Home at last

Actually we have been home for a week now. For some reason I have not had a lot of time for finishing up this blog post in the past week. I lot of you have already had the pleasure of meeting Victor - if you haven't I am sure it can be arranged. This is a picture of us with Victor and Hortensia (Victor's foster mother) and Hortensia's mother. Hortensia was crying soon after this picture was taken - I think it was pretty difficult for her.

The next morning I went by myself to the embassy for my 11:00 appt to pick up Victor's Visa. I got there a little early. The embassy was closing early (noon) because of the holiday so I figured I didn't have long of a wait. I had the taxi driver wait for me. Well - I sat and sat. It was 11:30 before there was any activity - they opened one window but spoke only Spanish - so not for us. It was 11:45 before they started calling lists of five names to come up. I thought I heard my name in one of the lists but they gave the packet to someone else. The next group they had a name with no person to pick it up. Well - you guessed it - all the high security - multiple finger printing and DNA tests - and they give Victor's passport and Visa to the wrong person. Luckily the person checked their documents and came running back. Tons of traffic to get back to the hotel at noon. It was still only $10 for the whole taxi ride - including having him wait at the embassy.

That afternoon I went and grabbed lunch for us - McDonald's for Lara and a local sausage sandwich for me. After lunch we went to a local attraction in Guatemala city that Lara had heard about from a friend of hers. It is a relief map of Guatemala that was created in 1905. It is to scale (I think 1:10000). We also enjoyed the ride back to the hotel. We rode through markets and past some kind of large demonstration with people wearing Che Guevara (probably best not to stop at that one).

The next day (Saturday) was time for the long ride home. We took the shuttle from the hotel to the airport. It took what seemed like forever to get through check-in. We finally got through after a few issues and still had enough time for Lara to get something to eat and drink and to get a little food into Victor. Getting on the airplane they had a last minute extra security check - where they told us we could not bring the drinks on the plane - a little quick thinking and we saved the bottled water ( used the baby card). The flights went well - on time and Victor was as good as could be expected. He slept most of the way. We had a couple hour layover in Houston, and made it back to Minneapolis around midnight.

Karin from Hand in hand was waiting for us at the airport with a gift. Victor was very tired so he did not cooperate much for the pictures she wanted to take. I called my dad, who picked us up about 20 minutes later in our car with waiting car seat. After a quick stop by my parents house to drop off my dad (and for my mom to get a quick peek) we finally headed for home.

Once we got home we got our first sign that Victor might not be the perfect baby. He cried for about an hour straight (2am-3am). We thought it might have been his ears since he slept through the last landing so we gave him some motrin. He did finally get calmed down and we made it to sleep.

It's a week later now and it has gone much better since that Saturday night. Most nights he goes to bed at nine and gets up around eight in the morning. I can't say it has been easy but I imagine it could be much worse. I returned to work on Wednesday at GE so Lara has had a few days on her own. We have had lots of visitors (Victor loves the attention) and many wonderful gifts.

Thanks to everyone for all the prayers and support. It has helped a lot though the process. There will probably be a few more milestones that I will blog about so keep reading if you are interested. I will also try to post a few more stories and pictures I have from the trip. It is a wonderful country and hopefully we will get back when Victor is a little older to show it to him.

Almost there

I wish I could post some pictures since he is so cute but I can't from here. I just thought I would let everyone know that everything is going great here.

Our flight was delayed on Tuesday so we did not get to the hotel until 11:43 - we were very tired. We were told to call the attorney when we got in but weren't sure what do do since it was so late. We decided to call - next problem - figuring out how to call. We has three numbers for her but they were all seven digits and all the local numbers seemed to be eight digits. Looking at the phone book it looked like most started with a 2 so we tried that. One of the three numbers went though to something but we didn't know what - we still left a message.

We tried calling again on Wednesday and got right through. Carlota said she was planning to come by in just an hour with Victor. She came by around 11 am with Victor and with the Foster mother Hortensia and with Hortensia's mother. She went through Victor's whole routine - what he eats, when he eats, when he sleeps - that is pretty much his whole routine - eating and sleeping.

Victor is a very happy baby. The first day we decided to venture out a little bit to find some lunch. Lara decided she wanted Schlotzky's - I'll pick lunch some other day. We used our new baby carrier and Victor fell asleep strapped to Lara. We tried out the hotels baby room later in the day. They have two rooms converted into a baby room with lots of toys and other baby's. They also have microwaves, fridge, sink, and internet. It is very well setup. Victor loved the walker. We met some people there that we had met in the plane from Rochester that had just picked up there baby the same day. We decided we would eat dinner in the hotel sports bar. Probably a bad idea - they had a Guatemalan soccer game on TV very loud - and much louder when they scored. Victor managed it very well though and didn't cry at all.

