Merry Christmas it was. I just found out that we are back in PGN. My Christmas wish did come true. We were re-submitted sometime between December 25th and 27th. None-the-less we are back in. Please, Please, Please, no more KO's.

On another note, my husband and I and the kids just returned from spending Christmas in Big Bear. There wasn't as much snow as I hoped for, but enough for the kids to go sledding alongside the house. My husbands parents and brother and his family joined us. Paris and Roc learned how to snowboard and they did a great job. Looks like another activity to add to the list. We all had a great time.

Tomorrow we are off to Pismo Beach for a couple of days to attend a wedding. From the snow to the beach. Gotta love California.

I hope everyone had a great Christmas and all your wishes come true. Happy New Year

Suzanne

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR

Today Faith turns 7 months. Happy 7 month birthday. We love you

This is a wonderful story about adoption. Check it out
http://www.barefoot-books.com/us/site/pages/motherbridge.php?user_name=&rep_code=

Stressed Out

So I've officially stressed myself out. I've decided to ban Guatadopt.com from computer, at least until the New Year. Guatadopt is an amazing source for info and meeting other families that are going through the same things. I've met so many wonderfull people that have supported me through this process, but if I don't quit Guatadopt today, I may never quit. Does anyone know of a twelve step program I can enroll in. j/k

In other news, Paris had her Christmas performance last night, she was absolutely amazing. I couldn't be more proud of her. Not only did she sing every word to every song, and there were a bunch, but she acted out each song. It was extremely entertaning. I'd share the video that I took of her with our new video camera, that we used for the first time, except half way through the performance, the camera went on the fritz and I lost what video I had of her. I was a bit frustrated and tryed not to lose my composure.

Is there a limit to prayers, wishes or miracles you could ask for. If it wasn't for the lord, I'd be in a mental ward. As my son says "He is my ROCK".

Well I'm just trying to keep it together. My prayers and thoughts are with everyone.

Knocked Out

So I was trying to resist the urge to call PGN. however, my agency doesn't discourage it and I let the anxiety get the best of me. I'm not sure if calling was the best thing to do or not. Anyways, I was told we had a KO(previo) December 14. Hopefully it will be taken care of fast.

Bummer, Bummer, Bummer.

So much for being one of the lucky ones.

Waiting, Waiting, Waiting

Waiting, waiting, waiting, I just keep on waiting. So now that I'm in PGN, or have been for the past 6 weeks and didn't know it, I've been stalking the PGNer forum on Guatadopt.com. I'm trying really hard to hold back from calling PGN. It's one obsession my husband and kids don't need for me to participate in. When stalking the forums I spend a LOT of time stalking everyones blogs. It's comforting to see people moving right along, and frustrating for those who are stuck. Nobody said adoption was easy, but nobody said it would be this hard either. I pray for no KO's from PGN and hope I'm one of the lucky ones to get out before the New Year. BUT, I'm trying to be realistic and optimistic at the same time.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Holiday season.

Keeping the Faith

Make a postcard!

Patience

They say patience is a virtue, and maybe it is, however, when sitting around and waiting for any news about your child, patience seems to fly out the door. We were one of the lucky ones, we receive PA in 10 days and now it was just a matter of exiting family court in order to move forward with the process. Up until today I had thought that we were still in family court, I didn't know diffrent and my agency hadn't been informed otherwise. Well after much begging and pleading from myself and my agency, our attorney had informed us today that we have been out of family court and in PGN since October 31st. For those of you who don't know, October 31st is my birthday. Entering PGN is like a surprise belated birthday gift. Now with any luck we won't get knocked out and our beautiful daughter will be home early next year. Tears of joy can't even begin to explain my excitement.

On the news front, the adoption law has been approved and passed. What that means I'm not exactly sure. The one thing that I do know is all in-process cases will be grandfathered in and will proceed as planned based on the old guidlines.

Patience, Patience, Patience

Anxious anyone

I'm starting to feel anxious again. We are still in Family Court, at least I haven't heard differently. It's been well over 60 days and I just want ot move on to PGN. Jayme spoke with our agency today and they still have no new news. I've been doing my best to stay away from any new adoption news, it just makes me crazy.

Christmas and Chanukah shopping has been keeping me busy as well as the kids with their daily acivities.

My thoughts and prayers are with everyone during this holiday season.

A Prayer

This is a little prayer that I took from Baby-Z's blog. But it's the perfect prayer.

Dear Lord, I ask you to watch over all these babies. I pray that you would be a Daddy to them, and that you will whisper in their ears how much you love them. You can care for them so much better than we can; so Father, we give them to you and ask that you protect our hearts while we are waiting. We love you.Amen

We are home

We had such an amazing visit with our daughter. She is so precious and happy. I thought I would have a difficult time leaving her, but how can I possibly feel bad about leaving her with people who love her so dearly.

When we arrived in Guatemala to pick up Faith, I noticed that she was about two months behind in her development. Faith is six months old and is not able to sit up or roll over. Luckily we met some amazing people on our trip that re-assured me she will be fine. Of course I'd love to have her home where I can work with her more. We found out a little about the birth mother who I learned is very poor and has 4 other children with her. All her other children were slow to develop as well. None the less, Faith is beautiful, happy, alert and very content.

I ask that you pray for her health, her birth mother and foster mother.

