Yesterday we celebrated Matthew’s Gotcha Day with Pollo en Pena (Chicken with pineapple) and Pan Dulce (sweet breads). What a wonderful meal!

We then watched Matthew’s video from when he was just eight days old. He was so small and so cute but he looked right into the camera. When he did that on that day we knew he was ours and I am forever grateful to EAC and Hector and everyone who helped bring our son home.

We were so blessed to bring our son home right before Chirstmas. So many others are still waiting! Please continue to pray that the children of Guatemala will be safe this Christmas and that those families who are waiting will have peace as they continue their wait.

Blessings,

Jodi

As Matthew’s Gotcha Day approaches I have been thinking a lot about where he was born. Mixco, is a southwestern suburb of Guatemala City with a population of over 400,000 people. The “small village” is nestled at the base of the mountain and separated from Guatemala City by large canyons.The Ancient Mayans called it Mixconco, meaning place in the clouds.

On my last visit to Guatemla, I got to see where my son was born. The clouds form all around the canyons and seem to cover Mixco and protect it from the rest of the city.  It really is a “place in the clouds.”

There have been many bridges built across the canyons.  Matthews birth mom traveled to Mixco to deliver. I can’t help but wonder if she had to walk across one of those many bridges. As this special day approaches for us I know his birth mom is thinking about him too and wondering where and how he is. We are so thankful to Mary Magdelena for such a special gift! We hope she is well and safe.

I ALWAYS welcome the opportunity to tell our story and this week has been overwhelming with people coming to me asking me “how we did it.” When we were contemplating adoption and just starting out I would see people everywhere with children that “looked adopted” and I was so afraid to talk to them, but I wanted to so badly. I had thousands of questions and I so wanted to reach out to them. I felt like if I was talking about it, it would lessen my anxiety. So I vowed that when we brought our son home, I would share my story with everyone. I wouldn’t wait for people to come to me. I prayed I would recognize those who needed to hear my story and that God would put me in the right place and give me the words to share our adoption story.

On Friday my son was getting his hair cut. There was only one other family in the salon and who would have thought that would be the perfect place to share our story. The stylist asked me where my son got all his beautiful curls from ? I simply said, from his birth mom. She looked at me kind of puzzled. So I started telling her our story. Read More→