Guatemala Adoption

Our story of Adoption From Guatemala. p.2

In Guatemala
We arrived in Guatemala at 8:30 p.m. Somehow we snuck through customs (amazingly) and headed outside to catch the shuttle to our hotel.

The airport in Guatemala City is interesting. One of the things I will remember most is walking outside and seeing what seemed like hundreds of people jammed behind some railing, waiting for people to arrive. There were some yelling, holding signs, others were basically begging for money.

As we entered the area in which they were corralled, many children immediately approached us, asking to shine our shoes or sell us trinkets. A lot of these were young kids, some ages 5 and 6 I’d guess.

When the hotel shuttle arrived the kids swarmed our luggage, trying to help us load it onto the van. Several kids were grabbing bags and opening doors, just hoping we would give them a buck or two.

We made it to the hotel with no trouble. The hotel was very nice. It is a Westin…one of the finest hotels in Guatemala. It’s also worth noting that everyone we met was extremely friendly and helpful. We were all very impressed by the hospitality we were shown.

Jenny and I said goodnight to Bill and Carmen and headed to our room. We were finally in Guatemala! And the next morning we would be meeting our son! We experienced so much excitement and anticipation that it was somewhat difficult to sleep.

Today’s the day!
The next morning we decided to get up early and go have breakfast in the hotel restaurant. They offered a nice buffet that featured a lot of things we Americans like to eat for breakfast…and a lot of things we would never think to have for breakfast. But it was very good. One funny side story: I love coffee. And Guatemala is famous for good coffee. So I had been looking forward to enjoying some good Guatemalan coffee on our visit. Our waitress came to our table with coffee pot in hand and offered to pour. I have recently switched to decaf, so I asked, “Decaf?” She replied, “Si,” and went to get it.
She came back and set a jar of Sanka on our table! Sanka? Are you kidding me? We’re in Guatemala! She probably thought, what kind of idiot asks for decaf in Guatemala? She poured hot water and asked me how many scoops. I drank it but the next time she came by I asked for the good stuff. And it was indeed very good.

We were scheduled to picked up at 9:30 by Alfonso (he and his wife Elia are the directors of Hannah’s Hope—the orphanage in run by our agency). We met Bill and Carmen in the lobby and waited for Alfonso to arrive. Normally Alfonso and Elia’s daughter, Ani works with the families but she was visiting the U.S. at the time.

Alfonso was running a little late so we took the opportunity to pray with Bill and Carmen. We stood in the middle of the lobby at the Westin bowing our heads, holding hands and thanking God for the incredible day that was before us. When we finished, we looked up and there was Alfonso. He is the nicest, most helpful man you could ever know. He and his wife, Elia, are wonderful, godly people. It was a privilege to get to know them.

At this point, it was really sinking in that we were just minutes away from meeting our son! I cannot begin to describe the feeling of anticipation. After introductions Alfonso said, come on, we have a family to unite.” (more...)

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