Embassy Day

Today was the "big" Embassy day. This is the day we submitted the final paperwork to legalize her entrance into the United States with a visa, which we are to pick-up tomorrow afternoon. We were up this morning @ 5:30a to get yosi and ourselves bathed and dressed and fed. Our translator came to pick us up @ 7a. We were in the embassy for about 2.5 hrs with approx. 20-30 other adoptive families. We enjoyed getting to know some of the families and their children a little bit while we waited. Yoselin was a bit fussy- she's cutting teeth and may have a little cold on top of that. I've been giving her tylenol and ibuprofen off and on, usually not more than once or twice a day, so she's just hanging in there. Last night she started coughing a bit and it sounded congested. It was difficult for her to fall asleep b/c her nose is pretty stuffy. I've been debating starting an antibiotic (I brought one along) but I keep putting it off, hoping that it will take care of itself. We have been staying in our room since returning to the hotel, and she's napping in her wrap now as I write- we put it off as long as possible as she napped a bit at the embassy too... but she slept a total of 8-9 hrs last night...

dressed up for antigua

Yesterday was a big day. A tour guide, Eduardo, picked us up at 9a and we were off visiting Antigua until late afternoon. She slept for the ride there and back and a little in between. We visited a jade museum, and the home of an Indian family who have a shop selling textiles they weave right there in their home. There they dressed me in a traditional costume, much to everyone's amusement (except yosi's, of course). Later, back in Antigua we ate at a local restaurant (the same one i often went to with friends on mission trips to Antigua back in '99 and '00). Eduardo was full of interesting and enlightening information about the culture and politics. We learned much about his Mayan belief system and heard his perspective on Christianity- unfortunately his experiences were all negative: either with Spanish Catholicism or mega-church money-mongers. We gently tried to explain that true followers of Christ would not be like that at all and that those churches do not practice the truth of God's Word. Though he displayed positive feelings toward Jesus, he did not display much value toward His testimony, except that, like the Mayan god, He desired people to love one another and live peacefully. His solution to acheive this was education and good government. He did, however, share our vision for Yoselin to someday return to her birthcountry to help her people. My prayer is that someday he will hear and understand the truly good news of the meaning of Christ's life, death and resurrection. Perhaps God will use Yoselin to achieve this...

From Eduardo's description this is a country with much religion, but one that lacks any foundation in Truth, no matter how much "Christianity" there is said to be.

Monday we had our first excursion outside of the hotel property. We walked to the corner, turned right at McDonalds and walked the block, stopping @ some vendors on the way. We ended up @a restaurant called Katok (which, we learned yesterday, means welcome in Mayan). We managed to order in spanish (mostly), but I received a little more than I had expected. Apparently what I thought was an apetizer was a meal. *L* So, we took home one plateful of food for dinner, which we ate, late that evening on the patio while Yosi slept. How romantic! That afternoon we took Yoselin for her first swim. We know for sure this was her first time in a pool b/c her foster mom said she'd never been in a pool, tho she likes water. She loved it. In only a few minutes she was splashing happily and even let us "float" her on her tummy! We didn't bring a swimsuit, but we brought a few "Lil Swimmer" diapers we were given at the baby shower, and she just wore a onsie over top. ToO, cUte! Dad held her for the initial dip in the bath-warm water and then got out and took some video.

{Hope this works!

...finishing up Wed evening: I think Yoselin is feeling better. We had a great afternoon with lots of playing while not sitting on one of our laps (a BIG accomplishment), walking around town and then another dip in the pool. This last activity was the icing on the cake, but it wiped her out. She was asleep before we even had a chance to get her dressed in her pj's! She's in bed a little early, so we'll be up once or twice tonite, but at least we're not the newbies next door: they're clearly experiencing their first night with their baby, by the sounds of it. Pray for them. ;)
perhaps there will be more pics tomorrow: i think i've exceeded my pixels pr post allowance.