The Coan-Stevens Family at home

Things are going really well! L met Hilly today (my cousins Chris and Maria had been watching Hilly and brought her home today).

Hilly and L get along really well. L took to her "chucho" right away. She was a bit scared to touch her at first, and a bit afraid of Hilly's kisses. But that passed quickly enough.

Time at home these past two days has been nice. We've taken L on a couple of walks around the neighborhood (once with Hilly), but not too far yet.

Since it's been so wet outside, we haven't made it to the playground yet.

L met a few neighbors yesterday and today, plus her cousins Chris and Maria of course. She's been really easy going with everybody, if a little shy at times.

Hopefully this week she will meet my parents, brothers and sisters. We're hoping this weekend she'll meet Glenn's brother, Mark, and his family - and maybe even a couple more friends.

But we are taking it slow and staying really local - probably no car rides for a couple more days.

Yesterday, since we had no food in the house, we took her out to breakfast. The ride there was fine, but coming back she freaked out in the car.

Guatemala seems almost like a dream. I still look at L in the house with us and can't believe it at times!

We are HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We got home last night... plane landed at about 9:45 and we were home by 11:30 or so.

L did really well on both planes. Well, she did have a fit both times while taxing down the runway. But she could have been screaming during the whole flight, right?

Everything went really smoothly - from the taxi to the airport in Guatemala, to Immigration in Houston, to getting our bags in DC.

When I saw the Washington Monument, tears came to my eyes. Home! That really is a wonderful word.

I don't know how to thank everyone for all the support offered during my month in Guatemala. There are not words to express it.

Will post more tonight/tomorrow.

Adios Guatemala!

This is it, my final blog post from Guatemala. I hope to keep posting from home during our transition. Not sure for how long, but at least for the first few days.

Today we did not have to awake early or be anywhere until our appointment to pick up L's visa at 3:30. So we took it leisurely.

Morning was a slow wake up, followed by breakfast, and a dip in the pool (well, just L and I went to the pool while Glenn enjoyed the jacuzzi tub).

After breakfast, we took a walk around the neighborhood, known as Ciudad Vieja, around the US Embassy.

It's much more residential then just a few blocks away where L and I had been living. It was nice to walk down quiet streets without the roar of traffic and plumes of exhaust.

We returned to the hotel for an early lunch and naptime. L's been much easier to get to nap and sleep at night since Glenn's been here. I don't know if it's because I'm just so much more at ease or what.

We hung around the hotel room and played until about 3 to head over to the Embassy.

At the Embassy, we saw another mother we had met yesterday. She's actually going to be on our flight to Houston tomorrow. We exchanged e-mails and chatted.

At right around 3:30, our name was called and we were given L's visa plus her special packet of documents for Immigration.

After that, we took another brief walk looking for somewhere else to eat besides the hotel. But we were just so tired, we decided just to eat here.

There was some special meeting going on in the banquet room here. Lots of men in suits with drivers and SUVs. Not sure what that was all about.

Bedtime took a while, but L wasn't acting up too much. Just giddy, which is a good thing.

I'm so happy to say "adios," to Guatemala. But despite all it's shortcomings, it is a nice country.

I hope the recent political scandal (involving the murder of a prominent lawyer who video taped a message right before he was murdered blaming his own death on the Guatemalan president) doesn't distabilize this place. It has so much potential to be a great nation.

Our plane takes off around midday tomorrow (Guatemala time). We fly through Houston and arrive in DC late (like at 11 pm).

We will catch up with everyone over the coming week or so -- again, I hope to keep posting at least for the first few days.

We are praying for a safe, uneventful flight back. We will get to see many of you soon - yeah!!

So close, I can taste it

Well, as I posted earlier, L's visa was approved this morning and we are coming home Friday.

This morning we had to arise fairly early to get to the US EMbassy by 7:15. Mind you, our hotel is one block away. So it wasn't so bad.

Last night we hit a rough patch when L awoke around 11 p.m. I tried to get her back to sleep for about and hour, and then Glenn took over with her bottle. I think she fell asleep about 12:30 a.m.

It was SO NICE to have Glenn take over. I fell asleep and actually slept soundly straight until a little after 5 a.m. Not a ton of sleep, but the most restful I've had in a long time.

We got ourselves out the door and to the Embassy. There were only three other adoptive families there. (Yesterday, there were about five).

The entire process at the Embassy took about 2 hours, most of it just waiting. The two interviews we went through -- on with Homeland Security, the other with the State Department -- were brief.

L did great. There were a lot of Guatemalan citizens there getting their visas to come to the US. It was crowded, but she did really well with the waiting. There was a lot of walking around in a big circle and playing at the windows with a little boy.

Once we heard the words "your visa has been approved," said by the foreign service officer, my heart leapt! It's really happening folks.

We pick up the visa tomorrow at 3:30 p.m.

