Why wait til Friday?

We got our Pre-Approval yesterday - Yahoo!!!

We leave for Guatemala to visit Eliana in only 7 sleeps - Yahoo!!!

Now we are waiting for the Family Court report to be finished so we can enter PGN. I'd like to suggest that happen next week, please. Social worker, if you're reading this.....

Giving Thanks

We had such a great Thanksgiving holiday.
Of course wednesday we were pretty happy getting new pictures and some information on Eliana. Our trip is getting closer and closer, therefore, my excitement and level of craziness is getting greater and greater.
Thanksgiving was wonderful. My family and Matt's parents only live about 8 minutes apart so we are able to fully partake in both families Thanskgiving festivities. We ate at Matt's Mom's house at 12 and hung around all afternoon. Matt played football/
frisbee with the 4 nephews and we visited with Matt's Mom, Dad, 2 brothers and 2 sisters-in-law.
Then we went to my uncle's house where my family got together this year. There were 27 of us for dinner. I was in charge of deviled eggs (and they weren't too bad, I'd have to say). We had a really nice time, there, too. I had some cousins in from GA and NC that we don't see very often, so it was so great to catch up with everyone. Matt played football (again) with the cousins.
All in all it was just a nice day. We love spending time with our families. There's so much love and laughter going around... we're very lucky. And very thankful to have them all in our lives.
Last night Matt's band played at a local bar and it, too, was a great time. Some of our 'regular' friends/fans came, along with some friends from out of town and some cousins that had never seen Matt play before. It was so much fun to have everyone out together. The band sounded great and I think everyone had a good time.
The band plays again tonight AND we're trying to get some pre-Christmas cleaning done today. It's been a busy weekend... I love it!

8 pounds!!

Hooray for new pictures!!!

I love her eyebrows!!

I love her great big brown eyes!

I love her sweet little smile!!

What a beautiful baby!
We leave in 15 days to see her again! I can hardly wait!!!!!!!

Happy...

Happy National Adoption Awareness Day!
How did you celebrate?
This afternoon we went to a holiday party given by the agency that did our homestudy. We made a special guest appearance as *The Man in Red and his wife*. It was lots of fun. The kids were really excited to see us. We had our pictures taken with everyone and gave out some small pre-Christmas presents. Good time. Can't wait til next year when we can go as guests with our baby!
Tonight I celebrated this fine day by writing a nasty letter to our local radio station. I have been hearing one of their hosts make some awful comments about Angelina Jolie adopting children from other countries. He has made such nice suggestions as 'if she wants kinds she should shoot them out of her own v@g1n@' as well as criticizing her from 'stealing children' from other countries. I thought that today would be the perfect day to tell him just what an ignorant jerk he is.
As usual, everything we've done today has been with thoughts of Eliana in our hearts. I keep thinking how different everything will be when she's with us. EVERYTHING. We went to the Christmas parade last night and I just kept wondering what she would think of the lights, the sirens, the clowns..... I can't wait!
Scmupdate Friday, yet again. No news. And we had to send an email to even get any acknowledgement at all. I'm starting to get mad again. No, just frustrated. We haven't had any medical update in over a month. When your baby is still the size of a newborn at 5 months, I think we have a right to be concerned over lack of medical info! I am planning to call next wek and try to get some answers.
For now, I hear some hot chocolate calling my name............

I've been tagged!

Tagged to tell you all what is in my purse.... except that I don't carry a purse.
Here's what a juggled in my arms as I went out the door today, thinking how it might actually be a good idea to carry a bag of some sort:
cell phone
calendar/schedule book
lip stuff
scrap paper (going to a conference)
2 pens
peanut bar (lunch)
debit card
3 notebooks
my paperwork that I didn't do (but should have) last night
car keys

That's it, girls! Nothing too exciting, though it is a little much for juggling.

No adoption news.

!yadirF etadpU

Ok. I'll share. I was going to selfishly savor this picture over the weekend, but someone talked me into posting.

I have been CRAZY all week, working like a madwoman. I've been trying to work extra to save money for my time off when Eliana comes home. As a self-employed therapist there is no vacation time, maternity leave or adoption benefit for me, so I'm trying to work hard now and save up.
Because of my super-overtime I have been out of touch with everyone. My telephone friends are suffering, my face-to-face friends are being neglected, my blog has been sadly deprived. I haven't been reading all of my imaginary friends blogs, let alone commenting as a good blog-pal should!
Things will probably continue to be busy next week. Hey, who needs more than work and sleep, right?
No real update today. Our agency said the computer was down in Guat for some reason - they are expecting updates by Monday. Tune back in to see what the word is.....

Update Friday!

So, our update from the agency today was nothing: "Waiting to get Pre-Approval and Family Court Report to enter PGN." No news.
BUT - The mailman had a great update for us: We got our DNA match in the mail today!!! They send a report and a picture taken of Eliana with her birthmom. Hooray!
'What's next?' you might ask. Well, what we got is actually a copy of the DNA report. When the agency gets the original they will send it to us. The report was notarized at the lab in NC. We will have to get the report certified in Graham, NC then authenticated in Raleigh, NC and then authenticated at the Guatemalan Consulate in Atlanta GA. Road Trip! Ok, just kidding.
Meanwhile, our DNA report should have been sent to the embassy, also. They will look over all our stuff and then will issue Pre-Approval for us to enter PGN. They say to allow about 4 weeks to get Pre-Approval.
So, while we were not worried about DNA matching (we had no concerns about that) we are really excited to have one more step done and to be making progress!!
Hooray!