Happy Gotcha Day Peter...

We can't believe it's been 3 years since Peter was put in our arms forever! On March 6th, 2006 we went to Guatemala to pick up our son. On March 13th, was Peter's Embassy appointment, when he became officially ours. On March 15th, we came home with our son at exactly 6 months old. Peter is such a blessing.

Today, Peter wanted to go out to Dinner for this special day - and the only place he wanted to go was the Chinese Buffet. He just loves the "all you can eat peel and eat shrimp" (mommy has to peel it for him, otherwise he would just eat the entire thing), and he loves to look at the big koi fish they have in a huge pool as soon as you walk in. Afterwards, we had his favorite- vanilla ice cream with sprinkles. Peter has added so much love, happiness, and joy to our family! We are so blessed to have him as our son.


Our Adoption Story - During our adoption - Beth our coordinator from FTIA always asked me to write a story about our adoption and the friends we made during it for the FTIA website. Well, I never had the chance to do it 3 years ago - so I decided to do it now.

Juan Carlos (Peter) was born on September 15, 2005 in Guatemala City, Guatemala, a city known for pottery. He weighed 8.4 pounds and was 19.7 inches long. He was in private foster care in Guatemala City where he lived for 6 months with his foster mom (Sandra) & her family. There was another boy also in forster care with Peter with another agency, who had the same name. Sandra (the forster mother) decided to give Peter the nickname of "little coyote" - since both boys were named Juan. We asked about the nickname, and Sandra told us that Peter was so cute - he was a little coyote.

In the beginning of our adoption journey, FTIA our agency - had a yahoo group where other family members from all over the U.S. were able to chat with one another and give each other support. During our adoption journey we have met quite a few of the families on the yahoo group - whether in Guatemala or at the FTIA East Coast Picnic. It was nice meeting so many of them, since we shared the same bond - adopting our baby from Guatemala. To this day, I still go onto that Yahoo group - to give support to the families that are still waiting to bring their baby home.

The social worker who did our Home Study along with a couple of other families adopting from the same agency (FTIA) & Country (Guatemala) gave us their names and phone numbers. Their names were Pam O. adopting Emily & Cathy S. adopting Maria, who lived in the area. I called Pam and Cathy and we planned to meet for lunch. Emily's mom, Pam O. and I became very good friends. We kept in touch with Cathy via emails, because she was working full time. Pam was a stay at home mom, and I worked for my husband's business keeping the books in order - so I had a very flexible schedule. God placed us together and had the perfect plan in place long before we ever realized it. During our adoption we were calling each other everyday - giving each other support, we were emailing each other also everyday - for that "positive thinking pep talk." We had the same coordinator at FTIA, and we took turns who would call Beth in the morning and who would call her in the afternoon for some good news. Beth was our "booster shot" when things weren't looking like they were moving. I kept in touch with the foster family - which also helped a great deal during this adoption roller coaster. While our adoption was moving, Pam's adoption hit a couple of road blocks. But, Pam and I got the chance in February '06 to go to visit our babies in Guatemala for a week. At that time I was in PGN not knowing when we would get out - since the Dr. who delivered Peter was against adoptions and refused to give the necessary paperwork to our lawyer to proceed with the adoption. And Pam was stuck with some paperwork head ache, and she was getting very frustrated, that her case wasn't going anywhere. It was an amazing time of bonding with our babies that we will never forget. After that trip we were more determined to get our babies home. Shortly after returning home, we got that phone call that we were out of PGN - who would of figured - it felt like I just left Guatemala and we were heading right back to get our son (we came home the day before Valentine's day and was heading back to Guatemala on March 6th). It was hard to be soo happy, knowing that Pam was still waiting to move ahead in this crazy process of international adoption. But Pam O. was a trooper - she was very happy for us, and she continued to think "positive" that her daughter would be home right after us. Once Peter was home, Margaret kept on cheering for Pam and her family until their daughter came home a month later. It was nice to take this roller coaster ride with Pam O. - we had our happy moments, sad moments, and frustrated moments together and always had that shoulder there whenever it was needed. Sure we had our husband's, but hey just didn't understand everything that was going on and what was involved and what was taking place, like us - the moms!

