New Beginnings

Now that we are home with 2 little girls, it's going to be a little harder to keep up with the blogging so we have decided to create a new blog to capture the day-to-day happenings with the Schroders.

We are so excited to begin this new chapter in our lives, please follow us at http://watchourgardengrow.blogspot.com/ .

Thank you for following our journey!

My new room!

Rosa is doing great in her new bed. We had to lower the matress because she loves pullin gup now and I was worried she would fall over. She is crawling all over and I am relieved that she has carpet to crawl on. She fell and hit her head so many times in Guatemala on the tile floors, it was so sad.

Rosa seems to be ok with Max, although he did snap at her once when she was cralwing in his space. We will definitely have to keep a watch on that. We were finally able to hang the johnny jumper we borrowed from our friends Darrell and Ashley and she wears herself out in it. Yesterday she fell asleep in it. She can't wait to get up and walk so she can keep up with Fernanda.


Yesterday Rosa got to take a stroll in the wagon with Bella, she had so much fun!

Change in Plans

Bill & Melodie were not able to get on the flight to Huntsville, so they will arrive in Birmingham later tonight. They are being picked up at the airport there and will arrive home late tonight.

Pray that the girls can handle the change in plans and that they are able to get a good night's sleep in their own beds tonight!

Welcome to the US, Fern & Rosa!!

-Alison

More Delays

Melodie just called. The 9:50 flight has been delayed until 11:00 PM because they had to change out the airplane. When they did, they got a smaller plane and Bill & Melodie are now on stand-by.

All the things for the girls and their car seats are already on their way to Huntsville, so Bill & Melodie don't have enough supplies for the girls if they don't get on the flight. Please pray that there is some way that they can get on the flight and get home tonight.

-Alison

Flight Delayed in Atlanta

Melodie just let me know that they did not make the flight in Atlanta that was set to arrive in Huntsville at 7:43 PM. The next flight to Huntsville arrives at 9:50 PM. Please pray that they can get through swiftly and onto this flight. I'll update you when I hear back from her.

-Alison

Guess where we're going?

That's right, after spending most of the day waiting, I finally was able to get Fernanda's visa appointment for Monday morning, same time as Rosa's!!! Thank you God! Thank you all for praying for us! We are so excited!

So what does this all mean? We are coming home! If all goes well with our appointments, we will be on a flight out of here on Thursday Aug 21st! It is scheduled to get into HSV at 7:43pm. There is a possibility that we may have to take the later flight if we don't make it through customs in time and it gets in at 9:50.

I may not post again before we leave becasue Bill gets here on Saturday and we have a busy schedule for the rest of the week. But I will see you all soon!

August 18th

that is the day we go for Rosa's embassy apointment!!! We are so excited. This is the final step for her. Please pray that everything goes smoothly, that we have ALL the paperwork we need for her and that it is ALL correct. We are hoping to get Fern's stuff moving and get her an appointment near the same date so Bill will only have to travel once. Pray for God's hand in the scheduling!

Attention please...

Look who stood up today!

I can't believe how fast she is growing up!

Rosa got to meet her Abbie this week. She already knows that Abbie is gonna spoil her. I think Abbie gave her spaghetti one night...

Guess who's growing up???

You got it! She is getting so big. I expect to see her pulling up any day now. This is what I found when I went to get her from her nap recently...

I didn'tknow whether she was going to stand up or fly out. I think she makes a pretty cute super hero!
Rosa is getting a lot of hair too! Pretty soon I will have to do more to it than wash it.

No appointment yet...

but Rosa is MOBILE! She crawls everywhere and is wanting to pull up so bad. I think she can't stand being left behind by the big girls! Here she is trying to pull up on a step between the living room and kitchen. There's no stopping her now!

More News!

