My dog ate my homework

My sister is a teacher. I have friends that are teachers. I've even thought about being a teacher. One excuse, however, that we have all heard, even if just in a joke, is "My dog ate my homework." We all blow it off as a lame excuse, right? Well, that's what happened today in Guatemala. Today was the day we were supposed to get the certified copies we NEED in order to process. We've been waiting for the right day for the last 2 weeks, I think. Well, the translator went to pick things up today and guess what? No copies. Why? Well, the copier is out of toner. You know, "My dog ate my homework." No toner? Of course, there are multiple storieslevels and multiple courts in this one building but no, a copier on another floor or court could not be used. We suggested that the translator just go out and purchase the toner cartridge herself (we would pay her back, of course). She said she had already proposed that to the clerk but the clerk and judge said that they didn't want to be accused of accepting a bribe and so they couldn't do that. So, the ink cartridge is supposed to arrive tomorrow morning. It was also supposed to be there today too. Again, I won't be holding my breath for those copies. I'm glad I didn't start holding it yesterday. I'd be dead by now....

Today, I asked HV to help me snap a photo of the two dogs together for the Christmas card. Here's what she captured in the first attempt

As I uploaded this photo from my camera, it really reminded me of today's happenings in Guatemala. The camera and the operator were just a little slow, not capturing the intended subject of the photo. Instead, we got a blurry of the grass, nothing else. Just the same ol' grass. And just like this photo, tomorrow J and I will try again to capture a decent photo of the dogs together for the card and the translator will return to court, again, to attempt to obtain those copies. Oh my!

Baby Jesus

I hope you all had a good Thanksgiving. Our day was full of food, family, and fun. I did brave the crowd at WalMart on Friday morning, leaving the house at 4:30 a.m. I got some good things for the girls and we are about done with our shopping, thank goodness. Saturday was a day of work outside in the yard before the coldness arrived late this afternoon. We have about 10 large black trashbags of clippings from the yard which required everyone, large and small, help with the work. Hooper and Hershey, of course, did their fair share of "cutting" up limbs with their teeth and Hooper was FILTHY after the afternoon of work. I gave him a bath and he, naturally, thought I was trying to kill him. When will he learn? He did allow me to brush his teeth a bit more today so that was good. After his bath, I wrapped him up in a towel so only his little face was showing. I carried him into the house and asked HV and HM if they wanted to see my "baby." They laughed and said he was Baby Jesus. So, here's baby Jesus for you. HV took the picture, looking over my shoulder at the baby.

We didn't get the papers we were anticipating on Thanksgiving Day. We actually knew before Thanksgiving day that we weren't going to get them. We are supposed to get them tomorrow. Since we've been told that for the last two weeks, I won't be holding my breath until we get them. I don't know that I can hold it that long.

Blessings

Happy Thanksgiving! I know that we have a TON to be thankful for even though HG is not home yet. We have each other. We have our health. We are thankful that HG is living with a sweet, sweet family instead of in an institution. We have freedom. We have a roof over our heads and an abundance of food. We have jobs. We have God's saving grace and peace. Oh my. Where would we be without God's saving grace and peace? I don't even want to think about that....

So, Happy Thanksgiving from us all!

Wrap Up from Last Week

It's hard to believe that Thanksgiving is this week. I love Thanksgiving. I love the food. I love the preparations for Christmas. I was oh so hoping that HG would be home for Christmas, but I don't know. I KNOW that God can do anything. He CAN move mountains. He CAN move the Guatemalan government (and the US Embassy). I will pray it. Will you pray it with me?

We still don't have THE papers that we need. We are close, oh so close. The last notification was done on Friday, thanks to some very diligent work by one person in Guatemala. Now, we have to wait until Thursday, yep Thanksgiving Day, to get the certified copies. Then, we will be able to present them to the PGN/Attorney General's office and to the US Embassy. If they will hold up on their previous agreements to process our case quickly, we should be done the next week (the week after Thanksgiving or first week of December). Yes, it COULD be that simple. Will it? I don't know. I will pray for it to happen that way. Then, there are some wrap up steps and then we bring our "baby" home! Can you imagine? Our THREE girls under one roof--sisters forever! I'm ready. We're all ready.

