2 years in the making...home TOGETHER at last

I can hardly type this...it has just been such an experience of ups and downs and I hardly believe it at moments. This is my last visit with Mariela before we left the gates of Semillas forever.... My cousin John had it right when he posted on my Facebook - Mama and Papa outlasted them and won. We did!

I don't know how I can say this, but I am sad. I am sad that it had to be this way - that we literally had to fight for the rights of this little girl, our daugher, for our rights as parents. There was no reason for it to be that way and I hope I can put pieces under the rug for them to disappear. But that will not happen until I see all of my friends and families home with their children as well. Mariela and Sienna, where children #2 and #3 to come home nearly 10 months after the raid by the government on the children's home.

Without further adieu ... Our Journey Home

This was our last day at Semillas, Monday, March 9 - just a reminder of the 5 previous trips we had spending time with Mariela. It was difficult being there without Juan, as he made the ultimate sacrifice and stayed behind to hold down the fort. The funniest thing that happened was that another family's cab was trampled by the cows from the neighboring farm. They left mud all over the sides of the cab and ripped off the rear view mirror. Welcome to the crazy things that happen at, about and around Semillas.

This is the street before you turn to go to the courthouse. The courthouse is an old home, and we got there at 7:45 on Tuesday, March 10 to be the first ones in line. We sat and waited for the judge to arrive. They walked in the papers, she signed, we cried, we got a copy of the release to leave the home and the country, we cried, we hugged everyone, we cried and then we left - greeted by a row of armed military police - just what every children's court should have in front. One signature stands in the way of bringing our children home forever. 4 families found their freedom this day.

We jumped in the cab and headed about 15-20 minutes away to Semillas. These are the gates just as we honked, pulled in and ran to grab our children. What a feeling!!

Mariela and I got to celebrate her birthday with 2 other Semillas families at the hotel! Mariela at her cake graciously, but I cannot say the same for Sienna! Thanks to them, we had a wonderful birthday memory that I will not forget - our Forever Together Day. I can hardly type that!

This was our first night together as just the two of us. It was so strange knowing that she was not going to have to be checked back in or that I would have to drop her off to leave her in her own country. She slept soundly the entire night - and I just had to wake up to tell myself that it was forever. And it was. It will be quite some time that we "adventure" back to Guatemala - we need a little break from the reality that we have known.

Here is Mariela's excitement before the 3 hour journey to becoming a U.S. Citizen.... And this is her as soon as the plane took off. Two years had exhausted her abilites to think straight and remember the journey home. It was over at last.
It is over at last. I was thinking of saving pictures for future updates, but I just realized that my "subject matter" is here forever and I can see her each and every day! Off to check on her and see if she is up from her nap. What a sigh of relief.