I realized how lucky Faith is. She has three mothers that love her, who could ask for more.

God Bless

We are in Guatemala

First I'd like to say that this has been an amazing experience. Jayme and I arrived in Guatemala on Thursday and received our BEAUTIFUL, did I say BEAUTIFUL, because I meant BEAUUUUTIFUL daughter, on Friday afternoon. She is so amazing, she is very content and happy. She hasn't strayed from her schedule and sleeps awesome. Her foster mother was very nice and you can tell that she loves her very much.

We have meet some amazing families, that we hope to remain friends with for a very long time. All their babies are adorable.

Jayme is going steer crazy being stuck in the hotel and I am dreading haveing to leave. But I know a bond has been create and that is enough to keep me going until we are able to bring her home.

It is all in Gods hands, and by his grace we will have a beautiful daughter to add to our family.

I ask for your continued prayers. God Bless

Suzanne

I'm leaving on a jet plane

Tonight is the night. Jayme and I are catching a red-eye flight to Guatemala to meet our daughter for the first time. Words can't begin to describe my excitement. I was hoping we'd be out of Family Court and in PGN by this time, but not quit yet. Please pray for our trip and that we will be out of family court and onto PGN soon.

Below is a link to an article written about Guatemala adoptions. I feel that the article gives a decent overview as to what is happening with adoptions from Guatemala. Take a look and let me know what you think.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21901865/

So i called our agency yesterday for an update, because I'm extremely inpatient. There is no news. They said it could take as long as 4 months in Family Court. I just want out and to be moving on to PGN. But God wants me to be patient, so patient I will be. I figured that if I set a new timeline in my head than I can get through it and be PATIENT. The kids are out of school this whole week, so I've been trying to keep them occupied. I think we'll see a movie today. Yeah, that's it, we'll see a movie

Signing off

I'm sitting here just waiting. Waiting for the phone to ring, hoping our agency will call any day now letting us know that we are out of Family Court and on to PGN. It's torture. I try to pre-occupy myself with the kids and all there activites, but it's difficult. Anyone who knows me, knows that I can get a bit OCD about things and the adoption is definately one of them. Our visit trip is coming up soon. So I have been busy preparing for that. I'm excited to met my new friend Suzette and her family and especially excited to met my baby girl..

Hopfully we will hear some good news soon.

In today's news. Looks like we are making some progress. See attachment:

Ortega/Hague Update

Guatemalan papers are reporting that committees of Congress met yesterday on the adoption law. This was NOT the vote on the ammendments. But based on these reports, Guatemala will postpone implementing the Hague until April 1, 2008 in order to better coincide with the US's likely ratification date. Interestingly, one paper quotes US Consul General John Lowell as saying this is unnecessary.

In addition, one paper is reporting that the Ortega Law's effective date will be bumped back to April 1 as well. One story also mentions that one ammendment to be voted on is to permit singles to adopt.
Is that a sigh of relief I hear?
Once again, this all coming from Guatemalan papers

There is so much going on that I'm not sure where to begin. Our adoption case is still moving forward as planned, and will continue up until the 1st of the year. Today is a big day in Guatemala, the elections for a new President are being held. With a new President we only pray that it will mean positive changes for inter-country adoptions. The United States, with the exception of UNICEF, are working extremely hard to bring our babies home to us. Jayme, myself, Dad and Stevi are planning a visit trip to Guatemala from Nov. 29-Dec. 3rd. Yes, it will be the first time we get to hold our daughter. I am so excited, overwhelmed, anxious, words just can't begin to describe it. I have posted a new picture of Faith who is now 5 months old. For more info and news please see the JCICS link below.

Halloween was a real treat. Paris was a witch, Roc was a Ninja and Rex dressed as a Koala Bear. The Riggios and Gallaghers come over every Halloween, and all the kids have a great time trick or treating together. I think Rex and Amanda holding hands behind the pack enjoyed it the most. Seeing everyone having a great time made my Birthday all the more fun.

Thank you

The power of prayer

I had no idea how the waiting game would drive me crazy. I spend most of my days reading forums and posts from websites regarding Guatemala, wondering everytime the phone rings if it's my adoption agency calling. So I prayed today, like I do most days, but today I asked God if he could give me something, anything regarding our daughter, Faith, and he answered my prayer, just when I needed it the most. I recieved an email from our adoption agency and it contained an updated medical report for faith,, she seems to be doing well.

My daughter Paris who just turned seven says "that if you don't lie, God will answer your prayers, but if you do lie, he will hear your prayers, but he won't answer them". Just thought it was so cute.

Today, God answered my prayer

My very first post. I am not sure if what I am doing is correct, but I'm giving it a try anyways. This blog is all about our daughter Faith. She was born May 23, 2007. We recieved our refferal for her on August 2, 2007, she was a little over two months old at the time. It is now October and we are waiting to visit her, which probably won't happen until early december. The process has been grueling, not just for me, but for my husband who has to put up with me. I spend a lot, and I mean a lot of time looking for info, reading forums and blogs to keep me from going too crazy. I just want our little girl home with us. I read something to say stating that President Bergers "intent" to grandfathered in process adoptions is "official". The statement is confusing for me. My emotions have been all over the map. I try to stay strong for ALL our children, but it's difficult. i want our daughter home. Our family is not complete without her.