So, a quick update. We met Mason this morning around 9:50 am (mountain time) and we’re spending the day sitting around the pool. He’s been sleeping in the stroller for about an hour now and I just came up to get a good book (Embracing Grace by Scot McKnight – seems fitting). More later, but this morning was acutaully one of the hardest things we have ever done before. Amazing. Wonderful…and hard. No time to blog though…
Category: Adoption
-
August 3, 2007
Adoption Trip #5: A Quick Update.
-
August 2, 2007
Adoption Trip #4: Dear Mason…
Dear Mason, We haven’t met you yet. We’ve just seen pictures. I’ll be honest, you’re amazingly cute! I think I am safe assuming that you’ll be even more beautiful when we meet you. (I promise, I won’t call you beautiful when you are 13. But, I’m going to now because you are allowed to call babies beautiful). Tonight, on August 2, 2007, I am sitting in the Westin Casino Real Hotel in Guatemala City and I am fairly overwhelmed when this whole idea. In one sense, your mom and I have no clue what we are doing. We have no clue what to expect. It’s all pretty much like a dream. When we started this process in January of 2006, this moment seemed so far...Read More →
-
August 2, 2007
Adoption Trip #3: Hello Guatemala
So, I am sitting in lobby of perhaps the most beautiful hotel I have ever seen. This place is absolutely gorgeous. I love the architecture and the bed, well the bed is unbelievable! Oh, Apparently the president of Spain stays here when he visits. However, the guy in the shuttle said that George Bush is too good for this place. He stays somewhere else. Whatever. Aynways, the flights when as smooth as it possibly could have and we landed in Guatemala City at about 8:10pm. (We’re in the central time zone we’re two hours apart from the east coast. I guess that puts us in the mountian time zone). Customs was easy and we got our bags quickly and were helped by a kind Guatemalan...Read More →
-
August 2, 2007
Adoption Trip #2: The Philadelphia Airport Friday’s Stinks (Literally)
We’re sitting on the nice comfortable rocking chairs in the A Terminal of the Philadelphia International Airport. Our flight was delayed an hour so we had lunch at the Friday’s here in the terminal (which, by the way, had the slowest service ever – aren’t airport restaurant’s supposed to have quick and speedy service? Oh, and it smelled like someone had thrown up in there too) Anyways, since our flight was delayed we have only an hour to get through customs in Miami. We’ll see how that works out. If Miami has free WiFi or T-Mobile Wifi, and we have time, we’ll update from there…
-
August 2, 2007
Adoption Trip #1: And We’re Off!
The trip has begun. Melanie and I will be on the road in 15 minutes (10:00 am Eastern Time). Hopefully we’ll find some internet access along the way or when we get there and update you on things…
-
August 1, 2007
Guatemala Adoption Schedule
So, in less than 48 hours we are going to be holding our new son. (In case you are new around here, my wife and I are adopting a son from Guatemala). We started this process in January, 2006. So, as I am sure you can imagine we’re just a tad excited. Truth be told though, I have barely been able to process the idea in my brain let alone my heart. I am not too sure what kinds of emotions will come over me for the next few days. But, I am sure it will hit me either once we get on the plane or when we’re meeting the foster mom on Friday. So, here is the approximate schedule for us this week while...Read More →
-
July 26, 2007
Guatemala, Here We Come!
So, I’ve pretty much gotten no work done today what-so-ever. That’s because I’ve been fighting the annoying service known as Feedblitz which we USED to use for our weekly updates at The Well. But, since their service stinks, we’re now trying out listbox.com for sending out updates. We’ll see how that goes… Oh, the other reason that I have gotten nothing done today is because I’ve been trying to find tickets to Guatemala for next week. That’s right, we got the call and we’re headed down there next Thursday and will get back the following Wednesday. So, lots to do in the next week… Its weird that this is becoming reality…
-
July 16, 2007
Processing Loss…and blessing…
It is painful to share, but my wife Melanie had a miscarriage early Monday morning. She is physically doing alright and will have some minor surgery on Tuesday morning. I was just observing yesterday with a friend how our family has gone through a roller coaster of emotions with the news that our son Mason is almost ready to come home from Guatemala in addition to recently finding out we’re pregnant. Little did I know that this roller coaster was far from over as we processed this today… I had just recently began to comprehend a little better that idea that we’d have three kids by February. As crazy as that sounded, I was so excited about it. Two kids in six months. That’s exciting....Read More →
-
July 7, 2007
Our Adoption is D-O-N-E!
