Beautiful, Busy Bella!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The title says it all. Bella stays busy all the time. She is always on the go! Anyone that knows me and my love for shoes can appreciate the first picture. Well, the second picture is of her in this cute little outfit that has a headkerchief with it. It only stayed on a few minutes. In April when Bob and I were here she would wear hats without any problems..... not anymore! She won't keep a hat on for more than a second. It's hard to put any kind of bow or pigtail or anything in Bella's hair because she is constantly moving.

Arabella is so inquisitive. In the third and fourth pictures you can see her concentrating on trying to take a business card out of Mom's wallet. When she finally figured it out and got it out, she just smiled from ear-to-ear. She was so proud of herself.

The last two pictures show Bella drinking apple juice out of a cup. Her foster mom said she liked juice. Well, she won't drink juice out of a bottle at all. She doesn't like sippy cups either. We discovered she likes it out of a cup. She makes a mess, but she loves it. Other things Bella loves are Cheerios and crackers. She loves any kind of fruit and will eat almost anything you give her.

She really likes to ride in her stroller (and usually eats Cheerios) when we walk into town. She smiles at all the people we meet on the street or sidewalk. Everyone smiles at her, and not a day has gone by that people don't stop to talk to her and tell us how beautiful she is. She is so friendly and everyone is drawn to her. I can't wait for you all to see her beautiful smile in person!

We are supposed to go to Guatemala city on Wed. to get Bella's passport. Then the lawyer will submit the documents to the US embassy in Guatemala and we will wait to hear when we are supposed to take Bella for her embasssy doctor's appointment. A couple of days after that we will take Bella for her 2nd DNA. They take a swab from the inside of her mouth and check the sample against the DNA from her 1st sample in February. This sample will be overnighted to a lab in the US to be tested and will then be overnighted back to the US embassy in Guatemala. After the results get to the embassy, we will wait a few days for a "pink" slip to be issued with our embassy appointment on it. The appointment is an immigrant exit interview. This appointment is usually about 7 -10 days after the pink slip is issued. Usually people in the country can call and get a quicker appointment; that's what we are hoping for. We will get the pink slip, then call to hopefully get a sooner appointment, then call to book Bob a flight here and all of us a flight home. The day after the embassy appointment, the visa is issued. You usually get that late in the afternoon and fly home the next morning. Whew! Did you get all that?

Thanks for all your prayers. They are working! My friend Valerie' s baby, Maria Jade, got out of PGN a few days after we did. My friend Lori's baby, Bethany, finally got submitted into PGN. Keep praying for them as well as for Lauren and her baby, Isabelle; pray that she gets OUT of PGN this week!

Well, it's almost July. July will be OUR month! It will be the month when Arabella is home in KY with her forever family where she is meant to be. Some say Bella is so lucky to have us for parents, but they have got it all wrong. We are blessed beyond measure to be the ones chosen to be this angel's mommy and daddy. All the years of sickness, infertility, pain, and struggles are gone. This is the path we had to go through to get to where we are today, and I would do it all again for my sweet darling Arabella Josey! Remember that we chose Arabella's name because it meant "answer to a prayer," and she most definitely is the best answer to a prayer that we could've ever gotten.

Take care my precious friends and loved ones,

Tonya