Merry Christmas!!!

We are ready!!!  I wanted to post quickly and wish everyone a Merry Christmas!!  

The likely hood is I  won't have much time to post over the holiday, but will have lots of fun details after!(I hope)

I pray that you all find the peace and love of Jesus as we celebrate His birth.  

I am so thankful that the Lord has completed our family this year and we are so looking forward to being able to enjoy this season with our children.   We have some exciting things planned and can not wait!!!

"Glory to God in the Highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests." 

Luke 2:14  

First visit to the ER!

So, yesterday was an interesting one for our household. 

Liam  had his first "asthma attack"  yesterday, although they won't diagnose him with asthma until he has a few more.  He woke up clingier than usual and as the morning progressed, I noticed him wheezing. OK, I thought, maybe he is getting another cold.  It came on quick, but that is what happens with kids right?  A few minutes later, I realize  that he is having some really laboring breathing going on so ....... off to the ER we went.  They were so good to us.  they took him straight back, much to the dismay of others that had probably been waiting hours.  They called the respiratory team in and within minutes after checking his low oxygen level, he was having his first breathing treatment.   He and I were there for about 5 hours before they let me take him home.   Poor guy!!  The blessing is that we didn't have to be transferred to Children's Hospital.  That was the plan early on.   God took care of him yesterday. He put the right people in the right places for us. I have asthma and so does my mom.  It is not fun and it was horrible to be sitting where I was yesterday watching him.    The funniest thing was one of the conversations I was having with one of the Doctor's .  He asked, "is there a family history of asthma?"  I said, "there is, but he is adopted, so for him, I don't know."  Laughing, he said, isn't that funny how adopted children take after their bio parents even when genetics aren't involved?     This led to us chatting about how Alex has none of mine or Gareth's health issues, but Callum and now Liam do.  To me, just another sign that  God intended for them to be our children regardless of genetics and blood:0)

Thank you Lord for protecting Liam yesterday. Thank you for putting the right Doctors in place and watching out for him!!!!

Happy Gotcha Day Callum!!!

It is 3 years today that we met Callum for the first time!!!  What a joy he has been!!  What progress he has made, and what a wonderful little boy he is!!!

Just as the first minute we saw him, he still has a smile that will melt your heart.  He just lights up the room when he walks in.  He has started talking up a storm and now won't stop. He is ever so popular.  It is great to go in his school and see the 4th and 5th graders giving him high 5's, and knowing his name.  That is the kind of presence he has.  He is so loving and gives the best hugs in the world.  He loves to pray and starts our family dinner prayers out every night. 

I could go on and on, but at the moment, I have to go play referee:0)  He also loves being a little and big brother.  What a blessing he is to have for a son.  We can not wait to see what things the Lord has in store for him in the years to come.  Callum, we love you!!!!

Alex and Callum had their Christmas programs at church Sunday night.  Callum sang a few songs (well, kinda)  before Alex's children's choir preformed their musical.   Alex had a speaking part this year and then became the angel in the nativity scene.  Isn't she too cute?  She did a great job memorizing her lines and acting them out.  It was a wonderful night.  I would have posted pictures of Callum, who looked adorable as well, but this was the only one I had between the two of them that didn't have a lot of other kids in. I didn't want to post other people's children without their permission:0) 

Happy Birthday Mom and Happy Anniversary!!

Today, my mom turned 60!!!  Don't know if she will appreciate me posting it, but what are daughters for is they can't embarass their mom's once in a while:0)  

We met for a lunch in with some friends from church and then she and I got to walk around the mall with out kids!  It was really nice.   

So, brag on mom at bit???  Happy birthday to a wonderful, loving woman who loves the Lord.  Things have not always been easy and yet, she never complains.  She is a cancer survivor and yet you would never know it unless you knew her at the time.  Again, never brings it up or complains about it.  She is always giving of her time, (maybe a little too much sometimes, hehehe)  and she never stops.  Things she hasn't taught me.....to sit and relax after a meal.  She always pops right up.(another hehehe) Things she has taught me.  Not to be judge mental, to love others, to take time for myself, to never give up and to never let something get you down.  

Mom, you are an amazing woman, mother and grandmother and i am sorry if I  don't tell you enough!!!

Also, my parents celebrated their 38th wedding anniversary on Friday!  Happy Anniversary!!!

Prayer for court date!!!

I am going to go ahead and ask that you please start praying for our court date now.  We have friends that just had theirs and their re-adoption was rejected. I guess their judge didn't support inter-national adoption, and long story short, didn't approve their re-adoption.  I pray that it can be fixed, although it will prob. take them a lot of time, effort and money. 

After speaking with our lawyer this morning, and telling him this situation, (in another state)  he said that anything is possible, but we won't know until we get there.  

Please start praying for the court date and the judge that will be residing over our case. I truly never even thought that they could reject us!!  I appreciate every lifting this situation up in prayer as often as you think of us. (which I hope is a lot;0)  )  

Thanks a bunch!!!!!  

Court Date!!

We finally received our state side court date for the boys.  I know it sounds confusing huh?

Due to the fact that we didn't visit the boys before their adoptions were approved, they came home on a visa.  (not as US Citizens)   Long story short, we have to apply to re-adopt them, which also gives us the opportunity to legally change their first names.  Once we stand before the judge, we will be able to apply for US Citizenship.   Since we started Liam's adoption 3 months after bringing Callum home, we had thought it was a good idea to just wait and do both boys at the same time.  3 years later we are now able to do both boys:0)  

Anyway, we received a letter in the mail and of course, my heart was pounding. All I could think was that something was wrong with the paperwork etc.  If you know our history, you can understand my feeling here.  I never used to be a pessimistic person:0)   Anyway, the letter from our lawyer stated that our court date is February 17th!!!!!    We started this process with our state side lawyer at the end of August, so it does just go to prove that nothing goes quickly in any country.   That is also 3 days after our 10 year wedding anniversary.  What a wonderful present that will be for us!!!!  What a blessing this will be!!!!!  

Down time between Thanksgiving and Christmas!!

Gareth's parents are over the Atlantic as I type this.   We had a wonderful visit with them, and our goodbyes went a lot smoother than I expected.   It always hits Alex the hardest, but she did very well tonight.  We have such a good time with them here.  The kids did great. There of course, was the jealousy issues between Callum and Liam, but that was to be expected.  Liam adjusted so well!!  He was saying nanny and grandad just a few days in to the visit.  We are truly blessed to have such a supportive family and our children have the best grandparents on the planet.  

For now, I am going to lay low for a while.  All of Christmas is done for us.  My cards are mailed and I am just going to enjoy the slowness of life for a little while. 

  

I have so much more to type and so much to catch up on computer wise, but for now, I am going to go read and try to fall asleep.   More on our visit later........

Nice Visit!!

Gareth's parents arrived on Monday afternoon!  We are having a great  visit.  The kids are thrilled and Liam has warmed up to them so quickly!!  Now for tomorrow.....I am hosting Thanksgiving for the first time!  I think I will have about 20!  Guess we will see how it goes.  The most important thing is that we have loved ones to share it with right?  It doesn't really matter what the turkey tastes like:0)

Date Night!

Gareth and I went out on a date last night.  It started out with some beautiful flowers from my husband.   We then went with friends to a comedy club and saw a hypnotist comedian.  We had seen him years ago with our Sunday School Class from our church in Va.  It is not a Christian show, but I guess from what I hear, not ugly like most comedians today.  Anyway, I was actually in the show and was hypnotized.  I didn't think it was possible, but it is.  I knew everything I was doing, don't think I embarrassed myself too bad, and had a lot of fun.  There were about 8 of us from the audience that were in the show.  

Gareth and our other friends said they really enjoyed it.  It was kinda neat to not really care what other people thought and just let go a little.  

