My new blog...

Okay, I hope I still have some readers! My new blog is www.livinginthenow-jajbs.blogspot.com
I am in the process of trying to get a new layout, so bear with me... it is not very exciting right now. So... get on over there and see what is new with us, if you are interested!

Calling all pryer WARRIORS....

This little cutie and her family need your prayers. Her name is Corynn and she just turned 1 yesterday (Friday). Her Mommy is Jodie and she lives in my town. We have gotten to be really good friends. She has 2 sons, one of which, is Jake's age. Corynn was released from PGN on the day Bella came to the U. S. (Oct. 30 ). She made it through PGN in 8 weeks with no KOs. The problem is Mixco. That is where her birth certificate is coming from. The Civil Registry there has decided that they "need" to review each case and approve it again. Well, after 10 weeks at the CR, she got a KO from them on Thurs. They said they needed more documents that are not usually required. They will review the case 30 days AFTER the attorney resubmits it with the new doc requirements.

Now, we all know this is illegal, but we all know that that does NOT matter in Guatemalan adoptions. Please PRAY for these people to have a change of heart. She should have been home and the family has missed Christmas with her, as well as her birthday. She got released from PGN HELL in enough time to make it home for both of these monumental occasions, but Mixco screwed them out of these months.

They really appreciate it! Let's pray Corynn home. If you are willing, please leave a comment for my friend, Jodie. She REALLY needs encouragement right now!



(I am still doing a new blog, but NEEDED to post this first.)

The Beginning, not the end

Happy New Year! It has been an amazingly, wonderful, difficult and life-changing year for my family! We took a BIG step of faith in 2006 and blindly followed God's leading in 2007. We saw His promise to our family come true. Isabella is asleep in my bed right now and I am crying tears of joy and amazement at how far my Lord has brought me in a little over a year. Do I have farther to go? YES! But one thing I have learned is that it is okay to be human and doubt and scream and wonder if I heard correctly from Him. To fall and have HIM pick me up and I continue on is BIG for me. I have been stretched beyond what I thought was possible. I have grown in ways I never could have imagined and I have learned that to trust Him COMPLETELY is the BEST way to live!

It has been an amazing ride and I know it is just beginning. I thought we were just adding a precious baby girl to our family and that would be all, but He has, once again shown me that is not the case. Bella joining our family was just the spark He needed to ignite a passion in me. A passion that will begin the call He has placed on my family. Jeff and I both feel that we are on the brink of being launched into what He has destined for us. I have been a bundle of emotions since coming home with my daughter. It has taken me these past few months to realize that I need to pray through this and find its purpose. That is what we intend to do in 2008.

I have decided to close this blog and plan to turn it into a book for Bella. I am having Nikki design my new one. I pray that each of you will continue to follow our adventure... hang on, because I feel its gonna be exciting with some bumps along the way!!!!!

I am in the process of getting my pictures together for her, along with some other info. she needs. Please keep checking and I should have the new address posted soon! See ya on the other blog!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Love,
amanda

PICTURES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Me and my Mommy!

This is one of my FAVORITE pics of my kiddos.... notice the look on Jake's face as he looks at her!

"We had a REALLY rough night.... you ought to see my Mommy's hair!!!! :)"

"Look at my bother's BIG muscles!"

Christmas pics to follow.....

Anyone still read this blog?

I am not sure if anyone still reads this blog, but if you do... HEY!!!!!

I have not been a very good blogger since Bella came home. I know that so many of you were so good to me during our horrific process. I was encouraged and loved by so many and I don't want anyone to think I took that for granted and bailed once I got my precious baby girl home. It's just that, well, life with Bella and Jake has been WILD!!!-- in a good way! :)

She is walking... wrong... RUNNING everywhere. My mom and I laugh at her as we watch her roam around the house like a little old lady, seeing what she can knock down, pick up and throw or just get into. She is VERY inquisitive, much more than Jake was at her age. Jake is WIDE open, but I could leave him alone in a room and come back to find it just as it was when I left. NOT WITH ISABELLA!!!!! She will change it's appearance FAST!!!!

She is saying a few words.... Momma, Dada, Hello (with a palm-up, sideways wave), Bye Bye (with a backwards wave), and brover (brother). Let me tell you... she LOVES her brother!! He is the first face she looks for every morning and the first one to whom she gives her "loves"! It makes me so incredibly happy to see them chasing each other around my house and hear them laughing belly laughs! He ADORES her and strives to make her world PERFECT! In his eyes, Isabella can do NO wrong and he lets me know it. He calls her "Sweet Thing"!

She is attached to me!!!! If she could attach her body to me permanently, she would! Hey... I am not complaining. She loves her Daddy, but Mommy is her first choice... as it should be! :) She does not like to sleep, unless it is on me! I sometimes, feel like I am a human mattress.

I must admit, I was not expecting things to go as well as they have with her coming home at such a late age. I do get sad that I missed that very first birthday, but know that it was all in His perfect timing and He had a reason for it. I know that her coming into our family has changed my life FOREVER and has sparked something in me that I was not expecting. I will be posting more about that this week. I am not able to post pics... darn Blogger, but I will try to do so tomorrow and will promise to post more faithfully. I was considering going private or just quitting all together, but have decided to leave things as they are and continue on....


check back soon... if I still have readers, that is...

God is good!!!

Well, I am happy to announce that Lucas was declared ADANDONED today and Jane can now start his adoption!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thank you for your prayers and support! It will be a Merry Christmas for my friend Jane!!!!!!

They are here!!!! and a prayer request for Lucas

The little boy in the picture is Lucas. He is my friend Jane's son that she has been trying to bring home for 2 years now. The little girl is Karly and she came home in October. Jane has a big ole Momma's heart and she has given a home to 4 Guatemalan girls and is in process with a precious little boy that enters PGN this week. Here is the problem with Lucas. He needs a COA issued by Friday before the judge goes on vacation until the first of the year. They told our attorney that they would not issue a court date to give the COA until August of 2008. In lieu of the Ortega Law passing today, August is too late and Lucas will not come home. Now, this case has gone through the Appeals Court and they ruled in favor of an abandonment decree being issued. The problem is the judge... he is not cooperating and wants to make things difficult.

Lucas has watched 3 other children make it home to Jane before him and she started trying to bring him home before any of these. This is heartbreaking. I had the privilege of spending a week with him and Jane in July and he stole my heart. He carries around a photo album of his family here and his house and his room. He just sat and looked at those pictures for hours in July. He also has a shunt in his head and it will need to be changed out next year, as well as needing a hernia surgery.

I tell you all of this because he needs a MIRACLE!!! I know times in Guatemala are not good right now for adoptions and all families need a miracle. But... please storm Heaven's gates for this little boy and his Mommy, Jane. She is torn up and just a mess. Imagine having to go tell him that he will never come home to the only Mommy he has ever known. He was brought to the hogar at only a few days old wrapped up because of his hydrocephalus and no one wanted him. Jane and her family wants him SO badly and he NEEDS them.

Please pray that the judge has a change of heart and give him the COA in the next 3 days before he leaves for vacation!!! I will keep you posted.

AND.......

Our Christmas cards just came in. If you have not already sent me your address and want one, please e-mail it to me. asalemi@cox.net








I will be sending them out this weekend!