Sweet Maria is the adopted daughter of our good friends, Chris and Theresa. She had a pretty eventful start to life, being found abandoned at just a few pounds in her home-country of Guatemala. She survived and was brought to a local orphanage; the same orphanage that her future older brother, Victor spent his early years. Theresa and Chris had already adopted from this orphanage and were really feeling complete as a family with their two boys, Victor and a biological son, Samuel. But God had other plans and through a social worker they were presented with a photo of little Maria and asked if they would consider taking her into their home. They didn’t hesitate, despite her cleft palate and lip, a trait that makes her “difficult to place” in a world where people look to the outside for perfection. They quickly made plans to visit her to begin to establish their relationship, knowing that it would be many months before she would come home. Once they held her in their arms, she was theirs.
Adopting from Guatemala is a long, difficult process. Theres and Chris know this from adopting Victor four years earlier. But the corruption had increased since then, and Guatemala was threatening to close down adoptions to the US. After waiting for many months, and believing that their day to take Maria home was coming soon, last July they got a frantic call from Maria’s orphanage, informing them that men had broken into the orphanage and abducted Maria and three other children! The assumed purpose of the abductions was to sell the children on the black market. This put Maria in peril, as they may have snatched her in the dark, not noticing her cleft lip/palate, which made her “worthless”. Many here in the states prayed fervently for the children’s safe return. Days passed while we all waited in anguish, wondering if we would ever know what became of them all. But a journalist had been in the country working on a story about the corruption in the adoption system and with the help of local police, they were able to put pressure on the kidnappers. Miraculously, all of the children were abandoned by the criminals, unharmed, and returned to their orphanage. Chris and Theresa, along with their family and friends, rejoiced. But a new sense of urgency set in. It would be many MORE months before Maria would come home.
I don’t know how they kept themselves sane during those long months of waiting, the frightful abduction and then more waiting. But their wait had a beautiful reward. Maria is a very sweet, smiley little one who has stolen my heart in the short time I’ve known her. Here she is, today. Happy and healthy and home safe; finally! Thank You, God!
After the little ones were sleeping soundly I sat in the quiet car and watched the cities go by. It is extremely fascinating to see the world from the perspective of “the tracks”. The parts of town we saw were very different than what we would see by car. I loved every thing about it. Very cool. Tyler and I were still awake when the moon came up over Marina, CA. It was the biggest moon I have ever seen. I wish I could have captured it, but my camera was under the feet of my sleeping toddler and I just couldn’t do it. 
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