Some things I did.......  had a job interview as a show critic. I got to tell how wonderful the Flintstones were and my job was to tell how "Hot"  Barney rubble was.   I was the Easter bunny's child and went to a support meeting for Holiday characters children.  We had to compare why we had it worse than others.  Anyway, you get the gist. It was fun.  Prob. not something i will do again, but an experience to remember.  It was so nice to get out with Gareth and have a nice meal and a show.  All in all, a great night!!  

The cast in gone:0)

After sitting at the doctor's office yesterday for 2 1/2 hours, Alex's cast is gone!!!

YEAH!!!  The doctor debated re-casting, or at least slinging, but Alex was very persuasive in the whole, "basketball starts in a few weeks"  category.  She is supposed to take it easy for another week, but is doing really well!!  Now, I just pray that she really does slow down a bit. She was complaining a bit that it still hurt, but I am sure by tomorrow, she will be fine!!  

I have spent today painting our guest room. My in-laws fly in on Monday, so I wanted to re-do the room.  We are so very excited!! They will be meeting Liam for the first time!!!  I am off to put the room back together so I can get a good night sleep tonight!!

Oh, my little man.....

So I have been cleaning like crazy lately!  Closets, cabinets everything. It happens a few times a year:0)  Anyway, this morning, I did the ultimate...... tried my wedding dress on.  It will be 10 years in February, and although it doesn't fit perfectly, it was "ok".  Anyway, I walked out of the bedroom all decked out with vail, dress and all wondering what kind of a reaction I would get.  Callum says, "mommy, you are a princess!"  

What a sweet boy I have:0)

Keep the prayer going.....

Here is Liam when we first saw him. He  was just a day old.  

Here is the first picture of Callum that we saw. He was just a few days old.   Looking at him now, it is so hard to believe that he was ever that little!!!

I sit here now with my beautiful son, I know they are both gorgeous, but I am with Liam right now:0)  and I think of this time last year.  I was in the worst pit of my life.  I didn't understand the waiting, the heartache, the obstacles being put in front of us.  Lately, between my bible study, sermons at church, Sunday school, etc. there has definitely been a recurring theme.  In our times of despair, turn to God and keep your eyes there.  I wish that I could say that I did that through our adoptions the last 4 1/2 years, but sadly I have to say that there were many times I was upset, angry, bitter, every emotion, I had it.  I have learned so many things through our waits and although I would NEVER  wish the hurt of what we went through on another person , I do know that God had this planned for us.  Even though I still struggle to understand why , I do know that God worked it all out to His glory. He placed amazing people in our path and worked miracles through many people to keep us on the right path.  

I still have many friends that are still awaiting their beautiful children. Some that may not have the same out come as we did. I ask that you continue to lift the situation in Guatemala up in prayer especially those families and children still waiting.  

This is what happens to the little brother when he falls asleep and his sister, then daddy and big brother get creative.  It was all done in love:0)

Alex with her bright pink cast.

It has now been signed by her whole class and friends from church.  3 weeks and we go back to have the arm x-rayed again. Please pray that she won't have to get another cast after that.  If she does, she won't be playing basketball this season:0(

Where does the time go?

I know it has been over a week since I posted.  I have gotten a few emails wondering what is going on. Thanks so much for caring.   All I can say is that life has been pretty hectic lately.  Last week, during Alex's strep illness, we found out that she was allergic to her medicine.    Not fun.  She is not one to sit around when she is sick, so adding this obstacle to it, was a lot to deal with:0)  We did survive, but I am praying that this is it for a while.   (at the time, I thought we were done with medical dramas)   Now on to the weekend...........  

We were able to go camping this weekend with friends. I know that does not sound like us at all. It was a first for both Gareth and I.  We borrowed a tent and sleeping bags and off we went. We really were clueless.  The first night, we froze.   By the second night, I figured the heater out along with bundling everyone in their own sleeping bags.  Gareth became an expert fire maker.  He became a little obsessive about it, but he sure kept us all warm.  We were able to go on our friends boat on Sunday. It was a BEAUTIFUL fall day.  We had such a great time and haven't been that relaxed in a long time. All of the kids were so well behaved and just had lots of fun!!  We ended up getting rained on on Monday, but we stuck it out and took the kids fishing in the rain.  Alex caught a cat fish all on her own. She was thrilled!!!  Now the amazing part, she caught it with a fractured arm.  Yes, you read that right. On Sunday, we went for a walk around the camp grounds and she fell. We thought maybe it was just sprained and she would survive.  She is such a trooper. You could tell it hurt her, but she rarely complained.  She was too worried about having fun and not missing out on anything.  Yesterday, (Tuesday)  I ended up taking her to the doctor because it was more swollen than it had been. The Dr. ordered x-rays.  They called later in the day to tell us that she has an appointment today to get it casted.  She fractured her radial bone right on the growth plate. It had to be casted, or as she grows, it will continue to bow/crack and it will be a mess.  

Today at the Dr. she was messing around. The doctor looked at her, looked at her x-ray, looked back at her and said, "if she was an adult, she would have been in here 2 hours after this happened. She must be in pain."   Well, that is our Alex.  She is one tough cookie:0)

She selected a BRIGHT pink cast and is sporting it beautifully.  Did anyone actually think that us city people could go out camping and not have any drama attached? (giggle, giggle)

Hopefully that will be all of the drama for now.  It has been a crazy week so far. Thanks to all that have helped out with the boys as I have been running her around to the different places. I really appreciate it!!!  My camera is charging and then I will share some pics of the weekend:0)

Now, let's see if we can get through Halloween.  Liam isn't too interested in his costume, (and skunk, so I can't really blame him) and he is a bit afraid of what he has seen so far. Callum is excited to be a fire fighter, and Alex is going to be a vet.  Should be lots of fun!!!!

and the sickness continues......

So Alex came in to us at 4:30 am to tell us that her throat was on fire and she would like to go to the doctor. Not a good sign.  It turns out that with a fever, she has strep. She is off of school until Thursday. Poor thing.  She slept most of the afternoon. Gareth took the boys out in hopes that they won't get it.   I also fell down the steps this morning rushing around, so I am going to be sporting some bruises. Luckily for everyone else, they are in places that you won't see:0)  Needless to say, Alex and I had a girls night tonight watching a movie.  Tomorrow we will just take it easy and pray that we are all well come Thursday.

I think that we have done our time in the sickness department this year and that this should be it!!!  Let's pray that is truly the case.

Happy 2nd Birthday Liam!!!!!

Yesterday was Liam's 2nd birthday.  I didn't post yesterday, one because I ran out of time, but two because I really was at a loss for words. I know it doesn't happen very often, but yesterday was one of those days.  

Two years ago, we had already been in our adoption process for 8 months. We had been matched with a little boy that fell through. I remember being so devastated.    2 weeks later, a call came in that a little boy had been born, and we were to be matched with him.  I remember praying to God that if this really was the boy that He had hand picked for us, please give us a sign.  Make the process proceed easily and get this little boy home to us.   

We then spent the next 21 months in constant turmoil trying to get this beautiful little boy home to us.  We had to fight more of a fight than we ever thought possible. We watched him grow in pictures all the while questioning God and asking why He was allowing these obstacles to be thrown in our path. Did we hear Him wrong when we prayed?   There were many times, (months) where neither Gareth or I felt the Lord in this process. We prayed only to hear nothing.   There were also times when God put faithful people in our path and used them to show us the way.  He truly preformed miracles.  

I have come to learn that although the path wasn't easy, God never said it would be.  God had something greater in mind for us and that is why we had to wait. Timing is most important in God's time, not ours.  He waits until He can have all the glory.   We may never understand the waiting, but we have to know that when we are going through trials, it is the time to draw on what we know from God. Not base everything on our feelings at that moment.  That being said, I am a women, and that is hard to do:0)

All of that said, we woke Liam up yesterday singing to him.  He was clueless and didn't really care for the singing:0)   We took him to Chick-fil-A for breakfast.  Gareth had to work about 12 hours, so I had my parents come over for dinner and we had cake.  All in all, it was a such a fun and laid back day.

