Almost to a passport

view of Volcano Agua from our street

hospital where Erick was born in Tiquisate

countryside on the way to Tiquisate

fountain inside La Merced, the largest Catholic church in Antigua

La Merced


We got out of RENAP today, so will be picking up several copies of Erick's new birth certificate on Monday! It was a big surprise as this step took about 10 days, when sometimes it takes weeks. We should be able to work toward getting Erick's passport next week, then we are really on the home stretch. Pat's timeframe for getting that honey-do list done and the house cleaned up is getting shorter! Hopefully this means we will be home for Thanksgiving.

We have an exciting next few days: Saturday we are taking a van load of moms to a nearby town to a kite festival. It's an old Mayan tradition celebrating Day of the Dead where they fly huge, colorful kites. I guess the kites are sending up messages to the spirits or something crazy like that. It's a very photographed day. The weather has changed from rainy most days to clear, much windier, and cooler at night.

Monday morning Emily and the other Whitworth family both have their final Embassy appointments and will be leaving Guatemala later that week. Angie and Milo also leave Monday to head back to London after being here almost a year. It's interesting to see the pool of foster moms in Antigua quickly shrinking!

Jimmy was here for the weekend and made his final departure from Antigua today. Sad to see him leave, but Emily and Samuel will be right behind him in a week or two!

Maria, who helps watch our kids some during the week, and her family cooked and brought over a "farewell feast" last night. She has a wonderful family (all 13 came!) and has been a huge blessing to us. She is in the white blouse at the far end of the table.

me and the boys

I guess I'm now in the "moms with playdates" category. It's really not such a bad thing :)

Samuel and Erick have matching pj's. We thought it'd be cute to do a photoshoot. They weren't nearly as excited.

Another step closer

We began the RENAP/birth certificate process yesterday. This starts with having to go to Erick's birth town, about 2 hours away, getting documents signed, and returning them to Guate City. Too much time in the car for Erick, so I left him with our sitter and made the journey to Tiquisate. There really aren't many tourist hot-spots in Guatemala, but the countryside is beautiful and lush. Tiquisate is lower in altitude and down toward the south coast, so has a definite warmer, humid climate. Not much there to see, but I got a peek at the hospital where Erick was born. It was inside a guarded gate and I snapped a few shots, then was asked to leave. I can't imagine that I looked too threatening, but it's probably not too common for whities to be in town taking pictures. I was on the lookout for his birth mother and secretly wishing I'd see her, she'd be pregnant with a little girl, and stop to ask me if Erick needed a little sister. Selfish thought, I know :) Didn't happen anyway.

I may be holding down this fort by myself soon. Angie, Emily, and the other Whitworth family are all at about the same spot in the process and probably leaving in 2-3 weeks. Yeah!! (not that I want them gone, just want them all home!) Erick will wonder where all of his playmates went! My mom is coming Nov 4-18 to keep us company for awhile. That's all for today!

More Whitworths

Erick, his new cousin, Marilyn :), and Samuel

A new adoptive family of 4 from South Carolina moved into our house last weekend, which has added some excitement... and coziness! We have all met, had meals together, viewed many a Baby Einstein video together, but yesterday I about fell down the stairs when I overheard the mom on the phone, "hello, this is Mrs. Whitworth..." They're Whitworths, too! How random is that that they would be adopting here and living with us? There can't be too many baby Guatemalan Whitworths around. They're adopting 2 year-old Marilyn who is so incredibly sweet, calm, and quiet. Baby girls are SO different than boys!





We are officially out of PGN now. We said that two weeks ago, didn't we? There was a computer failure at PGN and they were finished w/ our case, but wouldn't allow any files to move in or out, so our file just sat there. Really? Is it rocket science to have an alternative method of logging files that come and go?? Could you just WRITE IT DOWN in the meantime and not keep people waiting unnecessarily? It was a hard last two weeks of waiting, not being able to comprehend a government agency being down that long. Living here, it's easy for fear to creep in and wonder if you are being told the truth or if you are being set up for a bribe, etc. Apparently it was the truth and lightening took out part of their computer system. They are slowly moving files through again. I have to remember I'm in a third world country.



Yesterday, before finding out we were released from PGN, I was feeling frustrated and "stuck" and talked to a good friend, Beth, who has been here over a year. She has a true servant's heart and alot of endurance. She reminded me that God's timing is perfect and not to focus on the end date of getting home, but to enjoy Christ daily in Antigua. It's things like this that I KNOW, but I drift away and get bogged down by the adoption process or being away from home. I'm trying!



A funny story--I share a bathroom upstairs with Angie and we've been fighting to keep our toilet unclogged for about two weeks now. I'm OH SO TIRED of walking outside and downstairs at 3am to use that bathroom! Today was the third time our plumber has been here and they finally unglued the toilet from the tile, set it outside, and got in there to do some really dirty work. A little yellow, plastic car was clogging it. Not sure if the culprit was Erick or Milo so we're splitting the plumber's bill :)



Emily had to go to Guat City this morning for some appointments and wasn't feeling well with a stomach bug. I went w/ her to help take care of Samuel and ended up getting sick, too, in a garage parking lot and then tonight at home. Our "new" toilet was fixed just in time! Amy, our new housemate, was feeling the same today. Must be a virus. Be glad you aren't a visitor here this week! Sorry if that's TMI...just part of our daily fun here in Antigua!

Strolling in the rain

Erick and Paulo getting to know each other

Caterin and Cindy Embrey on Cindy's "out of PGN" day

bubble fun at our house

Go Royals!

We had a great week with Pat here. Hopefully his next visit will be our pick-up trip for Erick and me! I think Erick is starting to wonder why his dad is here sometimes and on the computer screen sometimes (we skype every morning on the computer).


Todd and Nicole Harris are here this week visiting Paulo so we are getting to hang out with them. It's a tough job being their Antigua tour guide and taking them to all the good places to eat :) They are just a little behind us in the whole process, so hopefully will be home around the same time we are. It's great to think about Samuel, Paulo, Otoneil, Cindy, Caterin, and Erick all being in KC together!


We have been out of PGN for a week, but now are waiting on their computer system to be up and running again to be officially released. They have been down for a week! So different than being at home where tech support would have had things going again within 30 minutes! It's OK, we are getting good at waiting....and waiting. Our next step after PGN will be RENAP where they draft a new birth certificate for Erick.


We are still looking at probably 8 weeks at the earliest to be home so Thanksgiving isn't looking so good. All's not so bad, though, as I've found a "flyin' Mayan burrito" here with sweet potatoes in it. I'll just pretend it's sweet potato casserole :)


Isaiah 40:31 ...but those who hope (or wait) upon the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not grow faint.