We have an appointment on Monday morning (tomorrow) to get Rosa's passport, then to her 2nd DNA test and her embassy doctor appointment. We will be going to the city this afternoon and staying in a hotel tonight so we can make it to our appointments on time. After this, all we wait for is our embassy appointment and she is done! I keep telling Bill that I am going to send Rosa home with him when she is done...
He's not sure about that one, but I think it's a great idea!!! : )

UPDATE!!!No news for Rosa

We haven't gotten any updates on Rosa's birth certificate so we are still waiting. Hopefully we will get it soon. Rosa is now in full speed crawling and we bought her a walker yesterday. She likes being up off the floor and can get around great in it. She is getting so big. I know it won't be long before she is up walking.

UPDATE!!!I had just posted this and then got a message from our facilitator that they have received her birth certificate and now we have to wait for our 2nd DNA test. Hopefully that will be soon! Thanks for the prayers!

Life as a mommy

Rosa is such a good baby. She is so happy when she wakes up in the morning or after her naps. She has started eating baby food and cereal, she loves it. She does this little sucking thing all through thte night, it is so cute! She is almost able to sit up by herself and is ready to crawl. We are all going to be in trouble when she starts! Here are a few pics...

Play time is so much fun!

Riding along in my automobile...

Life is so tiring!

Tomorrow is the big day!

We had a little confusion about our house last night, but we got everything worked out, and it's even a bit cheaper. We have had some computer issues the last few days and unfortunately I won't be ably to take my laptop with me. We are hoping that if someone is going to Guatemala sometime soon, they can bring it to me, otherwise, Bill will bring it when he comes for Rosa's embassy appt. in 5 or 6 weeks. But I think my roomies will let me borrow their computers from time to time to update everyone.
In 24 hours I will be with my daughters forever!

O-U-T

We just got word that Rosa was approved from PGN!!! Now we wait for her birth certificate and then our embassy appointment!

Previo

We received an email from our attorney today that said that Rosa's case got a previo, which means it was "kicked out" due to some legal terminology that needs to be corrected. This is a bit of a let down as we thought her case would be through PGN by the time I got down there. I guess it really isn't too bad though since Fernanda is just now getting into PGN. The attorney also said that she Hopes to have both adoptions completed in approximately 3 months.

Slight Change of Plans...

Well we couldn't get my lodging worked out so I came home with Bill yesterday. I have booked my return flight for July 3rd. I was so sad to leave my girls, but I know I will be back soon! For the next 2 weeks I will be working to get things in order, the girl's room ready and tie up loose ends with my job, etc.
Thanks for all your prayers, we had a wonderful visit with our girls. It was very eye opening. It is going to be a BIG transition into mommyhood. Well, got to get the laundry done.

We made it!

We made it here yesterday around noon. First we picked Rosa up from her Foster mom's house and then to Amor del Nino to get Fernanda. They were both so good about going with us. Last night was a little rough, trying to get sleep schedules right, but maybe today will be better. We don't have internet in our room so maybe tomorrow we can post a few pics.

I'm moving!

Bill and I are leaving this week to go for another visit with our girls. We are so excited to see them again. This time, however, I will not be coming back with him...
I am moving to Antigua until our adoptions are complete. This is something we have talked about since we started this process, just waiting for the right time to go. And this is it! I will be living in a 4 BR house w/ 2 other adopting moms and another lady who is going to language school in Antigua.
I have such mixed emotions about this move. I am excited to be with my girls, but sad to be away from Bill, Max and all of our family and friends. As long as we can figure out how to set up the wireless, I should be able to post from there.
So that's what's going on with us. Please pray for me while I am there and for Bill as he holds down the fort back home!

No Show!

The BM did not show up for her interview yesterday so now the attorney will reschedule the interview and try to get in touch with the BM. This is very discouraging, but there is nothing we can do about it so we wait and we pray that she will cooperate so we can move to the next step.

Keep praying!

Don't know what to say...

So my mom calls me this morning and here's our conversation...
Mom: Go by my house and pick up a check to go towards your adoptions.
Me: Who's it from?
Mom: An anonymous person
Me: Well I'm gonna know who when I see the check
Mom: They gave me the money and I wrote you a check
Me: Who's it from?
Mom: I can't tell you
Me: Who is it?
Mom: I can't tell you
Me: Well I need to know who to thank
Mom: Thank God!

