No News Yet!

OK, so I caved. I broke down and called PGN this morning. Laura told me that we are still with the second reviewer. I was really afraid she was going to say we had a previo on such 'n such a date, but that wasn't the case. That doesn't mean we can't still receive a previo, but at least we haven't received one in this first five weeks of reviewing (a good sign I hope).

You all will feel the earth shaking from me jumping for joy when we get the call.

Keep the prayers coming!

Just a little picture of Maria in her "Angelina Ballerina" outfit she got in her Easter basket. She's doing a releve'.

Happy Easter

We certainly had a wonderful Easter, with one exception........the weather!

I think we had more snow for Easter than we did for Christmas this year.

Not exactly my idea of ushering in Spring!

Church service was great with a

packed sanctuary. I must have been extra nervous. I went up to sing with

our Praise Team without my mic. (just a bit embarrassing). I had to walk back to the back of the stage and retrieve my mic and rejoin the team during the first song. Then as I was singing my heart out, I looked up at the sound booth and saw my brother giving me the "TURN ON YOUR MIC" sign. I guess I was a tad flustered.

After that, all went well. The family all came to our house and enjoyed

a yummy brunch. That was followed by a

freezing cold Easter egg hunt (in between snow

showers) but the kids didn't seem to mind.

All in all, it was a fantastic day!

There is no adoption news yet. I'm praying this is our week!

I do have to give a big Praise the Lord for a blogging buddy"Susie" who finally received her

Mixco birth certificate after nearly two months of

waiting.......WOO HOOO!!!!! Her strength and

her faith are just amazing! I'm so happy for

her and her family!

This process is not for the faint of heart, but
by the grace of God, we'll get through it.

New Measurements

Our little sweetie is growing fast.

We received updated measurements

from her Feb. Dr. visit:

15 pounds, 14 ounces

25 and 1/2" long

Maybe I should refer to her as

our "big sweetie"

Wonderful Day!

Today was our first attempt at a Guatemala Families get together. We have a group of families in our area who have adopted children from Guatemala and wanted to make an effort to get the kids together. My hope is to give the kids a chance to bond. I would love for them to share their commonalities of adoption and their heritage and strengthen each other as they grow. I also thought we as parents could discuss issues that we may or may not have in common with our children. Due to schedule conflicts today's group was the usual; Me and Maria and my good friend Lisa and her sweet daughter Ella. Lisa and I have been getting together every month or so for quite some time. I think after seeing Maria and Ella together today, they very well could be the new up and coming "Dynamic Duo". They are so much alike, you would swear they were sisters. It's really crazy how similar they are. Their biggest difference is their appetites. I think Ella would eat anything you put on a plate in front of her while Maria looks at it, smells it, thinks about it, and then says "I don't want this" usually followed by "it's not good" or "I don't like it".

The two girls are such a joy to watch. They've an endless supply of energy that keeps their "old mammas" hoppin'.

Here's to the next get together. Hoping we see some new faces.

Maria actually shared some of her toys!

They both enjoyed coloring.... ......and climbing, swinging and sliding.

And what beautiful almost Spring day isn't complete without bubbles!

It was simply a wonderful day!

Long Week

This has unfortunately been a terribly long week for me. Usually when I start feeling like this, something good happens. That's "usually", but I know better than to count on that. I don't think there have been any PGN outs this week from our agency. It's much easier for me to deal with the wait if there are others who are getting good news. There have been several families who received PA. That wait time seems to be getting shorter, but PGN seems to be at a stand still this week. Tomorrow marks three weeks since we were resubmitted. Unless there are a bunch of approvals tomorrow, I don't look for us to receive ours. There are several families who were submitted before we were who haven't received approval yet so I'm afraid we still have a wait ahead of us. I was, and still am, hoping to get approval before PGN's Holiday shutdown. I'm not sure what days they actually close for Holy Week but probably at least Friday through Monday.

On the brighter side, today I rented a carpet cleaner and cleaned carpets so at least I didn't sit around and sulk all day. Mark got to get out and ride his bike. It was a beautiful day until the rain started, which he got caught in. Only for about the last fifteen minutes of his ride but 60 miles an hour with rain hitting you in the face and temps around 50 doesn't make for a very comfortable final fifteen minutes.

OK, I'm going to end my pity party and try to focus on my blessings instead of the lack of progress in our case. I do have so much to be thankful for!

(But I really want my baby home.........she's one of my blessings!)

Please continue to pray!

Still Waiting

Well today marks two weeks since we were resubmitted to PGN. It took everything I had in me not to call Laura at PGN this morning and check on our case. I told myself that I wouldn't call anymore since the information she gives isn't always reliable. I would rather hear the news from our agency and know that it is accurate. Now, if next Friday rolls around and we still haven't heard any news, I may break down and call.
We have had so many families with our agency receive good news this week! The process seems to be moving very smoothly for a lot of cases right now. We could be very close to approval and then again, we could be waiting quite some time yet.
Mark finished painting the room yesterday. I love it! I'll post some pictures when it starts taking shape. There's still lots to do.
For now, just continue to keep us in your prayers. I've done pretty well this first two weeks although I did jump a couple of times today when the cell phone rang (hoping it was "the call")

You know it just can't come soon enough!

Happy Birthday Maria!

It's hard to believe that our little Maria is 4 years old! She was just sooo excited about everyone coming over to celebrate her birthday. We had to have "pink" cake with "pink" icing and Dora on the top. We always celebrate birthdays with just family, but as big as our family is, that makes for one big party! She was showered with gifts which she loved, but I think what she enjoyed the most was playing outside with her cousins. It was such a beautiful day; 69 and sunny. We couldn't have asked for anything better.

Happy Birthday Sweet Baby!