Sorry it's been awhile

Sorry I haven't posted lately. I've been pretty sad that we still don't have our birth certificate, and to add to it they are adding a second DNA. I'm glad they are adding the second DNA, they just did it so fast that it's just hard to swallow however many more days. But on a great note, Brandon will be here today!!!! I'm so excited!!!! I haven't downloaded pictures from the camera, so I don't have any to post, but I will be posting some later after Brandon gets here!!! I'm so happy!!!

Izzie did it!!!

After saying it over and over she finally said mama!!!! I'm so excited. I got so excited I think I probably scared her. So she's officially Mommy's girl, and this is Daddy's face.


Just had to share. We about to head off to go swimming.

Praying for a BC Today!!!

Title says it all. I'm praying that we get her BC today. I'm not getting my hopes up about it though because this is the third time it's been promised to us. I'll let everyone know as soon as we hear something.

We had a pretty good day yesterday. It was kind of boring, but we still had fun. Izzie is such a happy, content baby. The only time she really cries is when I am trying to get her to go to sleep. Last night she was so tired, but she was not letting me rock her to sleep. So I just let her play. It was funny to watch her because she was trying to hard to keep herself awake. Finally, she laid her head down on the pillow and made the noise like you would if you were imitating a car trying to keep herself awake. After about 15 or 20 minutes of that, she was finally out. She also likes the camera. She will smile when I take it out, but then in the middle of me taking pictures she will come to me to grab it. We've had a blast. I can't wait to share her with everyone. She's so much fun!!! On with the pictures!!!!

I'm coming to get you, Mommy!!!

Not good news

Well, our agency finally called Brandon. We still don't have a birth certificate. I'm so bummed out. Apparently it takes longer than anticipated to get. Our facilitator apparently tried to bribe the registrar, and it didn't work. They said we should get it today or tomorrow and be submitted for pink on Tuesday. I'm not getting my hopes up at all. We are looking at at least another week down here. Ugh, I'm going to forget how to speak English soon. I have been carrying on so many Spanish conversations that I might have to relearn English. Anyway, that's the news. More later.

Calling all prayers, please!!!

First I want to thank EVERYONE for the prayers and support you've given our family through this process. We have felt the blanket of prayers that have surrounded us. I can feel them even now as I am separated from my family while I am down in Guatemala City, and I know God is watching over us.

Now, I'm just going crazy not knowing where things are at this point. We were told we would have a BC Friday. Monday our translator told us that a messenger was supposed to pick it up that day. Here it is Thursday, and we still don't know anything!!! We can't get a straight answer from our agency either. This is just driving me crazy!!! We should have already been submitted to the embassy for pink by now. Please pray we hear something soon.

I'm so excited that Brandon will be here Tuesday!!! It's going to be great!!! Izzie is still sleeping. She slept quite a bit yesterday, all night last night, and I don't know when she's going to get up. I guess I'm wearing her out!!! She's such an angel, and I thank God everyday for her. God has blessed me so much with Brandon, Caitlin, Mackenzie, Gabe, and now Isabella. I just can't thank God enough.

Here are a few pics from yesterday!!!

She likes to sleep in the strangest positions. She likes to sleep on her side and this way.
Just for Brandon, the storm picture taking guy, this was from out of the window last night.

Finally, here are some pictures of standing girl. These are kind of blurry since I while trying to take a picture and make sure my child didn't fall off a chair at the same time. I was feeding her bananas, and she was trying to get the Gerber puffs off the table. I'm telling you, she LOVES those things!!!

I hope you enjoy the pictures!!! I'll post more later on!!!! We love and miss everyone!!!!

Update from GC

We have been so busy. The internet went down again, so I haven't been able to get on for awhile. Yesterday at breakfast I gave her one of the banana Gerber puffs. She put is in her mouth and got a funny look on her face. Then after she chewed it up, she smiled. So I gave her another one, and she squealed so loud. She loves them!!! Brandon is going to have to bring more down. She's very talkative. She just babbles and babbles. Brandon is going to love this. I was trying to get her to say mama. She didn't. She said dada. But that's ok because I know she meant mama. I've also taught her how to clap. And she will put her blanket over her head until I say where's Isabella. Then she will move it and I'll say there she is. She laughs so hard. We also went swimming yesterday. She had a blast. She's going to love to be in the pool. She loves splashing. She is still very clingy, especially when we are around other people. She's getting better though. Here's some pics!!

These are her eating those biter biscuits by Gerber. She really made a mess with those.

She shares.

Caitlin Jr.

We had fun swimming.

Where's Isabella???
There she is!!!!
I'm so cute!!!

A brand new day!!!

