Happy Wednesday...

Oh, RENAP, please let us OUT!

Yes, we are still in RENAP- 5 weeks and going strong. It puts me in an anti-email, anti-blog, anti-skype mood because I am so tired of saying that we are still waiting and don't know when we'll be home. Plus life down here gets pretty routine, so I struggle to have anything interesting to share! Sorry for being a Debbie Downer :).

Yesterday I met my lawyer at the RENAP office. The place is a total zoo! It was very eye-opening for me, as I realized that there isn't much more my lawyer can be doing. They are unorganized, uncooperative and unhelpful. I stood in a room with probably 200 Guatemalans (it's the office where you get birth certificates and national IDs), sticking out more than ever, and was so frustrated! Because our paperwork was misplaced, it wasn't signed off last Friday like it should have been. They promised to release it early this week, but now won't. At this point, I'm just hoping that it will come out this Friday. Once it is out, we STILL won't really have our birth certificate. Our lawyer has to take the paperwork to Jalapa, where Samuel was born, and there they issue the certificate. I'm praying that they will issue it the same day.

Then we will be able to do the passport, final medical visit and second DNA test. At that point, things should move quickly, but it just seems like we'll never get there. At this point, we will not be home at the end of this month. I'm still holding out for the first week of November, but we'll see. If we don't get good news this week, I'm going to start scoping out places that serve Thanksgiving dinner!

Now that I've gotten over not being home by the end of the month, I'm trying to just treasure this time with Samuel. We've had some funny moments- he likes to "draw" now and laughs when I give him a pen and paper. Last night I almost knocked myself out in our room. It was dark and I randomly leave the armoir doors open (have to keep them aired out because of the mold!). I went in to go to bed and bent over to take off my shoes and whacked my nose on the door. I look like I've been in a fight- some nice bruises!

Today Lee Anne gifted me one of her hours with the babysitter. One sweet hour of unexpected freedom!! I am amazed at what I can accomplish without Samuel attached to me. I hit the gym and grocery store. All was going well until I headed home and got caught in a downpour. I arrived home dripping wet with mascara under my eyes. Not sure what I'll do when I can just hop in the car and run errands like this again!

That's all from here- thanks again for the encouraging words and prayers. We'll be home eventually!

The picture sums it up...

I wish I had some great news to share, but unfortunately I don't! The past few days have been full of frustrations- difficulty getting ahold of our lawyer, our birth certificate paperwork being lost (and then found!) by the RENAP office, Samuel getting sick (again) with a pretty high fever and me "losing" about $600 at the ATM (It's a long story- my debit card wouldn't work, so I tried a couple of machines. I never got any money out, but came home and online it shows that I did. We're disputing the charges, but it just makes me ill!).

The good news is that our paperwork was not permanently lost and we should have news early next week. I hate to say that for fear it won't happen, but that's what they're telling us.

I thought Samuel looked cute in this outfit, even though he's sick. You can tell he wasn't so thrilled with the picture taking. I tried spiking his hair for fun :).

Happy Birthday, Grandma Mary! We love and miss you much!

Another Farewell

No update on our case, but thought I'd post a few pics from yesterday.

We said good-bye to the Wheeler family last night. They are headed back to Tennessee today and we are so excited for them to settle in to family life at home! We miss you guys! Here is the Wheeler fam with Maria (our amazing nanny) and Virginia (house manager).

Below are the kiddos: Madi (our friend Melissa's girl), Milo, Erick, Eliana and Samuelito!

Erick is in to the ladies. He was kissing Eliana and Madi all night. Samuel, on the other hand, was more interested in his block!

Things here are ok. Still lots of waiting.... Chris was asking me about some words in Spanish. We got to talking about how the verb for "to wait" and "to hope" is the same- esperar. It's no coincidence that "Esperamos al Senor" (We wait on the Lord) and also "Esperamos en el Senor" (We hope in the Lord). That same day I had read Psalm 129 and had written it down in Spanish:

"Espero al Señor, lo espero con toda el alma; en su palabra he puesto mi esperanza. Espero al Señor con toda el alma, más que los centinelas la mañana." That esperar verb was all over the place- to hope, to wait! (Translation: I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning) Some of your are thinking "What a Spanish grammar dork!" Yes, thank you, I am! Summary: we continue waiting and hoping...

Anyways, thanks for the prayers and support. We so appreciate it. For a heartwarming picture, check out the post on the Embrey's blog. They are home today with Cindi and the picture of her in the room that has been waiting for her just gave me goosebumps!

Carol Evans and Lisa Guier- you guys are amazing- thanks for the surprise care packages! Lisa sent us, among other things, a great book called Same Kind of Different as Me. I finished it in two days! Thought I'd recommend it :).

Oh, I keep meaning to ask for some mom advice.... Any suggestions on what to do with mi hijo who started out eating everything and lots of it and now doesn't eat much and is picky? Is this normal!? :) He likes solid foods, but I can't seem to find enough protein sources that he can eat with his fingers. Ideas? Can't wait to be closer to experienced moms- we're all amateurs down here, so we have no where to go for advice! Thanks!