Levi Douglas Bradley: WE'RE HOME!

Our Adoption Story

Levi was born on April 21, 2007 in Chinautla, Guatemala, a small town known for pottery. He weighed 6.7 pounds and was 19.7 inches long. He was in private foster care in Guatemala City where he lived for 10 1/2 months with his foster mom, her son and daughter and Isaac, his foster brother. Throughout our difficult adoption journey, Isaac's mom, Nancy and I became very good friends. God placed our boys together and had the perfect plan in place long before we ever realized it. When I was undecided on an adoption agency, I joined an online forum where Nancy provided me with information about her agency and recommended them to us. We decided to sign with the same agency and I emailed Nancy back to let her know. Over a few months we emailed back and forth to learn we were both from TN and lived only 30 minutes apart... we thought wow, it's a small world. Little did we know a few months later we'd both get referrals, earlier than we expected, of 2 beautiful Guatemalan angels. When they turned 2 months old our agency called and decided it was time to tell us that they were in the same foster home together and had been since they were 1 day old. We were amazed they were together. Even more so, God amazed us once again when we learned shortly after that they were born on the same day and were from the same town... no longer a coincidence that was for sure. We were being told by the foster mom how attached they were and acted like brothers. But, Nancy and I got the chance in January '08 to go to visit them and see it for ourselves. It was an amazing time of bonding with our boys that we will never forget. After that trip it seemed when one of us would reach a roadblock in the crazy process of international adoption the other would be delayed with something else. We stayed right together until the very day we picked them both up. We had our US Embassy appts the same day and we flew home through Atlanta on the same flight on March 11, 2008 when they both entered the US as citizens! It was an awesome time for us in the Atlanta Airport when we rec'd the congrats they were official! We've made friends for life with Nancy, Eric, and with Isaac's extended families. We look forward to many years of watching them both grow up so close together. Over the past year, as we went through battle after battle to bring our boys home, Nancy and I both would never think of one without the other in our endless prayers to keep them safe, happy and healthy until they could be home with their forever families. We're finally parents and it's what we've both waited for, for so many years.. our families are finally complete!!!

Thursday, September 13, 2007

WE'RE HOME!

Hey, just wanted to post and let everyone know we made it home safely from our visit trip early this morning. First of all, for those of you I promised I would try and post everyday while we were there, I apologize for only posting once that we made it OK. I was just so busy and consumed with being a mommy I couldn't find the time to do it. We had a great trip and were so thankful for the memories we'll hold forever of the time we were able to spend with him bonding. He is just simply perfect for us and it seemed like everything fit perfectly for the 3 of us as a family. He is a wonderful baby and he is just so happy all the time it's amazing. He goes to sleep smiling and wakes up smiling. He never cries unless he's wet (which he absolutely hates) or hungry. Otherwise, he's all smiles all the time. He amazed us how smart he was at 4 months to mimic what we would do and to try and push his diaper off if it got wet. He also loves cartoons but, we found it hilarious that he doesn't watch commercials! He and daddy have that in common- ha ha! We were just in awe of him and things were just great! We had a really hard time leaving him there though. It was by far the hardest thing either one of us have ever had to go through. I know it's nothing any other adoptive parent hasn't been through on their trip but, we never knew it would have been as bad as it was. We were not prepared for the overwhelming emotions we felt walking away. We have to have faith in the Lord that he'll bring him home on His timing and will continue to be in control of our adoption. We are so blessed that we cannot thank Him enough for what He's already done for us. Please keep us in your prayers and Levi and his foster family. His foster mother seems to love him too and we are thankful she shows him so much love until we can bring him home forever. Keep my friend Nancy in your prayers too as she goes to visit Isaac, Levi's foster brother this coming week. We're hoping for our pre-approval from the embassy this week or next. Nancy rec'd hers last week so, we should be close behind her. Praying for a speedy trip through the final stage of this process, PGN once we have that approval. Lots of love and thanks- Tracy (aka mommy)

1 comment:

Unknown said...: Tracy,
I am so glad you made it back safely, and will pray for the day to come soon when you don't ever have to leave your sweet boy like that again.; September 14, 2007 at 1:11:00 PM EDT