Friday, October 26, 2012

25 days in Panama!

Well we have been in Panama now since October 1st. Only with the tremendous help of our family and  friends and with strength from the Lord have I made it this far. This is by far the hardest thing our family has had to deal with...which is a good thing..because until now everything has been pretty smooth sailing. :)

The only adoption update that I have is that almost all of the paperwork has been submitted to court and we should know our courtdate by next Wednesday. Looks like we could be home anywhere from Nov. 18-30th but at least we won't ever have to come back.

On Wednesday we took Tyler and Ronnie to the orphanage for the last time to say goodbye. Tyler was very uneasy and kept saying, "Vamos"(which means he was ready to leave). He asked before we went if he could come back to the hotel with me. Even though we explained to him many times...I'm not sure he new what to believe. After we were there for awhile he started to play but was happy when it was time to leave. The teachers gave me a big folder full of stuff for Tyler and Ronnie. :) I was also able to talk to a couple of nannies about Sophie. Apparently, she was one of the favorites and always got her way. This explains her behavior a lot...one day at a time.

Today was pretty bad...riots broke out here in Panama. Over 200 people were arrested, 50 woman broke out of the jail here (they have all been captured), people were trying to shoot the police from balconies, etc. Carlee was almost out of milk but the store that we go to was closed because protestors had gone in and started stealing so I went to the store right by the hotel..they were closed also. Any ran about 4 blocks to the store and got us bread, milk, cheese, mustard...oh and chocolate just in case the stores are closed tomorrow. It was very scary. All of the malls were closed and all of the government offices closed at 2. I think everything is winding down because the protestors have made their point and have "won".

The kids are doing well. We have changed their names...one last time. Due to the circumstances of their  adoption (which is private), as well as other reasons, we have decided not to keep their names that they had at the orphanage. The oldest boy will be named Tyler Malachi Thornley. We names him after George's nephew who died at the age of 2 (Tyler). We wanted a biblical name for his middle name and we both liked Malachi. The youngest boy will be named Ronald Venning Thornley. Ronnie after my Dad and Venning after my Mom's side of the family. The little girl will be named Sophia Nellie Thornley. We both liked the name Sophie and Nellie is my paternal grandmother's name. So there you have it! Our family is truly complete and we thank the Lord for these children daily. Funny how their transition has been fairly smooth...unlike the judicial system here. We continue to ask for your prayers during this difficult time. We miss Maura Genet and Thomas very much but they have spent many weekends with family and are doing great at the Goehrings and Rothermel's. Hope you enjoy  the pictures!

Any's good nature and strength continue to amaze me. Every morning she wakes up with a smile and is happy. I don't know how I could do it without her cheery attitude!!

                                                                Daddy and Tyler
                                                      Ronnie (3) and Sophie (3)
                                                       Headed to church


                                                                 Carlee Rose (15 months)
                                                      Beautiful Flea (7)
                                                        Tyler (6) with Bella Boo (5)
Ronnie with Tia Jenny (one of his nannies)
                                                        The Orphanage

                                              Maria and Lisa from my agency
             

Will update again soon!

Thursday, October 18, 2012

17 days in Panama!!

Hello Dear Friends! We have made some progress this week. On Monday, Maria from my agency flew in to see if she could help move things along. We had an appointment at the US Embassy on Tuesday. We received our Article 5 at the meeting. This is a very important step. This is the approval from the US allowing us to bring the children in to the United States. Our social workers came to visit on Monday and Wednesday. We have our last visit tomorrow. They will have their report ready on Monday. This is the report that is supposed to go to the judge after we have been living with the kids for 30 days. The social workers are very happy with the children's progress. SENNIEF (the adoption authority) has agreed to turn in the report a little early to the judge. Hopefully, the judge will accept it. I had to write a report as well and Maria translated it into Spanish this afternoon. This is great news.

