Like mommy...Like daughter:)

An Enchanted Beauty Salon
(a Christmas present from grandma and grandpa a couple years ago actually)

Making a Thank You card for her a friend named "Nanna" who shared her ice cream with her!:)

A visit and A SWEET GIFT from our friends, Maria Elena and Raul.
They sincerely LOVE her!:)
We are so thankful for all they have done for us and the important role they play in our story!

CELEBRATING ANOTHER VICTORY IN PERU!!

Hot Water for our friends at Nuevo Futura

Wait til you hear what my God did today!
Many of our friends and family were very generous financially for our journey to Delaney Maria:) We were in hopes that we could "pay it forward" somehow. We had asked our attorneys to find out what Pip Squeak's orphanage might be in need of. Originally, they had mentioned that they were in need of a new microwave and DVD player. So, we planned to purchase those once we arrived. Upon our arrival, they told us that actually they really needed a new hot water heater. We checked prices at a couple different stores and Larry and I looked at each other with a bit of scary looks on our faces. Yikes! We decided not to rule it out. We would wait to see how much money we had on a Mastercard "gift" card we had put some of our money on, that we got at the bank, after the "required" expenses of the adoption were taken care of.
So.....we have finished the "expense" part and I check the balance on the card, $535.
That should be enough, with deliver and installation.
Raul and Maria Elena take us to purchase it today.
THE TOTAL WAS $532!!!!!!!
People, I can't make up something this good!
All four of us just hugged each other because of what we had just been allowed to be a part of. Huge smiles and tiny tears.
There have been plenty of stories of little details that have worked out...just perfectly! PERFECTO!!!
Big deal, you might say, a water heater for an orphanage. It's not just an orphanage. It's the orphanage that houses and cares for God's children. Little ones that He has a HUGE heart for. It's an orphanage that poured 3 years of love into our little girl with people that He handpicked to be an answer to our prayers, "Lord, please let someone be loving our daughter, wherever she is right now".

So many of our prayers have been answered.

In the words of my darling Delaney Maria's bedtime prayer...."Gracias "Hey-Sus (Jesus)"

Psalm 126:2-6
We were filled with laughter,
and we sang for joy.
And the other nations said,
"What amazing things the Lord has done for them."
Yes, the Lord has done amazing things for us!
What joy!
Restore our fortunes, Lord,
as streams renew the desert.
Those who plant in tears
will harvest with shouts of joy.
Thew weep as they go to plant their seed,
but they sing as they return with the harvest!!!

Oh the laughter we have enjoyed. AT her and WITH HER!!:) And her little joyful heart, singing a new song (Barney theme song, twinkle-twinkle, choo-cha-waa)! A shy meek little darling has been transformed into a chattering/singing hilarious bundle of joy!
Oh the AMAZING THINGS THE LORD HAS DONE!!!
WE ARE THANKFUL-----SO VERY THANKFUL!!!!!

Burger King...Tons of fun!

We had a ball with the sweeties from Hannah's at Burger King, celebrating Milogros's Birthday!

You knew it was coming......

Oh Yesssss....PINK PIGGIES!!!:)

Just a few apple stickers:)

Chau Chau Papa!

Smooooooooooooch for the road:)
See you soon!

Oink oink! says the pig!

Goofy Goofy girl!)

Play-Do time:)

It's not Creative Images...But it'll do!!

We had to De-Mullet-ize just a smidge:)

No longer an orphan:)

Deuteronomy 10:17 & 18 For the Lord your God is the God of gods and Lord of lords. He is the great God, the mighty and awesome God, who shows no partiality and cannot be bribed. He ensures that ORPHANS and widows RECEIVE JUSTICE.....!!!!

Wooooooooooooooooooow!!!

Ok so we were just sitting here minding our own business when Maria Elena called and said, very quickly, "BE READY IN 10 MINUTES, WE ARE COMING TO GET YOU!!" Of course, we said 'OK!' Crazy driver, Raul, zoomed in on 2 wheels and barely stopped while we jumped in the door and buckled up! They had received late notice this afternoon that the Adoption resolution was ready to be signed, BY US!!!! Woooooooooooooooohoooooo!!! So, we took care of that and a couple of other technicalities, and came back 'home'. Ms. Jabberbox, chattered all the way! She is hilarious. Mostly with her kitty cat, gato, imitation. Meeeeeeeeeeooooowwwww!
Then, the best part of the whole day was she was looking through the photo album I made her and pointed to daddy and said, "Papa" and to me and said, "Mama"!!!!!!! Coincidence that happened on this day????? NO WAY!!!! Living a dream!!
GOD IS SOOOOO GOOD !!!!!

Beautiful Flower!:)

Well look at the MOST BEAUTIFUL FLOWER THAT BLOOMED at the exact same place the seed was planted, Hogar de Ninos!

'twas just like GATEWAY in Peru!

