Kodiak Koehler's

It's amazing to me how fast time flies and yet how slow it seems to go at the same time. My pregnancy time is FLYING by, whereas the adoption time seems to be dragging on forever. I am now in the single digits of weeks left in my pregnancy. I've got just about 8 weeks left. Here is a pic of me from last week. Now...some GREAT news! We have finally exited Family Court, received Pre-Approval from the US Embassy and entered PGN which is basically this: After receiving Pre-Approval (PA) the lawyer submits a petition for approval of the adoption case to a notarial officer of the Attorney Generals office (Procuraduria General de la Nación or PGN). (A Notary in Guatemala is an attorney with additional powers, not simply someone who certifies signatures as in the US .) Notary in PGN reviews all the documents (sometimes requesting that some be re-done because of minor spelling errors, expired notary seals, etc. - however our agency is very picky about how paperwork is completed an...

Got info about his 4 month check up, which was on Saturday. He weighs 14.8 lbs and is 24.8 inches. His head circumference is 16.4 inches, which puts him in the 93-94th percentile for Guatemalan children. On the American growth charts he is at about the 25% for length, 50% for weight, 25% for head circumference, and 75% for lenght/weight ratio. I haven't found a Guatemalan growth chart for anything but head circumference, but I'm so glad that he is on par with American children. I think this will probably help him as he grows up. Most of the children we saw while on our visit were TINY. There were children close to a year old who were smaller than Gabriel. Some of that has to do with genetics, but a lot of it (I'm certain) has to do with the care they are receiving. I'm so glad I've got a healthy boy! He did receive some shots: his second dose of DPT and his first of Meningitis. Poor baby didn't look to happy in the pictures we got of him. I don't blame him e...

Here's a link to the rest of our pictures from our Awesome Guatemala Trip!! There are two albums, one from our visit with Gabriel (the first link) and the other is for the vacation portion of our trip. We haven't captioned the second one yet, but Gabriel's has been done. When you click on the link, if you don't have an account with Snapfish, you can either create one or you can skip that part and just click the "View now" button at the top right of the page. http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=167545626/a=57694574_57694574/t_=57694574 http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=167549702/a=57694574_57694574/t_=57694574

Chicken buses = "Holy cow did he just do that!?!?!" For those of you that don't know "Chicken buses" are the super cheap transportation around Guatemala and especially between villages. They are painted really vibrant colors and designs and are rather cool looking...until you watch them drive. They are CRAZY!!!! Literally crazy...they treat all road markings and signs as meer suggestions. There are a ton of them on the road and they are all privately owned and as such compete with each other like its the Indy 500. They will pass on double yellow lines, near curves, hills...doesn't matter. They hardly even slow down to pick people up. Which is wierd since the passengers are the ones paying their livelyhood. I can't tell you how many people I saw run up as the bus was pulling away and jump on the ladder in the back. The drivers have a helper that handles luggage, tickets, etc...and they ride hanging out the door. We saw the helper climb to the top of the b...

Answer: One big happy family, part in Guatemala, part in Alaska and all who love little Gabriel very, very much. We woke up this morning, went to bed last night in fact, expecting this to be the hardest day of our lives. While it was hard in many ways, it was also very refreshing and joyous. We got to meet our co-ordinator, Sonya, for breakfast as well as about 4 other families working with our agency. She is amazing and we couldn't be happier to have her working on our behalf. We did have to pack Gabriel's bags, which was very difficult and we took a family nap today. Of course, today was the first time he has actually taken a good nap and we all slept for an hour and a half, waking up in just enough time to finish packing his things and getting him ready to go back to the foster family. He definitely fits with our family! (see previous post about sleeping late on important days). The foster family came to pick him up and we took Gabriel down with all his bags and I was near t...

Ok so we're finally able to sit down and write for a few minutes. We finally made it to Guatemala after 24 hours of traveling. What an exhausting trip!! We barely made it on the plane out of LAX after waiting in the check-in line for about 2 hours. Everybody was already on the plane and were just waiting for the last few people. We made it though and we got checked into the hotel just fine. When Gabriel got dropped off we got the chance to meet his foster mother and sister. We could just see how much they love him and it sets our hearts at ease. We still don't look forward to him leaving on Saturday, but we know that God will bring him home in His time. As soon as we looked down at him he smiled right at us and the foster mom (Ana) pointed at us and said, tu mama, tu papa. I know the quotes are missing, but I can't seem to find them on this keyboard (it's a Spanish set up and the keys are a little different). We've been in heaven with our angel. I wish we could...

