Day #2 in Guatemala

Everything is going great. Dominick is adjusting wonderfully...God has answered my prayers once again! Dominick is very clingy towards me, but finally let his Daddy and others hold him today. He has 4 teeth on the top, and 3 on the bottom. He knows how to crawl, but doesn't crawl much. He prefers to sit or stand on your lap and play with his toys. Dominick is such a BLESSING!!!

Sorry, I accidentally put 2 of these.

Our first family portrait!

LESS THAN 2 DAYS UNTIL WE HOLD OUR BABY!!!

I'll be holding my Chunky Monkey in less than 48 hours, Yippeeee! I can't believe it. I'm just about all packed up and ready to go. I'm so nervous about being a real, full time Mommy. Plus I feel so sorry for the grief my baby will have to experience from loosing his precious foster mother and father. I can't imagine how hard it will be on them to say good-bye forever. They've been parenting him since he was 2 days old. I pray for his foster parents every day that God will give them a peace to know that Dominick is OK with his new family. I am so thankful for them taking such awesome care of Dominick. Not all foster families are as good as theirs.

I've been feeling horrible, I woke up Sunday morning with a yucky cold and went to the Quick Care doctor. He gave me some antibiotics so hopefully I'll be feeling better soon. I'm actually glad this happened now and not in Guatemala so I could go to an American doctor and hopefully I won't pass this on to Dominick. I've been feeling like I was about to get a cold for the past 2 months, thanks to the black mold growing around the windows and in the air conditioner of my classroom. You can actually smell a mildew smell when my AC kicks on in the classroom, isn't that lovely! I always thought it was the children who made me catch these horrible colds ALL YEAR LONG, but my doctor said it is probably the mold. I asked him what I could do to prevent it and he said "Find a new job". How funny is that???

So anyway, hopefully I'll be able to post pictures of our Chunky Monkey by Thursday.

LAST DAY AT WORK

Today was my last day of work before I go on MATERNITY LEAVE. Surprisingly I was a little emotional about leaving my first graders for the next 12+ weeks. But of course, my fellow first grade teachers had to throw one last surprise celebration before me leaving. They all wore PINK shirts to school all day and I had so much on my mind I didn't figure out the significance of the PINK shirts until our little celebration at the end of the day. They surprised me with a PINK bouquet of balloons, a cake, and some non-alcoholic PINK champagne. They are so awesome! There are a total of 7 of us first grade teachers at my school and we are all such good friends. I'm truly blessed to work with them. As much as I'd like to quit my job to stay at home with my precious Dominick, deep down inside I really feel that teaching is what God wants me to do at this time. It's going to be horrible to leave Dominick and go back to work, but I feel it is what is best for our family at this time.

They wrote a little poem attached to the balloons and that's when I realized why they were all wearing PINK shirts. Here's the poem.

Celebrate

Lynn received the call,

She'll look forward to a joyful Fall.

Her time of waiting is done,

She's off to get her son!

With pink slip in hand,

She'll travel to another land,

Where she'll start her family of three,

A mommy, a daddy, and one sweet pea!

WE HAVE P-I-N-K!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh-My-Gosh, I can't believe it! WE HAVE PINK!!!!!!!!!!!! Our Embassy appointment is next Friday, Oct. 6, and we will get his VISA on Tuesday, Oct. 10 (b/c of Columbus Day). So we will be flying out of New Orleans next Wed. and returning the following Wed., Oct. 4-11.
WHOOOO-HOOOOO!!!!!!!! Dominick will be in our arms FOREVER next week.

I will keep you all posted through this blog while in Guatemala. Just bare with me because if we fly in late Wed., I might not get to post here until like Thur. night or something. I don't have a laptop, so I have to go to the hotel's business center and it takes forever to download pictures and stuff.

HE'S LEGALLY OURS!!! MINE, MINE, MINE...ALL MINE!