George and I have decided that we will not leave Panama without our children. The attorneys were going to request that we have temporary legal custody of the children so we could leave earlier and then come back in May to finalize everything. We have also said that we will stay until they children are legally our children...and we are legally their "mama" and "papa". The time difference is probably only 10-14 days and we feel that completing the adoption now will be healthier, easier, and less expensive for the family. It looks like we may be here through Thanksgiving. (my favorite holiday) :(  If we are, we will fly Thomas and Maura Genet here to spend the week with us since they are out of school. Li-Li and Bella's school have been wonderful and so supportive. They have agreed for them to stay out and will be sending more work via email. The wonderful families keeping Maura Genet and Thomas have also agreed to keep them for a little longer. Thankful that my family are able to help out on weekends.

Now the good part..the children!! They are doing amazing. Javier, the 6 year old, has turned out to be quite the helper. He also tries to help Ronnie do the right thing. Of course he is running a lot but we are all tired of being in a hotel room. Things here are really expensive so it costs $50 for us to get to the mall and back...because they charge per person. Therefore, we are not venturing out too much. Ronnie will be four on Nov. 5th (same as my niece Logan). He tries to be just like his older brother. He is a little sensitive. He is such a happy child. They are both saying "please", "thank you", "I love you", "chocolate", "washy washy", "Bella", "Li-Li", "Mama", "Any", "banana", and " Papa". Sophie is doing great. She is laughing, smiling and playing games. We did start setting some boundaries today for Sophie and she didn't like that too much but we will get there. :)

George has been in Philly this week and it has been hard because we miss him but luckily my stepsister, Courtney, has been here since Monday to help out. She has been such a tremendous help. George will be back here on the 28th of October. :) Please keep us in your prayers for the duration of this trip.

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Today marks 13 days in Panama!

I'm sorry for not posting lately...

The social workers came again to visit on Friday. They are very happy with the progress that the children are making. They do not have to come visit as much as they are but they are hoping that if they have a very favorable report with more visits than the judge will grant us an earlier court date. We still have no idea where we stand on the adoption front. I just can't imagine leaving the kids here until May when we could come back since we have made so much progress in such a short time. We have a few options for the judge and hopefully we will know something this week. Maria (the social worker from my agency who I have been working with for over a year) will be flying in on Monday night so hopefully she can help get the ball rolling. Anna will be here tonight and Courtney (my stepsister) will be flying in tomorrow night. George will be leaving tomorrow to go to Philadelphia ffor work for about 12 days. He definitely needs to be at work...even more so since the costs have increased so much due to travel, translators, etc.

The kids are doing well. Javier tends to be the leader of the pack and somewhat controls Ronnie. We are starting to separate them at times and it has worked well. Ronnie is only 3 yet in some ways like a 5 year old. You can tell that he was independant at the orphanage. The boys have both learned to see please and thank you and to say "Amen" at the end of the blessing. Yesterday we got our first real smile from Sophie. I was chasing she and Carlee and lifting them up in the air. She was smiling and laughing. :)

Javier's fever is gone and Sophie's is anywhere beween normal and 99.8. I think it might even be from stress. Her little body is going through so many changes. The hardest time is at night..she usually cries and screams for a good hour BUT i just put her down for her nap and she didn't cry at all. Of course I laid on the floor beside her until she fell asleep. She will not sleep in the pack-n-play, even though she was in a crib at the orphanage.

Tonight we are going to Panama International Church. We have a driver picking us up at 4:30. The service begins at 5:30. The couple running the church are from Summerville and are missionaries here right now. I believe they have 2 young children.

Please keep praying for us! I will post pictures tonigt after church!

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Update!

I will share the not so good news first. We had an appointment with the US Embassy today. If the Panama court system decided to grant us legal custody and allow us to come back in May to finalize the adoption, it is possible for the kids to come home to the US on a tourist type visa BUT to do that would take just about the same amount of time as completing the adoption now...another 7-8 weeks. I have requested to meet with the Panama Judge who is handling our case to plead our case. Panama law requires you to stay with your child for at least 30 days before submitting for a court date. During this time the social workers and psychologists do home visits (at the hotel) to see how the relationship is going. Our attorneys are hoping to show that if they grant us legal guardianship, that we will have 6 months to work on our relationship before coming back to finalize everything. Hopefully they will allow a social worker to meet with us in SC. We will see.....

