Last Day :(

Today is our last day here as we will fly home tomorrow. Samuel will be with us overnight and then his foster mom will pick him up at 9 AM tomorrow. We got to talk to the foster mom again today (she was in the hotel with one of her other foster babies visiting another potential family). She is very kind- she was so excited to see Samuel. She said the house was sad without him. She also gave us some pictures of Samuel in her house and of him as a tiny baby.

Today Samuel and I hung out while Jimmy went to Antigua to check things out. We have a great tour guide contact for any of our adopting friends who will be in country. The last two pictures are from this morning... Jimmy doesn't know I'm posting the one of him sleeping :). I just thought it was cute!

We are so sad to have to give up Samuel tomorrow, but I know the next time we see him, he'll be ours permanently! That's all from here- Happy New Year!

Friday Fun

A few more pictures to share! It's been another fun day with Samuel. Tomorrow Jimmy is going to go to Antigua to check things out for a bit. We can't both go without giving up Samuel, so Jimmy's going without me. Today one of the people who works for Samuel's lawyer came by to get foot and handprints for some of his paperwork for PGN (their DFS/court system). It was exciting to see even the initial paperwork with his name and ours on the same paper! Not much else to report- we're tired of eating out, but enjoying every minute with Samuel. There is a video below... I am sacrificing my dignity to post it because I sound like such a dork, but it's Sammy "live"- this is for you, Mom!

Christmas in Missouri

Just a few fun pics from our Christmas in St. Louis and our Christmas in KC. We have a new nephew who we met this past weekend in St. Louis. He is precious and we're excited that he and Samuel are close in age! The second to last pic is the cutest Christmas present- cammo shoes for Samuel! (Thanks, Blair!)

Jimmy's First Post

This is Jimmy...


Well we decided not to go to the doctor. We spoke with several people and basically decided his flat head will most likely correct itself. We spoke with our adoption dirctor and she is going to make sure he is being held more and not fed with a bottle propped up in his crib. She comes down and checks on the children being fostered frequently and this is something she checks. Apparently the Guatemalans typically just swaddle them and probably let them lay down more than Americans do. I was happy to hear heads continue to mold until approx 3 years old ...so there is nothing to worry about...apparently I am being an overprotective parent.


We are venturing out a little more. We went to the pool yesterday. Samuel was not a big fan - he quickly started shivering when we put his legs in the baby pool. So I swam and Mommy and Samuel hung out. Samuel slept like a champ last night - something like 7 hours...so that was very nice. We are also excited to report that I bought some way too expensive sissors at a hair saloon in the mall and we cut his wanna be mullet/rat tail. It isn't the best hair cut but it looks much better to me. I can't wait to take him to the good ole boys at the Duncan and 7 barber shop.

Today we went to the upscale mall - and it is by far much nicer. Emily has quite the maternal protective bent. It is true we stick out quite a bit, but the Guatemalans in general are very nice and don't seem to be judgemental or rude about adoption - which is the sense you could get by reading all the negative stories about Americans adopting in Guatemala in the news lately.


Samuel also seems to be alergic to something in the hotel...we haven't figured out what it is yet. He sneezes and his right eye gets goopy. So we got some eye drops at the pharmacy and we hope that helps.

We are still debating if we are going to Antigua...to see where Emily might come and take care of Samuel. We really don't want to give Samuel up - he is so sweet and fun to be around. I might just go so I can check it out so I can have more peace of mind about where Emily might go. There is a bell man who taxis people on the side and can take me to Antigua to show me around - he grew up in Orange County, California and speaks great english - so that is a blessing. Here is where Emily is thinking of staying: http://www.casabella112.com/


Most of the pictures above are in our room, but the second from the bottom is in Chillis for lunch today - Emily was soo excited to have found a Chillis. The last one is at our hotel pool...we hopefully will go back today and maybe Emily can layout since it is 70 and sunny here.

Anways - enough for me. Thanks for everyone's kind words and support!

Smiling Sammy

Samuel is just over four months old. Here are some pictures we took last night and this morning. The one in the towell is just after giving him a bath for the first time. We also learned during his bath that he has a little curl to his hair. After the pictures we realized that the funny look on his face was due to the fact that he was peeing all over the towell! The one in the red outfit is the cute Christmas outfit from Dona- thanks! The other two we included because you can see his sweet smile. He is quite smiley and we're enjoying seeing who can make him smile more. I'm winning so far (Jimmy might disagree!). Mom- note the outfit in the smiley pictures- it's the one you got for him!

