What a Happy Baby Girl

I got a surprise email the other night from J. These were taken last Sunday Feb 4 (my mom's birthday). It is like she is reaching out and saying be happy everyone! Just what I needed. The waiting is so hard. I have really closed myself off somewhat just to avoid having people ask me the question, "have you heard anything yet." I keep assuring them that they will definitely know when I have heard the good news that my little girl is coming home. I will be smiling from ear to ear and probably bouncing off the walls.

The cases that have been coming out this week seem to be from the week of 12/11. Hopefully he (director Barrios) will finish signing out that week this coming week and I will hear good news. I don't know what I will do if I find out that my case is kicked out to be "fixed." This happens for various random not usually logical reasons depending on which reviewer has looked over your file. I just hope this doesn't happen. I can't even think about it. If that were to happen, after the problem was corrected, it could take another 6 weeks to get final signoff again. This is such a frustrating process.

Anyway, here are the pictures of my happy baby girl....

New Pictures!

I had despaired of receiving an update or pictures this week. J had emailed me last weekend saying that they had taken Evvy for pictures at the agency so I really thought I would get them this week. I waited to send an email back to J to see if I would get them. Well, I finally gave up and sent an email tonight. No sooner had I sent it and returned to my inbox, my dear social worker had sent me an email with the pictures. There are 37 of them! She is wearing a dress that I sent down last month when my friend Julie went to pickup her son. She is so beautiful and full of personality. She is sitting up (sort of) on her own now. It looks like she likes her feet and is just happy as can be. The blanket is the one that I sent down in her first care package. So much prettier than the standard white sheet background that I usually get from the agency pictures. I just can't wait to bring her home. The wait is getting sooo hard.

Good news is that two families from my agency who went into PGN around the same time (within two weeks) as me, got the call that they are out! It looks like the cases that I have seen come out on the forum this week have been around Dec 11. We went in Dec 15 so it just has to be any day. Please pray that they don't find anything wrong with our paperwork. I don't know if I could take it. Please let us have good news by Valentine's Day! I was hoping for news today so I could give mom a great birthday present!

I will post a couple of pictures on the blog but the others will be on my picture site (click on the link to the left).

She is getting more hair! Really she is!

Happy birthday Mom/Grandma!
Susan & Evvy

Evvy Update

Received an email from J in Guatemala. She sent me two pictures of Evvy that were taken today. In addition, she told me that they took her to the "agency" to have her pictures taken so I should have some more pictures in the next few days. I sent clothes down recently and sent a really cute (I think) dress. She told me that they dressed her in the dress for the agency pictures today. I can't wait to get them.

I sent J the link to my blog and pictures and she said that she and her mom enjoyed looking at them this week. I also sent some pictures of one of our recent snow storms. Her comment, "wow, it is amazing the amount of snow!" I agree.

The pictures that she sent me today were taken when they were feeding her banana and cereal. She tells me that Evvy doesn't really like the fruits and sweets but prefers the saltier foods (veggies & meats). She tells me that Evvy is now sitting up and likes to be sitting up. She is pulling up to standing position a little and she screams a lot (joyful screams). She gets mad if no one is paying attention to her. When others laugh, she laughs with them. She says that she pays attention to everything and is very bright. J started taking some classes so she doesn't have as much time to write but assures me she will write and send pictures on the weekends.

I am so grateful for the wonderful contact I have with the family that is taking such good care of Evvy. She told me today that they love her so much. It will be difficult when Evvy leaves as I am sure it is whenever a child leaves their home (they have been fostering many years). It just gives me comfort to know she is so loved and hopefully it will help in her transition home to me since she has never been neglected and had all of her needs met and then some.

Now if we can just get her out of PGN! I have found out a lot of information this week about the process and what has NOT been happening on the case but hopefully things are back on track now. I just have to keep believing and keeping the faith that she will be home in my arms soon.

Susan

Peggy Finished Evvy's Quilt!

Peggy FINALLY finished Miss Evvy's quilt. It is gorgeous. She hand-quilted the thing and she has super tiny stitches. She quilts about 10 stitches per inch which is itsy bitsy. We have always joked that we had to get Evvy's quilt and the foster mom's quilt done before I can get out of PGN. So it should be any day now.

Just an update, found out this past week that I didn't really enter PGN until probably November. Agency is still looking into where the misinformation came from. Trying to look on the bright side that I am at least in and know that my case was looked at as of 12/15/06 so it should be coming out within the next couple of weeks hopefully.

http://quiltclogmom.blogspot.com/2007/01/completion.html (I added the pictures below now)

Click on the link above to see pictures of Evvy's quilt very lovingly made by "aunt" Peggy.

Thanks Peggy! It is beautiful!

Susan

Long Night Moon

A friend sent me this song a little while ago that was written by a woman waiting to bring her daughter home from Guatemala. It is a beautiful song and hit home really hard. You can listen to it by clicking on this link http://adoptivefamilies.com/magazine (This is in the Jan/Feb 2007 issue under "Music for the Wait."

