We're home!

It is overwhelmingly wonderful to be home!  

Yesterday started very early, but the boys were really good to have had their "beauty rest" cut short.  We got up before the sun and headed to the airport.  Luckily, we had checked in at the Continental office at the Marriott in Guatemala City so we got to skip ahead to the business line to check the bags.  That was really good for Tracy since she didn't have to entertain for very long.

Your passport and boarding pass gets checked several times before getting to the gate at the airport.  One of the guys pointed us to the elevator so we didn't have to fight the escalator.  Apparently not all of the checkers were sending people that way.  I saw several others heading in towards the escalator.  I am glad he sent us.  There was a security access point right outside of the elevator.  NO LINE!  Wahoo!  We went through it with no problems.  As a matter of fact, I kept beeping when I went through.  I kept trying figure out what was causing it, but it kept beeping.  Finally, the guy just said, in broken English, "Don't worry about it.  Come on through."  Great security there in Guatemala!  

The plane ride was easy.  Joseph fell asleep shortly before we landed in Houston and was not happy that he had to wake up before he was ready.  The immigration process was very easy.  Tra and Joseph had to go into a second screening area.  She looks very suspicious!  Actually, all adopted kids and a parent or two have to go through it.  The lady told Tra that Joseph is now a US citizen!  Wahoo (again)!  On the way to Nashville, Nathan and Joseph both fell asleep - much need sleep.

When we arrived in Nashville, family and a couple of friends were waiting for us.  Meeting at the airport at 3 on a Thursday is not convienient.  It was very nice of them to be there.  Chrissy took some pictures so we will post when we get them.

We went to dinner and had a good time with los abuelos y las abuelas.  Afterwards we came home to a "Welcome Home" sign posted by our friend Mystie and a repaired mailbox (Thank you James!)  Joseph seemed to be at home immediately.  He checked out downstairs and played with the ball for a while.  Then we came upstairs to check out his room.  He seemed to really like it.  I had the video camera out, and if I could figure out how to get it from my MiniDV camera to my computer, I would post some of it here.  Hopefully someone reading this can give me some tips.

We all went to bed early and slept much better in our own beds!

That about covers it for now.  Today has been wonderful.  We had a lot of fun when the grandparents came over this morning.  We kicked them out around lunch time ;), had a nap, and here we are.

I will post some pics later.

Tim

Leaving

We are very thrilled to be headed home tomorrow. We leave for the airport at 5AM and get into Nashville about 3PM. We hope to be sane.

Today was fun. We went to the market with Karla and picked up some Tshirts for the boys. Joseph got really excited about a little ball so he also got that and Nathan got a fun little spinning top toy.

This afternoon I got to go get Joseph's visa from the embassy. It was such a great feeling to know it is done, done, done. No more hoops.

I am sure many cute things happened that I should be telling you about, but I am tired right now and heading off to go to bed.

Tim

Finally

This morning we got up dark and early to go to the embassy. We got to meet another of the attorney's office staff. Bonnie is the sister of our attorney. She has been great through this entire process. All of them have. It was great to meet her. Shunny, our attorney's daughter who also works for her, was also at the embassy. It seemed like we were there forever. 7:15 - 10:30. Two little boys who love to make noise and a crowded embassy do not make for fun times. Actually, the boys were really good.

The embassy was really easy on us. All of about 1 minute for the first interview and about 2 minutes for the second. Lots of hoopla for little of nothing. Now, I have to go back tomorrow at 3:30 to pick up the approved visa.

Tra wanted me to point out that she is doing much more than I make it sound like in the blogs. To tell the truth, by the time I get back to the room, I can't really remember what I posted on them. So, I tell her some of the stories and they mostly are about my interactions with Joseph. SHE IS DOING ALL THE WORK (she will read this later and that should get me some points).

Tomorrow morning we are going to the market with Karla. She used to work with our attorney, but they have had to have cut backs due to all of the new regulations. The only one still there are family and the entire office will shut down before the end of the year. Very sad. Many people are losing jobs, but more importantly, many kids will remained orphaned.

That is all for today.

Tim

And now some pics

Today has been a great day. We have had fun around the hotel. The boys have gotten a little restless at times, but, for the most part, have had a great time. Nathan and I went swimming while Joseph took a nap. He loved that!


