We're ba-aack!

If you know us, or follow us on facebook then you know that in September we came back to Mexico. The same day as the year before. September 18th. We landed here in D.F. with no jobs, no housing and no real promise of what was next. But we felt like it was the right thing to come back.

Our plan was to first find a place to live that was close to Sally's school. We got an email the afternoon that we flew in that said, our apartment from before would be available the next day. That the woman was moving out and we could move in the next day if we wanted. Problem was, we didn't have the same income as last time. So I asked the land lady if we could pay a bit less. SHE SAID YES! Confirmation numero uno.

Next thing was to pay for Sally's school. YIKES.

Then we started getting the word out that I was officially starting up my Photography business here in Mexico to pay the bills while the Mexican Government found a paying position for Doug. So we got our website set up. If you click on that link you'll notice that we set it up in Spanish. We thought that our clientele would be mostly Spanish speaking. We soon found out that this was not the case. I started putting specials on Facebook sites and at church I handed out cards. And WOW! the support I got, but mostly with ExPats from the US and other countries. Word of mouth spread and I have been pretty booked this past 6 months. It's been amazing. Getting JUST enough to pay for rent each month has been a blessing. AND I'm enjoying the international portfolio I'm collecting. I have photographed people from Taiwan, Canada, Germany, USA, Ireland, Mexico, Trinidad, Venezuela, Spain, Columbia, Puerto Rico and Ecuador. They are all so different and so beautiful. So cool right?! Business is great, but because of all this work; lifting the heavy camera and repetitive motions with editing my arm has been aching a lot. So I've tried resting it and begging Doug for some massages of the shoulder and arm. It is better now that I'm aware of how long I sit at the computer doing 'extra curricular' activities that don't include editing.

Doug has had a few leads before we came back and had a big meeting the day after we got here. The meeting was with the 9 juvenile judges here in D.F. It went well but we are still waiting for funding from that project that they want to start so badly. So, after many pushed back meetings and maybes he finally in October started his own non profit advocating for juveniles in the prison system here. The non profit has started and many are interested in supporting him/us in this journey. At this time donations are not yet tax deductible but you still donate and can read more information by clicking on the link here:
International Justice Consulting OR follow him on Facebook. He gives great information on how you can help shine a light on excessive pre-trial detention in Mexico. We gratefully have received donations to be able to keep up our rent and keep Doug working but we still need more. If you haven't yet read his research or read about his new independent projects please visit those sites and educate yourself on his passions and his calling to give these kids a better life outside of prison.

Sally is doing well in school. Her Spanish is evolving, which is good. We still don't speak Spanish in the house. Sally's homework load is out of control this year. Crazy! It's like 3 different notebooks at least 3x a week. She has a hard time when she's so tired. She has been sick a lot since Christmas. With a cough and runny nose. But we kind of all have this strange allergy thing with the pollution. :/
She has been on and off again been asking about a sibling. She touches my belly, whines about it, talks about it, sings about it. But we just don't have the funds to do fertility right now, and I don't know if I want to ever do that again. However, we have talked about adoption but we need an income to be able to adopt here.

So speaking of adoption...

We had a meeting in March with a woman who is the director of an orphanage here in D.F. She is an American who lives here and does an excellent job with this orphanage. We first contacted her about adoption when we came in September 2012. At that time we got some paperwork back from her and some info about hague convention rules between the US and other countries. But nothing happened during that first 10 months here. But at this meeting (now in 2014) she went through their private adoption process with us in person and told us how we could potentially go about adopting a child or siblings from the children who's cases she was currently working with. There are 11. We were shocked to hear her tell us that we not only were already on the 'list' to adopt but that she had put us on it so long ago that now we are SECOND. Second! Say WHA?! She asked if that was ok and of course we said yes. But what will that mean for us now? Well, we had to get residency visas, which we just got the other day. They were $250 dollars per person. That was not in the budget (insert slight freak out here) but just like before the Lord provided just enough 'extra cash' and now we have them. Next she has to have a child or children ready and registered as adoptable. So now is the waiting period. We are praying this is the will of God for our family. We are praying that we honor God in the child/ren He chooses for us. We are praying for Amy as she goes through these legal issues to get these children ready for adoption, We are praying for the heart of the child/ren to be healed, prepared and upheld in this time of waiting for parents who will love them forever. Once the child is available for adoption we get to start spending time in the orphanage with a group of kids playing and getting to know them. It will be children who have parent chosen for them already and our potential child/ren. Each week they will take away a child from the playgroup and eventually it will be our family with just our child. They in that time will have gotten to know us, played with sally and had some connections with us. Then the child can ask to go somewhere fun with us if they want. Then at some point after the child has spent the night here and no longer wants to live in the orphanage we get to foster to adopt during the process (this is a new law and will be so helpful in the transition period). We are excited to share this news with you in hopes that you will stand with us in prayer. We are thrilled that we are on a 'list' but now we have to pray for the right child to become available in the time that we are here. Will you stand with us?

Thank you for following and reading and I'll try and keep everyone updated.

Amanda