Last day

So, yesterday was spent trying to get in extra time with good friends before we head to the city today. We met a few friends for lunch and then flew like a tornado through the market getting last minute knick knacks.




Then we headed out for dinner with Sharon and her girls. Eliot is absolutely loving his time with Lisa, especially since she taught him how to howl like a coyote!





At our last dinner, the Lord showed His glory throughout the sky over Antigua.





Oh, and one more thing.....

Check it out!

I'm not sure where Eliot is but we only have two days left!

Milk Carton

So, I'm awake and Eliot's not. That has never happened unless there's an alarm clock involved. No alarm clock this morning. Just a very active mind racing from thought to thought. Lisa arrives this afternoon which means one thing: I'm actually going home. There are things going on over the past couple days and in the next couple days that have been saved on the mental list of "right before I head north and not a moment before". This brings about some anxiety, naturally, as anyone has before a big change. On one hand, I couln't be more excited. This is what I've prayed for, cried over, and has consumed my daily thoughts. However, with any big change, anxiety comes, doesn't it? Anticipation for something is usually the best or the worst part depending on what it is, right? Getting ready for our wedding was so exciting, especially the month before. Leaving for college or graduating from high school was built up the several weeks before it actually happened. Everything starts getting more exciting with each day. But there's something that happens to me when I see the date on a milk carton. Here's a silly truth: I will be home in the states before my milk expires that I bought two days ago. I don't know why but there's some authority in that.

There's been times, whether before my wedding or before a vacation that upon seeing the actual date on the milk carton has stirred a spontaneous dance in the grocery store. Discovering the date printed so casually on the plastic starts the reality of the situation. The milk carton date is equal to clicking on your television on December 31st and seeing Dick Clark announcing the countdown of the ball dropping. You know New Year's in coming, you've known all year but there's something about the televised ball dropping that makes you stop and say, "wow, this year is already over!" Tomorrow's tomorrow includes a packed van, a door closing on a beloved house full of friends and memories, and a final trip through Guatemala's beautiful mountains on our way into the city to stay in a hotel before we fly out Monday morning. That's it: tomorrow's tomorrow and no more cobblestoned streets.

Sharon was asking how I was feeling last night and a story popped into my head. The only way I can explain how all this feels is to relate myself to the story of the bear. He was kept in the zoo in a 16 foot area for so long that when they released him back into the wild he remained in a 16 foot wide area even though there was open terrain to be had. He didn't know what else to do. He was completely out of his comfort zone. Whether I liked it or not, these 9 X 9 blocks have become my comfort zone and it will take some adjustment to live beyond them. The good news is that Target is less than 9 blocks from my house...

So close!

Things are great here! Packing here and there, buying last minute gifts, stocking up on good coffee, preparing for Lisa to come on Friday.
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By the way: the first time we met and held Eliot was one year ago today! He was just a tiny little blob but he was so sweet!

All smiles.

Eliot's smile says one thing: THE ADOPTION IS COMPLETE!!!! I picked up his Visa yesterday!

I had no idea how much I'd been holding my breath until 4:00 yesterday. My mind is still in disbelief. It's over. It's really over. There hasn't been a day in the last 17 months that I haven't wondered when this would all come to a conclusion, that I haven't prayed that he would be ours soon, that we could be a family (legally). Eliot's never been so cute. I've never felt such relief and joy. I can't wait to share this with all of you at home! See you soon, with our son!

Not many left!

This time next week...

I'll be on an airplane!!!!



...days to go!!!

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So this morning started out with me waking Eliot up at 5:00 to get into the van to go into the city. This is rare in that I've only had to wake Eliot up twice. He's not exactly into sleeping in. He took all of two seconds to decide that getting in the car in your pj's must be a special treat and was giggly (is that a word?) the whole way into town.

Everything at the embassy went smoothly and Eliot's application for his Visa was approved. Once we were in the tiny office, it took about 2-3 minutes total. That was it. Eliot made sure to wave at the man behind the glass the whole time, too. Eliot was several months older than the majority of children in the waiting room. All the other babies were so sweetly sitting still. Um...not Eliot. He was quite active and kept me on my toes. I'd tried not to be bothered that all of those cases must have gone rather smoothly for those small babies to be going home. Not that I don't want other cases to go well, just still shocked that we're still here. I will say that my face was void of the panic that was found on the majority of the other faces. Most of the families had only come for visits in the past and were still getting acquainted with their children. As soon as the baby would make a peep, you would see this instant exchange between the parents of "what now? what should we do?" I was thankful to know my child as well as I do. Can you imagine if I hadn't come to foster and Eliot was this old coming home? I would have been a nervous wreck this morning.

