Change of Plans

Well, wouldn't you know that the day before we leave for our trip, a snowstorm is working its way through the Midwest. Instead of leaving in the middle of the night for our 5:30 a.m. flight, we're going to Chicago tonight, spending the night at a hotel near the airport and leaving from there. We'll get more sleep (so will Ed) and we hopefully won't have to fight very hard with the roads and weather. We just hope that our flight takes off as scheduled so that we make our connection and get to GC as scheduled.

Please pray that our flight takes off as scheduled and is safe. I hope that I don't have anything to post until tomorrow... when I have pics of our sweet girl!

CA Registration In Process and Just 3 Days

In just 3 days, I get to see this beautiful face. It is the most beautiful face in my whole world. I can't wait to see her wild hair, big brown eyes and silly smile again.

We received word today that we have been submitted for registration with CA. They did not give our attorney a time frame for completing it. The estimate is that it takes about a week. We hope to get it back and have our case submitted to PGN while my mom and I are there next week. Praise the Lord! Please pray that this happens quickly and without complications. We could use a few days of no complications...

Also, a friend of ours stopped by to drop off an awesome gift from his mother. Matt's mom knitted Gabi Sol a beautiful orange blanket with blue and orange pompoms on the corners. It is amazing! And perfect for our little Illini fan! Unfortunately, Matt's eyes are closed in the picture. He'll probably kill me for publishing this... but I fed him chili in a blizzard, so I might be off the hook. Anyway, thank you Mrs. A for the beautiful blanket. She will love it!!

Just Hang Tight

Hang on. I'm trying to get as reliable information as possible. There can be a lot lost in the middle man and political agendas of different organizations that post this information. I'm not saying that we're not looking down the barrel of a potentially nightmarish situation. Gabi won't be home for her birthday.

Here's a bright spot. Ella turns 1 on February 20. When we are back down in Guatemala, we're having a party to celebrate her birthday (woohoo!), Gabi's impending birthday (March 27) and the fact that we have our girls forever. They are two of the sweetest girls you've ever seen.

Did I Mention...?

that our Gabriella is 10 months old today. She is growing up without us. Gabi is the sunshine of our lives. She is reaching all of her milestones and changing every day. We can't wait to have her home forever so we can see all of those changes for ourselves!!! We love you Gabi Sol! I can't wait to hold you in just 6 days.

Doll Face

I love this picture of Gabriella. She looks like a doll. She was so happy that night and she actually left that hat on.

I can't wait to kiss her sweet cheeks in 6 days. Her Daddy is soooo jealous that he doesn't get to go. Gabi thinks he's so funny. She's going to miss laughing at him too.

Last Week and Today

Over the last week, I had dinner with 3 different groups of people. My U of I speechies, my Carle speechies and my beloved Eileen were all dinner dates at the end of last week. I don't get to see my U of I speechies very often, although I'm not sure why. These were not my classmates, but my supervisors who are great friends. We all have very different things going on in our lives, but I absolutely adore them. Kathy is going through a possible foster-to-adopt situation and has a 3 month old angel at home. We pray every day that this works out for them if it is the right thing for the child.

Thursday night I was supposed to meet friends at a restaurant in town and Ed dropped me off in zero degree weather. I arrived first only to discover the restaurant was closed for renovations. I almost froze to death before deciding on another location. Ed was finally able to meet my two Carle buddies (he already knew Anna) and I think he loves them almost as much as I do. He couldn't get a word in, but who needs to hear from him anyway.

Friday night, Eileen had us over for dinner. It was not only delicious, but one of the most delightful, comfy nights that I remember. Eileen has been a wonderful sounding board for me about adoption, friendships, life. I will miss her tremendously when we move to Houston. She's already promised to visit. Did I mention that she and Edward hit the wine a little hard and I was the calm one of the evening? That's unheard of. After every topic was discussed, she'd say, "How did we get off on that subject?" She reminded me of my mother.

There have been lots of ups and downs along the way of this adoption. The only person who has been involved professionally in the process who has been 100% supportive, realistic, professional, organized and ultimately wonderful is our social worker, Jennifer. She completed our homestudy and, because we are also licensed foster parents, completes 6 month check-ups for that license. She is, in a word, a Godsend. We absolutely love her, feel connected to her, feel as if she hears our concerns and perspective and she's incredibly warm. Honestly, the part that we dread the most about moving to Houston and starting another adoption is not having Jennifer by our side. Case in point, we called her Friday because we were up against a deadline to renew our fingerprints before our CIS approval expires on February 21st. She got us a new appointment for Saturday in Naperville within an hour. How awesome is that!!! I can't think of any other person in our process that could have or would have done that for us. Bless her amazing heart!

