Fav Foto Fri (5-15)

Today's Theme is:

Fun in the Sun!

The 5 of us at Tabyana Beach in Roatan, Honduras!

The boys loving 7 Mile Beach on Grand Cayman Island!

Taking a break in Cozumel, Mexico!

Everything is new again...

Well... we are trying to settle into our "new" normal.

Lady L has met her Grandparents, been to McD's, met a few of my friends, and went to her first Union election! She has also gone to our 3 fav restaurants, met our fav waitresses, and gone swinging on the swingset. She loved the swing btw! She even fell asleep in it! For 5 min of course! Then she was up with no problem. In fact, as I'm typing this, she is playing with a stuffed animal, talking with it, while sitting on my lap. It's a beautiful thing!

With the fiasco going on in pgn right now... wow... I mean I knew we were going to be incredibly blessed to even get her home. I knew we would be incredibly blessed if we had her home before her first birthday. Now though... we have her home at 9 months old... while everyone elses cases are almost completely stopped as they wait in the limbo of pgn. It makes me sick. That could have been us. After all... F's case took 9 long months in pgn... we have been there. It was horrible...but we kept the hope that we would be out one day. Now... there are interviews, hogar's being raided, and just a lot of junk going on.... how does one process all of it????

I have friends who have been waiting YEARS for their children.... now they have to wait through this.... Ya cant give up.... but wow does it sound like a good idea some days.... The whole process of working with two governments who sometimes conflict is just a difficult task. Guatemala is a sovereign nation as is the US. Is it right to ask the US to intervene in the pgn??? I dont know... I do know that the US pushed and threatened Guatemala to pass this impossible law in the first place... and now.... hands off... well why weren't they hands off in the first place???? Would their intervention even help?? I have done research into the US government and the occupations of Central America. I know what has been done. I'm not sure I trust my government to intervene.

It's a big mess.... and it is dealing with the lives of children.... children just like the little angel who is sittin on my lap talking to me. The problems of the world melt away when she smiles at me. It's the same with my boys.... I get a hug or a "I love you mommy" and everything is right in the world.

I will continue to pray for those still in process. I pray that everyone will be reunited with the children they are trying to adopt. I pray that the Guatemalan government will finish their business in a quick and fair fashion and that they respect the moms and the children they are dealing with.

Children deserve a loving home in a timely fashion.

Home! Exhausted! Happy!

Happy Mother's Day!!!

We are home! We arrived home late on Thursday night and we even had a little gathering at the airport waiting for us!!!!!! (Thanks!!!!)

Our last couple of days in Guatemala were great but bittersweet.

We got to spend a ton of time with our kid's foster families (yes... all 4 of them!) but, I still wonder about the kids left behind... and how fortunate we have been....all of the foster moms are struggling since they now have no children to foster. I want so badly to help...but I know that financially we are not in a place to... nor do I think that they would want that anyways... I just know that it pains them to put so much love into a child, have that child leave, and not see them again...but that it pains them more knowing there are children out there that may not ever grow up with a family...

It will be a year at least till we can go back to GC...mainly due to $$$ and law school...but we will go back as soon as we can.

Embassy went very smooth. E's Godmother watched the boys for us and we were back to the hotel around 9am!

Visa pickup went smooth...and Wed night we had a huge dinner for our lady's foster family.

It ended with a lot of hugs and kisses...and we got the kids off to bed and packed everything up.

The kids did pretty well on the flights home minus our little tude, F. He is having a few jealously issues over not being the baby anymore and he chose to take them out on us at 35,000 feet. Minus that, and the a$$hole sitting in front of us from Houston to home. (yes, YOU, you old, fat, drunken *bleep* *bleep*) our flights were pretty uneventful! This is the FIRST time we have flown and NOT had diarrhea!!! (sorry bout the tmi...but I'm pretty excited!)

So... we have been home since late Thursday night... and Sunday night is the first night I can update this blog.... my Mother's day present from our little lady has been a couple hours of sleep!!! Which of course I'm using to be online....

We do have a perfect little girl. She eats well, is generally happy, doesnt fuss, goes with the flow, prefers me (yea!), tolerates her brothers, and does sleep. I will explain the sleep part though... she does NOT take naps. Seriously. She just doesnt take a nap. Foster mom told us she will take 2-3 catnaps of 5-10 min each and that is it. Unfortunately, it turns out that I think she was telling us the truth. At night, she needs me to sleep. Which leaves me with 0, and that is a big ole fat ZERO, free time. Granted... I have three toddler boys...but dang... they take a 3 hour nap in the afternoon... and at night, we throw them in bed and they stay there till morning.

Talk about a shock to my system!!!! I wouldnt even mind the evening cuddling to sleep as much if I had some time during the day to so something for me. I dont mind her needing me to sleep. I dont mind at all....and I kinda expected it... and I kinda like it. But... I need some decompression time.

