Pondering PINK

Well the last few days have been a whirlwind of positive things!

Last Friday, we received Max's birth certificate; yesterday we went to get his 'precioso' passport; and today we obtained our ORANGE slip, 2nd DNA test, visa pictures, and last MD physical before our visa appointment. Now all we have to do is wait for Max's 2nd DNA test to be processed and then we will have our PINK appointment (the PINK appointment is another term for the visa appointment with the US Embassy).

If all continues to go well, it is looking like we will be home by the very end of the month! We are very excited, but for now I am very exhausted and need to get some sleep before my mom and aunt arrive tomorrow to have a fun visit in Antigua before we all head home.

More updates to come!

XXOOXOOOXOXXOX
Jen y Maxito

Happy New Year Guatemalan Style - Redux

Feliz ano nuevo all! While it may have been a snoozer for some, others enjoyed the tranquil celebration of New year's in Antigua. Gone were the Pepsi sponsor ships from last year. Gone were the bad Guatemalan rap groups on a main stage. And the mayor made a point to hand out fliers stating that drinking on the street and throwing fireworks at others would not be tolerated this year. Other than the drinking part, I was a happy camper, as was Max, in the family atmosphere of the celebration this year. Much better than last year.

This year we celebrated with our Norwegian neighbors who happen to be travelling the world for a year. We tried to recommend a year in Guatemala instead, but they were not having any of it. Off to Tonga and Samoa soon enough. I got to knock back a few aquavit's with dinner since he brought a bottle from Norway. It made me feel again like the Dane that I am. Of course, the beer, wine and champagne on top of the aquavit made me feel a little more like a college kid again this morning. Take 2 advil and introduce a "movie day" tradition in the house so that you don't have to do anything active. You will see in one picture that Max was very excited about watching our Guatemalan bootleg copy of Valkyrie, but was ultimately disappointed with Tom Cruise's poor acting ability. What's the deal with releasing a Nazi movie on Christmas anyway? Oh, and enjoy the video of max torturing me while I am trying to watch my Nittany Lions get killed in the Rose Bowl.

So, another new year in Guatemala, and another year where none of us had our arms blown off by the millions of fireworks that go off all night long. It's shaping up to be a good year already.

See you soon.

Mark, Jen and El Jefe MAX - xooooooox

Excess Baggage

Well, we hope that everyone had a merry Christmas this year, especially the ones who celebrated with all of our stuff. Yes, daddy came to town Saturday, his bag with all of the gifts and cash (don't ask) didn't arrive until Tuesday. Guess what?? The bag showed up basically empty! Thanks for leaving us the box of triscuits and 2 bags of goldfish airport people!! I mean seriously, is this a bad Lifetime Christmas movie? OK, we have this family who is trying to adopt a child from Guatemala, we'll have them go through hell, have the wife live there for over a year, and finally when things look good, lets ruin their Christmas by having all of their gifts stolen by drunk airport dudes. I see Bette Midler as Jen and Robbie Benson as me. Can't wait to see it.

Well, we managed to have Christmas anyway. Jen and I played the game, guess how long Max's new Guatemalan bike lasts before it breaks. Jen won with her guess of 1 minute 23 seconds. She was only off by 7 seconds!!! Fortunately, Max got a few gifts since one of my bags made it in tact. There is nothing like the joy of seeing your son discover presents under the Christmas tree Christmas morning. Seeing him over joyed with the opening of presents that lead him to new discoveries. Discoveries like when the lego does not connect the way you think they should they become flying projectiles of frustration. Apparently, sometimes he also feels that the metal Backyardigans lunch box looks better upside of my head. All being said, he had fun and Santa did good. Glad his sleigh didn't get robbed on the way through town.

At midnight on Christmas Eve all hell broke loose. I thought the revolution had started. Fireworks (aka, mix of fireworks and gunfire) were going off absolutely everywhere. I went outside and there was honestly not a direction I could turn where fireworks weren't going off. Apparently the wise men brought along m-80's with the frankincense and myrrh for baby Jesus. It made for a fun and interesting evening. Oh, and a night of Max staying in our bed. Looking forward to New Year's!

Truly hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. We did. Oh, and do the pictures somehow remind you of the 70's Christmas Jen and I enjoyed when we were kids?? Soak it in, and enjoy the video. We will be home soon. Miss you all.

Mark, Jen and El Rey MAX

Happy Holidays!!!

Adios PGN!!!!!!!!!

Well after having to change lawyers, hire another lawyer to help advise us, change facilitators, lose all trust and respect with our agency, AND spend approximately 20 months in and out of PGN, we are so pleased to announce that we are officially OUT OF PGN and our little Max is officially a YODER!!!! We cannot even begin to tell you how elated we are with this news. Even though Max has been ours since the very beginning, we are so relieved to know that he is now legally our son and that we can move on with our life as a family!!!!

Moving forward, we have already begun the steps to get us home. At this point it is looking like we will have to celebrate the holidays here in sunny Guatemala and plan to come back to the U.S.A. sometime in January. Who knows, maybe we will go swimming on Christmas Day and get a little sun while sipping some Gallo's while Max savors a peach juice box in a chaise lounge chair. Considering Chicago winters are a serious business, Max may want us to immediately book a return flight to Guatemala the second he lands in the Windy City! I don't think he quite realizes that the weather will probably be his biggest adjustment (as well as mine!).

Anyway, thanks to everyone for all the caring support that has been provided to us over the past couple years. Words cannot really describe how we feel right now. All we know is that we feel truly blessed and grateful.

Will keep you posted on our continued progress...

Much love y besos,

Jen, Mark y Max Crisitian Alexander Yoder

Udderly Ridiculous

Not exactly mooooooving right along here. Still waiting for the Thanksgiving gift. Thanksgiving is over right? Just checking. I seem to recall eating Guatemalan turkey.

Well, while we wait for a sign from the heavens, some dear friends were nice enough to take us on a little journey to two villages and a dairy farm. Max learned how to disimpact a cow while everyone else drank milk from the source and watched them pee and poop. No fancy machinery here either. Just a lot of guys pulling and squirting into buckets...milking the cows. Going to the farm was great for us because we really wanted Max to know where his chocolate milk and hamburger helper came from. I think he has a strong appreciation for cows now.

Seeing other villages is always an eye opener also. Living in Antigua for the entire duration of our journey makes us forget at times how tough life is for the majority of people here in Guatemala. Seeing so many young children working so hard really makes us thankful that we can be with our little jefe Max. We hope for better lives for all.

Our journey was ended with a wonderful traditional pork meal that was wrapped and cooked in banana leaves. We sipped special Guatemalan hot chocolate after dinner, and all of this was courtesy of our friend Ana Maria. As a way of thanking her I cooked her a wonderful traditional American meal...MEATLOAF!!!! C'mon...it's a really good meatloaf. OK, so I probably owe them a little more, but those of you who have had it know. And what better meal after a trip to a dairy farm. Sorry to all of the cow friends we made.

I return to Chicago in the middle of the night Monday morning. Booooooooo. But hey, back I go to Antigua for Christmas and New Years........AGAIN!! Never saw this coming last year. At least my precious pale white skin will be done some good here during the holidays.

Wish us luck next week. We need it!!!

xoxoxoxoxoxoooooooo Mark, Jen, y El Rey de dos anos MAX

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