Prayer request and the year to come...

On a very sad note one of Tera's uncles unexpectedly passed away over the weekend. Please pray for the family during this very difficult time.

Well this is my last post for 2007. What a year it has been. Our lives have changed drastically in so many ways. Many prayers have been answered and memories have been made. Our dearest blessing Emma came home and we couldn't be more overjoyed. This has been a year of many many firsts. I pray and put my hope in God that 2008 will be just as awesome. Please continue to pray for the children of Guatemala and the adoption process. Please keep in mind that there are many families still in process that may have a little bit of a bumpy road ahead of them. I hope and pray that the process will go better than expected. I pray for Emma's health and that it continues to improve and that our family will be brought together even closer. Have a wonderful New Years celebration!!! God Bless.

Constructing a new kitchen

My sister in law and her husband bought a play kitchen for Emma. It looks good on the box cover. We've been a bit busy with Christmas and all and I admit that I have been procrastinating putting it together. So at 2:45 this morning I decided to assemble the kitchen. "Assemble" is not the word I should use. It should actually be "manufacture". There is not one piece to this kitchen that does not have to be snapped away from its original mold frame. It took me well over an hour just to break away the door pieces and put them together before I could even start attaching them to main frame of the kitchen. Every knob, dish and utensil has to be broken away from its mold and most likely have its sharp edges filed down so Emma doesn't hurt her delicate skin. I did get most of the harder stuff done and the rest should not be too difficult to put together. After all of the filing and snapping it should be pretty nice. So if you are looking to put something together that will make you go crazy I suggest this toy for the little one in your life. In my ideal world it will look like this sometime today:
Pretty nice huh? I thought so. I am beginning to think that this kitchen will take longer to put together than my actual kitchen remodel a few years back. Well, not that bad. Don't get me wrong, I like putting Emma's toys together. Just not ones that are "All Assembly Required" as opposed to "Some Assembly Required".

My Christmas post...finally

Well, here we are. A belated Merry Christmas!!! The days leading up to today have been so busy but very fun. Last Christmas Tera and I frequently talked about what it would be like when Emma would be home with us. And now she is here. The family get togethers have been so great. On Saturday we went out to a really awesome greek restaurant that my dad picked out. Both Tera and I had the leg of lamb which was awesome and Emma had Yo-baby, bread and some banana. On Sunday we had a Christmas party with my mother-in-laws side of the family which I look forward to every year. Tera’s Aunt Bonnie flew in from Seattle to visit for Christmas and this was the first time that she has seen Emma. We had a snow storm accompanied with high winds that day which made driving conditions terrible but it added a new fresh layer of white snow to make it a lock for a white Christmas. Christmas Eve was the annual Christmas party on my father in laws side of the family. This get together is usually the largest of the season. We had a great time and Emma had a ball visiting with all of the cousins and relatives. They have been so kind to us over the past year while Tera and I worked on bringing Emma home. It made for a really nice evening. Emma did get to stay up pretty late and though she was really tired she remained a trooper (good spirits and all). On Christmas day we went to Tera’s parents to get together with them, her brother and her sisters family. The day was pretty relaxing and Emma thoroughly enjoyed her new personalized stuffed chair. She will crawl on top of it and put her dolls onto it but she won’t sit on it yet. Emma and her cousins played while the rest of us relaxed and enjoyed each others company. So here I am today. With Christmas and Thanksgiving behind me I am left with memories which will stay with me forever. Like I mentioned earlier Tera and I spoke of these days and what it would be like to spend them with Emma. We would speak to each other with a distant look in our eyes as if to barely touch what we longed for in our hearts for so many years. On this morning I feel truly grateful and blessed to have the family that I have been given.
The other night while at the Christmas Eve party we were all asked what we were thankful for. Being that I went second I didn’t have a lot of time to reflect so my answer was pretty short. So now that I have time to think about it I will elaborate. I am thankful that God has blessed Tera and I with Emma Grace Esperanza. I cannot in my wildest dreams imagine that this beautiful gift would be in our lives. I am honored to be her daddy. I am thankful for my hot mama bride of almost 12 years. She is my better half and the EVER patient love of my life. I would not be who I am today without her. I am thankful for the family that I married into and the extended family that is attached to them. Through our many years of marriage and recent expansion of our family they have always been very supportive and made me feel at home with their kindness. I am thankful for my parents and sister and their unconditional love and all the fun memories from over the many years. I am thankful for my grandmother in North Carolina who I miss so much, there are childhood memories that I have of her that I will not forget.. And most of all I am thankful that God sent His only Son to walk among men but for a short time. We are an undeserving people but God out of His never ending perfect love, mercy, grace and kindness gave us Jesus Christ so that through His prophesied birth and crucifxion we might be rescued from the law and by accepting His Son and repenting of our sins we would be saved. Without this there would be no hope and all would be in vain. The ultimate and perfect gift. Merry CHRISTmas.

uggh...

Things are a bit rough for me right now. In more ways than one. Work etc. stuff like that. I haven't posted in quite a while because I haven't made the time. It's hard. I have a lot to say but when I sit down all I hear is white noise plus my mouth doesn't translate onto the keyboard very well. I will plan on posting a sometime right before Christmas. Thanks for reading.

Quickie post...

If you read this blog I apologize for not posting. I normally would post on my day off but I either fall asleep or fail to make time. I'm not a very good writer/blogger so when I start a new post my mind goes blank and can't think of anything to write about or I am unable to translate the past weeks going-ons. So this attempt will be a rambling of thoughts without organization and maybe my next post will be an earnest attempt at "getting it together".

December is here. We have had two coatings of snow which will make a nice White Christmas. Tera and I are excited beyond words to have our first Christmas with Emma. This will be a Christmas to remember for sure. We feels so blessed to have her home with us. She gets cuter by the day and she has me wrapped around her finger big time. Emma has her third tooth coming in and another coming right behind it which is affecting the consistency of her sleep patterns.

The myriad of adoption issues in Guatemala continue to churn. So much politics is at play here and it disgusts me to no end that the ones who will be poorly affected by all of this will be the children of Guatemala. Please continue to pray and support those who advocate for the welfare of the children.

I think that's it for now. I will hopefully post some new pics soon and have something cool to write about.

J

Outs

On a most recent and positive note there have been many babies exiting PGN. This is so good to see. I hope that this becomes an increasing trend in the coming weeks. As the list hopefully continues to grow I hope and pray for all of the families in the process during the holidays. This time of year can be very difficult if you are unable to be in Guatemala with your little one. Last Thanksgiving and Christmas was very hard for Tera and I to be at home while Emma was still in Guatemala. Please continue to pray for the babies and their adoptive families.
And to answer Michele's question from last week: No, unfortunately we were unable to get to Cable this year. Hopefully we will be there next fall. Things were very busy and it came up on us pretty quick. If you do go to Garmisch try to go on Fridays for the fish fry. It rules. If not try Lakewoods (also on Lake Namekagon) they have awesome prime rib that come in sizes that range from ridiculous to offensive. Happy vacation.

Mmmmm....Turkey

Here on the home front things are gearing up for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Emma is running now and has turn into a very, very cute one girl wrecking machine. You clean it, she demolishes it. But when she does it...it's done in a very cute way of course. The weather is cooling down now with the daily average highs in the upper 30's to low 40's. The snow should be here soon which means I need to find Emma's first sled. Way cool!
On the adoption front much is on the move. I recommend you head on over to www.guatadopt.com for the latest news. Please continue to pray for the the ever changing situation in Guatemala and also please keep an eye on Minnesota Senator Norm Coleman who will be heading to Guatemala after Thanksgiving to address the current situation with Guatemalan government. Keep him and the meetings in your prayers. Hopefully he will make great strides while he is there.

On a very happy note. Head on over to Cheri and Gary's blog and give them a huge congratulations. After almost one year Eliana is back in PGN which downright rules. Read her blog and send them some love and encouragement. They deserve it. http://www.sunflowersandladybugs.com/welcome.asp

If I don't blog before Thanksgiving I would like to say "Happy Thanksgiving" to you all. Take time to think about all you should be thankful for. I for one can think of two people I am thankful for. One is in the next room in her crib sleeping soundly and the other is at a Sara Groves concert with her sister.

