One more thing...

What?... A SECOND DNA test... you've got to be kidding me. Can I not catch a break here?!

Trying to be optimistic and faithful, but am having a difficult time.

Nope

Well, found out tonight that nothing has happened since I left Guatemala. We are supposed to have certified copies done tomorrow for the final deed. At this rate, if the timelines I am seeing on the message boards is correct about Guatemala City BC taking 2-3 weeks, we may not make her birthday. I cannot believe this. I know it hasn't happened yet, but after so many disappointments in this process thus far, I am finding it very difficult to remain optimistic. My son is praying hard that he gets to celebrate his birthday with his new sister. He really wants to be with her when she turns one and he turns eight. We already had plans for their big day. I pray that it happens. Please pray that with us. I cannot bear to think of telling him that he will miss it. After all, we got her referral on their birthday last year. We always celebrate it at Chuck E. Cheese and he is looking forward to showing "Bella how to have fun!" I am so weary.

Still waiting

We are waiting to hear if we were submitted to the Civil Registry for a birth certificate. The BC is coming from Guatemala City and I hear they take the longest. I have a peace, but am still anxious to go get my baby girl. I will keep you all posted!

Please release Madalyn!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, bloggers, I need to ask for your prayers once again. This little girl is Kristin's beautiful daughter and Bella's future BFF. Her birthday is 6 days before Bella's and she needs to be home to celebrate. God did a miracle for us and I believe he can do a miracle for them. Please pray for her to be released from PGN now!!!!!! Kristin is such a mighty woman of God and she and her husband have been such a source of strength for my family. Let's rally around them and pray this precious baby girl home to her awesome parents.

"We love you Madalyn and are praying you home!!!"

Progress... hopefully

We are supposed to be submitted to the Civil Registry for a birth certificate this week. I am hoping to get submitted to the Embassy by August. Please continue to pray for things to go smoothly until the end. I have such a peace now. I have slept soooo good this past week. I forgot what it felt like to sleep all night long and wake up feeling rested! I am also able to eat again and my appetite is making up for lost time!!!

I cannot tell you how much everyone's comments and prayers have meant to me and my family. I am amazed at how God brings strangers together into a family to walk beside you on this crazy journey. Please continue to pray for all of the other families waiting to get out of PGN. I want you all to know that I pray for each of you and your children each day as I check your blogs. I will continue to pray for you, even after Bella is home. God is faithful and HE will do it!

I am going to begin getting my classroom ready next week and may not be able to post or check many blogs. I will catch up on the weekend and pray I see good news posts when I do. I WILL post when we get the news of a BC and passport and submission to the Embassy-- I will not be too busy for that!

I love all of you!

Thank you so much for all of your prayers. I started feeling better by last night and Bella is doing much better. I got a chance to talk with the hogar doctor when I went to drop her off and felt much better after he examined her and decided on a plan of treatment.

It was very difficult to leave her, but the most difficult part of the trip is about to happen. I am fixing to leave Guatemala and those of you that have done this before know how it feels when that plane takes off from the runway. You feel as though your heart is being ripped from your chest. It is a horrible feeling to leave your child in another country. But... good news...

We will be submitted to the Civil Registry for a birth certificate this week. Then she gets her passport and we are submitted to our Embassy for an appointment. To those of you unfamiliar with this step, it is referred to as waiting for PINK. I cannot believe I am posting these words. I thought this day would NEVER come. God is good and His ways are miraculous! We should be traveling to bring Bella home within 3-5 weeks. I am believing for a BIG miracle-- pickup before August 14. That is my first day of school and I want to be there to begin the school year. So... we will se if that happens. Pray!!!

I need to get to the airport, but I will post pics from yesterday's return to the hogar tonight. Thanks again to all of you for your prayers-- you helped bring Bella home.

SHE IS COMING HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I AM SICK!!!!!!!!! PRAY!!!!!!!!!!!

I think I have rotavirus. I just starated vomiting and it is coming out the other end, as well. Bella has the diarehha really bad. Please pray. I cannot give her back with this horrible virus-- she is too little!!!!!!!!!

My Bellaboo!

Here are some pictures of the past few days. I have not been able to take many because she is sick and wants me to hold her alot. She definitely knows I am her mom. I will post more about how she is doing and what she is doing tomorrow night. I bring her back to the hogar between 4 and 5 o'clock. Please pray for me, but most importantly, pray for Bella. Pray that God guards her heart and helps her realize that I am not abandoning her. That bothers me. We have bonded REALLY well and I don't want that ruined because of the next few weeks without me. Also, she is sick-- congestion and ear aches. Please pray for her to be better before I have to leave her. Well...

here is Bella!! Enjoy!-- I have been :)

Things are moving quickly!!

My attorney called this afternoon and told me she got our final adoption decree today!1 We will be submitted to the Civil registry next week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

God is AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!

I will post pics later. Bella is sick with conjestion and ear ache. Pray for her, please!!

WANT TO KNOW WHY I AM SMILING?

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We still need prayers. In PGN, when the judge signs a case, the final decree follows. With us coming from FC, we have to wait until the judge issues the decree. We were told that we should have it in 2-3 days. We need for the judge to issue the final decree quickly-- until then, she still has the case. I am excited, though, because we have been waiting for a judge to SIGN/APPROVE it for 11 weeks!! This is a MAJOR milestone! After the decree is issued, then everything in the final process is the same. Please continue to pray for things to go SMOOTHLY and quickly-- no holdups-- so she is definitely home for hers and Jakes birthday (Sept.20) We love and appreciate all of you.

