peace for your journey little one

Update

2007-04-18T21:04:00.000-07:00

Finally, an update for our faithful readers! :) Isabella arrived in Alabama on February 28, 2007, escorted by her mommy and daddy. On February 26, her five month birthday, we went to the US Embassy and swore that our documents were true. One day later, her passport was delivered to us in Antigua, and the following morning we said goodbye to the country of Guatemala. But not forever. We plan to return with our daughter several times throughout her life so that she may again see Guatemala with her own eyes.

Isabella is a beautiful baby, inside and out. She has a wonderful, playful personality. We are so happy with our little bundle of love! She is a perfect match for our family.

From the bottom of our hearts, we say thank you for your unending support. Your prayers and encouragement mean so much to us.

Love,

Isabella's Mommy

Pink is our new favorite color!!!

2007-02-24T12:02:00.000-08:00

We've got pink!

As many of you know, I have been sick. Holly and I went to sleep Thursday night without any news about our pink slip from the US Embassy. Friday morning I woke up at about 6 am with Isa. Holly, in an attempt to take care of her sick husband, offered to take care of Isa and let me sleep. She advised me to take my cough medicine that is loaded with codine. After all, the medicine will knock me out, but what else do we have to do today? It was not 30 seconds after I had taken my medicine that Holly began to yell, "Chris, get in the shower now! We've got to get to the Embassy doctor!" The reason for the commotion was this: we received our pink slip via email at 6 am on Friday morning. Our pink slip showed that our Embassy appointment is at 8 am on Monday. However, before we can make it to the Embassy appointment we have to visit the Embassy doctor.

Holly got on the phone as soon as we received the news and attempted to book us a driver into the city. Our driver finally showed up at our house at 12:30 to take us to a 2:00 appointment. The driver that we had was not one of the usual drivers and was not prepared for a baby. So, we made a mad dash into the city, taking every curve at about 100 mph without a car seat. It was definitely not a fun ride. We got to the embassy doctor a little after 2 where we met some friends in the lobby. We soon found out that the official US doctor does not work on Friday afternoon. Thankfully, because of our very short notice and pending Embassy predicament, there was another doctor that was able to meet us at the office to clear our paper work. The appointment went well, lasting only about 15 minutes. We finished the appointment and went back to the lobby where our driver was no where to be found. We made a couple of calls and eventually was able to get him to come pick us up. We are hoping for better luck with our Embassy appointment on Monday.

Here's the time-line that we are on right now: Monday we have an appointment at the US Embassy at 8 am. We should be through at the Embassy by noon. We will then come back to the house where our passport and visa will be delivered on Tuesday at 5. We will then pack everything up on Tuesday night, leave the house at 4 am on Wednesday and leave Guatemala on an 8 am flight! We will be back in Huntsville at 5 on Wednesday! We can't wait! We are almost through!

Shalom,
Chris

The Final Trip!

2007-02-19T07:03:00.000-08:00

I cannot even begin to tell you what a whirlwind these past couple of weeks have been. This coming Thursday I will be back on another airplane headed down back down. However, this time, I will not be making a solo return trip!!!

I returned from my latest trip to Guatemala this past Wednesday, February 14. I was supposed to return on Tuesday, however, for the second time in a week, my flight was cancelled coming out of Charlotte. So, I had to spend the night in Charlotte and rush into Huntsville on Wednesday and get ready for our youth Valentines party. The week became even crazier from that point. Friday and Saturday I was in Memphis for an urban youth workers training day and Sunday had to fill in and preach for our Church. Today is the first day back that I have had to work on things at home. What this actually means is that I now have today and tomorrow to get the house ready for visitors and finish the baby's room for my little girl! Good luck to me!

The good news in all of this craziness is that Holly and I are now the parents of our daughter! There now exists a real Guatemalan birth certificate that includes our daughter's name as well as mine and Holly's as the parents! Holly is taking Isa today for her final doctor's check-ups as well as to get her pictures for her passport and visa. We are hoping that by the time that I get down to Guatemala we will have "pink." "Pink" is the term used for the pink sheet of paper that comes from the US Embassy containing the time of your appointment at the Embassy. This pink sheet of paper functions in many ways as a pre-approval for your embassy day. What this all means is that we are hoping that by the end of the following week (by the first of March) we could be back in Huntsville together!

I would also like to take a moment and say thanks especially to our College Park family. You all have shown us so much love in this process and have provided for us in ways that we cannot even comprehend. Thank you so much for helping us be united with our daughter!

Shalom,
Chris

More Good News From Antigua

2007-02-11T20:59:00.000-08:00

We received some great news today regarding our case! The birth mother signed off on the adoption for the last time and the adoption decree has been registered at the civil registry! We are that much closer to returning to the States! We still have some things that we have to take care of to complete the process. However, if everything continues on schedule, we should be back in the US in a couple of weeks! It's about time!

Today was a great day. Holly and I went to a cafe for lunch and had an "interesting" time. We then continued to Santa Domingo; a hotel that was built on the site of the ruins of the Santo Domingo Cathedral. This was one of my favorite experiences yet. The ruins of the church are magnificent. The self-tour allows you access to the entirety of the Church ruins (including the very erie underground sepulchers as well as a couple of art galleries showcasing Guatemalan artists and Mayan relics). We have also had the chance to go through San Francisco Church, however, the ruins that are apart of the Church were closed for the day.
At the end of the day we came across the scene at the top of this post. There was a beautiful cultural celebration going on in the town square. Holly and I were not able to stay long enough to find out what was going on, however, we believe that the celebration was in conjunction with Semana Santa (Holy Week). The actual Semana Santa is forth-coming, however, they start early here!

Shalom,
Chris

All is well in Antigua!

2007-02-09T18:17:00.000-08:00

I arrived yesterday at about 3:00 in Guatemala City and immediately got in the car with Oswald and headed to Antigua! The journey to Antigua was great. We were able to get around traffic caused by the road construction. Last night we (all the housemates at Casa Bella) went out to Tre Fratelli for dinner. Dinner was great. Today Holly and I went into the city and did some shopping. We learned all about the Jade industry in Guatemala and even saw some people making the jewlry. We also went to La Merced and toured the ruins of the old monastery. On the way back to the house, we stopped through Hotel Antigua. If you are coming to Antigua and want a great place to stay, be sure to check out Hotel Antigua. This afternoon, when I got back to the house, I had my first Spanish lesson. The Spanish lessons here are completely different than those in the US (or at least the ones that I have had) because they are complete immersion lessons. The teacher does not speak any English during the lesson. This is hard to get used to at first but, after a while, it gets easier to understand. I have learned a great deal already and have a 2 hour lesson tomorrow morning!

Tomorrow should be a great day. We are having breakfast with our friends Ravi and Kelly
in the morning. It is so great to finally be with my girls again. Isa is beautiful, just like her mom.

The Phone Call...

2007-02-07T09:36:00.000-08:00

For the past few weeks Holly and I have been sitting on the edge of our seats waiting for the phone to ring. Honestly, due to some recent developments in Guatemala, I was expecting to receive a phone call stating that we have been kicked out of our current stage of the adoption. However, yesterday evening (Tuesday evening) at 5:30 Holly was in Antigua attempting to order some pizza using her fantastic "Spanglish" skills. While she was on the land line ordering, a call came in on her cell phone. One of her roomates answered and immediately handed the phone to Holly advising her to take this call. Holly took the call and on the other end of the line was the head of our adoption agency. Holly was in shock, the call had finally come. Now, what is it? Good news or bad? The voice on the other end simply said, "it's good news, you guys are out!" WOOOOHOOOO!!! We're out!

I received a call from Holly immediately following our reception of the good news. I am pretty sure that Holly was a bit frustrated with me because at first I would not believe her. I was so sure that we were going to have a previo, I simply could not believe that we were out! Finally the news sunk in and the party began! (Actually the party was bitter-sweet because I ended up going to Cracker Barrel for dinner and sitting by myself!) Anywho, yesterday was a great day for us! My girls are coming home!

As far as the details go, I am still planning on going down to Antigua tomorrow to see them. They will have approximately 3 weeks in Guatemala before being able to return to the States. Let the countdown begin! For the first time in a long time, it actually feels like this whole process could come to an end...in a good way! Thanks for your prayers everyone! I will write more from Antigua!

Shalom,
Chris

Leavin' on a jet plane!

2007-02-05T21:05:00.000-08:00

Let me begin this post by saying that we are sorry! I realize that we haven't been able to update the blog that much lately but I'll try to get you up to date in a hurry. First of all, Holly is doing well in Antigua. She is definitely ready to come home, but she is doing well. Isabella is growing and will not stop. She is now 14 lbs! We are still waiting to hear if we have cleared our current phase of the adoption. One reason for our long delay in posting an update is that we have been waiting to hear what is going on down there. I am not at liberty to give many details of what all is going on, but several of our friends have been kicked out of this phase of the adoption for reasons that are not acceptable. So, we have been a bit nervous about our chances of being kicked out. Thankfully, we are still in the process and will continue to expect the phone to ring with GOOD news until we hear otherwise.

I do ask that everyone out in cyberland pray for our friends who are experiencing set-backs in their adoptions. When you get this close to the end of the process, any setbacks constitute a major blow.

Now for the good news. I get to see my two girls this week! I was scheduled to go to Guatemala last week. However, the first snow storm to hit Huntsville in the last five years hit on the very night that I was planning to go to Guatemala. My flight was cancelled and, instead of having to cut my trip short by a couple of days, I decided to reschedule for one week later. I am look forward to seeing Holly and Isa! I can't wait! Holly found some great restaurants that we are going to visit. (I know, I know, I should find something else to do other than eat) I will also be taking Spanish lessons while I am there. I have been studying fairly intensively while in Huntsville, but I am looking forward to putting all of this "head knowledge" into practice. There is a lady that Holly and I met that will come to our house and teach me Spanish each day. I am really looking forward to being able to converse with the people in Guatemala at a higher level. We had talked about trying to hike up the side of Vulcan de Agua or Fuego however I am not sure that there will be enough time on this trip. (As a side note, Fuego has been spewing smoke for a few days now and tonight as I was talking to Holly on the phone, she had to make a mad dash upstairs to check on Isa because of an earthquake!) The Easter celebrations in Antigua have already begun and I am looking forward to experiencing them first hand! Although Holly said the sight of Jesus in a Plexiglas coffin was quite the eerie sight.

I will attempt to post some more from Antigua to give everyone an update on what all is going on. Sorry about the delay in updating the blog, but things have been rather crazy. Thanks for checking in on us!

Shalom,
Chris

I'm a nervous Papi!

2007-01-18T21:09:00.000-08:00

I am a nervous Papi right now. Why? Because we are about to start our 6th week of being in pgn. We are told that something usually happens by your 7th week of being in pgn. Right now the trend seems to be that people are getting previos and are consequently being kicked out. However, right now we are about to start our 6th week of being in pgn and we haven't yet had a previo! Could we actually have the rarely mentioned "clean case?" If so then we could hear something as early as the next two weeks. IF we were to hear something in the next two weeks, it would be another two weeks before we could go to our US Embassy appointment in Guatemala City. After the Embassy appointment, we would be in Guatemala for about 2 days and then we could get on an airplane and be on our way home!

Everything I have mentioned to this point is good news. So, why am I so nervous? Because it is at this stage that, when the phone rings, the person on the other line could be telling us of a previo just as easily as they could be telling us that we are out of pgn. Don't get me wrong, I WANT THE PHONE TO RING!! However, I cannot imagine the emotions that will Holly and I will encounter as we wait those few precious seconds to hear whether we are out or kicked out! IF our case is progressing as it appears, then there is a good chance that our case is on Senior Barrios' desk right now waiting for his final signature! Please Senior Barrios, sign that paper! I am ready to see my baby girl again!

As for a quick update on Holly and Isa, they are both doing well. They are still in Antigua and are regularly getting together with other families in the city for dinners and conversation and local bookstores and coffee houses. The other housemates living in the house in Antigua should be there by now. Their days are usually spent taking care of a few things around the house in the morning and then going into town for shopping or walks through the Plaza Mayor. They often go visit the other families in their condos on the other side of town. A few times during the week, the families all get together for dinner at a local restuarant. It's a little weird to see all of these white North Americans with Guatemalan babies take over a local restaurant!

Shalom,
Chris

Is this real?