Yeah, you heard that right. Dominick is legally our baby!!! The birth certificate is finished with my and Jonathan's name as his mother and father. Too bad my precious baby is off in another country away from his Mommy and Daddy, but that's about to change. Our paper work was submitted to the U.S. Embassy on Monday and we should have our PINK slip by Wednesday afternoon, but we will be notified on Thursday. Wow, I can't believe it. I think my face is starting to hurt from smiling so much. Anyway, I have no clue as to the actual date of our embassy appointment, but I'm guessing it will be around October 11th, which means we'll be traveling around NEXT FRIDAY!!!!!!!!!!!! And that also means that my last day of work would be either this Friday or next Monday-Tuesday. YIPPEEEEEE!

BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR, IT JUST MIGHT HAPPEN

My 30th birthday is coming up in December and believe it or not, I'm actually really excited about turning 30. Don't ask me why...I guess it just seems like a good age or something. Anyway, it made me start thinking about when Jonathan and I got married 9.5 years ago. I was only 20 years old and I repeatedly said "I don't want any kids until I'm at least 30 years old." I think the reason was because I wanted to finish college, save money and buy a house. But I also thought it was neat when I saw a somewhat older couple with their first baby. Well, about 4 years into our marriage, I was graduating from college, we had just bought our first house, and Jon and I both decided we were ready to start expanding our family. So we began the long journey that has finally led us to our precious Dominick. We tried to conceive for over 5 years, resulting in 3 heartrending miscarriages and a strained marriage. Do I regret all those years of trying to get pregnant? Absolutely not, that was God's perfect way of preparing our hearts for this precious baby He had always intended to be ours. God knew it all along, but Jon and I had to walk the road of infertility and loss after loss to find God's chosen path for our lives. Now the whole picture is crystal clear, but there was no way for us to see it until God had fully ripened our hearts and opened our eyes. I now fully understand why God has to put you through trials and tribulations to get you where he wants you to be. And I'm getting what I asked for, to wait until I'm just about 30 before having our first baby.

This was one of our engagement pictures. Look how long my hair was, it was down to my waist!

This dress was a size ZERO and still had to be tightened up 3 times! I know those days are long gone.

Me and my Daddy walking down the aisle to be given away to my new husband.

Jonathan and I, HAPPILY EVER AFTER!!!

MORE GOOD NEWS!!!

My agency called today and told me that Dominick's birth mother has signed off on the adoption decree for the fourth and final time and that they are hoping to have his new birth certificate issued by tomorrow. WOW, I thought it would take 1-2 weeks to get the new birth certificate! Like I said, they are hoping it will be ready, but you just never know. Anyway, that will make him LEGALLY OUR BABY! YIPPPEEEEE!!! They also said that they are hoping that I might have my PINK slip by next Wednesday...I really didn't think it would all happen this fast. I guess I better get busy doing lots of lesson plans and packing!

MORE SHOPPING

After being stuck in PGN for so long, I had gotten discouraged and stopped buying clothes for Dominick, thinking that it could be a long time before he would come home. But now that I know he WILL be coming home soon, I'm back to my weekly shopping sprees. Here are the outfits we got Dominick yesterday.

This is the hat to match the outfit above... though I may have to use some super glue to keep it on his head since he's now old enough to yank it off. Just Joking...I'll have him hat-trained in no time.

These 2 gray outfits were picked out by Dominick's Daddy.

Daddy insisted on getting the matching shoes after Mommy repeatedly told him they are going to be too small by the time Dominick can wear these clothes. He said, "I don't care, they are only nine dollars". Then I realized that Daddy really wanted them so I shut-up.

Dominick's Thanksgiving bib, isn't it adorable!

One Year Ago

One year ago today was the official day we signed up with my agency and began the mounds of paper work to bring our baby home. I can't believe it's been a whole year and my baby is still not home. But praise God, he will be home soon!!! This week has been so awesome since hearing the news that we are OUT of the PGN. It feels so good to not have that burden any longer. I am so excited I don't know what to do with myself. I lie in bed every night and try to imagine him crawling...I just can't picture it. I can't even come up with a picture in my mind of how much he has probably changed. I haven't seen new pictures of him in 2 months. I have re-played the memories of our visit trip in my mind so many times, I just can't imagine what he's like now. Regardless, I know I will instantly get a kick out of the new ways of his little personality and only fall more deeply in love with him.

