Back 2 Blogging.....

It's been nearly a month since our last blog and we've received many questions about what's been going on. First of all, we would like to apologize for being such bad bloggers. With the adoption and work and the kiddos, it seems that we never have time to sit and write and when we do, we don't know where to start. But we'll get better! So here's what's been going on......

We went on vacation the last few weeks of March. For those who know us, we go on a cruise every year for our anniversary/ spring break. We usually go on a Carnival cruise, but this year we found "deal" on a new Italian cruise line out of Florida. When you have 7 kids, the words "kids sail free" get your attention and in this case, we saved a lot of money. But as the saying goes, "you get what you pay for". The ship was actually beautiful and the ports were wonderful. The only problem..... the service on the ship was horrible. Most people we spoke to could not speak English well enough for us to understand and when we did understand, they we flat out rude to us. We had incidents with the children's program, room service and ultimately with the cruise Director himself. While at port in Cozumel, Christian contracted some kid of dermatitis that turned into empantigo. The poor thing spent the last three days of the cruise in pain and embarrassed about the horrible rash all over the lower part of his face. So much for pictures...... In the end, it was good to get away as a family. We just know to stick with Carnival next year!

The adoption process is moving, but at a snails pace. We received a confirmation letter back from the USCIS office, but are still waiting on our home study. Once we receive that, we can send it the the USCIS office and wait for our fingerprint appointments. We're taking advantage of this lull by using the extra time to plan for our fundraiser lunch (or benefit). We're finalizing tickets and flyers this week and are going to engage anyone and everyone we know to help us sell tickets. The benefit will have all you can eat Mexican food at a very prominent restaurant in San Antonio, so we hope to have a good turn out. The key is getting the word out, so if any of you live in or around SA, we would love for you to help us spread the word. The benefit is from 10am-4pm on Saturday, May 16 at La Hacienda on Redland Rd. Adult tickets are $25, ages 13-17 are $15 and kids under 13 are free.

I would like to thank all of you for your prayers and words of encouragement. We're learning that this adoption journey is not just about getting Elisa and Vanessa home, but God is also using the journey to teach us invaluable lessons about patience, love, support, pride, and perseverance. In just the first few months of this journey, we've had several setbacks that could have made us question ourselves, but our faith in God us so much stronger than the circumstances around us. In the end, we will get the girls home where they belong and will have a wonderful story to share with those around us.