Monday, March 10, 2008

Nice Suprise!

Today we received a nice surprise from the son of Collin's foster mother "Mama Rosa". He e-mailed us pictures of Collin that we had not seen yet. We have a few but we were really glad to receive more so that we can fill up his baby album. It will be very special for him to see the people that love him in Guatemala. We have stayed in contact with his foster family and it is very apparent that they love him and miss him very much. We hope that some day Collin will be able to meet them. We can never thank them enough for taking such good care of him and loving him as a member of their own family. They gave him such a good start in life and created a great foundation for us to build on.



Here is Rosa, Collin's foster mother.





Today (yesterday now since it is 1am) is the 1 year anniversary of the day we received Collin's referral. Forgive me while I go back in time...it was a very exciting day!!! We had just turned our dossier in the day before . When the phone rang I saw that it was the adoption agency and figured that they were letting us know they got it. Our coordinator said "you have a baby"! I was at work driving around with some coworkers and I just wanted to scream!! She was e-mailing the photos and overnighting his package to us. I called Wyatt and he told me I had to wait for him to look at the pictures. I think he had special duty that night because he didn't get home until after midnight as I recall. I was sitting at the computer waiting. Neither one of us could wait to get our eyes on him! We pulled up the pictures and breathed a sigh of relief. You have no idea how you will react in a situation like this. A million things go through your head but he was absolutely beautiful!! We printed off about a million pictures and started passing them out the next morning. There really are no words to describe how happy we were. And today there are no words to describe how happy we are that a year later it is all ancient history and he is here at home where he belongs!! It is hard to believe.

I have to go check on the little guy sleeping in his crib and give him a little extra love on this special day(if that is even possible)!!
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Guatoberfest Cruise 2009

My soapbox about the Advent Conspiracy

I came across this video on another blog. I have to admit I only looked at it for entertainment value. I assumed with a title like that, it had to be some wacko conspiracy theory and who doesn't need a good laugh. Suprisingly enough it really touched me and made me think. It didn't grab my interest because of it's religious value, because that's not really my thing. I am not the type of person that flaunts religion or believes in pushing your beliefs onto others. It touched me because of it's human value and because it shows me how quickly I forget.

When we were in Guatemala it was truly a life changing experience for a myriad of reasons, only one of which was bringing home a baby! We saw poverty that we could never imagine in this country. I remember thinking when I was there that despite all of the stress of the situation, I was more at peace than I had ever felt in my life. Among other things, there was no pressure to have more...there was nothing to have. People just lived their lives. Families worked together, lived together in cramped housing-if they had a roof over their heads at all-and they were happy! We were forced to enjoy eachother without our "creature comforts" and I loved it. I now remember hoping that once we got home, I would never lose that idea that we don't really need much at all. I realized our society makes us think we need more but we really don't. And after watching the video it makes me realize that I have failed miserably.


I had made up my mind that in order to honor my new found attitude and our sons heritage, we would sponsor a Guatemalan family every year so that they could have food and heat and their children could go to school-things we take for granted on a daily basis. For some reason I can never seem to find the money to do that- BUT- I can find the money to buy coffee every day, sometimes several times a day, Collin will see a room full of gifts on Christmas morning, I can go out to eat, I can do whatever I want for the most part. My priorities have gone right back to where they were before I experienced Guatemala and it makes me sad. That is the reason that I am posting the video in a permenant spot on the blog, so that I am constantly reminded, not only during Christmas but all year to give PRESENCE to my friends and family not PRESENTS and to give back to something that I feel very strongly about. I don't write this to push Guatemalan charity or any charity but to encourage anyone reading this to slow down and take a look at your life and see what means the most to you and see where it takes you.

Advent Conspiracy