Heart Grown

January 24-28, 2008

Steve, Chloe and I went to visit our precious baby girl. We were so excited to have Chloe with us on this first meeting of our new baby. We had a great flight to Guatemala, and were met by Jorge at the airport. We went directly to the Westin. About an hour later, we ventured down to the lobby to await the arrival of our little girl. She was so precious!!! We went back up to our room and were able to visit with her foster mom, Norma. Jorge was so great and translated everything for us. Kella Hope was so attentive. So tiny. So sweet! Chloe quickly got to hold her baby sister. Kella just stared into Chloe's eyes. It was such a sight! Steve and I were instantly in love with our little gift! Adoption is such a beautiful experience of God's redemptive love for us.

After they left, we were able to just sit with her, ooh and ahh over her, kiss her and admire her beauty. Oh so sweet! We got her out of the little blue jean overalls that they had her in, and of course put her into a soft, pink little outfit. We enjoyed walking around the premises, meeting other adoptive parents, and most importantly, getting to know our new daughter.

The most precious sight was watching Chloe love on her new baby sister. She couldn't get enough of her, and quickly became another little mommy.

It rained more and was cooler than our other visits. Chloe still enjoyed swimming with Jorge's two little girls at the pool. I loved watching 2 spanish speaking girls and Chloe, who only speaks English (except for her few phrases she has learned with the big sisters around the house). They communicated in a way that was just incredible! They enjoyed a great afternoon together, although they had their own language.

We were so blessed by this first meeting with our little gift from God. She is so loved and taken care of, that I was able to leave with such peace. Yes, it was very hard to give her back, but the hardest was for poor little Chloe, who just sobbed when we had to let her go. I was not expecting to have her struggle with leaving Kella like she did. She was still crying on the plane ride home.

We are all so thankful for the gift of holding and loving on our little 4 1/2 month old babe. Kella Hope has grown in our hearts forever.

Just beginning... (Sept '07-Dec'07)

After much encouragement from all of my friends, I am ready to begin the blogging adventure. All of you know my computer skills, so please hang in there with me, and I'll give it my best. As you all know, the Lord has put the desire in our hearts to adopt again. With all the changes going on in Guatemala right now, we knew that the possibility for adoptions to be closing was very near. In July of '07, we were fingerprinted, and then in September, I began the mad paperwork frenzy. Through a blogging friend, we were led to use a private attorney. We truly believe that this was all part of His imminent plan. Due to not using an agency, the dossier was compiled by me, myself and I. Actually, I had a lot of contact with our facilitator (daily) which was of great help. In the beginning of November, we received our referral of our precious baby girl. The Lord clearly made it known that this was to be our little girl. We had friends that were picking up their little girl in November, when Kella was one month old. They were able to visit with, take pictures and videos of, and love on our baby Kella. That was such a tremendous gift to have. Through all of this, we knew that we had to have our power of attorney signed, and registered by December 31st. It was down to the last few days, but all was well. It was completed in His perfect timing. With all of this said and done, I was so relieved to let go of this stressful part of the adoption process. Now it was time to let go, and let God.