Pickup Trip Day 1 (Saturday)

Day 1 started very early. I think we were all up by about 3am (alarms were set for 3:30). We left for the airport just before 4am for our 6am flight to Houston. It was raining quite a bit and the forcast was for snow. By the time we got closer to the airport, it was like driving through a white tunnel as it was indeed snowing on April 14. Crazy weather. We arrived at the airport in plenty of time and got the bags checked and through security with plenty of time to spare. Once we boarded the plane, they needed to de-ice it since it was cold and snowy. The flight was delayed about 40 minutes leaving. Luckily we had over an hour to connect in Houston. We arrived at the gate in Houston as they were boarding the flight to Guatemala City.

The flight to Guatemala City was pretty uneventful. The flight had 2 or 3 different medical missions going to Guatemala to do medical volunteer work. This meant that the flight was very full and there was a lot of baggage. Needless to say, not all of our baggage made it to Guatemala. Mom and Dad's suitcase of clothes didn't make it but their shoes and toiletries did. Mine and Evvy's suitcase made it but the suitcase of gifts didn't make it. I was somewhat sick thinking that the suitcase of gifts was lost as I had the quilt I made for Julieta in it and the thought of losing that was truly a horrible feeling.

As we were boarding the plane in Houston, a lady behind us in the jetway asked if we were going to pickup a baby. It was a family that had responded to a post on the adoption forum saying they would be staying at the Clarion and had an Embassy appointment on Monday also. It is amazing the people that I have met through the internet and adoption forum especially. This family also happened to be using the same agency as me. Fortunately for them, they had a great experience with the agency and this was their second adoption through them. They have a 3-4 year old daughter (Mia) and were picking up their 10-11 month old son (Rio). They are a very nice family. The wife's mother was travelling with them. We ran into them throughout our stay. Oh yeah, they also live in Missouri. Such a small world.

We caught the shuttle to the hotel and got checked in by about 12:30 or so I guess. We went up and got settled in the room and chilled out a bit. I didn't have specifics about when the foster family would be coming. I was told to expect around 3pm. This gave me a chance to lay down a bit and relax (yeah right). I felt that mom and dad couldn't change clothes but they took it in stride. We walked around the neigborhood for a few minutes and bought some water and diapers. I also picked up some roses from a street vendor to give to Julieta since her gifts didn't arrive and I wanted to give her something. When we got back to the hotel, I decided to go ahead and change clothes (I was sweating like crazy) and lay down for a few minutes. I had no sooner laid down than the phone rang (1:10 pm). It was "Stephen" and Johnny (the facilitator and adoption agency rep). They said they were downstairs with the paperwork that we need to go over and that the foster family should be there within about 30 minutes.

It was really hard for me to bite my tongue and not call Stephen a liar. He had lied right to my face in November saying we were in PGN when he very well knew we weren't. At that point the Social Worker interview had not even been done. But I decided to just let it go, get the paperwork and bring my daughter home. It would have done no good to cause a scene at this point. We went over all of the paperwork for the Embassy appointment on Monday. They gave me a her passport and the visa pictures. I LOVE the pictures. The family dressed her in the pretty pink dress that I had sent down for her. I knew that there was a reason I bought that cute dress. The pictures are really sweet. She looks very serious. They also gave me a copy of Evvy's adoption file in Spanish and English. Then I was also given a sealed envelope containing her final medical report from the Embassy doctor which had to be presented at the visa appointment. We then sat and made idle chit chat for a few minutes and then in walked Julieta, her mother, Jeaneth (daughter), Gustavo (son), Julieta's niece and little girl and of course my beautiful Evelyn. It is all such a blur in my mind.

We sat on a couch there in the lobby with Julieta and Evvy sitting next to me. The rest of the family sat in chairs around us. Dad took some pictures and mom was taking video. I really wanted to take Evvy in my arms and hold her immediately but Julieta held onto her for almost an hour to let her get used to me. Mom had gotten a little beanie baby for Evvy and that was wonderful. She LOVES rattles and this has a rattle in it. They had her dressed all in pink: a pink pair of cords that I had sent down, a pink checked onsie and pink sandles that I had taken down on the visit trip. The sandals were from a 3-6 month outfit but they are still fitting her. She has tiny feet. Guess that means she might be short.

My dad actually held Evvy before me. He was so anxious to held the smiley girl, that he just went and took her out of Julieta's lap. I don't really remember what we talked about. I just remember the whole family saying how much they loved her and would miss her. They said that whenever they took her out of the house, everyone commented on how cute and sweet she is. They kept telling me what a loving baby she is. We also talked about what she was eating (what doesn 't this girl eat!). They demonstrated how even though she only has two teeth, the girl thoroughly chews her food. They broke off a piece of french fry that they had bought for the cousin's daughter and put it in Evvy's mouth and she chomped it right up. I feel so blessed that we were able to have email contact because I felt like I already knew my daughter and her habits and what she ate and what she could do and what she liked. I also felt like I knew the family. I know that so many (most) families are rushed to try to learn as much as they can about their child and the family they have lived with for the first months/years of their lives.

Jeaneth gave me a disc of all of the pictures (and video clips) they had taken of Evvy since she came to live with them. As I went back and looked at them, they are treasures. I have pictures of my beautiful daughter from the time that she was 9 days old. The video clips are short but show how she changed over the 10 months she lived with this wonderful family. They also brought a cute little wall hanging for Evelyn of a little girl swinging. It has her name painted on it. I am going to hang it on her bedroom door.

I finally took Evvy from Julieta after Julieta had given her most of a bottle. She was starting to get a little fussy as it was close to naptime. Evvy looked at me very seriously and just studied me. She is a very inquisitive, curious little girl. She didn't cry or try to go back to Julieta which made me feel some relief. We visited some more and took a bunch of pictures. I wanted to make sure that I had pictures of Evvy with the members of this wonderful family.

I explained that since the suitcase with the gifts didn't arrive, we would like them to come back for dinner Sunday evening. They agreed to come back. I knew it would be hard for them to say goodbye again but it would also let them feel confident that she was doing OK and was happy (I was hoping this was the case at this point).

After saying our goodbyes, we went up to the room. Evvy was very perplexed. She looked around and didn't see Julieta and the rest of the foster family. She cried for a few minutes. Then I gave her the rest of her bottle and she went to sleep. She fussed when I put her down so I just laid her down on my chest and she went sound asleep and I put her in the crib. She took about an hour nap.

When she got up, we walked down the street to TacoTento to have dinner. She definitely liked being outside walking around. She was an angel at the restaurant. She sat on my lap and flipped the pages of the menu. The girl likes books and will read anything! She ate some baby food and then also sampled pieces of chicken from our taco platter. When we went back in the hotel room she looked around again and got sad that Julieta wasn't there. She cried a little but then settled down with a bottle and went to sleep for the night.

What a long day! Up at 3am and to sleep at 9pm for me. But what a great end to the day putting my sweet girl to bed.