MY WORLD....TURNED UPSIDE DOWN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This has not been a good week for me. My world has literally been turned upside down. I shared with you that "PGN" was doing some restructuring in a recent post. Well, they fired the Attorney General and the guy under him under numerous allegations of illegal activities. We were all hoping this would be a good thing, but it is not turning out so good. The new people met last week and said that they would make sure that all the rest of the adoptions that started last year under the old laws who were "grandfathered" in would be completed and released in a timely manner. So much for that... they stated this week that they will put cases on "hold" for at least a month while they investigate each case and bring in all birthmothers for another interview, along with foster mothers and the babies. They are adding more requirements and changing the rules in the middle of the game. What they are doing is illegal, but there is no way to stop them. They started the interviews with the birthmothers today. The birthmothers have already been interviewed in family court by a social worker, so this extra interview is just ludicrous. All it is doing is wasting precious time. So there are over 2000 cases right now who need to be completed by PGN, and now they are saying they want to interview all the birthmothers again. This could take forever. My dreams of having my baby home by her first birthday are quickly dwindling away.

This is what I need each person to do who is reading this post. Pray like you have never prayed before for the orphans of Guatemala. Pray for the birthmothers to have courage and strength to endure another interview and have to deal with the pain all over again of having to give their babies up in the first place if these interviews must continue. Pray for all the families who love their children so much and just want to bring them home and give them a happy future. Pray for the Guatemalan goverment to somehow see that these new requirements are illegal and to stop them immediately. Pray for PGN to be humbled and for their hearts to be softened and for them to work very efficiently so that our babies can come home!

Pray specifically for Bella's birthmom and for her foster family (Karen and her family). Pray that Bella continues to be adored and loved by them. Also pray that she makes a connection again easily with me on my next visit and let her feel all the love we have for her. Pray for the Lord to have His angels surround her and to keep her safe.

Please keep praying until you hear that she is home safe and sound!

Dear Arabella,

I miss you so much. In 26 days I will be with you again, but it feels like a lifetime. Oh how I long to hold you and to kiss your sweet face. Thanks for the flowers you sent (with help from your grandma and your great-grandma)! I am so happy to be a mother for the first time this Mother's Day, but it is bittersweet because I can't have you here with me yet. I look forward to all the holidays we will get to spend together in the future and how much fun we will have together. When you read this one day, just know that we did everything we could to get you home with us as soon as we could. I love you very much my sweet girl, and I can't wait to spend a month with you this summer. While you are waiting to come home, I hope you have fun playing with Margie, Joshua, Karen, and Josue. They love you very much, too!

Hugs and kisses,

Mommy

There is a light at the end of the tunnel.......

