On the Road

Edward has added quite a few clicks to the 'ole odometer over the last week. In addition to traveling to Springfield and Chicago earlier last week to complete the POA process, he headed back to Springfield today to certify the rest of the dossier documents. All of the paperwork is out of our hands and on its way to being authenticated by the Guatemalan consulate now. After this, it heads back to our agency in SC and on to Guatemala shortly thereafter.

In the meantime, we're learning as much about the process as we possibly can. We couldn't live without our Kristin, who is the expert in this area. While we wait for Gabriella, we pray a little harder that Reagan will get out of PGN and be heading home soon. We can't wait to see her at home with her parents and big brother (who has a striking resemblance to our Gabriella). We love you Reagan! We promise you'll be home soon.

Love at First Sight...

At the beginning of this week, we received pictures of our daughter. She was tiny, dehydrated and sad but PRECIOUS and PERFECT. We were immediately smitten. All week we waited, rather impatiently, for pictures of her after being in foster care and getting proper nutrition for two weeks. Finally, this morning we received pictures of her in a much healthier, much more contented state. Her cheeks are round and pink. Her eyes are dark and bright. She has tons of hair and her foster mother obviously loves her. Her foster mother looks proud and tender about this tiny charge.

Gabriella logged in a healthy 6 lbs. 4 oz. and 49 cm long at her doctor's appointment yesterday. That's an almost 2 lb. and 2 inch gain from 2 weeks ago. Nothing can settle her parents' hearts more than knowing that she is doing well and thriving in her new temporary home. Thank you to her foster mother for working so hard for our baby girl.




The doorbell just rang and we received beautiful flowers and balloons from my lifelong friend Jessica and her family. Thank you for celebrating with us Jess, Brett and CC!!! Sharing the joy of our new addition is one of the most amazing experiences.

So this is what everyone who has ever been a mother was talking about. I am overwhelmed by the sheer intensity of my love for her. Thank you God for this amazing blessing. It might have taken 6 years to get here, but Your timing truly is perfect.

and the Stars Aligned!

Let me just paint you a picture. The following items were arranged so that we were in a position to find our beautiful daughter.
* Edward predicted we would get our referral this week, as did our friend Mark (but Edward refuses to give him credit on the grounds that he's the Daddy and it was his call)
* We did NOT go to NY like we were supposed to from Saturday to Tuesday because of erroneously purchased plane tickets
* Worldwide did NOT receive their license in Vietnam or any baby girls in the baby home
* We were on spring break, which afforded us much needed time to assemble our dossier... in world record time. 3 days.

All of these things retrospectively make sense. Gabriella is OUR daughter. She wasn't supposed to come from Vietnam and we know that God orchestrated this amazing plan. How awesome is that!!! Even though we're not with her, we know that she can feel our unconditional love and commitment to her. We feel so blessed to have her-- even from afar.

Did I mention that Edward can't stop smiling? (Neither can I.) Thanks to everyone for sharing in our joy. It's been so fun getting the emails back!

It's a Girl with a plot twist...

Who knew it would turn into this? We have been blessed to receive a referral for a beautiful little girl who is 30 days old... from Guatemala! Now I know what you're thinking. Guatemala?!? What? So God threw us a curve ball. Good thing we had our glove down. Ok ok, I'll explain...

Monday, our agent called and said that she had an odd situation for us to consider. Guatemala is rumored to be closing its doors on April 1, 2007 to international adoption for an undetermined amount of time. Any adoptions that are in process (meaning that a Power of Attorney is in effect upon receiving a referral) by April 1 would be honored and facilitated to completion. No one knows for sure if it's a rumor or truth, but to be safe, our agency wanted to find families for the babies that they have in foster care in Guatemala. There were a few. It's always better to have families waiting on this side, rather than babies waiting for families. Even though we were part of the Vietnam program, we were the next on the list for a baby girl. Our agent felt compelled to present the circumstances to us and see if we were interested.

After discussion and prayer, Ed and I decided that this little girl felt like ours. We're not sure why or how, but she was supposed to come to us. After the decision was made, we had to move fast. The POA must be processed through Guatemala by April 1. It takes a week on their side and we needed to get the POA notarized, verified by the Sec. of State and authenticated by the Guatemalan consulate in Chicago. Thank goodness it's spring break. We would have been hard pressed to get all of that accomplished in 3 days otherwise. So Ed is on the road today and tomorrow to get the POA in place for our sweet girl. This must be why people refer to it as the paperchase! How appropriate.

We would love to introduce our daughter, Gabriella Sol. She is precious and tiny and we can't wait to get her home. We celebrated by shopping for some comfy clothes for her and having Mexican for dinner last night. I'm not sure where you would get Guatemalan food in Chambana. So we settled for Mexican.
We hope to have her home in less than 6 months. And don't worry. We haven't abandoned our plans to adopt from Vietnam. We will go there for our other children. We just feel that in this case our daughter was in Central America, not Asia. No harm, no foul. Just pure elation that our dream of being parents is finally coming true.

SURPRISE!

My friend, Jill, threw a surprise baby shower with all of my classmates last night at school! I had no idea. When we walked in the room, I thought we were interrupting something and then everyone yelled "Surprise!" I think it took me five minutes to figure out what was going on. That was after I did the ugly cry. I finally realized that Ed was there too.

Well, Addi will not be short on U of I gear! She got lots of sweet outfits in Orange 'n Blue, cute onesies, lots of pink and yellow and hair ribbons, bibs, toothbrushes, a cup, a Snugli carrier, a basket of goodies, a Boo Bunny, toys, CD, books and lots of other stuff. I cannot say how blessed we both felt that our friends would do something like that. You guys are the coolest!!!

I'll post pictures when I get them from everyone else, since I didn't have my own camera. Thank you, thank you, thank you friends!!! I am so grateful that I've gotten to spend the last two years with you. You are incredible women who are strong, smart and passionate about what you do. I really feel like the world is a better place for having you in it. Thanks for supporting Ed and me over the past two years and I look forward to seeing all of the blessings in your lives over the years to come.

And Jill, I shouldn't be surprised that you would do something like this. You have such a generous soul. I can't thank you enough! I just love ya!