Custody Happenings

I'll start this post now, but I don't know if I will finish it in one sitting since I hear little feet coming up the stairs. "Arriba" is being said by HM to HG. :)

If you remember, we went to seek custody of HG on Friday. The judge said to come back on Monday for the custody papers. We returned on Monday, just to be told to return on Thursday for the paperwork. Well, we needed to go into the City on Wednesday and so we decided to take our chances and go by the Court first. The clerk met us in the hallway and told us that she did not call us to come and that tomorrow was our day. She stomped off upstairs and I looked at A (HA's mom) and told her that we should go down the hall to see the Judge ourselves. She agreed and so while the Clerk was missing in action, we were sneaky down the hall. The "secretary" said that we could see her in about 10 minutes. So, we stood around and then out came the Judge. She recognized A, almost like they were long lost friends. They spoke and Judge told A that she would have the papers ready in 10 minutes for us to go pick up HG! She said that we would need to return around 2 p.m. for some other paperwork, but the document she was going to provide in 10 minutes was enough for us to pick her up. Yippee!!! So, after getting the document, we headed to the orphanage. When we arrived, they were getting HG ready in a nice little dress. The orphanage staff prefers that I just wait in the entry way, not fully entering the building. When the nanny came out with HG, she told HG that her Mommy was there to pick her up. She just stopped and looked over in my direction. I spoke and her face lit up! She remembered me! She came to me immediately and allowed me to pick her up and hug her. We cuddled close and HV and HM were happy to see her. One of the nannies wanted to pick her up to say good bye and I asked to take their photo. The nanny agreed, but HG did not want to be picked up by her. A told her that it was just for the photo and that she was leaving with Mommy. She posed for a few pictures as long as I was close by.

We all shed some tears (well, not everyone but me and the nannies that have cared for her for the last year) and away we went.

Here's the girls have their first snack together, fruit gummies!

We had lunch at McDonald's (for those of you that know me, you know I don't eat here but I've eaten here 2 times in the last week!). HG is a patita (french fry) lover! She'll fit right in at our house, right? We did have to take the fries away from her, telling her that she had to eat some of her quesoburgesa (cheese burger) before she could have more patitas. She then figured she could dip her burger in the ketchup and thought that was rather funny. After the burger and the fries were gone, she then proceeded to just lick the ketchup. We stopped that, of course. We then headed back to the Court where we waited for 2 hours for the paperwork to be issued. They finally called my name and so I went up to the window to sign a paper. My name was misspelled. I was fearing a long delay in fixing that, but the guy smiled and said, "We can do this fast!" and he reprinted the sheet. I signed and we were set. Now, in my petition for custody, I asked for the hogar to maintain the legal custody (called the tutela here) and that I was simply responsible for the care. Well, the judge actually revoked the tutela from the orphanage and gave it to me. While this is great, it is now even more imperative that the process go smoothly and quickly because I cannot take her back to the hogar. I know that God will provide but the human side of me gets nervous and fearful about these things. Anyway, I asked the Judge if we could take a photo with her even though cameras weren't allowed past the security on the floor below. She said sure and so here we all are! A is in the blue jacket and the Judge is in the pink blouse. You know everyone else.

A few closing thoughts from yesterday:

1. In our excitement to get to the City and potentially pick up HG, we forgot to plan for diapers (HG is not potty trained at all--I'll start on it in a few days). After she was in the car, I looked at A and said, "Oh no! We don't have any diapers or wipes!" We laughed because A has like 2 cases of diapers at her house but yet we brought none. A quick trip to Paiz (WalMart) fixed that. Thank goodness too because we had to use one and LOTS of wipes when we returned to the Court for the final paperwork.

2. I FIRMLY believe that we would not have received the paperwork we did had A not been seen by the Judge. We've been referring to her as "abuelita" (Grandmother). HV said, "Man! We should have made you come back here to the Judge's office before now!" It was rather humorous. What's even funnier is that A doesn't really know the Judge. She said that she has seen her around town but she wasn't even sure of her name. She said that she could easily pretend to know her if it helped us with HG's case! We laughed about that all afternoon.

3. Guatemala traffic is worse than traffic in the DFW area. It can take 2 hours to travel 25 miles.

4. HG is babbling a TON more than she did in January. I know that she believes she is saying something because she says the same thing over and over to me. I, however, have no idea what she is saying. She does repeat what you say alot. We're taking it easy today but I'll begin working with her more tomorrow. She does remember some of the signs that we taught her in January. I was quite impressed with that.

5. HV and HM have been great. Sitting in a lobby on a wooden bench for 2 hours is no fun. Today, I plan to take them swimming. We did this the other day too (the day with no internet access) and so I'll post pictures later.

6. HG seems healthy overall. I think she is used to drinking more milk/formula (I'm not sure what she typically drinks, honestly) than she is eating food. She'll try most things but still drinks her milk from a pacha (bottle). I'm fine with that because it forces eye contact and closeness because I don't allow her to hold the bottle. I hold her and the bottle while she drinks.

7. I asked her for a hug this morning and she gave me one. It's a step.

8. She doesn't like to be too far away from me or the girls. She tends to follow HM more. Perhaps it's because they spent time together before. Perhaps it's because HM is just only 3/4 head taller than HG. Who knows. Right now, their watching another Scooby video on my bed.

9. HG needs a haircut--bad! We're going to see if we can take care of that this afternoon on the way to the pool. I don't think it's been cut since I had it done in January.

10. I can't believe that all 3 of my girls are here in the apartment with me!

Prayer Requests:

1. Please pray that HG's mom, M, will not cancel any appointments. It is imperative that things run smoothly from here on out so that we can return home asap.

2. Pray for the Judges and Court officials, that they will have HG's best interest in mind in their processing of her case. Being home in TX where she can receive the medical attention and intervention that she needs is rather important.

3. Pray for us as we transition into our new family unit. There is, of course, a little jealousy between the girls. HG needs a lot of attention. She is always on me or one of the girls. HV and HM are being very tolerant and helpful, but I imagine that the "honeymoon" will end before too long.

Thank you, dear friends, for your support. We appreciate it more than you know.