Eat lots of turkey and take a giant nap.

Have a great week.

Jason

Good news? Let us continue to hope and pray.

Does this mean hope for the children of Guatemala? Keep those prayers coming.
From the JCICS dated November 7th:

November 7, 2007

Joint Council has continued to advocate for a rational and child centric transition to the Hague Convention in Guatemala. During our recent presentation at the Adoption Ethics & Accountability Conference in Washington, D.C., Joint Council called for the completion of adoptions in-process, the implementation of the Conventions core elements, an effective implementation date of April 2008 and funding for capacity building. We have continued to work with our colleagues in Guatemala along with members of the Guatemalan Congress in developing a functional child welfare system.

We can now report that members of the Guatemalan Congress, including numerous party chiefs, have submitted a new legislative proposal which;
- Includes a strong ‘grandfather’ clause,
- Designates April 30, 2008 as the effective implementation date of the Convention,
- Allocates $5 million Quetzales ($650,000 USD) for the creation of the Central Authority
- Allocates a percentage of the total government budget for child welfare services
- Creates a new government entity to act as the Central Authority in Guatemala,
- Provides for private non-profit accredited entities to provide services to children,
- Allows single potential adoptive parents to apply for adoption,
- Creates a functional process by which children can find a permanent, safe and loving family.

The new legislation is scheduled to be introduced to Congress early next week. In line with our mission of advocating for the right of each child to a permanent family, Joint Council will continue to work with our colleagues in Guatemala towards a positive and child centric implementation of the Convention.

Adoption article

I ran across this article link at Guatadopt. Since there has been so much media on Guatemalan adoptions (some good, some not so good) I thought this might help to unravel some of the layers of the situation that exists in a very volatile atmosphere. Mind you, Guatemala has elected a new president as well and who knows what this administration's agenda might be when it comes to the changing adoption process. The bottom line is the children. The countless numbers of children who are and will be subject to a government and an outside entity whose political agenda will affect so many children for so long. Keep praying. So many children need our relentless and constant prayers.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/02/AR2007110201782.html

Sign of the times (Part II)

For some reason I am enamored with the past. Americana so to speak. Things like old newspaper ads and political op/ed pieces. It's interesting to me to look back at the articles to see how accurate the reporter might have been or how way off he or she was. Product ads are sometimes the most entertaining since marketing has changed in so many ways. As a child He-Man and the Transformers was right around my time and as a teen I was mostly into timeless stuff like bicycles and fishing. Yet I see these ads or hear bands from the 50's and 60's and I feel as if I might have missed out on a time that seems much more charming than what today has to offer. Don't get me wrong, I love the internet, my ipod and the wonders of instantaneous news on the fly. Some of my co-workers are about 20 years or so older than I am so it is neat to hear about when they first saw the whatever band or movie at the theater or what their favorite TV show was. Anyways, I found this ad. It makes me laugh. Hardy-Har-Har!

Sign of the times

I graduated in 1991 but I do remember the Eighties fondly. Oh the days of parachute pants and breakdancing...two things I can say that I never was a part of. Huge kudos to Ah-Ha and Tears for Fears though. But the Seventies...so much is questionable about that era. I submit two examples:

Thank a Senator

Recent decisions made by the Guatemalan government over the current and future adoption system has resulted in the hard work and fervent prayers by many people very concerned for the well being of the children of Guatemala. Many letters have been written and phone calls have been made. One of the major issues at the forefront are the "in-process" cases. I included a link with a letter from many of our US Senators to President Berger and UNICEF. Take time to thank your Senator if you see his or her signature.

http://www.jcics.org/UNICEF%20Letter.pdf

Yes, I know what day it is...

We normally don't celebrate this day but I couldn't resist posting this photo. And no, this work of art is not in our front yard. First, Tera would be "very disappointed" in me and second, I'm not that creative. So kids have a great day and eat lots and lots of sweet, sugary candy. Mmmm....candy. j

Semi-Finished floor and a new pic of Emma

So here is the floor. To the left you can see the 4x4 area that will be tiled and to the right is the sub-floor that shows where the wall used to be and where I will be installing new oak strips. Technically this is a semi-finished floor. We haven't picked out the tile yet hopefully we soon will.
Today was beautiful and 69 degrees outside. Tomorrow will be 20 degrees colder which will make a nice day for me to be out and about to winterize the yard and garage and such.
For those who get what I am talking about I went online last night to look at pictures of the Westin in Guatemala City. I reminisced about their breakfast buffet , Gallo, Guiseppe's and the Westin's beds and room service. Till then.

Floored

I refinished the floors in our house last week. It went well for the most part. We did have a couple surprises though. When I pulled up the carpet it revealed that there was a wall between the dining room and living room so there was no wood flooring. Just a sub-floor. So I will be installing oak flooring in that area. The area at the front door about 4x4 also had a sub floor installed. I will be installing either laminate or tile there. I think that the floors turned out nicely. I really like wood floors so I was pretty happy when Tera and I agreed to do the floors in the house. An area of concern was some "dark spots" that exist. Oak does this weird thing when it is wet for a long time. It turns black. Sometimes you can get it out, sometimes you can't. Some people call it ugly. I call it "character". Here are some before and after the sanding pics of the floors. Notice the evidence of a "painting party" that the previous owner had before installing the carpet over the hardwood floors.I will post the "final product" in a couple of days.
See ya

J

While we were gone

We had a lot going on last week. Aside from being out the house for an entire week while I refinished the floors Tera and I also celebrated something more important than a home improvement. Last year on the 26th of October 2006 Tera and I had just met Emma and were getting acquainted for the very first time. While so much has happened since then and I am unable to type it all out I do have one or two things to say about it. I am thankful for what the Lord has blessed us with. Emma is quite the young lady. She is energetic to say the least and her demeanor is so sweet. We are still soaking in her arrival into our home and fondly look back to the days just one year ago when she came into our lives.

A walk down memory lane... This is the post I made the day Tera and I met little Emma last October:

Thursday, October 26, 2006

Greetings from Guatemala City

We are here. I have not posted because I have been staring at our little one so much. For the record we named her Emma Grace Esperanza Chavez. Emma and Grace are family names and Esperanza means "hope".

We arrived in Guatemala City on Tuesday safe and sound. We were met outside the airport by many beggars. I am not as used to this as Tera is. It's hard to see children live like that. On the way from the airport to the hotel I witnessed approximately four thousand traffic violations give or take a few. I don't think that I will ever rent a car here.

Tera and I were spent yet so excited to meet little Emma so we did the best we could to get some rest and to settle in for a weeks stay at the Westin in Guatemala City. The beds here are far beyond what I can explain. They are by far the most comfortable beds I have ever slept in.

Wednesday morning we got up and went to have breakfast. It was buffet style with so many things to choose from. I have officially named fried plantains as my "so very bad for me but I don't care" food of choice. The breakfast was so good but in the backs of our minds was the fact that we were about to meet the girl who would change our lives forever. We headed back up to our room and waited. Room service came to tidy up our room and the second they left and shut the door the phone rang. It was Marielena asking us to meet her in the lobby of the hotel. We quickly gathered our things and headed for the lobby. Once there Marielena led us to a small secluded room to meet little Emma (then Nurian Sochil). The foster mother was there with her daughter and Emma. The foster mother greeted us and immediately handed Emma to Tera. We were so overwhelmed by the situation that neither Tera or I spoke for a minute or so. We began to speak with the foster mother and her daughter about Emma and who they were as well. The foster mother and her daughter were so sweet and kind. We like them alot. They seem so concerned with Emma's well being. After some more conversation and picture taking we were allowed to leave so the three of us headed back upstairs to our room. Together we gave Emma her first bath, first bottle and first diaper change. A day of firsts. I loved it. Since then Emma has pretty much slept and eaten. Today she is a bit out of sorts but otherwise in great spirits. Here at the Westin we have met so many nice people visiting their babies as well. Last night we were able to have dinner with one of the moms and her little one which was really nice. It's really cool to interact with others going through the adoption process as well.
This morning we signed our Power of Attorney and the now the Guatemalan side of the process is now underway! Praise the Lord.
So here I sit. It is raining outside and Tera is across the room feeding Emma. It seems so quiet in here even with the hustle and bustle of the city below. The world moves on as Tera and I fall in love with our dear Emma Grace.

