Our Last day in Antigua

well all day today we have been asked if we were so excited to be getting to go home. well...... Our answer is definatly not what we would have expected about 10 weeks ago. Yes we can't wait to be home with our family and to get to share Josie with them, which is what I am the most excited about, but I guess since we have got to be here as a family is has left us with different feelings than most in this process. It has been such a amazing experience and we believe God has definatly given us a heart for Guatemala. we went to our last church service here this morning and tears just rolled down my face for how much we are going to miss it here. So I guess how we just didn't know exactly how we felt or what we expected coming here its the same going home because in some since we have grown accustomed to being here and the friendships we have made her are just so special and such a Big part of our lives. people everywhere we go here are just so passionate. at the church we attend while here it is just full of people with a passion to serve God not just go to church but people who fully love and seek God. And then the friends we have met through our adoption just understand and share the love for our babies like no other. we will cherish this time forever and although we felt we came for Josie we know the Lord brought us here for all of us. so yes were excited to be going home but we will also say that we hope the Lord brings us back someday.
Corie is thrilled to be coming home though, she can't wait to see her friends and her puppy.
christian is sad, he loves it here.
carrol says he is ready to be home so God can tell him where he is leading him next.
josie, well I think she's happy were ever mom is but will see.
And me well i am the most content that i have ever been in my life and just being with my family wherever that is, is where I want to be.
So today we say goodbye to Antigua and just thank the Lord for the opportunity and will be so excited to welcome Josie to her extended family and friends and to her Home!!! As i said during the process i just want to bring her home to her room and then i will know this journey is complete and she is with us forever. Praise the Lord we are about to see that day!!!!!!!!!

Some fun pictures

I was just sitting outside reading, soaking up the sun while Josie was asleep and just looked up and was overtaken about how amazing God truely is. i looked around and saw the most beautiful place, looking straight ahead at the volcano, the most beautiful clouds and flowers and it instantly reminded me of the times i wondered if God was really there. That although I felt I was a strong believer i couldn't help but to guestion when we hit so many obstacles in our adoption and then I looked around to see just what God did give us for trusting in him. I feel we have been paid back a million times over. it reminds me of something Joel Osteen said "that God will always make good of our struggles" he doesn't not forget us he may just be busy growing us just like we would our children. we have to train our children so they will grow up and be honorable, loving, and intelligent. well why would we think that our father wouldn't also need to do this for us. i am not saying that we will ever understand why certain things happen to us I am just here to say first hand that he will always make good of these things. i could have never imagined that our journey would bring us to a point of living in guatemala. i would have never imagined that I would have 10 straight weeks of non interrupted family time with my family. I would have never imagined the fullness my life has. i can definatly tell I am a daughter of the king and I am receiving his royal goodness.

Christianity is a process and not a event. it is a journey, not a destination!
If we want to be like Jesus we can't escape the refining process.

The reality is kickin in!

All of a sudden I believe it has finally hit me that we are going to be home in one week!!!!!!!! its funny it reminds me of the same feeling i had before coming here. Its kindof strange I am not sure just what i will feel like being home. I am just so thankful this journey is about to be complete it has been the most emotional, amazing, stressfull and the most happiness I have ever experienced. I wouldn't change it for the world and we just couldn't imagine our life without our precious little brown baby that we love more than life.
To our family and friends: SEE YOU IN A WEEK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is a e-mail I got today that breaks my heart!

This was posted on Guatadopt today:

Hi everyone! I have been involved in the Mayan Families organization. Yesterday, Sharon, the founder told us about a family who is in tremendous need. She said she has never seen a situation this bad. I am posting the email she sent so that you can read about the family. Pictures of the family and their living conditions have been posted and my heart is breaking for this family. I can not imagine living in a situation like this. Mayan Families wants to build them a house (hopefully before the rainy season starts because their shelter does not protect them from rain or wind) and provide them with food so that this family can stay together.

"This family was brought to my attention over Easter. Teresa , a woman
who has her children sponsored with us heard about this mother who
wanted to give her children away and was asking who could take them.

The family had no food and the mother could not afford to feed the children.

We sent Oto, a Mayan Families Staff member with Teresa today. This
family does not speak Spanish, they speak Tzutzil and Teresa acted as
the translator.

When Oto came back this afternoon, he told me that after he walked out
of this house, he cried.

The 10yr old and the 4yr old know that their mother wants to give them
away and they thought Oto was coming to take them.

The mother gave the 8yr old girl away a few months ago to a family in
Guatemala city.

The fear and sadness is so heartbreaking to see on their faces.

There are three children in the family:
Juana 10yrs old.
Juanita 4yrs old
Graciella 1yr old.

The father is an alcoholic and does not live with the family and does
not support them.

The mother works weaving and earns $3.50 US per week.

