Josue Moises Morales

We are the proud parents of a baby boy! His name is Josue Moises Morales. He was born on July 12, 2006, at 11:00 pm, in Santa Catarina Pinula, Guatemala. He was 8 lbs., 14 oz., and 46 centimeters in length. He is a very big boy for Guatemala. Obviously, we are thrilled.

We were hoping to get a referral sometime in August and were very surprised to get a call from our social worker on Monday, July 24 at 3 pm. Our social worker called Erin's cell phone (they have a policy of calling the moms first). Surprisingly, Erin restrained herself, declined the immediate information, drove to Andy's office and we heard the great news together. Then we raced home to look at his pictures online. We have decided his first name will be Henry and his middle name will be either Moises or Morales.

We were shocked that we received the referral of little Josue/Henry so quickly. We had completed all of our documents and were officially "in line" for a referral last Monday, July 17, so we only waited one week! Guatemala right now has many more boys than girls available for referrals, so those who specifically want boys or don't have a preference get a shorter wait. But we didn't know it was that short! We both felt like proud parents today sharing pictures of our new son.

The first question everyone has for us is when will he come home. We wish we knew!!! It could be anywhere from 3 to 8 months. Before Henry can move to the Northland, we have to have a DNA match from him and his birth mother, approval by a Guatemalan family court, and final approval by the Guatemalan PGN (the equivalent of our Attorney General). We are praying he will be home for Christmas.

Its been a hectic week and we're a little drained, so we will be signing off for now. We will both be writing a lot more and posting more pictures in the coming days. Thank you everyone for your support and keep the three of us in your thoughts and prayers!