Hope everyone is having a wonderful day today! I'm busy washing clothes and packing for the trip. I can't believe we leave in only 4 days!!! Less than a week now until I hold my boy! I can't believe it! The excitement is really sinking in. I had a busy day yesterday. I had a Dr's appt and they scheduled me for an "emergency" 1 hour glucose test for later that day. Everything is fine, it must have been the Honey Nut Cheerios I had for breakfast that made my sugars high. Of course I don't eat very well while Zach is gone, so that probably had a lot to do with it to. Becca had her Change of Command, so she is officially the Commanding Officer (CO) of Fish School. It's a lot longer name than that, but I'm not even going to try it. She even made the front page of the paper. Check out the article . I wish it had a picture on there. She should have one on her blog soon. She better. CraftNite was last night too and it was a lot of fun, as always, with goo...

As I was driving home on this yet another GORgeous Alaskan night I noticed an interesting boat docked where one of the ferries was when I went past a couple hours earlier. As I got closer I noticed it had a rather interesting paint job and that is said "GREENPEACE" on the back. So of course I pull in to the ferry terminal parking to get a better look. Luckily I had my camera with me and got some shots of the boat. I'm not sure how long they are here for, but they were loading what looked like food on while I was taking pics. I am SO loving my zoom lens! Then I saw the crew coming out of one of the famous local bars on Marine Drive across from the marina. I know it's them because I looked at their website to find out why they are here and there were pictures of the crew and the lady was wearing the same outfit. If you want to know why they are here, look here . Just want to say too, that I don't necessarily agree with Greenpeace. I think their hearts are in the rig...

Just wanted to share the new pictures we received today of Gabriel. He is just adorable, isn't he? I think this is what Zach and I really needed to get alleviate some of the angst we've been feeling about the trip. He is getting so big! We didn't get any information yet about his 3 mth check-up. I'm hoping he had one or that he will this week. I want to know how much he weighs.

Yup, we're going to Guatemala for a visit. We got approval from our agency, the attorney's and the CG. We are filled with so many emotions about it I think we're more overwhelmed than anything. People keep asking if I'm excited and I am, but I'm also scared, nervous, anxious, worried... I think there are so many emotions running rampant that I don't feel anything, almost like it's not real. I feel guilty about that, but I can't seem to change it either. Is this normal? We had to go buy lots of stuff for the trip since we have to be prepared for the foster mom to only bring formula, although she will likely bring more. $300 at Walmart later I think we are almost done. Kids are expensive! We had to get several brands of bottles b/c we don't know what kind he likes or will be willing to use, and clothes and diapers and medicines and and and. Whew....I wasn't expecting that much, but it's all worth it. I got a diaper bag that will work when we on...

After lots of prayers and waiting we have finally found out if Gabriel will have a little brother or sister...Our appointment wasn't until 1 p.m. so to keep Beth's mind occupied she went to her Yoga class and then had coffee with the girls. To make sure bellybaby was up and active she had an extra large triple espresso coffee and then came home and ate an entire bar of chocolate!! (These were doctor's orders by the way so stop having heart-attacks) Needless to say bellybaby was a squirmy worm for the ultrasound. So the time for the appointment finally arrived and we headed to the hospital. Beth called at least every week leading up to the appointment to make sure her favorite tech was going to be the one performing the ultrasound and it turned out that we were her last appointment before she left for 5 weeks. She asked us some questions and Beth told her that she was still not 100% positive that we weren't having twin bellybabies...we're not!! That was the first thi...

I just wanted to post a quick update. I'm sure I'll post a big one either tomorrow or Wednesday. I'm sure most of you know by now that we have our referral for our first born son, Gabriel. He was born on March 23 at 4:25 p.m. near Guatemala City. We received a referral last week and fell in love. Here are some pics... Next, we find out the sex of BellyBaby tomorrow at 1 p.m. I can't believe I am almost 20 weeks already! It seems like just yesterday that we found out we were pregnant! What an exciting year we are having! Here is a picture of me from last weekend. This was at Jewel Beach that Zach spoke about in the previous post. That night we went and had a campfire on the beach with some friends. We are so thankful that God has led us to some new friends that are Christians and focused on family. It was funny b/c none of them are CG, so there wasn't really any shop talk, which was nice. All the guys that were there all play WoW (World of Warcraft - Zach's onlin...