We are hoping to hear that they have begun the new birth certificate sometime next week. Once we are submitted for his new birth certificate, it will take 1-2 weeks to process, and hopefully in about a week after that we will have our travel dates. I'm just praying that this last part of the process goes smoothly. My agency is telling me that I should have PINK (travel dates) within about 3 weeks from last Monday...I hope they are correct.

Dominick is OUT-OUT-OUT of PGN!!!

Praise Jesus, I can't believe I can finally say that. Let me say it again... WE ARE OUT!!! That's my new favorite word "out". My next new favorite word will be PINK (when you get your embassy appointment and your okay to travel, it comes on a pink slip, so we people in the Adoption-World just say "I have PINK" and that means we are going to pick up our babies and take them home forever.

Okay, so I got "The Call" Monday morning (Sept. 11) while at work. The office called me in my classroom and said "You have a call" and that never happens, so I got very excited. When I went into the office I asked "Is it a hispanic lady on the phone?" and they said yes, and then I got even more excited. And of course the lady on the phone ended up being the director of my adoption agency telling me that PGN has approved Dominick's case and we will be traveling to get him in 3-5 weeks!!! So the office were the first to know since they were all standing there when I took the call, then I tried to call Jon but he didn't answer, so the first grade teachers were the second to know because they were the ones watching my class while I took the call. Then I called my mom at her office and told her and she started crying and waving her blue pom-poms that she's been carrying around with her for months, so her whole office started CHEERING, it was so funny. Then I finally got in touch with my hubby and of course he was ecstatic! Poor guy, everyone knew before him, hee-hee. And of course the first thing I did when I got home was to get on my hands and knees and thank God for answering my prayers, Praise God!

Things have not stopped since I got that call with all the excitement plus we have other things going on, so that's why it took me awhile to make my announcement on my blogsite. I have tons of things to do to get ready for this trip (more paper work and documents to be notarized to finalize the adoption, getting things ready to take my maternity leave from work, getting Dominick on our insurance, and let's not forget to send my attorney the other half of his money or I won't be getting my baby!).

So, after being stuck in PGN for 20 weeks (143 days), I am finally OUT!!! YIPPEEEEEE!!!!!

OH NO...HE'S ALREADY CRAWLING!!!

I got a little update on Dominick today. All they said was that he was very active and crawling, he stands up in his crib, he's a very happy baby, and he eats well. It breaks my heart that I wasn't there to watch him learn to crawl, but I pretty much knew he was probably crawling so it wasn't really a surprise.

I miss Dominick more than anyone could possibly imagine (except for those of you in the same exact situation, of course). But he is worth all the heart ache in the world...I am so in love with that little boy!!! And I am forever grateful for this whole experience. As hard as this is on me, at the same time it is the most AMAZING thing I could have ever imagined. My family and I have been bonding with his pictures and video and the memories from our visit for the past 7 months...and we are so IN LOVE!!!

TATTY TEDDY

Every child has to have at least one teddy bear so, I had been looking for a really special one for Dominick. I found this gray teddy bear with a blue nose and thought it was so cool because you rarely see gray teddy bears. Sooooo...of course I bought it for him. Well the bear came with a little story explaining how he became gray with a blue nose, and I thought it was even more special after reading the story.

A Grey Bear With a Blue Nose?

The oldest smallest house you can imagine was about to be knocked down. All the things that once made the house nice and cozy had been thrown outside and piled up in the front garden, from the soft springy bed the owners slept in, to the old wooden floorboards they used to walk on...

...and even, surely by some mistake, a little brown teddy bear. He was trapped amongst all the other unwanted things, and couldn't move.

Then one day...a very, very cold day, something fell from the sky,...a little snowflake. It landed on the teddy bear's little nose and was then followed by many more. He began to get very cold, very cold indeed. More and more snow fell, heavier and heavier. The little bear was now so cold that his nose started turning blue...

