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!!