2006-12-28T17:09:00.000-08:00

We made it to Antigua! Woooohooo! Tonight we went out for dinner with one of the other housemates and had a really great time. While we were walking back to the house I found myself thinking, "you know some people never get to even see a place like this and here we are living here!" We are so blessed! Antigua is one of the most absolutely beautiful places that I have ever been. The ride here is great, winding through the mountains and small villages finally emerging at the colonial city of Antigua. When we arrived to the city we were greeted by cobble stone streets and colonial buildings that appear to be stuck in time. Towering over the city are three beautiful volcanoes whose tops are only visible when the clouds part. There is a breathtaking view of volcan agua, a water volcano, from the patio on the second story of the house we are in. The second volcano, Fuego, is a fire volcano that is still active (agua is also active). There was no smoke today. However, the locals say that you can see smoke billowing from the top on any given day. The third of the volcanoes is dormant.

Tonight's dinner was at this wonderful place called the Rainbow Cafe. It is a little Guatemalan restaurant that is located in the back of an eclectic bookstore. The top of the cafe was open to the stars and we sat beneath them in our uneven wooden chairs laughing and enjoying some fajitas and nachos. Before we arrived at the cafe, we went briefly through the mercado. The mercado is this large open air market full of Mayan arts and crafts. The mercado is an amazing place that I cannot wait to visit again.

The picture at the top of the page is a picture of the house in which we have rented a room. It is an absolutely beautiful house in a gated neighborhood in Antigua. The house has a full time housekeeper that comes and works during the day. I cannot believe that we get to stay in a place this nice. It is even harder to believe that Holly gets to live here indefinitely! The thing that we like most about Antigua is that we can actually be a family! While in Guatemala city we were unable to leave the hotel with the baby. This meant that only I would leave the hotel and only for short periods of time. In Antigua, we are unlimited as to the places that we can go! Tonight was the first night that we as a family were able to venture out, do some site seeing and get some dinner...together!

We will post more as our Antiguan adventure continues this week!

Shalom,
Chris

We're off to Antigua!

2006-12-28T09:52:00.000-08:00

Today's the big day! We're off to the beautiful city of Antigua! We'll give more information when we get there!

Shalom,
Chris Powell

Shopping Adventures

2006-12-27T13:16:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I went out to get some things that we need before going to Antigua. More specifically, I was looking for a jogging stroller. I took a cab from the hotel to this large store called Hiper Piaz. The store looked like a really busy farmer's market on the outside, and on the inside looked just like a super wal-mart. In fact it is my understanding that wal-mart actually owns the store. Each of the employees had the wal-mart insignia on their lanyard straps. I guess I should not be surprised that wal-mart has decided to continue its quest for world domination. Anyway, when you first walk in to the store, there is a pharmacy immediately on the left. I decided to visit the pharmacy first in order to get Isa's formula. So, I boldly walked up to the counter and stated "necessito Enfamil uno grande." What I did not know is that Enfamil is actually sold in the main store. So, the pharmacy radioed to the people in the store to bring the formula to me. When it got to the pharmacy, I was unsure of whether or not I was to pay for it at the pharmacy or in the main part of the store. After having told the clerk that I would return to pay for the formula (or so I thought I told the clerk), I found myself walking down the aisle past the electronics with this Guatemalan women yelling "SENIOR, SENIOR!" Apparently she thought that I was leaving without the formula. What I should state here is that an overweight white man does not exactly fit in with a store full of Guatemalans. More specifically, said white man does not fit in when he is walking down the aisle with a Guatemalan clerk yelling at him. Finally I was able to find what I needed and was able to locate the door marked "salida." (Finding the exit was a task in itself)

When I got to the parking lot I found Lucia, my cab driver, waiting on me. We left the parking lot and were in the roundabout outside of the store when I saw a sign for Sears. Having been unable to find a jogging stroller in Hiper Piaz, I asked Lucia, in my broken Spanish, if it would be possible to go into Sears for a moment. The problem was that Lucia, in order to find out what I needed stopped the car...in the middle of a very busy highway! Here we are, sitting in the middle of the street, cars zooming by us, while we are trying to make out what each other is saying. Lucia tells me that it would be possible to go to Sears, so he throws the car in reverse and begins to drive backwards on this one way street as cars are flying by us. We get to Sears and I explain to Lucia what I am looking for. Having come out of Sears without the stroller that I was looking for, Lucia takes it upon himself to find this stroller. There is not a baby store or mega store between the Avenida Reforma and our hotel that he did not try.

Two hours from the time we left, Lucia had given up and was ready to bring me back to the hotel. On the way back, Lucia asked me about my wife. I told him that she was in the hotel, but in two days we would be going to Antigua. As soon as I said this, his eyes lit up. I knew how to tell him in Spanish that we were going to Antigua, but I did not know how to convince him that we could not travel with him. Finally I simply asked him for his phone number thinking that this would appease him. So what does Lucia do? He stops right in the middle of the reforma (the very busy street in front of our hotel), turns off the car and proceeds to write down his telephone number. Thankfully, we did not get hit and returned to the hotel safely where a bilingual concierge greeted us and was able to translate to Lucia. What a day! Who knew that a simple shopping trip could be such an adventure!

Shalom,
Chris

Last Day in Guatemala City

2006-12-27T12:33:00.000-08:00

It's hard to believe, but today is our last full day in Guatemala City. I cannot believe that it is time to leave and I still have a week before I come back to the states! Here's a quick recap of what all has happened since we arrived last week.

Christmas in Guatemala is in many ways very different and in many ways the same as the US. The hotel is decorated with several beautifully decorated Christmas trees in the lobby area. The hotel staff threw us a Christmas party on the day before Christmas eve. It was a great night. The party was in the family room at the Westin where they served us Tomales and black bean soup with a hot fruit punch that was quite interesting. The invitation to the party came in a stocking that was placed on our door. Each of the stockings that were used as invitations were monogrammed with the child's name on it. While at the party, the staff gave each of the children a gift. Isa received a beautiful Guatemalan doll. Along with this gift and the dinner, there was a clown for entertainment. One really cool thing that the staff did was take pictures of each of the families beside the Christmas tree. Christmas Eve morning the phone rang. It was the lobby ambassador asking if she could deliver one more present to the room. The present that was delivered was the photo taken the night before in a beautiful frame that has small Guatemala dolls on it.

Christmas Eve was likewise a great day. We joined our friends that eveing in one of the hotel restaurants for a Christmas buffet. Unlike the US, Christmas Eve is THE big day. Midnight on Christmas Eve is the main party time. One tradition here in Guatemala is to shoot off fireworks at midnight. EVERYONE shoots off fireworks. From 11:00 until midnight the sound of explosions was constant. Moreover, the horizon was covered with the display, in every direction that you could look there were fireworks! It was amazing!

Christmas Day we spent swimming. Yes, it was 76 on Christmas day, so we took advantage of the pool. That evening, we again met our friends in a restaurant and had some great food and conversation. Isa got some great little toys and jewelry in her stocking from Santa that day as well!

Shalom,
Chris

Back in Guatemala

2006-12-21T13:20:00.000-08:00

We're back! Finally, after the long wait, we are back in Guatemala. I cannot even begin to tell you how anxious we have been about getting back down here. The good news is that this time Holly will not be leaving without a baby! We got in to Guatemala City at about 9pm and were at the hotel by 10pm and this despite a bit of a delay in getting out of Miami. We arrived a bit hungry, so at 10pm we got in a cab and went down to the mall and shared some great memories and quesadillas from Taco Inn. Yes, we again found ourselves as the only white people there eating at Taco Inn while the Guatemalan people ate at McDonalds. Oh the irony.

We woke up this morning and went down stairs after our 10 am phone call from the agency. We met our foster mother and received Isabella for the last time! It was definitely a bitter sweet moment. We love our foster mother and have come to highly respect her. It was hard to take our baby away from her, but alas, the feelings of completion as we held our daughter were too overwhelming. Our foster mother brought her daughter with her. It was great to meet more of her family. One thing that our foster mom did that was so awesome was take pictures. We left a few disposable cameras with her and she took pictures of Isa in her home with the rest of her family. One of the greatest things that she did was take pictures of Isa's baby dedication at her church here in Guatemala City. We cannot wait to get these pictures developed and see what our baby's life has been like for the past several weeks. (I realize that this may be weird for some parents to hear. It is weird for me to write. There is something unsettling about being away from your daughter and not knowing what she is doing day to day.)

I (Chris) just got back in the room from making a pharmacy run. The pharmacies in Guatemala City are not like the one's in the US. The stores have very little in the store. It looks more like a newsstand crammed inside a 10 by 10 room. We hear that there is a rather large grocery store and pharmacy that we will have an opportunity to go to on our way to Antigua. We'll get more stuff then. I will be going back out again in the morning to locate a cell phone for Holly to have while she is in Antigua.

It always amazes when I step off the plane (actually on the plane in Miami) and hear nothing but Spanish. Hearing the Spanish kind of makes the whole trip "real." What is equally amazing is how you get used to hearing Spanish while down here and then have to readjust to all those people speaking English back in the US. The good news is that I have several days before I have to adjust to all you English speakers back home!

Shalom,
Chris

The adventure begins!

2006-12-18T20:12:00.000-08:00

We're off and ready to begin the next chapter of this incredible journey! Before we begin talking about the trip details, here's a quick update of the big news.

First of all, thanks Royce for your comment. I apologize that I did not get back with you. We will be registering when we bring her back home and will be happy to send the details over to you. Thanks for your prayers and support!

Secondly, WE'RE IN PGN!!!! We received the news this past week that we entered PGN in early December. Please pray for us...we don't want any previos!!!!

And finally, we're off to Guatemala to see our little girl! We are currently in Florida visiting my parents. We will leave here in a day and continue down to Guatemala City. There are a few big differences in this trip as compared to the previous trips. The first difference is the length of our stay. We will be down for a couple of weeks on this trip as opposed to only a couple of days! We are so excited about this. The second difference, and largest difference, is that I (Chris) will return on an airplane back to the US alone. We have made the proper arrangements and Holly will be staying in Guatemala with our little girl! This is a chance of a lifetime, not only to be with our baby girl but to also live in an incredibly beautiful place that very few will even travel to. As you can tell I am quite jealous, however, one of us has to stay behind to take care of the homefront. Soon the wait will be over and we will all be reunited as one big family and begin the "normal" part of our lives together. (Whatever "normal" looks like) Today however, we are simply loving the journey. This adoption has been a wild ride and is by no means over yet. However, we wouldn't trade anything for the journey thus far! Holly's new roommate in Guatemala put it this way, "who said that the adventures stop when you become a parent!" How true!

Shalom,
Chris

Day Two and nothing really new!

2006-11-21T20:44:00.000-08:00

Day two is always better than day one. Last night we didn't sleep too much. Isabella had her second month immunizations just before we received her yesterday, consequently she didn't feel too good and only slept an hour or so. Holly ended up staying up with her from 10:30 - 4:00 and then I took the 4:00 - 10:00 shift. We didn't make it downstairs until noon and ended up getting a late lunch. After eating we walked out to the pool to see some of our friends from the "Mad Dash" crew that came down in September. It was so great to see them. We are supposed to have a reunion dinner with the other Mad Dashers tomorrow night. We came upstairs and sat in the family room and talked with other adoptive couples for quite some time. It was great to talk with everyone. However, there is a special bond that was shared with the Mad Dashers. We will always cherish those friendships.

We made a friend on the way to the hotel yesterday and saw her again at lunch today. She is a business woman from Costa Rica. She played with Isabella and seemed to really enjoy her company. The cool thing was that she brought her friend over to our table to say hi. It just so happens that her friend is the person at the Westin that books our hotel stays for the adoption agency. She offered to us whatever we needed to make sure that our stay this trip and in Christmas is great. She even gave us her cell number in case there was something that we needed right away! We feel so taken care of here. She also informed us that she was setting up a special room in the hotel where they are going to host our adoption agency for a special Thanksgiving dinner. She also informed us that they would decorate the hotel and family floor appropriately for Christmas. Let me just say that they definitely take Christmas seriously here. The plazas in the City are already decorated for Christmas. I know that it will be beautiful when we are here for Christmas!

Not too much going on today. We should have a more eventful day tomorrow. That's it for now. Isa is actually asleep so I think I will jump at the chance to catch some z's myself!

Shalom,
Chris

Back in Guatemala!!!! (day one)

2006-11-20T18:06:00.000-08:00

The day is finally here! We are back in Guatemala! It is currently about 8pm (Central time) on Monday evening. We left our house this morning at 5:30am, flew from Huntsville to Atlanta, and were in Guatemala by 1:30pm. Before I fill you in on the details of the day, let me tell you the great progress that we have made over the past week.

First of all, our agency apparently works on the weekends. We checked our email yesterday and found an innocent looking email from our agency labeled, "update for Powell family." It is always an exciting time around the house when such an email is received. However, our hearts sink just before opening because of the possibility of setbacks in the process. Thankfully, yesterday's email was a good report. Our case entered family court on October 11. We found out yesterday that on November 15 we exited family court! We are currently waiting on a preapproval notice from the US Embassy (which should come in the first part of December) and then we will be set to enter PGN!

