Photos, quick update, and - 2

Well, here are the long awaited photos for those of you who don't do FB and can't view my photos there.  I know it's been a long time coming and I know you're excited...really are you?

Below are photos of our son, Cruz Galgalo:  from the very first photo we ever saw of him (referral photo), to now.  I look at it, and i can't believe how quickly he has grown!

Cruz is growing quickly, as it didn't take him long at all to get on the American growth chart!  He is now almost 18 months old and spoiled rotten!  He is such a joy to our family and we're blessed that the Lord chose him to be apart of this crazy thing we call--FAMILY.


My title, as you probably didn't notice said (photos, quick update, and - 2).  Well I've shared the photos and quick update, however I feel I need to explain on the - 2 portion.

On September 23, 2013 something happened to Daniel and I.  We happened across some people on the internet.  We spent many days with these particular people on our hearts.  We came to the conclusion that it was God who had laid them on our hearts, and for a reason.  Do you know where I'm going with this yet? 

You see, these people (two particular people, to be in fact), are children in Ethiopia who needed a family.  After much contemplation, prayer, and sleepless nights, it was apparent that God was calling us to be their family. So on October 1, 2013 we stepped out in total faith and committed to them and let our agency know that we wanted to be their family.  - 2, is for two less orphans in the world, because they now have a forever family, who are going to love them to pieces and show them what Jesus is all about...and we're excited about that!

We have our dossier turned in as of 11/05/13...whew!  And more paperwork in the works, but we're one step closer to meeting our new precious son & daughter!  A little information (at least what I can share) on our newest additions: our kids are twins, boy & girl, here named T & M, these initials stand for their true Ethiopian names (which we have chosen to keep).  I know some people do change names (I mean we kept Cruz's as his middle name), but we keep coming back to the fact that (they will have so much to adjust to once they're home: culture, manners, learning English, schooling, their new family...a whole new world, do we seriously want to throw in learning a whole new name for themselves at their age?)  Forgot to mention:  our twins are an older child adoption.

HUGE NEWS!  Have your gotten over that big SURPRISE yet?  Have your mouths dropped and shut again?  Ha ha! 

Please be in prayer for us as we take this huge step in our lives.  We know the Lord will take care of us, but personally I never thought I'd have 5 children (though might I add, nothing against people with 5 or more children!)...just thought I'd never be one of them--hence the name of the blog "Waiting Impatiently"!  And I'm going to need A LOT of patience with 5 children!  I had pictured 4, but God has 5 in His plan for us, so we're going with that!

Please pray for us as we prepare for them, as we prepare our kiddos already here at home, and pray for T & M, that God would start preparing their hearts for the changes that will take place and preparing them for their new family.  If you'd like to be apart of our adoption journey, please find some more ways, on the tab to the right "ways to help".

Lugo Latest

Ok, have I told you already that I'm not a great blogger???!!!  I think I have, but if I haven't, consider yourself given that information right now.  So don't blame me for the long, long, long time between posts...we have had a lot going on!

From the last time I posted, we were cleared for our Embassy appointment toward the end of February, so we headed to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to once again be united with our little guy!  We left Charlotte on March 5th (which was our daughter's 7th birthday)...totally devastating that we would miss her birthday (that's a whole other story)...but know we made up for it when we got back!  We arrived in Addis on March 6th, and went and got our little guy, had our Embassy appointment on March 7th, and headed back home late March 8th (Ethiopian time).  So needless to say, this was a quick trip, but with travel taking pretty much two days each way, we just went with it.  This trip made us EXHAUSTED....and I can't make that word type out like we felt...little guy traveled great (especially since we had to hold him the WHOLE way home--I think it was something like 17 hrs. I can't remember at this point)!  But I'm sure there have been worse stories than that, and we survived.

We arrived back in Charlotte on March 9th (which we consider GOTCHA DAY since we arrived at home, though I know others may consider it by other things) and Isabel, Sofia, Granna, Poppa, & Aunt Meg were there at the airport to greet us and meet their new brother, grandson, & nephew:
Cruz Galgalo

We arrived at our house to be greeted by Grandma Suze & Papi as well!  It was great to be home and all the waiting we just forgot and none of it mattered anymore, because our son was HOME!

