Saturday, November 26, 2005 "Gottcha Day"

We got up fairly early, anxious to hear from Sandra and Mirna; the attorney’s assigned to us in Guatemala. We did not think to check with our agency before we left on when or how we would hear from them. So to waste some time, we went down to the breakfast buffet. Breakfast was excellent! They offered omelets made to your liking, fresh fruit, cheese, pastries, and juices and of course the traditional Guatemalan foods.

Once we got our fill we came back up to our room and waited. Finally at 11:09 am we got a call. It was Sandra. She said “Mr. and Mrs. Sommer, can you please come down to the lobby.” I said, “of course, we’ll be right there.” Cory grabbed the video camera and camera and we headed for the lobby. There she was, we recognized her (Maria del Mar) right away. Tears shed from my eyes as we approached them and all I could say is she is so beautiful! We cried and chatted briefly and then went up to our room.

Sandra and Mirna told us information from her foster mother (photo to the left). One important fact was that she slept through the night! We couldn’t believe it, and wouldn’t believe it until we experienced it for ourselves. How lucky would that be? We asked as many questions as we could think of and were given a number in which we could reach Sandra. All her foster mother asked that we send her a photo once in a while. The entire foster family had a hard time saying good bye. I gave Sandra and Mirna a gift to take to her foster family and then they left. The time we spent together was probably only ½ hour. We were on our own and were an instant family!

For the remainder of the day all we did was sit and stare at her in disbelief and take pictures.