4th of July

Hi everyone!

I am the worst blogger but with two toddlers, who can blame me. Julia and Brady are both walking and keeping me on my toes! Ella is starting Kindergarten, August 25 and I can't believe she is already 5.

I love the pics of Brady, Julia and Ella - can you tell they want nothing to do with my picture LOL!

We are having a great summer filled with lots of swimming and travelling. Hope everyone is having fun this summer!

Love,

Angela

a few more.......

Pictures from Julia's birthday party!!

Julia really enjoyed her birthday/welcome home party. She was a doll with everyone and enjoyed her cake. She is doing great and we have put some weight on her LOL! She will eat anything but her favorite thing is paper, I mean that girl will eat any paper :)

Ella enjoyed hanging out with her best friends and Brady liked sharing Julia's birthday cake. Everyone is adjusting well and hard to believe we have been home almost 2 months now.

Enjoy the pictures below :)

New pics of the kids!!!

Here are a few pics of Brady, Julia and Ella. Ella had fun at the fair last weekend and the pics of Julia and Brady are from a friends Christening. I promise I will add more pics of all three of them together this weekend.

Enjoy!

Angela

More pics....

Pics of Julia...

We are coming home!

Miriam just gave us Julia's passport and we are packing up heading out (tomorow morning @ 4:30 AM)

It's been real.....

Some more pics of Julia

Pic of Julia at the embassy today...

Ok, we have resorted to using the I-phone because we have tried so many cables and they are not working. This was taken today at the Embassy - this is what Julia thinks of becoming a US citizen! We are going to Antigua tomorrow! I will post more I-phone pics later LOL.

Video of Julia

Until I can get a cable tomorrow.....

We Made it.....

Got in this morning at 5am. Flight was great and the people are wonderful. Julia and her foster family and Maria (our lawyer) are meeting us tonight at 6pm to hand over Julia.

Will post pictures as soon as I find a camera store to buy a card reader...... (duh)

We are PINK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi all,

Last week we got our Embassy appointment to pickup Julia. We are leaving on a red eye on March 29 and will return with her on April 2. Please pray that she takes to us and the transition from her foster mom goes smoothly. We are very excited and look forward to our adventure. We will post pictures when we are in Guatemala so be on the look out for those!!!!

Lots of love,

Angela

waiting for DNA...

WE ARE ORANGE!!!!!!!!!!

Ok, for all of you that don't know what this means, this is basically our authorization to have our 2nd DNA done and the FINAL step before we get out appointment to pick up our baby girl!!!!!! We are hoping to get an appointment the week of March 10th or 17th. Either way, she is coming home!

We are almost done with this journey and there is a sweet pot of gold waiting for us at the end. I feel like I am 37 weeks pregnant and the doctor just said "you can go into labor at anytime." That is how close we are to getting Julia!

Praying for everyone and their little ones,

xoxoxoxo

Angela

We got it!!!

Hi all-

We got out Birth certificate and passport today!! Julia is finally a Richardson!! We are thrilled and waiting for DNA authorization so we can get a pink slip to pick up our daughter. As it looks right now, I think our embassy appointment will be sometime the week of March 17 or 24. Now I need to create her nursery this weekend, thank god it is a 3 day weekend.

love to all,

Angela

Jaimee tagged me!!

Ok so Jaimee (an adoption friend) tagged me so we can all learn new things about eachother. I think it is kinda fun so here goes, BTW her blog is http://www.martinezadoption.blogspot.com/ just so you know who tagged me :)

I'm supposed to write 7 interesting things about me so we will see how interesting I am LOL:

1. We got Out of PGN yesterday, for those of you who don't know!! Julia is coming home in 4-6 weeks. We have not even started her nursery!!!

2. I have been with my husband since I was 17 and I still like him :)

3. Before I was a full time mommy, I was the publicist for the soap opera "General Hospital," so all you Sonny fans - yes he is that cute!!

4. I HATE leftovers, they make me sick! I mean I NEVER leave a table with anything.

5. I don't like throwing things away, makes me panick. My husband throws out everything when I am away so I don't have a heartattack.

6. My daughter was born 10 weeks early and only weighed 3 pounds. Talk about scarey but she never even needed oxygen and was out of the NICU in 4 weeks. She is still fiesty to this day!!! We call her our "spirted child."

7. This journey has changed me in so many ways, I will always fight for the plight of Guatemalan children and all orphaned children for that matter. Without my adoption friends this would have been a very difficult process. Can you even imagine there were parents that adopted in the past that didn't have email, internet, blogs, chat groups, etc.???? It makes me scared to think about it LOL!!!!

Wishing the best in the coming year, and to the MAGNIFICENT 7 (you know who you are) my wish for you is that the CA gets their butts in gear and you are fast tracked through PGN!!! I will not stop praying until all of your babies are home!

xoxoxoxo

Angela

I'M GOING TO VISIT MY BABY GIRL!!!!!!!

Yes, you heard that right I've decided to visit Julia - just couldn't stay away any longer. A few of my friends Kristi and Alex were going to visit Feb. 13-16 and I just couldn't resist not going with them. We are going to celebrate Elli's (Kristi's daughter) first birthday. It will be so nice to met them and have our girls visit too. As most of you know, I am not the best flier but I have decided not going would bother me more than to just get my butt on the plane. I am taking my mom with me so James can stay with the kids. I have promised to take lots of pics and videos for him as I know he wishes he was going too.

I have been busy making my plans and buying Julia lots of clothes, shoes and hair bows - that girl has some hair for her age :) I will post the outfits as soon as I get them together.

For now, have to go take care of sick kids, everyone got the stomach flu this week, got to love preschool!!

Oh, enjoy the new pics of Julia we just got!

Julia at her 6 month check-up. She is doing great and gaining weight!

PGN BABY!!!!

OK, we are VERY excited, we received news we are in the final stages of the process, we have entered the dreaded PGN. In basic terms this is where the Guatemalan government looks at all of out paperwork to approve our adoption. This can take anywhere from 6 weeks to 3 months, hopefully we are in the 6 week range. So, keep those prayers coming and cross your fingers for no kick outs!!! I will also update news pics of Julia from 12/6 - she is doing great and almost 7 months. In the pics she is wearing the clothes we sent her, one of our adoption friends Kristi carried them in her suitcase for us when she visited her baby girl- what a gem she is :)

That's all for now. Hope you all had a Merry Christmas and may 2008 be the year we all bring our babies home!

Love,

Angela

We got PA today!!!

YAhoooo everyone, we just received PA today, which is basically our notice from the US embassy in Guatemala that we can enter the final stages of this adoption. Now we head to PGN which is the place they review all of our documents and give us the final approval to bring Julia home.

It seems that PGN is running anywhere from 6 weeks to 3 months, so cross your fingers and toes we are on the shorter end of things....either way, we are one step closer to bringing Julia home.

Our agency says we should have new pictures this week, so I will post when I get them! Keep up the good thoughts and prayers, we need them!!!

Angela