Today, we went to a new church. My friend, Jeanne, invited us to attend the contemporary worship service and meet some people. We met FOUR adoptive families, including a friend who I've only known over the phone. Can you imagine going to a small church and meeting four different families who have adopted internationally in a service of less than 200 people. There were probably more. We couldn't catch them all. It was exactly what we needed today.

In adoption news, there is none. Our paperwork still has not been submitted for approval. I'm pretty sure that every other case in Guatemala has been submitted for CA approval. Not us. Actually, no cases from our agency... That would require competency, expediency and a little common sense. Apparently all of these things are in short supply with our "people." I had been doing pretty well. I was trying to give them the benefit of the doubt. Instead, yet another obstacle is encountered. That's all I'm gonna say.

I Have Such Nerve

You will not believe what I've been doing over the last week or so. Researching our NEXT adoption!?! Can you believe the nerve I have to even broach this subject before we've got our girl home? I'm appalled myself.

The only reason I started is because I am going crazy waiting to get back into PGN. I've looked at every possible property in a 100 mile radius of Houston and have many-a-floor plan memorized at this point. And I'm curious when this whole nightmare rollercoaster ride must begin again. Depending upon where we decide to adopt, we may have a significant wait for our next child-- as much as 2 years or so. If that's the case, we want to begin our homestudy fairly quickly after we relocate. If we choose a shorter route, then we can wait a bit. It isn't so much that we don't want to enjoy every square inch of our Gabi Sol, but we know that building our family this way is a painstaking process and we'd like to be prepared. There's a lot of time and research that goes into it. You might as well start when you have the time. I can't imagine I'll have as much time as I'd like for these things with a toddler running around.

Let's have a show of hands... how many of you out there think I'm nuts to even be contemplating our next adoption?

Househunting

We booked our tickets for our trip to Houston to go househunting. We're heading down in the middle of February. I hope that we find something we love. When we head home, I pray that I turn right around and head back to Guatemala because we are out of PGN. Only time will tell.

Also, apparently our attorney expects to have all of the registration forms completed today. I hope that means that they are submitted to CA. If not, it will be tomorrow morning.

Still Waiting...

Most recent report is that our attorney has picked up the forms necessary for registration and is completing them. No word on whether they've been submitted for approval. I'm getting desperate. Two months of time wasted. Two months of our daughter changing, growing, living in someone else's care. Two months that we'll never get back. We just want her home. If not that, we want there to be some progress with our case. I can't imagine what our attorneys were doing this weekend. How they couldn't have gotten them completed is beyond me.

I no longer care that they have lives of their own. I no longer respect their time or work/personal life boundaries. These registrations are not currently necessary for every single client. I'm not even sure they're necessary for those cases out of PGN waiting for visa appointments. This has to reduce the urgent mandatory registrations substantially. Yet, somehow I feel certain that we are not being prioritized as a case that needs immediate CA registration in order to be re-submitted to PGN. This is exhausting. I feel like I could sleep forever. Or until Gabriella comes home.

Ella's Good News

Ella, Gabi's foster sister, is OUT of PGN!! How exciting is that? They found out today that they are out of PGN and that Ella really is on her way HOME! We're so thrilled for them. They've had a tough journey to their beautiful girl, but it's coming to an end very quickly. They're in for about another 4-6 weeks. Thank goodness!

The Forms Really are Here...

What do you know? CA actually released the forms for registration. It is 4 pages long. And it requires a picture of the child and a full handprint and footprint. I have a feeling that our attorney will be BUSY over the weekend. I can't wait to hear that our paperwork has been submitted for approval, we've been approved and our file has been dropped off at PGN.

Please kick your prayers into overdrive. We need to get this child home before her 1st birthday. Our only hope at this point is that PGN really does prioritize in-process cases. Please, please, please let us get in and OUTTTTT!

New Pictures and Medical!!! And CA info...

Our beautiful girl had another doctor's appointment this week and we got new pictures! She is 16 lbs. 4 oz., which is still very tiny. The doctor doesn't report that he is concerned, which is good I guess. We think it's possible that she lost (or didn't gain) weight when she had her cold over our Dec-Jan trip. Regardless, she's in good shape. The only thing worth concern is that she still has a lot of bug bites. She had these over Christmas and they were HUGE. She must be very allergic to them. So he gave her some cream to help with those.

