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)

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.

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!

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!)

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.......

We Are Back In!!!!!

That's right family and friends we are finally back in PGN (the Guatemalan Court Process)! I received an email from our adoption agency this morning that said our case was resubmitted to the PGN on Friday the 25th of April. This was such wonderful news for us to hear since our case had been kicked out of PGN since October. Now we just pray that there will not be any more kick outs and that our case can move right along. Normal time in PGN lately has been about four (4) weeks and then about another four (4) weeks after that to get a new birth certificate with our last name, passport, second DNA test (to make sure that she is still the same baby we started with), and then an appointment with the US Embassy! Once our case is out of PGN, Madison is legally ours forever!!! Please pray with us that this process now moves smoothly with no more delays.

Finally some good news!!!!

We received some great news today. Meredith got an email from our adoption coordinator today which said that Madison's birth certificate problem has finally been corrected and that our lawyer has sent someone to go get it. She also said that our lawyer plans on resubmitting our case to PGN on Friday. We would like to thank everyone who has been praying for this with us.

As for an update on Jacob, he could be here by the end of the week (we just have a strong feeling that it will happen). We are just waiting for Meredith's water to break and for the contractions to start. Meredith's parents are currently making there way here now and should be here by tomorrow. Please pray for their safe travels.

Exactly One Year Ago!

Madison at 27 days old


Madison at a One year




It was exactly one year ago today that we first laid eyes on a picture of Madison. We signed with our adoption agency on April 21, 2007 and that day took home three pictures of three beautiful baby girls. We prayed over the pictures and realized that Madison was the one meant to be our daughter. We have been in love with her ever since. She could not be a better fit for our family. We had heavy hearts about what would happen to the other baby girls but I am happy to say that they too have found homes. We had the privilege to meet one of the families during our last trip to Guatemala and I have to say that their little girl is a perfect match for them and will be going home this week. Isn't it amazing how God knows just which child will be perfect for each family? Our adoption journey has been a very long journey but we know that Madison is worth the wait. We had hoped to have her home in time to welcome her little brother into this world but unfortunately that will not be the case. Especially since we have only a few more weeks until Jacob's due date (with the hopes that he arrives a little early). Instead of Madison being here to welcome Jacob home, Jacob will be here to welcome his big sister home.
After a year of waiting we feel that it is definitely time for Madison to come home. We are asking for everyone to please pray her home. We would ask that you all specifically pray for the hearts of the City Hall officials be softened so that they will release her birth certificate. We have to have that birth certificate before our case will move forward again. We have been waiting for them to release it for several months now. It seems that the hold up could be something that is completely out of our control such as a battle between the City Hall and the Government agency.

We are also still waiting on Jacob's arrival but as soon as he is here we will be sure to let everyone know. We found out today that he is already measuring at 40 weeks and I still have 2 weeks to go before I will officially be 40 weeks.
We ask that you keep the pregnancy in your prayers as well.

We are still waiting....

Ok, here is the latest news. As of last Thursday we are still waiting on City Hall to release the corrected version of Madison's original birth certificate. We found out that our attorney has evidently gotten frustrated with this situation as well and has hired someone to do nothing but to go City Hall each day to try to get the birth certificate. We also found out that there is a new agency forming called the National Registry of Persons. All Guatemalan citizens will have to register with this agency and be issued an ID card. We are not sure if this will cause a delay for us or not. Our attorney is hoping that he can get around this without it causing any delays. The City Halls are also fighting this new agency because of a power struggle as to who should have the right to issue ID cards.
On April 21, we will have been in this adoption process for a full year. We understand that many countries can take several years for an adoption to be completed but traditionally Guatemala has not been one of those and for most cases is still not one of those countries. I believe that Madison is probably one of our attorney's oldest cases he is working on and that maybe he finally wants to speed things up as well.
Please keep this entire process in your Prayers. We would love to see Madison home by this summer sometime.

What we are waiting on now...

Ok, we have finally found out the real reason for our delay so far. We found out that we are waiting for a signature but that it is a signature for Madison's original birth certificate. We found out that our attorney tried to get the corrected birth certificate last week but the Central Registry office did not have it ready. The new president of Guatemala has given the new Central Registry office the responsibility of handling all birth certificates. This is actually a good thing since there are several towns in Guatemala that will not release a birth certificate for whatever reason they can think of. These towns have delayed many families from being able to take their children home in a timely manner. We believe that this is also the reason we have been delayed. It has only been within the last month or so that the Central Registry has taken over the responsibility. They were supposed to be completely in control of all birth certificates as of this week which is hopeful for us. We are waiting for an update from our agency about whether or not our attorney was able to get the corrected copy of her birth certificate. We have to have the birth certificate before we can be re-entered into PGN.
In the mean time we are still getting ready for Jacob. My mom and I have been shopping this week to get the last minute things we needed to bring him home. It is hard to believe that I only have 3 - 4 more weeks before my due date. I am also getting myself mentally ready to have a big baby. According to my doctor he is a big baby which seems to be pretty standard in my family and Wayne's as well.
As I look at the pictures of Madison I try to imagine what Jacob looks like and can't wait to get to hold him for the first time.
Please continue to keep us in your prayers and continue to pray that our adoption will start moving forward again.


Here is another picture of beautiful Madison