A Wonderful Trip!!

July 27th - August 1st, 2007
(posted August 8th)


I have been back from Guatemala for a week now and it has been very difficult to describe the feelings I experienced spending time with our beautiful daughter, Cristina Elizabeth.
Saturday morning, Feliciano, the orphanage director sent a cab to take me to the orphanage to pick up Cristina Elizabeth. I was able to see where she lived and meet those who have been taking good care of her. I was gone for about an hour and when I returned to the hotel, Sarah, still didn't have her baby yet. About 2:30, Ofelia Maria, finally arrived at our hotel. We were both so ecstatic to have the opportunity to meet our babies. Linda joined us that afternoon and was such a HUGE help the next 3 days that I'll never be able to repay her! She was our mentor, counselor, advisor and "go-fer". She went to the store a couple times for us to buy baby bottles, purified water, snacks and other necessities. Sarah and I weren't allowed to leave the hotel with our babies since they weren't legally ours, yet. So...we ended up hanging out at the hotel for most of the 4 days bonding with our daughters.
On Monday, Feliciano, took us to Antigua for the day. Antigua is a very old town that was Guatemala's original capitol but was moved to Guatemala City (GC) after it had been hit by a couple earthquakes and the damage to the buildings were too severe. We spent over an hour in the market place then went to the Jade factory where Linda bought me a gorgeous ring and Cristina an adorable bracelet. On the way back into GC, Feliciano took us to the orphanage and gave us a tour. Later on in the evening, he took us out to dinner to one of his restaurants.
On Tuesday, Linda left really early in the morning. Sarah called her orphanage director, Dinora, and asked if we could go see Ofelia's orphanage so she came and got us around 3:00. It was neat to see another orphanage and compare the two.
Tuesday was a very emotional day for both of us because we were going to have to give our babies back. We would both start crying throughout the day just thinking about how heart-breaking it was going to be that night when Feliciano and Dinora came to take them back. Even though it was EXTREMELY hard to say good-bye to them we knew that we had just gone through such an INCREDIBLE experience of meeting our daughters. The next few months will be difficult waiting for the word to be able to bring Cristina Elizabeth home but having had the opportunity of meeting her will help me through the agonizing wait. Please continue to pray that our wait isn't that much longer and that we can bring her home soon(hopefully before Thanksgiving).