She is very much still a baby also. She holds her head up, she can sit up, roll from back to stomach (but not back again), and is trying to crawl. She eats stage 2 baby food (and eats like a flipping champ!!!), drinks 6-8 pachas a day, hates her diaper changes but loves her bath. I have found some of her tickle spots and she has found she can make my nose bleed with a swift headbutt. She is difficult to dress...but very cute once the clothes make it on.

Being used to walking, self feeding, toddlers... it is quite a shock to go back to little tiny spoons with nasty smelling, tiny little jars, of mush that needs to be put into an ever moving mouth!

Yea for self feeding!!!!!

Really though... we are truly blessed to be able to see some of her babyhood. I dont take that for granted for one single minute. Missing two 1st birthdays was just too damm hard. Now, I get to plan for her party!

This Mother's day weekend I have so much to be thankful for!

It's a Wonderful Life

Well we have settled in well at the Grand Tikal Futura!!!

We have a wonderful suite with a regular room attached. The boys are currently taking a nap in the extra room while Lady L is sitting in between her dad and myself trying to help me type.
Our little lady is an absolut joy!!!! She is happy all day long! She sleeps great! She eats great! She enjoys her brothers and her brothers seem to enjoy the novelty of her! She is really a momma's girl right now which is a very nice problem to have!

we have been to Antigua and all over around the hotel. E's padrino and his family came and spent the day with us yesterday! We had a wonderful time....and the boys made some new friends! I swear that E and C are cut from the same fabric. You cant belive how much alike these boys are. C is 7 years old and E is 3.... but wow....they are so much alike! Everyone had a great time at the pool... even our little lady! She LOVES the water!!!!!!! I even had her in the baby float.... her little arms and legs going 100mph.... splashing herself in the face and laughing.

Right now... daddy is feeding her Doritos! Uh oh!!! Another Dorito addict in our family!

We go to the embassy tomorrow for our appointment!!! 7:15 and we are #3!!!!!! Sooo excited!!!! She has a very pretty dress for tomorrow! Cant belive I'm actually dressing her up! Who would have thunk it????
Still need to dump our pics.... it's just soo busy trying to schedule everyone and entertain 3 toddlers boys all day!!!!!!!

Wouldnt have it any other way!

We are here!!!!

Wow!
I'm actually typing at the computer... listening to the disco...and NOT hearing any crying!!!!!!!!!!

We are in Guatemala City and we are officially a family of S-I-X!!!!!!!!!!!

Our little lady was brought to us last night, right on time (yes...shocker)! We barely had any time to un pack or get anything arranged....but we did have time to take a dip in the completely cold and dirty pool.

Her foster mom and her son stayed to have dinner with us...and then they went home around 9pm. It was very difficult to get them home though!!!! We told them we would get them a cab...since it is like 3 hours to get home by bus. The hotel called a special cab (cuz of where they live) and it took him 20 min to get here.... so he gets here... we say our good buys and such...and I go down to see them off and pay for the cab. Well he doesnt go to their part of town... So.... the son starts to flag down cabs... Nope, Nope, too far... the guy at the steak house calls a cab... we wait for him... yea... too far for him also.... so... finally, and HOUR later.... the steakhouse guy's friend shows up and He will take them home!!!! I knew the foster mom was going to have a difficult time... her other foster daughter had left the previous Sat... and now she was going home to a childless house.... She did hand her over though.... little lady looked quite perterbed.... but, she didnt start crying till she got back in our room.... then she let loose till 5am. Took an hour nap...and started all over again till 9am. Perfectly normal, perfectly expected, perfectly heartbreaking. What do you say to your new child whos life you have just completely turned around???? All I kept saying is: sorry... sorry.... sorry. Maybe not the most elequont words ever spoken....but certainly the truth.

She is NOW sleeping though!!!!!! E is with W his Godmother, while K and F are both also sleeping. All of our previous foster moms were here today! Talk about a busy day! When our neighbors called them earlier in the week...we asked them to tell the foster moms to CALL us on Thursday... somewhere in the translations though it ended up. COME FOR LUNCH... ON THURSDAY. So... where you may ask do you take a group of about 20 people, 4 of whom are children??? Of course... to the Golden Arches!!!! That's right! McD's.... the kids played their hearts out.... which is why they are sleeping now.... so no... I'm not complaining.

We are moving hotels tomorrow. This hotel is really nice. Nothing hugely wrong with it....but not really appropriate for 4 kids. Now... I understand that short of Disney (YUCK!) there are NOT very many hotels that are appropriate for 4 under 4....but still... this one is decorated in antiques... Not replicated antiques... REAL and expensive ones! The hotel does have a pool... but even I thought the pool was absolutly freezing...and in dire needs of a cleaning. We are also lacking AC.... now... being from a cold climate and craving the cold weather.... this is horrible for me. However, even dh, sun-lover, thinks it is too damm hot in the room. I am sitting here sweating while I type.... not a good thing!!!!
So...tomorrow, we are moving hotels on our way to Antigua. Gonna do some shopping, some walking, and then come back and do some swimming!

I have been trying to post pics...but some reason I cannot attach them right now.... I will try tomorrow!!!!!!