As I was putting him to bed, all I could think was how amazing this little boy is.  He has a beautiful smile. He is so very clever.  He loves to give hugs and he loves his cars and books.  

I could go on and on, but I am sure that you don't have all day:0)    As I was standing there watching him sleep, I just stood in awe of this little man.  God chose him just for us!! 

It is like he has always been here. The pain of the wait truly is gone. We are so in Love with him and now have this beautiful bundle of joy that keeps us on our toes and has us wrapped around his little finger. We are so truly blessed to have him as our son and can not wait to see what the Lord has prepared for him in years to come!!!

Happy Birthday Liam!!!!

A quick update!!

It seems as if I haven't posted in forever!!

Where do I begin?  Last Saturday we had our final soccer games.  We were all well enough to go, although Friday night I wasn't sure that we would be.  Gareth coached both teams and Callum's team went undefeated. Alex's team did well, but I am not sure their final win/loss count.

We were all well on Sunday and after church, we had a family day. We took the kids to a pumpkin patch.  We played in a hay pit, did a corn maze, went on a hay ride, saw animals and picked and painted pumpkins.  The kids were exhausted. We went straight back to church to start our Sunday night studies, so it was a long but fun day. 

Monday started normally.  Callum was feeling off Monday and Tuesday. He had a fever on and off. it is hard because you just never know how sick they really are.  All of my kids act perfectly well when they are running fevers.   On Thursday, I got a call from the nurse at school that Alex had a fever, so I had to go get her early.  On Thursday night, Gareth and I came down with it.  Now, Gareth and I have colds.  We are both completely congested.    We are getting ready to move in to our new sanctuary at church. This has been years in the making, and we are thrilled. Anyway, last night we had a sound check for the praise team(which I am on)  I don't know why I bothered to go. I could barely sing, and I certainly didn't help with what/where I could hear coming out of where.  My head was so clouded that all I could hear was myself:0)

I haven't gotten to see my dad lately as the last thing I want to do is make him more sick with our yucky germs. That has been hard. I try to take the kids over to my parent a few times a week to visit with him. 

Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day and we will all be healthy for the rest of the year.  This is too much so far this fall.   We want to be healthy and stay that way:0)

I am sure that I rambled and may not have made complete sense, but I did want to post something this week. Now it is off to get everyone ready to bed and an early night. Praying we are able to go to church tomorrow!!!

and the sickness continues....

I have all three kids home today.  Callum and Liam have now joined Alex.  I def. think that tomorrow will be a better day. It seems as if Liam is the one that is the worst today. He is sleeping at the moment.  I still haven't had a full meal yet, but the plus is I may lose a few pounds:0)    I didn't expect my household to get sick this early in to the school year. I just pray that Garth stays healthy. He is the only one that hasn't been effected yet!!

sick, sick, sick:0(

I know I haven't posted in a week.  Alex and I are now fighting this stomach bug going around. Not fun!!!  So far, the boys haven't gotten it. We pray that they won't. it has been yucky!!!!

sick, sick, sick:09

Welcome another new addition!!!

Last night we went to the airport to welcome another new addition to our church family. Our friends Lauri and Bob went to China and now have a beautiful new daughter. She has chosen to go by the name Amy. She is 12, very tall and just gorgeous.  We will continue to pray for them on this wonderful journey.  While waiting last night, we were all talking that they are the last family in our church that was adopting.  We have had 5 families bring home children in the last year.  What a blessing that it has been to not only watch and be a part of that, but to also have such a wonderful and supportive church family!!

 We are so very blessed to have so many friends that love the Lord.  Thank you to each and everyone of you that has prayed and continue to pray for all of us that have gone this route to grow our families.  

Tomorrow we have our first post placement appointment for Liam. I am off to clean up my house:0)  I am excited about meeting our new social worker.  She seems very nice and is so pleasant to talk to.  I will be sure to let you all know how it goes!!!

Date Day!!

Saturday night, Gareth and I were offered tickets to the Redskins game on Sunday.  Couldn't say NO to that.  Thanks to mom, dad, and Peggy for watching the boys and to the Weikels for taking Alex.  We have not had such a great date in a long time. It was so nice to watch a game and not have to talk if we didn't want to. We didn't miss a play.    On top of that, they actually WON.  It was a good game.  We had beautiful weather.  I ended up getting sun burned. I am a little sore today.  Gareth has a nice tan. Just doesn't seem fair:0)  

Brag on Callum day!!!

Callum scored his FIRST GOAL soccer this morning.  This is huge considering that most games, he doesn't even care if he kicks the ball.  In the last 10 seconds of the game, he kicked it right as if he had been doing it for months and months.  Great day!!!

On top of that, the weather was beautiful this morning.  Alex scored today too, sore back and all.  I was out another Chick-fil-a milk shake again this morning for both of them, but it was worth it to watch.  FYI, the deal is, if they score a goal, they get treated to a milk shake.  I think that Alex has tried every one now. Little did I know when I told them this, that Alex would score every week:0)  I will have to get creative for next year.

Poor Alex!

Over the last week, Alex has been complaining that her back hurt.  Loving parents that we are, we told her that it was prob. just a pulled muscle and she would be fine.  As the week progressed, she continued to complain, wasn't sleeping and would even move to the floor in the night trying to get comfortable.  This morning, I took her to the doctor, still explaining on the way that she prob. just pulled a muscle.  Well, it turns out that she did, but she also has a sprained back.   We didn't even know that you could do that.  It turns out that her poor little lower back is all inflamed.  It will just take time, but now it all makes sense.  We will be doing heating pad rituals every night now for at least a week and she will be taking an anti-inflammatory, but she will be fine.   Life lesson, You learn something new every day:0)

It has been a while!!

Where does the time go?  It has been over a week since I posted.  The time really does fly.

Last week, we were so blessed to welcome our friends Demarie and David home from Ethiopia.  They took their daughter and went to get their new son Josiah.  He is just beautiful and we couldn't be happier for them.

Alex is having a great time in school. She is loving it and doing great so far! She has started her piano lessons again, and loving it.  Her and Callum are both continuing to do soccer.  

Each week, Alex and I have an agreement that if she scores a goal, I will get her a milk shake.  So far, I have had to pay out every week. She is doing great!!  Callum enjoys soccer, but he pretty much just runs the field at this point.  Too cute. He has now finished his second week. He is doing great as well. He has gotten on the green everyday, and we have been told that he is just the star of the class.

Today marks 2 months since we met Liam for the first time.  He has gained a pound and a half, he is already sleeping through the night now in his own room and he is talking up a storm.  He has learned the famous, "no", as well as Hi, hey, bye bye, mommy, daddy, baby, uh oh, and he knows how to blow kisses.  We never in a million years thought that he would be doing this well.  What a joy it is to see him adjusting so well.  The other morning after Alex had gotten off to school, I was cleaning up the kitchen. I realized that it had gotten awfully quiet.  Not good when you have a 4 year old and 1 year old in the house.  I peeked in to Callum's room, and there on the floor, the boys were playing  building a tower together. It is moments like this that I just praise God for bringing our children in to our home. We spent years praying to see that sight and to have it in reality was such a blessing.   It lasted a good 10 minutes before I had to play referee:0)

Football Season has Started!!!

Although our team isn't doing so well, we still have to support them.   We hung out with my parents and watched the first half of the game. tonight   I had to record the convention so I could watch it later.  We are not huge TV people, and it is not very often are there 2 things on the TV that I want to watch at the same time.  I was torn, but it is always better to watch sports live, so I will be watching the speeches in to the night tonight:0)  Callum is really starting to get in to football a little. He chatted all the way home tonight about the game.  Guess we will have to see what the future holds for him in that direction.  Will he break daddy's heart and switch from soccer to American football??