So thank you, God! And thank you to whoever you are! Your VERY GENEROUS donation is such a blessing to us! Thank you for helping us bring our girls home! Thank you God for prompting this person to give!

Birth Mother Interview

We found out today that Rosa's birth mother interview is Monday. I have mixed emotions about it.
On one hand, I am excited because this means that the cases ARE moving so this means progress.
On the other hand, I am nervous because I have heard many stories of the birth mothers being treated horribly, babies being taken by the authorities, etc. I know that the decision for her give her baby up was hard and she had already had to see her at the DNA test and now this is just one more time that she has to be reminded of the decision she made.
Specific prayer requests:
Pray that everything goes smoothly- the BM shows up, is calm and is not treated badly by the interviewers. She made a very courageous decision to give up her child because she could not or did not want to take care of her. That has to be the hardest decision anyone could ever make.
Pray that they do not find any problems with our paperwork. I know we have one letter that the notary's commission expires on in June and we have already had it redone and are planning to take it to Guate with us when we go.
Pray for our attorney- that they maintain their good reputation with the officials involved.
And finally pray for a speedy process, we are so ready to bring our sweet Rosa home!
I'll keep you updated!

Waiting on God

Here is the devo of the day from the on-line daily devos I get. I thought it was very appropriate for the circumstances we find ourselves in. It is EXTREMELY hard to wait on His timing!

God, Could You Please Hurry?

by Amy Carroll

“He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.”
Ecclesiastes 3: 11 (NIV)


Devotion:

Those of us that have lived in rural areas know that tractors on the road are a fact of life. However, just because they are a fact of life doesn’t make them any less irritating if you’re in a hurry! I followed a tractor down one of our narrow two-lane roads recently. At one point I completely lost my patience for its pace and started yelling (unheard—thank goodness), “Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!” It didn’t speed up the tractor at all.

How many times have I approached God’s timing the same way? And it never hurries Him up either.

I admit God often does not operate at a pace that pleases me, and I want Him to hurry, hurry, hurry! I’m thinking Sarah, Abraham’s wife, felt the same way. After waiting 10 years for a baby that God had promised Abraham (read Genesis 12-21 for the complete story), Sarah decided to “help” God. Surely 10 years was too long for anybody to wait. So Sarah gave her maidservant Hagar to her husband, and the two of them had a child. Soon the two women were at odds. Talk about a soap-opera! Finally, fifteen years later, the child promised by God to Abraham and Sarah was born. God was not late. His timing was perfect. It was Sarah who was in a hurry and rushing things, but she found out that there was a price to pay for manipulating her circumstances.

I know Sarah and I are not alone in our desire for God to hurry up. I once heard it said that we are people with gods on our wrists.

In Isaiah 55:9, God says, “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (NIV) God’s timing is part of His ways. I may be tapping my watch, but He is never late. He may seem slow, but He is always right on time.

Has God made a promise to you that is slow in coming? Has He planted a dream in your heart that has yet to come to fruition? Don’t give up hope! God is faithful, and you can rely on His perfect timing. Fix your eyes on Him and enjoy the journey to your destination. There are things to be learned along the way that will enhance the joy of a promise fulfilled.


"Dear Lord, sometimes I don’t understand your timing. It’s often very hard to wait, but I trust You. I want to rely on Your ways and Your timing. Help me to learn what I need to learn as I wait. In Jesus’ name, Amen."

