We've been busy as usual (home & work). Elena is doing great. She's just talking away, still pretty much doesn't make sense, but has added a few words to her vocab. She's still just so stinkin' cute. We are having so much fun with her. I miss her every single day while I'm at work. :( Time is flying by so quickly. I can't believe it is July already! Elena will be 2 in October already. She's amazing; we love her so much.

We celebrated our GOTCHA DAY on June 12 by going to the Phila. Zoo. What a great place. We met a couple there who has a most beautiful Guatemalan son! It turns out that they lead an adoption group out of Philadelphia. We traded information. Apparently there are a lot of people looking for adoption groups in this area and can't find the one we are in. We are now called "Circle of Families" and have a blog, thanks to our fearless leader. If there is anyone who reads my blog who is interested in joining our group, please let me know! We are getting together this coming Saturday for a picnic and all are welcome.

I hope that everything is going well for all of you. We continue to pray for all the families who are still waiting for their babies to come home from Guatemala.

Hello friends. Hope everyone is well. We are doing great. Elena is growing like a weed and just blossoming. She is walking now, finally, and does really well. She's talking a lot; however, not sure exactly what she is saying. She does say "yes, no, shoe, fish, dog, Uh Uh (as in Uh Oh, but without the Oh)." She is just doing the cutest things too, like the motions to Itsy Bitsy Spider and pointing to her nose and belly. She also pushes our noses and I make a beeping sound. One thing Sean and I love is we group hug and she loves to see Sean and I kiss, so she pulls our faces together, then we kiss her and over and over again. She's so amazing and is developing a wonderful personality. She's a great hugger and kisser (she puckers up so cute). Sean tells her to smile and she shows all her teeth (see pic below). We are having so much fun. She has had a fever for the past two days, but that is the first sickness in a long time. We are blessed that she has never had an ear infection (I should knock on wood). I hear of so many toddlers who have trouble with that. Even when Elena is sick, she tolerates it very well. She's not a cry baby at all. She fell off her little sliding board the other day and I thought it was going to be horrible, but she got up and went right back to it. We don't make a big deal out of things, so she doesn't either, I guess. Great advice someone gave us.

We have been in contact with Elena's Foster Mother on a routine basis since Elena has been home. They are not doing well at all. She has been out of work since the program is closed. Both of her children have had to quite school to go to work. It is very sad in Guatemala; I can't imagine how much worse it is for them now. Please pray for all of the babies that are waiting for loving homes and for all the people living in poverty.

Things are going good otherwise. We have decided to move; although, I have no idea when. I have been more frustrated than ever at work then when I have to make that commute all the way there and home again, it makes it even worse. That's just some of the reason, but is enough for me. I'm not looking forward to moving, but it will be worth it. Just the time and gas money that we will save will be worth it! We are in the car far too much. God has blessed us in so many ways and we are thankful to have the resources to make a move.

Sean is busy right now carving up a turkey that he shot yesterday. Oh yummy, fresh turkey (eeek!). It's actually not bad. It's not the first one he has brought home. He really enjoys hunting and I am happy to say that we eat everything he kills (so far anyway).

I suppose it is not likely that I will be updating my blog before Mother's Day, so HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all of you wonderful mommies!!

Just pictures because she's so darn cute . . .

Hello my friends. It has been a very long time. I don't have a lot of time on my hands these days. Unfortunately, my job is overwhelming, but I'm trying to make some changes there. I would appreciate any prayers; I know God will guide me. I try to leave work at a reasonable time, I come home to Sean and Elena and after she goes to bed, I work until very late at night . . . every night. For this, I hope to step down soon, whether I leave the company or step down to another job within. I don't care about the money; we will adjust. I just care about my family and my health. Well, enough about that! More importantly . . .

Elena is doing so great! She is just growing so fast. We can't believe that a year ago this week, we were visiting her for the first time. (Oh, which means HAPPY GOTCHA DAY TO OUR FRIENDS LORI, JOEL AND SONJA!). Today we went for her second haircut. She is napping or I would have given you a before and after. She needed a haircut BAD! You can see that in the pics below that we took earlier this week. We had wonderful holidays with our families and we are having a great year so far. Elena's health has been good; although, the runny nose is neverending. We don't know if that is becuase of constant cold (daycare) or perhaps she has alergies?? It doesn't faze her a bit, it's just messy. She had pink eye (both eyes) a few weeks ago and she dealt with that pretty well too. She's just amazing. She's such a happy child. The only reason she every vomits is because she is laughing too hard. We can't imagine life without her!

We're so happy that a lot of our adoption friends are getting OUT of PGN!! I haven't been very social lately and haven't been keeping up with Guatemala affairs very well, but we are just so happy that people continue to be united with their beautiful babies! We keep in close contact with Elena's foster mother and sister and they are really struggling financially. Please pray for them and all the people of Guatemala who suffer financially.

We hope that everyone is well and are having a great 2008! Blessing to you!

