Our Story.........

So this is our story.......

"In Every Daddy's Wallet are Photos Where his Money Used To Be"

Our "Journey to Baby Lyza" began on April 26, 2006. We met with a coordinator at Families Through International Adoption in Evansville to see what necessary paperwork we needed to start the process of adopting in China. Yes, you heard me...China. The coordinator reviewed our paperwork and told us we did not qualify because Chris had not yet reached the age of 30 and he wouldn't for another year. Current referral time for China at that time was 18 mos after paperwork was completed and your child came home around the age of 18 mos and older. They asked us to speak to a coordinator from Guatemala...kinda rolled our eyes and said ok. What a life changing moment that was. We met the most wondeful woman who explained everything in detail and dropped what she was doing to answer any and all questions we had. She showed us 3 pictures of newborn referrals they had received that morning. She sent us home with a packet of information. At 9 am the next morning on April 27 we signed papers to start our "Journey to Lyza in Guatemala". God had other plans....and boy were his plans good! After four months of gathering all the necessary paperwork (yes, there are tons....this is called "paperchasing" and it is not fun) we were finally ready to submit our dossier on August 21. What a relief to FINALLY get those papers out of all my color coded folders (slight OCD) and hand them off to the next phase. We had no corrections and everything went through without a glitch....so far :-)
We received the call at 7:30 pm on November 15 that precious Lyza had been born on November 5 and was 10 days old. She weighed 6 lbs 4 oz at birth and was 19 inches long. Her given name was Anay, so we incorporated that into her new name Louisa (my grandmothers name), Faith (because we are walking by Faith), ) Anay (birthname) Melvin (last name).......Louisa Faith Anay Melvin. "Lyza" for short. We were on the wait list for a girl for 12 weeks. Although it seemed like years....the time really did melt away when we saw that beautiful picture with all that curly black hair!
We made a visit trip to Guatemala Jan. 12-18 and it was the best thing I have ever experienced in my life. It was so very hard to give her up when the time came, but I know our foster family is wonderful and that made it a tad easier. We speak with our foster family with a translator twice a week so we are pretty up to date on knowing how she is doing. I get to hear her cry, coo, take a bottle....whatever she is doing at that moment. It gets me through the weeks anyway.
We have now completed every single step into getting Lyza home!!! Our Embassy Date is 6/5/05 and we will be bringing her home on June 7! Just in time for Maddy's birthday! We will be leaving for Guateamala on May 25 to spend some bonding time with her until we can bring her home forever! Baby Lyza is a jewel.....her daddy melted when he held her for the first time (yes, before I could get to her through my tears he somehow got her first!). Madisyn was all smiles as we placed her in her arms for the first time. It was a priceless moment and I am so glad we have it on film and video (Thanks to Kylie). Thanks to other families we have met through adoption they were able to take pic's and videos for us. We returned the favor to our good friends Krista, Moses and little Max Arenas. They just added baby Lily to their family and she is exactly 4 weeks younger than Louisa.
Thanks to all our family, friends and support groups. We would not be on this journey if it weren't for you. One look at that baby and we knew God had placed us in the perfect place in HIS perfect timing. We are so very blessed.

Now Faith is being sure of what we hope for, and certain of what we do not see. Hebrews 11:1