Three Months Old!!!!

Cohen is three months old today. We should be getting new pictures and a medical update any day now! Yea! We did get an update from our agency today --

"The appointment for the family court social worker to visit the foster home is Feb. 6. I also received the approval notice from the Embassy today that will begin the DNA process. This step will take at least 3-4 weeks (getting the birth mother and Cohen to the doctor for cheek swabs, sending the samples to the lab, the lab completing the test and preparing the paperwork, the paperwork going to the Sec. of State and Guat. Consulate, then going to the attorney). They will run concurrently to the family court process and will, hopefully, time out about the same on the other end (DNA paperwork in Guat. and the SW’s report ready and given to the attorney) for submission to the PGN."

Translation: Our case is moving once again! We hope to be out of Family Court by the end of February and be submitted to PGN sometime in March. Then (you guessed it) more waiting.

Thanks for keeping us in your prayers. Check back soon for pictures of our 3-month-old baby boy! Any guesses on how much he will weigh?

Our Furniture Adventure

Where do I begin with the story of Cohen's furniture? About a month ago we ordered the furniture for Cohen's room. We went back and forth between two different stains for the wood, but Robby gave in and we went with my first choice. Well... when the furniture finally came in I hated it. I tried really hard to like it as we assembled it, but it did not look anything like the sample they showed us in the store. We looked on the receipt, which said: "All furniture sales are final." I begged Robby to call the store and see if they could do anything, but he smiled and reminded me that he didn't choose the stain, I did. I called the store and they were extremely nice. They said that if we were not happy with the furniture we could bring it back and find something we liked better. So, we were hoping to post pictures of Cohen's room this weekend, but we will have to wait until our second order comes in.

By the way, the furniture we ordered today is completely different than our first order. Hope it turns out just the way we are imagining it -- don't think they will be as understanding with us the second time around. :)

To see Cohen's furniture, click here.

Goodies from Guatemala

On Saturday we had lunch with two other couples. One couple has three adorable girls from Guatemala and China and the other couple is anxiously waiting for their son from Ethiopia to come home. It was so nice having lunch with them -- we had so much to talk about!

Along with having us over for lunch, Holly also gave us some goodies from Guatemala! Cohen now has two shirts from Guatemala -- thank you so much Holly! She shared with us some of her pictures from their time in Guatemala and had some great tips for when we travel. Seeing her pictures made me so excited and I am so thankful to have her close by since she has been through the whole process.

¡Todavía no tenemos ninguna noticia!

We still have no news! I have been trying so hard to be patient, but I am about to go crazy! As far as we know we have not even made it in Family Court yet. I was really hoping to be out of Family Court by now. Maybe we will get a really good update on Monday...

Please continue to keep us in your prayers. We are praying for Cohen to remain healthy and happy, for his birthmother to have a sense of peace about her decision, and for our case to move quickly through the necessary courts without complications.

Happy Birthday, Robby!

This is actually a picture of Robby on his birthday last year. (I had the great idea of putting candles in the lasagne -- notice how quickly they melt!!!) I had to work late tonight, so no home-cooked meal this year. For those of you who know about "Wheeler Birthday Parties" -- don't worry, we will be celebrating next Friday. Happy Birthday, Robby!!!!

True Bravery

I read this article on RainbowKids.com and loved it so much I thought I would post it. It was written by Violeta Garcia-Mendoza. On days like today when I come home to find "no news" it is good for me to think about true bravery.

"I think of my husband and myself as brave. After all, we have embarked on one of life's ultimate adventures: an international adoption. We put on our bravest faces every day when we pass the still baby-less nursery, when friends and family continue to ask, Any news yet?, when no one seems to understand how difficult it is for us to put our total faith in the hands of adoption professionals in a different country, and most of all, to wait when our arms ache for the presence of the daughter we know only from dreams and from pictures. Day after day, it amazes me that we keep persevering, having faith that our family will be united one day. It makes me very proud of us, but I can get a little self-pitying too. On those days when we're waiting for updates, when we feel so alone in our personal struggle, we need a sense of perspective that we won't take from those around us, unless they're adoptive parents themselves.

