Fiesta Day!

Well, today didn't start off quite so well, but not everyday can be a great day! My little one has had a cold, which I am afraid Mama will be getting soon enough! But, she didn't feel well today! And, when she doesn't feel well she sort of shuts down. It was this Mama's first big challenge! She was supposed to leave and come with me for the day, but she didn't feel good, has a yucky cold, and just wasn't up for going out today. She cried several times and finally, we made progress after her nap time. She cried all the way to the little store, but after a few potato chips and time outside, she started to be ok with being outside. The good news is that even though she didn't want to leave with Mama, she still wanted Mama. All day... Mama, Mama...Mama is here she says. And still the hugs & kisses... I am waiting for the cold, I know it is coming, but you could pray that it doesn't! :-) So, even though she didn't want to go out today, she still showed strong signs of attachment and bonding, she still allowed me to care for her and feed her and put her to bed for nap time..... all great signs!

This afternoon we had her "Good-bye Party" even though she didn't leave with me afterwards.... it was far better to get the kids all sugared up on a Friday night instead of a school night! And, let me just tell you.... it was a PARTY! My little one danced her heart out had juice, sugar wafers and cake...... as did all the other children... you can only imagine! But, although it was overstimulating even for me, it was a BLAST! My precious one laughed and shouted at the top of her lungs and danced like nobody's business! I have to tell you, the girl is 3 and she has better rhythem than I do, it is INCREDIBLE! She already can here the beginning of a song and start and keep a steady beat.... AMAZING! Anyhow, the party was fun and she then gave each one of the other children one of the little goodies that I brought for them and her caregivers she gave them their gifts too..... I wasn't sure she would do it, but she LOVED it! It was beautiful to see!

Please pray for God to continue to give her the resiliency that she needs to make all of these changes, and no one can even dream of how many there are until you see it for yourself! Also, I think she knows full well that she will leave with Mama and she won't see these wonderful people and playmates again. So, please pray for her little heart and that God will heal it and protect it! Please continue to pray for me for wisdom, strength and courage in the coming days. My Peruvian SW (wonderful lady!) has to go back to Lima tomorrow to vote (voting is required here and if you don't vote you get fined a pretty hefty fine..... and there are no absentee ballots -- as they say in Spanish..."Qué pena!" What a pain!!!) So, all of that to say I will be on my own... however, as always GOD has prepared the way and I am staying at a wonderful boarding house with a lady who has worked with my little one's orphanage, has a huge heart for adoption and just loves to help out in whatever way she can! The whole staff here will wait on you hand and foot if you let them! :-) Please also pray that I don't get this cold that is trying to start... I need all of the energy I can get! :-) Thank you for your continued prayers and Praise the Lord with me that my little one is still all about her Mama and that her fiesta went really well and that she was able to break through a little bit today even though she didn't feel like it!

Incredible!

Incredible is the word for the day! Yes, yes it is! All of you are so INCREDIBLE for encouraging me so through your many messages on FB, e-mail, etc! I am so incredibly blessed by all of the love and support and PRAYERS that you all are offering up for me! I had hoped to get to some e-mails tonight, but we will have my sweet little one's going away party tomorrow afternoon and I had to get all of the things ready for the party.... not really an easy feat in a Foreign country! But thanks to my Incredible SW and Hostess, it was made easier! So, please don't be offended if I haven't replied to you! I love and cherish each and every one of them!

Today was another really good day! Thanks be to God! His hand is all over this and I think He is having fun too! Today, I got to bring my sweetie to the hotel where we will spend the next two weeks. She has maybe been in a car only once or twice, doesn't meet strangers well, and is quite upset about changing her schedule..... but today, she handled it all in stride! There were a few times I noticed some changes, but she didn't cry she laughed and engaged the SW in a little conversation, insisted on feeding me the green beans she didn't really want, and well the cauliflower.... she just put it on my plate and said "Gracias!" as if to say, "Hey... thanks for taking this off of my hands!" I didn't have any option, but we just laughed and laughed! She napped beautifully here at the hotel and loved on her "Love Bug"! She was amazed that it talked to her and called her by name.... It says, I love you! Oh, she just gave it hugs and kisses and tried to give it a cookie.... so CUTE! Thank you for your prayers for resiliency and please keep them coming, becuase she will really need them in the coming days when she starts spending time with Mamá 24 hours a day! Still, she is all about Mama..... she looks for me when I step around the corner and she loves to give me hugs and kisses and play!

