If you are even in need of a racing cab in Guatemala, Sabian is your guy. We raced through the streets and up the mountain. I am not usually nervous, but he was taking the mountian curves at sixty five mph and in Guatemala you never know when a goat carrying firewood will be crossing the road around the next curve. But I arrived at the apartment safe and in record time.

Friday we headed back into the city to get Luis' bloodwork redone (the old blood work expired) and meet with the CNA. After getting blood drawn we stopped at the panaderia and got the kids donuts. Always good to sugar them up before heading to the CNA. Here is Luis with his donut.....


At the CNA we hoped to hear the document we needed to move to family court was ready, but we got told it would not be ready until Wednesday. So we will be returning to the CNA then. After the CNA it was off to Burger King for lunch and then up to the lab to pick up the results of the blood work (all good). We also stopped and bought each of the kids a book at the book store that was in the little mall. A guilt purchase if I have ever seen one.

So with the blood test in hand we only needed the original certificate of abandonment and adoptability amendment to have everything we would need to get preapproval with the US Embassy. We have been trying to get the document, but with no luck. So I called Casa Para Ninos on the way back to Antigua to see if we could stop by and get a copy so we could start the translation on Monday and if the document came in by Wednesday go and get preapproval. They said they got notification the document was ready and would have it at Casa after 3:30. It meant another trip, but I went up to Casa at 3:30 and had the document in hand by 4pm. Yes!!! Now all we need to do is get the document translated on Monday and we will be all set to visit the Embassy for preapproval before I leave.

We finished out the day with the usual Friday night Movie and Pizza night. We ordered Telepizza and Pollo Campero and the kids watched Mighty Machines. After the show it was an early night for all of us. I really enjoyed putting all the kids to bed and getting lots of snuggle time with them.

This morning we played around the apartment and just relaxed. After lunch we decided to go down to the San Francisco Church and ruins. We enjoyed walking around the church and had a blast climbing all over the ruins. Jenny and I had visited the ruins when we were in Guatemala for our mission trip five years ago. The kids enjoyed seeing the ruins and we got some good pictures.






After San Francisco, we headed to the market. We picked up what we were looking for there and then stopped at Pollo Campero for ice cream before catching a tuk-tuk back to the apartment. Tonight, Jenny and I are going to put the kids down early and have a date night. Tomorrow we have to get ready to head into the city on Monday. We will be staying in the city until Wednesday when I fly out. Hopefully we will get the document needed to get into family court and get preapproval by then.

Grammy and Grampy Visit

We were so excited that my mom and dad - "Grammy" and "Grampy" to the kids - were able to come for a visit last week! This was Grammy's second trip to Guatemala but Grampy's first. We wanted them to feel welcome right away:



It didn't take very long for Grammy and Grampy to get settled in. Thanks to our video skyping, Luis was pretty familiar with his new grandparents, so he jumped into the fun right along with Caroline and Christopher. The kids and I wanted to show them around beautiful Antigua while enjoying some quality family time. The weather during the trip was ideal, warm and sunny during the day, cooler at night. We spent a lot of time playing outside. As you can see, Grampy was quite the good sport, letting the kids climb all over him:



We also did a lot of exploring around Antigua. We walked down the popular "Avenida Del Arco" or "Arch Street" as I call it. We continued to the Central Plaza and checked out the old Spanish college. The architecture and gardens were just amazing. Here we are in one of the courtyards:



On one occasion of sight-seeing around Antigua, we stopped at the Casa Del Jade, which is a Jade Factory and store. We learned about the jade found in Guatemala, and how it is turned into jewelry and other things. Mom picked out a few things, and the sales people gave each kiddo a little piece of unfinished jade. Chris was curious about how much it was worth, and how much more if it were polished. The manager indulged us by allowing Grampy into the work area to polish one side of Chris' jade. It was really cool!



Before Grammy and Grampy left, they spent a day with Kimberli, a young lady they sponsor at Casa Aleluya. They picked her up from the home and took her back to Antigua to treat her to some time "off-campus."



While we were busy getting school work done, they toured the Cross on the Hill (Cerro de La Cruz) and had lunch. We met up with them at the Cathedral by Central Plaza. We had not yet toured the Cathedral, which had collapsed during a big earthquake in 1773. Some of the it was still intact, but the ruins were really interesting.



After touring the Cathedral, we walked to Las Capuchinas, another big church that was destroyed in the Earthquake of 1773. It's in the process of being renovated, and is actually quite breathtaking. I can see why it's a popular location for weddings.

Grammy and Grampy treated the kids and I to a delicious dinner at Monoloco. It was the first time we'd eaten there, and it was somewhat reminiscent of an American restaurant (it had ESPN on two giant TV's). The food was good and we're definitely taking Vic there next time he visits.



It's always sad when visits come to an end, but we sure did have a lot of fun! Thanks, Grammy and Grampy, for coming to see us!! Can't wait to see you again in the States!!!