The second bit of good news we received when we got here in Guatemala. Isabella went to the doctor this morning, had her next round of shots and weighed in at a whopping 9 lbs 3 ozs!!! She is definitely growing.

Now, for the events of the day. We decided that this trip we would play by the rules and not risk any problems with our agency. So, we waited in our room until 3:00 for the phone to ring. 3:00 came and the phone had not rung. Eventually it would ring, but not for another 17 minutes. Have you ever really measured how long 17 minutes is? Go ahead, count it off, we will wait...finished? It's a long time isn't it! Those 17 minutes took forever, but then the phone rang and we headed downstairs to meet the foster mom in a special receiving room. It was so great to see Ruth again! She is an amazing person! We began to speak with her about her activities with Isa during the week. Holly asked if Ruth took Isabella to Church. The answer is yes; every Sunday. Not only that, but we found out that "secretly" the head of the foster moms requires each of the foster mothers to pray for the children each day. On top of that, Ruth told us that her Pastor and church family are praying daily for Isabella! To top all of this off, she asked if it would be ok for Isabella to be dedicated in the Church here in Guatemala. Of course we said yes! (Don't worry people at home, she will be dedicated in the US as well.) We are continually amazed at how this whole thing is coming together. Moreover, we are amazed at the support that we have received from people in the US. A good friend of mine came up to me this past Sunday and said that he started leading his son in his good night prayers, including in those prayers, Isabella. He said that the other night he had finished praying with his young son, when his son looked up at him and said, "but Daddy, aren't we going to pray for Isabella tonight?" You can't get much more support than that! Thank you to all friends and family, in the US and in Guatemala that are praying for our daughter and her safe trip to the US!

On a bit of a different note, Holly and I got hungry and decided that I would venture outside of the hotel to try to find some food. What a great experience that was! I was only gone for about 30 minutes but had a great time exploring the city. My original plan was to locate the Chili's restaurant just down the street. However, after finding that it was closed for renovations, I had to settle for the Dominos Pizza that I passed along the way. Way a great surprise! The pizza is very different from the pizza in the US. I loved it! Who knows what kinds of great things we will discover tomorrow.

I guess that is it for now. If something interesting happens in the near future, I will let everyone know. Thanks again for all of your prayers and support!

Shalom,
Chris, Holly and Isabella.

Gracias!

2006-11-10T12:20:00.000-08:00

Thank you to Sandy, Kim and Kelley for showering me with gifts on Thursday! I LOVE the stuff you bought for my baby! Thank you for helping me spoil Isabella!! Last night I took everything out of the wrappers and washed it all...it was fun :) You're the best! --Holly

Quilt Raffle

2006-11-09T21:02:00.000-08:00

It's been quite a while since we started, but we finally have a winner for the antique quilt donated to help raise money for the adoption. For many weeks now, people have been purchasing raffle tickets in order to have a chance at winning the quilt. Thank you so much to all that have participated and bought tickets. Unfortunately there is only one quilt and it goes to......(notice the heavy security that was present at the time of the drawing. Nothing gets by that pug. Oh yeah, and the winner is........)

Vern Ward!!!

Congratulations!

One final word of thanks goes out to the incredible person who donated the quilt for the raffle! I would love to post your name here and let the world know how great of a person you are, however, until we have permission to do so the world will simply know you as one of the miracle workers that is working to help bring our little girl home! Thank you from the bottom of our hearts! Thanks again to all who participated!

Shalom,
Chris

Good things come in pairs

2006-11-06T16:38:00.000-08:00

Yet again, our good news comes in pairs. Today, right after posting the previous entry, I went to check our mail. In the mail today the results from the DNA testing came! We have a 99.87% match!

DNA Day and Family Court Timeline!

2006-11-06T14:55:00.000-08:00

More good news from South of the Border! You may remember last week we received some information stating that DNA testing had been done on both Isabella and the birth mother. Well...there was a little sentence that was added to our report that was of great interest. The sentence read, "also you will be happy to know that family court interviews were conducted that same day." We began to wonder, "how can family court interviews be conducted if we are not yet in family court?" We sent an email to our agency and the answer...YES! You have entered family court! The really good news is that we actually entered family court on October 11. In the words of our agency, "Obviously this is one they are pushing pushing to get out before vacations." Come on! Let's get this one out before vacations!

To get everyone up to speed here's the latest timeline of the events thus far:

I-797 approval 9/19 (we actually received the letter 9/25)
ISABELLA WAS BORN!!! 9/26
POA in Guatemala 9/29
First Trip to see Isabella 9/29-10/3
Entered Family Court 10/11
Family Court Interviews 10/26
DNA Testing 10/26
1 Month Check up 10/27

One final piece of good news. It is now less than two weeks before we get on an airplane and have our passports stamped for another trip down to see Isa in Guatemala City! Things are moving along, but still we cannot wait to get her home. They told us that this would be the toughest part of the adoption. However, we had no idea that it would be this tough to be apart from her! The agency suggests picking up a new hobby or learning Spanish to help pass the time. What I am learning now is that there are not enough languages that can be learned or hobbies to try that could possibly help this time pass quicker!

Shalom,
Chris

Doctor Update

2006-10-30T20:30:00.000-08:00

What another great surprise to see in our email box today another update from our agency! This last update was the one from our daughter's one month check up. The doctor in Guatemala gave her a clean bill of health and said that she was progressing appropriately! Here are the specifics of his comments. She is now 7 lbs 6 ozs (remember she was under 5 lbs when we saw her last!) and 46 cms. She is taking her formula and vitamins as needed. She is also showing appropriate reflexes on both sides. When laid on her stomach she is now able to lift her chin off of the bed. (A small feat I know, however, unimaginable to us! Our little girl is growing up so quickly!)

We were so happy to get this update. She is doing well and continuing to grow! We are hoping that she doesn't grow up too much before we see her! (We don't want her walking in to see us!) The good news about this update is that we can now pick out clothes for her. We had a bit of a problem locating a Christmas dress in a preemie size, but alas, we no longer need it! She is just now getting to the size of the 0-3 month clothes and thus, she can be better dressed. (Come on you baby clothes designers, we need more good clothes for preemies) We of course did what any new parent would do upon finding out such good news...we went shopping tonight!

Well that's it for the update. We were happy to see pictures of her, but will be even more happy to see her and hold her over Thanksgiving. We exactly 20 days, 8 hours, and 45 minutes (from the time of writing this) until we get on the plane in Huntsville! We are a little excited about this! One last note, I spoke with my Mom today (Chris' Mom) and she is now finished with the baby quilt that she is making for Isa except for a few minor touches. This has got to be the most beautiful quilt that you will ever see! As soon as we are able, and have her permission, I will post a picture of the final quilt on the blog. I am so happy that we will be able to tell Isa, this is what your grandmother made especially for you! Muchas gracias abuelita! ALSO A BIG HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ISABELLA'S GRAMMA POWELL!!! (As of November 1)

Shalom,
Chris

DNA Day!!!

2006-10-29T10:50:00.000-08:00

Remember this date: October 26. This is the day that our daughter went through DNA testing! DNA testing is to insure that there is a positive match between the birth mom and the child proving that there is not any kind of foul play ie human trafficing etc. What is the most important thing to note about DNA day is that it is the first big step in the adoption process after a referral is given! The good news doesn't stop there however. Our agency was able to complete the biolgical mother's portion of the family court interviews. If you are keeping track at home, here are the next major steps in the process: referral, DNA, family court, PGN and the embassy day! You can put the pieces together and see that we are very excited!

One of the reasons that DNA day is a big deal in Guatemala is because of the role of the biological mother in the process. The biological mother must sign on various occasions saying that she indeed wants to place the child up for adoption. DNA day usually takes place several weeks after the child is born. DNA day was the first time since the day of her birth that the birth mom had seen Isabella. Because of this they say that once you make it through DNA day, then the birth mom will probably not change her mind. If the birth mom goes through the hassel of getting to the clinic, seeing and holding the baby for the first time since the delivery and still is willing to sign over the child, then the chances are really good that the biological mother will not be changing her mind. By this time in the process, she knows what she is doing and thus we feel very confident that little Isa will be our daughter!

We are so excited about this latest development. We are hoping to get as much accomplished in the adoption process as possible before November 15. This is the day that the Guatemalan government begins their Christmas celebration. (Wouldn't you like that holiday schedule!) Each day is getting closer to the day that we can bring her home! We still have several months, but each step along the way is a step closer! Each of these steps along the way also makes these few visits that we will get to make (Thanksgiving and Christmas) that much more meaningful!

Come on Isa! Let's get you through family court!

Shalom,
Chris

PS As an update on the previous post, our agency contacts in Guatemala have been able to get us into the Westin for all four nights that we will be there over Thanksgiving! Not only that, but they were able to secure us rooms on the family floor with the other FTCers! Holly and I treasure the friendships that we made in Guatemala over our mad dash trip and are looking forward to making even more friends over the holidays!

Still waiting and Thankgiving blessings

2006-10-25T21:41:00.000-07:00

First of all...happy one month birthday Isa! (As of tomorrow 10/26) It seems like it has been a while since we have been down to Guatemala. We are still waiting on some updates from our foster mother. We are supposed to receive two updates per month plus pictures from Isabella's monthly doctor's appointment. We are a little bit frustrated that we haven't received any information yet but understand that our main contacts from our adoption agency have been down in Guatemala for a while. Hopefully we will have some updates to give everyone very soon.

We were able to send some clothes down to Isa about a week ago. You are able to send stuff down to your child at any time. However, the cost of shipping anything to Guatemala is great. What we do instead of sending things through fed ex is contact another family that is going down to Guatemala and then ship ziplock bags full of items to that family to then be delivered to our foster mom in Guatemala City. The system works great and saves a ton of money! (BTW we will be going down soon so if there are any FTCers that need some ziplocks taken down let me know!)

Now for the good news! We're trading our Turkey (see picture above) for some Pollo Campero! Holly and I just booked tickets tonight to go see our little girl over Thanksgiving! We will be gone the week of Thanksgiving (Mon - Fri). This trip will be a little different as the Westin (the hotel that our agency uses) is filled to capacity for the first two nights that we will be there. Thus, we will find ourselves in the Biltmore that is attached to the Westin for the first two nights, moving to the Westin for the final two nights. We are so excited about getting to go down over Thanksgiving! We have flights booked for Christmas (a whole two weeks with our baby! WOoooooHOOooooo) but were happily surprised to find out the possibility of going down over Thanksgiving! So, with that in mind, I must now go get some rest. Thanks to all that have followed us through our "mad dash" entries! Your comments and support have meant a great deal to Holly and I. I am thinking of trying to post a video "travelogue" online for our next trip. We'll see how it goes and I'll keep you informed of this possibility. Thanks again to all family and friends for your support!

Shalom,
Chris

Isabella Music

2006-10-08T19:32:00.000-07:00

I posted an entry some time ago that gave a call for help with some Isabella music. I look forward to the day when I can dance around the room with my little Guatemalan sweet heart. In an effort to help me get ready for that day, I have been on a search for the right "dance with daddy's little girl" music. So far I have found a lot of Counting Crows and some Norah Jones that would do the trick. Right now, however, I am fired up about the Jack Johnson soundtrack for the movie Curious George. Jack Johnson is the man, and thus, it is with great pleasure that I share this "dancing with daddy's little girl" song with you. So please, as you listen, picture me twirling around the room with a little five pound new born cuddled close to my chest. In doing so, I pray that you find a way to dance with those closest to you as well!

Shalom,
Chris

Leaving Guatemala

2006-10-04T08:05:00.000-07:00

Today is day 6 of our mad dash down to Guatemala. We have gone through so many different emotions since this all began. This day was different from all of the others, however, because the emotions intensified to the point where it felt like we were literally under the weight of the situation. We knew coming down to Guatemala that there would be a day 6, a day when we would have to place our little girl back into the arms of the foster mother and say good bye. This day, day 6, has been the hardest day of our lives. We can cry no more, there are no more tears available to stream down our cheeks. This morning I tried to take in each sound, each movement of Isabella knowing that my little 4 pound, 7 day old, sweet heart would not be 4 pounds and 7 days old when I returned. I stood over her this morning, looking down at her face, rubbing her cheek and kissing her forehead until finally the tears clouded my eyes and I could no longer see her. So, I would walk away, gather myself, and then return so as not to waste any of these moments.