This is not enough to feed the family.
It is not enough to feed one person. Oto said that the children look
very malnourished.

We are having them come to Mayan Families tomorrow, we will give them
blankets, food , shoes and we will talk to the mother. If she wants
to give her children away because she does not have enough to feed
them, then we want to be able to keep this family together. We will
need to be able to supply them with food, and this family needs a
house. The wind and the rain must make the living conditions inside
totally miserable. The house would just be one room for them. Their
land is very tiny but at least the mother owns it.

They do not have a bathroom, they use the bushes outside their house.
The house is made of cane and a few sheets of aluminum for the roof.
They have no electricity or running water.
The house has a dirt floor.
They cook overan open fire with a piece of tin on the ground.
They have do not have connected.

The mother says that the older girl is in school but there was no
evidence of a backpack or any school supplies. She was not at school
when Oto arrived.

Their clothes are very old and worn.

This family needs urgent help. If you can help please send a donation
to our Food and Milk program and/or our Construction Program - note it
in honor of the Sicay Choy family."

You can make a donation by going to http://www.mayanfamilies.com/ Be sure to state the purpose as helping this family.
Thanks for any help that you can give and spread the word!!!!
Sue

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

happy easter

we had a great easter this year. I really hated not to be home but its funny how God works things out. We went to our first all spanish church service which Mr. Paul whom we rent from preached the service. even though we couldn't understand it all we definatly felt God's presence and it was really nice seeing the man God so graciously placed us here with in guatemala give the easter sermon. josie was also a little doll and sat so well through the whole service. She is such a little people person and has to wave and smile at everyone she sees and if you don't wave back she will keep waving until she has your attention.
We had a great potluck afterwords with our friends here at the apartments and yes Josie did get to hunt her first easter eggs.
corie shared the Easter Story with all our guests which was about 20 or so too and that was so awesome to watch. She is such a blessing to us and to watch her and see how important special things like that are to her.

Play "New again" by Brad Paisley-Sara Evans

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Good Friday

Well my mom is right all though I wanted to be home by now being here during Holy Week is on once in a lifetime experience. If you would have asked before coming here I would have said that no, Easter is not about Easter bunnies we teach our kids the real meaning first and the easter bunny is just something fun, well..... being here I have had another life changing experience. Back home I can tell you not even being there I am sure you can go in any store and what you will see is mostly easter bunny stuff. well here they don't even always have the priviledge of having the whole story of Jesus and is life,death and resurrection but in Guatemala you won't go anywhere from Palm Sunday until Easter Sunday that you don't see the something about the story about Jesus. From the very young to the very old most absolutely everyone here is celebrating the life and death and resurrection of Jesus with no sight of the easter bunny. It sure makes me feel bad that in the country that we are so free to worship in reality there is so little true worshiping going on.
I hope this humbling experience will stay in my heart and continue to change me.

PINK

We got it! We are Pink! Good news and Bad.. Well it is good!!!!!!! we are pink we will forsure be home April 3. Our appointment is scheduled for April 1st at 7:15 a.m. So praise the Lord Luz Gunter is also approved by U.S. embassy to be part of the Gunter Family. I have made a reguest to be moved to next week though since we are in country so will just see how that goes but atleast now we do have a date and we will be home in 2 weeks. Forsure!

Josie's 2nd Birthday

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Happy Birthday Sweet Girl!

We had the priviledge to celebrate Josie's 2nd birthday today as a family. She had a really great day I know she probably didn't know for sure what was going on but she was sure it was about her. She had such a great day! She was so cute with her big smile running around like look at me. We weren't able to do gifts from us yet but she did get a few gifts from friends and guess what was her favorite.... the bag the gift came in. She carried it around like a purse.
We did go to the Embassy today but not much luck we were just told that there was no way for this week and they are backed up because of Holy Week this week. He did say that we will be issued Pink tommorrow though and that we can make our request by e-mail once we receive our original pink. They are setting pinks now for the 31st of March though. That's not good. but i did get some neat kindof peace today though and I even surprised myself that i didn't get too mad. After the appointment we left and went over to the Casa Grande where we have stayed the last 3 times and just being there and being able to say, this is our take home trip, i can't tell you how good that felt. Josie even still reconized the hotel.In a weird way it some seems so like home when we go there. that place will always hold such special memories for us.
We left our Big kids at home though with Mrs. Ruth and our other neighbors and while we were gone because we were warned how crowded it would be there, so my sweet big kids were the ones who put Josie's Birthday party together. they made the cake and decorated. it was very sweet. then Mrs.Ruth made dinner for us and everyone that lives here.
I wasn't sure about having a party here at all but it has been a great day and thanks to them Josie had a great 1st Birthday with us.
HAPPY 2ND BIRTHDAY JOSIE AND MANY MORE! WE LOVE YOU MORE THAN WORDS, MOM,DAD, BUBBA, AND SISSY!