Sidenote: there was a form we had to fill out for Eliot that had boxes to check yes or no if he was apart of, or intended to be apart of the following: prostitution, carrying out severe violations of religious freedom, any sort of "trafficking", espionage, sabotage, affiliated with the communist party or Nazis. Any one of those by the age of 1 would have been quite a feat.

After the embassy we went to the Marriott to see Ms. Hazel one more time. She was Eliot's foster mom for the first 6 months. She was so surprised to see how big he was and how many teeth he had. She kept hugging him so tightly! Again, I was so very thankful that we were blessed to have her taking care of Eliot. Her daughter, who is seven years old, was so excited to see him and the feelings were mutual. Eliot kept giving her kisses and kept crawling around to chase her. It was a comfort to know that he still remembered them!




(No, I haven't gotten taller...)




Then we loaded ourselves back into the van to head to Immigration. I had to pay my "I've lived here longer than I should have" fee. So, that means, I'm no longer an illegal alien running through the streets. Guatemala gives you 90 days on a tourism visa. Once that 90 days is up, you can apply for another 90 days for a small fee. That extra 90 days ran out at the beginning of May. So, out came the wallet so that the people at the airport would let me go home next week.

I'm officially exhausted. Praise the Lord for so many things today! Thanks for getting so excited for us to come home! It adds to an already amazing feeling! By the way, if you're wanting to meet us at the airport, email me for details, not Russ. He's unable to check his email this week. My address is katielmohr@hotmail.com

My last full week!

As we only have 8 more days here and our last day will be spent in the city, we have one full week left! I will probably be taking too many pictures, eating at all my favorite restaurants, trying to spend as much time with my Antigua friends as possible and squeezing in some packing. This is all very surreal still! I know people do actually go home, I've watched waves and waves of them come and go. It's just odd that it's really happening to us!

Eliot update:
*He now says five words: in order of which was said first: Dada, Mama, Ball, Duck, and Hippo.
*He's standing on his own without holding onto furniture. I keep putting him back down so that he doesn't take his first steps without Russ around! Just 8 days left of being a bad mom!
*He's obsessed with growling. We were in a very crowded elevator this week in the city and it was dead silent. Eliot took that opportunity to growl quite loudly at the man standing behind us. So proud. Thankfully everyone laughed so I told the man that my son thinks he's a lion.
*We went to the Embassy doctor this week and got medical clearance for El to come to the U.S. He's up to a little over 20lbs and some where between 76-79 centimeters tall. (different doctors got different measurements?)
*This week he started putting different sized blocks inside of each other. There's a set of blocks that can fit inside each other or stack up. He's been making little towers to knock down but this week he began fitting them all inside each other. My landlord said that's a sign of a high IQ. I told her that he gets that from me.
*I'm pretty sure his eyes got browner and bigger.
*On his own, without anyone showing him how, he starting throwing the ball into his toy basket. He's been playing catch and throwing the ball to me (or out the door to watch mom run to get it...) but out of nowhere, he's obsessed with throwing it back into the toybin. I guess he's getting ready to play hoops w/ the boys in the neighborhood.




Case update:
* Our embassy appointment is tomorrow morning. After the appointment we're going to meet back up with his original foster mom who took care of him for the first 6 months. She hasn't seen him since November!
*On Tuesday afternoon our Visa will be ready!

Just for fun!

Just had to post this pic of how Eliot's morning is going...



A last little naked time with his latin lover.

How many, Eliot?

How many days until you're crawling in dog hair on hardwood floors instead of volcanic dust on tile floor? How many days until you're gettting lovingly attacked by two crazy dogs instead of two adorable brown babies (Madie and BellBell) each day? How many days until your mom makes a fool of herself at the airport? How many days until you can growl at daddy? How many days until you're officially an American citizen?




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On a different note, please pray for the cases that I've mentioned before. It seems that 2 out of the 5 are hitting more delays than expected (and that's saying a lot!). Each of these brave women have been going through times of hearing no news and now are into hearing bad news. Both of these women have been waiting longer than we have. Please pray pray pray! They just want to be able to take their children home and start their lives with their families and friends.