Can I just say WOW!!
We went to church this morning, the one the Gateway group goes to while they are here. We had heard so many great things. We were excited to see for ourselves. First off, we notice the gym, just like worshiping at home! Relaxed atmosphere, check. We couldn't understand all the words to the songs but knew that Jesus' name was being lifted, high! Beautiful voices praising his name! Then, we put the head sets we were given on and listen to the pastor speak briefly and introduce the guest speaker. THE GUEST SPEAKER SPOKE ENGLISH FOLKS!!! Yes!! Larry and I just looked at each other in disbelief! Imagine that, a worship service tailor made for us! Then, his message was about the importance of "being the church"! Not just "showing up" on Sundays but being involved in God's work. Sound familiar Gateway family????:) The "GREETER TEAM" were a FINE replica of Gateway too! Oh, and the pastor also started off with how the church is involved in all sorts of outreach programs, a women's home, children's home, garden, financial peace & marriage enrichment! Truly unbelievable! I seriously had to control myself from full on tears 4 or 5 times and Larry agreed. Especially as I looked to my right to the most beautiful Peruvian Princess, that we have waited so long for, coloring in her Strawberry Shortcake coloring book. She was an angel:)
Although we miss home horribly, God surely gave us a taste of it today, in His own comforting sort of way!
Love to all!
Laci & Larry:)

Not much going on here in Peru today. Pip squeak has watermelon in her mouth in the bottom pic! She was riding some rides at the kids area at the mall last night! Soooo much fun! Seems to be "chattering" more and more.....But when we look or ask "what?" she stops.. Silly girl!:)
Missing our our friends and fam at home! :0) love you!!!!

Delaney Maria and Daddy

Sweet pic of her and her daddy but inside I am laughing because she runs like George Jefferson. In the cutest possible way. Those little arms go flapping back and she's smiling and giggling all the way. Ha!:)

Dare Devil ...enjoying some park time:)

Baby Ruth:)

Ruth 1:16
But Ruth replied, "don't ask me to leave you and turn back. Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God.

Pretty anxious to bring her home to her 'new' people! We are already reading about our God to her in her "Jesus storybook bible" (Thanks Amanda!) She likes to listen to the stories and softly talks while I am reading, like she's reading too. So sweet. She is already used to praying at meal time and now at bed time too.:)

Drawing near to the end of the second week here and missing my boys like crazy. If any of you see them, please give them a squeeze for me.:) I love them and miss them soooooo much!!!!!

It is funny to see how she belongs to our family already..
She is like Dakota because she is fearless, she is a little daredevil! Great!
She resembles Dayton in that she is loves doing things with her hands..threading beads on a shoe string, doing puzzles, a THINKER!
She is like daddy because she loves CHIPS AND SALSA!! heheheh!:)
And her and her mommy love jewelry!! She loves her sticker earrings and bracelettes, etc. OMG..daddy has already realized that he is in big trouble! hehehe!

We played a little princess match game this morning and watched some Dora in Spanish, which she was glued to. We went for a walk and now she is probably finishing her siesta!
Doctor is coming to our apt. tonight at 6:00. One of the required visits.

Catch up with you soon,
Thanks for reading,
Love to all!
Laci:)

Diva??? Oh My!!!

OMG!!!! the doggy carrier includes the doggy and the baby, almost!!! Poor baby! This picture makes me LOL!!!!!

Hello from Peru!
Day two went great! Started out a little slow, was NOT IN LOVE WITH THE SHOWER!! Yikes! Haven't gotten there yet this morning!... She walked with daddy to the market and got some bananas and fresh bread and then we played a bit. Nap time was a little late yesterday but she slept for quite a while. We ate some Dominos pizza for lunch, (before nap) which she loved! Later we went to Jockey plaza to get her an umbrella stroller. We ended up with the Disney princess one, she loves it. She keeps leaning out and looking at the princesses. She also LOVES her sunglasses. Even had to wear them at night! She's pretty cool!!! She enjoyed looking at all Christmas decorations and of course the baby dolls and barbies!
Psychologist comes for the first of two visits today at 2:00.
Love to all!

Gotcha!!!!:)

Psalm 92:4&5 You thrill me , Lord, with all you have done for me!!!!! I sing for joy because of what you have done. O Lord, what great works you do! And how deep are your thoughts!

It's true folks! We couldn't have come up with a story this good!

We will start our thanksgiving celebrations a little early! We have so much to celebrate!

Our Gotcha day was absolutely unbelievable!
She was real "sleepy" when we first arrived this morning and the director was in the room showing her our family pictures again. She kept nodding off. They surprised us with a baby book! What??? We couldn't believe it! AND, a huge photo album of pics from her three years of life. We carried her through the orphanage, while we said good-bye and thank you to all her friends and the staff! So horribly sad....but in a good way. Both at the same time! I could not control the tears! The day we had longed for! She's ours!! Well, not officially, we are actually just her legal guardians at the moment. We will sign the official adoption papers in 8 days.
We had to stop by the SNA office to sign some papers and she slept.
Then Maria Elena and Raul dropped us off at home.
We showed her all around & all of her things. We looked at some books and daddy cooked some ravioli for lunch! That chica is a good eater! She loved it! We played with play-do and with some beads and as each minute passed she was more and more relaxed. Our little girl was finally loosening up. She ran, and giggled at her daddy, played with Barney and was a complete crack-up. SHE EVEN TALKED TO US! For the first time. We were like, "did you hear that?? did you hear that?" Smiles all the way around. We think she finally realized that mama and papa weren't going anywhere!! She is crazy nuts about her daddy! HE even gets kisses!!:)
We needed to go get something notarized and she had so much fun! Just the silliest little 3 year old around! When Maria Elena and Raul picked us up they said, "WHO IS THIS GIRL???" They couldn't believe the 180 degree turn around. Now, she is still very, very, shy with folks she doesn't know but, not with us anymore!!!! Ooooooooooooooooh Thank you Lord! Thank you!
So we had a little dinner when we got home and soon it was time for bed. She went potty and got her teeth brushed and we put her in her bed. Not knowing how that would go. I rubbed her back and sang Jesus loves me and Jesus loves the little children and out she went. Haven't heard a peep. A little angel!
We can't wait for tomorrow! A day for just us with no one watching just enjoying each others company!
Amazing Day!:):):)
Love to all!
Mama and Papa to Ms. Maria, Dakota & Dayton!!!