Additionally, the word is out on the Central Authority! It isn't what we hoped, but it's something. Apparently, the paperwork/forms will be available tomorrow. Attorneys will be able to fill out these 1-2 page forms and submit them next week. They indicate that it will take about a week for them to be approved. An approval will be issued and then our case can be re-submitted to PGN with this form. This means that hopefully we will be submitted right before Mom and I travel.

Gearing Up

I am getting so excited about our trip in February. Tomorrow marks the first day that cases can be re-submitted to PGN. I don't know how that will happen, however, since the registration process is not yet in place. We're waiting anxiously for the answer.

The other thing is that the M.'s will be with Mom and me in Guate in early February. They are Gabi's foster sister's parents. Their daughter, Ella, is about a month and a half older than Gabi. She is an absolute doll! We spent Thanksgiving with them and I'm excited to see them again. As an added treat, Robin's twin sister and future brother-in-law will be joining them for part of their visit. This is the first time that they will have the opportunity to meet their niece. We're just so excited for Mike and Robin to introduce their daughter to their family.

We hope to be posting very soon that we are back in PGN. Stay tuned.

A couple of New-Old Pics

We just got some pictures back from our Thanksgiving trip. These were taken with the regular camera and when they are converted to disk, for some reason they are saved much brighter than the actual picture. It's very frustrating because the prints are beautiful, in many cases, and it's virtually impossible to use them digitally.

Here are a couple of favorites.

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New Rules, Not Completely Determined

It is our current understanding that we cannot be re-submitted without being registered with the Central Authority. I was hoping that we could be re-submitted and then registered separately with CA. It seems this is not the case.

The new officials who will oversee the CA have been sworn in. The officials hope to have the registration process up and running this week, but we'll have to wait and see. Truthfully, with our luck, this won't happen. The other issue is how difficult it will be to register (reportedly, not difficult at all) and how many attorneys will be attempting to accomplish this as soon as they open their doors. It could create a bottleneck. We hope that at the latest we are able to be re-submitted by early next week (21st or so).

Please pray that the CA starts the registration process this week, that our attorney is able to get this done ASAP, and that we are re-submitted to PGN as expediently as humanly possible. Have a good week!

Olympic Athlete in the House!!!

I've held off tooting her horn, but the time has come! Our friend, Anjali Forber-Pratt, is staying with us because her apartment building blew up... or something less dramatic. She's awesome in about a thousand ways. Her most recent huge accomplishment is that she qualified for Team USA for 2008 in Track and Field. She now has to qualify for the Beijing Paralympic team! We have no doubts that she will make it. Anjali competes in the 100m, 200m and 400m and she's an occasional reluctant participant in the 800m. She also uses some road races as training time. Anj will battle for the world record in the 100m in Beijing!!!

You can imagine the honor we felt when she decided to stay with us as a result of the latest mishap in her life. She is one of the most adventurous souls I've come across. She also has the world's worst luck of anyone I've ever met. That's saying a lot. I mean, Ed and I have pretty bad luck. Anjali has horrendous luck. It's a source of comic relief for us. It shouldn't be, but it is. So, we're hanging out with Anj while her apartment people figure out what to do with her.

Central Authority Announced

It was announced today that Guatemala now has a Central Authority building. No information on the registration process has been released as of yet. As soon as we hear something, I will post. But it's exciting that they at least have an address. Please pray that things continue to move forward in this arena. We must have a registration process in place for us to move forward. Please also pray that it is uncomplicated and quick to register these cases. We do not need any more hold-ups.

Ed, Mary-Kelsey and I went shopping for our girl today. Baby shopping is one of MK's favorite pastimes and I had to oblige. So off we went and we three decided on Gabi's Embassy outfit. It is simple and lovely. She will be beautiful on the last day of this ridiculous process!

We had a back-to-school reunion dinner with MK, Amanda Z. and AWK, which was lovely. Some people are just so easy to spend time with and I am grateful to have these friends in C-U. They make me laugh. And having Amie here for the last two years has been wonderful. We don't spend enough time together, but we get a lot more than we would if she were at home. Plus, Keith (AWK's hubby) makes me laugh. Nothing is better than old friends...

Re-submission Soon

I posted a few days ago that our errored document was fixed and picked up. Unfortunately, we won't be resubmitted until January 16. There was supposed to be a meeting yesterday between several agencies regarding the new process. But then it was posted that another meeting will take place on Thursday so they hope to have something on the website by Friday.