On a good note, we have had the kids with us for about 30 hours. It has been busy but amazing. Javier (Joshua), the 6 year old has stolen my heart. He wants so bad to please us and to  learn how the Thornley Family works. After only telling him a couple of times, he told me "thank you" in English after helping him brush his teeth. He was obviously very hungry because he took snacks and hid them throughout the apartment. We promised him that he would always have enough to eat. He told Hector when that were sitting at the table for lunch..that he was going to put his game on the couch because mama and papa don't let them play while they are eating. AMAZING CHILD! Of couse he said it all in Spanish but Any translated! :) Hector (Ronnie) is typical middle child...of course I am not the typical middle. He has made progress as well. He is a happy, outgoing child while Joshua is more shy. Sophie has done extremely well. She was a favorite (apparently) at the orphanage and was treated like a baby. She was being fed some meals, sleeping in a crib, not potty trained, etc. Tonight she fed herself dinner at the table with one of Carlee's spoons. She ate two helpings of vegetables and macaroni and cheese. All the kids LOVE the shower and brushing their teeth. The boys have toothbrushes that light up and they think that is great. The social workers visited today and they are very happy with the bond that we have formed.

Please pray: Javier and Sophie both have temps of 100 and we are so scared that Carlee will get sick. She also has started to walk and the floor in the apartment is marble. scary!!

Reading the newspaper in Spanish!


The orphanage director on the right..taken when we picked up the kids

The staff at Sennief (Panama Adoption Authority)


They were all looking at pictures on the computer



Helping their little brother get dressed for bed

 
Please keep praying. We are staying hopeful!!

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Pictures







Sunday afternoon we went to the Albrook Mall in Panama City. I have never seen so many people at the mall. We took a few shots. This was our first big outing in a week.

Monday, October 8, 2012

Prayers Please!

This is not going to be a short post: On Saturday, driving back from the orphange I found out that Panama has a law that the kids have to be in custody with us for 30 days before they can request a court date. I don't want to get into all the legalities but to make a long story short..we could have to be here for 7 more weeks. This is impossible for us to do..for many reasons..Li-Li and Bella need to be back at school, childcare for Maura Genet and Thomas, George HAS to work, and many more. Obviously there was miscommunication because if we knew this we wouldn't be in this situation since this arrangement is not feasable for our family. Earlier today we were ready to give up. The situation seemed pretty hopeless. A few hours later I called our attorneys and asked them to come to our hotel. George and I came up with three possible solutions. One: that everything gets expedited and the adoption is completed by Nov. 8th (very doubtful) Two: That we spend the required 30 days with the kids and then have legal guardianship granted to us, fly back to USA and then come back here in late May when all the kids are out of school to go to court and finish the process. Three: that we spend the required 30 days here and then go back to the USA without the kids and come back at the end of May to complete the adoption. The second option is tough because it will be tough to get a court date soon enough to grant us legal guardianship. It looks like the third option is the only one that may work. I know it sounds bad, having them go back to the orphanage but at least they can be with us in May. At least it may be an option. George and I are doing everything we can, along with our agency, to push this adoption through. I have another meeting at 9:30 in the morning with the director of adoption authority. I have done my homework and I am prepared to plead my case. I also have requested to meet with the judge and will be in contact with the US Embassy tomorrow. This children are helpless and George and I will fight for them to become Thornley's. Please pray for our family, for the attorneys, for the judges and for everyone involved. Prayer is powerful and I am hopeful that we can do this.

Saturday, October 6, 2012

Day 5

Today George and I tool Li-Li and Bella to the orphanage to see the kids. Our adoption attorney here in Panama actually took us there. It went well. We only had a little bit of crying from Madeline (Sophie). When we got there Javier had been crying. I asked what was wrong and they told me that one of the children had hid his photo book that we had sent him and he was sad. He  later found it and was happy again. After visiting the kids, we took a tour of Panama City. We drove past the Panama Canal...we will do a more structured tour in a couple of weeks. It is amazing how there are so many "rich" areas in Panama but at the same time so many very poor areas. The people here are so friendly and are appreciative that we are giving the children a home.

