Home Sweet Home

I think most of you know this by now, but we arrived home in TX with HG one week ago today! What a difference a week has made! We're all still settling in, of course, but little by little, we will get there! We were in Guatemala for 3 weeks, missing Thanksgiving with the family (HV and K were the travelers with HM and J staying home).

Here's a photo of all 3 girls together tonight!

HV, HM, and HG

Sweet Photo

August 2010 trip, on the train with HG at the Guatemala Zoo

3 years for #3!

Well, it is official: HG is now part of our family! The PGN/Attorney General's Office has approved the case and the US Embassy did indeed issue THE document we waited 13 months to obtain! It's been a LONG 3 years and we are SO ready to have her home, as you all know. The wrap up steps are already underway. I don't have an exact "time of arrival" for her, but my guesstimate is before the end of the year! I'm hopeful to have her home by Thanksgiving, but that might be wishful thinking! Wouldn't that be a GREAT Thanksgiving Day to have all THREE DAUGHTERS at the same table on such a day? Oh my! I'll keep you posted as some of the major milestones are achieved!
As you can see, we have updated our "Chip In" widget to the right here. In humility, again, we are in a position of needing help with our fees. If you've been around for a while, you know that we have had to pay, pay, pay during this journey, spending about 6 times the amount we expected to spend on this adoption. We've wiped out our savings account, sold what we can sell, borrowed where we can borrow, and we're still short. The amount requested on the "Chip In" is just a minimum to what we can expect to pay. In other words, I know it will be at least the $5500. If you are so inclined to help with HG's fees, thank you for your generosity. We appreciate it.
If you are new to our blog or story, please feel free to go back and read more about us. In a nutshell, we began the adoption of HG in Fall 2007 when she was almost 3 years old. Our adoption of her is not about us having 3 children but about following God's call to our family. HG has many developmental delays and special needs--she is developmentally only about 2 1/2 years old even though she will be 6 years old in January 2011. She has extreme vision issues (she's technically legally blind) and we believe that many of her developmental delays stem from the fact that she has such poor vision. She began walking at 3 1/2 years of age and while she does have good comprehension (in Spanish), she speaks only in single words, not sentences. We definitely will have our work cut out for us but we are EAGER for this part of the challenge and journey with HG to begin.

Baby Steps

I know I'm being pretty quiet here, but we are making some baby steps with HG's case. Not big steps, but baby steps. I don't care. I'll take forward movement any time over sitting still or lateral movement. I hope to post BIG news soon!

paper update and one step forward

Well, I did get news this week regarding the paper we need. While it wasn't THE news I wanted, it could be worse. And so, we are off working on getting yet another paper. Yep, give one paper, get one paper. Yesterday, we took one step forward in getting the paper we need. Well, maybe it was two steps. BUT, we're on our way, I believe. Thank you, Lord, for your hand in this all.

this week?

Lord, let this be the week that we get news from USC*S.

The Paper and Prayers

Thank you for your prayers and encouraging words this week. I do not know if anyone will "come back" to the blog that visited it during Linny's Crazy Love Prayer day, but if you do, welcome back!
We are still waiting for the paper that we need for HG's adoption. We received word on Thursday afternoon that there would be a meeting on Friday (yesterday) morning to review the decision. Late yesterday/Friday afternoon, I emailed my contact, asking him if there was an update. He said that they were going to need to meet again on Monday and that he would keep me posted. Please continue to pray for this group of people making the decision on HG's visa. It will be a long weekend, but I hope and pray that we have POSITIVE result when this is all done.
A funny thing about fasting: I did fast on Wednesday during the day, praying more than normal. When I would feel a bit of hunger, I would pray. God would take care of my hunger and I would continue on my day. I did eat dinner with my family and I told them of my day of fasting and prayer. I explained fasting to HM and HV and why I did that. Fast forward to yesterday/Friday. We were at the pediatrician's officefor "sick visits" for both girls. The pediatrician said that we should do a blood screen on HV and that she would need to fast. Her eyes got as big as saucers and she shook her head. She thought she would need to fast all day like I did! I laughed and explained to the dr. that I had fasted and prayed this week and so HV thought she would have to do it all. She got a laugh about that too. No, HV. You only have to fast 8:30 p.m. until 8:30 a.m. the next morning. No biggie! That silly girl.