Home with Noah

Well, we have been home with Noah for just over a week. Surprisingly we have not taken very many pictures since we have been home. That is not like us and we will try to do better. Noah seems to be adjusting very well. He smiles and laughs at us often and makes a lot of eye contact. When we first picked him up in Guatemala he had trouble taking his bottle. He would barely get down an ounce or two at a time. We think it was mostly due to the fact that he was just getting in his two front bottom teeth. He just chews on the bottle. He is doing much better now although he still throws an occasional fit during his bottle. He usually eats 6-7 ounces at a time. He is also eating up the baby food. I have made quite a bit more and he is eating about 10 ice cube size servings a day not including two servings of baby cereal. He is sleeping well at night. Sometimes he wakes up and fusses, but he normally just needs a little tummy rub to go back to sleep. His foster mother said he was taking two bottles during the night, but we tried to give them to him at first and he did not want them, but just a little comfort. That is great for us. We have not been out and about a lot, but Noah seems to do well around others and seeks us out to smile at us. Unfortunately two days ago we were on our way into Sams for diapers and formula and Joel threw up in the parking lot. He threw up probably another 10 or so times throughout the night and next day. He has stopped throwing up so hopefully that is all for him and I really hope that the rest of us do not get it. Joel has continued to do great with Noah. As you can see in the pictures he reads to him, drives him around in his tractor, and loves on him. Joel has been very helpful around the house and in understanding that I need to take care of Noah (except when he is sick). We are very proud of him.

Here are a few pictures. The last one is Jason's parents and sister with Noah.

A Very Special Thanks!

When we walked into our home this evening with Noah for the first time, we found this tree sitting in our living room. It was filled with notes, cards, and gifts from family and friends. The tree was meant to represent our expanding family tree. We are so thankful for the 40+ notes of encouragement, prayers and support, and the approx. $4000 that was generously given for the babies and adoption costs! A very, very special thanks to Andy and Alissa (Jason's brother and sister-in-law) that organized the surprise for us. We were definately surprised!

Hedges, Texan, American (in that order)

Noah John is now a proud Hedges, proud Texan, and a proud American! Because we had visited Noah in Guatemala before his case exited PGN, he entered the USA with a special visa that made him a US citizen when we touched down on US soil. We still had to go through an immigration process with Noah when we arrived in Houston but it basically amounted to Jason and Noah sitting in a room for 30-45 minutes waiting for an immigration officer to hand back Noah's passport after they verified his paperwork.

We gave Hannah back to her foster mom this morning and left Guatemala around noon. After going through immigration in Houston we flew home to Lubbock. We arrived just before 8:00pm where Noah (and the rest of us) were welcomed by Jason's parents, sister, and grandparents. We were really excited to get to show off Noah right away! :) We didn't have a lot of pictures today since we were traveling but here are a few. Joel really enjoyed listening to music on the airplane today.

Coming Home

Our stay is almost over in Guatemala. We are leaving Hannah tomorrow and flying home with Noah. We'll be arriving in Lubbock at about 7:50pm. We hope the long day of traveling goes ok with Noah (and the rest of us).

We had another fun day at the pool today. This afternoon we had to go back to the US Embassy to pick up Noah's Visa. I (Jason) went to pick it up while Shannon stayed with the kids at the hotel. We feel really blessed by our agency's people here in Guatemala. They have been so helpful. They really made sure that we knew what to expect at the Embassy. They had people to pick us up, drive us to the Embassy, walk us through the process there, help us check our documents, and drive us back to the hotel. We saw lots of families from other agencies that didn't know what to do or what to expect. Our agency's people were actually answering questions for them too.

We are sad to be leaving Hannah and ask you all to pray that her case exists PGN soon so we can bring her home. We really don't have any new information about her case right now.

And of course, here's pictures from the day...

Sunday in Guatemala

Here are some pictures from today. We went to breakfast this morning, did some souvenir shopping in the gift shops, took lots of pictures, and spent some time out at the pool.







This evening Joel had Hannah laughing so hard. First of all he undressed down to his diaper, then he got on the bed and jumped onto pillows around Hannah. This was all his idea. Here are some pictures of it:







While all of this was going on I was getting Noah ready for bed.

Saturday in Guatemala

Here are some pictures from the rest of Saturday. We spent quite a bit of the afternoon at the pool. Joel did not want to get in the water, but when he finally got in he was quite a little fish. He did not want to get out. The pool here at the hotel has a section of very shallow water about 6"-8" and Joel would crawl all around on his elbows. Hannah and Noah also seemed to love being outside. They both also liked being in the water. Noah took a nap while we were out there (he is quite a cat napper). The weather was in the mid 80s and very pleasant. Here are some pics from the day:

Hedges Photography Studio at the Westin

We set up our make shift photography studio in our hotel room this morning and started trying to get a family picture and studio type pics of the kids. The kid's pics came out especially good today. :)






and for fun...here's one where Noah is watching Joel, Joel is watching Hannah, and Hannah is staring at the ceiling.



and here's one where Noah is upset, Joel is still smiling, and Hannah has decided we're not being that funny anymore. :)