"It's a God thing"

We received an email yesterday from a woman who had worked in the home where E is for Energy lives in Guatemala. She had worked there for a year as a teacher. She said she loved Energy very much. He was just the light of her world while she was there. She knew that E is for Energy was being adopted, but the directors of the home wouldn't give out personal information on who was adopting him. She wanted to know, because Energy meant so much to her, she wanted to get in touch with the family who was adopting him. She came back state side in Novemeber. She did an internet search with Energy's first name and the word adoption, and was able to find the missions web page for our church. Our church sets up special accounts for certain projects so that people can contribute to a particular project and their donation is earmarked just for that fund and doesn't go into the church's general funds. An account like that was set up for us to help fund the costs of Energy's adoption. So, that's the page she found. She emailed the church secretary, who called the Jedi and with the Jedi's approval, forwarded the email to us.

We emailed her back last night and asked if we could call her. She promptly emailed a reply which said call her anytime, so we did. Right then and there. The Jedi was much more pumped about speaking to her than I was. I think partly because I'm really emotionally weary with how long this has gone on. On a subconsious level, hearing first hand accounts about Energy would just make me miss him more. But, still, it was so awesome to talk to her. She told us so much about Energy. It does hurt. I do want him to be able to come home to us soon.

but...he likes to eat. ;) he loves veggies. he's allergic to all tomatoes and tomato products. he loves to play outside and loves to play in the sandbox (we have a huge one). He loved to go to her classroom to visit the fish she had, which he called Nemo. He's very good at puzzles, she thinks he's very visual. He's bilingual. He likes to have stories read to him. He likes to cuddle. He's a little bit shy and quiet. There's an older boy there that he's good friends with and loves to play trucks with.

Then she told us two stories that just made us both not able to speak for a while. One was of an evening where he was crying and fussing. She said, "he just needed someone to cuddle him for a while, then he was fine." The other was of the picture of our family that he has. She said he would carry it around with him and clutch it to him. That one about did us in.

The good news is, we got an update (finally). His case came out of the PGN office with one objection...which was taken care of down in Guatemala and the case resubmitted. Typically, cases come out with 3-5 objections which get bounced back to the family in the states. So, I'm glad things were so promptly handled on that front.

Once the case has its final approval, they say its usually another 8 weeks before we get an appointment to appear in court and finalize the adoption in Guatemala. The Jedi says we might not get to bring him home before his birthday in May. I *NEED* to be able to bring him home before his birthday in May.

Two unrelated thoughts before I close. Mother's papsmear came back abnormal. The nurse called it "precancerous." Personally, because i'm good at living in denial, I'm thinking this means they do a hysterectomy as planned and there's no further issue. Smurf thinks that this means she actually does have cervical cancer, but it in the early stages and so hopefully hasn't spread yet. This is going to sound bizarre... but I'm really praying that Mother sees a seagull sometime today. They are her favorite birds, and I know that she'll take it as a sign that everything is going to be all right. It doesn't have to be a real seagull, though we do get them wheeling around parking lots in December and Janurary for some migratory reason I'll never figure out. But any image of a seagull. She needs a little encouragement that way.

Lastly, the trees are still covered with ice. The tree tops look loaded with diamonds in the sunlight. Our backyard trees have just been full of small birds flitting about this morning. One even flew over to the school room window and almost hovered for a moment before darting away. (yes, i know they can't really hover, i did say almost). I wish I had a bird feeder. If any of you know a nice link with instructions for making an EASY one, I'd love to see it.