Our friends are in Ethiopia this week getting their son. They have had a great week so far and we just Praise God for that!!!  They return Monday morning, so I just asked for your continued prayers for the rest of their trip and safe travel.  

Open House!

Alexandria had her open house at school tonight.  She was so excited that she was just about bouncing off the walls.  Her teacher is wonderful and we were able to say a quick "hi" to her Kindergarten and first grade teachers.  We are so very blessed that she loves school so much and that we have had such a wonderful school staff that support that!  

Callum has his second day today.  He did great. I did find out that he fell asleep on the bus yesterday.  Of course, psycho mom that I am  then had horrible thoughts going through my head of him being left on the bus.  I was assured that the bus gets checked after all the students get off to be on the safe side.   He got on the green for a second day in a row, (behavior chart) which is just great!!  He still isn't able to tell us a whole lot about what is going on, but I am sure as the year goes by, and he starts talking more, it will all start pouring out.

Liam and I have just hung out the past two afternoons. Yesterday he had to get shots, so it was a bit of a lazy day although he didn't nap at all.  Today, he did nap for a little while, but I don't think that he will ever be one to nap for hours at a time.  He has already started saying please, (with a cute little lisp, due to his teeth missing)  and today he said baby and puppy.  He repeated right after me when I said them. I am still in shock and hope that it wasn't just a fluke. I may keep him up until Gareth gets home and try to get him to do it again:0)  

I am so thrilled at how well he is doing.  He has already gained over a pound since he has been home and even after losing 4 teeth, is eating us out of house and home. We have to cut him off.  

Callum's First day of school!!!

Today was Callum's first day of Pre-K in the public school system.  He is going to the same school as Alex, but he gets there on a bus. This was new for us. Usually I either walk Alex, or drive her. I had never had to put one of my babies on a bus before.  We made the decision, with his teachers that this might be the best route for him.  He is having a few jealousy issues with Liam and our fear was him, not wanting to go in to the school once he realized that Liam and I would have the whole afternoon together without him.  Anyway, he was so excited about getting on the bus that He did GREAT!!! He waved to his bus driver, never really looked back and off he went. We called to him and attempted to get a picture, but he was already getting seated.  My mom and I followed the bus and although we stayed hidden, we watched him get off the bus and get in to the school.  He told us tonight that he had a great day.  He already had speech today, (which he will have 2 times a week at school) and made a few friends. Unfortunately, he couldn't tell us their names.  All in all, it was a good day.  I am so thankful the God has placed such a great school with loving teachers and staff in our lives. We truly are blessed!!!! We can not wait to see how much Callum accomplishes this year.  He lights up a room just by smiling!  Everyone seems to know who he is and everyone just loves him.  To think that this time last year, he only had the vocabulary of about 5 words just blows us away.  He has already accomplished so much in his short life and we can not wait to see what God has in store for him as he continues to grow!!! 

Life with 3!

Gareth is out doing yard work, and I have decided to rename myself, referee:0)  It has set in that we have 3 children, ages 1, 4 and 7.  They are typical siblings.  They are the best of friends, but today is the day that they have been at each other since they woke up.  Alex mother's Liam, and Callum does not understand how rough he is being with Liam.  Liam has now developed the worst screech when something isn't going his way, so if you are not in the room with them, it sounds as if he is being tortured, when in fact, Callum is barely touching him.    I know it seems weird but although it has been a hard day, I would not trade it for the world.  I think of this time last year, when we weren't sure if we would ever be a family of 5. I remember praying and having conversations with God about the obstacles that we were coming up against. I remember the hurt and anger when every step took  3-4 times the length they "should have".  I remember Liam's birthday and the numbness I felt that he wasn't home.  Although I am all but playing referee today, I would not trade it for the world, and I thank God for the screaming going on in the room next door!!!!

4 Teeth Gone!!!!

Liam had his surgery today.   It was horrible, but it had to be done. It took 12 shots to his gums and the roof of his mouth, Valium,(did I spell that right?)  and other meds.  Gareth and I were able to stay the whole time. All in all, it took about 40 minutes once we got in the room.  We def. decided that if we were ever asked again, he would have been 100% knocked out and in the O.R. without a doubt.  He screamed the whole 40 minutes and I won't begin to go in to details. Not pretty and not something that as a mother, I ever want to repeat.   He was a trooper.  This afternoon was hard, but after being home for a few hours, we were able to get him to sleep.  He woke up much nicer than he fell asleep.  He is doing great tonight. He was able to eat mashed potatoes, and pudding.  We pray that he has a good night and will bounce back tomorrow.  Thanks for all of the calls and prayers!!!!!

Our 2nd grader!!!

Today was Alex's first day of second grade. She got up this morning, (and it was a bit difficult)  we made pancakes, painted her toes, and off we went.  She said to me as we were walking over to the school, "I kinda feel like I need to throw up."  It is hard because her school doesn't do meet and greets for the older students so going in to today, she hadn't ever met her teacher. I reminded her that she knew at least 3 kids in  her class, so she would be fine.  We waited anxiously all day to hear how her day went.  The boys played great together, I got caught up on my cleaning, Gareth Got caught up on house hold stuff and Liam napped for 2 hours.  It was GREAT!!!!   Over lunch Gareth and I were chatting about the fact that we actually have a 2nd grader.  My how the time flies. I still can't believe that she is in second grade. 

This afternoon, we walked over to get Alex and she came out full of smiles.  Her backpack was accompanied by a bear and book.  She was chosen to have their class mascot for the first week of school.  She said she was chosen because she behaved so well.  It is days like these that you thank God no matter how you worry some days that are messing your child up day after day, that  you may actually be doing something right!!   She was very talkative over dinner telling us about her day, her teacher and her new friends, as well as the old friends that she saw today.   I pray that she continues to love school and that she continues to blossom in the way that we know she can. God has given her a gift of not having to try real hard to learn and as we have been told multiple times, when she really applies herself, she can be exceptional. It is a matter of making her want to try:0)  I am so excited that it seems that she will have another wonderful teacher this year that will help us feed that gift.  We have been very blessed in the past two years with great teachers and a great school staff.   I can not wait to see what she accomplishes this year. We are so very proud of her!!!!!

Shots, shots and more shots:0(

We are back from the beach, pictures and details to come later.  We awoke this morning bright and early to head to the doctor.  Alex and Callum both had to get shots.  They have now decided that Alex needed another chicken pox shot and Callum ended up getting 4.  I didn't realize that going in to it.  Alex was very brave. She didn't cry at all. Bless her heart, she walked in to the office first, looked at me and said, "I didn't know I was getting a shot. I was here for Callum."  

Oops, guess I forgot to tell her.  Callum came walking in as Alex was getting her band aid.  He proceeds to get up on the table and ask for "2" .  Not knowing that in order to get 2 band aids, you get to get 4 shots.  The boy is so strong. It took me holding his arms, the nurse his feet and the other giving the shots, and he wasn't really fighting.   We then took Liam to the Lab to have blood drawn. Why not get it all done in one morning.  Poor thing. You can't see his veins at all!!!!  It took 10 minutes, a heating pad, both arms, and the girl still going on touch to get 4 tubes of blood.  He was a trooper, but I felt so bad for him.  I just assumed that once they went to draw the blood, his little vein would pop up.    So now, Callum and Liam are both napping, and Alex is chilling on the couch.  It will be a calm day for us today.  On a positive note, Liam is now in his own room and own crib!!  He doesn't like it yet, but this will be his third night. He is crying less every time.  Callum told us last night at bed time, "you need to go calm him down."  Too cute!!!    I will post from our trip when I have a bit more time:0)

Great NEWS!!!!

We just heard that our friends have their travel date to get their new son!!!  They are heading to Ethiopia in 2 1/2 weeks.  We couldn't be happier for them!!!! Please keep them in your prayers as they prepare for their trip and please pray for their son Josiah.  Pray that God begins to prepare his heart for his new family!!!!!!!