Before coming, I knew that she had siblings who are available for adoption, but unfortunately I couldn't take them all. PLEASE pray for them, and pray for them to find forever families like their sister! They, like all the others in her orphanage just need a loving home! God is sooo BIG and I know that HE can do all things! I got to be part of something really special today and these siblings are on my heart! Please pray!

A few other matters of prayer...... the US Gov't is talking about shutting down AGAIN! As many of you know I went into PANIC MODE about a month ago because of a possible gov't shutdown! Let me give you a little perspective.... if the Gov't shuts down, all non-essential employees are furloughed.... these are Immigration officials, those responsible for visas, and ALL Embassy employeess that are American..... all around the world! I am not the only one, but if it shuts down on April 8th, I could be here in Peru indefinitely! Say the gov't shuts down for 3 weeks so that they can get their act together.... that is 3 weeks, and possibly even longer that I am here in Peru! (Those of you taking care of my Mia.... don't panic yet!!) PLEASE pray that our gov't can get it's act together. I know and I am praying right along with everyone that the best decisions are made for our country, but HONESTLY it is far more reaching than most people can imagine! While I LOVE Peru and the people here are FABULOUS, I will want to be home by the end of the month or beginning of May! So PLEASE pray!

Also, please continue to pray for the bonding that is taking place between my sweet one and me, and pray for her to have resliency in the coming days! Please also pray that I will have wisdom STRENGTH and courage that I will need in the coming days! Blessings to each one of you!

A few pictures of my Love Bug with her Love Bug!

Speechless, AGAIN!

Again, today, all I can say is WOW! My sweet one continues to be a surprise to EVERYONE! Two psychologist, the Directors of her home, my Social Worker, all of her caregivers and even ME! Thank you all for the prayers and please just keep them coming! They are working! God is so incredibly faithful! Everyday I wear my "mustard seed" as a reminder, that even a faith that small can move HUGE mountains! Well, He moved HUGE mountain to put my sweetie and I together and HE has moved even BIGGER mountains to bridge our hearts together! Today, the director told me that she woke up asking for Mamá! WOW! I am not really sure how often that happens, but honestly, it is just a conintuation of this miracle God has done! Today was another beautiful God show of His love! She was so excited to see me from the minute I got there! We played and played and played some more! Everytime she ate, she allowed me to feed her! She freely gave me hugs and kisses and sang with me! She has an amazing talent, honestly... not just a biased Mom here! Today we were walking in the courtyard area and it is a cobblestone area... to make the time a little more intereting I made up a song! This is not a song she would know nor a tune she had heard before, completely made up..... after the first time through, she could sing the WHOLE thing WITH ME!! WOW!! Amazing! She allows me to hold her hand everywhere we go and she always has me in her sights! She tells me things, I don't really always understand them, but she tries really hard to tell me about things.... this doesn't happen a lot, so each time she makes an attempt is a small miracle in and of itself! Today, while I was sitting on the ground putting my shoes back on, the director was taking some pictures of us, and she hear my little one say "Quiero a Mamá".... "I love Mama!" Oh my what that will do to a new Mama's heart, let me just tell you! So, again today, and I am sure I am leaving out a ton of things, God decided to put on another show! I could really get used to these God Shows, they are the BEST thing out there! Thank you for your continued prayers. Tomorrow, will be a different day for her and she will be put in a different situation, please pray that she will ocntinue to feel secure with me and trust me and that she will do well with the changes that tomorrow will bring in her routine! Please continue to pray for our bonding and for her to have resiliency! Please also pray for God to give me wisdom, strength and courage in the days ahead. I am telling you, your prayers are working! I was able to tell my SW and the direcotr that all of this is nothing but a miracle of God.... and because they can barely believe their eyes and ears, they KNOW it is of HIM and HIM alone! So, again, thank you for the prayers and please continue to lift us up! God is so incredibly FAITHFUL! I hope that you are able to see His faithfulness in our journey!Oh, there is a song in my heart today! Blessings!

