Special Visitors

We have had a steady stream of visitors since Sophia was born. I've been grateful for the company while I've been home bound. I'm pretty sure this is the longest I've gone in my life without stepping outside, but I'm also cherishing the quiet time at home with baby!

This afternoon some tias and volunteers brought the oldest boys and girls to our place to meet the much-awaited baby.

First, the eight boys blasted in the door like a herd of wild buffalo!!

The three boys immediately grouped around her. What a moment!! (The tias - knowing of the pending adoption - were loudly whispering to me, "Take their picture, take their picture!!", haha.)

After picturing the three boys with their baby sister for months now, here they are!!

 

As the pictures show, the oldest at least were remarkably interested in the baby but after a few minutes, the search for Rusty (the cat) was on! The boys were all over the place, enjoying the outing.

The tias enjoyed the baby after that. :)

 Tia Sarin and Sophia

Then the boys and girls switched out, and six girls trooped in quiet as mice! Upon seeing me and the baby, they paused respectfully in the doorway, just staring - a completely different entrance than the boys!!

Diaper change during the girl's visit - they were curious about the umbilical cord stump!

The baby also held their attention much longer as they vied to hold her and take in every little feature.

(See Grandma B in the background? She arrived from Washington State two days after the baby!) 

Jhosie declared in awe that the baby had hairy arms just like her dad!

Abigail asked if the baby was going to learn to speak English.

They asked if they could take off her socks and see her little feet. We decided they were dry and I went for the lotion, first time to use it.

They also wanted to see the baby's crib.

Sophia did great with all the attention! She is one loved little baby.

My favorite questions of the day: "Tia, if the baby is out, why are you still gordita?" (a little fat) Jake said my organs needed to find their place again, an answer that was met with blank stares!

...and from Ana Maria, "Tia, are you going to have another baby?" I repeated the question back, not sure what she meant. "Yes, another baby, on my birthday?" Then I realized! I had told her, even the last time I saw her, that the baby might be born around her birthday (October 27). So today I tried to explain that this was the baby I was talking about and she's already here! We'll have to wait a bit for another. :)

She's Here!!!

Our precious baby has arrived!

 

 

Sophia Katherine Beaty

Sophia: "wisdom"

Katherine: "pure"


Sunday, October 13, 2013 at 4:55pm

Weight: 6 pounds, 9.7 ounces

Length: 20 inches

First picture with daddy

First family picture a few hours after birth



"To your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness."
Psalm 115:1 

Preparation of our Condo

The minute we decided to stay in our current place, at least for the next few months, we had a big list of improvements to make! It's been great to finally get books off the floor, some shelves hung, and - my personal favorite - our work off the dining room table and onto real DESKS!!

Since moving in last year, we had just one real bookshelf, so our books were stacked around the floors and walls.

  

It was great to get them off the floor and onto these cute little book shelves!

Our desks!! 

It's so wonderful to have a place to put papers and books, and not have to clear off the dining room table every time we eat.

Love these little flowers we got at the market last Saturday.

Speaking of flowers... Jake is quite the florist! He worked on these two arrangements for our table.

Because of the desks, we moved the table to this window "nook". That really opened up our dining room floor, one of my favorite changes!

Jake making pancakes

See the shelf with our spices and bread bin? We had a carpenter make the shelf to Jake's measurements and then Jake put it up for us. More counter space = ALWAYS helpful!

Another kitchen shelf that Jake hung up for me.

While Mom was here, we saw this bedspread set that Jake really liked. She bought it for us and now we have a real bedspread for the first time! (The ones I brought from the Baby Home were all stained by babies and years of usage.)

"Jesus is Lord, Beaty Family"

We even have a new good place for keys right by the front door, thanks to a cheap purchase in the max security prison.

So that's a little tour of our "new" place! We have been blessed! It's a little tight and will for sure "close in" on us a bit when all the kids arrive, but it's home for now. :)

Next up: Baby Shower pictures!

 

Preparation for the Baby!

It has been lots of fun getting out all of the baby's stuff and begin to sort and organize everything! There will be more when Jake's Mom arrives next week but we made a head start taking tags off and washing while my Mom was here. (This baby is BLESSED in the clothes department!!)

Mom worked until midnight the night before her trip sewing these beautiful, soft sheets for the crib! The quilt in the picture was Jake's as a baby. :) 

Mom decided the baby needed a mobile and we finally decided on this one. There aren't very good options here. The best we've had at the Baby Home have been hand made by the tias!

There were probably 4 or 5 loads of baby clothes?! The tiny socks got stuck in the front of my washer, so for future washes I'll need to put them inside something first.

Clothes were drying all over the place!!

Jake was thrilled...

The shelf that Jake and I bought from missionaries departing in June, sanded down, and re-varnished, is now being put to good use for all of baby's things in our room!

Mom recycled this ribbon, received in a baby shower gift, for hair bows!

I told Jake that I needed one rod to hang clothes, so he told me to find a bathroom towel bar. I found this one downtown and voila, Jake hung it in this cabinet in our closet! 

 

We also got a cherry red car seat that will soon be installed in my car! No stroller for now - I'll use baby slings and carriers at first.

