I am writing alittle more "below" about our trip now. I wanted to load some pic's of our Hotel as I had spoke about how beautiful the Hotel is and how much we loved our stay there. This top picture you will see some couch's there in the middle back by the greenery. THe couch on the right is where I was sitting when the 2 ladies came in and sat on the opposite couch holding a baby... I spotted a foot hanging out of the blanket wearing a black patten leather shoe. I thought that I recognized those shoes. I had sent down some items to Hope in December and I thought for sure that those looked like them. But I assumed that that baby was there for someone else because I didn't see our attorneys assistant along with these ladies. Within a few minutes comes a man asking me if I am Rachael J. ( Chanan was pacing outside) and I said yes...and then I said pointing over at that baby with the patten leather shoes on sleeping under that white blanket (with the little pooh blanket that I also sent, hiding under the white blanket)."and that is HOPE Right?" He said YES.... and ALL I could do was WAIL out loud in praises to my GOD!!!! My Baby.. I couldn't beleive it!!!
Hope is currently sleeping... So I feel that I have a few minutes today to get started on the posting that I promised. If I don't get finished I will return to finish ASAP !
Starting with the PINK slip. I had prayed for a short wait for our embassy appointment...which is what you receive when getting your PINK slip/your Embassy approval and appointment.. The current timelines, on the Guatemala yahoo groups, had been a 2 week out, embassy appointment, wait for picking up your child in Guatemala. After waiting this long I just could not imagine another 2 weeks of waiting. Appointments used to be within 3 days of receiving your so called Pink Slip. Well our prayers were answered... in a very sneaky way... still it worked and it was great!!! There is a time limit or a normal time in which the Embassy gives the appointments after they receive the 2nd DNA match. Hope's DNA arrived at the Embassy in Guatemala on 3/3 so we should have received our PINK slip on 3/6. But It does not come and it does not come. Finally on 3/10 our agency emails the Embassy with an urgent request for our PINK slip. The same day they sent that email to the Embassy we got our PINK slip which was dated 3/6, the same day it was suppose to have been sent out??? We don't know what happened except....that prayer was answered. With that we emailed the lady who so graciously gave us buddy passes/stand by tickets and told her that our Embassy appointment is 3/18 and that we have to be in Guatemala 2 days before our Embassy Appointment, that is a rule! That put us leaving for Guatemala on the 15th. It is now the 10th and I am so excited that I did not have to wait the 4 days from the 6th to the 10th...but it ends up being even shorter than that! Just so happens there is an embargo on these stand by passes, on the 15th and the 16th, because of Spring break and they can't be used on these dates... So we had to chose the 13th or 14th to leave. We decided that we better choose the 13th so that if we got bumped we could at least, hopefully, get on the next flight on the 14th. ( Now we only have 3 days to wait...that was PERFECTLY SHORT!!!) As it happened we did get to atlanta on the 13th, but bumped off for the flight to Guatemala that day. We were told that we were not going to get on the next day flight, either, the 14th ..it was full as well!! So we had to call our agency to cancel our pick up day in Guatemala on the 13th at 2:00 :( So we had to reroute our buddy pass tickets and get moving closer to Guatemala or be stuck in Atlanta past our Embassy appointment deadline. I did post on the 14th here about our timely detour to Costa Rica... We called it God's Plan for our (March 29th) Anniversary. He usually does that every year.. we seem to not plan it...but every year he does something wonderful... a total surprise and not of our doing....no kidding! But we really enjoyed Costa Rica and knew that it was the last time that we were just "2". It would be on the 15th that we would be forever "3"... and speaking of forever 3... my 3rd part just woke up!!! I will get back soon....
Back again for a few...
We enjoyed Costa Rica alot. We walked around before we had to leave that afternoon at 2:00 for the airport. That ended up being a real joke! It was a real test as to whether or not we really trust GOD over us or not!!! With eyes wide open...TRUST TRUST TRUST AND TRUST SOME MORE!!! Our ride to the airport ended up being a driver that the Hotel had arranged for us. We already had a driver from a company that our Tour agency had hired to pick us up at the airport the night before. But there was some change ??? This new driver set out to take us to the airport... but we noticed that it was taking a long time and the scenery began to look very much like a repeat of where we had just came from. YEAP!!! He had got a call to come back and pick up some other people that were going to miss their flight. Traffic was beyond belief and out of control. No one minds the signs or lights for the most part. Backed up backed up traffic and here we end up next door to the Hotel we had left from 45 minutes before !!!! We were so upset to say the least....WE SAID: We are going to miss our flight...we paid for this driver to take us to the airport and we have only drove around and around for 45 minutes...and now we are back next door to where we just left from 45 minutes ago.....We were freaking out!!!! Anyway we did get to the airport on time. We made it to Guatemala and entered the Hotel... it was beyond beautiful. We loved it there. Here are 2 pictures of what you see when you just walk into the front doors. We were on the 6th floor, you will notice the green vines that hang over each floors railings. THere are 12 floors there I believe. The Hotel Name again is The Grand Tikal in Guatemala City. You can view more pictures from their website. Hope just woke up...back again soon...
NEW addition...May 28th....
Well I have learned by now that I will never have the same minutes, that I used to, to spend on the computer. I will not be able to detail anymore of our trip...I give up :) I will add that the addition above when Foster Mom handed baby Hope to me was of course the highlight of our trip. I was blessed, as a long awaited Mom, to see Hope's referral picture first by a real miracle...BEFORE Chanan. I think that is a must for MOM and a real gift!!! Also again I was blessed to see Hope first in Guatemala... from when I thought it might be her after seeing those patten leather shoes peeking from under her blanket to Foster mom putting her in my arms....all while Chanan was outside looking for them to arrive. WOW! The emotional impact that that had on me was JOY beyond this world!!! OUr journey back home from Guatemala was so unbelieveable. We just could not get over finally bringing this PAPER baby home. She was finally REAL!!! After she was put in our arms and the attorney's assistant and foster mom left...we were like stunded...ARE WE SUPPOSE TO LEAVE WITH HER>..it was weird..... SHE WAS OURS FOR KEEPS !!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW!!!! THere are just no words for the JOY of a child and for being parents!!!!!!!!!!
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