Long Night Moon
By Catie Curtis

I’ve got a place for you
Under the long night moon
And I’ll dream that I’ll see you soon
Goodnight, goodnight

Outside my back window
The oak tree stands alone
Waiting for a blanket of snow
Goodnight, goodnight

All through the winter
I’ll grow colder here with just your memory
But I know that somewhere you are holding on for me

Throughout the atmosphere
God knows I want you here
I can’t fake this holiday cheer
Goodnight, goodnight

All through the winter
I will build my fire in this empty room
But I know you’ll come back when the magnolias bloom

I’ve got a place for you
Under the long night moon
And I’ll dream you’re looking up too
Goodnight, goodnight
goodnight long night moon

words and music by Catie Curtis c2006

My little Einstein....

I was able to send a package down to Evvy with my friend Julie S who is down picking up her baby boy this week. The foster father picked up the package yesterday from the hotel where they are staying. I sent several outfits along with a Baby Bach DVD and some children's music (copies of CDs she received for Christmas).

Today, Jeaneth sent me two pictures of Miss Evvy in one of her new outfits. She is such a smiley baby! She is sitting in the umbrella stroller I took down in Novemeber. In the email J sent, she said that they played the Little Einstein Baby Bach DVD last night and Evvy loved it. She laughed at it a lot. She said she is a very bright child! I already knew that though :) It is cooler in Guatemala right now but not COLD like here in Kansas City. It is in the low teens during the day and single digits at night. There is lots of ice on the ground still from the weekend ice storms.

Jeaneth also says that Evvy asks to eat now and she is eating very well.

These pictures were just taken a few hours ago of my beautiful little angel baby. It really struck me to read that they had just been taken. I miss her so badly.

New Pictures!

Everytime I feel like I am about to lose it, my foster family comes through with an email and pictures of my sweet baby girl. Last night after a rough couple of emotional days, I got home from a tax credit seminar and checked my email before going to bed and there was an email from dear Jeaneth. She has really made life more bearable by keeping me updated about Evvy and sending me regular pictures.

Based on her email, Evvy still has no teeth. She has started eating solids. They started her on fruit which I was a little surprised. I emailed and said that I hoped they got her on vegetables since I hate them so much. Well they have definitely started her on veggies. She likes carrots, spinach, potatoes, chicken breast and a couple of other veggies that I don't the translation for. I guess I will have to start buying vegetables other than corn and green beans.

Evvy's foster family really adores her. She is a part of the extended family too. I guess some young cousins were over and Jeaneth wrote that they were facinated by the baby and asked if they would bring her to their Quincinera (15th birthday celebration). I guess they will probably take her. I will probably get some good pictures!

A friend of mine is expecting a call tonight or tomorrow (hopefully!) to tell them when their Embassy appointment is to go pickup their 8 month old son. She has graciously offered to take a bag of clothes down for my little chubster. Hopefully they will fit!

Anyway, here are a couple of pictures. They are also over on my picture link.

7 months old today!

Happy 7 month birthday Evvy.

How did I spend my morning? Well, I made an appointment to have the car seat properly installed by certified experts. The police department has volunteers that have taken 32 hours of classes to learn how to properly install baby car seats. Well they almost met their match today. I got there at 10:00 this morning and after much labor and frustration they got it installed to their satisfaction and I was on my way by 12:45. Mazda 626 is not an easy car to install a car seat in. They coudn't get it in without it having way too much wiggle room. It moved all over the seat. Finally one of the men literally climbed into the seat to put all his weight on it and the other guy pulled on the seat belt. Now it really doesn't budge hardly. I never could have done this by myself. I told them that I would be back when I have to turn the seat around when she turns 1.

But now I am ready to bring her home safely from the airport.

Hopefully PGN will be recovered from the holidays this next week and our case will finally get signed out. The agency director is going down next Wednesday so I should have some more new pictures by next weekend I hope.

I will keep everyone posted when I hear anything!

Susan

Happier New Year!

Well it was back to reality today. After 3 weeks off, had to be up bright and early and go back to work today. Luckily I had previewed my emails last night and weeded them down from 305 to about 56 that need to be addressed. At the end of today, I was down to about 40. Maybe I will be caught up by the end of the week.

It was actually not horrible going back to work but I was tired a lot. Not used to being on a real schedule yet.

Before I left for lunch I decided to check my email and yippee, I finally received email from foster family with Christmas pictures!

Here are the pictures of my Christmas angel/santa. Now I just need to get her home so I can kiss those cheeks some more.

Susan

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year. This is the year that Evelyn May will come home! I feel pretty confident saying that. I made a new ticker to show how long our case has been in PGN. Unfortunately, Evelyn has spent over half of her young life waiting for Mr Barrios to sign her case so that she can come home.

Well, this year I am going to really try to eat better and exercise more so I can keep up with my little girl when she come home.

Had a nice New Year celebration with Tom & Peggy and Tom's sister Amy and husband Tim. We actually made it all the way to midnight.

It is back to work tomorrow. What a rude awakening that will be when the alarm goes off. I did check my email this evening. There were only 302 of them. I think I got it whittled down to about 56 that I will need to follow up on tomorrow. Should keep me busy! Uggh.

Also, I get to drop off a package to send down to Miss Evvy when the agency director goes down next week. I am sending a few little board books, some music CDs, a Little Einstein DVD and a cute outfit I picked up from clearance this week.

This should be a great year!
Susan