 

All we lack now is the baby. :)

 

Preparation for the Boys!

While my Mom was here last week we worked hard on getting our little condo ready for the flood of children on the way! The next couple of posts will show the pictures of our progress. (If these bore you, I kind of think they will be way more interesting to our family and - maybe - close friends!)

The very first day she was here we spent the afternoon in La Cancha buying two sets of bunk beds and all the accompanying bedding.

Putting everything together!!

Mom, making the beds (she slept on one while here, and Jake's mom will be the next to use them!)

We love the shiny red and blue!

The boy's bathroom (or for now, visitor bathroom)

Maternity Photo Shoot

Here are a few (ah-hem) of my favorite pictures from our time with Elena in Cochabamba's Botanical Gardens in SPRING! I wouldn't have thought of doing this but Elena offered a couple of times. It was the first maternity session for both of us, but she did a great job, didn't she? Loved having Jake there for it, too.

My favorite!! The necklace was a Christmas present last year from Jake.

Elena announced our pregnancy to Casa de Amor supporters with this edited picture, so I brought it along

Love Jake's expression here!

Like this one a lot!!

So tiny!

First time with Elena as our photographer that we can kiss :)

The coloring here is fun

Gravity does a nice work on my belly bump here!!

Another favorite

The flowers and setting sun were gorgeous!

 

 A great idea Elena found before our session

 

Just hanging out by the fence, haha...

 

I was 8 months and 5 days here, on September 24. The time quickly approaches!! Sometimes I want her here soon and other times I think I'm okay waiting a while longer... :)

Coming Soon!

Apart from the baby :)

The thought never crossed my mind last year on October 27 (engagement pictures)....

...that on September 24 the very next year we would be taking maternity pictures!! :)

Thanks to the one-and-only Elena Alvarez, we have yet another set of special pictures to enjoy for years to come! I will soon share a few here.

Adoption Update III

There's not as much to report as we'd like, although as I compiled this list I realized there's been a little bit of progress.

~ Even with all the changes and set-backs due to new administration, SEDEGES finally passed on our pre-adoptive evaluations and the signed certificates of having completed the adoptive parents course (including the test) on to the court!

~ I picked up my "certificacion de visa de permanencia" last week from immigration. It was ready on the VERY DAY they said it would be, is that not amazing?!?

~ We now have ALL of the local paperwork we need, woo-hoo!

~ My Mom arrives tomorrow (yay!!) with our translated, legalized, signed-and-stamped-up copies of our certified birth certificates and wedding certificate. As we dealt with the states of Florida, Texas, and Washington, and varying instructions from the Bolivian Consulate in LA, it's been quite a feat to get these done long distance!!

~ Tomorrow I will take in our US legalized documents to our local "Cancilleria" for the local legalization stamp. I should be able to pick them up by Monday!

~ Our lawyer has contacted the US Embassy in La Paz to see if they would still grant visas to the boys (two years from now) even though we are adopting them before Jake has lived here with a residency visa for two years (part of the Bolivian law code but occasionally waived by the local courts). Apparently the United States IS strict even when it comes to following local laws, and could deny ever granting the boys visas if we don't do this "their way". So it seems worth checking into first and seeing if we need to change our request to guardianship, and wait two years to apply for the adoption and US visas. Sounds simple, but there are MANY benefits to going straight for the adoption, for both us and boys, so please pray for favor!!

~ Pray that we can soon present our big stack of papers in court for either the adoption or guardianship! We thought this step would happen on Monday, September 2, when the minor court was open again, and here we are still waiting.

Last night we had a wonderful visit with all the boys at CDA II! We've been so busy lately we haven't always been able to keep up our regular Tuesday visits so it was nice to be there. On the drive home Jake said we needed to get the ball rolling on the adoption ASAP! As soon as we hear back from the US Embassy in La Paz we should be able to take the next big step.

Thank you for your prayers that God's will would be done, and in His perfect timing!!

Baby Update :)

Today I'm at 8 months!! It's hard to believe! 

Two weeks ago today we had a wonderful sonogram! The baby moves like crazy and feels like all limbs. When we learned the weight it was more understandable - already 5 pounds at 7 1/2 months and measuring an average of a couple weeks ahead! We are SO grateful for the constant positive reports on the baby and pregnancy. I am very conscious that this is not always the case. God has truly blessed us!!

We didn't realize that such a good shot of our baby would be part of the sonogram, but surprise, here's the first picture!
 

This is seriously our last routine sonogram! I never thought I'd agree to so many (1 quick right at the beginning and then 3 more) but they are SO GREAT! The doctor orders them and we say, "Cool, let's take another peek!!" And we've spent around $120 versus what I've heard would cost 1000s of dollars in the US.

Last week we finally had the chance to go pick up a crib that Jake was offered months ago by Calvert's music teacher. The crib is originally from Switzerland but somehow made it's way here and has been passed from family to family. By this point, the crib has great character. It's perfect!

 The baby's bed in a corner of our bedroom

My Mom arrives a week from today to help us continue setting up the apartment for both the baby and the boys. She's been busy sewing sheets ever since I sent her the crib dimensions. Can't wait to have her here and do some major shopping and rearranging!!