Happy Friday!!!

Today was pretty eventful.  Alex and Callum finished their swim lessons today.  They both did GREAT!!!  Alex went off the diving board into 15 ft. and Callum went down the huge slide.  We are very proud of them!!!   We were finally able to get Liam on our health insurance.  Thank goodness!! It took a few weeks. Now, no more paying out of pocket, although I hope that we don't have any need for the doctor anytime soon.  

Liam update:  he is doing great!!!  He has really learned how to stir Callum up:0) It is interesting to watch. Callum is still establishing that he is big brother, but Liam def. pushes his buttons.   Tonight for dinner, he had 3 pieces of pizza.  He is still terrified of the vacuum cleaner.  Tonight I ended up with him on my hip while I vacuumed.  That was a work out.   Tomorrow, I am doing hair for a wedding, and between that and going to the wedding, I will be leaving the kids for about 7 hours. That is the longest I have had to be away from him since we got him. I m sure that he will do great as he will have Callum and Alex with him, but I still hate leaving:0)  

We are off to the beach this weekend.  I am looking so forward to it, although it is 9:30 and I haven't packed a thing yet. So unlike me, but it will eventually get done.

I hope that everyone has a great weekend!!!!!

Long time since update!

I know it has been a while.  where do I start?  We finally have our computer back. It is up and running.  The whole thing crashed, but they were able to fix it and we didn't lose anything so that was great news.   We have all been sick.  Everyone but Liam got the stomach bug going around. YUCK!!!  Luckily he didn't get it, and Gareth didn't get it too bad.  Liam and I both now have ear infections and he has bronchitis, and I have a sinus infection.  Fun, Fun, Fun.  

That is why I haven't had a chance to post.  Alex and Callum have had swim lessons every morning, so although we don't feel well, we are still going strong:0)  I have realized that I am going to start slowing down.  Liam has been home for 3 weeks and I have not had 1 day where we just stayed home.  If I had given birth, I would have been much easier on myself.  (as pointed out by my husband)   We are going on a vacation next week, and I can not tell you how much I am looking forward to it.  We have had this booked for months and months and we are so thrilled that Liam is home to go.    When we get back, we will have one week to get ready for school.  Alex goes back the 25th, and Callum the week after.  The 27th Liam will be having surgery to remove 4 teeth.  The Dentist couldn't save them, so he will be toothless until his permanent ones come in.  Luckily the adult teeth are not damaged at all.   

On an adoption note, we have friends through our agency that have been united with their son!! Praise God!!!!  It was a fight until the end, but they will be coming home next week and we are thrilled for them!!!!! 

 I will post more later. Now, I am trying to get caught up on a weeks worth of laundry before we go to church tonight!!!

Oh, and I will post more pictures soon!! 

The week for Birthdays!!

It has been a little crazy this week. Alex's birthday was last week and we tried to make it as enjoyable as possible. She is 7. I still can't believe that I have a 7 year old. Where does the time go?? Friends of ours offered to let us use their pool earlier this week so that we could have a pool party for her. (thanks Melissa) Now, I am not big on parties, but will do whatever I have to do to make things special for my kids. To say that the party was hectic, would be an understatment. I do think that everyone had fun though, and Alex had a blast, so it was all worth it!!!
My birthday was yesterday. I will not even begin to tell my age:-0) I do think that it is such a blessing that my birthday is between 2 of my children's birthdays. All 3 of us have birthday's within 10 days of each other. Birthday's are nice and all, but the older I get, I do thing that they are definitly more for children than adults. Anyway, Gareth had to work about 13 hours and the kids had swim lessons, and then VBS at night and I am getting over a horrible cold. Liam and I did get to take a long nap thanks to my mom. She took Alex and Callum for a few hours in the afternoon. I did get to go to dinner with my friends Kristy and Chet while the kids were at VBS too and it was really nice. The food was great!! I ended up just about falling asleep before Gareth got home. It was a long day, but fun just the same. I was so busy with the kids that I didn't have to focus on getting another year older:0)
Callum's birthday is Saturday, and with both Alex's and my birthday, he wanted us to sing to him. I think that he is really going to enjoy his day this year. I am looking forward to seeing how he does.

The week with Liam has been going well. He hasn't been sleeping very well, so you can pray for us there. I personally don't remember being this tired when Alex was born, but maybe I have blocked it from my mind:0) And I do remember that Callum adjusted with his sleep better. I know he needs sleep and I feel for him. He didn't end up taking a nap at all today. He just cried for over an hour before I finally gave up. Poor guy. I know that it won't last forever, I just feel for him. It is such a transition, and with everything else but the sleep, he is doing fantastic!!!! I am not complaining, I just hate that this is so hard for him. I pray that that it doesn't last long!! With Gareth and I, he is doing great!!! I got my first mommy instead of mama at dinner the other night. He even said "bye bye" tonight when friends left. I couldn't believe it!!!

Anyway, I am off to be too, ,but before I do, we found out yesterday that some of our close friends court date went great for their adoption!! They should be traveling to bring their son home within the next month!! Praise God for that!! What a great time that will be!!!!!

Computer is Down!

Our computer is sick:0( I just wanted to give a quick update, but am typing on the lap top that sometimes works, and sometimes doesn't:0)

Things are going well!!! This week has been good. Gareth was able to take the whole week off which was a huge blessing!!! It has truly helped in his and Liam's bonding. Alex, Callum and I also came down with a stomach bug, so it helped to have him here then too!! Luckily, Liam and Gareth haev been in the clear with that.

Today, we were thrown a beautiful party after church to welcome Liam home. I was overwhelmed by the thoughtfulness and kindness of our friends. Thank you to everyone who helped to celebrate our beautiful family!!!!!!

I am off to try and get these little ones to bed and since I can't really see what I am typing anyway, i will cut this short, but I just wanted to let everyone know how blessed we feel to have such wonderful friends and family that have supported us through the past few years and we are so thankful for you!!!!!
You are all truly blessings from God!!!!!!

We are finally in the USA!!!!

At the airport. 

Alex Loving on her

new brother!!!

Our 3 beautiful children!!!!!!

Liam's foster mom put him down for his nap before she left. We then had to wait over 2 hours for him to wake up.  Here are pictures of us watching him sleep, and then the first few minutes after he woke up!!!  

First few minutes with our son.  Here is Liam with his foster mother Theresa.  He was with her the last 10 months, and boy did she love him!!!!!

Sweet Saturday!!!!

What a wonderful day it has been!!  

We arrived home last night exactly on time.  We had such a wonderful group of family and friends that met us at the airport.  I can not thank them enough for their love and support.  Liam was in a great mood. He had slept on the plane so when we arrived, he was ready to go.  Alex and Callum just adore him.  It was so great to see them interact.  We had to put Liam in a car seat for the first time as we were leaving the airport. He did not like that at all.  At one point, Callum looked over at him and said, "stop whining, we are trying to watch a movie." Of course, he did it lovingly:0)   We just cracked up.  Nothing like putting him in his place.  The funny thing was, he did.  We didn't hear a cry out of him after that.  When we got home, we told the kids that although it was after midnight, they could stay up and get to know their brother.  They had him laughing and smiling for over an hour.  We also told them that they could have a sleep over in our room.  We meant on the floor, but we ended up with all three of them in our bed by this morning:0)  

Today, we got up and just hung out.  We spent 2 hours looking for sandals for Liam. Who knew that it would be so hard to find size 5 boy sandals in July, but 6 stores later, we finally found some.  We then went and hung out with my parents and sister and brother-n-law.  I thought for sure that Liam would be overwhelmed. There were 7 other kids there. Instead, he chatted away, and played along.   I think that he is a bit over tired now though. Bed time was a bit hard tonight.  We tried for over an hour and now have resorted to Gareth driving him around to calm him down.  Hopefully tomorrow will be better in that department.  Starting tomorrow, we will really try and get him on a routine.  We didn't follow anything today and it is showing now.  We are all very tired, as the week has caught up with us. Hopefully we will all get a good night's sleep and have lots of energy tomorrow.