...so cold that his brown fur started turning grey. He was cold, unloved and all alone in the world and felt very, very sad.

Winter finally passed and the weather got warmer. One beautiful spring day, a little girl was playing by the house, when she spotted the gray bear in the pile of unwanted things.

He was like no other bear she had ever seen, and she pulled him out from where he was trapped. She dusted him down and lifted him high in the sky to look at him. "A grey teddy bear...with a blue nose?" she thought, "How strange!"

The teddy bear wanted to cry. He thought she didn't like him and would throw him back with the other unwanted things.

"But he's lovely!" she continued, and she fell completely in love with him. She ran home as fast as her little legs would carry her, to see if her grandma could patch him up, as a lot of his stuffing had fallen out, and he was very much in need of repair.

She looked on as her grandmother replaced his stuffing and patched up his holes. His stitches had started showing where the fur had worn away, but the little girl thought he looked perfect.

It was all cozy and warm in the little girl's house and the bear felt cozy and warm in his heart. However, his nose was still blue and his fur was still grey, and they would never return to brown. He was unique amongst teddy bears. The little girl gave him a great big hug. She loved him more than anything else in the world...her little, grey, blue nosed...

...tatty teddy.

And here is Dominick's first Teddy Bear (Tatty Teddy)!!!

WILL HE BE HOME FOR HALLOWEEN????

Okay, I know Dominick might not be home for Halloween. In fact, I am just going to assume he won't be so I don't get my hopes up. But I have to admit that I've been looking at costumes on-line just for fun. I am not a big Halloween person and I don't plan on making a big deal out of it when he is older. But this being our first child, I would love to dress his cute little self up in a costume. Anyway, since I have nothing better to post at the time I thought I'd show some of the cute costumes I've been looking at.
This is one of my favorites since his Maw Maw nick named him Chunky Monkey.
I have a bit of an obsession with barn yard animals ever since I did his room in that theme. I buy just about every toy that has to do with farm animals.
Here's a little lobster, but we could pretend that it's a crawfish since they is so popular down here is Louisiana.

This is supposed to be a dragon, but I thought it looked kinda like an alligator. My students would get a kick out of this because our mascot is The Gators.

Love the big ears on this one!

Here's a cute little froggie.

Isn't this the coolest frog you've ever seen? I love those big feet!

And last but not least, a baby Cat In The Hat. How cute is that? I love Dr. Seuss!

Dominick is 8 Months Old Today! Sniffle, Sniffle

I am super sad because Dominick is 8 months old today and not home. But on the other hand, I have heard some speculation that my case should be out within 1-2 weeks, if not sooner. That is only speculation, there is NO way to know for sure. Thank you all for your prayers and encouragement. It means so much to me. I know when Dominick is home, this will all be over and I won't care about the long and frustrating wait.

AWESOME NEWS FROM ONE OF MY BLOGGER BUDDIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am happy to announce that Holly and baby Gia are OUT, OUT, OUT of PGN. She had been in for 123 days and living in Guatemala for 3-4 months. Wow, I am sooooo happy for her. Praise God!

Okay God, now it's our turn. We've been in for 131 days, that's almost 5 months, YIKES! Pleeeaaaase let us out Mr. PGN man. I got an email from my agency yesterday and all it said was that my case is STILL in PGN. I can't tell you what a relief it was to not hear "You've been kicked out for the 4th time". Thank you Jesus that I haven't been kicked out again (as far as we know).

CONGRATULATIONS Holly, Gia, and Zoe!!!!!! You'll be home reeeaaaaalll soon! YIPPPPEEEEE!!!

The World of Wating-on-Dominick

Not much new is happening in the world of Waiting-on-Dominick. For those of you that don't fully understand the whole process, when your case gets kicked out, it kinda starts all over as far as the order it was received. Well, after my last kick out, I was resubmitted on July 31 and the Big Guy (PGN director, aka Attorney General) is now signing off on cases ranging from July 1-20. So, IF I HAVEN'T GOTTEN KICKED OUT AGAIN, my case should be coming up soon. I guess that's why I've been a nervous wreck lately and keep crying to my poor husband saying "What if it gets kicked out again???". All I can say is that it is a horrible feeling when you are kicked out, as I'm sure many of you already know from experience and the rest of you can only imagine.

