One year on Nov. 15th

Guatemala City, Guatemala-one hour late already and the luggage is just meandering its way to us. Welcome to a new world were things just take time:) We were running and trying to get through customs, get luggage, find our way through the hundreds of Mayans who had come to the airport to just watch the people. We were already a hour late and I wanted to get the room all ready for Mia and to have the families presents all wrapped. We zoom through crazy traffic and pull up to the Westin. Utter poverty and filth on one side and a mecedez on the other. We were here. We run in and they are all there-the whole family...and our daughter. There were so many emotions! Brett meeting Mia for the first time and knowing that through all of this, at the end of the evening we would have to say goodbye. Mia was so cute! She had grown so much since mom and I had been there. Clara had dressed her in this cute purple dress and she looked like a little Mayan princess. All of her foster sisters were there too. And then there was this wonderful family who offered to interpret for us for the evening. Praise God for them! We went out for dinner at a most delicious Peruvian restaurant. During dinner I would have to wipe back my tears because each minute that past was closer to goodbye. Clara-the foster mom- would just cry and look at me with such sadness in her eyes that I just about couldnt take it. Brett was in a daze. New country,new language, new food, and a new daughter! Well that was the first day of our family of three. By the grace of God-we said our goodbyes. How do you portray all your gratitude to a family who has given all of their love and care to Your child for 15 months? Someday I hope to speak Spanish good and take Mia back to visit. Well from that day forward we have been most blessed by this little girl being in our lives. There have been some really rough days when I have wondered what in the world we were doing but God got us through. Mia has adjusted well and she doesnt know how much it blesses us when she wraps her arms around us and says "my mommy" and "my daddy". Thank you Father for this precious girl! We are a forever family!