Isaiah 40:10-11

See, the Soveriegn Lord comes with power,and his arm rules for him.See, his reward is with him and his recompense accompanies him.
He tends his flock like a shepherd: he gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart: he gently leads those that have young.

We have made a decision unless something changes to go into the Embassy tommorrow morning and see if their is any possible way for a early appointment. I know that the Lord knows just what day and time we will come home but I do believe God gives us brains to use and means to help get things his has set out for us to get accomplished. As we were discussing this with Paul he reminded us of Esther. that she was brave enough and smart enough to go to the King himself to get what the Lord has destined to be done. So with the Lord comes power and I have prayed that his words of power will speak through us as we talk to the people at the Embassy. we know we are his flock and he will carry us. And i know that no matter what the outcome his plans are always greater that ours and we will trust that. He will gently lead us so we pray for guidence and wisdom to know how he is leading us.

Isaiah 26:12
Lord, you establish peace for us: all that we have accomplished you have done for us.

last step

Our DNA is offically at the Embassy!!!!So bring on the PINK. Only bad thing is I don't think they issue picks on Fridays (but please let me know if i am wrong) We have pleaded by e-mail to the embassy to please help us out since we are in country and our baby girl is about to turn 2. we laid it on thick so maybe ,I know we have the Lord's favor so hopefully he will have a talk with them so that we will have their favor also!
Also today I will share what the Lord did for us today... The devil has been very heavy on us today concerning our finances but this evening we had to call and sadly cancel our flights and the sweet,sweet, lady at continental airlines told us their would be no charge for us to reschedule our flight!!!!!!!! and Josie should be able to get a lap seat so all will be out is the $230 for her ticket.
This whole adoption has definality been alot or the majority of learning to trust God when we see no way and it just amazes me even though it shouldn't,everytime that happens.

More pics

MONTERRICO

Josie's first trip to the beach

Our 2nd DNA should arrive at the embassy today. I finally got our tracking #. So we won't make our flight but atleast were moving and once it is there we will try to contact the Embassy to see what we can do.
Yesterday we got to go see the black beaches of Monterrico which was a awesome experience definatly different from the beaches at home. the surf was the biggest I have ever seen. the water is too dangerous to swim though because of the undercurrents and believe me you new that because just knee deep it felt like it would pull you under. But i just love the beach period! josie loved it you should have seen her face when she saw the ocean. she is going to be a beach baby too. I love getting to experience her first!!!! It is so nice to be together as a family.
The only negative experience we had though is that we learned Josie gets carsick! yuck. Everyroad here is very up and down and very curvy.

WOOOHoooo

I got an e-mail from my agency tonight. Our DNA is a match and is on its way to the EMBASSY! i can't believe this is really happening. Hopefully will have a date in a few days now.
To my momma: WERE FINALLY GOING TO BRING JOSIE HOME!

Our Goodbye to our foster family

Yesterday was a very special day. After 3 days of no rest and it being constantly on my mind I finally made the decision to give our foster family a call and allow them to visit Josie one last time before we go back home. It was a great decision and they obvisiously really were excited to see her bacause the whole family came including the foster dad whom we hadn't got the chance to meet, which meant alot to us and was also saying alot for their love for her because here in Guatemala men don't generally take off work.
they brought me the sweetest letter that had a picture that their girls made and i will always cherish that and keep it for Josie.
we had guite a long visit but it was the perfect closure.They got to spend time with us watching us interact with Josie, and by the way I was still MOM! I was so nervous about that becuase of all the hard memories of leaving her in the past, she also showed them how much she loved her daddy and brother and sister.
she didn't go to them right away but she did reconize them. she clung to me for a while but started playing with the girls and from then on it was awesome to watch her interact with and how much she loved both families.
Our foster mom told us she has fostered 12 children and we were the first to actually correspond with them. they told us for them it was like growing alittle seed and as soon as they started to grow then they had to give them up. So us allowing them to see her and see her with us and how she loved us was so special to them.
She also got to tell me special details that meant the world to us. she told us she had Josie since 1 day old. and because she was premature she had to carry her around in a pouch like a kangaroo. So can you imagine how hard this must be for them to have to completly give her up now. It takes special people to do that and we will definatly tell Josie how special this family was that took care of her for so many months while we couldn't be with her. And again isn't God so awesome that God would give this little orphan child not one but two momma's that love her so much. what a special little girl we have.
the foster dad also told us while we were discussing her health that they were actually told that josie may even not live.
I wouldn't have changed that time with them for the world. here are some pictures from yesterday, you can just see the love.

Christian's lake Atilan Photos

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