We met the foster mom in the receiving room at 10. We were given instructions to wait by the phone in our room until the foster mother arrived with further instructions on where to meet. Waiting for the phone to ring was torture. Each minute built upon the previous minutes anticipation of our impending farewell. Finally, the phone rang and we headed down to the elevator. When we got to the receiving room we were met by several of the adoptive parents that made the trip down for the weekend. What a great surprise, they had come to say goodbye and give us support during this difficult moment Their support was of great help. We were able to maintain our composure while talking with the foster mother, until we finally decide that it was time to go. Isabella was in my arms and again, her tiny face faded behind a wall of tears. All I could do was keep kissing her soft little cheek praying that God would somehow get Holly and I through these next few months. All I remember from this point on, was handing her back to the foster mom, placing my hand on her forehead and saying between the gasps for air "puede la paz de dios nunca dejarte sola, Isabella." (May the peace of God never leave you alone, Isabella.) Despite the tears, I thank God for this day. It was one more day that I was able to spend with her, one more day that I was able to curl her little feet under her body as she laid on my chest, her head beneath mine. This was one more day that I was able to feel the softness of her cheek and the she fit in my arm. Yes, I thank God for today and I look forward to my next visit to Guatemala. Still, tomorrow will come and I will not see her except through the memories of this day and the fragile photographs that seek unsuccessfully to capture the enchantment of her presence. Today was the hardest day of my life. I can cry no more.

Sleep well my Isabella knowing that soon we will be together again.

The miracles never cease.

2006-09-30T17:31:00.000-07:00

**Please read the post "estamos aqui en Guatemala" before reading this post!

The more we learn about this trip to Guatemala the more we are amazed at what all has happened to make this work. The President of Guatemala's freak decision to make an executive declaration was the initial reason for this trip, but as we have already stated, we had not yet received a referral that would make such a trip possible. As we were talking with some other families and heard more from our Agency heads, we found out that the reason that so many children (14 in all I believe) were available immediately for referrals was that most all other agencies in Guatemala would not make referrals because of the nature of the President's address. Thank God that our agency is working behind the scenes. I know that other agencies are heavily involved in the adoption world in Guatemala. However, we chose this agency because of its unique relationship to the Guatemalan government. The people of our agency are actually involved in getting laws passed that are pro-adoption in the Guatemala congress. Yes, as you may have heard, it was the Guatemalan congress that put pressure on the president of Guatemala causing him to forego the declaration. The fact that our agency was able to step out and make referrals inspite of the possible conflicts with the president, allowed us to see our little girl at only 3 days old! Not only that, but the pressure that was placed on the Guatemalan president may actually work against him as there is now a call to reform the policies of PGN! It is amazing how things can work out in the end!

Shalom,
Chris

Pictures of Guatemala!

2006-09-30T16:12:00.000-07:00

If you have come to this picture post first, please refer to the post "Estmas aqui en Guatemala" so you will know what's going on!

We know that the butterfly is the official sign of adoption. However, unofficially, the rainbow has become a sign for the adoption of Isabella. When Holly and I were going to our social worker's house to begin our homestudy we saw a double rainbow that seemed to announce to us that the process would progress as it should. A short time ago, we were told that we had a discrepency between our homestudy and our I-600a. We were distrought over this as it backed up the processing time and receipt of our I-797. I was talking with Holly about this problem as she was driving in Lakeland. She informed me that a rainbow had just appeared directly infront of her. Again, we believed that we would be ok. As you now know, we received our I-797 only a couple of days later! Friday as I was frantically leaving Huntsville, I looked in my rearview mirror and saw this rainbow. I had peace. I knew that God was going to watch out for me and my little girl. I wonder how many times in my life I have missed the rainbows?

The previous pictures are the result of Holly's late night Target run. I hope we have everything!

Beautiful isn't it?

The airport in Guatemala City. (Actually this is the old airport. The terminal is actually bigger, but not by much)

This is the view from our hotel room. Obviously the best view is of little Isabella inside the room!

ESTAMOS AQUI EN GUATEMALA!!!!!!!!!

2006-09-30T10:46:00.000-07:00

We are here! WARNING: THIS POST IS NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART! There is soooo much to tell everyone about, so I guess I will start from the beginning.

I recently posted an entry stating that we had been approved by USCIS for the adoption and received our I-797 as our notification. The 797 means that at any time we could receive a referral (which is the picture of OUR little baby!). However, we were told that our wait time for a referral would be approximately 4 weeks. Please note, this is what we were told the middle of this past week! In the midst of our jubilation over this new plateau that we had reached in the procecss, we received word that there are some political undercurrents that could cause some problems in the Guatemalan adoption system. These anxieties came to a climax thursday, September 28. I was sitting in my office at home checking email and getting ready to head out to our house in Madison, when my cell phone rang. There was a man on the other end of the line that said in a rather dreary tone of voice, "something has come up in Guatemala and the agency has requested a conference call with several families at noon." Immediately my heart sank. It was as if I was in process of loosing my daughter. I immediately called Holly to tell her of the conference. Noon comes, we call, and we cannot get patched through to the conversation. The problem was that there were too many people trying to get through at once. Holly and I were obviously getting nervous as we could not get through. I was on my cell phone, trying to get through to the agency and sending emails to Holly who was teaching in class, giving her updates of my unsuccessful attempts. Finally, emails began to circulate from our adoption agency to those families that had been notified of the conference call. The email simply said, "if you want to be ultra prepared go ahead and check on the next flight out of your city to Guatemala."

FINALLY, around 3:00 we were able to speak with someone at the agency regarding the events of the day. The man on the other end of the line began to tell Holly and I, "the president of Guatemala is issuing an executive decree on Saturday morning that will in essence stop all present adoptions, and make future process of adoptions virtually impossible." Again, my heart sank. "However," he continued, "there is a possible way around this. If you are in the Guatemalan family court system before the president makes his announcement, then you should be safe." If you have kept up with the adoption process to this point, you may be aware of a big problem that could develop at this point. You can't be in the family court system without a referral! In essence, what it means to be in the family court system is to have signed over POA (power of attorney) to a Guatemalan attorney that will proceed with your case in the court in your absence. We thought that traveling to Guatemala to sign POA would be a great idea, but remember, we are still 4 weeks out of having a referral! "Well," the guy from the agency said, "we think we have a referral waiting for you!" The phone call with the agency ended at 3:30. By 4:00, we had called the agency back and said, "book us a room in Guat. we're coming down!"

If you are asking yourself, "how can they go down there to sign POA without a referral?" then you are a quick study. You can't. We were told on the phone that if we agreed to go there would be a baby referral waiting on us! That's four weeks earlier than the time we were thinking! Knowing that we would have a referral, and had already committed ourselves to going to Guatemala, I began to pack a little before 4 and was on the road by 5! While in route to the airport in Birmingham, I received another phone call from our agency. "Chris," the woman said, "I have a little 4 pound 12 oz girl that was born two days ago waiting for you. How does that sound?" Needless to say, that sounds great! I continued on my way down to Birmingham to meet the 8:00 flight that Holly had booked for me. While I was on this flight, Holly enroute to pick me up from the airport in Tampa, stopped by Target in Tampa. This was our one chance to get everything that we would need to take care of a three day old baby girl! Holly picked me up at the airport in Tampa and we went back to our apartment in Lakeland. We packed the baby clothes, got about 3 hours of sleep, and at 4 am, headed off to the airport.

Our flight to Guatemala took us from Tampa, to Houston, and finally down to Guatemala City. The flight into the city was absolutely beautiful. The area is very mountainous. We could look out the window and see the tops of volcanoes peaking through the clouds. We landed in Guatemala and headed straight for the hotel, where we were told to wait in our room until we received a phone call telling us where to go to meet our new baby and to sign POA. 3:30 came and went and there was still no phone call. We were getting a little nervous because POA had to be signed by the close of business on Friday. Holly sent me around the hotel to find anyone that would have further information. Sure enough, on the adoption floor, I found a couple that were more than willing to introduce Holly and I to the lady in charge. Within half an hour of sitting in the hotel lobby, we had signed our POA form! We beat the deadline!

What happens next, is the most magical portion of the trip. Holly traveled down the hall with a new found friend named Amanda. As the two of them walked around the corner, Amanda saw the foster mother of her son. Sure enough, there was her son and foster mother standing in the hall. Who was standing next to Amanda's son and foster mother? I am glad you asked. It was a woman named Ruth carrying a little 4 pound 12 oz girl. Holly looked at the woman and immediately knew who she was and who she was holding. We kind of broke the rules and saw our baby for the first time in a public area, but we couldn't help it! How do you see your baby for the first time and then say, "well, we need to wait about ten minutes?" I apologize for breaking the rules (which are for privacy and protection of the foster mother and the adoptive parent). Our foster mother Ruth is one of the most amazing people that we have met. We had a great time talking with her, albeit through mine and Holly's broken Spanish. We are happy that she will be taking care of our little girl. We knew that she was a great person from the moment that we met her. We saw our little Isabella (pronounced "Esaveya" in Guatemala), Holly took her in her arms, and Ruth joined in our festivities with tears of joy. Thank you Ruth for taking care of our little bambino!

I guess I will close this post out for now. I will try to give more details in the following posts. We will be in Guatemala until Tuesday and I will return to Huntsville Wednesday afternoon. Please forgive us for not posting more pictures, but we have decided to not publicly post pictures of Isabella right now. We would however, love to send our friends and family pictures of her. So, send me (Chris) an email, and you too can behold the most beautiful little girl ever! Thanks for taking time out of your day to read this! We appreciate everyone's love and support.

Shalom,
Chris

WE'RE APPROVED!!!

2006-09-25T19:24:00.000-07:00

It's official! We have now received our approval from immigration making us eligible to adopt a child and bring her back to the US! Needless to say, we are extremely excited! Here's the details of how we got to this point:

Some time ago we submitted a form to USCIS called the I-600a. This is the "advance application for the adoption of a foreign orphan" form. Don't let the name fool you. This is no ordinary "form." It is rather a compilation of documents that look at every aspect of your life and marriage. From the house you live in, to your medical history, to your salary, to everything else, it is all included in this. We have been a little nervous about receiving this form because we were under a strict deadline. As many of you know, Holly has recently accepted a job teaching at our alma mater, Southeastern University. Moving down to Southeastern means that we must leave the state in which we had our home study conducted. In this situation one of two things has to happen: either you begin again in the state in which you are moving and consequently place yourself several months back in the process, or you wait until you progress far enough along in the adoption that it doesn't matter. Well, we opted out for the second condition. The point in the adoption that is "far enough along" for us is the receipt of our I-171h. The I-171h is the official name for the approval of your I-600a. (Actually the Atlanta office uses a form called the I-797, but it is relatively the same thing) Well, that piece of paper came today! Only two weeks away from the deadline of me moving out of the house! Can you sense our relief? I sent Holly several text messages today to let her know of the good news. I guess I should apologize to the Spanish teacher that had to hear her phone keep going off. Sorry, but we are so excited! We both went out tonight about bought some clothes and things for Isabella. (Actually I bought her some toys too, but don't tell Holly) Well, I guess that's it for now. We are hoping that were are now only a few weeks away from seeing a picture of our little baby girl! Thanks to everyone that is praying for us and supporting us!

Isabella's Daddy,
Chris

Latest Update

2006-07-18T16:16:00.000-07:00

Well, here's the latest update on fundraising: We have wrapped up the Crystal and Jewelry Sale money by receiving the last $45. Thanks to EVERYBODY who participated!!! Your donations will go a long way!

In addition, my Aunt Connie is selling quilt raffle tickets "right and left!" On Sunday she handed over $145 in raffle ticket sales. She works at Frito Lay in Pulaski, TN; apparently her co-workers have gone out of their way to show support by purchasing tickets! Aunt Connie has always been very supportive of Chris and me--we are not surprised that she has come through for us yet again! She and my mom are a lot alike!

Holly

It just keeps coming!!!

2006-07-06T14:22:00.000-07:00

Great news!! Another donation of $500 came through today!!! We are so excited! Also, $90 more trickled in from the Crystal and Jewelry Sale you heard about last week. So with the additional $590, we are closer now than ever!!!! I'd like to say a BIG THANK YOU to all who have given your time, money and talents to help us raise our adoption funds. Thank you so much!!!

Holly

What A Jewel

2006-07-02T14:38:00.000-07:00

Some say it takes a village to raise a child, but raising $30K takes a really creative mom and a really generous community who willingly shows support. Thankfully, I am blessed with both.