If you want to see some pictures Tera has some posted on her blog. Just click on the "Guatemama" link to the right. I'll get that picture thing figured out one of these days.

Jason

Back In

We are back in our house now. I finished the floors yesterday and we moved back in tonight. There are some odds and ends to do along with 1/4 round that I will have to poly and install. Emma was very surprised with the floor but I think that she will warm up to the change just fine.
On the 25th we quasi-celebrated our 1 year anniversary of our POA /first time meeting Emma trip. I will post on all this and more later this weekend, pics and all. I would do it now but I have to go to work.
Later.
J

Another day, another project....Days 1 and 2

I have begun a new project this week. Refinishing our wood floors. This means that Tera, Emma and I relocated to her parents home till this "endeavor" is complete.
Day 1 consisted of my friend Brent coming over and helping me move all the furniture to other parts of the house and pulling out the existing carpet and padding. In all this took about 3 hours and it went fairly well. We ended Day 1 eating lunch at El Loro, my favorite Mexican eatery.
Day 2 was just me at the house pulling hundreds of carpet staples from the floor. By the time I was done my knees were ablaze and my back was killing me. I did a bit of preliminary sanding in some trouble areas and vacuumed up the mess. Tomorrow I will get the floor sander and strip the floors down and begin to prep the wood for the multiple coats of poly that I will most likely begin to apply on Monday...my knees can hardly wait.

One year ago today...

... Tera and I headed home from dinner and spent the majority of the drive home going on and on about our upcoming referral. Who is she? What will she look like? How old is she? Has she been born yet? Conversations like these had existed for quite some time or at least since we were placed on the referral list at our adoption agency. We got home and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. As we took off our shoes Tera noticed that there was a message on the machine. When she pressed play we were left with a message that a little girl who had been born on October 4th was being referred to us. Later that evening we received an email with pictures of the child who would change our lives forever. This is one in a series of pictures we received just one year ago today:
This would be the beginning of a long road of ups and downs that would last until her arrival home on June 9th of this year. We are truly blessed to have this beautiful treasure in our lives. Today is a very special day for the three of us and I thought I'd take a moment to share it with you. Gracias.

Jason

Howdy Hi!

It goes without saying that I have had little time for myself as of late and it is for all the right reasons. With that said I will make a quick update.
The adoption climate in Guatemala continues to swirl with changes occurring almost everyday. Please continue to pray for the children and the adoptive parents. Last week CNN's Anderson Cooper did a half hour "expose" on the Guatemalan adoption situation. I don't want to get into this but my personal opinion is that along with so many of this other news/commentary bits he has done I again was very disappointed with his attempt to educate the public about something he know little to nothing about. I must admit that there were a few good points but none to write home about.
In other news... Emma turned ONE year old on the 4th. The week was insane with "things to do" thus not posts. We had a great week. My mom came from North Carolina to visit which was nice and not long enough. On Tuesday Emma went to the doctors office for her one year appointment and ended the visit with 4 shots and a needle prick on her finger. She was not a fan. But she was such a trooper and was back to her sweet spirit in no time. Unfortunately her vomiting issues continue and she has developed a bit of a cold as well. Pray she gets well soon.
As for the next couple of weeks I will be tearing out the carpet in the rest of the house and refinishing the hardwood floors and time permitting I will get out on the lake and do some pike/muskie fishing. The weather has cooled down and fall has set in. Before too long the snow will fly. I'm smiling.

Guatemala quickly...

I don't have time to post but the situation with adoptions in Guatemala are beginning to swirl yet again. This time it seems to be much more serious. Please pray for the families who are in process and especially the many Guatemalan children who could be affected by this. The bottom line is that those families who are in process right now might not finish their adoptions. Something like this happened back in 2003 and the results were horrible for the children who were left behind. Things are probably be fast moving for a little bit so I will post sooner than later.

Please take time to read about this if you could. Thanks.

http://www.guatadopt.com/

http://www.adaguatemala.org/English/news/

As the rain moves in...

I sit in the comfort of my home putzin' around getting little things done here and there. We are beginning to prepare for Emma's 1st birthday party which will be the first weekend in October. Though this will be a relatively small affair but we have small projects that need to get done before then. My mom will be flying in from North Carolina for that weekend which will be really nice. Not a whole ton is really happening other than that stuff. Getting ready for the party and continuing to get ready for the fall season as well. Before you know it...snow. But before then I hope to get some fishing in. I love to fish this time of the year. Mainly for Northern Pike and hopefully the unexpected Muskie. It's a tad bit late so I will wait to blog again soon. By the way, Happy Birthday to my Grandma Freda who turns 95 today! I love you!

J

Emma is very....

cute.
It has been cooling down here in Minnesota so Tera put this hat on Emma's head before we all headed out for some errands yesterday.

That's all for now.

J

Hey there...

so how's it going? Things are going pretty well here. Work, sleep, Emma, Tera, house, work, sleep, work. The fall season is on it's on it's way. Soon I'll be putting the patio furniture away and getting the snowblower ready and the shovels out. We are preparing for Emma's first birthday which is coming up at the beginning on October. We are very excited for that.
Nothing too new on the plate these days. I'll update again when my brain is working better and there is more to update about.

Goodnight.

j

Excalibur! Thanks to the Swedes I am triumphant once again!

When Tera was in Guatemala with Emma back in May my laptop crashed taking with it about 20 gigs of music. Since then I have not once updated my iPod or my iTunes. My iPod has pretty much acted as my storage hard drive/back up till I could figure out how to get the content on my iPod to another laptop. After much internal deliberation and constant questioning of the resident geeks at my work (don't worry, these guys wear the "geek" title like a giant shiny Marshal's badge at the OK Corral) I have finally placed all the content onto a different laptop via a software program made by a Swedish firm that is not named IKEA. Now I can update my podcasts and get caught up with the 3 months of episodes that I have missed. What podcasts do I listen to? James Macdonald, Jan Markell and David Wheaton just to name a few.

So here I sit in the dead of morning watching Iron Chef and listening to Fernando Ortega. The iPod thing took about 2 hours to complete so now that it's so late I decided to blog for a little while and see what happens. What is new? For those who don't visit Tera's blog the big news of the week is that Emma has not one but two teeth coming in. One of them has come through her gum and the other just emerged yesterday. She is a bit "off" with the teeth coming in but her demeanor is still sweet as sugar, even if she doesn't want to take her naps...aarrgh! We are excited for her and on top of that she is starting to pick up some words like "bye bye" accompanied with a cute little wave of her right hand. But still no "mama" or "papa". That will come in time. She is standing more on her own and I am sure she will be making her walking debut in the near future. We are so enthralled to have her in our lives. Parenting is not easy but by far the best thing ever. Tera loves being her mom and I love being her dad.

On Monday the three of us went looking at a local mercado in search of some ideas for Emma's up and coming first birthday party in October but we came up with nothing. We did have the pleasure of getting dinner at our favorite Arabic restaurant which is always a treat. They did have their rockin' buffet going on but we ordered our meals to go instead. There are quite a few latino stores and bazaars in the Minneapolis/ St. Paul area so it shouldn't be too hard to find what we are looking for.

