We got Pictures!!!!!!!

Yesterday afternoon I checked my email and found updated pictures and medical!! Those of you sharing this journey to bring your own child home understands when I say it is a relief, ecstatic and calming day when this happens. PGN is a VERY hard wait and these pictures, when you can't be with your child in person, makes the time easier to deal with. This happened to me. He is now 18.5lbs and 29.5in tall. On our visit trip he had his bottom tooth and now that we got the new pics I think he has a top one, too. It looks like it in some of the pictures I have.

We have been watching him grow since we got our referral in June and have seen him twice and spent days with him each and felt the pain of saying goodbye. I am so looking forward to our pick up trip and bringing him home but hurting for his foster mother who has loved and cared for him since he came home from the hospital after being born and for his birthmother who is doing what she feel is right for her child. Please be praying for these women who loves this child, for this child who is going to miss them and finally for us his adoptive parents that we can raise him to know the part these women have in his life, to raise him to love and worship God, to raise him to respect and care about others and himself. Mostly to be able to raise him for the course that God has for him whether it is to stay here with us always, to search for his birthmother, or even go back for awhile to his birth country to help, but mainly to follow the path God has set out for his life in the years to come.

Thanks for your prayers for us and our son and all the people in his life that loves him. Thank you for the prayers that has given us strength on this long rollercoaster ride of emotions. I am also including a video I made of his first nine months. There are four pictures a month from 8 days old through our last pictures at 9 months old. I hope you enjoy watching him grow as much as I do!!

Wishing Everyone A Happy Thanksgiving

Today is Thanksgiving and Matt and I are thankful for a lot of things. In fact way to many to put here. We are making the best of this day and at the same time a big part of our hearts are missing and I am posting this video as our way of saying thank you for your prayers. Please continue to do so as we really are missing our son very much.

I hope you enjoy the video I created and will be adding more as time goes by.

I have a friend on here who has been waiting to get out of PGN with her son and was resubmitted on 10/5. Please be praying that she will hear soon that she is out of PGN and for a quick process to getting her pink slip (Visa appt date) so her son can come home. Her name is Anna.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Well...... Waiting for updates

The wait continues and this time for medical updates and pictures. The doctor won't be seeing Clay until next week as he has been on vacation. I have to admit I am glad this week is over and next Tuesday makes two weeks in PGN and just a few days until we get new pictures. The wait is hard and I am trying to stay busy. I am just praying that this time in PGN gets easier as it is a long hard wait.

I just have to figure out something to do that will keep me busy. That is all. I will and then the days will go by quicker and before we know it we will be out of PGN and waiting on the final steps to bringing our son home.

Well, that is all that is new for today. Next week will bring good news and Thanksgiving. I am so not ready for that. It is just the two of us for Thanksgiving and all up to me. We will see what happens. I am so looking for Sunday morning. Matt will be off work till Wednesday night and we can go to church Sunday morning. I just don't know what else we are going to do. Maybe on Thanksgiving we can go see "August Rush". I been wanting to see that and believe it will be a good movie. Well, I am going for now and will check back later. Please continue praying for some reason this week is really hard and I miss Clay so VERY much!!!!!!

PGN Wait

We have been continuously waiting for word about what is happening with adoptions in Guatemala come January 1st and today we hear from Guatemala Congress that adoptions will not be discussed until next session. I have heard that could be next Tuesday and Wednesday and I am glad it is sooner than later. It is a VERY hard wait. Having seen our child, held our child, spent days alone with our child and falling in love with him even more after our second visit this wait is hard anticipating the day we are out of PGN and he is legally ours not just the child in our hearts. I have had since this process started being very supportive and then as soon as the Hague was passed and the question of in process cases continue or not had someone tell me that it is my fault along with everyone else cause of our views on immigration issues. I have been told that I am continuously complaining and yet I have not said a word about how long it is taking. Yes my adoption is taking the normal length of time and going through all of the normal wait times and my sister had a two month process from referral to home but that is nothing to do with mine. I love my neice and I am glad she is home and my sister didnt have to go through all this, but each journey is different and I have no complaints. I have a great agency, a great attorney working for us and doing things the way they should be done and quickly. I have a VERY great God who will bring our son home when it is the right time. Things get hard and my emotions follow a roller coaster but it happens to all women whether they are pregnant or going through adoption. I have never been pregnant but I know my sisters and friends when they are pregnant and the emotions and mood swings they have and I know mine. I experience them more since our journey began than ever. When these emotions hit and I want to cry or just talk it is not me complaining it is me talking. It is me and my husband wanting for the hole in our hearts to come home for good, not being left in Guatemala needing a forever family. I have learned that friends come and go in this process and some that maybe not there all the time are stronger friends than ones you see often. Am I mad at the person who blamed me for being the one to cause the new changes and uncertainty? No. Was I? Yes. Why not mad now? I guess the main thing is cause for the first time I stood up and let the person know it hurt me. I am learning that I can wait even if it is hard and their are days I just want Clay home, but I can get up and go on and do what I have to even if I am sad. I am not falling apart, totally. Do I fall apart on these days? Yes. Today, I am trying to patiently wait for the updated opthalmologist report and medical update and new pictures. I am sad today. I wanted to know what is going to happen come the first of the year when our case will still be in PGN and wondering since that is the case if we will be home before middle of next year or what? I miss the way Clay feels in my arms cuddled up against me, I miss hearing him looking for Matt when he leaves the room and saying "da da", I miss him only wanting me when time to bed cause he knows that Daddy is the one he wants when time to play. We learned that one quick. It was the last night we had with Clay on the last visit and I was exhausted and he was sleepy but didn't want to be put to bed. He would go to sleep and I would try to lay him down and he would wake right up screaming. So after two hours Matt tried. Well as soon as I handed him to Matt and Matt wouldn't play with him he started screaming again. He expected Matt to play with him. So back to me he came. I finally after about another 2-3 hours was able to lay him down in the crib for awhile. I guess I got about an hours sleep when he was crying again. I was too tired at that point so he just went in the bed with us. He slept till 8am at that point and since I couldnt pack his stuff the night before had to feed him, dress him, let Matt play with him while I packed his stuff and then a few photos before the call from downstairs came saying his Foster Mother was there to pick him up. That was the hardest thing I ever did and I can't do that again. This is the wait. A normal wait day. We have been back in PGN a little over a week and have 7 or more to go give or take one or two weeks.