I have always known my mom is super, but on Friday I found out what a JEWEL she really is...To help fundraise for the remaining costs of the adoption, she held a Crystal and Jewelry Sale at the Madison County Courthouse. Thanks to the hospitality of Judge Bell, we were able to set up the sale in a room on the 8th floor of the courthouse. Covering the tables with pink tablecloths, my mom arranged a spread of pieces donated by friends and family; these pieces were sold to willing buyers who came to shop all throughout the day, as well as pre-sales the day before. In addition to the crystal and jewelry, raffle tickets were available in hopes of winning an heirloom quilt donated by Kim (aka "Giggles"). Once again, people really went out of their way to show support. I'd like to say a special thanks to all of you who gave your cash so generously (you know who you are). The total from the sale (so far) is $522.00 and some people have still promised to pay next week. Isabella has many many new "aunts" that I can't wait for her to meet!

Stay tuned for the results of the raffle, sometime around Labor Day.

Thanks, mom; we couldn't do it without you!

--Holly

Energy

2006-07-02T14:27:00.000-07:00

The energy at our house is poppin'!!! We are so excited that, after a long time of preparation, we are finally "Paper Ready." So much hard work has gone into this adoption process already, but everything is so worth it. Chris and I both are SO excited about the closeness of the adoption, but also nervous about those uncertain things, like when we will travel to Guatemala, how long we will stay there, and what we will wear. :)

So for all of you linear folks, who need to see the future in a straight timeline, here is how the rest of our adoption will unfold:

Guatemalan Adoption Process

1. Dossier is sent to Guatemala to be translated.

2. Child is born.

3. Birth is registered at Civil Registry and a birth certificate is issued.

4. Birth mother signs over custody to a lawyer and authorizes the lawyer to pursue adoption plans for the child; child enters foster care (usually) or sometimes orphanage or children's home

5.Child is taken to a pediatrician for basic physical and (for newborns) usually for first immunizations, if these steps were not done prior to relinquishment.

6.Birthmother also sees a doctor to make sure she is fine and may have blood tests done at this time, if they haven't been done prior to the birth of the child.

7. You receive a referral with child's and birth mother's names, basic physical info, and usually a photo and results of screening blood tests for syphilis, hepatitis and HIV.

8. You accept referral and sign a Power of Attorney (POA) to authorize the lawyer in Guatemala to act on your behalf during the adoption process. Under Guatemalan law the same lawyer may represent the birth mother's and child's interests and your interests during the adoption. Some agencies use separate lawyers for adoptive parents, most don't.

9. Your POA is registered in Guatemala.

10. The lawyer submits all the documents in the case to Family Court, and petitions the Family Court to assign a social worker to investigate the case.

11. The lawyer requests authorization from the US Embassy to have DNA testing performed on the birth mother and child to confirm that they are indeed biologically mother and child. DNA testing is done with supervision and a photo of the birth mother with the child is taken at the testing site to ascertain their identities.

12. Family Court social worker reviews your dossier, interviews the birth mother, sees the child in foster care or orphanage, and (almost always) approves the adoption. The social worker writes a several page report summarizing the facts of the case and attesting to the reasons that the birth mother cannot care for the child. The birth mother signs consent for adoption for second time.

13. Meanwhile the DNA test should have been performed, cleared, and submitted to the Embassy with your dossier for review and approval by the Embassy. The case cannot take the next step after Family Court until the Embassy DNA approval has been issued. This is a safeguard to prevent a situation in which a child is legally adopted under Guatemalan law, but not eligible for immigration under US law. A third consent by the birth mother is signed during the DNA process.

14. The lawyer then submits a petition for approval of the adoption case to a notarial officer of the Attorney General?s office (Procuraduria General de la Nación or PGN). (A Notary in Guatemala is an attorney with additional powers, not simply someone who certifies signatures as in the US.)

15. Notary in PGN reviews all the documents (often requesting that some be re-done because of minor spelling errors, expired notary seals, etc.) and almost always approves the adoption. The PGN may at their discretion investigate aspects of the case if they wish and as a result of that and other variations, time in this step (as in many steps) can vary widely.

16. PGN issues its approval for the adoption to proceed.

17. The lawyer then meets the birth mother for the 4th and final sign-off.

18. The adoption decree is then written and issued by the lawyer and the child is legally now the child of the adoptive family.

19. A new birth certificate is then issued by the Civil Registry with the child's first and middle names unchanged, but with the names of the adoptive parent(s).

20. Lawyer takes new birth certificate and applies for a Guatemalan passport (although the child is adopted by US parents, he or she is still a Guatemalan citizen).

21. All documents are translated into English by certified translators, as required by US INS regulations.

Then..... for the final stages:

1. Passport is issued.

2. Child gets a visa photo done.

3. Lawyer takes all the paperwork back to the Embassy, including the passport, your dossier, the Family Court findings, the adoption decree, the DNA results, all translations, and the visa photos, and requests approval for an orphan visa to enter the US.

4. Embassy authorizes visa. This approval is on pink paper and is called the "pink slip". It is usually issued a day or two after submission of the documents.

5. Child gets an exit physical by an Embassy-approved doctor (to make sure the child doesn't have unrecognized handicapping conditions or infectious diseases). Note that this exam used to require prior embassy approval, but can now be done any time after the passport is issued, without prior approval of the embassy.

6. You are told your case is complete and you travel to Guatemala (many people travel sooner but this is the "official" time when travel is recommended).

7. The lawyer completes required INS and State Department forms for visa issuance and includes them in the document package along with the results from the exit physical.

8. You -- often but not always accompanined by the lawyer or someone from their staff -- bring your child and all the papers back to the Embassy early one morning (Monday - Thursday only, no visas are issued on Fridays), pay the visa fees, present the I-600 and I-864 forms (fill these out well ahead!), show your tax returns for the past 3 years (including W-2s and 1099s, plus currrent letters of employment or recent pay stubs) to prove you can support the child, and come back later that afternoon for your visa and sealed packet of documents.

9. Then you can go home. On arrival you must to submit the sealed packet to INS at your first point of entry into the US.

Montgomery Again!

2006-06-29T18:44:00.000-07:00

This past week Holly and I found ourselves in the car headed back down to Montgomery. This past Monday we were lying in bed (still not up by 9:00, sorry everyone) when the doorbell rang. It was the FedEx guy bringing us a portion of our dossier that had been sent off to be certified at the county level. Having these papers in hand at 9:00, we were in the car by 11:00 headed down to Montgomery. The goal for the day was to have a few documents certified at the county level in the Montgomery county courthouse and then to head over to the secretary of state's office to have certification from that office. We were so happy that everything happened just as planned. All the documents were certified and sent within the hour to the consulate of Guatemala in Miami. The dossier had to go through the consulate to be authenticated before being sent down to Guatemala. The whole authentication process went much quicker that what we had originally thought. They received our dossier on Tuesday and had it authenticated and sent back out that same day! The dossier is now going through final review and will be sent to Guatemala (hopefully) next week! WE ARE NOW THROUGH WITH THE PAPER CHASE!!! One of the employees at our agency has told us that we are at the point where we will feel that we have hurried only to wait.

Here's the way that the rest of the process will work (I think). Once the dossier is in Guatemala, we will be put on the list of approved families to adopt. However, we are still waiting on our paper work to be cleared through USCIS. Once we have this approval we can actually be placed at the top of the list and allowed to receive a referral! Following the referral it is only a matter of weeks before we will hopefully be on an airplane down to Guatemala to see our baby girl!!! They say that this is the worst time of the adoption because, after the USCIC clearance is received, you are just sitting at home waiting for the phone to ring. Even as I am writing about this, I find myself wanting nothing more than to at least see a picture of my little girl. I know that it will happen soon, and when it does, it will be the greatest moment of my life. Still, the anticipation of that moment is incredibly hard. They say that during this time you should pick up a new hobby or learn another language. I think I'll learn Spanish (which I have planned to do anyway) because, after the adoption, I can no longer afford hobbies! It won't be long now Isabella! We're through with the paper chase!

Shalom.

PS While in Montgomery, I was finally able to take the time to go by the Dexter Ave King Memorial Church which was once pastored by Dr. Martin Luther King. It was a great experience.

Yard Sale Update!

2006-06-20T19:07:00.000-07:00

As many of you know, we have now had a total of three yard sales to help raise money for the adoption. This past weekend was the last of the three sales. Holly and I have been overwhelmed at the amount of stuff that people have given to us to sell in the yard sales. I am also amazed at the dedication of Val, Wayne, Ron, Donna, and others that helped make this last yard sale go smoothly despite the 200 degree heat! While I was gone to camp, the aforementioned people worked from Tuesday on to get ready for a two day sale. Their efforts did pay off! We raised nearly $3,000 for Isabella!!! There are so many people that we need to thank for helping make this such a success: the Seavers, Dunaways, Stewarts, Griggs, and sooooo many others. We were able to raise 1,900 by the end of the sale, and then, just when we thought that things were over, someone came back to the Holly's parents house and bought a truck that her parents were selling to help with the adoption! When all was said and done, we were able to put $2,900 in Isabella's account! This, coupled with a great donation from my parents as a gift for my graduation has allowed us to come within $5,000 of our final goal! We are humbled by the way that everyone has helped us out in this journey. We can now say that we have raised $25,000 in 6 months! This is nothing short of a miracle! I remember going to our first adoption seminar and telling the hostess at the door that I would love to adopt a child but the amount of money needed for the adoption is something that made me nervous. She looked right back at me and said, "if God wants you to adopt a child, you will be able to do it. I have never seen anyone not finish an adoption because of money. Don't let the money be the thing that stops you." Looking back, that hostess was right. I don't know where this money has come from exactly, but it is there. We still have a large amount ahead of us to raise, but it is nothing compared to what we needed when we started. Thanks again to all those that have helped us out! To you I say "puede la paz de Dios, nunca dejarte solo!"

Shalom.

The home study is here!

2006-06-20T18:47:00.000-07:00

We have our home study! We received our copy of the home study last week. Receiving the home study means that we can now send off our completed dossier pending certification and authentication! I (Chris) was unfortunately gone to camp and was unable to sign some of the forms needed for the dossier. We were able to get on track with it this week. Holly began the process of getting our dossier papers authenticated. This is in essence the process of having your notarized papers notarized. Each notary stamp must be certified on the county, state and federal levels before the dossier is complete. We are hoping to have our county certifications done by thursday so that we can physically take the papers down to the secretary of state office in Montgomery to finish the state level certification. As soon as that is completed, the dossier will be overnighted to the Guatemalan consulate in Miami. As soon as it clears there we will be able to be put on the list for an adoption in Guatemala! We will not be able to actually receive a referral however until we have finished up and been approved by USCIS (I-600a). We are getting closer! Holly was looking at plane tickets today. I am happy to say that the prices are going down!

Parenting Update

2006-06-09T21:07:00.000-07:00

Perhaps this post should change names with the previous post. I guess this is a parenting/paperwork update. A couple of weeks ago, I was surprised to look in the bathroom and see the usual roll of toilet paper with an unusual print. I quickly inquired as to why my toilet paper now has paw prints and a dog on it. The answer is this: it will help me become a better father. I want to be the best possible father that I can be. I have already gone through the hypothetical drills with Holly of what to do if I need to change Isabella in public and Holly cannot be found. I have a plan of discipline set up (thanks to our home study). Holly and I have even picked out the school that we would like her to go to (that's elementary, not college). However, the one thing I had never thought about was how to teach her how much toilet paper to use! How could I have missed this! Thanks to the marketing genius of the now richer toilet paper manufacturers, I know the recommended amount of toilet paper to use during each usage. Here's how it works: you show the toilet paper to your child and have them unroll it until they see the dog appear. When the dog appears, tear! It's that simple! I can't believe that I almost had a daughter living in my house with my toilet paper unpreparedness. Thanks toilet paper people, you really saved me on this one!

UPDATE: after practicing with the recommended dosage of toilet paper, I do believe that the recommended amount exceeds that which is necessary for usage. Could it be that the tp people are simply trying to make us use more tp by teaching our children excessive usage habits?! Tis something to consider.

Shalom.

Paper work update

2006-06-09T20:54:00.000-07:00

We had some great news this week. Our final drafts of the home study have now been sent off! The agency here in Alabama sent off three copies of the home study this week. One copy goes to me and Holly, one goes to the state of Alabama (DHR), and one goes to our agency in Texas. When we get our copy of the home study, we can take it, with the rest of our Dossier down to Montgomery to have it all authenticated. This is the process of having our notary signatures and stamps notarized. Once this is complete it will be sent to Guatemala where we will be placed on the referral list for a baby! There is one last step that must take place, however, before we can receive the referral. One copy of the home study, the one sent to DHR, will be processed as part of our I600a that is at USCIS. Once this copy of the home study clears, which is in essence the passage of our I600a, we will receive another form from USCIS that allows us to be officially in the running to receive a referral from Guatemala! We are excited to say the least. Look out Montgomery, we're coming back for some more fun!