At least that was how we felt until we got the ultimate perspective in the form of a new personal heroine: our daughter's birth mom.

We received the DNA results required by the government for Guatemalan adoptions on a Saturday afternoon in April. My husband got our mail from the box and leafed through it while walking up our driveway. We were not expecting to get the results, which include scientific proof of parentage and a picture of your child in the arms of their birth mom, for another week, so we were surprised to find a large Labcorp envelope peeking out just in front of our junk mail. Anxious to see another picture of our daughter, and to finally see her birth mom's face, we tore the envelope open. What we saw inside can only be summed up as a revelation.

Imagine the emotions that you might feel when looking at a photograph of a work of art, such as the Mona Lisa, or a natural wonder such as the Grand Canyon . Take that sense of awe and wonder and multiply it by a million. That's what we felt when we saw the picture of our daughter's birth mom holding her in her arms. We were amazed by her beauty, her lips and skin and eyes a carbon copy of our daughter's. Most of all, we were silenced by the strength and courage that emanated from her birth mom's eyes, and by the admiration that this made us feel.
After all, in all of our bravery as adoptive parents, could we compare ourselves to this young woman, making the ultimate sacrifice of losing her child to provide her with a life of opportunity? Could our love ever be that brave?

We will never know the answers to these questions. Our love for our daughter will play a different role in her life. But what this experience of coming face-to-face with her birth mom's presence has shown us is that we must always honor her bravery; how could we ever downplay or ignore something so significant? Because although she is thousands of miles away, this woman will always be part of our parenting- that part which urges us and shows us how to be better parents every day by opening our hearts in the face of both easy and challenging circumstances. She will forever be a part of our lives as our family loves her in silence and in conversation. We will cherish the force of her birth mother's love so that our daughter may always know where her own brave eyes came from."

Our Weekend

Pretty as a Princess! Happy Birthday, Hayley!

Ethan loved his birthday dirt cake, but was a little concerned about the smoke from the candles.

Saturday evening we met our friends Todd and Bekah for some ice skating in Lexington. It was pretty dark on the rink so the pictures of our jumps and lifts didn't turn out. :)

Todd and Bekah -- such a cute couple!

I had to take this picture of Todd falling down -- he was not a big fan of ice skating.

We had a great weekend, but still couldn't help wishing Cohen was here already to share in the fun... Hoping for some little update this week from our agency. Anything to let us know the adoption is moving in the right direction.

Catching up from Christmas

Here's a little update from our adoption worker on where we are in the process:

"The DNA test will start when the Embassy receives the cable of your approval and issues the orders to begin the test. Since your approval was received just before Christmas, it’ll probably take the Embassy a week or 2 to catch up from all the holidays. When we get the notice from the Embassy and we’ve paid the lab, I’ll let you know that the process has started. I don’t always know the date the doctor in Guatemala takes the cheeks swabs, but we’ll be informed when the lab physically receives the samples. Then it takes a couple of weeks for the test to be performed and the paperwork to be prepared.

As of the last update just before Christmas, they were still working on getting your dossier translated and stamped off by all the necessary government agencies, which is required before the case can be entered into family court. I’ll have to see what the next update says since their office was closed last week. They are probably playing catch up as are the rest of us! I’ll let you know as soon as I hear."

I know this all might not make sense if you aren't familiar with the whole adoption process in Guatemala, so I will explain just a little. We are waiting for two things to happen right now. First, we need to be approved by Family Court. This usually takes about a month, but things are hectic because of the holidays. While we are in Family Court, we are also working on the DNA test. This is something required by the US Embassy. The doctor in Guatemala will take a cheek swab of both Cohen and his birthmother, the samples will be sent to North Carolina and tested, and then the results will be sent back to Guatemala. Once we are out of Family Court and have a DNA match, the case will be submitted to PGN. This is the court of the federal level. Most cases get "kicked out" at lease once, require corrections, and are then resubmitted. After PGN approval, we will wait for a "pink slip" from the US Embassy in Guatemala telling us when we can travel to bring Cohen home. It's such a complicated process and difficult to explain, so feel free to ask questions!