They told us Victor would go to sleep around nine and wake up between five and six. They also said he wouldn't sleep in a crib - but should sleep in the bed with us. We put him in the crib anyways and after 15 minutes or so of messing around he went to sleep.

We had to be to the embassy at 8:00 am on Thursday for the Visa appointment. I got up a little after six and Victor was still sleeping. I showered - then Lara went in the shower. I tried to be a little noisy to wake Victor. He finally woke at 7:00. It won't be so bad if he is like this every day. The Visa appointment is not fun. Sit and wait, pay $400, sit and wait, get called to stand in line, meet with immigration for about 1 minute, sit and wait, get called to talk to someone else for 2 minutes, done. That's about three hours worth of waiting.

We got back to the hotel and decided to venture future today. We got a driver to take us to Antigua. Antigua was Guatemala's original capital and still has a lot of older buildings. We ate in a very nice hotel/ museum that was originally a church and monastery. It was good food in a gorgeous setting. After eating we went through the museum a little which includes the church and some crypts. After that we had our driver take us to the local market. Antigua has a nice local market were they sell locally made craft items. We bought several to give Victor when he is a little older. Next the driver took us to the Central plaza. We walked around a little. They had a old catholic church there and they were busy getting ready for Easter. They have some local traditions which I will mention in another post when I can post pictures. We then were driven to an arch that is the only thing left from an old convent. The arch was so the nuns could cross the road without coming in contact with other people. Finally we were driven up one of the surrounding hills to see a cross that you can see from Antigua along with a nice view of the city. We were kind of mis-informed and did a lot more walking than we needed too. Long day - we had the driver take us back to the hotel. We ate - Victor got a little cranky - think we messed up his schedule. Lara took him to the baby room and fed him a little. He just fell asleep about ten minutes ago and Lara took him to the room while I finished typing (Looks like I am typing a lot).

Probably a little calmer day tomorrow. I have to go to the embassy (I can go by myself for this one) to pick up the Visa. This should be much quicker. Then I will try to convince Lara to try a little . They had street vendors cooking little sausages and they put them in a bun with all kinds of stuff - I want one of those. They also have a lot of taco places with Tacos al pastor (like a shawarma) - I might convince Lara to eat there so I can try one.

Anyway - just wanted to let you all know it is going well and looking forward to being back home on Saturday.

USEmbassy Guatemala Appointment - Meadows, Victor

This past year of waiting for this to happen has honestly gone fairly fast. Probably because we never expected it to go as quick as it did. That being said these past three weeks since we have known we were almost done have seemed like a long wait to me. Less than two hours ago we we got notice that the wait was over. We are scheduled to go to the US Embassy in Guatemala on March 13 - just ten days from now. I guess it is time to make some travel arrangements.

He Moves!

I know I just posted yesterday but we just got this photo. It has been a long time since we have gotten one and this is the first one we have gotten were he is actually doing something - and smiling. I look forward to him being this happy all the time - especially the plane trip back from Guatemala.

The photo is from Jan 29 and he is 25.6 inches and 13 pounds, 2 ounces.

Is there such a thing as too soon?

We have been waiting since July which seems like a long time. I think we have kept busy enough that it has not seemed like that long though. With all the stuff that has been going on in Guatemala we had prepared ourselves for more waiting. I have been thinking it would probably be April or May. We knew that we would have a little time to prepare once we were out of PGN - there are still several steps which would take about six weeks. We decided to take a vacation to Jamaica for a little break from work and get away from the -10 tempuratures that have been the norm here lately. It will probably be our last chance for a real vacation for a little while.

So that was how we were thinking yesterday. This morning I got a call from Karin. She was a little suprised but she was just notified that we were out of PGN. And those other steps that would take six weeks - most of them are done as well. They have all the final sign-offs in Guatemala and they have Victor's passport. The only thing left is a final DNA test on Victor. Our six weeks notice is now down to a couple of weeks.

We still don't know exactly when. I wasn't really able to form complete sentences when I was on the phone with Karin. We are not sure if we will be able to go on vacation next week (Keep watching the blog for a possible cheap trip to Jamaica). Lara was just mentioning how busy she was going to be next week - I don't think that included the time we would need to get a nursery ready, pick a name, get carseats, clothes, diapers, .....