Before I wrap this up I just wanted to comment on a couple of things and make a request as well. Back in March Tera and I were going through some relatively hard issues concerning our adoption of Emma. Most of it had to do with the Guatemalan government and it's current dealings and attitudes toward adoptions. I think that was the hardest time of the process for us because we didn't know if Emma was going to be able to come home to us. Tera and I both handled it differently. She blogged a lot which is something I found impossible at the time. I wound up making a music video collage of Emma and talked it out with Tera and some good friends at work. There were a lot of tears shed during that time. Emotions ran high. I recently ran across that video (which I may post in the future) and I began to think about how I felt during that time. Tera and I wanted to have Emma with us so badly and our hearts cried out for her to be with us. We did not know what the Guatemalan government was going to do and we never knew what the next phone call would bring. But then the Lord in His mercy blessed us and allowed Emma to come home to us and for that we are forever grateful. Unfortunately the story doesn't end there. There are still many children waiting to come home and many families are waiting with hopeful hearts. Many families are going through what we went through and some are going through things much more difficult that what we had to deal with. For those in the know or who have been through or are currently in the process you know what I am talking about. The Hague is coming at the beginning of 2008 and with every passing day the news out of Guatemala is more and more uncertain and volatile. Many people are tirelessly working to make the adoption environment better for everyone involved, especially for the children. Please pray for the lawmakers in both the US and Guatemala. Pray for the families who are waiting for their little ones and especially for the many children waiting for the process to release them to their loving and awaiting families. Pray for their health, safety and protection. Please don't forget about the foster mothers and their families as well. God Bless you all.

J

The Great Minnesota Get Together 2007

The three of us went to the state fair today. A year ago Tera and I wandered the state fair grounds talking about what it was going to be like when our child would be there with us. Emma was not born yet and we were neck deep with the adoption paper chase. We got there at around noon and headed to our favorite eating establishment, Giggles. I think it's a corny name but the food is downright awesome. Tera and I had grilled salmon on a stick and walleye crab cakes and a cold glass of honey wiess. Very Minnesotan of us, you betcha! The food at this place is so good we have been going there for the last three years and the quality only gets better. We then headed through the rest of the fair sampling some of the not so healthy but o' so tasty fare. Pizza on a stick, Tejas' chips and guacamole along with an ice cold Beergherita (don't ask, I can't explain), chocolate covered key lime pie on a stick (thank you Key West) and much much more. Every year at the fair new items are always the talk of the fairgrounds. One year it was alligator on a stick which I thought was a bit on the chewy side. I remember another year there was the deep fried candy bar on a stick which was not so ridiculous sounding once I heard that in that same year the deep fried Twinkie was making it's debut. As if the Twinkie wasn't bad enough by itself, some mad scientist had to go and batter the thing and deep fry it. Mmmm... heart stopping fun. I have not tried the candy bar or the Twinkie and I probably never will. There was something new this year that I could not turn a blind eye to and that was the Fried Fruit. Thats right, an assortment of sweet and ripened fruit lined up on a bamboo skewer, dipped in a cake batter, deep fried and bathed in powdered sugar. First off, I love fruit. Ask Tera, it almost borders on offensive when it comes to how much fruit I can eat in one sitting. I admit the fried fruit was good. Would I have it again? Probably.
Now here's the thing about the Minnesota State Fair. Here in Minnesota this is a really big deal. At first I didn't understand it. When I first moved here from Florida many moons ago I always thought the regular stuff when it comes to fairs. Unsafe rust bucket rides and the chain smoking carnies that operate them, the freak show which is really sad because people pay to see animals cooped up in cages or people with some sort of deformity like "Lobster Boy". So this was my idea of the state fair when I first heard about it. Then I went. All my preconceived ideas went out the window. This is where Minnesotans gather for 12 days every year. Everything about Minnesota is represented here past and present. But when it comes to the average Minnesotan, it's all about the food and most of the 1.6 million yearly attendees would probably agree. Of course I had to get used to things like Cheese Curds (fried cheese) and the ever present pronto pup/corn dog. But here in Minnesota people congregate on almost 400 acres to eat and drink new and exciting (and sometimes questionable i.e., Sloppy Joe on a stick) things and celebrate the end of another beautiful summer in the soon to be chilly Minnesota.

But the real story today is about Emma. Emma gets a gold star by her name for being so good. Due to the ever changing scenery at the fair she was very entertained by all the sights, sounds and smells. She didn't make a peep and loved every minute of the fair. What a trooper. Tera, Emma and I had a ball being at the fair and being a family. For the past couple of years we talked about "what it would be like..." and now we know and we love it. There are many annual things that Tera and I do and now Emma can be a part of them. Here's to Minnesota, it's fair and all the food that we shouldn't eat. Hooray!

Some pics of our day at the fair:

Neato picture...plus Emma news

I have a feeling that I like things that might be considered odd. I don't like the Alien movies but I do love vegetables. I thought this was kinda cool.

Emma is now saying "Buh-Bye" and waving her right hand. Since this is a new thing she does it on and off throughout the day which is ultra-cute.

We are heading to the "Great Minnesota Get-Together" on Tuesday and I am pumped. Bring on all things deep fried, on a stick and covered in either cheese or chocolate!

Have a nice weekend.

j

Nuthin' New

Not a whole lot going on this week. Well, maybe a few things. We have finally gotten some rain which rocks the Casbah. The Minnesota State Fair is starting this week. Hopefully we will make it this year. We will probably go early in the morning.
Let's see...I finished the latest round of books and I picked up Frank Peretti's "The Visitation". His books are pretty good. Tera begged me to read "The Oath" and I like it alot. I picked up the 3rd book in the prequel of the Left Behind series called "The Rapture". This will wrap up my endeavor to read the entire series. My brother in law is doing this online social networking thing called Pownce. He gave me an invite and I have already lost interest. It's just not my thing. I can't seem to find a way to delete my account. That's very cable company of them to make it that way.
I borrowed a copy of Leoncavallo-Pagliacci and I am again reminded of how much of a fan of Andrea Bocelli I am. If you are not a fan of opera I understand. It can be a bit much. But there are some great recordings out there. Try Sacred Arias or Verdi. They both feature Bocelli and are an easy listen.
Some friends from the church we used to attend threw us a baby shower yesterday. It was very nice to see people we haven't seen for a while. Emma was well behaved and seemed to really enjoy herself. Today we are going to look for some new earrings for Emma and I'm gonna see if I can talk Tera into going to St. Paul to this coffee/sandwich shop that our friend told me about while we were at the shower. I guess that's all for now.
Oh yeah, a massive shout out to Tricia (Mamarazzi) and her crew for the gifts. You rule!

See ya

j

Hey Mike, make up your mind...

Embattled NFL quarterback Michael Vick, facing federal charges related to his alleged participation in dogfighting, has been hit with a "$63,000,000,000 billion dollar" lawsuit filed by a South Carolina inmate who alleges the Atlanta Falcons star stole his pit bulls and sold them on eBay to buy "missiles from Iran,"

Okay let's see, first he's an NFL quarterback, then he decides to be a dog fighter now an international arms dealer? For the love of Jeff! Pick a career already!

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,293268,00.html

J

What's next?

Over the past day or so I reread my entire blog from when I first began it till now to see all of what I wrote. I originally started this blog to document our adoption of Emma but now she is home and I am not sure what I am supposed to write about now. I think you can tell by looking at my last post. I like doing this but if there are people who want to read this blog then I guess it would be a good idea if I didn’t bore you all to death. Compared to many other people I lead a fairly normal life. It’s not boring by any means but I’m not out there wearing a head to toe arachnid themed unitard fighting crime or on an adventure across the country to Mount Doom to destroy a ring that “rules them all” or even taking out a clandestine government agency in order to help me remember my true identity. So the question now is what should I do with this blog or better yet, what should I write about?

I would like this blog to be for lack of a better word, relevant (I can’t stand that word). I would like to write about stuff that would entertain, be interesting and make people want to read this thing. Maybe I would still do it even if people didn’t read it, I don’t know. Hmmm…

I have an idea. For those of you who read this leave me question or request in the comments section and I will write about that or at least try to. Pick a topic or whatever. If something is requested concerning a subject that I have no idea about then I will have to resort to making something up. I might even go to Wikipedia and do a whole lot of cut and paste to make myself look “smrt“. So leave me a question or a bunch of questions or ideas and I will respond to them. If nobody sends me anything then I will have to blabber on about how cute I think Emma is.

Let’s see what happens shall we?

J

Somebody looks like they are having a bad day...

This is a Blobfish. I wonder how long it took the animal husbandry folks to think of that name. Look at this poor sap...don't you feel sorry for him?

Try to imagine there is a cartoon bubble above his head and leave me a comment quoting what you think he might say if he or she could talk...

Yawn...

I need a nap. Oh yeah, a Macbook and five grand would be nice too...