Isn't this the sweetest face you have ever seen? It is to me. Thanks to Lauren who took this picture while we were visiting Arabella in Guatemala. As I do every day, I really miss my Bella girl today. However, in less than a month now I will be holding her again. I miss her all the time. I try to stay busy and most of the time handle it (missing her) ok. Other times, I ache to hold her so badly I feel like I might just die. This wait has been one of the hardest things I have ever had to endure. On Thursday afternoon, we were watching some video we took of Bella while we were with her in GU. Many times this gives me comfort to watch the special memories we made that week, but on Thursday it just made me so sad. We went to a Christian concert later that evening and the Lord spoke to me through the music and lyrics. The concert was fabulous by the way; it was a "Third Day" concert. The first song they sang had these lyrics: "There is a light at the end of the tunnel, there is a light at the end of the tunnel, for you, for you....." I felt the Lord whispering to me that everything would be ok, that He would help me through this hard time. My tunnel right now is this long adoption process. The end of it for me is having my precious Bella at home with us where she belongs. Yes, I know the song is talking about Jesus. He is waiting there for anybody who needs help out of their "tunnel." What tunnel are you in today? Jesus has always been faithful to me, and He will be faithful to you if you invite Him into your heart and life. He is the only reason I have made it through all the hard times in my life. Our case is in PGN as I have wrote about previously. Please pray diligently that our case gets approved and out quickly. After we get out of PGN, it usually takes about 6 weeks for the last steps until Arabella can come home. There is a light at the end of the tunnel. Also please pray for these other ladies (and their families) who are waiting on their babies to come home from GU: Valerie (Maria's Mommy); Lori (Bethany's Mommy); Lauren (Isabelle's Mommy); Beth (Zachary's Mommy). I am looking forward to spending a month with Bella soon. That is what is keeping me going right now. Hopefully it won't be too long after that when we can bring her home to KY. I really want her to be home to celebrate her first birthday in August. All my friends and family just can't wait to meet her. Everybody is buying her cute clothes and swimsuits. Thanks Mom and Tammy! Grandma Charlene is getting really excited about our trip, too. We spent a long time this afternoon going through clothes, shoes, toys, etc. for Bella that we are taking with us to Antigua in June. My dad bought us a jogger stroller to take with us to maneuver through the bumpy cobblestone streets of Antigua this weekend. That is the last thing we needed for our trip. Now we're all set! Thanks Dad, I love you. I feel really blessed tonight. I have a family and friends who love me and are very good to me. I have a beautiful daughter who will be home sometime in the near future. In the meantime, she is with a wonderful family who adores her. I have a loving Heavenly Father who knows and wants what is best for me. Thank you to everyone who is reading this for the support and prayers. I can feel them. There is a light at the end of the tunnel. Blessings, Tonya aka Arabella's Mommy

New pictures and medical update

Hello everybody, I can't wait to meet you!

Arabella had her doctor's appointment last week. She grew another cm and almost a pound and is doing great! No news about our case to report; we're in PGN as I wrote last week. Just keep praying for a quick PGN stay; they are doing some "restructuring" of sorts. Pray that the new people in charge will help get everyones' cases reviewed and approved so that we can all bring our babies home as soon as possible. I really miss Arabella today, but it was good to see her pictures. She is so much cuter in person, though. Mom and I have our airline tickets for June and paid our deposit today on the house we will be staying in June. One interesting fact about the house we will be staying in and lots of places in GU; we will have a washer only - no dryer. Because of the high cost of electricity, a lot of people hang up their clothes on a clothesline. It will be like the olden days - ha! ha! Our house has a great view of the volcanoes in Antigua and is furnished. Mom is going to have to buy a coffee pot when we get there, because the house doesn't have one. You can walk everywhere you need to go in Antigua, so hopefully this will help me get in better shape! 35 more days and I'll be with Arabella again, I can't wait!

WE ARE IN PGN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes, you read it right. We are finally in PGN after waiting a month since our pre - approval (PA) from the embassy. That was a big hurdle. God is faithful! PGN (the Attorney General) is the place that processes and ultimately "approves" our adoption. The best case scenerio would be to get approved by PGN in about 8 weeks. (Worst case scenerio, many months). PGN is very picky as they go through all your documents, one small error and your case can be kicked out to fix the error. If you get a kick-0ut, you have to be resubmitted and the wait starts over again. So needless to say, we don't want any kick-outs! If you are inclined to pray for us, please pray for our "reviewer" in PGN to be fair, for us not to have any document problems, and to get Arabella home as quickly as possible. After we get out of PGN, we will be bringing Arabella home in about 6 weeks after that. We are still praying that she'll be home for us to throw her a big 1st birthday bash in August. If God sees fit to give us a miracle and bring her home sooner, we would fine with that as well. Another neat thing happened yesterday. Many of you know that I sell jewelry and do jewelry fashion shows for extra income. Two ladies at work did a show for me yesterday after work and it was a huge success! They sold so much jewelry that I made enough to cover my plane ticket to Guatemala to visit Arabella this summer. Thank you Susan and Esther (and everyone who bought jewelry) for helping me get to Guatemala to spoil my girl! My God supplies all my needs according to His riches in glory! I don't deserve it, but He is very good to me!