Drum Roll, Please

I know, everyone is on pins and needles waiting to her the final count... But first I want to say a BIG THANK YOU!
First to God- He has blessed us on the journey in more ways than I can ever tell. Next, our parents- they were there helping us just doing what needed to be done. Thanks for all your support and for loving these babies as much as we do!
We had some amazing friends that helped us so much!
Daryl and Carla- you guys are amazing! Thanks for everything you did, from the donations you made to letting us store things in your garage, and giving up your Saturday to help us!
David and Amanda- I can't believe you gave up your entire Saturday! We could not have done this with out you! Amanda, thanks for haggling with the customers, I know that's a pain. We appreciate you so much!
Randy and Heather- they were at our house until midnight on Friday night just helping us do what needed to be done and then Randy drove back at 3:30 Sat morning, from across town (and I know how much gas costs!) to help us set things up. There is no way we could have gotten everything out without you!
Melony- thank you for being here, you were so willing to do whatever needed, even letting Max out to potty when things were crazy and I didn't have time!
Alison- thanks for being here! You knew just what to do and how to get people to give! I appreciate you staying till the end and helping us clean up!
Rachel- thanks for all the shopping you did! I think you get the prize for the most items bought!
I know there were so many more of you who donated great things for us to sell, let us use your tables to set things up on, the awesome clothes rack from the Hayes, prayed for us, donated money, helped spread the word by emailing/posting info about our yard sale, gave us great ideas...
We can never say thank you enough, but I pray that you will be blessed by your kindness!
We even had a donation from a couple of the neighborhood kids, so sweet!
We are so blessed to have the family, friends and community we have.
Now what you all have been waiting for...
Just from the yard sale, we made about $2900. We had additional gifts/donations for a grand total from the yard sale efforts of $3778. Man did I limit God! I was hoping for maybe $1000. Again, we are overwhelmed by your generosity, love and support!
A few pics from the day, none of me because I looked horrible and I don't want any pics of me wearing the fanny pack!

Look at all this stuff!

Thank you Carla and Amanda!

I think he secretly wanted to keep these...

By the end of the day we were all pooped!

Mother's Day and Yard Sale

Just wanted to share with you all the sweet gift my husband gave me for my first Mother's Day.





He had photos from our trip to Guatemala made into a book. I love it!

Ok and now a few pictures of the stuff we have in our garage for the Yard Sale.




Come on out Saturday and SHOP SHOP SHOP!!!

PGN on Hold!

It is true, PGN is on hold for approximately 1 month while they investigate cases and interview birth mothers and possibly do another DNA test to make sure she is the mother. Rosa had her DNA test in March so hopefully they won't have to interview her birth mom again. We're not sure how long this will hold things up, but hopefully things will be in full swing when we visit in June.
Our benefit yard sale is in a week and a half (May 17th). We have SOOOOO much stuff! We would love to see all of our friends and family so come on out. And if you have some free time, stop by and price items with us. We are working on it almost every day but will do the bulk of it on Friday May 16th so if you come by we'll feed you some pizza and let you shop early! We really have some great stuff people have donated to us!

Bill's first Father's Day

Guess where Bill will be spending his first Father's Day???
In Guatemala with his daughters. That's right, we're going back. We have been wanting to go back since we got home and finally found some decent tickets today. We will be there for a week and are looking into staying in Antigua this time. We are so excited we can hardly stand it. Now to find a cheap place to stay...

Thoughts about adoption

This is a devotional a friend sent to us today. Very thought provoking...

"Alone and Abandoned"

I delivered the poor who cried for help, and the orphan who had no
helper.
Job 29:12 NASB

One of the things we tend to forget, overlook or just simply ignore
when thinking about adoption is how desperately needy some children are.
This came to mind again when hearing the story of a local couple who
felt the need to share their family of six with a child from Guatemala.

All that’s known about young Heidy Paola is that she was found in a
cardboard box by the side of the road. She was less than a year old,
abandoned to die until a policeman walked over to dispose of what he
thought was an empty carton. Inside he found a sunburned, dehydrated infant,
still breathing . . . somehow.

His decision to take her to a nearby orphanage probably wasn’t
automatic. Many children are left unwanted in underprivileged countries,
where poverty and need outrank parental concern in case after case. One
more wasn’t a surprise. But because of God’s working through one
man’s rescue efforts, a little baby left to die ultimately became a little
girl growing up in an orphanage.