I think I'll take that nap.

Words that I will not be using today: "Emergent", "Infrastructure" and "Kablooie!/Kablammo!"

I wonder...

...if anyone reads this blog. I know that there are some out there and I really appreciate your comments and encouragement but I wonder if there is anyone else. Maybe there are lurkers and others that might be out there that read this and don't comment. Either way I enjoy doing this when I have the time. Make my day and leave me a comment. Be nice though, I have thin skin and I can produce alligator tears on a dime.

Emma has been Simpsonized!

We are frantically searching...

...for Emma's battery panel. Emma has an unbelievable amount of energy and I think there must be an auxiliary panel somewhere on Emma's body where she has "Mega-Superduty-Maximum Never Ending-Super Baby Power Batteries". That or she has found my coffee and is eating the grounds straight up and washing them down with chocolate syrup. Go Emma Go!

Not a close call but close enough for me

Tera, Emma and I went shopping yesterday at a couple of baby stores. We left home at around 3:30 in the afternoon and arrived in Northeast Mpls. somewhere around 4:00. After we left the store and made a quickie diaper change we started to head to the suburbs south of the city. I figured we could head towards the University of Minnesota and hop on the highway from there. As we approached the onramp I discovered that it was closed due to the normal summer construction that occurs around the Twin Cities. This closed on ramp was at the beginning of the I-35 bridge that extends over the Mississippi River. We decided to go to the next available bridge which was 50 yards further down University Avenue. We crossed and headed on to the next baby store. This was somewhere around 4:30pm. We got home at 5:45, fed Emma and then Tera and I ate shortly after that. A little before 7:00 I turned on the TV and the news was already pouring in.

I like so many other Minnesotans I have driven over this bridge hundreds of times. For a while this was part of my driving route to my job. It is so strange to be in a city that has something so terrible happen. I am unable to imagine what New Yorkers went through on 9/11. What is even more strange is that we attempted to cross the bridge a little and hour before it's collapse. Heck, I drove over the bridge the morning of the collapse to pick some of Emma's things at Tera's parents.

Please pray for the families of the dead, injured and missing.

Great gift

My friend Brent bought me "The Valley of Vision- A Collection of Puritan Prayers and Devotions". I am excited to be able to begin reading it. Those Puritans sure know how to write. A great unexpected surprise.

The Love from Family

Tera's relatives hosted a baby shower for Emma today. We had a great time. Tera's aunt Mary read a poem for us. Tera knew of this poem but I had not heard it before today. It was very sweet and moving. I thought it would be nice to share.

Two Kinds
Of Love



Once there were two women
who never knew each other.
One you do not remember
The other you call Mother.

Two different lives shaped
To make yours one.
One became your guiding star
The other became your sun.

The first gave you life and
The second taught you to live it
The first gave you a need for love
The second was there to give it.

One gave you a nationality
The other gave you a name
One gave you the seed of talent
The other gave you aim.

One gave you emotions
The other calmed your fears,
One saw your first sweet smile
The other dried your tears.

One gave you up
It was all that she could do,
The other prayed for a child
And God led her straight to you.

And someday you may ask me through your tears
The age old question through the
years,
Heredity or environment, which are you
The product of?

Neither, my darling, neither
Just two different types of love.

Random thought/observation...

While pulling Emma duty the other night I watched a documentary called “The Execution of Michael Johnson”. The film was about a death row inmates last 24 hours leading up to his death sentence by way of lethal injection. While the normal anti vs. pro death penalty would seem to be the angle of the special it actually was the legal scrambling by Mr. Johnson’s attorney and the in depth look at the families of both the victim and the accused and how they were handling the oncoming grief of past and future family loss. As the viewer I was intrigued by Michael Johnson’s unrepentant attitude and ever changing story of how he was either not at the scene of the crime or how the accomplice was the actual shooter. He was linked by DNA and other incriminating evidence that did not seem to sway him and his claim of innocence or his claim that his friend was the real murderer. It was hard to watch, to see a sister and mother lament over a loved one whom they had had no physical contact with for over ten years and the woman who lost her husband only three weeks after their wedding. But again this is not why I watched. I watched the entire thing because of the shock value of the entire documentary. I was drawn in to see what the killer had to say for himself. To see if he would take advantage of his last hours on earth to recant, to confess, to say he was sorry and to make amends to those in his family and the family if the victim. But he didn’t. Hours before he was scheduled to die he took his own life. He even took his own blood and scrawled “I didn’t do it”. The victim’s family called him a coward. His sister called him brave. I was so taken in by this story. But why?

So I began to think. It might be for the same reason that I watch COPS and shows of the same nature. Of course there are so many variations of this type of reality tv. Everything from MTV’s salacious, inappropriate and mind numbing ‘The Real World’ to the sometimes horrific-endings of ‘The World‘s Scariest Police Chases‘. These all seem to cater to our “I can’t seem to stop staring” mentality. We see the guy who gets pulled over for allegedly driving drunk and snicker at something that might be said by the driver because he had too much to drink or the visit to the household plagued by domestic abuse where the house looks virtually unlivable and we are more shocked by the family‘s living conditions rather than the sad circumstance of the broken home. We know that the end of these stories are sad . They end with some guy in jail or the spouse with the black eye pressing charges against the other spouse or a car crashing into a pole and running off an embankment. Shock. Shock. Shock. Columbine. OJ Simpson. The recent live on air helicopter collision in Arizona which resulted in the deaths of four men (both helicopters were filming a police chase). The tsunamis in Asia. Soccer riots. The Virginia Tech massacre. The fall of the Trade Towers. All these things have been played over and over again on the television and we watch and we watch. These are real events that exist in the world we live in and yet there seems to be an air of apathy or some sort of disconnect with the seriousness of it all. But what if that were to happen to me? What if a plane collided with the IDS Center (our tallest building in Minneapolis) or someone close to me was pulled over for driving drunk or there was an incident involving a loved one who was experiencing domestic assault? I would be heart broken. What if someone filmed these events and showed them to me and the rest of America? How often would I watch these shows if they all involved someone close to me? I wonder if the harm caused by tv is worse than previously thought. What will we do when tragedy comes to our doorstep? While I accuse no one but myself of watching some of these shows I wonder what all this reality tv and “live” footage is doing for us as a society. Do other countries have this type of programming? Would “Baghdad’s Scariest Car Bombings” be a huge hit on Iraqi tv? I will step out on a limb and say “probably not”. Why is this? I don’t have an answer. But in this case I don’t think that I need an answer to know that something is wrong with all of this. Are we becoming worse than desensitized? Are we a people who have grown to love tragedy and failure?
Just another incomplete thought of mine. Maybe I will connect all the dots at a later time.

J

Verse of the minute

1 Corinthians 1:27-29
But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty; And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, [yea], and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence.

Current stuff

Current...

weather: hot and not enough rain, I'm ready for Fall

book(s): Kingdom Come (LaHaye/Jenkins)
Truth War (MacArthur)
The Meaning of the Dead Sea Scrolls (Vanderkam and Flint)


music: Fernando Ortega- Beginnings
Joel Hanson- Captured
Jimmy Eat World- Futures
Zao- A Parade of Chaos
Michael Card- Soul Anchor

Spare time projects:
Emma, Emma, Tera, Emma & Emma. And thinking about the stuff around the house that I need to do.

Looking forward to:
Farmer's Market, The Minnesota State Fair http://www.mnstatefair.org/
Muskie and Northern Pike fishing in the Fall, The Fall (the season not the band),
our first Christmas with Emma, date night with Tera at Fogo de Chao
http://fogodechao.com/

sites:
pounce.com
mahalo.com
watch.org
gty.org
My local library homepage
kare11.com
google.com
foodtv.com
forthischild.org
babiesrus.com
wikipedia.com
craigslist.com (mpls)
wunderground.com (mpls)
youtube.com
thegiantnapkin.com
christiananswers.com
searching websites to find a new mac laptop for $100... i'm still searching, surprised? haha.


j

hey

Admittedly it has been a while since my last post. And for good reason. Emma has been plagued by a number of illnesses. She has a cold and on top of that she has been throwing up most days as well. She has what would appear to be an acute gag reflex (or something) which causes her to vomit on a dime. It has been trying to say the least. Tera and I are definitely worried about her. We are in contact with the doctors trying to figure this thing out. Yet, Emma's overall demeanor is pleasant and we do have our good days. She is just having a hard time keeping things down.
Please pray.

