In two days Mitch will be home after a long 6 month deployment and he will be on his way to get our baby girl. Our first embassy appointment was on December 7th. It was so hard having to reschedule. Mitch is leaving soon after arriving to be there for her embassy appointment. We are so excited she'll be home for Christmas...THE BEST GIFT EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I cannot believe she is finally ours Ana Piedad Magee, it was wonderful to read that on paper after 11 months of waiting and uncertainty. It is almost time to go get her. Words cannot express that feeling.......

I haven't posted in awhile I have been trying to overcome my grief. Three days after receiving the word that Savannah was out of PGN, my oldest sister was killed in a car accident. How quickly your life can go from being so happy to not knowing how you are going to go on. I am sad to know that Savannah will never know her Aunt Karleen she was so sweet and kind and just so beautiful. I expected that when we returned home to show off our newest addition that Karleen would be standing there too. I will miss her everyday of my life....I will tell Savannah what Karleen meant to me and will show her pictures. You never know what each day brings I have to learn to embrace all that I love and try to find happiness everyday even in the small things. As far as the adoption goes we haven't received any news, hopefully soon.......We received new pictures from Tonya, Savannah received the gifts we sent to her and her foster family.

WE ARE OUT OF PGN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! PRAISE GOD..........

I called PGN today and they said we were on the directors desk and to call back Tuesday. I pray that we will be out and not KO'd by the director. My life is about to change and the anticipation is driving me mad. It has been 10 long months I just want to hold my new daughter. I am so excited yet so scared. My heart breaks because I know that she is leaving the only family she has ever known and she is going to be so scared and confused. Our family will have to stand together with her and help her through that grieving period. In one day she will loose a mother and gain another. There will be alot of adjustments for our whole family. Me and Mitch have a daughter, Justin has a sister that has special needs, and Connor won't be the baby any longer. But we are all so EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!! Come on Barrios let us OUT let me have my baby..........

It is has been hard lately because of the uncertainty of the adoptions in Guatemala. I am scared that they will shut down completely but my faith in God says Savannah will come home.....Here is the letter that I sent to the JCICS supporting Intercountry adoptions........



My name is Angel Magee, my husband and I are the pre-adoptive parents to a beautiful special needs child in Guatemala. We are currently in our 6th week of PGN. I know you don't care about my personal history but I can say to you in short that I have dreamed of the day that my daughter comes home to her daddy, brothers, and myself for a very long time. I won't tell you about miscarriages and infertility, I won't tell you about trying to adopt from the US foster care system and all the pain we have suffered, but I will tell you about Ana, she is beautiful.....I have never held her but I love her and she is sick. Ana has unilateral open lip schizencephaly, cerebral palsy, vision and hearing problems. Ana might not ever walk independently, she may never speak, and she might not ever hear me say to her how she has made my dreams come true. She will however have the best therapy and doctors and vision specialist, she will have a mother, father, and brothers that love her. She will have a family that is hers not a foster family not an orphanage she will have a place to come home to from college, a home to bring her children to when she is grown and life time of memories. Her birthmother gave her up to have a life that she could not provide. Will the Guatemalan government get Ana therapy, eye glasses, hearing aids, braces for her legs, and all the medication she needs for seizures? We chose Ana, we want her no matter what the future holds. We want to cover all of those expenses and we want to give her the best we can. We started this adoption in January, her bedroom is ready, her clothes are in the closet, and my arms are empty. Please let my baby come home along with the other 3000+ cases that need to be completed. I support intercountry adoption let our children come home, let these adoptions proceed to completion, honor the law that was in place when these adoptions were started. Sincerely, Angel Magee

Fill free to read up on the crisis that is going on with Guatemala adoptions and show your support....http://www.jcics.org/Guatemala5000.htm#Participate

I decided to start this blog to keep or family and friends informed on the current progress of our adoption. Also so her daddy Mitch can read up on his baby girl while he is on deployment. We have been in the process of adopting Savannah since January it has been a long process now the Guatemalan Government is threatening to shut down all adoptions as early as January 1st, 2008. One can only pray that they will at least honor the adoptions already in place. We have made it this far we only need to exit PGN and get her home. I know that it is going to be a challenge to raise a child with special needs. I pray for God to guide me in the right direction and to make all the right choices on her care, to know when to ask for help, and to make her understand that she can do anything despite her handicaps. She is truly the answer to our prayers.