Maria's new favorite book to read is "Love you forever". It is a sweet book, but I can't make it through the entire book without crying...and it's not that long!! She wants to read it every night and every night I end up crying!!


Here's the first page:

A mother held her new baby and very slowly rocked him back and forth, back and forth, back and forth and while she held hime, she sang:
I'll love you forever
I'll like you for always
As long as I'm living
my baby you'll be.

The baby grew. He grew and he grew and he grew. He grew until he was two years old, and he ran all around the house. He pulled all the books off the shelves. He pulled all the food out of the refrigerator and he took his mothers watch and flushed it down the toilet. Sometimes his mother would say, This kid is driving me crazy!!

But at night time, when that two year old was quiet, she opened the door to his room, crawled across the floor, looked up over the side of his bed and if he was really asleep she picked him and rocked him back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. While she rocked him she sang:
I'll love you forever,
I'll like you for always,
As long as I'm living
my baby you'll be.

Then the story moves on to how the kid grows to be a 9 year old who never want to take a bath, and a teenager who wears weird clothes, but she always sneaks into his room and rocks him and sings the song. Then he is older and moves across town, but sometimes she still gets into her car and sneaks into his house and if he's really asleep she rocks him and sings the same song.

Then the mother is old and she calls the son and she sings the song but she can't finish because she is so sick. (OK..this is where I usually have to stop because I can't read anymore because I'm crying so much!!. Dave thinks I'm depressed because I cry every night...I'm not...I just can not read this book without bawling.)

Then the son picks up his mother and rocks her and sings to her.
I'll love you forever
I'll like you for always
As long as I'm living
my Mommy you'll be.

The son goes home and picks up his new baby daughter and sings the song to her.

I've never actually made it to the end of the book. I mean I've read it, but I can't read it to Maria without crying!! Maria usually like to start over about the point the boy grows into a man, because she wants to see the baby at the beginning of the book, which is OK with me because that's about where I start to choke up. She hasn't figured out there's a baby at the end of the story too.

It will be quite the accomplishment when I can actually read the story from cover to cover without crying!!

It's a cute book and I highly recommend it if you need to clear your tear ducts nightly!!

One Semester of Spanish - Love Song

This video was posted on one of the forums I visit. It cracked me up. For all of you that took one semester of Spanish, here's a love song that you can understand.

My Heart Has Been Broken

I have actually been dreading posting this information because I just really haven't been able to deal with it yet. I hadn't posted in the past couple of weeks because I really thought that our paperwork would be approved any day and I would be able to post a very happy detail of our approval. Well, we haven't been approved, we were issued a previo by the Guatemalan government, it's basically a request for more information or for a document to be fixed. We received our previo on January 24th...8 weeks and 1 day after being submitted for approval. I am still wrestling with why they had to wait so long to issue the previo. We could have had it fixed and been back into PGN by now had they issued it 6 or 7 weeks ago. Alas, none of that matters now, we have been issued the previo, my attorney has to fix the previo and then get us resubmitted. When will we be resubmitted? My guess is some time in the next 30 days and then we will wait up to and possibly beyond another 8 weeks for approval. Seems like forever doesn't it. It sure does to me. Anyway, I had originally hoped that Flora would be home for Christmas and that didn't happen and then I thought the middle of March and that won't happen so I guess I have set my sights on Memorial Day. I pray to God that it happens by then. We will see. There isn't anything any of us are going to do about it and there isn't any chance that we won't wait as long as it takes so here we are....waiting, waiting, waiting. Maybe this post will actually help me deal with the heartbreak of the previo...again I guess I will wait and see if that happens.

I did however receive some new pictures of Flora on Thursday, January 24th. How's that for fate...the day that the guy issuing previo's issued ours we recieved pictures. Maybe someone upstairs was trying to make me feel better before I even knew it. Here is our beautiful, now crawling little girl.

Three Kings Day is celebrated on January 6th, twelve days after Christmas. It is often viewed as the last day of the Christmas season (the end of the 12 days of Christmas).

Also known as The Epiphany, Three Kings Day (Día de los Reyes) is a Christian celebration that commemorates the Biblical story of the three kings who followed the star of Bethlehem to bring gifts to the Christ child. According to the Biblical story, the Three Kings – named Melchior, Caspar and Balthazar – presented the Baby Jesus with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

Three Kings Day was the gift-giving time, rather than Christmas day. Just as it is common for children to leave cookies for Santa in the U.S., in some regions, it was customary for children to leave their shoes out on the night of January 5, often filling them with hay for the camels, in hopes that the Three Kings would be generous. The Reyes only come if the child has been good all year and if the children are awake they bypass the house. On this night children sleep lightly listening for any strange noises, whispers, or maybe sounds of the camels' hooves, or any tale-tale signs of the Kings' arrival. Sometime during the night Los Reyes arrive and quietly leave their gifts for the children while their camels enjoy their snack.

Children would awake on January 6 to find their shoes filled with toys and gifts.

Also traditional is for families to gather together and share the Rosca de Reyes. The Rosca de Reyes is a crown-shaped sweet bread decorated with pieces of orange and lime. It is filled with nuts, figs, and cherries. Hot chocolate is traditionally served with the Rosca de Reyes.

Christmas 2007

We had a wonderful Christmas holiday. Our friend Terri and her daughter Sydney arrived on Saturday and we a nice weekend, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

Christmas Eve started with our customary luncheon with the gals. December 24th is Geni's birthday, so it's a perfect excuse to start our Christmas Eve celebration a bit early. We usually go to Red Lobster, but this year we decided to stick with the seafood theme, but we switched restaurants. It was a very nice lunch. We were able to meet Andrew...Bobbi Dovee's new little guy. He is a bright happy baby!!

Then it was home to get ready for our family Christmas Eve. Everyone came over to my house and we had a very nice evening. The children tracked Santa Clause and his progress across the globe with the help of the internet and the adults watched a little football. The children of course asked about every 5 minutes when they were going to be able to open their presents. They were all so excited. It was another picture perfect Christmas Eve. Here are a few pictures of our weekend and Christmas Eve.

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Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Today Is Our First Forever Day!!


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I can't believe today is the day, one year ago, that we came home from Guatemala with Maria forever. We had our embassy appointment on the 12th and landed in Sioux Falls, SD at 9:30pm on the 15th.

In some respects the year has just flown by. It's hard to believe it's already been a year...I remember every second of our first few days together and we have had such a fun year togther. But when I'm not thinking about this exact year, it seems like Maria has been a part of our lives forever...I don't remember what it's like to not have her in our lives.

We are so fortunate that this amazing little girl was chosen for us, she is the perfect child for us!!

Here are a few pics of Maria over the past year. We love you Maria and can't wait to see what the next year brings!

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Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Maria went to the mall tonight with Daddy and visited Santa!

Holly Jolly Christmas

Bryan Adams - Christmas Time

We received our first substantial snow today. Maria was very intriqued by it all. She wasn't quite sure how to walk in it. She also didn't like it when the snow got on her shoe!!

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