Also, PGN posted a sign in their building that said that cases who were not submitted to PGN before January 1 will be under new rules and must register with the Central Authority. It also read that cases which will be re-submits (like ours) will be under the "old" rules, but still must be registered with CA. That is the meeting we're waiting to hear about. We'd like to know what "registration" will involve. I'll keep everyone updated.

In other news, Amy got Emma's Embassy appointment moved up to tomorrow. They will be home on Friday. They are so excited!!! We are thrilled for them. Yea Emma!

Another Adventure

It looks like I'll be returning to visit our beautiful girl on February 1st. I got an incredible rate out of Chicago and a good hotel rate. My mom will be joining me for this 8-day trip. Paige and Barry will be on a cruise, so I don't know what Dad is gonna do. He'll sit at the computer and study our blogs, I guess. Paige got a new underwater camera, so her scuba pics should be even better than last time.

In other news, the decision to foster Gabi after we get her out of PGN is final. Once we get the word, I'll head down about 7-10 days later. This will hopefully be about the time that she gets authorization for her 2nd DNA test. My mother-in-law, Jane, is going to join me for a few days at least. And Christy and Lucy D. are going to join us for a week or so. It isn't surprising really. Christy has traveled to every single place that we've lived over the last 10 years-- from South Korea to Germany to Alabama. She's been wanting to join me in Guatemala since we began this process. Now that Lucy is a little older, it works out perfectly. We'll have a great time and I'm so excited to be able to do this with her. Woohoo!

Christy and I have always wanted our kids to grow up together. Our move to Houston will make that much harder. But Christy and I have never lived in the same town. Not since we met when we were 15. Despite that, our friendship has flourished and grown into one of the most certain things in my life. As it turns out, our children are only 3 months apart-- which is ironic considering I've been married for 9 years and she's been married for 2 1/2. I love that we both have girls so close in age. So, we'll go on another little adventure so our girls can start their friendship in the flesh, rather than through pictures and stories.

Some Other pics from Guatemala and Homecoming

We got home yesterday afternoon after spending the night at my parent's and picking Izzy up. She wasn't so sure she wanted to come with us. She's been living it up at her GG and Grumps, sleeping on the furniture, playing with Nudie and such. She slept most of yesterday when she got home. We worry about poor Nudie. He's so sensitive and he always gets depressed when she leaves, despite how much she's aggravated him during her stay.

Anyway, we were so lucky to have Dave, Christy and Lucy (who just had her 1st birthday) stop by for a couple of hours to hang out. Lucy is walking and so busy. She's such a big girl! Those first 3 months, I never in a million years would have guessed she'd be so big. She was such a teeny newborn. She has more than made up for it. What a smart, happy, healthy little girl.

Here are a few pics of the trip that I haven't posted yet. Enjoy the Elmo pinata and the birthday boy, Tyler.

HALLELUJAH!!!

OUR DOCUMENT WAS FIXED!!!!! We will not be submitted to PGN until January 16 when they re-open. But we are no longer waiting for our document. Oh Happy Day!!!

I think Edward and I just made out on the couch for about 5 minutes. I guess it's good we've still got it in us. We are so relieved. Now we just need to make it through this next phase of Central Authority registration. Please don't ask what that means. Right now, no one knows. But I assure you that I will post once it is defined.

Major faith has been restored in our attorneys. I never doubt God's power, usually just His timing. But God has once again revealed to me that if I'll just shut up and let Him do the work, it will be more wonderful than we ever could have imagined.

Already we have seen that God's choice for our daughter is sheer perfection. We always knew that we had so much love to give a child. Never could we have understood how perfect a child could be for us and us for her. When we are with her, we spend a lot of time laughing, kissing, dancing and being silly.

We know that it is an unusual experience to get to know your child in a hotel room. But it is our reality and it's wonderful to have just Gabi time. We spend all of our time tending to her needs, learning about her, making her laugh and seeing her personality come through. It is such a joyful experience, even when that sweet creature is sick. Most parents don't get such an experience without the burden of cooking, cleaning, shopping, etc. We realize this and revel in every moment. Granted, it isn't the comfort of home. But it is the comfort of being with our daughter.

I know so many of you are praying for us constantly. Thank you. We know that my recent surrender is what convinced God that I do have it in me to be faithful and obedient (if only for short spurts of time). Please add to your prayers for our patience and understanding during the rest of our process.

