Pictures from Antigua

Gabriela enjoys riding on her daddy's knee!

Both the horse and the rider are tuckered out!

A view of the courtyard right outside our hotel room. It is a beautiful hotel -- all Spanish colonial architecture and recently redone. Everyone has been so kind to us, even though many do not speak English here. My Spanish has been tested a little more in Antigua and that is good!

On our way back from a wonderful traditional Guatemalan dinner, we saw our first procession of Holy Week. The men and boys dressed in purple robes are called cucarachas. They carry these floats miles almost all day and all night. Each Catholic church in Antigua (and there are many!) has their own float that honors the sacrifice Christ made for us. I am sure that we will see many more in the next few days.

That's all for now. Gabi is sound asleep and I better get to catching up too! Love to you all! Thanks for all of your prayers and thoughts.

Joe, Tara, & Gabi

Here She Is!

Hello All! We made it safe and sound yesterday. Gabriela is finally in our arms forever! She is still the little angel we remembered from our visit trip -- very happy and content. We spent quite some time with her foster family. Gabriela's foster mother is in red and her daughter is next to her in the picture above. They are both wonderful people and it was so hard for them to leave little Gabi. We all cried and hugged. She has such a big heart to care for Gabriela and then let her leave. We hope that she is comforted knowing that her aching empty arms have given us such joy! Maria even made Gabriela the little dress that she is wearing in the pictures. It is so cute and will be treasured forever.

We are taking off for Antigua today. The city is very quiet due to the holiday (everything is closed Thursday - Sunday for Semana Santa). We are really looking forward to watching the processions, celebrating this Holy week and most of all, spending as much time as possible getting to know our little girl. What a gift we have received.

All our love,

Joe, Tara, & Gabriela

Gabriela is Coming Home!!

This is the post I have been longing to write for such a long time! Yea! We received our "pink slip" today. Our appointment at the US Embassy is March 25th at 8:00am. We pick up Gabriela's Visa the following afternoon. We've spent this evening frantically making travel plans. Here is our itinerary:

March 19 -- Fly to Guatemala
March 20-24 -- Spend Holy Thursday thru Easter Monday in Antigua
March 25-26 -- Spend in Guatemala City at Embassy and Visa appointments.
March 27 -- Fly Home!

Gabriela will be put in our arms forever on March 19th! We are so thankful and can hardly wait! We are also excited to spend part of Holy Week and Easter in Antigua. This is one of the top tourist destinations for Semana Santa in the world. The pictures we have seen are incredible. It will be a wonderful experience for our new little family of 3!

Love to you all,
Joe & Tara

Keeping Things in Perspective

Well, we didn't receive our "pink slip" today. However, we are very confident that it will come tomorrow. As I was searching the internet for a gift for Gabriela's foster mom, I came across a poem that had this wonderful line:

Even though I didn't give you life, Life Gave Me You.

We are so thankful that we have been led down the path of adoption. Even though Gabriela is not quite in our arms forever, we are truly Blessed that she will be so very soon.

All Our Love,

Joe & Tara

Ready for Gabriela

Gabriela's room is coming together! An important piece of Gabriela's room is missing right now - a rocking chair that my Dad made for us. The seat is currently getting upholstered, so I will post pictures when it is done. It is beautiful and will make a great place for lots of snuggling and bedtime stories.

We should receive our "pink slip" on Wednesday, so check back then for our upcoming pick-up trip details. We can hardly wait!

Have a great week,

Joe & Tara

More Gabi Pics!

Hi all,

These were taken Monday when she had her DNA test done. Looks like that beautiful brown hair is growing back -- yea!

Tara

We're Getting Closer!

Gabriela's Guatemalan passport was issued last Friday. We have a scanned copy of it and it is very cute. It's funny to see such an important document with a little baby's picture on it!

The 2nd DNA test was done today. The samples were sent via FedEx to a lab in the US and are scheduled to arrive on Wednesday. It usually takes another week for the results to get FedExed back to the US Embassy in Guatemala and for them to issue our "pink slip." The pink slip will tell us the exact date and time that we have to be there for our Embassy and Visa appointments.

We cannot wait to bring her home! Her room is just about done. I'll post pictures later this week!

Love,
Joe & Tara