Jacob's baby dedication

Jacob's baby dedication was this past Sunday on September 21. In the Baptist Church a baby is dedicated as a promise that his parents will raise him in Church and to know God and teach him the ways of our Lord. It is also a time when the Church family makes a proclaimation that they will assist the parents in teaching Jacob about Jesus and his love for us.

Adoption update...

Our case is still sitting on the 2nd reviewers desk. I don't know what else to say except we praise the Lord we haven't had a previo (been kicked out). Please keep praying that we make it to the third reviewers desk really soon.

The Beach!

On Monday we took the day and headed to the beach. It was Jacob's second time at the beach. We went for the first time when he was a little over a month old. This time he seemed to enjoy the water until a wave went over his head. Luckily Wayne was right there and able to pick him up immediately. He didn't really cry that much but you could tell he was not happy. Even with that he seemed to have a good time and enjoy the beach. That makes his mommy happy since I would live at the beach if possible.
Here are a few pictures of him that day.

One year ago today...

Wayne and I made our first trip to Guatemala exactly one year ago today. It was one year ago that we first met Madison in person and our love for her grew more than we could ever have imagined. We were on cloud nine that day. We had found out about Jacob a few weeks earlier (of course we didn't know Jacob would be Jacob at that time) and were meeting our daughter in person for the first time. Reality was setting in that we would have a family of four some day soon. The first few days our our visit were a little hard because she didn't know who we were but I still cherish those days as such a precious time. I remember the first time I told Madison that I was her Mommy and that I loved her. I was crying tears of Joy from finally getting to hold my daughter and now I am crying tears of sadness that it has been a year and we still don't have her home. I will always cherish this day as the first day that I ever held her in my arms. Wayne and I had such a wonderful time getting to know her during that week and left Guatemala being told that they would see us in December when we came to bring her home. We never would have even thought that a year later we would be waiting to bring her home. We don't understand why our case has taken so long but we do know that part of our hearts are in Guatemala with the most precious little girl you will ever meet. We are so blessed to have Jacob and I can't imagine not having him in my life but I need Madison to come home so that my heart will stop feeling broken.
Please pray for Wayne and I because this is one of the hardest things we have ever gone through.

Procuradoria General de la Nacion (PGN)

These pictures of of the offices of the PGN in Guatemala. Our case file is in this building currently sitting on the second review's desk.


The reviewer's desks are up these stairs and to the right. Please pray that our case moves to the third reviewer really soon and that the third reviewer approves it in a very timely manner.
We are about to go crazy waiting. I honestly don't know how much longer I can wait to bring Madison home. This has been one of the longest years so far and the thought of her not being home for another Christmas breaks our hearts.

It is hard to believe.....

that Jacob is 4 Months old!

Jacob has grown so much over the past month. We cannot imagine life without him and are so blessed to be his parents. His personality is beginning to really blossom and we really belive he might be becoming a big flirt. Boy are we going to be in trouble!!!
Here is a picture of him eating oatmeal.


This picture was taken earlier in the month but I just love it.

Still waiting on PGN...

I called PGN on Friday and found out that our case file is still on the second reviewers desk. We have to go through 3 reviewers before our case can be approved and released from PGN. Please pray that we make it to the 3rd reviewers desk within the next few days. Also please pray that the reviewers are very kind and are not extremely picky and find something to kick our case out for. They have been known to kick cases out for literally not having an "i" dotted or a "t" crossed. We are praying that the reviewers see that all of the necessary steps have been taken, the proper paperwork has been completed and that we have waited a very long time, and that they will approve our case in a very timely manner. PGN has been known to take a very long time to move a case from one reviewer to another.

On another note we want to share a praise that all of the adoption cases from our agency were able to have their birhtmother interviews completed by the timeline. This is a HUGE praise because if the deadline was not met there was a big feeling of the unknown. Nobody really knew what might happen to the cases with the fear that they would be dropped and have to start all over. Praise the Lord that this did not happen and all the families have met the deadline.

We also received some very unexpected but greatly appreciated pictures of Madison. Here is one of her....she looks like she is having a good time.

News....

We had our birthmother interview yesterday. I got the official confirmation from PGN today. They told me that the interview was successful and now all we are waiting on is for PGN to sign off on our case. Once that is done Madison will officially be our daughter. We will still have a wait due to another DNA test, passport and then our US Embassy appointment but we can handle that wait as long as we know she is officially our daughter.
Thanks for all your prayers and please keep praying that we successfully and make a speedy exit from PGN.

Hopefully some good news coming very soon....

Wayne and I are hoping and praying that we have good news to share soon. We have been told that our birthmother interview was completed today but we want to verify that is true before we get our hopes up. Please pray for some good news to come very very very soon. We also want to ask you to please pray for the other families adopting through our agency that they all hear good news soon too.

I am going to attempt to call PGN tomorrow and verify the news.

We have some BAD news!

We just found out that our attorney in Guatemala has a lot of birthmother interviews that are not completed and ours is one of them. We also found out that if we don't have the interview completed by August 31, then the Guatemala government will require Madison to be moved from her foster home and into an orphanage. The Government will no longer recognize the use of foster families and will require all children put up for adoption to be in orphanages.
We are soooo upset by this news and it breaks my heart to think of Madison going from her loving foster home to an orphanage.

We are trying our best to not lose faith but we can't help but feel that all of our prayers (and yours included) have gone unanswered. We know in our heads that this is not true and that God answers all prayers (just sometimes not the way we want him too) but honestly our hearts are broken and feel like our prayers have gone unanswered. I feel that I need God to hit me on the head with something and say "hey this is what I am doing with your case and trust me Madison is ok".

We are just so angry at our attonery and can't understand how he can let all of the children he is representing suffer for his laziness. (At least we feel he has been lazy).
We are at a loss as to what to do next and what to pray anymore. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.


Madison, Mommy and Daddy love you and are doing everything we can to get you home.

We ask that you also pray for the other families our attorney represents, there are at least 19 (we think) other families with our adoption agency that he is working with.