This trip has already been a bit tougher because I just don't want to leave him. I told Jimmy that we can't come back to visit again unless I get to stay (or we're bringing him home!). We know Samuel is much better off with this foster mom than in an orphanage, so we thank the Lord for that! We are a bit concerned about his head- it is pretty flat. We expressed our concern to the staff down here and it looks like we might go see a doctor tomorrow. The foster mom said it was normal and would correct itself as he gets older. As first time parents, we're probably being overprotective, but it will be nice to know a doctor has checked him out. I'm hoping we can see how much he weighs. He is filling out his 3-6 month size clothes nicely.

We just got back from lunch at the mall attached to the hotel. Samuel slept the whole time in the baby sling (thanks, Carmen!). Being the only white, blond person in the mall is sort of awkward. Carrying a baby makes me stick out even more- like I have a sign on my head that says "I'm adopting!" Jimmy says not to worry, but due to all the mixed opinions in the press about adopting in Guatemala, I can't help but feel a bit uneasy.

Our big plans for the afternoon include hopefully taking advantage of the pool and maybe venturing to the more upscale mall across the street. We are enjoying not having an agenda and just hanging out with Samuel. Still can't believe this is all really happening and that one day he'll be home! God continues to amaze us with His provision, timing and blessing through this whole experience. That's all from here!

Feliz Navidad de Guatemala

We made it to Guatemala safely and are happily settled in to the hotel! Hope this finds you all enjoying your Christmas evening! After starting early (we got up at 3:15) we left KCI late due to de-icing. We almost missed our connecting flight in Atlanta, but after running through the airport looking ridiculous, we made it! It is gorgeous here in Guatemala- 70s and clear skies! Samuel joined us just about an hour after we checked in. He is still cute and has grown. He has some serious hair- a bit like Elvis- it hasn't been cut at all yet and it's a bit out of control. Samuel hasn't fussed at all yet so we are excited. I was nervous that he would start having more separation anxiety at this point. We have big plans of giving him a bath tonight and that's about it! I have to say that getting to hold him today is the best Christmas present ever! We'll post some pictures tomorrow. Merry Christmas!

Pictures from October

Cuddle time with Dad

This is my favorite :)!

This is the first hour Samuel was "ours".

I'm calling my mom to tell her the news!

More Pictures

Hope this finds you doing well and staying warm in this icky weather! I'm enjoying a snow day here in KC! I thought I'd post some more pictures to share. Samuel is two months old in these pictures. As of today he's now 3 1/2 months old. We are headed to Guatemala on Christmas morning to visit him, so we will post more pictures then.

We don't have any new news to report on our paperwork. We are waiting on approval from USCIS which will go to our agency. We hope that approval will be granted in the next two weeks. Then everything will be done "stateside" and things can proceed in Guatemala.

We'll be in St. Louis briefly before Christmas to see Jimmy's fam, then celebrate Christmas Eve with the Beyer's here before we head out of town. We'll post more from Guatemala :)!

Fun info

Today we got Samuel's birth certificate. We found out that his birth mother is 19 (not 30 like we had been told previously). There is no father listed on the certificate. Samuel was 7 pounds at birth and was born in a small town 45 miles east of Guatemala City. This may not be super exciting for anyone else, but for me it makes this more real!

Paperwork Update

We have all of our paperwork ready! This Wednesday we will be fingerprinted one last time and then will ship off our documents to the Guatemalan consulate. Now the waiting begins... We plan to work on the nursery and read up on adoption and Guatemala.

We just returned from a weekend with Jimmy's family. We hope you all had a great Thanksgiving! Just for fun- this is a picture of our backyard in the past week or so- I love the fall!!

Samuel Edgar Armstrong

This post will be a lot shorter... I promise! Since coming home on October 30, we've been busy! The paperwork involved in this process is just amazing. It's a bit like an expensive scavenger hunt. We've had a few people ask for updates. We completed our home study in record time thanks to the folks at Adoptions and Beyond. We have all of our paperwork ready except for two documents. We are waiting on the FBI to return our fingerprints and we are waiting on one other document from INS (Dept. of Homeland Security). As soon as we have these documents- hopefully by the end of the month, we'll take the documents to the Secretary of State's office. There they have to verify our notary and "authenticate" the documents. Next we'll ship all of the documents off to the Guatemalan consulate. From there, they go to our agency who will send them to Guatemala. Then it is uncertain how long it takes to get things through their court system and another government agency (sort of like our DFS). Jimmy has a better understanding of this process and the details- his thoroughness has been a huge blessing in this process!

