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!!!