Guatemalan Pics

These are pictures that some of our team took while we were in Guatemala. I plan on putting these up in the girls' rooms to remind us to praise Him for bringing our family together and to pray for the people of Guatemala.

We serve an amazing God who created these wonders!

What a beautiful country to be born in...Volcano near the children's home

View of Lake Atitlan from Eagle's Nest

A farm down the hill from Eagle's Nest

Nesting

This post is mainly for my mom and sister, who spent so much time making new bedding and curtains for the girls' room. I told them what colors and patterns I wanted, and they came up with this beautiful bedding!

You know that I am nesting if I am up at 11pm sewing a table cloth for the room with the extra fabric, as I am no seamstress! :)

I plan on adding some pictures of the girls together above the bed and pictures of Guatemala above the crib.

The table got painted.

We left a small tree out with Ellie's Christmas presents.

Doing the girls room involved switching rooms with the boys, and setting up bunks for the boys.

I painted the small shelf and the crates.

Surprise Shower!

Some sweet girlfriends from church surprised me with a shower yesterday. It was under the guise of a "discipleship meeting". As they were yelling "surprise", I was grabbing for the "decoy's" arm to duck out of the event we were interrupting. :) Thanks so much! I felt so loved and blessed to know how excited you all for Ellie to come home!

P is for....

Praising Him, Pretty Excited and PINK!!!!

Our USE appointment is January 28th, so we will get her January 26th!!!

There is lots of laughing and crying at our house! Thank you, Lord for this wonderful blessing!

Our Last Monthly Update...Lord Willing

"This one should be the LAST one...and you will have her home!" to quote our case worker, but we'll see what God's perfect plan is...

"She is healthy, likes to play and stand up in her crib". She weighs 21.11 lbs (5-10 %), is 30" tall (5-10%) , head cir 17.6" (5-10%), and foot is 4.5" (have no idea where this falls!... I did my best to guess her shoe size in July, but struck out with the 4 pair that I brought, at that time her foot was 5". :) )She is looking at the photo we sent for her crib of the Family picture at the top right corner of the blog.

Agipina, the mama in the red apron, is one of her regular mamas. One day on our visit trip, when we were in the office emailing team pictures, she came in to see Ellie. Agripina asked if she could hold her and it was obvious that she had missed Ellie while she had been with us.

I love how she is so clingy...I look forward to lots of snuggles out of this one!

"But as for me, my prayer is to you, O Lord. At an acceptable time, O God, in the abundance of your steadfast love answer me in your saving faithfulness. " Psalm 69:13 ESV

Help! I've got finger fatigue from hitting the refresh button!

I am stalking my email for word of our visa appointment, it should be here any moment! It is a struggle against the flesh not to get anxious over these final steps.

These were the first verses I read of the new year:

"For God alone my soul waits in silence, from him comes my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress: I shall not be greatly shaken." Psalm 62 :1-2

A pretty powerful reminder for a day like today (add two sick kids, little sleep tending to them at night, lots of phone calls, and strong tornado warning in January to my finger fatigue aliment) :) !

Added: Monday, I had twice as many "visits" as I did "visitors", so you all must be getting finger fatigue as well! :)

Happy Three Kings Day!

I was thrilled to find photos of Christmas morning on the EN site. There are some of Ellie getting the package that we sent down, complete with the Santa hat she is wearing. They also have a DVD of Christmas memories they are sending to the families! It will mean a lot to have these pictures and video in the future for Ellie.

That reminds me, if any EN families want to send something to their kiddos when we go down, shoot me an email (it's on my profile). We are not going to EN, but I believe that I can pass things off to the mama that brings Ellie to GC.

A Cool Gift and A Wal-Mart Trip

We got this in the mail from a Deedee, who went through our first youth group. She sent this "buff" as a "getting out of PGN gift". Her suggestion was for Daniel to wear it to the Embassy appointment. :) We thought it was hillarious! Thanks, Deedee!

The diapers and toothbrush set were are result of my Wal-Mart trip today... I was nearly giddy over them. She's actually coming home! :)

Wonderful Wednesday to You!

Lord willing, we will be submitted to the Embassy today! This involves the attorney, or staff he pays, to stand in line over night. With the shut-down for the holidays, I am sure that the line is pretty long. We were told it would take about a week to get our appointment, and the appointment could be about a week out from that. We are so close, sweet Ellie! Pray for Pedro and the Embassy employees in Guatemala today!