He Shoots, He Scores

Brian's scored 3 goals today in his indoor soccer game! !! That puts his total at 8 goals through 7 games. The Bulldogs are having another great season...they are now 6-1. Their only loss was against the team they beat today 13-3. The Bulldogs will take the Spring season off (all about 2 of them will play on the same baseball team) and then go back to Fall and indoor soccer.

Saying Goodbye to Spooky

Last night we made the very difficult decision to put our youngest cat, Spooky, to sleep after xrays confirmed a massive tumor in his stomach. Spooky had been acting fine until about a week ago when he started to throw up and refused to eat or drink. We took him to the vet before and they gave him an IV of fluids and some medication to calm his stomach but he still refused to eat or drink. Our other two cats refused to go around him and he hid under the bed refusing to come out. We knew in our hearts, the end was near. The next day the vet called to say nothing abnormal showed up in his blood tests so we decided to bring him back in for xrays and an IV of fluids. Well, the xray showed a mass that was pressed against his liver and his intestines. She said we could try to do surgery but she felt he was to bad off to survive. We did not want him to suffer any longer. He was a great cat who purred up until his last breath. He did have enough strength on his last day to come out to be petted...we think he was saying goodbye. He brought so much happiness to our lives for the 7 years we had him...he will be missed not only by us but also by Missy, our 9 year old cat, as they were inseparable. Spooky, we loved you so and we will miss you dearly.

Angelica Turns 3!!

Happy 3rd Birthday, Angelica!! She celebrated her 3rd birthday on Saturday with a party at The Little Gym. It was a lot of fun but very hectic as she celebrated it with 18 other little ones. She especially loved the parachute. They put her in the middle of the parachute and carried her around singing Happy Birthday. The party host said he had never seen such a big smile before. (Her smile does light up a room). She ended the party with a big piece of chocolate Elmo cake. Yum Yum!! Her birthday party also helped out some children in Colombia. In leiu of donations we asked for donations for the CHI Foundation. Her birthday was bittersweet. All day long I kept thinking about her birthparents and how the date affects them. I can't help but think that it is a very sad day for them. I wish I could magicially send them a message to let them know how happy and loved she is!!!

Brian's Guatemalan Adoption

In November 2000 we attended a CHI information meeting. We did not really have any idea what to expect but after we walked out of the meeting we knew, without a doubt, that this was how we were going to build our family. While in Costa Rica the year before we fell in love with Central America so we were naturally drawn to a family who had just arrived home with a 7 month old little boy from Guatemala. He was so beautiful and the parents were just beaming. We decided to wait until after the holidays to begin our adoption journey and in early February 2001 we mailed our application to CHI to start the process for Guatemala. When we started we were told the wait for a little girl was close to 18 months while there were immediate referrals for little boys so we requested a little boy. In May 2001 we submitted our dossier to Guatemala and just 3 days later we received a referral for a 6 week old little boy...Brian Saul Garcia Cruz. We couldn't believe it. He was so cute and so sweet. Against our SW advice (because the birth mother could still change her mind), we copied the photos and gave them to all our family members. We received updates on Brian every six weeks or so. He was getting so big but it was obvious that his foster family was taking great care of him. On January 8th, Elizabeth called and said "Does anyone want to go to Guatemala?". It was hectic since it was Tuesday and our Embassy appointment was that Monday. As luck would have it, our close friend Pam's Embassy appointment was also Monday. We arrived in Guatemala on January 10th (we went a few days early because we had booked a tour to Tikal but it was cancelled for some unknown reason). On January 12th at 5:05 PM, Letica (our lawyer), Sandra and Joel (foster parents) and their daughter arrived at the hotel with Brian. Wow!! He was so much bigger than we expected but he was adorable. He adjusted fine and fell asleep the very first night in his daddy's arms. We were in heaven. We couldn't believe that we were finally Mommy & Daddy. The next day we met Pam's new daughter, Angela. She was only 5 months old and oh so cute. We spent the next couple of days shopping and getting to know our new children. Brian has now been home 6 years and he has changed our lives in so many ways. We now spend our weekends cheering him on while playing soccer (his coach says its in his blood) and baseball. He is also a great big brother. We are so proud of him and everyday we are reminded how blessed we are.

Angelica's Colombian Adoption Story

In July 2003 we started the process to bring home a little girl from Colombia. We got all our documents gathered and our dossier was sent to Colombia in October 2003. We were told at that time the wait was 12-18 months for a toddler. (Our only request that she be younger than our son who was 2 at the time). In May 2005 we received word that our dossier had been sent to Manizales region. We were so excited as we thought this meant that we would receive a referral in a few months. This was not the case. In May 2006 we still had received no referral and Julie suggested we change regions. We were getting very frustrated and considered pulling out of the Colombia program. Then in mid-May, Julie mailed out the CHI Waiting Child list and there she was!! A 15 month old little girl with epilepsy. There was a picture but she could not see anything but we immediately requested her medical information. The next day we took it to the pediatrician who said he saw no reason not to move forward. So we emailed Julie back saying we wanted to be her parents. Julie asked us if we wanted to wait and get an updated medical and picture before making our final decision. We said NO. We KNEW she was our little girl. The little girl we had dreamed about for so long!! When we did receive her picture we were awed by how beautiful and happy she looked. We finally met Angelica on August 8, 2006. She was definitely the right little girl for us. She has been home now for 18 months and we can't begin to imagine our lives without her. She has brought so much joy and happiness into our lives! She was definitely worth the long, long wait.