J

I love technology until it breaks

I have an ipod and I use it on a daily basis at work for hours at a time. It really helps me get through the mundane activities at work (rocket science can be a bore). So the laptop that I used to manage my itunes account got itself perished. Of course I did not have all the files on my ipod backed up so now I am in a pickle. The CD's that I downloaded into my ipod are long gone and Apple does not allow the consumer to transfer such content from an ipod to a "new" laptop. I am looking for some legal software that can accomplish this feat. I know that they are out there but there are so many products that I have no idea which to use. Blah...

J

Ha!

When I was a little kid we had a sand box. It was a quicksand box.
I was an only child....eventually. -- Steven Wright

It's been a long day and I need a laugh. As you can see from the above quote I have a "different" sense of humor. Tera would agree. Remember Steven Wright? He's a tall guy that looks tired all the time. He's very funny to me. I guess I would call him a clean comic. "Clean comics" are a rarity these days. In a world where people think they need to use foul language to be funny clean comics are hard to find. Brian Regan is a gas as well. Anyhoo, I thought I would quote someone who makes me laugh from time to time.

Congrats to Tricia, Alan and Victoria on your "eventual" arrival to Guatemala and reuniting (for the final time) with Sofia!!!

J

One month ago right now

As I type this I believe that our plane was landing at Mpls/St.Paul International airport one month ago. So much has happened since our arrival home but it seems like the three of us got off the plane last week. Emma went from sitting to crawling to pulling herself up on her own in no time. She gains a new skill ever few days and works on refining the ones that she has everyday. Happy one month being home Emma!

Surprise, Surprise, Surprise!!!

On Sunday I woke up to Tera standing at the foot of the bed. She handed me the digital camera and said “Look at this”. I looked and what I saw surprised me and made me laugh out loud. It was a picture taken that morning of Emma holding on to the rail and standing in her crib. And of course she was smiling ear to ear. She has been working on trying to stand up at the sofa table in our living room. Tera has posted pictures of her at the table on her blog. All her hard work has paid off and she is now rewarded with the fruits of her labor. I am very proud of her and her newest accomplishment. Another day, another surprise.

My how time flies

Oh where has the time gone? Our sweet Miss Emma has now been home for almost one month now. She will be 9 months old on the 4^th of July and the time is flying by. Tera just commented yesterday that it seems like we just got home two days ago and I would agree. Our return home is so vivid in my mind still even though it’s already July.

Emma continues to progress with her new found “skills” and other tricks that she discovers each day. Each morning after work I get home as soon as I can so I can see her smiling face (she apparently is a morning person). Actually I got home yesterday after work and discovered that she had already woke up for her early morning bottle and was back in her crib sleeping. I was bummed. Even though our time in the morning is limited I still love seeing her before I head off to bed. Each day she and I have Emma and Daddy time which is a hoot. A little talking , a little crawling and if we are lucky, maybe even a little rough-housing. She is so active, constantly buzzing around and getting into everything. It’s pretty cool I must say.

I wanna make a quick note and acknowlege all of the friends and family that have been so kind and generous to Tera, Emma and I. People have been very sweet and we appreciate it very much.

On an unrelated note; If you like meat (beef, pork, lamb, chicken etc.) and would like to experience something new and different grab a friend or loved one and head over to Fogo de Chao. My dad took me there back in May and I dream about it often. When (and if) we get some time I am going to take Tera there for lunch or din-di. www.fogodechao.com

Ciao

J

Emma's first US doctors appointment

Today was Emma's first doctors appointment since arriving home. We took her to the adoption clinic at the University of Minnesota. The visit was long but Emma did very well. She had a battery of tests done and we received a ton of very useful information and advice. According to the doctors she is progressing normally. I think that Emma's patience is getting a bit better as time goes on. Or at least today she had an extra dose of patience. We were there for about two and half hours and she hung in there for the entire time.

Then came the blood draw. Considering what Tera told me about how the last blood draw went (at the hospital in Antigua) I was a bit worried. The woman who took the blood did a really good job and she was really quick. The element that made the difference that this other woman who had this "noisy" toy and blew bubbles to distract Emma from the obvious. Emma was a champ. She did cry for a bit but by the second vial she started to play with the noisy toy. Once the blood was taken she assumed her cuteness and we headed back home.

It was good that we did this as a family. Together we learned a lot today. We have much to look forward to. Emma is growing everyday and is constantly refining her crawling skills and "getting into things that are forbidden" skills. Go Emma Go!!!


J

Time out

Emma has been home for over a week now. She is feeling much better and has gained some weight I must say. Her appetite is is more balanced and we all are getting used to the new schedule. No more getting Pizza Luce at 2 in the morning :)

I was looking at where we were a year ago this last week and I was speechless thinking about all that Tera and I have been through since we began this process. The piles of paperwork, the endless appointments and re-appointments. Then there was the waiting and the praying and the daydreaming. PGN was another animal unto itself. To this day I am still amazed of the stress that we experienced during our wait in PGN. PGN really did a number on me. When Tera and I were in Guatemala City we drove by the PGN building the day before we left. For a second I felt like holding on to Emma as if PGN might take her away from us or something. PGN has done and is doing a number on quite a few people. We are hoping and praying that those who are being held up in this part of the process will get through very soon.

But now we are home...as a family.

I am tired. I'm going to bed.

Congrats to Sofia getting our of PGN!!!!!!!!

J

She's still here.

And I love it!!!!

...and we are really busy. Too busy to post for now.

Ciao

J

What in the world!?! There's a baby in my house!!! And HAPPY BIRTHDAY TERA!!!

We are home. I must admit it is strange to say that. I am overwhelmed and stricken with awe that when I enter a room there is this little baby girl smiling at me. And the incredible thing is that she is not in the form of an email attachment or a picture. She is here in person!

We arrived home a bit before midnight on Saturday and the flight went much better that we originally feared. Needless to say that we were worried that Emma would have a perpetual meltdown on the plane. Emma being stuck in the same place for any amount of time is not her cup of tea. She wants her scenery moving and changing and it better be good! The Lord blessed us with a sleeping child and a very uneventful flight home.

When we got to the airport we were greeting with a welcoming party of family and friends and it was very appreciated since it was midnight by the time we saw them and it was way past everyone's bedtime. Tera introduced Emma to everyone and we were on our way home for our first night home together. Emma went to sleep in her new room quickly and Tera and I fell asleep even quicker. The past two mornings have been surreal. Tera and I find ourselves looking at each other from time to time just floored that Emma is now home in Minnesota with us. We feel truly blessed.

The months of waiting, praying, daydreaming and hoping for Emma's homecoming are behind us now. It is hard to believe that Emma is home with us. I still can't believe that we exited PGN for pete's sake! The Lord has been faithful as He always is and always has been. We are forever grateful for our adoption agency and all the ways that they came through for us. For our two very special friends that we made in Guatemala who helped us while we were there and to the foster family who we feel forever indebted to for treating and caring for Emma so well while we waited for her to come home to us. Also for all the people who have helped, prayed for, encouraged and cheered us on through this almost year long gauntlet.

I'll post again soon. And I will post about how I was supposed to come down to Guatemala to help Tera and Emma and their illnesses only to get really sick myself (I passed out and fell down even!)

Till then,

Jason (Emma's dad)

Update...

Tera called me very early this morning to tell me that Emma was admitted to the hospital. Her dehydration had worsened so the doctor decided to haver her admitted. The hospital originally told Tera that Emma would be released earlier today but her condition has changed and her stay is now indefinite. As you can imagine Tera is besides herself and I am not doing so well myself. THis is all I know for right now. Please pray for Emma.

ANOTHER UPDATE...

