Pictures at Home

We've had many visitors over the past week and here are a few pictures. The first is Maya with her Grandma Gina; next is Maya with aunt Julie and the third is our long time friend Cathy with Maya.

More pictures from the day we met Maya. The first is Jack, Maya and Dina (Jack's best friend in Guatemala!) The second is Maya's first spin in her new stroller!

Johnson Family Visit

Maya met her grandpa and grandma Johnson, cousin Cody, aunt Julie and uncle Gabe this week! Here we are enjoying French Dip Sandwiches (one of my all time favorites)! We had a fun visit with the family and can't wait to do it again. Maya also took her first dip in the pool. She was tentative, but did okay. We took her in again today and she liked it a little better. This picture is courtesy of Gabe and his new, awesome camera!

Grandpa Bruce & Maya

More fun

Our first week at home

Maya is a true character just like Jack! They bring so much light and laughter to our life. It feels as if Maya has been in our family forever. Jack has been such a trooper and loves playing with his sister and helping me out with her. Aside from being really tired, I can't complain. Life is good :)

Saturday Adventure

On Saturday, we ventured out to the Central Park in Guatemala City. We walked around the inside of the Catholic Cathedral and it was literally a few city blocks long and wide. A wedding was about to start and the bride was in traditional Mayan clothing with a white veil. Her skirt and blouse were colorful and beautiful. We then ventured to the Central Mercado to do some shopping. The unique thing about this mercado is that it is underground. Nice and cool when it was warm and muggy on the street. The first picture is the front of our hotel, the second is all of us in front of the fountain in the park and the last one is a vendor we purchased Maya's hat from!

Jack and Maya

Russell's Point of View!

Russ is such a better writer and observer, so I thought I'd share what he has to say!

We are now getting acquainted with Maya. She is actually sleeping with Debbie in one bed now as she woke up earlier,and Jack got stuck with me in another. I am up early drinking caffee con leche (coffee with warm milk), and it is yummy.

Maya threw a major fit the first night (so did Jack!) but she is so well adjusted I can't believe it. For the most part she just goes with the flow--trying to talk, giggling, and even shaking her head NO at times! She likes to be bundled and does not like the cold; she also needs to sleep with a light on so that is an adjustment for us.

Our meeting with Maya the first day did not go smoothly at all because the translator never showed up but Maya did thankfully with the foster mother. We waited practically all day for the translator but in the end it seemed really not necessary. It is amazing how with a little spanish (Thankfully Debbie has retained a lot), a little english and lots of gestures two people can communicate. I kept throwing french in just to confuse the whole matter (not intentionally). Jack played all day with the highly spirited Dina, the foster mother's daughter. Our embassy appointment yesterday went well--actually we were in and out in less than 2 hours which amazed us from what we've heard from others in the past.

Feel free to send this email/or Debbie's link to anyone in the sphere of friends/family. Can't wait for you all to meet Maya. Jack is doing quite well and is happy to have a sister. That said, it is to be expected that Maya bugs Jack by touching his face all the time! Wait till she gets home and gets to his toys. He's had very minor regression during all this and will be a great older brother. Perhaps he's upset that he is charge of changing diapers. :o) (I jest). He really does love to play with her though.

The Day

I'm sorry we didn't get to post anything yesterday, but that is because our day was full of all things wonderful...meeting Maya! I can't even put into words the feelings as I met her in person for the very first time. She is every bit as wonderful as we could have ever imagined. Calm, happy, fiesty all at the same time! There was a mix-up with the translator who was supposed to help Vivian (the foster mom) and I communicate - in other words, the translator didn't show! Vivian and I worked hard and spent all day...my rusty Spanish...but we managed to learn the important stuff about Maya and her needs. Vivian is a special person and her daughter Dina (6 years old) was full of life and Jack spent the day playing with Dina and proving that with kids, language doesn't matter.

I will let these pictures tell the story of our day. I will try to post more tomorrow :)

Remembering Aunt BJ

Aunt BJ passed away Friday night and last night the whole family went to dinner together to celebrate uncle Howard's birthday and the life our aunt BJ. Aunt BJ was our link to my mom's mother who passed away when I was 8 months old. She was more than just my great aunt, she was like a mother to my own mom and she shared her love and attention with all of us California Smith's. We love and miss aunt BJ and I'm sure she and uncle Norm are doing the after-life up right and enjoying their evening oobley together! RIP

Almost 8 months old!

Thanks to Kelly Jo from our agency, I received a personal update on Maya today. Kelly Jo visited Maya and her foster mom on June 19th and we learned that Maya weighs 13 lbs 8 oz. She eats solid foods, mainly vegetable purees, chicken and fruit. Apple and papaya are her favorite. She sleeps through the night in her own crib. She is happy and content and Vivian says she is a very calm little girl. She likes to be tickled and loves to be sung to.

Family Time!

Here is Auntie Christine, Cephus and Ashley with Jack earlier today.

Hola, Maya

Two great surprises today...the first is we received a call from our agency that they had a disposable camera for us to pick up containing pics of Maya taken by her foster mom. I just returned from the 1-Hour Photo at Target and can hardly wait to share them with you. I think they were taken very recently. The second bit of good news came while I was at the agency. They'd just received a call from our attorney that Maya's new birth certificate and pertinent information have been submitted to the US Embassy to request our appointment date! I'm hoping we'll be traveling around July 23rd. Keep your good thoughts coming. We are so thankful that all is going well with the adoption and that Maya is healthy and happy. (Pardon the sideways picture, I didn't rotate and can't figure out how to delete!)

From the Archives

This family picture was taken in 2004 on one of the many visits of aunt BJ and uncle Norm. I came across it this morning and thought I would share. Uncle Norm passed away in December and we miss him dearly.

Happy Father's Day!

We started out with a plan to attend the pirate festival in Vallejo, but traffic heading toward the bay area was bad and so we made up a plan b and went to the new family park at the Nut Tree in Vacaville. We then had a yummy dinner at Mary's Pizza Shack in Dixon!

Graduation

All the preschoolers (25 from Mrs. Brown's morning class) and 25 from Ms. Renee's afternoon class, performed the "Three Piggy Opera" at graduation. They were adorable and did a terrific job! This year was extra special because it is the only year that Jack, Hal and Ryan will be in a class together. The 3 cousins had a really fun year together. Here are some pics from the event.

Last Day of Preschool

Two years of preschool in the book! Jack was so young when he started and now his definitely looks like a Kindergartner! Here is a pic of Jack with Ms. Renee - his awesome teacher for the past 2 years. Also a pic of Jack's favorite girls - Hailey, Charlee and Rachel.

I am a Guatemama!

We learned this afternoon that the Guatemala Attorney General's office has signed off on our adoption and so Maya is officially ours! 13 longs weeks of waiting in this final process. Very tough time emotionally, wondering if it would ever happen. We are so thankful and overjoyed. Of course, we'll be celebrating tonight at Chipotle for dinner and we'll have to follow-up with dinner at Ernesto's this weekend! The next step is for our attorney to get a new birth certificate listing us as parents and then we'll resquest an appointment with the US Embassy to obtain her travel visa. We hope to be in Guatemala, meeting Maya, in 4 to 6 weeks from now. I don't have any new pics of Maya to share, but I wanted to put one up anyway!

Fun with Friends

Last night, Jack played with his good friends, Tommy and Charlee and they had so much fun...and kept me busy! First, we took the car through the car wash...then it was on to McDonald's for McFlurry's...over to the park to play for about an hour and a half...a stop by Grammy and Papa's to say 'hello' and then home to our house to play with sidewalk chalk and ride scooters and big wheels. All that in 3 hours!