HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEET GIRL!!!

Happy Birthday Shiloh! I can't believe that we are celebrating this day without you, but I pray that even though you are far away from us that today you will feel an extra dose of love, that the people around you will give you an extra dose of attention and affection. I pray that God will put a little bit of peace in your heart and knowledge that you have a mommy and daddy who love you very much, who are celebrating you and your life and who are anxiously waiting for the day we can all be together! I hope you have a wonderful, happy day today! We love you very much!

2nd Reviewer

I wasn't going to call until Friday, but I started getting nervous that we would get a kick out, so I broke down and called PGN. We are with the second reviewer! It seems like lately the first reviewer has been taking longer than the second reviewer, so hopefully we will be moving along soon and get the good news that we are approved and OUT!!! I am so anxious to hear this news! Please keep praying for us that we won't get kicked out and that we will soon be out of PGN!!!

Raggedy Shiloh

My sisters-in-law (Tara and Kim) and I decided we needed a new project for this week. Every so often we get the urge to make something for the kiddos. This week we discovered how to make these cutie rag dolls! It was so much fun and they turned out SO cute! The brown haired one is Shiloh and the blonder one is supposed to look like her cousin Jenna. There is also a little African boy in the process (we had some pants issues) to look like her cousin Malak. I also just sent off a mini version of the Shiloh doll to Guatemala so she can have something to cuddle with until she gets home. (Ok, maybe I went overboard a little bit)

Summer Fun in March

We just got back this week from a company vacation in Tucson. It was such a fun and relaxing time! We got to sit by the pool in the sun, and then when it turned rainy I relaxed in my room and read or enjoyed some social time in the spa. We got back feeling very relaxed and refreshed. Tuesday we bought a new car! I will post more about the vacation and car later. I don't have pictures yet, and what is a post without pictures.


I am a little bummed that there will be no movement in PGN this week because of Semana Santa in Guatemala, but at the same time I have found peace in it. I was just thinking about how cool it is that the whole country is shutting down to celebrate Jesus and the amazing gift of salvation that he has given us through his sacrifice. I am really going to try to not get stressed about the adoption this week, but take this time where no movement is happening and there is nothing to stress or worry about on the adoption front and turn my focus to celebrate Jesus right along with them.

I also had a fun little shopping spree at Target today. They have some of the cutest little mix and match summer outfits for so cheep! Only four dollars a piece! Although I wanted to buy a lot more I got five cute little pieces and I can't wait to see Shiloh running around in the sun in them!

The little yellow shirt has pink snails on it

I bought the yellow shirt to go with the shorts, but this little cherry shirt was too cute, I couldn't resist.





One of my little friends has a 1 1/2 year old who never goes anywhere without her little purse. It is the cutest thing! I figure every little girl needs her own purse, and when I saw this, I couldn't resist.



Now I just need a little girl to use all of this stuff!!! Hopefully we will have some good news waiting for us at the other side of this holy week!

Still waiting

Well, I called PGN today and we are still with the first reviewer. I haven't been quite so stressed about it lately, but I am really hoping that we can get a move on here. I am so ready for us to be OUT!

We also got some cute pictures of Shiloh yesterday. It is so great to see her little teeth and to see she is sitting up on her own! Just looking at these pictures makes me smile. She will be one in just over two weeks. I can't believe we have waited this long and we won't be with her for her first birthday. Hopefully we will have some good news from PGN by then! Please keep praying for us! We are so anxious to have this little girl home!

Back in the game!

We were resubmitted into PGN on Feb 25 and we are with the first reviewer. I am so relieved! Our agency sent our updates this morning and it said that we were resubmitted on Dec. 28, which was actually the day we got kicked out. It made me really nervous that we were somehow over looked and that we weren't back in yet, but no worries! Yeah!!!!! Please pray that we don't get any more previos and that we get a quick OUT!!!!

Sweet girl

We got some new pictures Saturday night! Thanks to Jane for taking them for me and taking some stuff down to her from us! It has been such a blessing to be able to connect with these other families and be able to get pictures whenever they are visiting. I just hope that at some point I will be able to return the favor!

Jane said that she has three teeth on the bottom and one on the top. It is so nice to get some pictures of her a little happier, and I love the feathered, bowl cut she is styling:)

We also got together with a bunch of different adoption families Saturday night as we had a dinner to celebrate Jocelyn and Pacey's homecoming at the local Ethiopian restaurant. It was fun to see so many different families who had adopted from all over! We also get to meet Kerri and Ruby for the first time. It was fun to see a cute little guatetot running around and Pacey is absolutely beautiful and so smiley!

I am really hoping to get some good news from our agency this week. I was going to call PGN today, but my husband thinks I should wait until the end of the week, so I guess I will. I figure Mondays are hard days to get through anyway and if I wait there is a better chance that I will hear that we are in as opposed to hearing we haven't been resubmitted yet.

In the mean time we are remodeling our half bath connected to our bedroom. It has been a little slow going, mostly because after we tore everything down we both got sick and it kind of killed our motivation, but we are back on track. Filipe, my brother Eric and Filipe's brother Andre worked all afternoon yesterday to get the drywall up. It was pretty funny seeing three guys cram into a little 4'x4' space (it is a minuscule bathroom) to work. I will put pictures of it up when we are finished with it. I really want to get it done because the ultimate goal is to get it done so we can have somewhere to go to the bathroom while we remodel the bigger bathroom! I figure it is going to be hard to remodel a bathroom with a child in the house, so we really want to try to get it done before Shiloh gets home. Of course, if some crazy thing happens and our case moves really quickly to get her home before the bathroom is done, I won't complain:)