I spoke with Tera on Tuesday and she is now sick as well. Something is going around and Tera and Emma are both suffering from it. Hopefully they will be feeling better soon. If not, I will be there this weekend to help where and when I can.
Thanks to all of those who have been visiting Tera's blog. I let her know that you have been asking/worrying about her. When she is able to post she will. If not soon then it will be early next week at the latest.

j

UPDATE

In case you have gone to Tera's blog and noticed that she has not posted lately; She currently has no internet access. The problem apparently lies somewhere in the city and not in the place she and Emma are staying. Frustration abounds.
I will let you know that she is feeling better but Emma has seen better days. She might have the flu or something. Tera is keeping an ever watchful eye on her.
Their bonding continues and I will be joining them at the end of this week.
We are very excited. Our homecoming is scheduled for June 9th.
Please continue to pray for us as the process isn't over until it's OVER. We do see the light at the end of the tunnel and are so thankful for the Lords favor and mercy throughout this entire process. Keep checking back to Tera's blog for updates (and pictures). Hopefully the internet issues will be resolved soon.

Jason

And away we go!

I took Tera to to the airport this morning. She will be reunited with Emma this afternoon. Actually it is probably happening as I type this right now. It has been a whirlwind leading up to this point. So much has happened. It has been emotionally taxing for the both of us. But here we are and we have the Lord to thank. He has been so faithful. We feel blessed.

Tera and I will be separated for the longest amount of time in our 11 year marriage. I miss her already. But I have tons to do and hopefully these projects will make the time seem to fly by. I don't have a ton to say since it is hard to explain in the time that I have what has transpired over the course of the last 3 months. I will try soon.

As for now Tera and I are apart and Lord willing the 3 of us will be together very soon and coming home to introduce Emma to an eagerly awaiting family back in Minnesota.

Till next time.

Jason

Emma is Out!!!

I will be quick because we are going out to celebrate. Emma exited PGN today (one day after my birthday no less). I am thrilled to say the least. I was in the garage tinkering away and Tera called from the house "Hey Jason, guess what?" I knew exactly what she meant and began to cry before I got to the back door. We are now waiting for one last signature and Emma is OURS!!! So don't stop praying. It will be a bit before she is home but she is coming home nonetheless. Thanks for all of your prayers and encouraging words. I will post again soon!!!
Time to eat.

J

For now...

Due to the recent news coming out of Guatemala I will not be posting for a little while. At least not on a regular basis. The news is hour to hour and too fluid for me to keep up. Plus the news gets more and more discouraging and I can't bring myself to blog. So for the time being head on over to Tera's Guatemama blog. She has been updating her blog often in order to keep everyone abreast of the ever changing developments. Please check back at Guatepapa every now and then to see if I have posted and we will hopefully have better news soon. Keep praying in the meantime.

Blessings

Jason

We'll see

The last announcement was postponed for unknown reasons. The president of Guatemala will be making an announcement today at 10:45 am Guatemala time. From the looks at what the comment boards are saying along with what other websites are indicating this may greatly affect our adoption of Emma. Please continue praying for us.

I cannot believe this and I doubt I want to handle it

In case anyone reads this I ask that you would pray for us and the rest of the families that are adopting from Guatemala.

Tera and I were out of town earlier this week for some R&R. While we were gone we began to hear rumblings from Guatemala about a possible law that would be passed that would put our adoption along with countless others down the drain. This “law” has many possibilities. None of which are good. The one that I am aware of would be that once this law is passed Emma would be taken from her foster family home and placed in an orphanage till she is placed with another family. We would no longer be her prospective parents and we would never see her again. End of story. What are the other possibilities? I am not exactly sure at the moment. The agency that we are using is trying to keep everyone updated but the news doesn’t seem to be getting any better.
For anyone who has doubts about Guatemala and it’s “leaders” I will only go as far to say that the president has called adoptions a thorn in his side and his wife seems to be a “delight” as well when it comes to adoptions as well. They are very interested in a large amount of cash that UNICEF keeps dangling in front of them which allegedly is playing some sort of roll in this whole game. I will not get into mudslinging nor will I wish ill will on any of these people who insist making adoptions like ours impossible to complete.

We don’t have children. We have always wanted children. From the day we were first married we wanted kids. The road that everyone travels to get to the decision to adopt is different and it is always quite a story.
I have never been “connected” to any children before until I met Emma. She took my breath away from the moment I met her. We think of her constantly and long for her to come home with us. Even though she is not here with us everything we do is to prepare for her arrival. Emma is always on our hearts and minds. And it has come to this. In the coming days we will on find out if we will ever see her again.

All I want is for me to be her daddy and her to be my “little princess”.

Pray for us please.


J

Phooey!!!

Tera called me while I was at the airport today to tell me that we got a KO (kick out). The fix will hopefully be easy. It's still disturbing either way. We are discouraged to say the least.

J

We enter PGN then WHAM!!! From out of nowhere!

Since my last entry Tera and I have traveled to visit little Emma in Guatemala. We arrived I Guatemala City on the 12th of January to meet with the foster mom to pick up Emma. It was nice to see the foster mom again. She has always been very kind and really cares about Emma. We sat together and caught up for a bit then headed back up to our room with Emma. Emma has changed so much since the last time we saw her. As expected she has grown but is still small for her age of 3 ½ months. Unlike our last visit she was much more interactive and animated. She has discovered her legs and kicks them profusely as she sits or lays down. She has big brown pretty eyes and the cutest of smiles. Yes, I understand that I may be her dad soon so that might sway my opinion of her but I just think that she is a very pretty baby. Maybe that’s a biased opinion but look at the pictures for yourself. That is one cute kid. She is gaining more head control and has taken a liking to her vibrating bouncy seat. Funny thing happened while we were visiting. While Tera and I were getting ready to go out for lunch Emma began to get restless so I decided to put her in her bouncy seat till we were ready to head out. When I put her in her seat she became transfixed on the TV. And what was the TV you might ask? Cartoons of course. Yes, I had left it on Boomerang or Nick for Kids or something like that and cartoons were on. While getting ready I would try to garner Emma’s attention but I was being upstaged by TV! I am still flabbergasted at the fact that a 3 month old can be sucked into cartoons. It seems so early. I assume she has seen cartoons before. I wonder what it was that got her attention. Maybe that colors or the cartoon itself or the fact it was in Spanish and the sounds of the language sounded familiar verses the English that we were speaking when Tera and I talked to her. Either way it was really surprising.

On or about the third day we received an email informing us that we entered PGN on January 10th. So the clock began on the 10th and we are now counting the days if not hours till we exit PGN. If all goes well we could exit PGN in 6 to 8 weeks barring any unforeseen problems. Pray that there is mercy in this area. We were told to expect at least one “kick out” so if that happens it won’t be such a shock. In case you don’t know what a “kick out” is I will try to explain it as best I can. A “kick out” (also known as a KO) is what happens when your case is in PGN and a something is seen as flawed or a document or certificate needs to be updated or the examiner who is inspecting the case is having a bad day and wants to take it out someone (well maybe not the last part). This portion of the process can and has been known to be very problematic for some families. There is no one specific reason as to why there are KO’s because there is a lot of material in each case and each case and adoptive family is different. Background checks, certificates, the home study, financial statements and much more are involved so there are many “possibilities“ a KO. Then there is the birth mother’s side of the case as well. So if anything is amiss of needs to be updated or corrected the case is “kicked out” of PGN till the problem is taken care of. Once the anomaly is taken care of the case is then re-entered into PGN and the process continues till the case is looked at in it’s entirety, approved and then the case exits PGN. I believe it is at this point that Emma would legally be ours. We would then apply for her visa and passport. This is when many parents or at least one parent will go to Guatemala to be with the child till the visa and passport are ready. This can sometimes take up to 3 to 4 weeks. Many people spend this waiting period with the child in Antigua, Guatemala. Antigua was founded on March 10, 1543. At one time Antigua was Guatemala’s capital. Due to a series of earthquakes that leveled the city in 1773 the capital was then moved to Guatemala City. Antigua remained almost uninhabited the 20th century . The city is now over 30,000 strongand is a major stop for people visiting Guatemala. The city is very scenic with it’s cobblestone streets and many historic buildings that were left standing but unfortunately some were stripped for their materials after the earthquakes. The city is situated among three volcanoes Acatenango, Agua and Fuego. I have read that Fuego is still active while the other two are not. The city is known for it’s language schools, many churches and nunneries. Some of which remained active even after most of the populace moved to Guatemala City. This is where Tera and I hope that Emma and Tera can spend the 3 to 4 weeks while waiting for Emma’s passport and visa. The city is known to be much more safe than Guatemala City and many families are currently fostering their adoptive children there right now. Tera has a friend that is fostering there till the process is complete and she says that she loves it there. But it would be an ideal time for Tera and Emma to bond before coming home. I too would also love to go down there for the entire time but that would be no good for the checking account. We will see, we will see.