Blessing Day!

Oh my there is soooo much to say today, I don't even know where to begin! But, I will start with what I know you all really want to know about! First of all, I can only say one thing. Glory to God for the GREAT thing HE has done! I am so overwhelmed with excitement, emotion and so full of God's love that I can't even begin to explain it! Today's meeting with my sweet one was a COMPLETE GOD SHOW! And when I say a God Show, I am talking a HUGE God show, like when he held the sun still so that the Israelites could win the battle or like when the after the 7th time around the Wall of Jericho and the trumpet blew and the walls just came down.... it was that kind of God show! And, all I can say is praised be to HIM who LOVES us, each one of us beyond measure!

Yesterday, the meeting with the psychologist in Lima went well, but she was very hesitant about our first meeting and really advised me not to get my hopes up. Well, I didn't, I went to the Lord as did so many of you! I know you did b/c I had complete and utter peace ALL DAY long! The psychologist here in Peru and at her home both said she might completely shut down in the presence of strangers and in fact all other adults besides me and her caregivers watched from a window. And, the best part was that it was play time and they wanted me to play with her, well I thought, I would rather be playing with her than sitting akwardly in a room waiting for them to come place her in my lap. So off came my shoes, and I entered her world! We all played as a group for a while, with other children from her group and as I came in the room she began to notice me, and looked at me a little funny.....as if to say "Hey, don't I know you from somewhere?" Then one of her caregivers said give the ball to Mama and she turned to me and said "Mamá" Then she slowly began to warm up to me, then all of suddden started giving me hugs and kisses and calling me "Mamá, Mamá" When asked "Where is Mamá?" she would touch my forehead and say "Mamá aquí".... Mama is here! And, all I could say was, "Yes, Mama is here!" She then even allowed me to feed her, mind you she can feed herself, but this is such an important bonding tool, and she allowed me the first time we ever met to feed her, to take care of her. AMAZING!! Then it was time for her to go to bed.... her caregiver took her upstairs, but it took about 5 minutes because she kept stopping and turning around to say "adios Mamá, adios".

EVERYONE was surprised at how well our first meeting went, no one could believe that a first time meeting with parent and child could go so well! And, all praises are to God alone because it is beacuse of your prayers and His preparing the way that today went so well! And, I have to give thanks to the wonderful caregivers and directors and psychologist of her home for all of the work that they have done to prepare her for this first meeting! Each day in this part of the process can look entirely different, so please continue to pray for bonding to continue and for her to continue making the connection of what a Mama is in her little heart! And, THANK YOU for the prayers that have gotten me to this part of the journey! I am so incredibly blessed by the prayers that have been offered up for us, and God answered so many of them today!

Today EVERY one of these prayers from yesterday's blog were answered-- here they are just as a reminder b/c when I re-read them, I had to come back and add this!
"All I can ask for is that you continue fervently praying the prayer that I have been asking for, and that is that God will prepare our hearts for one another when we meet tomorrow! I believe in praying specifically, so please pray that she will not shut down at our first meeting and that she will warm up to me rather quickly. Please pray that all of the work from the orphange is not in vain, as they have worked very hard to prepare her for me, but there is a huge leap between a picture or video and the real person. Please pray for God's hand and spirit to be evident, and that she will surprise everyone!"

Well, here is what I know you all really want.... a few pictures of our very special day!