Big RED Approval!!!!!

We woke up this morning at 5am in order to get ready for our Embassy appointment. We learned that Liam does not like to be woken up. He slept through the night again. Did not like his bath at all. I got lots of mama's last night after the bath. It was pitiful:0) Anyway, we arrived at the Embassy at 7am and were a bit lost. Luckily there was a facilitator with another family that walked us through everything. We went through 2 different interviews. Both times, they got to here our dreadful agency experience. Both indiviuals were wonderful!!!! We went in to a very small room, and then got a BIG RED APPROVAL!!!!! I don't think that I will 100% happy until i have his visa in hand, but for now, we are happy. I go back tomorrow at 3:30 to get his stamped passport and visa, and then we can come home!!!!
He is still very taken with me. He wants me to carry him everywhere. He is warming up to Gareth and is much happier at night than in the morning. He still doesn't like loud noises. We ventured out to dinner last night. Gareth spoke spanish very well. At dinner, we really saw Liam open up. He started chatting and tried to feed us. His sippy cup fell out of the diaper bag, so we had to have him use a straw. He loved that. At breakfast this morning, that is all he wanted. He is just precious and we can't wait to continue to see his personality as he opens up more.
We are staying in the hotel today since we don't have his passport. We are off to have lunch at take naps. Tomorrow we may go to the zoo and market before we go back to the Embassy. Then we will come back to the hotel to pack to come home!!!!!!!
Alex and Callum, we miss you like crazy. We can't wait for you to meet Liam!!!!! Love you!!!!!
Thank you for all of the prayers. Today could not have gone better!!!!!!

What a wonderful day!

Well, last night was great. Liam did great. He woke up from his nap and did great! Of course, he was a bit upset. We found that he doesn't like the hotel room. We spent a little while just walking the hotel, then had some dinner. He eats everything. Putting him to bed was much easier than we thought. He doesn't like a bath like we were told. He screamed so loud that we gave up. We then laid him in our bed and he looked from one of us to the other until he feel asleep. That easy. He slept through the night almost 11 hours. We woke many times just to look at him thinking that he would wake up. This morning, he woke up and did great. We had breakfast in the hotel and then we were able to get a tour guide to take us and another couple to Antigua. It was so nice. We were able to see the ruins of what was once a beautiful Cathedral. it was destroyed in and earth quake. We went to a Jade factory, (lots of fun) and then a market where Gareth attempted to make me barter for stuff. I didn't' enjoy that too much:0) We have had beautiful weather and had such a nice day.
Liam is very quiet and reserved. He is a little skittish and doesn't like loud noises. We haven't had a lot of smiles yet, but we did have a tantrum when I attempted to put him down. He loves to have me hold him. He is already raising his arms to me. So cute!!!!! He wants me to carry him everywhere, even though he can walk. Not a problem at all!!!! We can't wait until tomorrow to see his personality come through even more!!! Everyday is just going to get better and better. He is just so gorgeous!!!!!!
We will be getting up around 5:30am for our big appointment. Please pray that it goes well!!!
We miss Alex and Callum so much and can't wait to be home to have our family reunited!!!!!The Internet in our room isn't working, so I will try and post again tomorrow when we get back from the Embassy. We can't wait for everyone to meet him!!!!! He is so great~~~~~

Where do I begin???

I can start by saying that our new son is beautiful!!!!
Thanks to Shelly and mom for posting. We were having some internet issues, and the screen still isn't perfect, so if something isn't spelled right, or sound right, forgive me this time. I am the one that fixed the problem and I am still not sure how:0)
Our Journey BEGINS!!!!!
We arrived at the airport this morning at 4:45 to be told that our flight was delayed by 2 1/2 hours. No reason. We would miss our connection and if that happened, we wouldn't get to Guatemala today. What a way to start the morning:0) We were on standby for a 7:00 flight, and ended up not getting on that one thanks to a couple that arrived at the last second. We were able to get on the 7:15, that with the time difference, landed in Houston at 9:18. Our connection was at 9:25. The poilot and crew were so nice. They had called ahead and told them our situation. They said that there were no promises, but they might be able to hold the plane a few minutes. I, shy person that I am, asked muliptle people to switch seats with us. Our seats were at the back of the plane, and we needed to be in the front so we could run the seond the plane stopped. This was also after I asked about 40 people at National Airport if we could butt in front of them after we were told about our flight delay:0) My husband was very thankful for a stubborn wife today. I was not going to let us miss meeting our son today!!!Needless to say, we met 2 very nice people that offered to switch. We didn't get to sit together, but that wasn't the goal. We wpent the whole flight praying. The plane landed at 9:23. As we were taxing Gareth yells backc to me, "the plane is still there", the second the seat belt sign went off, we were running. What a sight we must have made. By the Grace of God, we only had 4 gates to go. Gareth ran ahead. I can't sprint like that anymore:0) He held the plane until I got there, and we made the connection!!Praise God!!!!!! Thanks to those of you who prayed us through that. Those prayers are the reason we were able to make the flight.
We arrived in Guatemala City at 11:35. Our Lawyer was meeting us at the hotel at 12:30. We head to baggage claim, and of course, no luggage. We spend a half an hour filling out a claim ticket. Didn't think that it should take that long, but it is us you know. Hopefully we will get luggage later tonight. If not, we will be in the same clothes all week. Just kidding, I will have to find a store somewhere!!!!
We arrive at our Hotel at 12:40, walk in and Gareth says, "there he is!!!!" Liam walked right in front of us smiling away. How beautiful. We weren't sure what to do, so I found our lawyer, went and checked in and then we all came up to our room. We were able to spend time with his foster mom. What a blessing that was. We were told that we problay wouldn't get to, and she was such a sweet and wonderful woman. The funniest part was when Liam looked at me, then looked at Gareth and said, "mama". We all died laughing. Maybe that will be the reason Gareth cuts his hair:0) Just kdding, I love it. His foster mom put him to sleep, and then she snuck out. He has been sleeping ever sense. What an amazing day!!!!! We are a bit shell shocked really. Everything was so stressful and rushed, but I am coming to learn that the Jenkins' family doesn't do it any other way. So, here I sit waiting........ I want to wake him up so badly, but know I can't. So, I will sit and wait as patiently as I can. The 45 minutes that we spent with him so far were amazing. He loves the 2 little stuffed dogs and are from Alex and Callum and he loves the toy cell phone we brought him.
We have learned that he loves that bath. He is walking all over, and he is still on a bottle. That will have to change, but I won't do it cold turkey. Hopefully gradually over the next few days, we will be able to introduce him to a sippy cup.(if we get our luggage, becuase of course, that is where it is. we forgot to put it in the carry on) That is all for now. I want to thank each and everyone of you for your continued prayers and support. Love to Alex and Callum. We miss you both so much and now that we have Liam, we just want to come home. 4 more days!!!!!
What a blessing our 3 children are. We will continue to thank God each and every day for the wonderful blessings that he has entrusted to us.
I am off to stare at my little boy and just watch him sleep!!!!!!
I will try posting more tonight or tomorrow!!!!!!

They Got Liam!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry, forgive the last post! This is Shelly, Dawn's sister and the first time I have ever posted on a blog! Dawn & Gareth wanted my mom & I to post for them to let everyone know that after a crazy morning of flights, Liam is with them and he is doing well. They met the foster mom, she was very nice and helped them get him to sleep so when he wakes up she will no longer be there and that will be the true test.



Dawn wanted us to thank everyone for the continuous prayers!



Shelly

They Got Liam!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Saturday!!