I have been reeaaaally missing my Chunky Monkey lately. I keep running all those precious memories of my week with him through my mind over and over and I miss him soooooooo much!!! I just keep thinking of how inquisitive he was, when we would walk into a new room of the hotel, he would instantly start turning his little head all over and studying the pictures on the wall and his surroundings. And that precious little laugh of his... often times when someone was talking to me, little Chunky Monkey would watch them and then suddenly start laughing as if they were talking to him. Oh my gosh, he was just so precious! I'm to the point where as much as I want him home, I really just want to see him (and hold him and kiss him of course). I think Hubbie and I have decided, if Dominick isn't home by Thanksgiving we are gonna go visit him again. I know he will probably/hopefully be home by then, and if not it's a horribly long time to wait to see your baby, but that's the plan for now. I would be itching to go see him now (actually I am itching to see him) but I really don't want to take off of work and use up a whole week of time I'd have home with him. But of course we teachers get a whole week off for Thanksgiving, so that's why we came up with that date. I just can't wait for Jon to see his son, he has no idea how much his love for Dominick is gonna make his heart want to explode.

Okay, so guess what our plans are for our Saturday evening (today). Go eat out (as we do every Sat.) and then go shopping for Chunky Monkey, YAAAY!!! When hubbie asked what I wanted to do after dinner, I said "Let's go look at baby stuff!!!" That's how it always begins, just looking. But it usually (always) turns out with buying, buying, buying!!! Dominick is so lucky to have 2 parents who both loooove to shop and spend money.

Wishing all of you a good weekend and praying like crazy for all of you PGN er's.

TRIPLE THE JOY, TRIPLE THE BLESSINGS, TRIPLE THE SWEETNESS!!!

My best friend from high school had triplets in March of 2006, 2 boys and a girl! There names are Geoffrey, Adam and Elise and they are so precious. I was so honored to be asked to be the godmother of Geoffrey. All three of them were Christened yesterday, check out the pictures.

Kate (mom), Jason (dad), Adam, Geoffrey and Elise.

Here's Geoffrey, everyone calls him "big boy" because he's a Chunky Monkey like Dominick.

Adam Patrick Noel!!!

Little Elise, sweet baby girl!!!

Adam is being baptized in this picture with his Mommy holding him.

Here's Geoffrey being held by his proud godparents.

Geoffrey and Nannie Lynn

Adam and Uncle Shawn

115 DAYS IN PGN

I officially start back at work (school) tomorrow. Yuck! I've been going to school to get my classroom ready every day for 2 weeks now and I didn't mind a bit, in fact I was pretty much lovin it. But that was because I was doing it on MY time schedule, knowing I could get there at what ever time I felt like and not having the responsibility of 21 active 1st graders. Don't get me wrong, the children are what make my job so meaningful and fun. But I must say, it is quite peaceful to be all by myself, without a room full of children. And it is really nice to be able to sleep late everyday. Anyway, as I suspected, EVERYONE at school has been asking me "Why don't you have your baby home? When is he going to be home? What is the problem?" I'm so grateful that everyone is so excited for me and concerned, but I'm already going a little nuts with all the questions and explanations. What really gets me is when people say, "Oh my gosh, he's going to be walking by the time you get him. That is just terrible that you are missing out on all of this." I just want to crawl under a table and cry when people say things like that. I know I'm missing out on SOOOOOOO much, do you think I need to be reminded every 10 minutes by a different person?!?!? Do you think I haven't run those thoughts through my head a million times a day for the past year now??? Even the lady at Sonic who has taken my breakfast order every day for the past year is telling me that my baby is going to be walking by the time I get him home. I wanted to say "I already know that could happen, thanks for rubbing it in my face lady!" Anyway, please forgive me if I am beginning to sound negative. I just don't have much else to talk about at this point in my adoption journey. I'm really not angry or upset with anyone, I am just sad and want my precious baby home. I'm not trying to say that this is some horrible experience and poor little me. It is the best experience of my entire life and I feel so very grateful that we are financially able to adopt this baby. Over the past 2 years, there hasn't been anything in this world I have wanted more than to adopt a baby for Guatemala. This is really and truly A DREAM COME TRUE!!!