Windy City

We are in the midst of a very windy couple of days. We've lost power repeatedly over the last 48 hours and it's been too cool to do much of anything, expecially with a sick baby. Today we stuck it out in the room for as long as possible and then sat outside by the pool bundled up like a bunch of Eskimos. If we thought it was cold, imagine what the Guats thought. They thought it was Blizzard '08!

Anyway, we got to hang out with Angie, Mark and Tyler. Today was Tyler's 1st birthday. He's such a big boy! He's going home to St. Louis next Wednesday. He is adorable and full of personality. He had dinner with his foster parents and Angie and Mark got him a pinata and cake. The cake was heavenly. The pinata ended up being a 4 foot tall Elmo. I've never seen such a huge pinata in all my life. Adorable. But Tyler wasn't too sure of it. I didn't have my camera, so I'll have to post pics that Amy took later. So cute!!

Gabi slept on and off all day, partly due to her cold, partly due to her Tylenol. That usually knocks a baby out a little bit. I've never seen anything like her. She just isn't difficult. She feels lousy, although better today, and she still grins, plays and barely fusses. She's very easy to comfort, to put to sleep. We are in wonder of this little girl.

Amy and Drew joined us for dinner and the birthday party afterwards. We had to say goodbye and can only hope that we can get Gabi home in time for a visit to Ohio to see them before we move. However, we're supposed to see Gabi's cousins in New York, Georgia and head to Ohio. I think our schedule is getting a little tight. What do you think? Everything still hangs on the final arrival of Gabi in America. Let's hope it's much sooner than later.

Gabi sent a special message to her cousins!

Puny Baby

Gabi Sol has not been herself over the last 30 hours or so. It all started when we had 3 consecutive turnovers and lost the Rose Bowl. She just couldn't let it go. We tried to console her, but she'd have none of it. She had a fever last night and a gassy stomach. She woke up about every 20-30 minutes until 3:30 a.m. Finally, we coaxed her into sleep with Tylenol to lower her fever and an extra bottle. She got about 4 1/2 hours sleep then.

She's been a little off all day, but we've encouraged her to eat and sleep as much as she needed. At one point, she took a 7-minute nap. Bless her sweet little heart. We were inside all day today because we're having crazy winds and cold temperatures. We spent some time in the Baby Lounge with some other wonderful families (that we've been hanging out with all week). I had to strip her out of her jeans when we were in there because she was so stinkin' hot. Obviously, she was clingy and weepy. We felt terrible for her, but even when she feels rotten, she's an awfully good baby.

We came back to the room and took a good long nap. We went to dinner downstairs and dressed her lightly so she wouldn't be too hot. By the time we got out of there, she was burning up. And she'd already had Tylenol. We just decided to go ahead and call the doctor and see if he thought it was anything but a cold. It isn't. But we thought there might be a chance that she was reacting to all of those bug bites, or something else. We certainly don't want to send her back to her foster family sick. She has two foster siblings-- we don't want sweet Ella to get sick too. If we were going to be here longer, we probably would have just trusted our gut instinct.





This doctor was awesome! He had a fantastic bedside manner. He was very kind to her and picked her up when she was crying. The sweetest thing about her being sick is that she just wants us. She's a very cuddly baby, but she's also very busy at this age. It's hard to get her to settle down and let you love on her for very long. All day today, she's cuddled us, put her head on our chests and shoulders and let us soothe her. All of it is great for bonding. We hate that she's sick-- but at least we're building trust.

We didn't take many pics today. All of them are from tonight. Please pray that she feels better soon. We just adore our sweet Gabi.

Boo USC!

Gabi loved doing the wave with Daddy. She cheered her little heart out today until she just couldn't cheer anymore. Unfortunately, it just wasn't enough for the old Illini. Gabi's Aunt Charlotte was at the game. We hope she wasn't too disappointed.

We headed over to the Westin today to check out the new H's digs. Not too shabby. The pool is awesome and it was nice to have a change in menu from the last 3 times we've been here.

We're supposed to see our attorney again tomorrow and we pray he has good news after talking to the Civil Registry official. Please pray for a speedy acquisition of this crucial document.

We hope everyone enjoyed their New Year holiday. We did a whole lot of nothing. But we have a 9-month old. What do we think we're gonna do? Soak her up every minute of the day. One positive thing to report is that Gabi and I are on the same nap schedule. I could get used to this. I wish!!!