So here we are, we have hurried. Hurried the doctors appointments, hurried the notaries, the reference letters, the certificates, the FBI, Homeland Security and all the other documents that fall under “miscellaneous” . And for what? To get to PGN. We hurried so we can wait. And the silence is deafening. The entire case sits on somebody’s desk. And that “somebody” has the power to accept or deny what sits in front of them. Yuck. Be that as it may I cannot believe we are in PGN. It is a bit surreal. I mean during the entire process you hear “PGN this” and PGN that” as if it is some far away land that seems just out of reach and in a matter of an email we are informed that we are there. Kinda neat and scary all at the same time. Again please pray for the Lord’s favor in this part of the process.

BREAK IN THE ACTION…THINGS HAVE DRASTICALLY CHANGED.

To put this in perspective with a timeline I need to say that to my fault that this current installment has taken me a long time to put together. I don’t have a ton of time so it takes me a while to write these things up. Anyways, during the process of putting this entry together Tera started to get word from the Guatemalan adoption boards and Guatemala that PGN is in an uproar. This is what I know so far as of today, February 3rd. Some time back we began to hear rumors that PGN was going to get help in order to keep up with the processing of cases. Assuming what everyone knows about how long this process can take many people thought this would help to get the cases through and on to be finalized. More reviewers = more help = faster process right? Wrong. The new reviewers are worse than anyone expected. I will not go into the details of what some families are going through but I will say that the new reviewers are issuing KO’s like there is no tomorrow. And I am not saying these are easy fix KO’s either. For example, I know of a kick out because the ink used on some of the documents was black not blue. This rule did not exist up until now. There is some massive nitpicking going on and some of the KO’s may never be resolved. What does that mean? It means that the adoption might be over. Done. As of today we have not received a KO. It is the weekend and the reviewers don’t work on the weekends so we will be waiting on Monday to see what happens. This is so sad. I have to say that there are many families who are getting some major doses of fear and worry and we are one of them. Our case is in Guatemala right now and from some of the information that we have recently received it is a pretty good chance that our case is being looked at right now. We are not the only ones. Everyone is worried. No one is safe because we all have to go through PGN. There is no getting around it. I will talk about is more at a later time but I need to get to the core of where we are at emotionally and the like. If you are a person who prays please do. Specifically pray for grace, mercy and favor. Guatemalan adoptions are fast but are known for being wrought with problems. Pray that God influences the minds of those who are reviewing these cases. Pray that our case (and everyone else’s) goes through quickly and without incident. I confess that my instincts reflect on the negative. Anything can happen. If we do receive a KO, pray that it will be something that will be an easy fix. Pray for all the families both here in the states and those visiting and fostering in Guatemala. We are all individual families but in the same boat as well. Pray that this huge problem goes away fast and this current process changes for the better for us all. Thank You. It may be a bit before I post again but then again I might be back sooner than expected. We will see. Hopefully the next time I post it will be accompanied with good news.

Praise and glory to God in all situations.



Jason

I need to update more often…

For those who read this blog, I again apologize for such huge gaps between blogs. What has happened since my last entry? To sum it up: A lot. Since the last time I blogged Emma entered and exited Family Court and on Thursday (12/21) we received Embassy P.A. (Pre-Approval). You must think that we are very excited. We are. We will hopefully be entering PGN (Procuraduria General de la Nacion) sometime in January and then the next big wait will proceed which could be about 6 to 8 weeks…typically (and hopefully). We have seen it go much longer but I won’t go into that. Each case is different and we hope and pray that ours will go smoothly. We are trying to get everything in order in preparation for Emma’s homecoming. There is much to do and less and less time to do it. Tera’s family is helping out in many areas which is huge in helping us get ready. I think that things are going really well but all of it seems a bit overwhelming. I just wish that there were 48 hours in a day and I didn’t need any sleep… at least for this part of the process. I know we will get it all done soon enough. In other Emma related news: On January 12th Tera and I will be heading down to Guatemala for our second visit trip. We will staying till the following Wednesday. We are thrilled to go and we are eager to see how much Emma has developed. We have seen pictures (some of these can be seen at Tera’s “Guatemama” blog). We can see that she has physically changed like all babies do but we are excited to interact with her and her personality and developmental changes. When we made our first visit she was just three weeks old. She spent most of her time sleeping which was no surprise and fine by us because it gave Tera and I plenty of “let‘s hold Emma and hug her all of the time“ time.. I assume that this next trip will be more “interactive” which will be awesome experience as well. The sad part of the this trip is that this is only a visit trip which means that we will have to go through the process of handing Emma back to the foster family at the end of the visit. I imagine that this will be more difficult to go through than the first time since we have fallen that much more in love with this little Emma. There is hope because it might be our last visit trip and the next time we see her will hopefully be the trip that we bring her back home with us. So when we get home from this next visit trip we will be going full bore on the Emma projects and preparations.

We do have some prayer requests. I have not talked to Tera about how far into detail I should go so I will paint with a broad brush hoping that I will not be too vague.

PGN (Procuraduria General de la Nacion).
This is the final step of the adoption process that we will hopefully be entering into soon. This is also where pretty much anything can happen. When I say anything I mean anything, the good and bad and the ugly. Our case will be looked at by officials in Guatemala with a microscopic nuclear powered fine tooth comb made of a material unknown to man. This is where the rubber hits the road and all of our hard work is put to the test. Every document and piece of information is poured over and if anything is amiss then we get what is called a KO or “Kick Out“. The document is then fixed and we start over from the beginning of the PGN portion of the process. This happens all the time and it happens more often than not.
Please pray that this is smooth sailing. This part is often seen as problematic. Pray that the Lord shows us grace , mercy and favor.

Logistics and Timing.
Things are moving quickly. This is a good problem but a problem nonetheless. Finances are always important too. We have much work to do in a short amount if time. Timing is of an essence.

Patience and Trust.
The adoption process is touchy from start to finish. When Tera and I first looked into adoption it seemed so overwhelming. I must admit that some parts do appear overwhelming at times and sometimes almost impossible, especially when your in the midst of it . The process isn’t just the agency and the adoptive parents getting together and hammering out few papers and writing out a check or two. The process is laborious and requires organizational skills to keep everything in order and on schedule (thanks Tera). So many people are involved in every facet of the adoption. People you wouldn’t even think of can have such an impact on the direction and speed the adoption can go. Doctors, Notaries, clerks and officers and officials in other states or even countries that we may never meet can cause things to go one way or another. What does this all mean? We need to trust and be ever patient trusting in the Lord that He will meet our needs. From start to finish this is all up to the Lord. No matter how many people are involved in this adoption be it 5 or 5,000 He is still in charge. He moves things, situations and people in the ways that He desires. Tera and I have seen things during this process that blow our minds. Many times God has orchestrated things to work out just when we thought there was no way to get over whatever bump in the road that we were confronting. I confess that we did fret and shed some tears. But God heard our prayers and He did what He does best. I am so glad that it is not up to me to make things work. Please pray that we will continue to trust and obey and gain tons of patience during our time in PGN.

Emma and her foster family

Please pray for Emma and her continuing growth and good health. Also keep the foster family in your prayers as well. They are very kind people and have been taking very good care of little Emma Grace. I am very appreciative of the foster family and their sacrifices that they are making to take care of Emma.

Things are moving forward and we hope they continue doing so. As I type this I was just informed of a bit of a bump in the road it has to do with a document that needs to be renewed from our home study agency. Pray this taken care of quickly and accurately as possible because this could slow the process down considerably.

I guess that’s all for now. Happy New Year.