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Since being home, Cruz has adjusted great.  It took a little while to learn laying down at certain times meant "nap time", and learning to drink his bottle at one time, instead of little bit by little bit.  He got it pretty quickly and I was excited about that.  He's adjusted to his family, or shall I say his family has adjusted to him, either way, it seems as if he's always been here!  He's a little messer, into everything, but such a Sweetie Pie, with lots of kisses & hugs to give!  He is a healthy, growing boy, and we are doing great!

On May 31st, we celebrated with family, Cruz's 1st Birthday, though he didn't tear into the cake like I expected, we had a wonderful time celebrating!

Thank you to everyone who prayed for us and supported us through this adoption journey.  Going back and reading some of the prior posts, it just seems like it happened so long ago.  I'm so glad it's a distant memory and now Cruz is forever in our arms.

I was going to post photos, but that isn't working at the moment.  I'll do that soon, so those of you who don't FB can see our family of 5!

A Long Time Coming

Hi Everyone,

I wanted to give everyone an update on our adoption process...I know it has been awhile.

Since our last writing, which is when we had just gotten back from our court trip and meeting our son, we have been waiting...and waiting...and waiting.  Waiting to hear that we had the court decree.  We were greatly anticipating getting it within a week or so of our court date, however that didn't happen.  It was December 11, 2012, five weeks from court that we received that court decree.  We were happy that we finally received it and that we could move forward, but were then praying that the rest of our process would go smoother and quick.

At the point of receiving the court decree, our agency could then begin to gather the several documents needed in order to submit our case to the US Embassy.  The first of which was our little guy's birth certificate...which ended up taking a whole other month to receive due to a delay with getting a MOWA letter that was needed in order to get the birth certificate.  So I'll calculate that for you...that puts us at January 18, 2013 when we FINALLY got that.  So as you can imagine, not as smooth as we had hoped, for sure.

Moving on to the passport, we received that in a few short weeks on February 5, 2013.
Then we received the medical report (that required passport be in hand) from the his medical exam on February 11, 2013.

It has now been 14 weeks since we last saw those big, beautiful, brown eyes, held our little boy, his little hand wrapped around our fingers.  This has been SO hard, and oh how we miss him so.

This has been a tough last few weeks.  Amongst all of this going on with the adoption, my grandmother became suddenly ill, and on February 3rd she went to see her Lord and Savior.  The loss of her has been devastating to me and my family.  We have peace in knowing that she is now celebrating with Jesus, no more suffering, no more pain!  But...it's hard not to feel that hole in your heart...that a piece of your life is gone.

Needless to say, the Lugo's have been in a valley of discouragement for some time.  Not understanding why our adoption process has been delayed in some areas (though I must say... I know we're waiting a lot shorter time frame than many adopting families--so please do not take offense to that.  We most definitely feel what those of you who have and are waiting feel).  It's hard not to get discouraged when something isn't happening when you want it to.  It's been so hard to comprehend why God would allow my grandmother to join Glory before getting to meet  her new great-grandson.  But also praying in her last days, that He would bring her home because seeing her suffer was too much.

But in all of this, we have learned that God has His timing, and it's always perfect.  It doesn't mean I have to understand it...but I have to accept it.  Even though I hate that my sweet grandmother will never get to hold him...He is faithful to bring us through.  I think that He knew our family would need something really special, something that we've been waiting for, our little boy...to help us heal from the loss of my grandmother.  God knows exactly what we need at exactly the right time.

The encouragement we needed came today...we got word that we have been submitted to the US Embassy, February 13, 2013!!!!!  They have already screened our file as well, so the investigation of our case can begin.

We want to thank you for your continued prayers and thoughts.  Please pray along with us that the Embassy investigation would go speedily and that we get "cleared" very soon.  We hope to be traveling by the end of the month to pick up our little boy, who we've been longing to bring home and become a family of 5!