After leaving the Embassy, we ate breakfast and then decided we better book our flight for Friday instead of Saturday. Why wait one more day to come home?

Well, after about an hour on the phone with Continental (and being cut off twice), we finally made Glenn and L's plane reservations online (mine had actually been completed on the phone).

By then, we were all ready for a nap. L went down very quickly & Glenn and I got to doze a bit too.

We decided to lunch at our fave restaurant, La Boqueria. The chef/owner, Cristina, was there and she congratulated us on finally being able to take L home.

We had a big, wonderful lunch and then I had to take Glenn to Fontabella Plaza since about half my time here has been spent there ;)

L, of course, ran between the two fountains. We then hit the Gallo boutique, so Glenn could get a Gallo t-shirt.

Then I took him to Sophos for a cortado (espresso with a bit of milk). We bought a couple more books for L.

Then it was back to the hotel for some pool time, play time, and bath time. Dinner wasn't as good as last night - although the corn soup was yummo!

L was getting really drowsy at the dinner table so it wasn't long after we came back from dinner that she was asleep.

Things are just really great right now. We'll see how it all goes on the flights home, and once we are home.

Will try to post tomorrow but may not be able to post again until Sunday or Monday as I expect the transition home will be an adventure! We hope to start introducing L to the family next week.

Thanks to all for the well wishes! We could never have done this without everyone's constant support and love.

Visa approved! We are coming home FRIDAY!

Quick update: Visa appointment went smoothly this morning.

We can pick up L's visa tomorrow at 3:30.

We are coming home FRIDAY instead of Saturday!!!!

Alleluia, Alleluia!

Tomorrow, I love ya!

Well, this morning I was a wreck! But, as I wrote earlier, we got a new appointment for tomorrow.

Glenn's plane from Miami was delayed about an hour. I nearly lost it! I just did not want to have to go walk the streets alone with L one more time. But we had to get out.

So we did we go, where else? Fontabella Plaza because I just didn't know what else to do.

As usual, L ran around the fountains and then we ate at Sophos, an upscale bookstore and cafe.

Lunch was really yummy! Carrot salad followed by steak with a lime pesto and rotini with basil. It was almost like being home.

We headed back to the hotel to rest a bit before leaving to get Glenn. L fell asleep in her stroller. But when I tried to get her to sleep in her crib, no luck. We had about 30 minutes of quiet time. (Oh yeah, they were cleaning the room when we came back so that didn't help.)

We left for the airport and when we got there we heard the plane was delayed an additional 30 minutes. So we waited, with me holding L the entire time.

When I saw Glenn, tears came into my eyes. I had missed him so much. L cried too -- but more out of anxiety! Glenn gave her a Guatemalan worry doll and that seemed to break the ice.

On the car ride back to the hotel, Glenn bonded with her more -- being silly and playing.

She was really excited by the time we got back "home." She showing him all her toys and books. It was awesome!

Glenn and I decided to move to anther hotel, with a pool, that is on the same block as the US Embassy. I hurriedly packed a month's worth of stuff - not only the things I had brought with me but all the accumulated stuff as well. Wow, that was something!

We checked out of what has been my home base for the last month and headed in a cab to our new home, the Hotel San Carlos, about 6 blocks away. What a nice change. The place is small, the pool is small, but the room is big!

Only thing is, it has a jacuzzi tub and now I am wishing I had packed L's little bath. Giving her a bath in that is going to be fun!

We went to the pool for a few minutes. Glenn and L had such fun. And she keeps calling him "daddy" all the time!

We ate a lovely dinner on the front patio. Who should call when we were wrapping up dinner? "Gina."

I had texted her that we couldn't meet until after 5 p.m. But of course she didn't call back. She just showed up at the old hotel. But, as it is like 6 blocks away, they ("Gina," her brother, and her boyfriend) were there in no time.

She turned over all the original docs to us -- original birth certificate, adoption decree, adption opinion from Guatemalan government. We actually had a very civil conversation. I told her our appointment was tomorrow and that we were leaving this weekend.

I kind of didn't want them to know where we were staying, but oh well.

After dinner we had to dash to the only ATM I know of that gives out US currency to pay for L's visa at our appointment tomorrow. (They have a credit card machine, but apparently it breaks down all the time).

So, hoping all goes well tomorrow. We should pick up her visa Thursday afternoon. We plan to fly home Saturday!!!

Thanks for the thoughts & prayers again!

New Embassy appointment tomorrow. Home SATURDAY!!!

Went to Embassy this a.m. They just wrote the new date on my paper, initialed it, and said I could come back tomorrow.

This afternoon we have to pay off "Gina" and get the rest of our docs (not needed for Embassy, just for us)

Glenn will be here in three hours! We will be home SATURDAY!

Alleluia, we are almost there.

Thank you for the prayers and thoughts!