Peace after the Storm

Tonight it is storming outside. Although I see the lightning and hear the thunder I feel peace inside my comfortable home. God has given me a peace among the many storms that have taken place lately in the uncertainties of the Guatemalan adoption process. I feel that God is leading me through this journey and although many people may have comments both encouraging and hurtful during this adoption I am GOING to PGN Praise God Now!!

He is the only true hope and true faith I can have when others let me down.

I pray tonight God that you will send your blessings and lay your hands on the authorities in Guatemala to allow all adoptions in their country now to finish completely within the next three months so when the Hague goes into affect in April all new adoptions can begin smoothly and in order. Thank you for all of my blessings that I have received and for those blessings that I will receive. Amen.

Here is a picture of my children taken in April 2007 at Flagler beach during vacation.

My oldest child Allen is 16 years old and he is standing behind the girls.

From left to right Lauren age 13, Allison age 11, her twin sister Brittany age 11 and Schyanna age 14 my new adopted daughter who we fostered for three years before her adoption in Decembeer.

In front of Lauren is my nephew Christian who was three years old in this picture.

The next picture is a picture of my husband, Greg and I taken at Easter.

Waiting on Kelliana Maria

Hi,

This is the beautiful baby from Guatemala that we are waiting on. Her birth name is Anayeli, but we are going to name her Kellianna Maria.

Isn't she gorgeous with her pudgy cheeks, cute nose and that head full of hair!!

My husband and I have been married for 17 years and although we have 4 biological children and one adopted child who we just adopted on Dec. 12,2007, we really felt led to adopt a baby.

We have been foster parents for over three years and we have felt the loss of several children who have came and left us. When the older children leave, you know in your heart that you have made a difference and you hope that one day they will come back and visit you and we have had a few come back and visit or call. When a baby leaves, you don't know whether you will ever see the child again and you know that they will not remember you as they get older.

My 13 year old girl told me one day after a baby we had fostered for nine months had left us, "Mom i want another baby to come live with us, but I don't want her to have to leave-"I want her to stay forever". A couple months later I had dreamed that I was pregnant, but when I awoke I remembered that I could not physically have anymore children. I was very saddened when reality set in so............ the journey to our adoption began.

After several weeks of researching Surrogate mothers, searching agencies, speaking to unfriendly agencies, and researching domestic adoptions, God led me to Celebrate Children Agency. From the first conversation on the phone with Angela at CCI, I felt a sense of hope and complete confidence in this agency.

Because My husband and I were already foster parents, I had hoped that our Homestudy would be sufficient for an International Adoption, but ours was too old so we began our paperwork process.