Nesting and packing...

"Gook! Gook! (Look! Look!)"




I am officially off from work. Unfortunately, the only reason I am not working tonight is because I have a nasty sinus infection and hoping to beat it by this weekend. The kids had a really nice Christmas, and in retrospect I am kind of glad our trip to Guatemala isn't happening for another few days. I think it would have been too much at once after all. Tomorrow starts the great "clean-up"- nesting and babyproofing! I have four days, hopefully with everyone helping, to get the place in tiptop shape, plus do laundry and finish packing. We will be heading up to Salt Lake on Sunday or Monday depending on the weather reports, and then down to Guatemala on Thursday at dark thirty. Our flight is around five in the morning so we have to be at the airport at 2 or 3. This may be my final blog until then as I won't have internet access in Salt Lake. But I will be back online, hopefully, once we get to Guatemala!

Just plain excited!!!

Between the Christmas holidays and our upcoming pick-up trip, and even the thought of having 5 weeks off from work, I am just plain excited!!!!! I spent my days off this week working on finishing up my Christmas shopping, and I got to work on sewing a new supply of cloth diapers for Estuardo, as he has outgrown his last batch. This coming week I want to get Christmas presents wrapped and ready, sew up some diapers for my granddaughter, mail off long-distance Christmas packages. Next week, once Christmas excitement starts to calm down, it will be time to PACK!!!
I got Onnolee's DNA results the other day and they came with a beautiful color Polaroid photo. She is just getting so pretty!! I can't wait to see her again, and this time we won't have to give her back.

The rest of the dates in our adoption timeline are...

Onnolee with her fostermom last April 2007, 1 month old

January 3rd, 2008- in our arms forever
January 4th, 2008- Embassy appointment
January 8th, 2008- HOME FOREVER
WE ARE OFFICIALLY "PINK"!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Countdown to pink...

I hope we hear something tomorrow!

Dec 12, 2007
3:34 PM
Delivered
GUATEMALA CITY GT

2:50 PM
On FedEx vehicle for delivery
GUATEMALA CITY GT

2:33 PM
At local FedEx facility
GUATEMALA CITY GT

7:55 AM
In transit
MIAMI, FL

7:55 AM
At dest sort facility
MIAMI, FL

1:19 AM
Departed FedEx location
MEMPHIS, TN

Dec 11, 2007
11:15 PM
Arrived at FedEx location
MEMPHIS, TN

8:48 PM
Left origin
GREENSBORO, NC

7:18 PM
Picked up
GREENSBORO, NC

9:32 AM
Package data transmitted to FedEx

Fedex...

...should be delivering our DNA results to the Embassy TOMORROW!!!!!!!!!! Then we officially begin to watch our email for our e-PINK slip!!! We may just get to Guatemala before Christmas after all!!! :oD

Tomorrow...

...we may have some good news...

Maybe...

Labcorp says to keep our fingers crossed.

Okay...

DNA has reached Labcorp. The only bad thing is that they tell me it will take 7-10 days to complete. So we may not get to Guatemala before Christmas. BUT, thank goodness it's moving, it's there and we are countdown to PINK.

Will this be the week??

Okay, I admit it, I am getting IMPATIENT!!! I hope that the DNA test has been done and is on it's way to Labcorp.

JEEPERS CREEPERS!!!!!!!!

BEFORE........

AFTER...

Marisol's Eyes

Marisol may be getting her first set of prosthetic eyes tomorrow, and she calls them "chocolate brown." The eyes that she was born with are shrinking and causing problems that will hopefully be helped with the prosthetcs. I will post pics as soon as possible. I am curious to see what she will look like...

Waiting and wondering

All I know as far as a status report is that Labcorp has not yet received Onnolee's DNA sample. So we wait. These last few weeks are the easiest and the hardest. I am feeling happy and excited because baby girl is finally coming home, but I am also feeling impatient and anxious because we do not have a date yet. We are still hoping to have her home by Christmas but either way, I am happy that she will soon be here! Hopefully we will have some news by the end of the week.

ORANGE!!!!!!!!!!

The color for today is ORANGE!!!!!!!

Orange means that they have issued Onnolee's new birth certificate already and we have approval for her second DNA test!! That was really fast...Next step is pink slip then pick-up!!!

IT FITS

...BOTH THE SHIRT AND THE SAYING ON IT...

Thanksgiving weekend...

Here's my Mom, clowning around while she bakes Stew an apple pie...
Here's Stew's response...
This is Jesse enjoying all of our company...
And Marisol having a Happy Thanksgiving...
More smiles from Kory...
Estuardo enjoying his turkey soup...
My grandson Elijah...
Little Ava wasn't feeling well...
Granddaughter Isabella, as well as my daughter Serena and her husband Enoch were here also, but they managed to duck out of all the pictures.

I am SO THANKFUL...

This is the week of Thanksgiving, and I am very grateful that Estuardo and I got to make that special trip to Guatemala to spend some time with beautiful Onnolee who is such a little princess! We had a wonderful trip and made some great memories!
But...
I am also very, very, very extremely thankful that 2 days before Thanksgiving
WE ARE OUT OF PGN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
They have signed off on our case and it's official!!!!!!!!!!! Our coordinator has guesstimated about 4 to 6 weeks until pickup, but with all of these holidays coming up, that could either speed things up or slow them down. But some time in the next weeks, Onnolee is COMING HOME!!!

ZZZZZZZZZZZZ...

Okay...more Guatemala pics!!!!!!!!!!!

Here's Onnolee for a brief moment when she allowed me to set her down. Most of the time she wanted to be held...She's not crawling yet, but give her a few weeks at our house once we get her home!

My happy girl!

Some Orvile Redenbacher's with pourover butter and a bottle of juice! Notice his Crocs---they hardly ever come off!!!

Just the thing for watching Bullwinkle in Spanish!

The three of us!!! We miss the rest of our family and wish they were here too!!

Estuardo the Cowboy

I hereby interrupt the trip to Guatemala, to post these pics that are just too cute to miss!...

She's AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!

Estuardo and I flew into Guatemala City on Thursday night and Onnolee arrived at the hotel about 8:30 or so on Friday morning. We've been busy just hanging out. Onnolee is absolutely precious! It took her a day to get used to us, but she is starting to relax and let us see her cute little self.



And of course...Estuardo the Explorer...