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Saturday, Sept. 13, 2008, 5:54 pm

As most all of you know, on Wednesday night my niece, Coppelia, arrived home to the United States. Jonathan and Shawna invited their immediate family (parents, grandparents, sisters, and brother) to meet them at the airport, which we gladly did. Coppelia was very calm at the airport. I was afraid that she would be exhausted and grumpy, but, thankfully, she had slept though almost all of every flight. So she wasn't grumpy, but she was subdued, most likely because she was overwhelmed with new sights and sounds. She was constantly looking around, taking everything in. It was like the pictures that Jon and Shawna had shared with us had come to life. A few times she looked at Dad really hard, as if she were thinking, "I know I've seen that guy somewhere! Why does he look so familiar to me, anyway?" Other than that, she didn't seem to remember Dad or Mom at all from when they visited her in the spring. For now, Jon and Shawna are giving Coppelia time to adjust to her new surroundings, exposing her slowly to new people and things.

Late last night, Shawna sent out another of her "adoption update" e-mails. I would like to share it with you here.

Dear friends and family,

First, I apologize for keeping you in suspense! I fully intended to send a last update from GUA, but technical difficulties made it impossible. But I have so much to tell! Tomorrow is the one-week anniversary of our Gotcha Day – the day Coppelia came to us forever. Besides my wedding and beginning life with Jonathan, this has been the most wonderful week of my life. Oh, but where to start??

We got to GUA last Saturday with no trouble. All the way there, though, I only wanted to be on my way back. I thought five days in GUA would drag forever – especially the next two days until our embassy appointment. But it all flew by! We arrived in GUA in good time and got to the hotel. We had arranged to meet our foster family about 3 hours after we arrived in GUA, so we had a bit of a wait after we got there, but we stayed busy. The lobby and conference floor were full, so we took the foster family up to our hotel room. We met for about an hour with a translator to help us. The family had brought all of the clothes and toys we had brought to Coppelia back to us – what a blessing!! It took two huge duffle bags and a large black trash bag to carry it all, plus a few smaller bags of odds and ends. They also brought us gifts. The best gift was that they’d been working with Coppelia. They would show her our picture and ask her to point out her Papa; and she’d point to Jon’s picture and then kiss it. They would do the same with my picture. But the greatest gift of all that they brought was Coppelia herself.

Our last good-bye with the foster family was better than I’d feared, but hard enough. After about an hour of exchanging gifts with the foster family and learning about Coppelia’s likes and schedule, and taking pictures together, our translator left. With our ability to communicate greatly reduced, the foster family had little choice but to say their good-byes. Coppelia’s foster family is a divorced mother, her daughter and parents. The foster grandfather – Coppelia’s special buddy – was the first to tell her good-bye. He broke up first, and things went down from there. Thankfully, no one sobbed outright, but close. Coppelia was happily oblivious, busy playing with the toys and books that had already been set out, waiting for her. After the grandfather, the rest of the family filed past Jon holding Coppelia and gave her their kisses. It was almost like a funeral. Jon and I had dreaded this moment, knowing that the event that would bring us so much joy would bring this wonderful family – who had cared for our daughter as their own – sorrow. This was the bitter moment of a bittersweet day. I hope you will keep Coppelia’s foster family in your prayers.

The first night and day with Coppelia were rough. Even older now, she knew something had changed. That night before bed, she crawled over the whole room looking for the foster family. It was sad to see. The foster mom’s coaching has helped, and the days got better rapidly. From the second day or so, Coppelia has called me “Mama.” (For Jon, she goes back and forth between Papa and Dada.) :-D

Coppelia is doing so well! As always, she seems hardly to have changed, and yet she’s so different! At 18 lbs. and at least 29 inches, she really is a little girl. She’s crawling well, pulls up effortlessly, cruises easily, and even will take a step or two on her own. She has the same 6 teeth as before – no new ones yet. Her vocabulary is good: she says hola, allo, mapa (which is Coppelia for “I want!”), mama, papa/dada, bebe (baby) and chucho (“doggie”). Every animal is a chucho (probably thanks to our foster mom’s coaching) – but Coppelia doesn’t like dogs, as we found out. :-

The days before our embassy appointment flew by. We had to be at the U.S. Embassy by 7:15, so we had to get our poor baby up before 6. That messed up her schedule for the whole day. :-( The embassy appointment itself was a breeze, though. We were done by 9 and back in the hotel having breakfast well before 10 – and Coppelia was SO glad! Once we finished at the embassy, we were officially done in GUA. It was a wonderful feeling!!