More visit trip pictures!

Not much to report today, just thought you might like to see some more pictures from our trip. Please keep praying, we still don't have the social worker's report that we need in order to get into PGN. We will go straight into PGN when we get it. Only 48 days until I will be holding my Bella girl again on my next visit. I can't wait!

Bella is 8 months old today!

Dear Arabella,

You are 8 months old today, we hope you have a wonderful day with your foster family. We had the best week with you last week and we miss you very much. Mommy and Grandma Charlene are coming to visit you in 7 weeks and we can't wait! We know that Karen and her family love you very much and will take very good care of you until we can bring you home.

Love always,

Mommy and Daddy

Here is an email that Daddy sent from Bella while we were in Guatemala that I thought you all might like to read if you didn't get the email:

Hola mi familia y amigos (Hello my family and friends)

Bella here, I just wanted to send a little note to all of you back home. When Karen, my foster mom, told me that Mommy and Daddy were coming to see me, I got a little nervous. I wasn't sure what to expect. Would they know how to hold me just right? How would they know what to feed me or how to change my butt when it got dirty? Would they be able to find my tickle spots? Could I go to sleep and then wake up to find that they were still watching over me?

Well, I wondered on these things until I showed up and met them. You all, they are wonderful. I could tell Momma really loved me the first time I laid eyes on her. She had the biggest grin on her face and I could tell she was just as anxious and happy as I was. I soon found out that they could take care of me just fine. Mommy was the best, she really loved on me so I didn't want to chance it with Daddy just yet. He has this really weird stuff on his face and I didn't know what to think of it. Then, I noticed that he took real good care in making my bottles and even changed my diaper a couple times - he wasn't too bad at it. So I thought I would give him a chance too. Guess what, he is almost as good as Mommy. I will let him do about everything except put me to sleepy. I even let him give me a bath one night.

Anyway, I just wanted to say hi to all of you. I know I can't come home for a little while but I think it will be grand when I do get to come home. Mommy keeps showing me pictures of my room but I don't think I will let her keep me there. I will want to stay with her all the time. I am really anxious to meet all of my cousins, too. I have heard all kinds of great things about you all. In fact, I want to talk to some of you about how fun Daddy can be. He throws me up and catches me and I just love it. He also takes me on morning walks. I just make him think that we are doing this so Mommy can get dressed but it is because I like to spend the time alone with Daddy.

Well, I am going to go for now, but I just wanted to thank all of you who sent me clothes and shoes and toys. I also want to thank everyone who gave money and helped out in making the trip for Mommy and Daddy possible. I believe they know that you are just as excited as they are. I also want to say thank you to all the grandmas and grandpas, great grandmas and great grandpas, uncles and aunts, cousins, friends of the family, and all those wonderful people at church for the love I can feel all the way down here. I haven't met you all yet but if you are as great as Mommy and Daddy, I know I will be just fine when I come home.

Love lots,

Arabella Josey Boster

WORTH THE WAIT!

The title and Bella's shirt say it all in the top picture , "WORTH THE WAIT!" All the years of waiting have led to the fulfillment of my dreams of being a mom. I firmly believe that God is in control, and it was His will that we would be Bella's parents. We are late bloomers when it comes to parenthood, but it is so "WORTH THE WAIT!" We have had the best week spending time loving on Bella. She is a beautiful, healthy, happy baby. She has already brought us such joy in the past few days that it is overwhelming to absorb. She is perfect in every way, and she will definitely light up the life of everyone who knows her. She still prefers mommy, but she has had fun playing with daddy today and even let him feed her and take her for a walk outside while I was getting dressed and ready for breakfast. Bella is a good sleeper. She sleeps for about 8 hours a night. She went to sleep about an hour ago, so I better go for now so I will get enough sleep for all the energy I will need to keep up with her tomorrow. I am not looking forward to saying goodbye this weekend, but am praying continuously that we can bring her home very soon so we won't ever have to say goodbye again.

Thanks for all your prayers!