PRAISE GOD-THANK YOU JESUS!!!!!!!!!!

I have heard some very encouraging news over the past few days. I'm on an adoption forum internet site, and about 6 people on that site alone got out of PGN on Wed., and about 20 PEOPLE GOT OUT YESTERDAY!!! That is awesome news people! I have never seen that many people get out in one week, much less one day. If PGN keeps up this pace, and IF I don't get kicked out again for some stupid reason, I could get out within the next few weeks. YIPPEEEEEEE!!!!!!! I can't imagine really getting out, it has just been so long it feels like it will never happen. I will probably be in shock when I finally do get out, and then I'll probably cry my heart out after bottling up this frustration for so long. And then of course I'll get on my hands and knees and thank God for letting me out of PGN. Anyway, regardless of what happens with my case, it is so encouraging to see so many people get out in one day. Mondays and Fridays are very slow days for PGN, and next Monday or Tuesday (or both) is a holiday in Guatemala, so PGN will be closed. I just hope and pray they continue letting a lot of cases out everyday.

107 Days in PGN and Counting...

I know I haven't posted recently, not much is happening. I have started going to school everyday to set up my classroom and get everything ready for a new school year. My first official day back will be August 15, and the kiddos start back on August 16. Believe it or not, I'm actually really excited about the new school year. I hadn't planned on going back to work until Nov. or Dec. because I thought our baby would have been home by now and I was going to take off several months to spend time with him. But now that I have gotten back into the swing of things, I am so excited. I really do love my job, and I just fall in love with those little munchkins every year. Another plus about it is that it will help the time go by much faster while I wait to get out of PGN. The worse part about it is getting up at 5:30 every morning. That just kills me, I am soooo not a morning person. Anyway, since there isn't anything new happening with Dominick, I thought I'd post a few pictures that I haven't posted yet.

This was Jon's Father's Day gift. I bought him and Dominick shirts that say "Big Dude" and "Little Dude". But since Dominick wasn't here, we put his shirt on Gizmo to model it. Poor baby, this was not the first time that we made the poor dog wear Dominick's clothes. I guess that is just what desperate parents do when they have to wait 12 months for their baby to come home.

This was the hotel we stayed at in Guatemala. It is a 5 star hotel and the service was UNBELIEVABLE!!! I've never seen so many people who are so friendly and love their jobs so much. Everyone who worked at this hotel spoke both Spanish and English fluently. They will go out of their way to do anything for you...you'd have to see it to understand just how awesome the service is at this place.

The heated pool at the Marriott.

Okay mom, since you keep REMINDING me not to post any pictures of you, I just had to post this one of you lounging on the goose down comforter after a long travel day to Guatemala. Hee-Hee, hope you're not mad!!!

BAD, BAD PRESS

First of all, I am not the type to get all bent-out-of-shape about all the adoption rumors and negativeness that other folks like to dwell upon. It usually doesn't bother me at all because I am on cloud nine about MY baby and that's all I really care about at the moment. I'm not the type to be offened because some ignorant reporter referred to Angelina Jolie as "Baby Shopping". Who really cares what they want to call it? It is just an article written with some catchie phrases to get people's attention and make them buy their magazines. Some folks seem to get all stressed out over silly things such as, "What should I call the day that my son was adopted? Let's not call it Gotcha Day (like people have been doing for years) because that could sound offensive, like someone caught a fly on the wall." Give me a break! That is one of the silliest things I've ever heard of. I have much more important things happening in my life than to sit down and contemplate whether my child might grow up and suddenly think that his mother was using the term Gotcha Day in a negative way. But I am offended when a reporter repeatedly refers to Guatemala as a "baby factory" or "baby farm". YIKES!!! That would be pretty darn offensive to anyone that respects the country of Guatemala. Sometimes things are said or done that are wrong, and it is our duty to stand up and educate others about the truth.