Meet Hooper

Well, we've had Hooper now for almost 2 weeks and I'm just now posting about him. Why? He's a mess! Boy, it's been a long time since we've had a puppy. About 5 years to be exact. Hooper was born September 10 and we picked him up on November 7. The first few nights were rough. Very little sleep by everyone in the house. After moving his crate into the bedroom, it has been MUCH better. He typically sleeps through the night now--thank goodness. He loves to play with Hershey and she has been very tolerant with him. Again, thank goodness. We're getting used to another H name in the house but having a "boy" in the house has been a hard adjustment. We call him "her" most of the time, forgetting that he is a she. Confused? He probably is.

Here's Hooper on his 1st day at our home.

Hooper's dad. Hooper's markings are very similar to his dad's.

Hooper's mom with Hooper, trying to nurse for one last time.

And here's Hooper, up to his normal antics here at home. I'm loading the dishwasher and he jumps in. He's carefully watching J's house slippers because he likes to attack those too.

I'll have to keep trying to get a picture of his eyes. His eye with just the tan around it is blue. His other eye is what they call "amber" but it is basically like a light brown. I don't know how remove the red eye you see here.

Of course, we had to make a trip to PetSmart to buy Hooper a few things. His favorite toy, however, isn't something we bought there. Watch the video below and you'll see him in action with it. You might be able to see his neat eyes in the video too. If we could all have this same energy....

Stethoscope

I don't know who created this, but I like it.

Hoy

Hoy yo tengo no papeles. Yo estoy triste. Ahora "la nueva manana" es lunes. Yo espero. O Dios, yo espero. Sabré más información el viernes. Yo estoy rogando.

No papeles

Well, I guess today wasn't the right "tomorrow." Maybe tomorrow?
Please pray for us. We're struggling with this all. IF there was a good or decent reason for the delays, that would be one thing. But, we have done what they have asked--return tomorrow/Monday--and nada. :( My heart is sad.
I talked to HG on the phone last night. She greeted me with "Hi, Mommy!" Yep. Mommy. Remember it used to be "Nee Nee." Now, I'm Mommy. Just a little more heart break for me.
Going to bed with my tail between my legs, just like our puppy which I haven't been able to tell you much about.

The new tomorrow?

Well, the word from down south is that Monday will be new tomorrow. Supposedly, we will be able to get the documents we need on Monday. There's a part of me that wants to believe it, but I guess I've "been there, done that" before and it was the wrong Monday. So, please pray that Monday IS indeed the day we can get our paperwork.
Have a good weekend! I'm going to try and introduce our other new family member over the weekend. Think fur. Think 4 legs. Think little cutie pie.

Still NO Green Flag

boo! As of Tuesday afternoon, the document still hasn't been signed. The judge didn't work on Monday--her mom had some sort of medical emergency. While I am deeply sorry about her mom (and I will pray for her healing), if she had signed the document last week, we would have been out of her hair! Every day, the answer is "maybe tomorrow." Which tomorrow? My patience is growing thin....

Where's the GREEN flag?

I feel like we are going round and round--like with a car/NASCAR race. The caution flag as been raised and everyone is going around, being careful because something has gone on. WHEN are they going to wave the green flag? I posted about the caution flag about 2 weeks ago, remember? Well, since then, the return receipt has been received. We thought we were then "home free" and that the green flag was back out. Nope. Nada. Zilch. I have now learned that the Judge has to review the thing again, making sure that everything is set with it and then she has to sign it. After that, we can get the certified copies we need. Now, you must remember that the Judge has had this document for the last 30+ calendar days. She knows what it says. She doesn't need any more time to review it. She's already done that. So, sign the darned thing, would ya? J and I were quite disgusted last night when we found out. We were hoping that we were going to receive the certified copies yesterday only to find out that we have to wait. wait. wait. again. again. again. J said, "You know. The average person would not believe that we are waiting for the Judge to review and sign a piece of paper that she has had for 30+ days. It just doesn't make sense to any rational person." She's right. It doesn't. The translator is going to try and get news on this on Monday. Please pray. Please pray for the Judge's heart to be softened and for her hand to be ready to SIGN the thing on Monday so that we can get this going. The cases for 6 children will be able to get the green flag as soon as we can get the paperwork. I know that 6 kids isn't very many in the world, but when one of them is YOUR kid, it's huge. No green flag until we can get this paperwork. So, we keep going round and round. Round and round. I'm ready for this ride to stop. I'm getting sick.