I am sitting here with my house very silent. I thought that I should post now, because this may be the last time I can prior to us leaving. Thanks to Melissa for taking Alex and Callum today. Thanks to my sister for double checking my packing. (especially my 50 million papers needed) We are finished packing, my house is clean, the kids bags are packed and it still all feels very surreal. Gareth and I have been up every night since Wednesday until at least 2:00am. Not because we had tons to do I justI think that neither of our brains could shut down. We have so many feeling coming to the surface that have been locked away for so long now. We are both getting REALLY excited. This morning over breakfast we said, "this time next week, we will have all of our children sitting here with us." We don't want to wish the week away, and we certainly want to take this week to truly enjoy and get to know Liam and let him get to know us, but I truly think that the wall will completely be down when our family is united.

Our flight leaves National airport at 6am on Monday. We have a quick layover in Houston and then we head to Guatemala City. We should be there by 11:15. They are 2 hours behind us here on the East coast, so everyone in England, you will be a good 7 hours ahead of us:0) We should have him by 1:00 that day and he will not leave our side after that!!!!!! Our US Embassy appointment is Wednesday morning at 7:15 am, and his paperwork should be processed and ready for pick up on Thursday after noon. We leave Guatemala City at 6:30 am on Friday, arrive in Houston with a VERY long layover to handle his paperwork. We will leave Houston at 5:50pm and land at National Airport at 10 pm. We have already had friends tell us that they will be waiting at this end, which we can't wait for!!!! If you would like to meet him and welcome him in, we say "the more the merrier!"

Before I log off for the night, I will ask that you continue to lift us up in your prayers. Please pray for safe travel, pray for Liam's adjustment. Our hearts are already breaking for this beautiful 21 month old that is going to be handed over to a pair of strangers on Monday. If his little heart only knew how much we already loved him. Please pray that our Embassy appoinment goes well, and that they are able to process his paperwork correctly. Also, please pray for Alex, and Callum, (we will miss them so much!!!!) and all of those that are helping take care of them. My parents and sister and various friends that may end up taking them throughout the week. Our church has Vacation Bible School this week, and I was supposed to teach. Please pray for Demarie who has taken over my class as well as her own. Pray for Cindy and Stacey who are running the VBS and all of the other teachers that will be touching children's lives in a special way this week. I am bummed for missing it, but as we have all said, "this is God's timing, so I guess it will all work out in the end." ;0)

We are taking a lap top with us, but it is pretty old. I hope and pray that we will be able to post. We will not be able to upload any pictures, but hopefully we will be able to share our journey with you!!!!

I pray that the my next entry is from Guatemala!!!!!!!!!!!

Dear Brothers, is your life full of difficulties? Then be happy. For when the way is rough, your patience has a chance to grow. For when your patience is in full bloom, you will be strong in character and ready for anything. You will be full and complete" - James 1:2-4

Never in a million years did I think that the days leading up to completing our family would be this stressful or the wait even more difficult than the wait that we have already endured. We recieved a call today from our lawyer. Liam is scheduled to arrive on Monday at 1:00. He will be delivered to us at the hotel. There are so many emotions going on in our heads right now I wouldn't even know where to begin. I have to just trust that God will allow everything to go as smooth as possible. I pray that He is preparing Liam's for the easiest transition possible. My heart is already breaking for the trama that he may go through coming to us at 21 months. I pray for Alex and Callum that will be here in the states. Alex had a very hard day today. She wants to travel with us so badly and kept repeating all day how much she will miss us. I don't want to wish a week away, but I can not wait until next Friday night when our family will be united and will be complete.

We are trying to stay as busy as possible at the moment. This morning we all had our yearly physicals. Alex weighs 51 pounds which is about the 53 percentile for weight. She is in the 97 percentile for height. Callum on the other hand weights 40 pounds. He is in the 95th percentile for weight and 49th percentile for hight. It was hilarious to see their charts side by side. Callum needs to get 4 shots to be up to date while Alex still needs a chicken pox vaccination. We held off today and will wait until we get back to do all of that. With our luck, we would have done it today and Alex would have been in the 10% to actually get the chicken pox:0). I won't share mine and Gareth's weight, but I have supposedly shrunk an inch. Can't see that really happening, but I wasn't going to argue with the nurse:0) Needless to say, we are all very healthy and hope to remain that way for the forseable furture!!!!

I will post more tomorrow!!! 4 days until we hold Liam for the first time!!!!!!!

We are set to go!!!!!

We have the flight and hotel booked. It was pretty stressful. Thanks for Lori and Helena for keeping me calm. Well kind of:0) I am not sure that anyone could have kept me completely calm:0)
Also that to Andy our "travel agent" for helping take the stress out of everything. For those of you who don't know me too well, I am a bit of a control freak. I know it is hard to help us at times, because I a have a hard time letting people help. I appreciate all of our friends helping regardless of my control issues:0)

We are flying out Monday morning at 6 am, and will be returning at 10pm on Friday night. We are flying through Houston. I have heard that that is a good airport, so we are looking forward to a new experience.
We will arrive at 11;18 in Guatemala on Monday. They are 2 hours behind us here est. We don't have confirmation yet as to what time Liam will be delivered to us yet, but it will be shortly after we get there.

We are a little overwhelmed and a lot excited. Although we have been ready for a long time, all of the last minute details are a little overwhelming. Not that I am complaining at all:0)
I will post more later!!!! Thank you again for all of your prayers!!!!! The Lord is good and does provide!!!!! We may never know why He had us wait this long, but in the end, we are still getting our little boy. He is coming home!!!!!!!!!YEAH!!!!!!!

PINK!!!!!!!

We got it today!!!!!! WE should leave on Monday, and come back Friday night!!!!!!!

Our Embassy appointment is Wed. morning at 7:15 a.m.

I will post more details when I have them!!!!!

Praise the Lord!!!!!!!

Don't even have a title for today:0(

We anxiously waited all day. I even emailed the Embassy to let them know that we knew that our DNA arrived at the Embassy yesterday in the morning. As the day progressed again, with no news, my heart grew weary. Then, at 5:15, we get an email. It turns out that our results that are in the Embassy, signed for at 10:01 yesterday morning have not even made it to the Adoption unit yet.
Don't know how it takes more than 24 hours when it is the same building. Needless to say, they still have another 48-72 hours to get us our date after THEY receive it. Most cases would have had their travel dates for hours by now. Of course, not us. We were not told how much longer we will have to wait. I truly thought that at this stage of the process, it would be easier. Not So!
We were so ready to travel next week. If we are delayed another week, we will miss Alex's birthday. That will be heartbreaking for all involved.

Please pray that we hear some good news soon.

Please keep us in your prayers today!!!

Our DNA results are set to arrive at the Embassy today. If all go right, we could have our travel dates as early as tonight.
We are asking that you please pray for the situation. That the DNA does arrive when it should, that the Embassy worker hadling our paperwork is diligent in their job, and that God will give us peace today. We are a little anxious waiting to hear something.
With everything that has happened during this process, we really haven't let our guard down all the way yet. We have so many mixed emotions right now and want nothing more that to finally feel like we can get exited!!!!!

This is the final hurdle before we are truly able to bring him home. As long as we get PINK, we are able to travel, and anything for there should be a cake walk:0)

I will post if we hear anything at all, but in the meantime, please pray for our whole situation!!!!!

Thank you!!!!!!

Happy 4th of July!!!!

Today was a great day! We woke up and had a relaxing morning. We went to a pool party at friend's from churches house.
It was a lot of fun. It ended up pouring with rain, but luckily we had already finished eating.
We hung out with them with plans to go to the minor league baseball game. As it was raining, we figured that we would wait until the game was about half way over before getting there. We arrived at 8:45, to the singing of the National Anthem. We couldn't believe it. The game was supposed to start at 7:00. We had lawn seats, which was fun. We had never done that before but it gave the kids the freedom to run around. Gareth and I had taken the kids to get a snack when the lights went out. Since the game was delayed, they had to stop the game in order to do the fireworks. The were not aloud to do them after 11:00 pm.
So, we stood there at watched a beautiful fireworks display. Alex LOVED it. Callum on the other hand, climbed right up my body before I could blink, put his head on my shoulder and didn't look once. He kept asking to go home. Bless his heart. Maybe next year he will be a bigger fan. All in all, it was a wonderful day. I am so grateful to those that sacrificed so much so that we have the privledge of living in such a wonderful country!!!!