When her adoptive parents first entered the dormitory where Heidy had
lived since arriving at the orphanage, she rushed from her caretaker’s
side and lunged into her new mommy’s arms. The bond was powerful and
immediate. Nothing could be closer to God’s heart than this.

I firmly believe that adoption is one of the central efforts in our day
that can define the Church’s compassion for the world. With no one
to protect them, children are in such distress. Their need is so great.
May God raise up families who will reach out and give the helpless a
home—a mommy and daddy who will protect them.

One child, hurting and in need, with no hope, no one. What can you do
to help a child like this experience God’s love?

Pray that your family will represent God’s heart of compassion to the
fatherless.

PGN!

We just got word that Rosa is going into PGN today!!! We are so excited. We can't wait to get her home so pray that PGN goes smoothly and FAST!

Car Seats and Yard Sales

We got Rosa's car seat this weekend. It looks so big for her, but I didn't want to get an infant carrier becasue she won't be in it long. I can't wait to see her sitting in it!


We are having a benfit yardsale on Sat May 17th. So if you live in the area, stop by and buy some junk, uh, I mean stuff! We went through our neighborhood yesterday to let our neighbors know what we are doing and to ask for donations of items. We already have a garage full of stuff. Several of the things I have said, "Oh, we could use that" but Bill keeps saying, "We're not keeping anythign!"

Over the Rainbow

Woo-hoo! Pre-Approval

Just a week and a half after getting Fernanda's pre-approval, we got word today that we have pre-approval for Rosa too!!!
God is so good! Now we are just waiting for Rosa to get into PGN!
We think Fernanda may already be in PGN so Rosa should be right behind her!
Please pray for a speedy process!

Nothing new, just a few more pics

We haven't gotten any updates on Rosa. The latest is that the DNA test was a match so now we are waiting to get our pre-approval for Rosa and then into PGN...
I just wanted to post a few more pictures from our trip. These are all from our first day with her. She is such a sweet baby and extremely good, rarely cried.

Photo montage of our trip

100 things

I was tagged by Alison so here's our 100 things about our trip to Guatemala and our Adoptions in general

Hope it answers some questions and gives you some insight into our trip.