Shalom.

Home Study Update

2006-05-29T20:41:00.000-07:00

We're back from our blogging sabbatical! We haven't gone anywhere, we've just had a lot going on at home. The picture at the top of this entry is a picture of me, Trinity (the black pug) and Neo (the fawn pug). I was finishing up a book critique in our back yard swing. I'm not sure that the pugs helped me get the assignment done, but it is done none the less. Actually, my entire degree is done. Part of the reason for our sabbatical has been Holly's mad rush to finish up with her classes at Westlawn and me finishing up my thesis for seminary. The other reason for our sabbatical has been a lack of information with the adoption. We did finish our home study, at least our portion of the home study, and have been waiting for all of the revisions and final changes to be made to it. We are going between two different agencies, our main agency in Texas and our agency in Alabama that actually conducted the home study, so our editing time has been increased. We are hoping that this increase in editing time means that we will not have any unforeseen problems with it in the near future. The home study is supposed to get the final signatures from our agency tomorrow! We will post again to let everyone know how that goes. For now - we continue to wait, and wait, and wait. Well, that's it for now. We will attempt to be more faithful to the blog. Thanks for putting up with our sabbatical!

Shalom.

Home Study

2006-04-28T20:17:00.000-07:00

Tonight's visit from our social worker was the final visit needed to complete our home study. Before tonight's visit, we weren't sure what to expect. You know, you hear different things from different people. One person told us that her social worker was very picky and required $2400 worth of improvements to the home before allowing the study to be finalized. Another person told us that all of her fears were overrated and the social worker was very easy to work with. So, not knowing which situation we were walking into, we gave in to the urge to improve our home. Unsure of what the social worker was looking for (we only knew of a smoke detector and fire extinguisher), we put our hands to work at repairing and improving everything that could possibly be improved, and then some.

To no surprise, we enlisted the help of my parents to tackle the task. Dad worked outside pulling up large weeds and uninvited trees while Chris designed the landscaping and garden. Mom worked inside re-calking the bathtub, washing windows and painting trim. I gutted the closets, un-doggified the house, cleaned from top to bottom, and secured baby-proof outlet covers and cabinet locks. While mom made curtains for the office and bedroom, Chris and I installed quarter-round in three rooms, painted the living room, and organized our large collection of books/bookshelves. Thankfully, my dad let us use a lot of nifty tools and saws since we had many projects that required wood cutting. Chris made a bookshelf for our office to solve the clutter problem, and totally revamped the garage. Which leads to my next point...

For those of you who are facing a future home study visit: don't stres out! Our social worker was so easy to work with. She entered the home, took a short tour, and then sat down at our kitchen table discuss items needed for our home study report. The tour (because of our small house) took only 1 minute...seriously! She didn't look in any closets, she didn't look under the bed, she simply walked around to see what type of floorplan we have to offer our daughter. She didn't even peek into the garage, and in order to inspect the lawn, she merely glanced out the kitchen window. The interview following the tour was not bad at all. Our social worker asked questions on topics such as discipline, godparents, and employment history. She also asked briefly about religous intentions with our daughter, and what the community (Huntsville) is like as it pertains to our future daughter.

So all in all, the visit went really well. Our social worker's daughter accompanied her to our house, and she brought a gift (a little Guatemalan mom holding a baby, magnet). After about 1.5 hours, the social worker was out the door and on her way home. We are so fortunate that our personalities meshed so well; she is a person we hope to stay friends with even after the adoption is complete. And as far as the home improvements, I don't regret any of them. Even if she didn't notice them all, they made such a big difference in our home.

What Can I Say...

2006-04-23T15:26:00.000-07:00

To all of you who have been compelled to donate to our adoption....thank you so much. Every single contribution, even the tiny ones, makes such a big difference. And to those of you who have given repeatedly, wow. All I can say is that I know our God will bless you. You know who you are, we can't thank you enough. Its hard to put into words how much we appreciate you.

May the peace of God never leave you alone.

Love,
Holly

(The child in the picture is not our little girl, just a pic I found online.)

Come Hail or High Water...

2006-04-19T20:35:00.000-07:00

I’ll start by saying we had an incredible meeting with our social worker, Melissa, last night. It was our first of two meetings which will wrap up the homestudy we have been working on these last 4 months.

The part that makes it incredible is not the homestudy meeting: sure, it went well, we answered endless questions about parenting, decision making, finances, plans for discipline, etc. We didn’t even have a chance to be nervous about the meeting: we were unusually distracted by a surprise thunderstorm, and let me tell you, when hail is pounding on your car and lightning just a blink away, you don’t worry too much about anything else.

But the part that impacted us the most were two new friends we met while at our social worker’s home. Melissa has two daughters; she is a single mom who adopted her first child, the youngest daughter, from China; her second child, the oldest daughter, came to her from India. The daughters are incredible. The younger one attached to us immediately. Her bubbly, energetic personality was irresistible. She talked a mile a minute and showered us with both attention and affection. During our individual interviews, we each had a chance to play with her while the other was being questioned. When I completed my portion of the interview, I went downstairs to find Chris who was losing a pillow fight with the little girl. The older daughter was much more reserved; she displayed a silent strength. After hearing about her past experiences in India, and all that she was exposed to at a young age, we knew that her depth of character was just as we perceived it to be: genuine and full of grace. These young women invited us into their lives, into their world, and affirmed the calling in us to share our lives with a similarly special child. The unmistakable acceptance they offered us gave us the confidence we needed to move forward in this adoption process. Melissa and her two daughters made us feel as if we were connected to a circle of those who have experienced what we now only dream of, but what will soon be a reality in our home.

I will never forget these three amazing individuals; they have played such a special part in our journey. And, I must note, we saw a double rainbow while traveling during the storm yesterday. Breathtaking.

Gettin' Ready for the Home Study!

2006-04-17T06:19:00.000-07:00

What a weekend! In a previous post, I mentioned that Holly and I were now ready to complete the in-home visit portion of the home study. Well..here's the deal. Our agency that we are working with is based out of Dallas. Because of the distance between Huntsville and Dallas, our agency is working with another agency based in Alabama to complete our home study. The Alabama agency is located near Mobile. Again, Mobile is a long way away from Huntsville. So, after completing our initial application and clearance and such, the agency in Mobile assigned us a social worker that lives in North Alabama. We were in contact with this North Alabama social worker this past week. We have our first meeting with her on Tuesday night. (This should be a fun day. I have to leave Huntsville early Tuesday morning, drive to Cleveland for meetings, drive back to Huntsville that afternoon, pick up Holly, and the drive to Attalla.) After visiting with the social worker on Tuesday, our next meeting will be the in-home portion of the home study on April 29.

As a way of getting ready for the in-home visits, we spent this past weekend doing some much needed landscaping. We planted some boxwoods to hide the side of the house, some Gerber daisies (which we had as a foundation flower in our wedding) and misc. annuals. There are two special plants that I am really proud of: the Hibiscus tree, and a Passion Vine that is in the back corner by the fence.

One final note: I was able to use the working in the yard momentum to finally get started on my garden. It is relatively small but will contain brown Crowder peas, purple hull black eyed peas, zipper peas, lima beans, and (providing I can find them) white acre peas.

Yard Sale Day

2006-04-10T06:00:00.000-07:00

WOW! We had the greatest, and longest day on Saturday. We had a yard sale to help with the adoption costs. Holly asked if we could mention to a couple of friends that we were having the yard sale, not announce it to the Church or anything, just talk to a couple of friends just in case they wanted to get rid of some old stuff. I reluctantly said yes (I hate asking people for stuff, and this seemed too close to me.) Well, Holly talked to a couple of friends and WOW! I was not prepared for the response! We had people, that I have never met before, showing up at our house to give us stuff for the yard sale. It was amazing.

We starting pricing everything on Thursday night. We loaded up everything that was at our house and took it up to the Wherehouse for our pricing party. Holly, myself, Val, Heather, Ann, Damon, and Vickie ended up staying for several hours working on pricing everything. Early Friday evening, the task was finished. We finished just in time to go home and watch the hours of continuous weather coverage of the tornados. Things were not looking good for our Saturday morning yard sale.

We got up Saturday morning and decided to give it a try. All of the yard sale stuff was in the Wherehouse (our youth facility) so we decided we would just open up the doors and let people shop inside. The sale went better than we had expected. People began to trickle in to our "College Park Thrift Store." The problem with having the yard sale inside, is that we had too much stuff for the building we were in. We were still uncovering items as we were packing up that we simply could not get to before! When all was said and done, we had made more than we could have imagined. Here's the weird part, after we were through with the yard sale, we loaded up the rest to take to Val's garage. WE TOOK 6 CAR LOADS TO HER GARAGE AND FILLED IT UP! (One of those cars was a 15 passenger van and one was a truck with a trailer) We are planning to have another yard sale in April to sale what was left. On top of that, some have told us that they have even MORE stuff that we can try to sale! It is a lot of work, but picturing Isabella at home with us, makes it all worth while.

Thanks again to all that have helped and supported us through this yard sale! You will never know how much you are appreciated!

What a day!

2006-04-07T18:54:00.000-07:00

What a day! Actually...what a week! I posted something yesterday noting our clearances that came through on Wednesday. Well, a couple of weeks ago we filed for our I-600a which is an application for adoption of an orphan from another country. This is one of the main forms that has to be cleared through INS to allow Isabella back in the US. We received a notice that we had to go to the Immigration office in Birmingham to get our fingerprints remade. We were a little concerned about the timing, they do not allow for appointments, they simply tell you when to be there. So, our situation was complicated, not only by Holly having to take off work, but she would have to take off work during SAT testing, the cardinal sin of teaching. We found out though, Friday is the makeup day for SATs, so, Holly was given the all-clear and we headed down to Birmingham.

If you have never sat in an immigration line, you must experience it. You meet the most incredible people. We got to Immigration this morning at 10:15 for our 11:00 appointment. (For those that know us, this is a miracle in itself.) While we were in line we made friends with three other families that are adopting internationally. Two of the families, beside Holly and myself, are adopting from Guatemala, one was adopting from Mexico and one from China. We found out two things that people adopting from Guatemala have in common: they are all teachers (the females that is) and they all like PF Changs. Believe it or not, we actually had a good time going through the INS stuff.

When we got home, we found out some good news: our passports finally made it through! They were a couple of weeks behind schedule, still, they made it here and for that we are happy. We also went this week to get the first round of our shots for the trip down to Guatemala. Between the shots, passports, and homestudy clearances, we feel like we're on our way! What a crazy day...but wait...there's more! We got all of the yard sale stuff priced and ready to go thanks to some help from Val, Heather, Ann, Damon, and Vickie. I will have an update tomorrow about the yard sale. We're not sure if we'll be able to have it. The reason can be found on the radar picture above. We had a very interesting night watching tornados dance all around our house. We are all ok with no damage, we're just very tired of watching the news. We'll keep you posted of the yard sale progress. Like I said, WHAT A DAY!

Shalom.

Good News!

2006-04-06T20:54:00.000-07:00

GREAT NEWS! Holly and I received an email from the agency in South Alabama today. Our final clearances for the homestudy have now come through! We are officially ready to begin our in home visits! We have been assigned a social worker in the Huntsville area and will be in contact with her as soon as our paper work gets to her.

In other news...I will post a follow-up in the next days but we are gearing up for our big yard sale this Saturday. I will give more information on this as soon as we get through the big day. Let me say before I go, however, that SO MANY people have come forward to help us out on this. This includes both those that have donated for the sale as well as those that have volunteered to help with the sale. I will give more details about the yard sale as soon as things calm down a little bit. THANK YOU to all who have helped us bring our little girl home!

Shalom.

Quick update

2006-03-25T10:23:00.000-08:00

I know that our mailman, or mailwoman, must think that something weird is going on at our house. We have received quite a few letters at the house from the FBI and the Dept of Homeland Security. Our latest letters make up the bulk of this update. Here's where we're at: apparently we need another copy of my (Chris) birth certificate as well as another copy of our marriage license for the I-600a. Just a quick heads up to all of those out there that are wanting to adopt, use this website called vitalcheck.com and get plenty of copies of your important documents such as birth certificates and marriage licenses. We have already gone through about three to four each. It is much cheaper to order multiple documents on one order than to keep ordering individual documents. Our second hold up is our fingerprints for the I-600a. (ditto my remarks about fingerprints. Get at least five copies made when you have them made) We received a letter from INS stating that we have to go to Birmingham next Friday to have our fingerprints redone. This should be interesting. Finally, we have been saying that we are ready for our in home visits for the homestudy. Well, we are waiting for a clearance to come through regarding criminal history. (I know...we're scared right now. Ok not really.) But as soon as that happens, we'll be on our way to finishing this homestudy. Well, that's it for now. I'll try to make the next entry a little more exciting.