Ok, so I'm praying after yesterday, this day will be better!!! I'll give you a run down on yesterday. This is going to be long, so I'll give you a minute to get something to snack on and drink. --------------------------------------------------- I hope you're back because I'm starting without you. Yesterday morning, Brandon was leaving for youth camp with the girls. I went up there to take my kittens to our friend who is catsitting for us. Well, I had to socialize and everything. I made up for it at the airport. The check in line was long, but went pretty fast. I got done in about 30 minutes. Then there was security. They took all of us through the scenic route. We had to walk all up and down the baggage claim, up and down lines, ugh it was crazy. I finally made it through there, got to the other end of the airport to my concourse, and made it just as they called to board my zone. Whew!!! The flight was great. We got to come in to the new part of the airport in Guatemala City. It's very nice. I breezed through immigration, got my bags, and found the guy waiting to take me to the hotel. When I got here, I told them I wanted wireless internet. I had to take my laptop to the business center. They got it working, so I closed it and came back up to my room. When I opened it to get on, it wasn't working again. So I had to go back down. Well, in the mean time it was 2:55, and I was supposed to get Izzie at 3:00. So I watched and watched and didn't see them. They guy working on my computer had to take it to the techs in the back. By this time it's 3:20, and I'm really worried about where they are. So, I tell the lady in the business center I'm going to run upstairs to make a call. I have our translators number, so I called her. She said there was a mix up with the email to our facilitator. So, they were going to be there at 4:30. So back downstairs I go to get my computer. They guy finally tells me that it's not going to be able to get on the internet. I was devastated. So I used their computer to send Brandon an email. When I got done and walked out, there she was!!! I just fell in love all over again!!! It wasn't the moment that I had hoped for because I was upset I had to communication, but she made it all ok. Then when I was talking to the foster mom, there was a small earthquake tremor. It was so small I didn't even know what it was until someone had told me. Later on I fooled around and got it to start working. PRAISE GOD!!!!! Anyway, we had a play session last night. She is sooooo much fun!!! I can't wait for you all to see her!!!!

Now, on to the good stuff. Here are some pictures!!! (This is going to be fun because blogspot is in Spanish)

In these she was playing with her teething ring. She loves that thing!!!!

These are of her sleeping this morning.

I will post more through out the day!!! I haven't been able to sign onto yahoo yet. It won't let me, and I'm scared to mess with the settings. I'll work on it though!!!

Izzie is ours FOREVER!!!!!

I finally have her. Boy this has been a crazy day!!! She is beautiful and huge!!! She has the 2 teeth on the bottom that were coming in March, plus 4 on top!!!!! She can blow besos (kisses) and can wave bye. Ever since we've been alone, she has clung on to me for dear life. I'm loving it even though I know what she's doing. I haven't taken many pictures yet, but I'll post some tomorrow. I think we're going to hit the sack. We just got done cleaning a blow out diaper. Fun, fun. Poor glow worm will never be the same again though...LOL. Thanks for all the prayers. This is WONDERFUL!!!! I still can't believe it. Oh, and keep praying for our paperwork. Our translator still doesn't know if we've got it all yet. Thanks again!!!! And Izzie says babababa (which is hi).

3 more days!!!

Only 3 more days until I leave to go see Izzie!!! I'm so excited. I have been doing a TON of laundry, packing, and babyproofing to get ready for Izzie to get here. Brandon's aunt and cousin are having a baby shower for us tomorrow night. I think it's going to be great. I am so blessed to be part of Brandon's family. They are also going to honor the girls tomorrow night, too, since Izzie will also be their baby sister. I think that's so great. My mom and grandmother will also be coming up tomorrow. They are going to stay the weekend and take me to the Atlanta airport on Monday. I am going to be so busy until we leave. I will try to post as much as possible, especially while we are in Guatemala. I will keep everyone posted!!!

Good news and bad news

Well, we got an email from our agency today about our birth certificate. The good news is that are birth certificate should be ready Friday, which puts us at Wednesday of next week to be submitted for pink. The bad news??? I was planning on this being done last week. I thought that we would be submitted for pink this week. So what does that mean for us? We will probably be down in Guatemala for an extra week. I really don't mind spending the extra week down in Guatemala with Izzie, but there is so much stuff going on back here that I am going to miss!!! I'm really upset about being gone and missing stuff, but there's nothing I can do. It's very inconvenient, but we'll get through it and keep going. I'm just happy because she's going to be coming home with us. Please play that God helps us through this time. Thanks!!!!

We're back!!!

We just got home tonight. We had a very fun trip. Our pastor did a great job, just as I knew he would. We had fun at the Braves game (they won!!!), and we also had fun at White Water today. I will post a few pictures later. I am too tired to tonight!!!