We have bruises up and down our arms (figuratively speaking) because we keep pinching ourselves: Is this real?? For Jon and I, our every conversation when Coppelia naps is the same: Is this really happening? Are we really done?

On Tuesday we went to Antigua for the morning. We didn’t get to see or do a whole lot – we had to be back to Guatemala City to pick up the finished visa by 3:15 – but it was worth it. It was the first time I’d really been away from the hotel! And that was when we found out Coppelia didn’t like dogs. At one place we stopped on the way to the city, there were a couple of pet dogs. Since Coppelia is always saying “chucho,” I wanted to find out if she really knew what she was saying. The first dog we saw was from a distance. Coppelia was very quiet. The second one we saw was behind a fence and put his paw up on it. She didn’t like that at all. The third dog we saw was a scared little hush puppy – I’m not sure which one of the two was more scared: Coppelia or the dog! :-P

Antigua was impressive, but even better was having the right to be out in public with our daughter. :-D After we got back to Guatemala City, I had to pack. I worked until late and really had trouble fitting everything into our allotted number of bags. It took me awhile to realize why I was having so much trouble – I’d never packed Coppelia’s stuff to come back before! I’ve always left nearly everything I brought. But not this time. Yay!!! :-D

On Wednesday we were doing so well on time, we actually got to have breakfast before checking out. It was our last breakfast at La Vista, a wonderful restaurant in the hotel. We were glad to have the chance to say good-bye to the many hotel staffers we’ve met and grown attached to during our stays. And then it was on to the airport.

Thank God, navigating the airports and flying were not as bad as I’d feared. Coppelia did so well! The worst part of any of it was checking into our flight in GUA. The airport was hot, we had a ton of luggage that was difficult to handle and we had to wait awhile at the check-in counter. Coppelia was fussy during that part, but it could’ve been worse. Thank you Aunt Traci for the use of a stroller! At the gate Coppelia played well until time to get on the plane. On the flight from GUA and from Houston, too, she slept a good part of them. She was never scared by flying, even when we hit some rougher weather. In Houston, we stopped several times to take pictures. Welcome to the U.S., Coppelia!! There, I changed Coppelia into her red-white-and-blue homecoming outfit. The cute little dress had hung in her closet at home since before her birthday. It was wonderful to see it on her at last, and to recognize the significance of the moment. She was home! :-D

Coming into the Louisville airport and our greeting there was all I’d dreamed. We’d invited our grandparents, parents and siblings to greet us there. Coppelia had been sleeping and was groggy when we left the plane, but by the time we’d taken bathroom breaks and walked up to the security gate and through, she was a little more together. As we came up to the gate, I started looking for family. I thought I saw my youngest sister, and I could clearly make out three huge U.S. flags. I didn’t think those were for us. Turns out, we’d come in at the same time as a group of WWII vets who’d been to D.C. to visit the war memorial. A group from the city had gathered to welcome them; the flags and welcoming party were for them. But it was appropriate. :-) We walked through the gauntlet of people awaiting the vets, looking for familiar faces. I first remember my sister Traci, my mom, my niece Anabelle and then a flood of other faces coming toward us. Before too long we were engulfed in the hugs and tears and grins and coos for Coppelia of our family. They were such a blessing. They brought gifts and balloons and welcomed us with signs with Coppelia’s name and picture. It was wonderful!! And I didn’t get a single picture. –But my sister took over a hundred. I just don’t have them yet. I’ll send some on when I do, though. I hope that will be tomorrow. I can’t wait to see them!