Yep, that’s right. Its been a crazy two weeks around the Hiestand house. First comes news of another new baby and Friday night we heard from our adoption agency that we are officially done with the final part of the adoption process. (Actually, the papers were signed off on May 11 and they sat on a desk till yesterday to officially signed off on – sigh). Anyways…since we are out of PGN (that’s what they call the last process) we are waiting for our embassy appointment down in Guatemala. We’re hoping to head down there the first week or so of August, we’ll get informed of the date in about 1-2 weeks and then we’ll have week or so to scramble for tickets and get...Read More →
-
July 2, 2007
My Wife is Pregnant…
Yeah, that’s right. We’re hopefully about 5-7 weeks away from finalizing our adoption and it turns out my lovely wife is definitely prego. She’s about 2.5 months along and after a week of walking around like deer in headlights, we’re starting to try and figure this whole “2 kids in 6 months” thing out. It should be a good time! So, considering this means we live in a two bedroom apartment and my car (which is a hunk of junk by the way) is the only one that will (barely) fit three car seats, we’re looking at some major changes in the next 6-8 months. So yeah. Whoops. :)
-
February 21, 2007
Simply Christian book Summary
I am working through a book study of Simply Christian by NT Wright at my church. Below you will find my one page summary of the book for this group. I basically tried to summarize each section and I took most of it out of his introduction where he kindly gives us somewhat of an outline. Introduction / Summary to “Simply Christian” by NT Wright Aim of the Book: To explain what Christianity is all about, both to commend it to those outside the faith and to explain it to those inside… Part One: The Echo’s of a Voice Four Areas where we see / hear the “Echo of a Voice” - The Longing for Justice - The Quest for Spirituality - The Hunger for...Read More →
-
February 20, 2007
Adoption Update
From my wife’s adoption blog: “we got out of Family Court on Friday and will be in PGN by Thursday or Friday! I am so excited!!!! The timeline in my head is right on, so far. We are still hoping to go pick him up sometime in April. Please be praying we get a good reviewer in PGN and that we don’t get any kickouts! PGN, for those of you confused now, is the final stage in this process. It is where they look at ALL the paperwork that has been done. This is the point where all the paperwork that we did, and had to re-do, matters. We could get kickout for something as simple as the reviewer not being able to see one...Read More →
-
January 20, 2007
New Mason Pictures
We have some new pictures of our soon-to-be-adopted son Mason. If you haven’t been paying attention, we’re adopting from Guatemala and we’re hoping to bring him home in April or May. View these pictures at top of my blog or head to our flickr account.
-
January 4, 2007
Adoption: One Step Closer
My wife posted our latest update on our adoption. The birth mom and Mason had to do a DNA test to make sure she was actually his mother. Sounds kinda weird, but its a big step in the process. Read more about it here…
-
December 27, 2006
Official Adoption Update (with pictures!)
View all the pictures we received for this update! We received an update from our adoption agency today! Below is the message they sent with a description of how Carlos is doing. We’re assuming from the description below that he doesn’t sleep in the bath :) FYI, He’s not home yet! We are praying that we’ll be able to head to Guatemala in April / May to bring him home. BABY: CARLOS ARMANDO ESCOBAR BORN: OCTOBER 30th 2006 HE DRINKS 3 FL. OZ. OF FORMULA ENFAMIL PREMIUM I EVERY 2 HOURS HE LIKES BATH AT 7:00 P.M. HE SLEEPS AT 7:00 P.M. HE WAKES UP EVERY 2 HOURS
-
November 29, 2006
Mason Carlos – 1 month…
Today our celebrates his one month birthday. It is still strange to know that the little boy in this picture will grow up in our home and call me daddy and call my wife mommy. (Unless he is like Cole and decides we must be called “dad” and “mom”). We know that he is in a very loving foster family that loves Jesus. Last week we sent down a cute little pair of pajamas, a little stuffed animal and a CD that we’ll play for him when we bring him home to make him a little more comfortable and have some kind of feeling of “home.” The process in Guatemala has started. We officially have released power of attorney to a woman down there who...Read More →
-
November 12, 2006
Meet Carlos, our new son…
Allow me the pleasure of introducing to you our new soon to be adopted son! We just got our referral, which is kind of like the ultimate ultrasound because we get pictures instead of a blurry, grainy black and white image. Carlos Armando Escobar Soto (Yes, Cole is disturbed because his name is not “Mason,” we’ll work that out later!) Born October 30, 2006 at 6:30pm in Colonia de la Independencia, Guatemala We’re not sure when we will get to bring him home from Guatemala so there will be more details to follow (update: apparently it will be about 5-6 months)…for now, just take a good look at our beautiful child. UPDATE: So, we just found out that we need to send $10,000 to Guatemala...Read More →
-
August 9, 2006
Our Son is Out There Somewhere…
No, we didn’t lose Cole in the woods or anything, but I’m talking about our adoption. We’re getting down to the point where we might have some information about our child any day now. Its crazy to think that the child is going to grow up in our family is out there somewhere. Of course, as you can read below we’re short on the caish but a little cash advance from our credit card will solve that right quick! From Melanie’s Blog I just talked to Teresa today and she said she is pretty sure we are second on the list. She said to be ready in the next few weeks. Yeah!!! But this is also a little nerve wracking because we are still a...Read More →
-
July 14, 2006
Adoption News!
We’re one step closer to “meeting” our child from Guatemala! We got an important paper in the mail yesterday. From my wife’s blog: [This] is the paper we have been waiting on from immigration stating that we are approved to adopt. Now we send that, along with our dossier, to Guatemala and will be able to get a referral very soon!!!! Go to her site and read more…
-
June 30, 2006
Somewhere in Guatemala…
Somewhere in Guatemala, there is a single mother carrying the child that my wife and I will raise as part of our family. I imagine It’s likely that she is young, barely 16. Quite possibly, has been sent to the city to carry and birth the child to save her family the shame. Is she alone? Is she searching for a place to lay here head at the moment? Has she found a place to rest and sleep during her pregnancy? How tall is she? Does she believe in God? We do know that she is likely entering the 8th to 9th month of her pregnancy and the child will be born in mid-august. It’s all a strange thought really. Next January we hope to...Read More →