And I wanted to tell Brandon Happy Anniversary!!! I love you so much. These past 6 years have been the best of my life!!! Thank you for everything!!! Ok, it's bedtime now.

Youth trip!!!

We are preparing to go on our youth trip. It was supposed to involve camping on Cheaha, but it had to change since they had to no burn ban and the campgrounds were closed. Now we are headed to Atlanta to watch a Braves game tonight and White Water tomorrow. Plus Dr. Derek, our pastor, will be speaking to the youth, so I know that's going to be great!!! He is wonderful!!! I'm thankful for this trip because it should help this weekend go by quickly, and I may actually be able to think about something other than the adoption for a few minutes. I am hoping to hear something soon from our agency about our case moving forward again. I can't believe I'm going to be down there with her soon. I so can't wait.

Will we ever get done???

The closer the trip comes, the more things I think of that need to be done!!! I don't think I will ever get through. I will be leaving Friday to go on a youth trip. Friday we will leave at noon and head to Atlanta. We will go to the hotel, check in, have session with our pastor, then go to a Braves game. Saturday we will have a session, then head to White Water. I think it's going to be a wonderful trip for our youth. I love our pastor. He is so great with the kids. But before I go on the trip, I've got tons of cabinets to strip and other work to do!

And I just have to say, God has blessed us with some of the greatest friends ever!!! He is so good, and I am so thankful for that. I just wanted to share that, too!!!

It's Official!!!

I made plane and hotel reservations today. I will leave on July 23 at 10:14 EST headed down to get our baby girl. Brandon will be headed down the next week. It's going to be so great to see her again. I've got enough to do to keep me busy. I hope time flies by!!!!

Still cabinet stripping....YUCK!!!!

Brandon and I have been working on these cabinets for the past 2 days. We are getting closer to being done. I can't wait until this chore is DONE!!! I have been going through all the stuff to take down to Guatemala. I have to make sure I have everything I need with me, and that Brandon has everything here to do his stuff here. I hope everyone had a great weekend, and I hope to see a lot of movement in adoption cases this week!!!

Just got the "official" call!!!!

Our agency just called us to tell us we were out of PGN!!!! I kept thinking that after I heard from them it may seem more real. NOPE, that didn't help. I don't think it will feel real until I'm on a plane headed down there on July 23!!!!

Just wanted to say....

As I'm coming down off the high I've been on (and it still feels like I'm there), I just wanted to thank everyone for their prayers and support as we have endured this journey that seems like it's taken soooooo long. I want to thank Kristi for the countdown clock. And most of all, I want to thank God. None if this would be possible if it wasn't for His will. I also want to ask that you continue to pray for others that are in the process. So many are stuck in this process, and they desperately need the prayers. Thanks again everyone!!!!!

Yes!!! Friday IS the day!!!!

Brandon called PGN today and, after verifying 3 times, we are so OUT of there!!!! This is such great news!!! We will be bring home our baby girl soon!!!! I will be leaving to head down there on 7/23, and Brandon will be heading down the next week. I can't wait to see her again. And this time she's our FOREVER!!!!! And as Kristi noted earlier, 17 days until I have our baby girl forever. The countdown begins.....

Tomorrow is Friday!!!

Normally I dread Fridays because we have to wait a whole weekend before another week in PGN, but I am so excited about tomorrow!!! Brandon will call down there after lunch to see if we are O-U-T!!!! If you hear a sound far off in the distance that sounds like someone screaming, that means that we got some great news!!! We got to spend some time with the kids today. It was great. We miss them so much and can't wait until they are back on Monday. We are having a church trip next weekend to Atlanta, so that should make things speed by some. Please keep the prayers coming for the phone call tomorrow!!!

Could Friday be the day????

I guess we will see!!! Brandon called PGN today. The lady said that we are on the big guy's desk, and she expected us to be out by Friday. She wanted Brandon to call her back Friday after lunch. That sounds hopeful, but we will see. We had a great holiday today celebrating with Brandon's family at his aunt's house. I think it would have been close to perfect if we had our 3 kids there plus Izzie. I hope everyone had a great day, and I will let you know when we find out something!!!!

Waiting for Tuesday

Well, there hasn't been much to report lately. I got back from Georgia visiting my family last night. We had a great time this weekend. We bought stuff for Izzie and the other kids. I can't wait for them to get back from their mom's to see what I got them. It's weird when they are gone this long. PGN opens back up tomorrow, so it will be more waiting. Today is our 56th day of waiting. Maybe we will hear something tomorrow which will be day 57 (same amount as PA). That would be great!!! Please pray that we hear something soon. I think I'm going crazy with all the waiting. I've packed Izzie's stuff. Then I decided it wasn't good enough, so I repacked it. I think I've done that about 10 times, and I just got back yesterday!!! The fun never ends.....