Anabelle, my two-year-old niece has been hearing about “Coco” for a year. Anabelle was so excited to finally have Coppelia home at last. At the gate, Anabelle loved on Coppelia, touching her dress and stroking her arm and her hair. Since Coppelia had just woken up, and probably was a teensy bit overwhelmed, she wasn’t real receptive to the caresses. But before we’d packed our luggage into our car, Coppelia and Anabelle were exchanging kisses – and then doing it again for the camera. :-D That’s the picture I can’t wait to see!

My other fear of travelling was putting Coppelia in a car seat for the first time. With everyone watching and taking pictures of the experience, she actually did well … until the car doors closed. Alone in the car, with no way out of the seat, she let us know what she really thought about it. :-P Thankfully she was tired and it was time for a bottle. I made one and gave it to her before we even left the airport parking lot. She was asleep by the time we’d left the city lights behind. At home, I’d hoped I could get her out of the car seat without waking her, but that didn’t happen. So next I hoped I could get her into the house without getting her too far from sleep. That didn’t happen either – I’d packed all the sleep clothes I had for her, so I didn’t have anything for her to sleep in until we brought in our bags. By the time those were in, she’d hit another wind (not the second wind – we were LONG past that!). Since she was awake, we gave her a brief tour of her new home, checked on the cat, and then took her up to her room. That was fun. :-D Coppelia loves her room!! The pictures of her first seeing it are adorable; I’ve attached a few. First, outside her door hangs a picture of her taken on our first trip. She saw that and got excited, “Bebe!” Inside the room, she didn’t know where to look first, the mural on the wall, all the pictures of her (“bebe!”) there, or the books and toys. She was so excited. :-)

That night was a very late one. It was almost 2 a.m. by the time we got her to sleep (which only is midnight in GUA, so not that bad for her; only an hour or so off her usual bedtime). Once she was asleep, I moved her into the pack-n-play in our bedroom. She slept there about two hours and then finished out the night in our bed. :-P We’re still working on getting her to sleep more of the night in her own bed … where we’re ALL more comfortable.

Coppelia sleeps until about 6 or 7, takes a bottle and sleeps about another hour. Or so. We’ve been getting up very late. :-P But she’s eating well, taking naps (1-2 a day) and having a great time exploring her new home. The first day home she got a bath, then we took a long walk in the neighborhood. That was about it for the day. Today we went to the grocery – not bad overall. Coppelia fell asleep on the way, did well inside and only screamed part of the way back. :-P This evening we had Jon’s parents over for dinner. They had a great time getting reacquainted with Coppelia. Tomorrow we hope to see my parents. It’s so wonderful to be able to share Coppelia with our families at last. Slowly we’ll get to everyone. :-)

There’s so much more to say. Our hearts are so full. Having Coppelia home, in our house is beyond wonderful. We can’t believe all the waiting and insecurity of the last year really is over. We’re free just to enjoy her. And we do! She’s so smart and so much fun. Certainly, life has changed forever, for the better.

Again, I apologize for not writing before this. I’ll write again soon and share pictures of our welcome at the Louisville airport and tell you how Coppelia is doing with her own “chucho.” We bring our dog, Bec, home from the kennel Monday. That will be an adventure. Only today did we let the cat come upstairs to meet Coppelia. Our cat is not a loving kitty – just ask anyone who knows her! – but all Coppelia had to do was see the cat and she started to get anxious. But the cat has played least-in-sight and Coppelia watches her closely any time she does come into sight. We’ll give them a few days together before we add the dog. :- Erg.

We love you all. Thank you so much for your love and emails. Now that we’re back and with reliable Internet (and our luggage is put away), I hope to get to read them all! :-)

Adopted in Christ,
Shawna, Jonathan and Coppelia – together at last!!!

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My Last 5 Updates
Writing Furiously Again # Tuesday, Nov. 18, 2008
Ranting in Psychology # Thursday, Nov. 06, 2008
So... # Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2008
My Decision # Wednesday, Oct. 08, 2008
Regarding School # Tuesday, Sept. 23, 2008