Who says Lara can't post to the blog?

The gauntlet has been dropped. Todd doesn't think I can do this. Hmmm.
Here are my (Lara's) answers:
Four jobs I have had in my life:
Dishwasher
Shopko baby/child department staff
Medtronic SW engineer
IBM-Mankato SW tester

Movies I have watched more than once:
Pride and Prejudice (I could watch this every day)
Unlike my husband, I watch every good movie more than once - you can imagine the home discussions....
Emma
Sense and Sensibility
The Italian Job

Four Places I have lived:
Markesan, WI
Mankato, MN (didn't want to duplicate Todd's list, but this is where we met)
West Concord, MN
Blaine, MN

Four T.V. Shows that I watch:
Amazing Race
Stargate Atlantis
Miami Ink
What not to Wear (yeah, I know I should pay better attention!)

Four Places I have Been:
London
Murren in the Swiss Alps
St. Chappelle
Shojoshinin monestary

Four People who email me regularly:
Donna Doll (sends me humor)
Todd
(then define regular)

Four favorite foods:
Macaroni and cheese
Beef Stew (that my husband made for my 40th birthday)
Beer Can chicken (Bonfire, yum)
Chocolate Chip cookies

Four favorite beverages:
Dr. Pepper
Dr. Pepper
Raspberry Lemonade
Dr. Pepper

Four Places I would like to visit:
Australia (when they get that Star Trek Beaming technology going, I'm there)
Luxemburg (why didn't we take that 10 mile detour)
California (someday I'm going to visit my friend Pat)
Oregon

Four friends I am tagging to do this:

Four things I am looking forward to this year:
Walking around the block pushing a stroller
Victor's first birthday party
Meeting my neighbors (while walking around the block)
Victor meeting his cousins (Ethan, Alex, Stella and Aaron)

Half Birthday

No - that is not actually Victor's picture but it has been a while since we have gotten a new picture so that may be what he looks like by now. Actually it is not that bad. We have not heard much but Karin did let us know that because of everything going on in Guatemala we would not be getting all of our normal monthly pictures and reports. We would love to be getting new pictures but we can understand that there is a lot for them to do right now. Whenever it seems like a long process for us we think of our friends from class that are in a lot longer of a process than us - I know it is a lot harder for some of them. The good news is that Victor probably does not look like the picture at the left. It was Victor's half Birthday a week ago.

Since I don't really have any news to post - just seemed like it has been a while - I am also responding to my blog "tag". Not sure I really understand the whole tag thing but I think it is a list of questions that I answer on my blog - and it is passed on kind of chain-letter style through blogs. I have Rachel to thank for this "opportunity". We went through adoption class with Rachel and Dave - they are adopting from Philippines. You can check out Rachel's blog at http://ribaradoption.blogspot.com/ - she is much more prolific than I am.

Here are my answers (Lara can give her answers if she wants):

Four jobs I have had in my life:
Paperboy
Ice Cream Truck Driver (Skippy guy)
Pizza Delivery (Dominos)
Security Dispatcher

Movies I have watched more than once:
Lord of the Rings
Star Wars
(I don't really watch movies more than once but those are both trilogies so I suppose that counts for at least four.)

Four Places I have lived:
Rochester, NY
Rochester, MN
Mankato, MN
Ham Lake, MN

Four T.V. Shows that I watch:
Stargate Atlantis
Amazing Race
24
Simpsons

Four Places I have Been:
Germany
Japan
Philippines
Alaska

Four People who email me regularly:
Lara
Umm - that's it - don't get much non-work email

Four favorite foods:
Italian Sausage
Cheesecake
Pie - any pie
Sushi

Four favorite beverages:
Coke Zero
Squirt
Iced Tea
Real Lemonade

Four Places I would like to visit:
(Any place I haven't been but I will name four)
Greece
Israel
India
Amsterdam

Four friends I am tagging to do this:
I hope there is no "curse" for breaking a blog tag like with chain letters but I don't think I know four other bloggers. I am not even sure that there are four people reading this blog.

Things I am looking forward to this year:
Adoption (Have to put that one - don't I?)
Jamaica - We are going to Jamaica Feb 21 - looking forward to warm weather there
Taking some time off work with Victor
No treasurer duties at church this year (didn't attend church all last year since I was always counting money)

That is the end. Hopefully I will have some real news for everyone soon - or at least a new picture.