Catch up

A little more on our last few days in Antigua…The last Sunday at Camino church was very moving. (http://www.iglesiadelcaminogt.com). Katie who led the music team was moving back to the states after two years of music ministry. We all enjoyed her music very much. She could make the stodgiest hymn sound hip on the guitar!

On a very sad note…there was a man who sat across from us each Sunday. The congregation sits mostly in a U shape with some overflow areas. Anyway, his name was John and we often saw him sitting on the curb at a book store on 1st Ave. when we were strolling. I assumed he might own the bookstore or work there. He was most always in conversation with someone. He always recognized us with a “hello” or “see you Sunday”. Recently, I thought to myself that he must have an interesting story about why he was in Antigua and I should stop and chat. Last Sunday I learned John had passed away. We really didn’t even know him, but Lily and I sat holding hands grieving for his friendly face and kind words; we saw him just hours before his death. The friend next to me completely broke down. She has had a difficult adoption saga and her older daughter was one of John’s students during children’s church. Come to find out, John led a meager life and was estranged from family in Europe. He also had a daughter with whom he was not in contact. We should have taken the time to stop to chat with John. You should take the time to do what you know you should do!

Packing up our apartment was rather surreal. It was hard to imagine how much stuff we had accumulated. When we packed to come to Guatemala, we were in the midst of packing our house for moving (seems a little silly now that we were doing that in May!). Actually, the timing was really very good. Much of what we brought, we had no trouble leaving. I wanted to leave all my clothing as I was quite sick of wearing the same 5 outfits, but I have to have something to wear to get me home. I sold some things to sweet families who are just beginning to foster and gave the rest to charity. www.commonhope. org Actually things got so scarce, that we had to break out the pocket Kleenx packages for toilet paper! As Lily would say, “TMI“ (too much information!).

Mirza is giving Spanish lessons to our neighbor, so we were able to say good-bye to her. She was very sweet and appreciative of our help in finding more students. She gave us some small gifts including two small owls for Lily. Lily had really been wanting to buy some, but we couldn’t find any for sale.

It was fitting that Julio was our driver back to Guatemala. We’ve made several trips with him and enjoy his company. He took us to Central Park to say good-bye to Clara and buy another traditional outfit for AnnaMaria. It was sad to leave the apartment and the friends we made there, but it was sadder just leaving the streets of Antigua. I wonder how many miles we walked on those streets!

Julio stopped at Hiper Piaz (Wal-mart type store) so we could buy a few snacks for the hotel room. They have a food court type area attached to the store. Lily had been hungry for Little Ceasars, so she placed an order. The total was a bit more than we expected and we had to wait for the pizza to come out. When the worker put it on the counter we got a big laugh. It was twice as much food as we thought she ordered! Sometimes communication IS an issue. At least we had plenty to share with Julio.

We were pleased to find several English speaking staff people at the Clarion Suites. It is a nice hotel and we have carpet!

We showed up at the Embassy to request a change of our appointment. I know they get bombarded by requests and people try to take advantage of the situation. The man at the counter really wanted me to go away, but he took pity on me and moved my appointment to this morning. That was the most emotional moment of the adoption to date! Lily said that was the first time she ever felt like crying tears of joy!

We arrived at the Embassy at 7:15 this morning. The guards held our camera and Lily’s DS (electronic game). It wasn’t too crowded at first, but eventually all the chairs were taken and people were standing and sitting on the floor in two large rooms. There was a delay of some sort, so it took even longer than usual. I was just thrilled to be there, so I wasn’t about to complain. Lily was pretty bored.

We met a lot of other families. I was surprised there were so many families who had not visited at all. Most of the children seemed to be adapting well. We met a really sweet 2.5 yr old boy who is going home to LA. He just met his parents last night and was doing great. I think his foster family really prepared him for the transition, which is wonderful.

The paperwork and interview questions were very quick and easy once we got our turn. We were back at the hotel by 11:00 a.m. We will have AnnaMaria’s visa tomorrow. She has a Guatemalan passport and a Guatemalan birth certificate that lists Jeff and me as her parents.

Jeff arranged our flights for Friday. We don’t get to Minneapolis until after 10:00, but at least we get there! And, it wasn’t very expensive to get it all re-arranged. Jeff said he got a really helpful customer service rep who spent over an hour on the phone with him.