All Saints Day

Sunday was All Saints Day, a day to remember those that have had their homecoming with the Lord. After receiving communion, there is time to light a candle yourself, remembering those that had passed this year or just anyone that has passed away. We lit a candle for my dear Gramps. If I had to name one person that I felt was the most Godly man I know, it would be my Gramps. He loved the Lord. Oh, how he loved the Lord. He was always singing, humming, or whistling a hymn. Even at his ripe ol' age, he was teaching 4 year old Sunday School in the last few years of his life! Gramps loved me too. And J. And our girls. We shared a love for peanut butter and anything that contained peanut butter. I remember asking him questions as a kid about God, theology, and such. Once I remember asking him to walk down the street with me one evening when they came to visit. I don't know how old I was, but I know I wasn't in elementary school just yet. My little neighbor friend had told me that day that her grandfather was going to have to cut down our favorite tree because it was diseased, needing "more to eat." I had saved part of my dinner to take to the tree, thinking that I could save it with my food. Gramps allowed me to put my food at the base of the tree but also told me that he didn't think that it would "cure" the tree. I remember that we prayed for the tree through my tears. While the tree didn't make it, I felt ok with things because we tried. I remember driving to Tyler where he lived when I was in high school and college, taking along a friend or two. I would play the piano (and I think I sang once too) for his adult Sunday School class that he directed with Mamaw. Mamaw went to see the pearly gates of heaven in September 2001. After she passed, Gramps continued his "work" at his church, delivering meals for Meals on Wheels, and many of his normal activities he did with Mamaw, BUT Gramps then took up dancing too. It became quite the joke that little Baptist Grampsie was cutting a rug with the senior citizen ladies! I remember calling him one time on my way home from work and he told me that he only had a minute to talk because he had a church meeting from 5:30-7:30 p.m. and THEN he was going dancing. He had more of a social schedule than me! Gramps suffered a stroke in November 2007 and then he moved to our area to live in an assisted living home for the last 10 months of his life (May 2008-March 2009). While I told him of our pending adoption of HG, I don't know that he ever "got it." I would tell him about her during my visits with him, and he would just smile. Most of you know that I'm a big cry baby. I can cry at a commercial. When we went to Tyler to see Gramps after his stroke, we had helped him get settled back into his bed for an afternoon nap after his therapies. J and the girls had left the room for me to say my goodbyes that day. Oh, I'm not good at goodbyes either. I started to cry. I took his hand and told him that I was sorry for crying. He looked up at me, and in his typical Grampsie fashion told me that I should NEVER apologize for showing emotions. He said that God gave us the ability to feel as humans and that I should use it. He reminded me that even Jesus wept and that Jesus knew what it was like to feel since He came to earth as a human. For me. Gramps assured me that he was going to be alright and he would be a "good boy." (I always used to ask him if he was being a good boy and continued to tell him to be a good boy once he moved to our area). Boy, I know I'll remember that one forever. My sweet, handsome Grampsie. (Yes, I'm weeping as I am typing this.). That was probably my last glimpse of "the ol' Gramps." At least it was my most memorable moment of him in his later years. One other thing that Gramps told me 10 years ago that has had a lasting impression on me is God's love is big enough for everyone. If God can love me, then he could love me too. So true. So true.

I know if "the ol' Gramps," the pre-stroke Gramps, were here during this almost 2 year long adoption ordeal for HG, he would have provided me with such great counsel. He would have prayed for me. He would have prayed for us. He would have prayed for HG. I KNOW he can see us and he watches over HG. That selfish side of me, however, wishes he were here to meet her when she comes home.