1. Our first flight, Tuesday night, was cancelled so we got rebooked on another airline for 6am the next morning
2. Our second flight was cancelled
3. We barely made our connection flight in Atlanta
4. We arrived in Guatemala 2 hours earlier than our original flight should have arrived
5. There was a Mariachi band that greeted us in the airport
6. We packed 2 kids, 7 adults and LOTS of luggage into the van and headed out
7. Traffic is CRAZY, two lanes look like 4 lanes because noone really drives in a lane
8. Our first stop: Pollo Compero (kinda like KFC) for a quick lunch-good thing they took VISA, we had no Quetzales
9. One Quetzal equals approximately 7.6 US dollars.
10. Then we went to see our sweet little Fernanda
11. She was a bit shy at first, but warmed up to us after about an hour
12. She let me feed her even though she normally feeds herself
13. We were sad to leave the first day
14. We helped with getting the house ready for the kids to move into
15. Cleaning a 3200 sq ft house is hard work!
16. I no longer want hardwood flooring throughout my house, carpet is easier to clean
17. On day 2 Bill didn’t get to see her because he stayed back at the house to help get it ready for the big move
18. I got to give her a bath
19. She does NOT like baths
20. Day 3 was Fernanda’s 2nd birthday
21. We bought cupcakes and went to the home she is in and had a little party for her
22. She wore a tiara, she is a little Princess
23. She didn’t like all the attention but eventually ate her cupcake
24. Everyone ate cupcake and there were crumbs everywhere
25. At the end of day 3 Bill had a little accident
26. Never push a dog a way from its feeding area, it WILL bite!
27. Bill got bitten by a Siberian Husky/”Wolf” mixed dog
28. The dog no longer lives on the property
29. Saturday was moving day
30. The kids moved from 2 houses to 1
31. We helped with packing and moving until lunch time
32. We had pizza with the kids which is a HUGE treat for them
33. Usually they eat rice/beans or hotdogs
34. We bought 25 pizzas and it cost Q2450, you do the math
35. Domino's in Guatemala is GOOD!
36. We ate Domino's 2 times
37. We ate Pollo Compero 3 times
38. On Sat we met our adoption facilitator for the first time in person
39. We also saw some good friends from Nashville who were there visiting the little girl they are adopting
40. And we met another adoptive mom who is adopting 3 children from the same home Fernanda is in
41. Then we went to the hotel with Fernanda
42. We finally got to meet our sweet little Rosa!
43. To answer some questions about Rosa…
44. We have known about her since Dec
45. We waited until we got her DNA test results before we told others
46. We got the results while we were in Guatemala
47. No, they are not biological sisters
48. We hope to get them around the same time, but we don’t know for sure
49. No one really knows when we will get to bring them home
50. We hope by late summer, early fall
51. Rosa is 5 months and 3 weeks old
52. She was born on Oct 31st 07
53. Fernanda is 2, she was born on Mar 28th 06
54. We are keeping their names as their first names
55. Fernanda will be Fernanda Grace
56. Rosa will be Rosa Claire
57. They will share a room
58. It’s going to cost A LOT!
59. We don’t get a discount for 2
60. We are working on some adoption grants, fundraisers, and a matching grant we hope to get approved for
61. I plan to stay home with them, at least for a while
62. If I go back to work, it will only be part time
63. It was VERY hard to leave them
64. We know that they are in very good care in the homes they are in right now
65. They are not together
66. Fernanda is in an Orphanage, also called an Hogar that is run by a missionary couple
67. Rosa is in private Foster care
68. They have wonderful, sweet personalities
69. Rosa had no problem with either of us and only cried when she was hungry or wanted changed
70. Fernanda preferred me, but warmed up to Bill each day
71. Fernanda was a bit jealous of Rosa if I held her
72. Fernanda loves the pool
73. Neither of them cried, much
74. Their daddy loves them!
75. He did a great job making bottles and changing diapers
76. Rosa peed on the bed one day
77. Rosa’s ears are pierced
78. Fernanda’s are not
79. I have decided that I want to move somewhere that I can wear flip flops every day
80. I love warm weather
81. I hate humidity
82. Did I mention the traffic in Guatemala?
83. It’s CRAZY
84. I will never drive in Guatemala
85. It is common to see 15 passenger vans with 50 people in/on them
86. They drive at 40-50mph with the van door open and people hanging out the side
87. I need to learn more Spanish
88. Here’s what I know
89. Venga-Come- we said A LOT of Venga Mami or Venga Papi
90. Vayamos- Let’s go
91. Si- Yes, Fernanda was so cute, she was so soft spoken and it sounded more like chi
92. mire mami- Look at mami
93. Coma- Eat
94. Donde es- Where is…
95. Good thing she is only 2 and does well with one word sentences
96. We can’t wait to go back!
97. Make sure you get a tetnis shot before you travel out of the country, even if you think you won’t need it!
98. Our trip home was uneventful
99. Our luggage made it from Guatemala to Miami
100.But it didn’t make it form Miami to Huntsville

Surprise!

God has blessed us more than we could have ever imagined. He has watched over us on this journey, even through the tough times. God has blessed us with two beautiful, wonderful, sweet girls and we cannot wait for you all to meet them. Here are a few shots of them...


Our new family photo


Checking each other out


Fat rolls and painted toes...


Getting ready for bedtime

We LOVE our little Rosa!

We finally got to see Rosa on Saturday. It was such an amazing say. We had spent the previous days with Fernanda and now our family was finally all together. She is such a daddy's girl. She already has him wrapped around her finer! He perfected the art of bottle making and did a great job on changing diapers, even the yucky ones!