My attitude has improved greatly. The first couple of days were extremely hard but after many encouraging words and bible verses sent my way...things are looking up. I have decided to embrace the 4-5 weeks we have to spend here and to try to learn as much as we can about the children's history, as well as, the history of their birthcountry.

On another note, we rented an apartment today for the entire month of October. The hotel room (even though we are in the largest room available) has gotten quite small. We have rented two apartments next door to the hotel...they both have full kitchens and washer and dryers. This way we (George :)) can cook some meals instead of eating out so much. We got both rooms for $50 less a night than we were paying at the hotel. This is after I used my great negotiating skills. :) We will move over to the apartment on Monday.

We didn't make it to the mall today sice it was storming pretty badly and our driver was either in an accident or stuck in traffic due to an accident..it was hard for me to understand! :) We will go tomorrow at 2 o'clock after visiting the kids in the morning. We are able to take the kids to the hotel with us on Monday...this is actually 4 days earlier than originally planned but they feel that we have now bonded with the children.

Madeline (Sophie) fell asleep in the car on the way to McDonalds

This is how I bath Carlee so I can make sure she doesn't drink the water!
                             
Getting so big...Carlee Rose (almost 15 months)


Li-Li, Bella, Carlee and Any the Amazing Au Pair



Hecter (Ronnie), Li-Li, Bella, Madeline (Sophie), Jorge (the attorney) and myself


On a good note, we were able to talk with Anna,Thomas, and Maura Genet tonight! So happy!!

Hope you enjoy the pictures~!

BIG NEWS!!! Carlee is now walking...took 14 steps on Oct. 4th and now she is walking across the room!!!

Friday, October 5, 2012

Friday, October 5th! Day 4 in Panama!

Thank you to all of our friends and family who have sent encouraging words through email, blog and facebook. It has been very rough but today I finally saw the rainbow. George, Li-Li and I went to the orphanage at 10 am this morning. The translator (who we like a lot) met us at the hotel and then we went to the office to pick up the psychologists and social workers who will be writing our report. Hectar and Javier were waiting for us when we got there. Javier has already started calling us Mama and Papa. I went upstairs to get Madeline and she immediately started crying when she saw me...almost to the point of vomiting. We got into the car and within 10 minutes she had stopped crying. This is one of the few times that she had been in a car except for Dr. appts. The boys were very excited. We took the kids to a mall and to McDonald's. Madeline did not want me to  put her down, she allowed me to feed her and she gave us a huge smile when we gave her the toy from the Happy Meal. Of course, Li-Li then starts talking about how we don't get Happy Meals at home because McDonalds is unhealthy. lol

The highlight of the day for the boys was going into the bathroom and washing their hands. They couldn't believe the automatic soap dispenser and the hand dryer really shocked them. It is so amazing to see how the simplest things amaze kids who haven't experienced them.

When we got back to the orphanage, I dressed Madeline, changed her diaper and out her down to play. It was a great sign that even though we were back, she did not reach for the nannies but stayed with me.

Tomorrow we are taking Carlee, Li-Li and Bella to a huge mall with a movie theater and carousel. They haven't done anything fun this week so we are all pretty excited. I met a lady tonight from Panama City, Florida who has lived here for 5 years. She gave me the names of inexpensive, but good, restaurants, as well as, the name of a driver who speaks English. We are planning on going to an English speaking church on Sunday afternoon.

On a side note, Li-Li's expander in her mouth came unglued at one tooth. It  is still in place and is very secure but please pray that is doesn't become more loose.

On the plane!!!

Li-Li and Hector at the mall

Do you see the slight smile from Madeline?


Li-Li and Javier


Hope you enjoy the pictures!!

Thursday, October 4, 2012

Pictures!





Mommy with Javier, Hector and Madeline

Carlee and Bella

Madeline (3)

Javier (6), Hector (3)

Daddy with Hector

Javier getting ready for his nap at the orphanage

Bella giving Hector a hug goodbye