It's OFFICIAL.....

Joshua has been in my arms longer than he's been out of them. Today marks 10 mths + the awesomely wonderful 1 day....WOOHOO PRAISE THE LORD!!!!! Not only is that exciting but, Joshua turned 20 months old today too...YAY!!!! He was placed in our FOREVER arms on 10/9/07 at the age of 9 mths. 29 days and here we are on 8/10/08.

I was blessed more than words could ever express during our journey to Joshua. We held him for the 1st time when he was just over 4 1/2 mths..gave him back the day before he turned 5 months, again at 7 mths for 3 glorious weeks. I knew the last time I gave him back that it would be the last time until we were going back to get him. As we waited for our wonderful foster mom MariaLuisa to arrive I promised Joshua on that day that the next time we see him it WOULD be FOR KEEP NO MORE GIVING BACK. Oh, how I prayed to have him in my FOREVER arms by the time he was 9 months old and oh, how our amazing father above granted me this simple request.

I remember 10/9/07 like it was yesterday. Michael and I awoke early. Actually, I never went to sleep because I was way too EXCITED. We headed out around 2:45am, arrived in Nashville around 4:15am, checked our bags in and waited for our 6am flight. The nerves on that day were like the ones I had experienced when I gave birth to my other children. Those labor pains were different. I knew at the end of those there would be a little baby willing not scared to accept my love. This labor was different. This was a labor across many miles, that took many months, that shed many tears and that worried deep down inside IF this child my child would remember me. Would cling to me..would LOVE me. For I knew I would cling to him and love him for all eternity.

Well, 6am came and we headed out to Dallas/Ft. Worth our 1st stop until FOREVER. We hurried to retrieve our bags, loaded them up again and off we were to our next stop to wait for the plane. This time flew by very quickly and before we knew it we were in the air again for the last time without Joshua. My belly was flipping and flopping like you wouldn't believe. Then it happened the approach to Guatemala and then the final landing @ 11:32am. We headed through customs, grab our bags and out the door we went. Out the door into a new land, a land that would give us a beautiful child that we would proudly call son.

After making our way through the crowds of people we saw our driver. He loaded us up and off we went to the Radisson. We checked in made our way to our room, unpacked and headed downstairs. We had a few hours to blow before Joshua's arrival so, we were going to head next door to the bank and out to the mall to get a DVD player for our son's foster siblings. On the way out we met a family from our agency that was there picking up there little princesa. We walked to the mall with them and hung out for awhile. We came across what looked to be a nice DVD player and grabbed it up for them. It was about that time to meet up with Maria Luisa so, we headed back to the hotel to clean up a bit. I don't know why I even tried to as I was boohooing before she even arrived.

We were scheduled to meet MariaLuisa at 4pm. While we were waiting Andy, his father and Alex came downstairs. I was SOOO excited to meet little Alex. Joshua and Alex were roomies. MariaLuisa was loosing both of her boys just a few days apart. As we were sitting there visiting..butterflies and all...here she came holding my little baby. Oops..my BIG baby..he had grown SOOO much since our last visit in July and his hair OH MY. He was sleeping sound but, like always without reservation she handed him over to me. Her tears started flowing and so did mine. Sonia started translating for us. We gave her the presents I had made, a letter, some money and the DVD player. She was very thankful for everything. She then gave us a beautiful set of wind chimes, a photo album of Joshua and a few stuffed frogs for him. She remembered that we were decorating his room in a baby safari theme...monkey, elephant, lion and FROG. We sat and visited with her for a little while. Asked several questions, talked with Sonia about our Embassy appt. the following, I gave Sonia a letter to give to my birthmom if she could and then it was time to go. She held Joshua again and kissed his little head. With tears flowing so freely we hugged, kissed and told each other good bye.

Please, enjoy our pictures from 10 mths. + 1 GLORIOUS day ago.

Uhhh Ooooh, hey mom!! You did come back for me and like you promised it IS for keeps this time!!!!!!!



What in the world is that thing that keeps flashing??? I know we've only been together for a couple of hours but, it's starting to bother me a little bit.



Okay, here's a quick smile will you feed me now??? If you do I will smile for you again.



I'm STILL hungry...PLEASE feed me!!!!



See mom, I told you I would smile IF you fed me. CHEESE!!!!!!!!



Uhhhh...mom look here's my bib. Seriously, though do these people know what there doing??? I'm thinking I may need to teach them a few things.



Fast forward now 10 mths + 1 GLORIOUS day and here we are....WOOHOO!!!!!! This morning we headed out to church and then went to lunch with some of our friends at Los Amigos...YUM YUM!!! Oh, how I wish I had my camera on me (I know on a special day like this it should have been GLUED on me) I did have my cell phone but, can't get the pics. off (again, I AM NOT a COMPUTER person). Anywho, Joshua absolutely LOVES there rice with cheese and chicken. He ate 4 bowls, mind you they were small but, he ate it. After it was all gone he picked up the bowl and started licking his tongue in it. He looked SOOOO funny!!!!!! But, man he was proud of himself. We were all laughing at him and TRUST ME he was definitely taking it all in. When he got done with that it was time to move onto the lemons. He chews some juice out shivers, smiles and continues on.

Man, I LOVE this little boy. I can't for the life of me think of what we did before we had him. He is just such a PERFECT match for our family.

Here's a few pictures of my sweet prince playing today. I do hope you enjoy them.

Joshua loves playing in the corner of his room with all of his stuff animals. Isn't he cute??? My baby is growing up way to fast.



Showing his little friend some love. Mind you Joshua's kind of love is ripping off your face and practically biting but, hey we love it and so do his buddies. After his kisses sometimes you feel like you just had a bath. :)



Lovin' on the frog from MariaLuisa



Joshua given Barney a little help. He's figured out it's much easier to just bang him on the carpet instead of pushing his belly. :)



Thanks Barney...I LOVE you too!!! He loves to hug Barney when he sings I LOVE you you LOVE me oh, and the full mouth bite on the nose thing well that's his kiss. :)



Man, you think this post was long and it's ONLY 10 mths + 1 GLORIOUS day just wait until you see what happens when we celebrate 1 year. I'm already starting to plan that day. WOOHOO!!!! I do know one thing for sure I will be cooking a few different Guatemalan dishes and we will have a pinata.

Seriously, though all joking aside. This little boy is just amazing. He generally wakes up every morning with a smile that could light up a room. Everyday I don't think I could possibly love him anymore it happens and I do. He means the world to me and my family. We are SOOO beyond blessed to have been chosen to be his FOREVER mommy and daddy and with that blessing comes the FOREVER friendship and love that I hold in my heart for Maria Luisa. Oh, how I pray that one day soon we can reach out and hug each other again.

PRAISING GOD today and always for my family.