We're on our way!

We made to it the airport, at Huntsville anyway. We got all of our 360 lbs of luggage in and checked half of it. We are so excited to see our little girl tomorrow! I don't think I'll be able to sleep tonight. We will be in Dallas tonight and then off to Guat early in the morning. If you need to contact us, you will have to email/post on our blog b/c we will not have phone access after 7 in the morning. Can't wait to post pictures! See you all in a week. And Brittany, if you read this, take good care of our four-legged babies!

Waiting to see her

While we are counting down the days til we see and hold our little Rosa, we got a sweet little gift today. New pics of Rosa. She will be 5 months old this week.

We have been racking our brains trying to come up with something really special to take to her so Friday night we went to Build-A-Bear and made Teddy Bears to take to our girls. We were able to put a recording of our voices in it so she can become familiar with us. We forgot to bring the camera, of course, so we asked a very kind couple with a camera to take our picture and he emailed it to us.
We are counting, tomorrow we will be in the single digits!

God is providing!

When we started this adoption process, I was really worried about how we would pay for everything. I talked to several others who have/are adopting and they all told me the same thing, God will provide. A little skeptical, we moved forward and found that as each new thing came up, we had the money to pay for it. God is good, but soon we will have to start paying for the more expensive part of adoption, the attorney fees and we just don't have thousands of $$$ in the bank waiting to be spent. But some wonderful friends have stepped forward and are able to bless us. I also started a Home & Garden Party fundraiser today and I have already earned $150. I guess it's like the manna God provided for the Israelites. He did not provide it for them all at once, He only gave them what they needed, when they needed it. If they took too much, it would spoil. So I guess God is providing for us what we need when we need it. Thank you God!

(only 19 days till we meet our sweet Rosa!)

It's all set!

We made arrangements today for Rosa to spend a couple of days with us while we are in Guatemala. On Saturday March 29th at 4pm we will meet our sweet Rosa! We are so excited. We are praying that things will work out for us to have both of our girls at the same time so we can make our 1st family photo, which we will surprise our parents with! Then this blog will finally be open to the public! We will share our little surprise with our family and friends as soon as we get back from Guatemala! Only 19 more days...

DNA-done!

We found out today that the DNA was done on Tuesday, the 26th, now we are just waiting for the results to make sure it's a match! If all goes well, we will get to spend time with Rosa when we visit in... 25DAYS!!!!

Counting down the days...

we are leaving in 29 days to go to Guat! We are so excited. We got word yesterday that the DNA test is in the works and will hopefully be complete soon. We have been told that we cannot visit w/ Rosa until the DNA is done and we would be so disappointed to be in Guat and not be able to see her. We are praying that it gets done this week and we get the results very soon. We cannot wait to meet our sweet little Rosa. She will be 5 months old when we go for our first visit.

Happy 4 Months!

Wow our little girl is 4 months old today. She is growing up so fast, too fast. We are so excited about getting to see her and hold her and kiss her! Only 35 more days until we see her. It makes me sad when I think about how fast she is growing, but she is growing big and strong and is a very healthy littl girl. Gordita, I believe, is the word I could hear on the video we got of her. She is a big one. In fact I had bought matching outfits for her and Fernanda back in January and I think I will have to take them back and exchange them for a bigger size for both of them. No new pics today, but I'm sure we will get one soon. We are waiting to hear about her DNA test any day. We have paid for it to be done, just don't kow if it has been done yet and what the results are. We think we will get the results and a picture of her and her birthmother in the mail. Hopefuly soon!

Happy 4 Month Birthday Rosa!

Guess where we're going?

We are going to see our little girl!!! We are so excited we can't stand it. We will be in Guatemala on the 26th of March and are coming back home on the 1st of April. We are hoping to split our time between our two girls. Fernanda will be 2 on the 28th of March and little Rosa will be 5 months old when we get to see/hold her for the first time. She is growing up so fast and it makes me so sad when I think about it. Can't wait to see her! We'll post pictures (and hopefully video) of our trip!