Surreal ~ But a Blessing

Hello All!
So at some point in the last couple of days it has really hit me how surreal all of this is! I can hardly believe that I am going to meet my little one tomorrow! I can not wait to post some pictures of her for all to see! I had my meeting with the SNA this morning. All went well, but there is a lot of concern of how my little one will respond to me when I meet her, as she has a tendency to shut down when in the presence of strangers. All I can ask for is that you continue fervently praying the prayer that I have been asking for, and that is that God will prepare our hearts for one another when we meet tomorrow! I believe in praying specifically, so please pray that she will not shut down at our first meeting and that she will warm up to me rather quickly. Please pray that all of the work from the orphange is not in vain, as they have worked very hard to prepare her for me, but there is a huge leap between a picture or video and the real person. Please pray for God's hand and spirit to be evident, and that she will surprise everyone! Yesterday, I talked to the director of her orphanage (via e-mail) and she said that she had been carrying around my picture for about two hours yesterday afternoon, saying Mamá several times. Please pray for God to make that connect in her little heart, as she really doesn't understand the concept of Mamá as we do. Thank you for all these prayers and aything else that God lays on your heart to pray for!

Please pray for my social worker and I as we fly to Cusco tomorrow and that I will continue to have wisdom, strength and courage in all of the days that will be ahead of me!

This afternoon, I got to spend a good long while with the wonderful Austin family who have been sooooo gracious to me while I have been here in Lima. They have taken care of so many things for me and have loved on me and been praying for me! Please lift them up and their work here in Peru, they are truly a blessing! It was a little bit foggy, but I am going to see if I can figure out how to add some pictures to my blog..... this is a trial run for tomorrow! Blessings to all of you, and thank you again for your MANY prayers! I do feel them! Please keep them coming!
Blessings!
Becca

A Day of Rest

Hello all!
I am attempting to make good on my promise to update daily! :-) Today was really a restful day. I overslept this morning and didn't make it to the church service that the Austin's told me would be nearby. I was really exhausted last night, and sleep wouldn't come until the wee hours of the morning, so I just let myself sleep! I got up and had some lunch.... then went shopping for a new hairdryer! Mine didn't work to well here, and let' say I looked a little like Medusa this morning when i got up! In fact, I forgot how curly my hair really is! So, I got a new one and hopefully there will be some improvements in the bad hair day! :-) Not much to post for today, I have just been resting and catching up on some e-mails! I am so thankful to be in a place that I feel free to move about and to see things! I will try to post some pictures tomorrow of the area, it is nice!
Blessings to all & thank you for your continued prayers for Tuesday!
Becca

Hola de Peru

Hola Everyone!
I have made it to Peru! I had a little bit of a long flying day yesterday, but God is good and made sure that I got here safely and on the next available flight! While in the airport, I met some sweet Peruvian ladies who were waiting with me for the next flight. Thankfully, we all made it on the flight and had a very smooth time flying here. At 5:00 in the morning, the airport here wasn't busy, it was pretty much people from our flight which made it nice. I was met by my Peruvian Social worker, a very sweet lady, who thankfully got me to my hotel so that I could sleep for a bit.
Then the wonderful Austin family picked me up, brought me to the Guesthouse, which is perfect and showed me around Miraflores. We had a wonderful lunch and then a friend of theirs helped me get to Ben & Tracy to visit with them just before they leave Peru. They are fellow Peru adoptive parents and they were very ready to take their Peruvian Princesses to the US and get settled at home. Although our visit was brief, I am so glad that I got to meet them.
Miraflores is a great city! I was able to navigate myself back to the grocery store and the GuestHouse without any problems and now I am ready for a good night's sleep..... that is after I have a shower! I am so thankful to God for the mountains He has moved and the wonderful people He has placed here for me in Lima. I am truly blessed! And, I know many of you want to know..... I get to meet my sweet little one on Tuesday, the 5th.... and FINALLY you will get to see some pictures of her. PLEASE continue praying that God will prepare our hearts for one another as we meet on Tuesday! Thank you for your prayers that God has so beautifully answered this far!
Blessings!
Becca