Shalom.

PS In case you we're wondering, I don't think blogger is too politically correct. It does not recognize the term "mailwoman" in the spell check.

PPS Blogger also does not recognize the term "blogger" in the spell check. Go figure.

My New Obsession

2006-03-20T16:06:00.000-08:00

I would like to apologize to those that read my other blog, Chris' Blog because much of what is in this post has already appeared at the other blog. As many of you know, I was a communication major at Southeastern College (now University) back in the day. I have always been attracted to film and television, so it should come as no surprise that I am wanting to capture our entire trip to Guatemala to get Isabella on video. However, like most things, I cannot simply video the trip the easy way. Instead, I have recently become obsessed with film cameras. There is a certain quality to film that simply cannot be reproduced on video tape. I have, for the longest time, wanted a film camera, but thought that I couldn't afford one. Then, I did some reading about this film school out in California that begins teaching their students on old super 8 film cameras. After reading this, I remembered picking up an old film camera at the thrift store some time back. I was amazed to learn that the camera used at the film school is the exact one that I had obtained at the thrift store. I checked it out and yup, it works fine. (It is the canon camera in the picture) I also have another Bell and Howell camera that I picked up that I haven't been able to get working. The latest news, however, is the Bell and Howell camera in the picture. I found it at an antique store this past weekend. It is in perfect condition. It also has the windup magazine that I wanted. (The only reasont that I can think of for wanting it, is that Mark used one in RENT.)

Here's the point to all of this: I can't wait to get to Guatemala and pick up Isabella. Hopefully, my new found obsession with film cameras will provide the unique memories that can be enjoyed forever.

Shalom,
Chris

Aaahhhhh........

2006-03-15T14:21:00.000-08:00

It feels so nice to reach each milestone of this adoption process. Big or small, these accomp- lishments are what keep us going. Just today, we arrived home to find that on our front porch was a small envelope containing our Criminal Clearances from the US Dept Justice (and FBI) in West Virginia. This particular document had some special requirements since their policy does not permit notarization, so amazingly, eveything thing came back as it should!! Aaahhhhh...it feels so good to know that things are done right!

Isabella Music

2006-03-14T16:22:00.000-08:00

The following post was inspired by my friend Nick. I read on Nick's blog that one of the things he loves doing is dancing with his little daughter. Well, I don't want to rip off Nick's idea, but I too am looking forward to being able to dance around the house with Isabella. Right now however, I am in the music planning phase since Isabella is not here yet. This is where I need everyone's help. I am putting together a song list of possible "dance with Isabella music" so that I can be ready when she gets here. The following list is what I have already in mind. Please feel free to post a comment with any suggestions. BTW, I am sorry but no Butterfly Kisses kind of music. Well, here's my list:

1. Counting Crows "Holiday in Spain" A little unorthodox pick, I know, and I'm sorry Nick to also pick a Counting Crows song, but Holly and I are absolutely in love with this song.

2. "Landed" by Ben Folds.

3. "Juke Box Blues" from the Walk the Line Soundtrack.

4. "A Long December" by Counting Crows.

5. Norah Jones "Sunrise."

6. "Always on Your Side" by Sheryl Crow

7. "Origin of the Species" by U2

8. The Beatles "Yesterday," and "I Want to Hold Your Hand."

9. Beck "Girl." This one is only a possibility. It may take the family a little time to grow into Beck's musical stylings.

10. Pretty much any song by the band Barenaked Ladies. Don't worry its just a name, all of the band members are guys and they keep their clothes on. They are from Canada where "Barenaked Ladies" translates into "Four Guys that have too much fun with their music."

That's pretty much all that I have right now. Please leave your ideas in the comments on this post!

Come look at our house!

2006-03-14T15:50:00.000-08:00

Come look at our house! Ok well, don't rush over too quickly, we still have a lot of fixin' up (you can see by our profile that we're in the south) to do. What I am referring to in this long introduction, is that we are ready (we think) to begin our in home visits by the social worker. We have at this point completed our initial application, which included about 50 pages of information that we had to track down, and are ready for the in home visits that comprise the last portion of our home study. We have already installed the smoke detectors, or at least one of them, and have purchased our carbon monoxide detector which will be installed soon. We still have the usual stuff to finish up like cover the outlets, get rid of our firearms (this is a joke for those of you who don't know us. In reality the gun issue is irrelevant due to religious beliefs) and etc. We are still debating on how much we can actually get done on our house. We still need to finish some small details in our kitchen that's been remodeled and we also need to do some major yard work, aside from the usual cleaning stuff. We have some friends and family on emergency standby to help us clean if we need them.

Other items completed since our last post include the completion our I-600A (Application for Advance Processing of Orphan Petition) and our I-600 (Petition to Classify Orphan as an Immediate Relative), and G-28 forms to INS. These are the first of our steps in completing what is known as the Dossier to be sent to Guatemala. We are sooo ready to be on that plane down to Guatemala City (and then on to Antigua). But still, we wait and continue with life that is going by with a feverish intensity. I (Chris) am currently finishing up class work for J-Terms that were taken this past January as well as working on my thesis. I am ready for this to be over! The prize at the end of the journey is even bigger now though. With the expedient processing of some of our clearances, I could both graduate and get to hold my little girl for the first time this summer. Somehow, the thought of this makes all of the stress and agony of getting there seem like nothing. I can't wait to see you Isabella.

Guatemala Blog

2006-03-08T07:55:00.000-08:00

I came across this blog this morning. I have not had a chance to go through the entire blog, so I apologize if you find something offensive on the blog. I do think however, that it is worth your time to visit. This guy is a great photographer and has some really stunning photos of Guatemala. Check out the pics of Antigua. This is the city where we will hopefully foster Isabella. This blog also apparently does a good job of chronicalling the history of social justice and poverty issues in the country. Check it out.
Check out the blog by clicking here.

Big Baby Step

2006-02-24T14:06:00.000-08:00

Another step has been taken...today we sealed the envelope on a very important piece of mail: the final application for our Home Study. This means we are only a short time away from our in-home visits with the social worker. Time to go clean out those closets!!

Shout-outs

2006-02-18T06:47:00.000-08:00

A few shout-outs to those of you who have helped us cross some recent hurdles:

To Penny, Travis and Vickie--Thanks for ALL the notarizing, the blue ink pens, and clear sigs!

To Mike, Micah (and Maria), Heather, and Kim--Thanks for those narratives! Sounds like a couple of you had fun writing them! (I'm nervous about that part...)

To Dr. V--Thanks for having patience with your patients!

To Danielle--Thanks for your participation...every little piece helps but our puzzle togeteher!

To Jessica--It was nice to see you again!! Love the bling!

Lucky

2006-02-18T06:39:00.000-08:00

Well, our recent journey to Montgomery really paid off! On Valentines Day, Chris and I received word from our social worker that our ABI (Alabama State) and FBI (National) Clearances came through! This is incredible....we were told that clearances sometimes take as long as 6 months, and ours came through in only 2 weeks and 1 day. Our social worker said we must be very "lucky" people. This certainly helps our paperwork process move along.

2006-02-05T19:32:00.000-08:00

Just in case anyone in Huntsville was wondering; no you cannot apply for a passport at the Clinton Ave Post Office on Saturday because it is not open. No you cannot apply for a passport at the Governor's Dr location because they don't deal with passports. (That is if you can get to the counter with the one, maybe two people working there.) No you cannot apply for a passport at the Wynn Dr. location on Saturdays (only during the weekdays.) Well...what have we learned from all of this? We will never count on the post office for our passport. If you work at the county courthouse, we'll see you monday!

- Shalom

PS Did you know that it is the customer's responsibility to know the entire postal code letter by letter? Better get busy studying!

The Family is getting bigger!

2006-02-03T10:17:00.000-08:00

In preparation of Isabella's arrival, we thought that we would practice having a crowded house with the addition of DJ, the big boy in the picture. (In case you are new to the Powell household, the Black Pug is named Trinity and the Fawn colored Pug Mix is named Neo. Neo, Trinity and DJ...can you tell which one we didn't name?)

Our Big Day in Montgomery

2006-02-02T16:44:00.000-08:00

Ok...so we're not good at blogging everyday. Sorry, but we do have an update finally, and a big one at that! Our adoption agency is located in Texas. So, in order to complete our home study, they have assigned us to a local social worker. We received the information from our social worker last week. The information we received includes all of our paper work for our doctor visits, passport information, financial statements, letters of employment, and a TON of other fun stuff to fill out.

We decided that we needed to get going with this paperwork, so we woke up Tuesday morning and quickly went to the Doctor's office. We had to go get a statement saying that we were fit to be parents and HIV negative. Once we finished at the doctor's office we were off to Montgomery to get fingerprinted! Ok, we are aware that we didn't have to make the long drive to get fingerprinted. However, Montgomery is the only place in the state that has this "live scan" deal. In essence, going to Montgomery and using the live scan saves about 4 weeks on the home study.

We got to Montgomery at about 2:00 and went straight to the Montgomery County Courthouse. (Oh yeah, I had Milo's on the way down. Just thought that I should mention that.) We successfully complete, or so we thought, the task of having our fingerprints made. However, Holly got a little suspicious when the lady did not take our money. We called our case worker, and sure enough, we were at the wrong place. We got instructions and left the courthouse and headed over to where we were supposed to go: ABI, the Alabama Bureau of Investigation. It's a little intimidating to go to ABI. I have never seen such thick steel doors and bullet proof glass in my life. The people there ended up being really nice though and we had no problems getting the information completed for our fingerprints and background check. We finished our adventure at ABI at 4:30 thus, were not able to complete our passport information. We do have the forms filled out though, and if you know me, that's most of the battle right there.

Now for the fun part. After getting through with ABI we headed over to Wetumpka to catch up with our friends Kim and Tony. We found out Tuesday night, that our journey to adoption would not be the great experience that it is without the support of our great friends. We had dinner at Ruby's and then checked out the Church where Tony is serving as youth minister. Holly and I would just like to say thanks to Kim and Tony and all of our friends that are reading this blog. You are incredible friends and have enriched our lives greatly. Thanks for sharing the journey with us.

- Shalom

No Turning Back Now!

2006-01-21T10:05:00.000-08:00

Wow! So much has happened over the past week regarding the adoption. We received our official acceptance from For This Child on Holly's Birthday (see post below.) We were so pumped about having been accepted, however, being accepted by the agency meant that we had to come up with 2500 immediately. This is the initial fee for the agency to start your process. Here's where things started to get interesting. The night we were accepted to the agency, Holly's parents received a call from someone interested in buying the Neon. The amazing thing was that he was willing to pay exactly what we were needing for our payment. Well, you may have guessed it, the sell went bad. I will spare you the details, and me having to write them, but through a long process of chasing down Canadian cell phone numbers and Credit Unions in the Mid-west, Holly's Dad and I were able to discover for sure that the check was fraudulent. Needless to say, it was not a good day. Not only did some idiot attempt to take advantage of us, but we did not have the money we needed for the agency. Each day, each week that we don't have the money is another day, week that we have to wait for Isabella.

Here's where the good new starts. Last Saturday, Holly's parents received a call from a family in Scottsboro about the car. They took the Neon, met the family at McDonald's and walked away with a good check for the car. The check officially cleared the back Wednesday morning and then payment was in the mail to FTC on Wednesday afternoon! We are so excited to begin the next phase of the journey. We are anticipating now the beginning of our home study. We should be assigned a social worker in the following days and should also receive our Dossier which is the incredibly large packet of forms, etc. that will be sent to both the US government and the Guatemalan government. We are so excited that we are now able to begin the next phase of the journey. Money has now officially changed hands: there's no turning back now!

What a HAPPY Birthday!!

2006-01-10T14:52:00.000-08:00

Wow...what a wonderful birthday present! On January 10, 2006, TODAY, my twenty-seventh birthday, Chris and I received news that we have been accepted as adoptive parents! I love that part in the adoption contract that says "Chris and Holly Powell, hereby referred to as 'Parents...'" What a rush! The second hurdle is now completed. After this, we will move into what the adoption world fondly refers to as the "paper pregnancy." Did I mention that Chris is still uncomfortable every time I park in the Expectant Mother parking spaces?

No room for old school!