Today is ok, though. I am waiting for pictures and update and planning his first Christmas and the care package for the actual Christmas day. He will have two Christmas Days but that is ok. One with his foster family and then one with us when he comes home. If he isnt home till after his First Birthday we will have two of those too. It is ok to do that!!!!! It gives us something to plan and look forward to and to keep us busy during the Holidays when we will be apart. Please continue to pray for Guatemala, for our adoption journey and the other families waiting, too. We need it.

Here we go again!!!!!

Well, I was reading up on the new possibility of the extension to the hague and learned that the DOS is pushing for the extension not to be passed and the January 1, 2008 date to stand. For more information on both of what I have been talking about in the last two posts. http://www.guatadopt.com/archives/000747.html http://www.guatadopt.com/archives/000748.html The extended date would be good for more than us it would be the best for the children remaining that need homes and love and for Guatemala time to put everything into place with training and setting up of a central authority. To do it fast leaves no time for training or setting up a way to keep the childrens best interest first. Please be praying that the children are the main focus of everyone and that all of us waiting on children to come home bring them home soon!!!!!

Good News

We found out last night that we are back in PGN!!!! I am so VERY glad. This whole time of knowing that our case was having to just sit there and nothing happening was extremely hard and the relief of being back in is tremendous. Once again we start the eight week countdown and from what I can figure eight weeks will be December 31, 2007. I was hoping so much for no kick out and to bring him home before the first of the year. We are figuring with the last things to be done to have his visa we will be home with him end of January, First of February as long as no more Kick outs occur. We are praying so much that no more will occur. We know that a miracle can still occur cause with God anything is possible. Is it likely? NO!!! Praise God we are back in and our process will go forward!!!! Guatemalan Congress has put the possibility of a new law to extend the Hague to begin April 1, 2008 instead of January 1, 2008 and work on getting more of the program set up as to protect and allow care for all kids left behind. This is good news!! Will be voted on next week. What a relief!!!!!! Please continue to pray for Guatemala, the children in process and the children that will be effected by the adoptions continuing and the birth families that dont know what to do. Prayers are what is keeping everyone going through this process. Thanks for all your prayers and support in our journey to bringing our son home!!!!!!

Bad News and Update

On 10/30 a friend of ours called PGN to see where we were at in process as this would be our half way point to being out. What she found out is that on 10/23 we had been issued a previo and for what did not know or if our attorney had even picked it up yet. Knowing that this could have been a mistake we waited confirmation from our agency. Carol confirmed that we did have a previo and our attorney had picked it up on the 24th. The reason for not knowing was our attorney's email has not been working properly and was not sent to Carol. It is a simple fix. There was some transposition of numbers on the birthmother's passport by the American Consulate in Guatemala and our attorney said should have it fixed Tuesday and us back in PGN. The reason for not getting it done sooner was PGN and American Consulate was closed Thursday and Friday for All Saints Day and Monday for elections which are going on today.

This sounds like I am way calm and for the most part I am. It really really hurt to be kicked out of PGN and knowing that once we get back in we have another 8 week wait to see if we are approved and signed out or the possibility of another kick out. All I know is God will bring Clay home in His time. The main thing is the uncertainty of since no way being out by the first of the year now what is going to happen in terms of timeline till he comes home or what the Guatemalan Congress is going to do. We know there is an amendment on the books to allow in process cases to continue but we dont know when or if that is going to be voted into law until sometime this month. I have heard two dates mentioned. Please be praying hard this month as it is so important to so many children waiting. The dates I have heard mentioned are Nov 6th and 14th.

PGN so far is the most difficult part of our roller coaster ride to date. Alot of people say that their are adoption hormones just like there are pregnancy hormones and I believe them. I am usually not a very emotional person around just anyone, the only ones I used to let see them were people I am close to, but now they come and go and it is not easy. The hard part is the waiting on our son to come home. Our visit to our son this time has sent those hormones raging and I miss him so MUCH more. There are going to be issues with sleeping at night for quite awhile after Clay comes home if our last visit was an indicator and even though things won't be easy it is ok. He will be grieving and hurting just like we do when we lose someone we love so much.

We are planning on staying in contact with his foster family best we can through out Clay's life cause I look at it this way. Clay has a mother that chose to give him life and when finding out she couldnt provide everything he has needed put him in foster care and turned over to our attorney for a loving family. Clay also has his other mom whom he has known since the day he left the hospital and I want her to remain in his life in some fashion as I see that as an important bond. Then there is Matt and I, his forever family. We will love him unconditionally and provide everything he needs and alot of what he wants. In the next week or so I hope to be adding something to our blog here. I have been trying to find the program needed to do it and it is going to be a special video that I want to create.

Please continue to pray for our adoption but today and whenever else also please pray for Guatemala as a country and for what happens after they become Hague Compliant. Please be praying for their elections that are taking place today Nov 4th. Thank you so much for your support and prayers on our journey to bringing home our son.