Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Still waiting...but asking for prayers

We heard from our adoption agency today that our attorney has still not been contacted with an interview time. Our coordinator has asked our translator to please ask our attorney how he feels about this entire process and what he feels about the rumors that are going around about the bribes,etc. We know that Guatemala is currently attempting to conduct over 2000 interviews because they have over 2000 current adoption cases open. We are asking everyone to please pray that our attorney receives an appointment time in the near future for our cases interview so that we might at least have that part over.

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Still no news about the adoption

We are still waiting for news about the adoption. All we know is that Guatemala is still currently auditing all adoption cases in PGN. The audit process does include interviews with the birthmothers and the attorneys. As of late last week our agency reported that our attorney had not been contacted with an interview time but as soon as they knew something they would let us know. I understand the reason for the audits and Guatemala wanting to make sure all adoptions are legit but each day means that it is that much longer until our case is finalized. Wayne and I are both trying hard to keep our chins up but having Jacob home has really made us realize how much we are missing with Madison. I always knew we were missing out on a big part of her growing but it never really hit home until we brought Jacob home and we see how much he grows and changes each day. We believe that Madison will be home someday and we pray that someday is very soon but all we can really do is trust in God's timing. I wish I could say that I understand his timing but I really can't and I struggle with it each day. I can only go on faith and trust that his timing is perfect no matter what I might feel right now.
On another note after going through the pregnancy and then the delivery with Jacob it has made me really think about Madison's birthmother. Before, I knew she had to make a hard decision to give Madison up for adoption but I never really understood how hard of a decision it was until Jacob. I cannot imagine carrying him for 9 months, having my love for him grow with each day, going through labor, hearing him cry his first cry, and then giving him up for someone else to raise. She had to make a huge act of faith and trust a family she has never and probably never will meet that we would love her child and want to raise her child as our own. Our love for Madison grows each day and we know that some day we will be a family of four officially (in our minds and hearts we already are a family of four).

Please continue to pray for our adoption and that Madison will get to come home very soon. We also would like to ask you to pray for Madison's birthmother and the struggle she will have to go through of making the decision, of allowing Madison to be adopted, at least one more time (during her interview with PGN).

Jacob is doing good, he has reflux problems which are causing him some tummy troubles but he seems to be getting a little better. Please continue to pray for him as well.

Here is a picture of Jacob after a bath



A picture of Madison on her birthday (it seems so long ago that we took these pictures)

Monday, May 12, 2008

Getting used to the new routine...

Well Jacob has now been home for a little over a week now and I have to admit it has been hard getting used to the lack of sleep. We are slowly getting used to our new routine of being awake every 2 - 3 hours. I would normally complain about not getting my sleep but because Jacob is the reason I will gladly be sleep deprived.
Wayne went back to work today so it was my first full day with Jacob alone and I am proud to say that we both survived.
I think we have already created an issue by spoiling him at such a young age. He loves to be held and rocked which makes it hard when he wakes up and won't go back to sleep without being picked up. But in our defense how can you not want to hold someone as cute as he is and cuddle him when he is this young.

Jacob enjoying some time in his rocking chair


We are still waiting on news about Madison. We know that the Guatemalan President has ordered PGN to audit all current cases and that this audit involves another interview with the birthmother. We are not sure what else this audit involves but know that the entire process can take some time before PGN will start processing cases again. Please keep our case in your prayers and pray that the audit goes well. Rumor has it that some of the officials want to try to guilt the birthmothers into keeping their children. We do not now if this is true or not but would ask that you all pray for the best outcome for our case and that no "dirty" work is done. I truly believe that God has Madison planned for our family and that our birthmother made the very difficult decision to give her a better life.
We are praying that one day very soon we will be able to post that we are officially a family of four.

Sunday, May 4, 2008

The saying on Jacob's onsie says it all!


Shirt says: "Instructions Not Included"

Today has been our first full day at home and it has been very long. It is no joke when people say that no two babies are the same. Wayne and I both have limited experience with newborns so Jacob's first night home was an experience. The evening started off well and fairly uneventful. We made it home late yesterday afternoon and took some much needed naps, then Jacob's Grandmamma and Papa Greg, and Greg's mom Betty came over and brought us dinner. We had a good visit with them and Jacob did great the entire time. About 1 am when it was time for him to eat again he woke up and refused to go back to sleep. He had terrible gas pains and was acting hungry the entire time. Wayne and I were both up with them for several hours through out the night. About 6 am he finally went back to sleep for a bit.
We both were wishing for a take home nurse during that time to help us out. Our limited experience with newborns always came with an experienced person there as well until last night. If Jacob had an instruction manual we would have read the entire thing last night and memorized it.

The day today has been much better, after getting his gas pains under control he sleeps better and seems to be back on track with how he was in the hospital.
We have all been able to get some naps in and relax a little bit more today.
We are praying for a better night tonight. (Prayer is the closest thing to an instruction manual we have since God created him).

We are still waiting on news about Madison but trusting that since we are in PGN everything is moving along as needed.

We can't wait for our entire family to be together under one roof.

Thanks for all your prayers and support.


Jacob enjoying his crib and the bedding - Thanks Nana!

Friday, May 2, 2008

Siblings for sure!

Only God could do this! If you look at the pictures below you will see how much Madison and Jacob look alike as infants. Madison's picture is when she was 3 days old and Jacob's picture is when he was a day old. (And NO, Wayne did not go to Guatemala prior to us visiting Madison in September....hahaha!)


Thursday, May 1, 2008

Jacob Arrives On the Scene

Meredith went in the hospital Tuesday night. They started inducing her on Wednesday morning. Sometime around 4 pm Meredith's doctor came back to check on her and stated that Jacob's head still had not dropped like he would like and recommended at that time that she have a C-Section. We talked it over and decided that getting the C-Section done would be the best course of action, so at 6:30 pm they started prepping her for it. Jacob was delivered at 7:41 pm on 30 April. He weighed 9 pounds 12.2 ounces at time of delivery and was 20 1/2 inches long. We also found out that he was breech, so its a good thing that we did decide to have the C-Section done because his head would have never dropped like the doctor was wanting it to. Now for the moment that you have all been waiting for here he is.......