Joseph fits in so wonderfully. Last night, in the lobby, he saw some ladies walking past, stopped in his tracks, smiled, and said, "Hola." Of course, they thought it was really cute and spoke sweetly to him in Spanish. As many of you know, and those with daughters know first hand, Nathan also loves the ladies. Yesterday afternoon, while we were eating, I went looking for Nathan and found him sitting at the table of a couple of strangers. They were women in their 20's-30's. I said, "Nathan! Get over here. They do not need you entertaining them while they try to eat." They smiled and responded, "Oh, he is fine." We are going to have our hands full.
We are going to be at the emabassy at 7:15 in the morning. We are appointment number 14. From what I have been hearing, that means we should be done sometime between 9:30 and 10:30. Apparently, it only takes about 10 minutes or so with each family, but they make everyone be there at 7:15. Then, on Wednesday afternoon, we will get our visa and we are set to leave the next morning.


I know I am jumping around here, but you guys get to try to follow my stream of conciousness. Tonight at dinner the little guy showed us some of his temper. He likes to throw things when he gets mad and pouts. It is really cute, but we will eventually have to stop it. Tra and I just don't want to put the hammer down during the first week. The kid does love to eat. Juice, several pieces of bread, Cheez-its, water, a bowl of spagetti, and some dessert! We have extremes now! We aren't saying anything to Nathan about it because we don't want him to feel bad about his eating and end up with a set back, but we are hoping that it helps him. Either way, we are going to have to teach moderation in our house.


Tonight we had bath time. We were told that Joseph HATES baths. They did not lie. He cried so hard and so loudly. However, he seemed to get better when I didn't make him sit, but let him stand while I cleaned him. I bathe Nathan that way as I find it easier. I just hope that Joseph gets better once he realizes that he can stand also and he won't melt. He was really sweet afterwards and wanted to give me a kiss.


I am sure there are 100 strories I should be adding here, but that is all that is flowing at this point. Below are a few pictures from you. Most need some post editing, but at least you get to see some of the happenings.


The transition is going well for only two days. We just pray it stays on this path.



Tim and Tra

Tim and Tra

Lovin life in Guatemala

We arrived with no problems yesterday and it has been great since. Our attorney's daughter and foster family got to the hotel right at 1PM - on time - and brought our wonderful little guy to us. He warmed up immediatly since Tra started feeding him M&M's. Food is certainly the way to his heart. It only took him a couple of minutes to get who we are and off we went. We had a very long lunch with them, and, by the time it was over, he was happy to be along for the ride. He was feeding Tra and having a great time. Joseph got a upset for just a minute when everyone was leaving, but it was very brief, and not very bad. I think it was a big plus that he had been looking at our pictures for so long that he was able to recoginze us very quickly.

We went up to the room and played and then we all went to bed early. Our family had been up since just before 2AM and we were ready for bed. Joseph and Nathan shared a bed with no troubles except that Joseph is a bit of a bed hog.

Today has been great! He loves to talk to us. Calls us Mama and Papa - constantly. He is a big ham so he fits into the family wonderfully. Nathan is LOVING the big brother role right now. Joseph does pretty much whatever Nathan wants him to do. He even wants to mimic him. Last night, we went down for a while to the lobby. Nathan and Joseph were each wearing zip-up hoodies. When Joseph saw Nathan had his hood up, he turned to Tra and started saying, "Mama, Mama" while trying to put his hood up, too. Once it was up, he was happy as could be and chasing Nathan around.

Well, the line here for the computer is long. I was going to post pics, but left the camera in the room. I will post more later.

Tim

Proud Parent Moment...

I had volunteered to work in Nathan's classroom the other day. Our project was to act out a little skit. They got to choose what character they wanted to be and pick the mask that went with that character. They all quickly decided and agreed on what they wanted. EXCEPT Nathan, of course, and another little girl. I kept trying to get them to work it out with each other. Well, they couldn't. They both wanted to be the hen, and they both wanted it badly. So I did the "pick a number 1-10" thing. The little girl lost that game. (yes it was totally legit) So I gave Nathan the mask he wanted and the little girl the other one. She looked so sad, and just hung her head. She was trying not to cry but you could tell she was upset. Nathan looked at her and said "here, you can be the hen, I don' t mind." I just thought it was great that he was looking out for someone besides himself. It warmed my heart. I sure do love that little kid!!