To get to my point, there was an article that apparently has been published in almost every newspaper across the U. S. about Guatemalan adoptions that is very one-sided and completely inaccurate. I don't even know where to begin when discussing this article, so please excuse any rambling I may do. I just want to say several things I do know about adoptions in Guatemala.

1. One of the reasons Guatemalan adoptions are so popular is because the babies are generally more healthy and have less delays than babies from other countries because:
2. They are usually raised in foster homes instead of orphanages, therefore they receive care in a private home instead of and institution.
3. It is almost unheard of for these babies to be born with something such as fetal alcohol syndrome because the birth mothers in Guat. do not use drugs and alcohol while pregnant (unlike other countries such as Russia, that are known for having many babies born with fetal alcohol syndrome).
4. These babies have much better medical care both before and after birth than babies from most other countries (at least the ones being handled by an attorney).
5. The adoption process is sometimes (not always) faster than many other countries and they are relinquished for adoption at a younger age, therefore your baby could be as young as 5-12 months when you take him home, whereas your baby might be 12-24 months in other countries. (can you blame someone for wanting their child home at a younger age so that they don't miss out on the many exciting milestones of their child's life and are able to bond with their child at a younger age???)
6. Also, Guatemala is much closer to travel than a country such as Russia, and at this time adoptive families are only required to make one trip of 4-5 days. Many other countries require 2 trips totaling 7-21 days.
7. Guatemala has both boys and girls available for adoption, whereas in some countries it is very difficult to get a girl and other countries it is almost impossible to get a boy.(Russia & China) After suffering years of infertility or miscarriages, one of the benefits of adoption is that you can actually choose the sex of your child. But some people like to make a whole debate out of whether you should be able to choose the sex of the child you are adopting.

One of the biggest things I want people to know about Guatemala is that these adoptions DO go through a court system. The article stated that "Guatemala still allows adoptions to be managed privately, without judicial approval". For someone not familiar with adoptions in Guat., this may sound like the adoptions are not approved by their court system, which is by far not the case. What they mean is that most, not all, adoptions in Guat. are private adoptions. It is the same difference as if you adopted a child privately through an attorney in the U. S. versus adopting a child through the state foster care system. The adoption is still completely legal and goes through all the appropriate court proceedings, the only difference is that a birth mother went directly through an attorney instead of dropping her child off at an orphanage. Also, the U. S. requires that all birth mothers and their babies have DNA testing to prove that the baby is in fact hers and that she DOES want to give her child up for adoption.

Guatemala is an extremely poor country that has no welfare system, no food stamps, no Medicaid, no child support laws, no disability, no minimum wage salary, and so on. There are many, many areas of Guat. that have no running water, no medical care, no schools or transportation. They are also known to be very fertile and a very Catholic/religious country that does not promote abortions and frowns upon unwed mothers. I could go on and on explaining to you the reasons that birth mothers have to give their child up in hopes of them having a better life. If you have read the article, please don't take it seriously. It is completely one-sided and inaccurate. If you are truly interested in what happens in Guatemala with poverty and adoptions, do as I did and spend the next 3 years researching Guatemala. It is a beautiful country with beautiful people who are caring and loving and want the best for their children.

HANDSOME MAN

O.K., I just had to copy off of Candy's blog site and try out the sepia tone. I have to say, I think my little man looks quite handsome in sepia pictures. What do you think???

Momma, you are beginning to bore me with that camera and all these pictures. Can't we do something else???

Oowwww Momma, this diaper is too tight for my cubby legs. That's why it keeps popping open, it is just tooooo tight!!!! Please stop wasting your money on all those clothes and hats and just get me some diapers that fit!!!

Maw Maw, I will sit here real still and handsome if you give me some more oatmeal or cookies. Is this good enough, may I please have some more food???