2006-01-10T14:26:00.000-08:00

Holly has warned me to not be too cynical in this post...I will try. However, what I am about to say here must be said. Well, here goes - I have no tolerance for the old school mentalities regarding adoption, especially in international context! Here's what I mean: over the past couple of weeks Holly and I have encountered situations in which people cannot understand why a white family would want to "mess up" their family by including someone of another ethnicity. Let's get straight to the heart of things here, what people are worried about is not having a child of another "ethnicity" in the family. What they are worried about is having a child of another color in the family. (Need I remind everyone that we are all immigrants except for Native Americans). Back to the subject at hand, Holly and I are truly blessed that our immediate families have embraced this dream with open arms. There is nothing that is worth more in this process than an accepting family. However, a family cannot shield from those in the community that are worried about "the purity of the species." Let's take a moment and think about what is going on here.

First of all, the people that have a problem with international adoption, are in many cases, the same one's that look down upon adoption in any case as being a "plan B." Adoption is never, nor will ever be a "plan B." If you are reading this and you are attempting to adopt because you have to do this in order to have children, then think twice before you do it. There are many reasons to adopt, but first and foremost, you must come to the conclusion to adopt out of a sincere desire to have a child understanding that the child is already a part of who you are. God does not deal with "plan B" scenarios and to tell a child, or even remotely think of a child as being a "plan B" is to construct a narrative contrary to the kingdom of God. Unity is realized in diversity. Our family will only be complete when it encounters the diversity in adoption. I would argue that the people who have a problem with international adoption because it "messes up" the family photos, will in no way achieve unity in their family, because they have no basis out of which unity can come. We only know ourselves in relation to others. Complete and perfect unity in anything; economy, philosophy, theology, etc. Is destructive. Unity can only come as we realize our relationship to the other. My relationship to my Guatemalan child is what makes me unified as a person, father and lover of my wife. What Isabella will bring to our family is something that I do not want to miss, it is something that I cannot miss and still be complete. At the same time, what Isabella will bring to our family, as the dissociated other, is our family. Through opening up our doors to allow another into our family, we discover that our family is what was there all along.

MOMS KNOW BEST!

2006-01-08T13:40:00.000-08:00

Chris and I are so pleased that our parents have been accepting and supportive of this adoption. Especially our moms.

My mom (being the go-getter business woman that she is) has organized a family-wide "benefit" yardsale to help raise money for this adoption; in addition, she made dad put two old cars in the Thrifty Nickel, hoping to make a small chunck profit that will also help bring our baby home!

Chris' mom is getting her prize winning thimble ready for action--after a lengthy visit to JoAnn's Fabric, material has been chosen and the pattern put in place for our little one's first handmade baby quilt...you guessed it, lavendar is the color!

Thanks, Moms! We love the way you already love our baby!

Special Thanks

2006-01-08T13:37:00.000-08:00

Special thanks to Mike, Maria, and Kim for letting us list you as references on the adoption application...We appreciate your support!

Step, step, step, step...

2006-01-05T18:25:00.000-08:00

Step, step, step, step…the sound of Chris’ feet matched the heavy pounding of my heartbeat as he walked out the front door. He left our house only moments ago, not empty-handed. Rolled up in his right hand was the application to For This Child. Headed to Kinkos for reliable faxing services, phase one of the journey (choosing an agency we can trust) has finally come to an end. I’ll never forget the sound of his feet padding across the hardwood floor as he left to fulfill his “faxing” commission…for me it signified both great excitement and hardship. All of a sudden the paperwork and the financial responsibility and the parental responsibility have become so real. Sure, it will be hard work, but I can’t wait to one day tell Isabella that she was not only chosen…she was passionately sought after to complete our family.

Finally! We decided on an agency!

2006-01-05T17:29:00.000-08:00

It took us awhile, but we have finally decided on an adoption agency. There are so many different agencies out there to choose from, but we have finally decided to go with an agency called "For This Child." From what we have seen thus far, this is an amazing agency. So, here we go! Let the games begin! Well, for those out there that are considering adoption, and for those that may be a little bored right now, here are the reasons that we arrived at our decision to use this agency.

Our first major introduction to the adoption world was at a free seminar provided by AmericaWorld Adoption Agency. This is a great agency, but does not deal with Guatemala. However, at this seminar we were introduced to another Christian agency that does deal with Guatemala. I will refrain from giving names at this point, but the agency represented at the seminar appeared to be a great agency. We have found nothing really wrong with this agency and was our first choice up until the past few weeks. There are other agencies that we considered that sounded pretty good as well, but well, just weren't for us.

So, here's the first condition of selecting our agency: they had to deal with Guatemala. The other agencies we looked at do deal with Guatemala, but FTC deals ONLY with Guatemala. The agency is a relatively new agency but has been working to bring children to the US from Guatemala for a long time. To make a long story short, this agency brings back as many children from Guatemala each year as the other agencies do from the four or five countries that they deal with combined. Secondly, they returned our calls. Each of our calls that have been placed to FTC have been returned in a very short time. This is especially important when dealing with international adoption because of the need for great communication in the process.

Thirdly, this is not classified as a "Christian" agency (as far as we can tell) but made it clear to us that they are involved in fight for fair and just practices in the adoption process. The agency is actively involved in changing laws that guide and govern unjust practices in the adoption process. This was very appealing to Holly and myself.

Fourth, we were told by a social worker that we should ask for references from the agency of people that had worked with them. We did ask for references, received a list of around 20 names, sent out requests to the people for further information, and then...WOW! Holly and I were not prepared for the responses that we received. We have still not received a single negative comment about the agency.

Fifth, the agency has never been turned down by the Guatemalan government. We were told by those that use this agency that the only part of the process, beside the waiting, that is extremely intense is the process of completing your documents for the Guatemalan government. It is tough enough to get things completely correct for the US government (all the I's dotted and T's crossed) much less have it approved after it has been translated into Spanish for the Guatemalan government. The rigorous attention to detail, we have been told, results not only in being accepted by the Guatemalan government, but also in a shortened time period waiting for the child. In other words, because the agency and the Guatemalan government are so used to each other, families working with FTC are bringing home children in 4-6 months, whereas the other agencies are bringing home children in 6-9 months.

Sixth and finally, many of the families that are working with FTC received their referrals (the statement saying who their child is) on the day or days after having their dossier (packet of papers for the Guatemalan government) approved. This means that parents are finding out who their children are when the child in only a couple of months, and in many cases weeks or days old. Here is where FTC is different and very appealing. At the point of referral, the child is "yours" while you wait for the final paperwork to go through. At this point, FTC allows the parents to go and foster their child in Antigua. This could be an amazing experience, not only to get to live in Antigua, Guatemala, but to be able to begin life with our daughter at an extremely early age. In the end what this means is that the other agencies are averaging bringing children back to the US who are 9-12 months old. FTC, in many cases allows children to come back to the US that are 4 months old. In two scenarios that were e-mailed to us through the referrals, the parents began the process of adoption in January, and had there children back in the US by the summer. I could graduate and have a child in the same month! WOOOOOHHOOOOO!

One final thought for all of those checking into adoption; ask how the child is cared for before and after the referral. Children will either be in an orphanage or in foster care. Many of the orphanages in Guatemala are very nice. However, in some cases, we are told that children in orphanages may have a little more of a problem attaching to the parents when first introduced to the family. This is not as much of a problem in Guatemala as it is in China and Russia where children are kept in massive orphanages with minimal adult interaction. However, it is something to think about. Also, ask about the child's situation after the referral. FTC, pays their own foster parents and gives them permission to make regular doctor visits if needed and even make unannounced visits to the foster home to check on the child, sending back photos to the parents of each visit. Most other agencies use foster parents that are appointed by the Guatemalan attorney. It is not uncommon to have children switch foster homes without notice given to the agency or adoptive parents. The best way to take care of the foster situation is of course, foster for yourself! Anyone interested in living in Antigua for awhile with us?

Well, I know that this is a long post, but we want to show the process that we went through for all of those that are attempting to go through with an adoption. Thanks for taking the time to read!

Shalom - Chris.

Holly's Adoption Journal From December 10, 2005 (The First Entry)

2005-12-30T21:26:00.001-08:00

Today is an amazing day! Chris and I decided today that we are going to pursue adopting a baby girl from Guatemala. Let me show you how we came to this decision:

On Sunday, December 4, 2005, I sat in the "beautiful room" at College Park. It was raining and somewhat stormy that night. Our church Christmas Caroling event had been cancelled for the night due to weather. The last few visitors were exiting the "beautiful room" after Danielle and Seth's wedding shower. I sat with my two friends, Melissa and Angie, and we had a long talk about my options for parenthood.

The conversation moved toward adoption. Adoption is and always has been close to my heart. Chris and I knew from the start that we want to adopt one or more children, but we thought it would take place after we had a couple of kids biologically.

The event mentioned above brings us to a series of circumstances--rejecting the choice of fertility drugs, attending an adoption seminar, making the decision to adopt internationally--all leading us to our current state of pre-parenthood.

Baby, today I pray that God will allow you to experience his peace and grace each day of your life. You have been chosen, even though you may not yet be born. You have been hand selected by God to complete our family, and we wait with great excitement for your arrival. Already we love you. Already we care about you. We look forward to the day we can make a home with you. As I wait with patience, little girl, I grow in anticipation. When I look into your eyes, I know I will see Jesus. Oh, little child of God, be at peace tonight. Love, your forever mommy.

Wrap my baby in peace today.

2005-12-30T21:21:00.000-08:00

There is a song in my heart today. The song is melodious and soft, loud and beautiful. Today I am envisioning what it will be like when I step outside of my Guatemalan hotel room and run to meet my baby halfway down the hall, before they can ever knock on my door because the excitement is so incredibly exciting, and one of those moments when my feet can't stay
still any longer. My baby is sweet, and chubby, and beautiful, and when I look into her eyes, the living God looks back at me.

I have had one moment in my life that I draw from to imagine what moving experience will be like...the day I met Princess Zulu, my heart felt more real than ever--pain, beauty, truth, suffering, compassion, joy, all of them, all at once, were, for the first time, evident to me--and when they say that Jesus felt all things when he was dying on the cross, that's what it felt like. I didn't even know it was possible until that day, but for a brief moment, less than one minute, eternity invaded my person and my soul danced with God (inclusive). I can compare to innocence--I am no longer a virgin because I have experienced too much at too deep a level; once touched so deeply, I will never be the same and I can never go back. Now Christ's compassion motivates my life.

Wow, somehow, I love a baby that I have never met before. I only can do this because I have myself been touched by the love of God. God's love is unmistakable, undeniable, and unforgettable.

Little bambino, today I feel an awesome love for you. You have already touched and changed my life. I no longer live for my self, but for something greater...my life continues so that your life may flourish. I can't wait until the day I hold you in my arms, and our souls mingle one with another. We will dance together, sing together, laugh together, cry together, and live...together, my beautiful little baby. May the peace of God never leave you alone. Love, your mommy.

Wrap my baby in peace today.

- Holly

Need we say more?

2005-12-30T21:16:00.000-08:00

Just for the record, none of the children pictured are ours, but ours will be just as cute!

Our Adoption Blog is Here!

2005-12-30T20:53:00.000-08:00

Let the journey begin! It’s official…we’re adopting! This is the blog that will facilitate our journey through the process. This is the “background” entry. Holly will be contributing to this blog as well, and being that she has an M.A. in English, you will be able to easily differentiate between our entries. We have thought about adoption for some time now, but have decided to take the plunge. We are applying for an adoption of an infant baby girl from Guatemala. We are so excited. It is amazing; once we started talking about adoption we were introduced to so many other people that have either already adopted internationally or those who are in process. You will see in the next few entries that we had a couple of tough decisions right up front regarding from where we were going to adopt and what agency to use for the adoption process. We attended a seminar a couple of weeks ago in Birmingham that was sponsored by an agency called America World Adoption Agency. Holly and I were deeply moved after seeing the presentation. My initial reaction to the whole adoption process was less than perfect. I was always open to the idea of adoption, and even looked forward to it…someday. In the midst of all of this, I thought it would be nice to have a family while taking a child out of a poverty stricken situation. You can’t help but think that you could bring hope to an orphan’s life. However, in all of this, I was wrong. I see now that my family, our family, will not be complete without the adoption process. Sometimes we have moments of otherness, moments when we are so aware of the presence of God that we can truly understand what some call “the will of God.” Holly and I have had our lives open up in such a way that we have come face to face with God in the face of people around us. Even when looking at the pictures of the children in the orphanages in Guatemala and China, I have this feeling that I have a window into something that is sacred, something that is holy. I consider times such as these as sacramental. I refer to these moments as sacramental because of God’s grace that is experienced through such windows. Needless to say, Holly and I both consider this adoption an extension of our spiritual journey. Thanks for taking the time to begin the journey with us.