January Visit Trip Details - part 1

I'm going to do my best to capture our 6 days in Guatemala. I'll try to list things based on the chronology of events, and will elaborate as well on some of the high points.

Saturday 1/13 - finished all of the packing, Krista went to the doctor and was diagnosed with bronchitis, Max went to the doctor with a virus/fever. Mommy & Max went to bed at 7:30pm and got up at 10:30pm. Daddy & Uncle Mike had the car loaded and we left for the airport at 11:00pm.

Sunday 1/14 - killed two hours at the airport international terminal (basically a ghost town!). Thankfully, Max was feeling better and wasn't too much of a bear with the disrupted schedule. Our flight left Chicago for Guat City at 2:30am. Uneventful flight, we slept off and on for the four hours and arrived at Guat City at 6:30 am. Got through Immigration and Customs, got our luggage, and had someone help us outside with our luggage. Finally made it to the shuttle for our hotel and were on our way! I must say, the experience at the airport was not too scary, although the entire place was VERY run-down and everything appeared to be in mid-construction. We were surprised at how many people were outside of the airport milling about and selling stuff... even at 6:30 am on a Sunday morning!

Our driver took off for the hotel, which is about 10 minutes from the airport. The drive was interesting... no speed limits, no lane markers, no turn signals, cars zipping around and cutting each other off! On top of that, there are no car seats or seatbelts, so we were doing our best to hold on to Max! As we tried to soak up the sights, we were amazed by the constant state of disrepair that prevailed in the city. Shacks, tin roofs, crumbling buildings, construction and people everywhere. Especially startling were all of the armed guards in the streets and in front of buildings. Whether they are military, police, private guards... they carry VERY large guns and are rather intimidating to someone not used to seeing this! We prepared Max for the fact that he would see men with guns, but that he should not be scared because they were the good guys! He accepted our explanation and never really questioned it.

Even though we got to the hotel at 7:30am, they had our room ready for us!! Thank God! We were already feeling the excitement and adrenaline about meeting Liliana. And after the overnight travel and limited sleep, it was a good thing that we were able to go to our suite and get settled. We were fortunate to have located another family adopting through our agency who was visiting at the same time and staying in our hotel (Misty, Chris & their 10 year old Madisyn). We had corresponded via email prior to the trip and they were planning to take pictures for us when we met Lili for the first time. I called Misty to touch base... we had arranged that we would get Lili at 10am in the lobby, so Misty agreed to meet as at 9:45am. We were so excited, all three of us... we were bouncing of the walls! We went to the lobby at 9:30am, Misty showed up at 9:45 with Baby Lyza (who's exactly one month older than Lili!!!), and then Chris & Madisyn arrived shortly thereafter. We waited until 10:30 for either the foster family or our agency coordinators (Andrea & Rafael) to arrive. When I finally made a move to find a phone to call Andrea, Misty came running to tell me that Andrea & Rafael had arrived. They live in Guatemala, are employed by our agency, and are ANGELS! They facilitate baby drop-offs between foster & adoptive families, translate, take monthly photos of the babies to send to families in the US, escort adoptive families to embassy and doctor appointments, and pretty much oversee everything that occurs in Guatemala as it relates to the adoption process. We were able to speak with them for several minutes before Moses finally gave in to Max's request to go back to the room to retrieve his beloved puppy blankie.

And, I'm sure you can guess what happened next.... the foster family arrived with Lili! Andrea & Rafael had never met our foster mother, Ligia, before, nor had they met Lili. The only information that we had (which was likely dated) was that Ligia was single and a stylist. Ends up, she is married, has three daughters and is fostering for the first time. Our hotel is very adoption friendly, so there are lots of people in and out of the lobby area dropping off and picking up babies. Andrea approached the family, who looked a bit lost, as they stood across the lobby from us. There was Ligia, her husband Angel and their three daughters Jessica, Josselin and Susana. They had Lili, but we couldn't see her because she was completely covered with blankets (the Guatemalan people typically bundle up the babies, so we knew to expect this). When Andrea determined that this was our foster family and our baby Lili, she brought them over to me and made introductions. Misty was taking pictures, Chris was videotaping, and Moses and Max were still upstairs!!!

Never, as long as I live, will I forget the next few moments. Once introductions were made, Andrea asked the family to uncover Lili and hand her to me. The oldest daughter was holding Lili - she removed the top blanket, and all I could see was the orange blanket that was used for Lili's first pictures!!! There is a story behind the orange blanket that I will share at a later time, but it added another special moment to our meeting. Finally, snuggled up in the bundle of blankets, I saw the most beautiful and tiny face.... my daughter, my angel, my Lili. She was more beautiful than I ever could have imagined. And so perfectly delicate and feminine! Through my tears I reached out to take her.... and that first moment was perfect and more wonderful than I ever dreamt. I kissed her, and smelled her baby smell, and looked into her eyes... and then I prepared for the moment when she would meet her Daddy and her big brother, Max.

I have to say... when I first realized that I was going to meet the foster family and Lili before Moses & Max got back, I was kind of panicked. I thought, "Wait, someone push the pause button!" In hindsight, I am so glad that things worked out as they did. Because I had the few minutes to meet the family and Lili and to take her all in, I was then able to switch my attention to Moses and Max and watch their first meeting with our newest little Arenas. It was a priceless moment. The elevators at the hotel are glass elevators that face the lobby... as they were riding down we were able to see them coming. Max was yelling in the elevator that "Mommy has our baby!!!" And just seconds after the elevator doors opened, Max and Moses came running around the corner to meet Lili. The smiles on their faces were huge... genuine... deep. There were a few moments of chaos as Max clamored to hold Lili, but finally Moses picked him up so that he could see her more closely. Max was ecstatic. Moses was grinning from ear-to-ear. I handed Lili to Moses and then picked up Max. He immediately gave her the teddy blankie that he bought for her (just like his puppy blankie, his most prized possession). And then he hugged and kissed her. The sweetest moment to witness. My loving and beautiful son meeting our new amazing daughter for the first time... and he was immediately in love!

We spent about 15 minutes in the lobby talking with the foster family about Lili's schedule, getting their telephone numbers, giving them the gifts and baby items that we had brought, and making plans for later in the week. Once we were finished, the foster family, Andrea & Rafael left. We thanked Misty, Chris & their girls, and then went to our room to marvel at our beautiful miracle of a daughter! We spent a couple of hours just looking at her, taking her clothes off and absorbing every little inch of her. We were all exhausted, so after a bottle for Lili we all took a nap. After our nap, we did venture out to the mall that's attached to the hotel to get something to eat and to go to the pharmacy for bottled water and pop. The rest of the evening we spent in our room as a family... trying to get settled, enjoying our first day together.

That first night was pretty exhausting... between trying to get a handle on Lili's schedule (she was taking only 2 ounces every 2-3 hours!), lack of sleep from our night of travelling, and my bronchitis (which had worsened after the flight!), we were really struggling just to get through the night. But we were ok with that, in light of the beautiful gift that we'd been given. What a wonderful and amazing day!!!