Amanda


I AM COMING HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That's right--everyone prayed and God heard and answered with ALL of His might and power. My mommy went to see the judge today and found out that she signed it yesterday!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I will be home to celebrate my 1st birthday with my big brother, Jake and go see all of Mommy's blogging buddies in Atlanta! So....thanks for the prayers and thank you Jesus for bringing me home "in a blaze of glory"-- that's what Amelia's mom has been telling my mom all along!!!!!!!!

Love,
Bella

Here are some more from this afternoon by the pool. Please pray hard tonight for our case. I will update some more tonight after she goes to sleep. I say"Give Mommy kisses" and she kisses me with the sweetest kisses ever!!!!

Sweet Reunion

Finally!!!! She is amazing. I truly believe that God answered our prayers by the way she responded when she saw me. She knew me and has not taken her beautiful eyes off of me since. She is crawling and pulling up and has the cutest laugh. She is petite and so laid back. She is also amazingly limber. She practically sits in a split position. She is crying for me to hold her, so I will have to update with words tonight after she is asleep. For now, here are some pics to hold you all over

My Little Man

Here are some pictures of my little man, Jake, from our vacation to Arkansas this past week. This first picture is of the street name that was right before our resort. We were all bummed that our Isabella (Bella) was not on this trip with us. Then, as we turned to get to our resort, there was a love note from God. Everytime we would leave and return, I would smile because I was reminded of my baby girl!

Enjoy!

Look at me and my cute teeth!!

Next post...from the Marriott in Guatemala!!!

Thanks to Kristin!

I want to say a special thanks to my new best friend, Kristin. She designed my beautiful blog header and revamped my blog layout. She and her friend, Yvette, have started a business called Page and Petals. Please visit them via the link on the right of my blog. They can help you get the blog of your dreams! :)

We are headed out of here tonight and Louisiana bound! Arkansas is beautiful, but I must say I miss my good ole Louisiana food!!!! We were supposed to head home tomorrow, but I want an extra night of sleep in MY bed and need some good food before heading to Guatemala on Sunday morning, bright and early.

I got new pics of Bella yesterday and, well, I cried my eyes out. She has grown so much!! She is beautiful and has a head full of hair now and 4 teeth. When we opened up the file, I looked at Jeff and tears just started flowing. Jake looked at them and asked me who that little girl was. When I told him it was his sister, he did not believe me. It took alot of convincing for him to realize that she has grown up that much. It broke my heart. I cannot believe that she will be 10 months old in one week and I am leaving for a visit trip. She should be home. There is no reason for it, except that we are suffering the political problems of adoption-- nothing majorly wrong with our case. Please continue to pray for our judge's heart to be changed and for her to release us from Family Court so that our precious, Bella can come home next month. We are believing that it will happen next week while I am with her and that the purpose of this trip will be for her to get to know me and when we return in a few weeks, the transition to us will be easier. I know... BIG faith for a BIG miracle. But, my God is BIG and He has grown my faith BIG on this journey!!!!

Next post, will be from Guatemala.... stay tuned....

Fun on vacation and Guatemala bound!!!!

We are enjoying ourselves in Horseshoe Bend, Arkansas. Today we took Jake on a guided fishing trip and he caught the biggest and most fish of us all! We caught lots of rainbow trout and Jeff is cooking them as I type. I am leaving for Guatemala Sunday morning and will be getting Bella on Monday morning from the hogar.

I cannot believe this will be my 3rd visit trip. We really need everyone to PRAY that the Lord changes the heart of the judge our case is with. If she does not release us, I think we will have to reenter PGN and you all know what that means. It means we could be facing many more previos and not picking her up until the end of this year or beginning of next. I cannot bear to think of that happening. We have been in FC for 11 weeks now and each time we get close to being released, something happens and the judge changes their mind.

Many of you may remember that we waited a while for PA and we got a miracle on our last visit trip. We were to bring Bella back to the hogar on March 1. That was the day that the Protocolo was scheduled to be issued. I prayed that night and this is what I prayed: "God, it is going to be really hard to give my daughter back on this day that the Protocolo is being issued and not know how things are going to go with adoptions from here on out. We have been waiting for PA and it would mean so much to me if I opened my e-mail in the morning to an e-mail from the embassy granting us Pre Approval. Please do that for me." Well.... sure enough I went to my e-mail and found it THAT morning!!!!!!!

I cannot begin to tell you how badly I need to know that when I hand Bella back to the hogar, that she is MINE and that can only happen if we get released by next Friday. Please pray that this is where we get our miracle. It seems that we have caught one bad break after another. Bella will be one year old on Sept 20. That is the same day my son, Jake, will turn 8 years old. I do not want to celebrate one child's birthday here in the US and miss the first birthday of my other one. I NEED A MIRACLE and only GOD can do it!!!!

"Father, I pray that you will give us favor with the FC judge that holds our Bella's file. God, change her heart and have her release us now. As I leave Bella next Friday, let me have the assurance that the next time we see each other, it WILL be forever! I know nothing is impossible with you. So, please take this impossible situation and move in a mighty way for our family. Thank you. In Jesus' name, I pray. Amen."

Destination...

I am going to Guatemala!!!!!!!--- to visit my baby girl!!!!!! Yep, I am going July15-21, so if any of you bloggers will be there at that time, let me know. I can't believe I will see her in 12 days. Now, I must go pack. We are leaving for our vacation Saturday and returning next Saturday and then I fly out at 6:30 Sunday morning. So, I have to pack for Bella now. Lots of outfits to prepare! :)

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Oh, if you love give-aways, you need to e-mail sig at Sa3@aol.com. Ask her for an invite to her blog-- you can enter to win some good loot! I just love these FUN guatemamas I have met on this journey!!!!!!
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