Gotcha Day

4am came early yesterday morning. We have taken dozens of flights and had numerous journeys in our marriage, but none quite like this.

The first leg of the flight took us through Houston. After an hours layover we hopped onboard to Guatemala. The pilot said our flightplan was amended to skirt around the hurricane currently going through Mexico. As Geri was watching the inflight movie Monster In Law, I was listening to the IPod and thinking about...we'll I really had a tough time concentrating. My soul wanted to burst and flood out, so I sat there listening to Elton John with misty eyes.

In my excitement before we landed, I whipped out the video camera and started filming Guatemala City. That was until the militant flight attendant made me put it away. This is all probably caught on tape.

Once we landed, we were herded through a very lax customs dept. They pretty much just stamped our passport and sent us on our way. Walking out of the airport was a sight to behold. It was packed with locals. The interesting thing is they were not loud and respected your personal space. The traditional Mayan dress is absolutely beautiful and packed with colors. We then found our shuttle to the Radisson and took off to check in.

We arrived at the hotel and immediately met Edgar, our translator and guide for the next few days. He is a kind man who spent 10 years in California. We have waited a long time to be parents, but parenthood came very quickly. Before we had a chance to check in, in walked the foster mother, her grandson, and Benny! We cried. To ease the transition, Geri and I went up to the room by ourselves while they changed Benny in the lobby. Once again we hugged and cried. We were a family. It was as though an anchor dropped from my heart and firmly rested on a sun drenched sandbar. It felt good and right.

Once we pulled ourselves together and gathered the presents, we went down to meet them. From the get go, Benny felt perfect in our arms. He took to us like a gull takes to the wind. It is as if God answered our prayers for a laid back boy. He is certainly Chillin Like Dillon, and absolutely easy going. We spent the next few hours going over questions, and taking them to lunch. Benny was a trooper. The foster mothers grandson looked and acted remarkably like Mark Shaffer from CO.

Last night was great. It was recommended that because he slept with the foster mother, we should start out sleeping with him. This is what we did. He had been sleeping from 8 to 6am. He is taking after Geri. With the exception of 45 minutes last night, he slept from 8 to almost 8am. He has a funny Coooo and Ahhhhh when he gets tired. Here are a few other observations. He has a gentle personality like Gabrielle, and has stinky feet like Abby/Carly. He is going to fit in nicely.

I need to get back to check on my new family. Of course they are both napping. Once again, thank you for your prayers, cards, gifts, words of encouragement...God is great.