On the adoption front, our DNA results are a the Fed Ex plant in Guatemala City!!!! YEAH!!! I will be stalking the computer on Monday praying for the email!!!!!

DNA test on it's way!!!!

At 6:30 a.m. the results were given over to Fed Ex.!!!! I have a tracking number and it is supposed to be there by 6 pm tomorrow. With tomorrow being a holiday, I am not sure how that works. I guess that they will hold on to it until Monday and deliver it again.
I pray that it makes it there when it should. We should have our travel dates within a day of it getting there.

Please pray for this situation with us!!!!! We still have not received any confirmation from the Embassy that the Visa situation is ok. I guess that we need to go on the no news is good news theory!!!!!

DNA TEST DONE!

Tomorrow morning, I will be able to start stalking the FED Ex truck with our results to the Embassy.
The 2nd DNA test was finished today and was a match. (not that we doubted that) It will be sent back tomorrow morning to the Embassy. I pray that with the long weekend, it will be there Monday. If all goes as planned, we should have our travel dates within 24-48 hours from that!!!!! This is such an answer to prayer. I still can't believe that it has gone smoothly!!
Thank the LORD!!!!

DNA Being tested!

Got the email today. The DNA has been extracted and is in the Lab being tested. Not sure how long it will take to get results. Some people have theirs in a day. Others wait up to a week. I pray that we are the day!!!! Please keep this process in your prayers. Hopefully we will be stalking the Fed Ex truck with our results to the Embassy by the end of the week.

We had a pretty busy day today. Alex and Callum had play dates and we ran some errands. Bailey the dog got her annual trip to the Vet. Abbie our 13 year old dog is still hanging on. The vet offered us pain pills for her. She has arthiritis and is almost fully deaf now. The prescription would run us hundreds of dollars a month. We love our dogs, but that can't happen. For now, we will just keep doing what we can to make her comfortable.

It was a gorgeous day here. Only in the 80's. We had a great night outside with sidewalk chalk and riding bikes. The kids were pretty worn out, and believe it or not, so am I. It is only 11:00 and I think that I am off to bed.

I will be sure to post if we have any new news tomorrow!!!!!

DNA at Lab!!

I woke up this morning around 6:00a.m. to get ready for my day. By 7:30 I had emailed the Lab in N.C. to tell them that our sample was on it's way. By 8:00 I had called Baltimore to try and straighten our visa situation out.
At 8:15 we received an email back from Pat at the Lab. Yes, I am on a first name basis with her. She is so nice:0) They had not received the sample yet and seeing as it was only taken on Friday, it would prob. be a few more days before they received it.

By 9:00 I had given up trying to deal with the immigration office and did what I should have done last week. I called our Senator. Within 15 minutes they called back to say that Baltimore had forwarded our information to the National Visa Center. They would follow up with the NVC later and call us back. In the meantime, we received an email from Pat at the Lab telling us that Liam's DNA sample arrived. Yes, you read it right. Something actually happened ahead of when we thought it would!!!!! It should take a few days to test and then the results will be sent back to the Embassy. The awesome thing is that Pat will give us the tracking number so I can follow along and see when it gets back to the Embassy. We then got a call from our Senator's office that the NVC has gotten the information from Baltimore and had forwarded it on to the Embassy. All of this before noon. What a morning. Have I confused you yet??

I then spent the afternoon getting our paperwork together and filled out. Not an easy task when you no longer have an agency to walk you through it. I am still not done after 3 hours and will probably stay up tonight to finish when I have no little ones under foot. The kids and I gave the dogs a bath. Bailey loved it. Abbie, not so much. We had to give up. She is so old now and just was not having it. Gareth did lots around the house today. We really accomplished a lot. We have been ready for our little man to come home forever now, but we still have little things to do to get ready. Most of them couldn't be done until now. Hopefully,we will do that over the next few days so when that email comes, we will be READY!!!!!!

DNA TEST COMPLETE!!!

We received the email after 5:00 tonight. This was a shock because this morning, we were told that it probably wouldn't be done until Tuesday at the earliest. i got a bit frustrated and once again mentioned flying down to handle things on our own. Our new lawyer said that she got on the phone to relay the message to the facilitator and this afternoon, it ended up getting done. I will be playing hard ball from now on. Now, we can track it to the Lab in North Carolina. From there it goes back to the Embassy and within 24-48 hours, if all goes well, we should have our travel date.

That being said, I spent most of the afternoon trying to sort our "Visa situation" out. I was on the phone with the National Visa Center to try and have them forward our information to the Embassy once more. Needless to say, after speaking to 3 different individuals, I was close to banging my head against the wall. I am amazed at how I can get 3 different answers and 3 different solutions from 3 different people all looking at the same records. I have now contacted two different Senators to see if either of them can help me ASAP. Monday will have to be my follow up day. I pray that this gets resolved and quickly. I would like one step in our process to go the way it should. I hope that is PINK!!!! We could have our travel date as early as Friday if the DNA doesn't get lost to or from the embassy. ( I say that only half joking) and if we can get this visa information resolved.

Enough adoption info. for now. Just please keep us and the situation in your prayers.

The kids went to a vacation bible school this week at the church where Callum went to preschool. They had a blast. Every day they collect an offering that goes to missions. This year, the collection was going to the Asthma research foundation.(very close to my heart) in memory of a beautiful little 10 year old girl named Claudia. She went to this church and a nearby school. She passed away due to her asthma a few months ago. The kids compete girls vs. boys. I am so proud of Alex. She was saving for a new Build a Bear, and instead of keeping her money, she gave all of her $22.42 to the collection. She said she wanted the girls to win. Of course, they did and jointly they raised over $550.00 for the foundation. What a blessing kids are.
The girls then got to throw tons of whipped cream all over the pastor. It was great to watch.

Tonight, they did their presentations. Alex did great singing. She doesn't mind being on stage at all. She must take after her mom:0) Callum on the other hand stood as still as a statue for the first half. The second half decided that he wanted to get a reaction so he preceded to stick his fingers in his nose, and them attempted to take his shirt off. All the while cracking up and watching people laugh. He was totally living it up to the crowd. I have not laughed that hard in ages. Gareth and I had tears coming from our eyes. He was a total clown.
The weekend will be fairly quiet. Gareth's grandmother has a birthday so we will have the kids call and sing to her. She is in her 90's and such a sweet women. Happy Birthday Nanny Jenkins!!!!!

Ready for a laugh???

There has been talk on one of our adoption boards about contacting the Embassy to make sure that they have all of your updated paperwork. If they don't, you won't find out until you are "pink".( Get your travel dates) Anyway, I commented that we contacted them months ago and although we didn't get a straight answer, they didn't mention anything about not having all of our paperwork.

Earlier in the week, I decided better safe than sorry. I emailed again and this afternoon received and email that told us that they had yet to be sent our updated Visa information to bring him home. Just a little back ground, Your original visa paperwork is good for 18 months. We had to update ours last fall since it was expiring. The updated Visa never made it to the Embassy. Now, this would normally be a quick fix right? I have a copy, I can email it down. WRONG. I had to contact the National Visa Center, they have to spend the next 2-3 days researching it, and then hopefully, they will send it down. At least we found out now instead of later. I just pray that they get it to them quickly and it doesn't hold anything up. I kept saying that I wasn't going to let my guard down yet. There is still too much that can go wrong:0) The good thing is, we know that God didn't bring us this far to not let us finish. We will get this resolved and hopefully it will be quick!!!!!