Update

July 24th, 2009 by nora

Thank you all so much for your encouragement, prayers, letters, emails, and willingness to help us.  There have been letters sent from all over the Country.  Todd and I are overwelmed by all of you.  Thank you.  We could not have made so much progress without your help.

Wanted to send an update.  Our Attorney and the US Embassy (DHS) has spoken with an official at the court.  On Monday, they are going to write a letter stating that Johana’s mom was given opportunity to step forward but declined.  It will be authenticated by the court.  He is also going to get a copy of the cd.  It is a long audio cd, hopefully we won’t have to have it translated.   Anyway after he gets all the documents we will resubmit and we will be back at square one praying that the embassy accepts what we have and we can go from there.

Yesterday, our local news channel came to our house to cover our Journey and our situation.  Aleece, thank you for setting this up for us.

Please continue to pray for us.  We still need the Embassy to accept the new documents that we submit.  Please pray that they do it quickly and that there are no more snags.  And that Andres is able to get the official to follow through quickly as he said he would and get us that letter and cd.

 Sunday, is Johana’s birthday.  She will be six.

Thank you again for all of your prayers.

Posted in Adopting Johanna

12 Responses

  1. Candace

    Happy Early Birthday Johana!!
    We are praying that you’ll be home soon. Nora and Todd, please let us know if we can do anything else at all.

    Love & Miss you!

  2. Laura

    Praise God that they are at least trying something else. We will pray that this goes through. God is with you, and we are all behind you. We love and miss you, and can’t wait to have you home!!!
    Happy Birthday Johanna!!!
    Love, Laura

  3. Nathan

    The Lord hears our prayers, and He has heard yours! We still pray, we love you and we will see you home soon! Hang in there!

  4. Beth in MN

    I haven’t checked your blog in a while and then today in my Yahoo keyword news email there was the article about your family.

    I’m so glad to hear that you are Johana’s legal parents. I sure hope the Visa issue gets taken care of quickly.

    Good luck,
    Beth in MN

  5. Sheila (fostering Lily here in Guatemala)

    I’ve been thinking about you and keeping up-to-date with your blog. I’m just heart-sick over this latest roadblock, but I’m confident that the Lord will see it to the end and Johanna will be going home with you soon. We are ready to go into Family Court so please pray that we get a judge who is quick and who will find favor on us and our case. I’m going on my 4th month here and I’m about to go crazy!!! Many blessings on you and your family. I pray that you are all home together soon!

  6. Nathan

    Happy Birthday Johanna!

  7. Dana

    Happy Birthday Johanna! We continue to pray for all of you and know that God will bring you home to Texas soon. Love you all.

  8. Oz

    Greeting Friends, it’s been a while but I read the web site once in while to catch up.
    Saw the video in the news and catching up where the story goes.
    I’m very sorry for the hit back on the US embassy. Unexpected & dissapointed at the end of the journey.
    Let me know if I can help w/ the audio cd translation as a non-certified translator. Maybe the embassy will take it if you can make it legal somehow? $ & time, won’t be an issue from my side,
    just wanted to help you guys when you most needed.
    br
    Oz

  9. Allison Blaskiewicz

    Nora,
    We are praying for you to get Johanna’s Visa soon. You are almost there! Please tell Johanna “Happy Birthday”. We also saw the news story. They did a good job - it showed how much y’all have pesevered through. May the peace of the Lord which surpasses all understanding be with you through this last mile… Love you and can’t wait to meet your precious little girl.

  10. Marie Stankus

    Nora, I’m praying that you are in your final steps to coming home. Your faith and amazing resiliency is incredible to read. You give hope to so many!
    1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus”. Have a blessed day!

  11. Carmelle

    Wishing Johanna a happy 6th!

    C, J, and B

  12. Alex Gordon

    Я думаю, что Вы ошибаетесь. Давайте обсудим это.

    Электромонтёр, электрик по ремонту и обслуживанию электрооборудования Thank you all so much for your encouragement, prayers, letters…

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About

In June of 2007 Nora and I went on a mission trip to Guatemala. We spent five days working at an orphanage in Huehuetenango, Guatemala. We built bunkbeds, painted, and loved on the children. One particular little girl named Johanna found her way into hour hearts. This website is dedicated to Johanna and documents the process of adopting her. You can read more about how we met Johanna by clicking on the Meeting Johanna link. Thank you for visiting!