So excited!

We received a video in the mail on Saturday from our agency. It has several minutes of our girl just chilling out and smiling a little. She is just too cute! I am working on getting the video onto computer so I can post part of the video. We are waiting for her to have her DNA test and then we are free to go visit her whenever we would like. We are hoping to go to Guat the end of March for Fernanda's birthday so hopefully we will get to spend some time with Rosa as well.

She's growing up so fast!

We received an update on Rosa today. She is three and half months old and weighs 14 lbs. It's is so hard to imagine that we have 2 little girls. I am looking forward to the day we get to go meet her in person. Here's a little glimpse of her...

DNA

We received an email today from the agency telling us that they have the DNA authorization from the US Embassy to proceed with the first DNA test for our little Rosa! This is exciting for a couple of reasons. One, the adoption appears to be moving forward, second, Melissa said that we could come for our first visit with Rosa when the first DNA is complete! Little Rosa is already 3 months old, I am dying to get my hands on her!

3 months old!

Wow, Rosa is 3 months old today. I can't believe it has already been 4 weeks since we accepted her referral. She is growing up so fast, too fast, and without us. But I know that she is being taken care of and God is watching over her. We were able to send a package to her via the agency so maybe she got it today, or at least hopefully this week. We hope to get new pictures of her soon. I think they do a medical update and picture once a month so we are crossing our fingers for new information soon.

Trying to catch up

Since we are waiting to share the news of Rosa, I had not been blogging, but decided I wanted to try to get some posts out so that when we are ready, we will already have her story started. You know how it is, the first child gets everything, all the pictures, the baby album, etc., but when #2 and so on come along, they get the shaft. I am trying to give each girl equal time. On Dec 26th, Rosa turned 2 months old. It is hard for me to think about her growing without us! It makes me sick at my stomach that I am missing this time of her life.

On Jan 4th we receieved new pictures and a medical update.
She was 12 lbs and 4 oz and 57 cm long. She's growing!
Here's her 2 month picture.

The rest of the story

After we got home (still in shock) we spent the rest of the night looking at pictures, talking about names, rereading the medical report about our little girl. We felt so blessed that God had chosen us for this blessing.
On Friday, December 21st, we signed the Power of Attorney for both Fernanda and Rosa. We have prayed daily for both of our girls. We pray that God has allowed us to slide in and be "grandfathered-in" under the old system.
We have decided to keep this new little blessing to ourselves until we make it to PGN with her.
So now you know "The rest of the story".
Here's another one of the referral pictures we received.

Surprise!

On December 20th, while driving in downtown Atlanta, our adoption facilitator called us and said, I have a baby girl for you and I will be sending you pictures today!!!

(A little background...We were in Atlanta having our fingerprints done for INS. We had already started the process of adopting a little girl from Guatemala, but as the end of the year came closer, we feared that the adoption would fall through because of changing laws in Guatemala. After MUCH prayer, talking with our facilitator and our pastor, we decided to move forward and pursue another child.

Since we requested up to 2 children in our home study, we thought, well if things work out with the first child, then we'll just take them both. )

OK, back to Dec 20th , downtown Atlanta...

After we told her that we would take this new little baby, she said, are you ready for a miracle??? The foster home where the first little girl was has decided to let us sign the Power of Attorney for her in hopes of being grandfathered in under the old system... so WOW, we are adopting 2 little girls... Bill and I just sat there, teary eyed, not sure what we were doing.

We spent a little more time in Atlanta and then headed back home. About half way home we stopped to eat dinner and while in the parking lot of the restaurant, we pulled out our laptop, "borrowed" the wireless signal from a nearby hotel and tried to see if we had gotten pictures of our sweet baby. There is was, a message from our facilitator with this subject, "Would you like to meet your little daughter?"

We got the pictures to open and just as we were reading the attached medical report, the battery died on our laptop.

OK, I'll stop for now and let you take a quick breather.

Yes!