It's been 3 years and Pam and I remain great friends - we've made friends for life with the O'Dea family. We look forward to many years of watching both our kids grow up. Peter and Emily are the best of Pals. We do plan play dates for the kids to play, lately it's not as many - with pre school and everything else going on, but we try to get the kids together often to play, especially since they are always asking about each other. We went on vacation to Alaska with the O'Dea's and that was fun and Emily and Peter just loved having their pal around all the time.

We also became good friends with Julie M. and her family. Julie also adopted with FTIA and was on the yahoo group. When we went to Guatemala to visit Peter the day after Christmas '05, Julie and her husband was doing the same thing from Buffalo, New York. We knew we would run into a few families at the Marriott as per the yahoo group - a few families were visiting the same time we were, but we didn't know it would be in the airport waiting for the shuttle to pick us up to take us to the Marriott. We noticed Julie having an empty stroller and she noticed us having an empty stroller - and at the same time we asked each other if we were adopting and what agency we were using. It was so weird how we were both from New York, using the same agency and being in Guatemala at the same time visiting our babies. We hit it off right there - it was just meant to be - for us to be friends. For the week we were in Guatemala we spent the entire time together with Macie and her parents Julie & Dave. We went sight seeing, went swimming in the pool, they came along for the drive to see our lawyer to give him a gift - that is when we found out that we had the same lawyer too. We did everything together and had a wonderful time. This was the trip where Margaret got an email from our lawyer at 11pm informing us about the Dr. who delivered Peter was not cooperating and refused to give our lawyer the paperwork to continue the adoption. Margaret was a wreck and poor Fabio - he was gentlemen in the business center who was there when I got the email and he translated it for me. Fabio was great - he gave me suggestions on what I should do and where I should go. If you remember I told you about Fabio when we picked up Anna because he picked up Peter's foster family to visit us while we were in Guatemala to bring Anna home. I remember calling Julie that night at 11pm in her room, just sobbing - she came right away to the business center to give support. At that point I knew I had to go to the U.S. Embassy first thing tomorrow morning and talk to them about what the Dr. was doing. Fabio suggested not to bring Peter, because he said it is very hectic there and it wasn't the place to bring a baby - so even though I only knew Julie for just a couple of days - I trusted her and asked her to watch Peter while we ran to the U. S. Embassy. After talking to our Country Coordinator - I went to our room to tell Kerry what was going on and what we needed to do - it wasn't something to discuss - it was something that a mother (me) needed to do for her son. The next morning we got up early and left Peter with Julie and Dave while we went to the U.S. Embassy - we found out that it was New Year's Eve and they were closed but the guards said that I can write a note and they would give it to them. So we stood there and wrote a note explaining the situation and gave it to the guards. We went back to the Marriott and met Julie and Dave in the lobby with our son and their daughter - and we had breakfast together. Then it was time to head home - Dave & Julie flew back to Buffalo, while we flew back to Long Island. After the trip, Julie and I kept in touch via emails, phone calls and texting - we all went back to Guatemala together for our pick up trip to bring our babies home - it was a great celebration.

Over the past 3 years, Julie and I still keep in touch via emails, texting, and phone calls. We have gone on vacations during school breaks, and during the summer. Just this past winter we all rented a house to play in the snow and go snowmobiling - it was a great time. Julie and her family lives in Buffalo - that isn't exactly in the neighborhood, so our get togethers/play dates
involve vacations. It's about a 10-12 hour road trip to get to Julie's, where Pam is about a 15-25 minute road trip.

You know, I sit here and I am amazed that I remember the above, as if it was yesterday. Just goes to show that good memories are never forgotten.

To Pam and Julie - Thanks!