Life in Antigua, Guatemala

I arrived in Guatemala on March 10th to start "fostering" Rosalia till we get her home. We found out on March 3rd that we were out of family court (finally!!) I got settled and picked up Rosalia on March 11th from the orphanage (hogar). She was rolling over, but had a hard time sitting up. The house we were in had a wonderful garden that we got to hang out in. It was an ok house (once I got the water running), but did not have internet or W/D for laundry, and had lots of little ants. Soo.. we hung out and got to know each other. It was a very special time. My schedule was like Rosalia's -- in bed shortly after she went to bed at 7pm and up at 6am (like clockwork). There was a TV in the house that had 3 channels in Spanish (oh boy!) The house was about a 30 min. walk into Antigua which we did several times a week. After being in town and getting groceries, etc. we would usually take a "tuc-tuc" home. They are small little vehicles like golf carts that are cheaper than a taxi. The roads in Antigua are made of stones/rocks...BIG, bumpy rocks. Rosalia has been a trooper riding around in the front of mom in her carrier and bouncing like a Worlds of Fun ride. She will not know what to do in a vehicle with shock absorbers.

The week after I got here was holy week and Antigua was packed!! Amazing processions that they have and lay colorful sawdust carpets in the streets for the processions to cross over. It was truly a week I won't forget.

My roomate Rachel came March 24th with her daughter Hannah who is exactly a month older than Rosalia. We moved into a nicer place on April 1st that has internet so I can finally write this blog I had promised everyone!

Rosalia is doing wonderful and sitting up without a problem within 2 weeks, and now within a month is doing the army crawl across the floor and standing up on Mommy as much as she can. She has gained weight (don't know how much, but she has a little tummy) and is smiling!! Those wonderful toothless grins. The other excitement was Mom got to be there for her first tooth (at 10 plus months!!) She had a little hard time with that.

She seems to like birds and everytime I put on the carrier she starts kicking like crazy (we are going on an adventure!) She also loves the sound of plastic and is like a dog with a bone... you don't dare take it away!! She likes to help mom while trying to bag the groceries with grabbing anything she can reach (you bag your own here). LSC- she loves her dolly and playmat.

Other good news is we found out on March 17th (St. Patricks Day) that we are in PGN!! This is the process that usually takes the longest for most people, so we are hoping for a more speedy time since we spent most of our time in family court. We learned that we already made it past the first reviewer and have the second reviewer to go. Know one knows how long that might be though. (Keep those prayers coming) My roomate's adoption is coming along quickly and she will be probably heading home in a few weeks. That means I will probably need to find a new roomate.