We've finally been able to take a breath and are looking forward to spending Thanksgiving in St. Louis. We'll also celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary! Last week we also bought tickets to return to Guatemala over Christmas. We're flying out Christmas day. We are very excited to see our little one! After much discussion, we've decided to call him Samuel Edgar. As we've gone through this process, I had been reading I Samuel and connected with the story of Hannah in I Samuel 1. Hannah names her son Samuel saying "Because I asked the Lord for him."

We'll use this blog to share information as we go through the waiting process for any who are interested. We thought it might be a good way to keep people informed. Thanks again for the support!

Um, didn't this happen a bit quickly??

I know many of you have heard our story, but I thought I'd share it here for any who are thinking "Where did this come from?" or "Didn't this happen really fast?" :) In June, I went to Peru with my church on a mission trip. Part of the trip entailed spending a lot of time with some precious children from an orphanage. I returned from the trip with a renewed sense of clarity and with confirmation that the Lord was leading us to adopt. I have always wanted to adopt, but we had discussed adoption as a possibility after having our "own" children. Over the last year, we've had some infertility issues which caused me to start thinking about pursuing adoption sooner. After the trip to Peru, I approached Jimmy about adopting. He was not ready to take that step and wisely (but to my dismay!) suggested we pray about it and wait. In the meantime, I went through two rounds of unsuccessful fertility drugs which was less than enjoyable.

Jimmy and I started spending time with some lovely people, Kenny and Joi Wilson. We shared our infertility issues as well as my desire to adopt. They asked us good questions, talked through things with us and prayed for us a lot. Over a series of a couple of months, we gained a peace about taking this step and we started to look into adoption. We researched lots of agencies and attended two informational presentations. We had decided to go with an agency here in KC and applied to a program in Colombia. After applying, we found out it would be a 2-3 year wait to bring home a child under two. This news was hard, but I was convinced that if this was the Lord's timing, we would wait.

On one particularly hard day, we went to an adoption presentation by another Christian adoption agency. A woman shared from Isaiah 45. Later that day I found myself really struggling with our situation and questioning God for the first time in the process, asking "Why us?" I read the whole chapter of Isaiah 45. Several of the verses jumped off the page at me. First of all, one verse reminded me not to argue with God as He is in control. Then verses 2-3 say "I will go before you and will level the mountains; I will break down gates of bronze and cut through bars of iron. I will give you the treasures of darkness, riches stored in secret places, so that you may know that I am the LORD, the God of Israel, who summons you by name." I was immediately comforted and reminded that God is faithful. I was certain that we would have a family one way or another.

The same evening, I received a call from a friend of my parents' friends. They had heard we were looking into adopting from a Spanish-speaking country and shared about their agency. I looked into the agency and emailed them like I had so many others. A few days later (October 24), I got a reply and found out there were waiting boys in Guatemala. This agency, The Open Way Adoptions (Washington) projected a 6-12 month waiting period. We knew there were some political issues and the agency suggested that if we were seriously interested, we should fly to Guatemala to sign papers in country to get the process started. I did not think this would be possible, but Jimmy said "Let me look into it." He called me back a couple of hours later and asked if I wanted to go. I was shocked and thrilled! On October 25 (the same day the doctor called with more bad news about the unsuccessful third round of fertility drugs), we purchased tickets and flew to Guatemala two days later. The Lord opened so many doors for this to happen smoothly- employers who were supportive, frequent flyer miles and decent last minute airfare!

We arrived in Guatemala on Saturday evening and on Sunday we met several Guatemalan babies. All of the babies are precious- just beautiful! We met little Edgar and immediately fell in love! He smiled when I laughed, watched us both intently and held on to my fingers. When we had seen all of the children, it was a brief conversation before deciding to make Edgar ours! We called the agency and let Lymaris (the head of Open Way Adoptions- a wonderful lady!) know about our decision. Edgar was able to spend Sunday night, Monday and Tuesday morning with us in our hotel. It was an incredible 36 hours. We signed Power of Attorney forms and headed back to KC.

The trip was an absolute whirlwind! We are so very thankful to our friends and family who prayed for us. I have never experienced so much love, support and confidence knowing that we are being held up in prayer by so many amazing people. From my lunch group friends who bought me my first baby stuff :), to our family who didn't question but just jumped on board- thank you!! We are so excited!

The Adventure Begins!

Hello All! We are home from a whirlwind trip to Guatemala. Thought I'd attempt a blog in an effort to keep anyone interested up to date on our adoption adventure. I'll attempt an official "post" later when we've settled in from the trip. Just wanted to get this set up.