More praise and prayer requests

Good afternoon!

I'd like to start with our praise report. We took Pearl to the pediatrician yesterday and everything looks great. She is developing like a typical 7 month old from Guatemala! I say this because her large motor skills are not developed as a 7 month old from the US because Guatemalan babies are held much more. In fact, her foster mom probably wore her in a sling for most of the day. If you could believe it, Pearl has changed in just the week since she was put in our arms. She wasn't sitting up at all and now she can sit up by herself for almost 15 seconds! Pearl wasn't eating much at first but now she's eating well and she's already gained one pound and two ounces! We will begin transitioning her to a formula we can buy in the US starting this week. There are so many firsts we are experiencing with her and we are delighted!

Now onto our prayer request...I know we keep asking you to pray for the Guatemalan children but I wanted to add one more thing I found online that will help express the situation a bit more clearly. There are 5000 orphans from Guatemala that are currently in the process of being adopted to US families. There is a possibility these 5000 orphans will be given back to their biological families, who clearly do not have the funds to raise these children or they will be abandoned on the streets when this situation changes on January 1, 2008. Please go to the following two websites for more information on the adoption situation in Guatemala.

http://www.5000orphans.com/

http://www.petitiononline.com/foafoa1/petition.html
(please sign this petition - it only takes a few minutes)

Thank you again for joining us on this journey!