HELLO everyone! We are alive, this I promise. Elena is doing GREAT and we are having more fun than ever with her. She is growing so quickly and everyday is something new. So much has happened since the last time I posted. We did the trick-or-treat thing, celebrated a wonderful Thanksgiving with our families and are now preparing for Christmas. For those of you who know me well, know that I'm not a fan of Halloween; however, we had a great time dressing her up and visiting neighbors. We are so excited for Christmas! Elena obviously won't understand any of it this year, let alone understanding why we celebrate this time of year, but we look forward to giving her some fun gifts for now. Hopefully by next year she will know who Baby Jesus is.

Elena continues to blossom! She is waving now, doing great with her straw cups, and is even "eating" with a spoon. The spoon thing gets a little ugly sometimes, but we have to start somewhere! School is going well for her; still better than I'm doing. She's walking, but not on her own yet. She pulls herself up on EVERYTHING and pushes her push toys around, but still can't keep her own balance. We think it should be soon!

Sean and I are doing well! Work is still a bit of a drag for me and has become overwhelming again. I do not work late, but I have been working from home every night after Elena goes to bed. I still miss Elena every single day. I can't wait until the new year and I have some vacation days again! I haven't taken a day off since I was off with her this summer. Sean continues to do an awesome job with Elena! He takes over after I leave for work in the morning by changing the poopy diaper after breakfast, dressing her, and taking her to school. He picks her up after work too. It's their time together. She loves him soooo much and gets so excited when she sees him!

We have had our last social worker visit, which is great! We will miss our social worker very much though. She is such an incredible person. She's not far away though and we plan to visit now and again.

Things continue to evolve in Guatemala and with the adoption process and we continue to pray for all of those families still in process. We pray that the babies come home soon!

Well, pictures say a thousand words, so I'll wrap it up. MERRY CHRISTMAS & GOD BLESS ALL OF YOU!!!!

Hello my friends. First and most importantly . . . the issues in Guatemala. For all our friends who are currently waiting for their babies to come home, we want you to know that we are praying for you and are doing everything we are able to do to encourage that to happen. For those who are not familiar with what is going on, effective January 1, all adoption from Guatemala are being stopped. There is a lot behind this and I encourage everyone to read up on it and do what you can as well. Sean and I cannot imagine not having our wonderful and beautiful Elena in our lives and we pray that our friends will be blessed with their babies home as well.

Our sweet Elena is now a year old. We can't beleive it. We had a lovely party on Saturday with family and friends. Everything since my last post has been just wonderful. Elena continues to do well at daycare and is just blossoming. I continue to struggle and just miss her so much during the week. Weekends are so precious. Unfortunately, this week, she was sick. She had a sever from Sunday to Wednesday, but is doing great now. She had a doctor visit today and had some vacinations and a flu shot. Last time we had vacinations, she had a pretty high fever. So far so good this time!

I'm keeping it short for now. Don't forget to say a prayer for all the babies in Guatemala who are in need of a loving home and for those babies already with loving parents waiting for them to come home.

John and Nina, we're praying for you for a safe trip and can't wait to here you are back with wonderful Anna! Woo Hoo!

Daycare

This was Elena's first week in daycare. It went okay. Elena cried a lot there, but I assumed, and her teachers confirmed, that it is normal at first. She went half days and I really missed her those few hours. She is taking a morning nap for them and even eating lunch, but for some reason, won't take a bottle from them. Now that is weird! She gets very excited for her bottle normally. When I get there to pick her up a little after Noon, I give it to her and she takes it from me. Next week is full time and hopefully she will begin to have a better comfort level. She seems to play well with the three other babies. It'll be fine. She is in an exceptional mood when we get home. I have a feeling I'll be in the same state when I get to my office on Tuesday. I'll probably sit there and cry . . . I'll eat lunch, but not drink my coffee. Then when I get home, I'll by happy and talk a lot.

On the home front, Elena is talking up a storm! She's so darn funny. She is also on the verge of crawling. She leans forward like she is going to get into the position. Soon enough. On the other hand, I'm having a hard time getting her down for naps. She cries and cries; however, she will go down for Sean. Hmmm . . . This has been ever since she got her immunizations last Friday. We pulled an all-nighter. I finally gave her Motrin at 4:30 a.m. and she fell asleep. She had a fever of 103 as a result of the immunizations. I was dead to the world on Saturday and she was wide awake. Oh boy. Sean was up at his cabin so it was a long day. He came home early to releive me. She slept well Saturday night, but we skipped church on Sunday and rested. We had to get ready for daycare on Monday, of course.

The weather is absolutely gorgeous right now and is suppose to be this way the entire long weekend. In fact, I'm headed out to the deck, as soon as I am finished here, to enjoy it. My great friend at work lent me a book just around the time we started the adoption process and I'm determined to finish it before I go back to work. Wow, 18 months to finish a book (and a really awesome one too). I guess I've been busy! If you are a reader of fiction novels, pick up "Blink" by Ted Dekker (or any Ted Dekker novel will do). Oh, nevermind, she's waking up . . . the book will have to wait. ;)

Hope every has a great holiday weekend!