Pictures of days together in Antigua

Peek-a-boo..... on our walk into town.

In the market -yum-yum!

I found an amigo in the market.

Where is KANSAS??

You don't see a McDonald's like this in the States.

Place where some of the women still do laundry. Go ahead boys-get at it!

Hey.. there's somebody else in my bathtub!

Some authentic Guatemalan cuisine complete with Gallo cerveza!!

Relaxing after playing some baseball.

Cerro de la Cruz

"Hill of the Cross" with Antigua below.

(Yes we walked up there!)

A classic:

Says "don't urinate here"

Mom must have been reading something

interesting!!

Hey- let me have some of that!!

Joshua reading Rosalia a book... "this is Mickey and this is Goofy."

Rosalia... "let me show YOU big brother."

We had such a good time together... I had to go in mourning after they left. Even Rosalia was fussier the next day. It has been a busy week though... I am looking for another place to live since it is just Rosalia and I now. (no roomate and no help with the rent)

Wednesday we went back into the city to see the doctor for Rosalia's 1 year check-up. She is doing really well although she is still only about 5% on the growth charts. (He said she is just small-surprise!)

For the rest of her developmental skills she has caught up to where she should be -YEAH! Dad was here for some major crawling and she is making Mom keep a closer eye on her since she is into everything. Worst part was 2 vaccination shots, but they were over quick.

As for progress with our case.... well, that is a longgggg story and will need another post. PGN still has not released any files since the end of April, but we are hearing it should be within a week. (Again, you don't want to hold your breath.) They are still interviewing the birthmothers and most likely will for all the rest of the cases left to be completed...around 2000. I will try and post more about the process.

Happy Memorial Day weekend.... wow the start of summer and in Guatemala it is their "winter" season. That means..RAIN. We have had some every afternoon/night this last week. Let's pray that Rosalia can see this 4th of July in the good old USA!!

Happy Birthday Rosalia!!

Well - I have my men here in Antigua for a week!! Tony and Joshua got here Friday and Joshua was so excited to go on this "adventure". Tony did a great job preparing him. He was really excited to fly in a plane and Mommy was sooo..... excited to see them. He has gotten so big!! He loved finally meeting his sister Rosalia in person. He likes to say "I'm a good big brother." He actually shares his Goofy her her!!

We celebrated Rosalia's birthday Saturday by walking around Antigua and showing Tony and Joshua some of the town. Bought her a cake that had fruit on top (Guatemalan style) and she went to town with it. You wouldn't know that she has only one tooth. We opened her birthday presents, but the big green duffel bag was the best - (full of toys and books from home!)

Sunday was a great Mother's day and Mom was treated well. The best thing of course was having my family together at last!! We went to church and out to eat and I got some wonderful presents from hubby and children. Joshua's daycare teacher has been taking pictures of Joshua while I have been gone and they were wonderful!!! Tony also took care of the kids (today) and mom went to have a massage and pedicure! My feet were looking pretty rough after several months of walking around Antigua.

Monday we hit the pool and had a great day. The hardest thing has been getting the naps in for both of the kids. They are on different schedules right now and we're trying to accommodate both. We have been walking around Antigua with sleeping children several times.

Tony has been taking pictures of EVERYTHING! (Taking over my brother Dean's job.) He is loving the time off of work and it is awesome to have the family together. We have some great video of Joshua helping feed Rosalia and play with her. We haven't got him to help with changing diapers yet (still working on that!) Rosalia has really taken off with her crawling and pulling up on things. She is enthralled with daddy's repertoire of noises that he can make and equally loves to watch big brother jump and sing.

We are looking forward to the rest of the week.... I know it will go by too fast.

Last week the PGN started some interviews with birth mothers for several of the cases that were signed off by the old attorney general. (This is part of the "audit" process that they said would happen with the new attorney general.) It appears that they are not going to release any files for adoption for several weeks. The newspaper reported that adoptions were being suspended for a month, but we hear different things every other day. I will keep you posted when we hear more about when things will start moving again.

Well, I better hit the sack... everyone else is asleep and the 6am wake-up call from Rosalia will come soon enough. Miss you all and hope all the mothers had a wonderful day last Sunday.

"Wait and see"

Waiting another week. May 1st was Labor Day in Guatemala, so PGN was closed and I doubt if anything got done on Friday either. Although we didn't get any news about cases except "wait and see" it was fun to have Melanie (my niece) here for the week. We got to explore some new restaurants in Antigua and the local market. She helped me stretch my "boundaries". We were out after dark!! I usually am home and putting Rosalia down for the night by 7pm. The pool at Hotel Antigua was also a hit for Rosalia. They will let you pay to swim for the day. She really enjoyed the water (just a bigger bathtub!) On Friday we took a tour of several villages close to Antigua. Saw 500 year old churches/monasteries and how most of the Guatemalan people live.

Melanie was surprised at how fast her Spanish came back! She is much better than her aunt.

Well, pray for good news this week. Tony and Joshua are coming in on Friday and we get to celebrate Rosalia's first birthday on Saturday!! Can't wait!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rosalia is really starting to crawl around on all 4! She also started pulling up on the furniture. (You go girl!!)
Love to all- Linda and Rosalia