Today was an absoulutly gorgeous day outside today...the first day in a long time that it was above 50 degrees and not a cloud in the sky!!! I got home from deployment last night after a very long day of waiting around. Beth and I woke up early (compliments of Mother Nature's big glow bulb) and had breakfast out on our front porch this morning. Then we were actually out the door before 9:30 to go yardsaling - didn't find much. But we did make it down to Jewel Beach out on the base to go hunting for Sea Glass . The beach is right at the approach end of one of the airport runways where a C-130 was doing touch and goes. Was pretty cool!! Tonight we're headed for White Sands Beach - which is neither white nor sandy - to have a beach bonfire with a couple of couples we know from church. All in all I'd say it was a down right decent day!

I wanted to make sure I was able to wish a very Happy Mother's Day to our mom's and all the mom's we know out there! You are all so special and such an inspiration. I have learned something from all of you. I just hope that when we have our children that I will be as wonderful as so many of you are. We haven't celebrated Mother's Day here yet. I didn't think we were going to do anything for it, but Zach has informed me otherwise. He has something up his sleeve. He apparently has whatever my surprise is with him so that I wouldn't go sneaking around the house trying to find it. He knows me oh so well. Of course, I've been so lazy and tired I have no desire to expend the energy searching the house for things. I did receive a few Happy Mother-to-be Day cards. Thanks Mom & Dad, Delinda and Rebecca!!!! I did have to laugh when I opened the cards from Delinda and Mom though...they were the exact same card and had almost identical words written inside. Too ...

...I'm making another post less than a month after my last one! That's an improvement, right? We are now 16 weeks along in the pregnancy and could also possibly have a referral by mid-June! I can't believe how fast it all seems to be going! I went to a friends garage sale today and bought a double stroller. ACK! It all became so real that we're going to have TWO babies when I bought that! Whoa...it's a good thing I know God has His plan, b/c I sure question it sometimes, but I have faith that it's all in His timing. Anyway...We were lucky enough to fly to Sitka (see above photo) on a C-130 on the 24th of April to visit our friends Scott and Shana and thier wee one, Madison. She is just a DOLL! She has such personality! She's 15 months and everyone in town knows who she is. Sitka is beautiful. We actually got to go out on their boat, which is called "The Jedi". No joke. Anyone who knows Scott, knows how appropriate that is too. I caught my first f...

...for not updating the blog in so long. Sorry about that. My poor hubby has been harrassed while he has been visiting with my family. Most of you know it's been a crazy year for us so far. Honestly, I totally forgot my username and password to even get in and couldn't remember which of my dozen (not quite, but almost) email addresses I used to create this account. So, I finally remembered and was quite surprised to see comments from some of our good friends that we haven't spoken with in YEARS! So sorry Eric and Kris, we haven't neglected to call you guys on purpose, we just didn't know your number, until now. Zach gets home tomorrow and we will call you guys sometime this week. Can't wait to talk to you and find out how your lives are! So as most of you know, Zach and I started the adoption process back in December and are still waiting on some final dossier information before we receive a referral. We are so excited to become parents. Our little one will be f...

I know, I know! Two posts in one week! Ok, are you up off the floor yet? Good...now...We've had an eventful week here. Not only did I get to do the Santa to the Villages flight this week, we also had our first Christmas visitor arrive. Makenzie (Zach's sister, for those that don't know) got here after spending 15 long hours in Anchorage. Luckily the Koehler family has friends there (remember Sunny, Jed and the rest of the Hefley family from our travels here?) and they picked Mak up from the airport for a few hours and took her to lunch. We pretty much have spent the first few days just relaxing. She has slept until 11 everyday so far. I don't blame her though. The school she goes to in L.A. keeps her really busy and she also works, so she doesn't have much time to sleep or eat right. She has been able to get plenty of rest and get some home cooked meals. We even special ordered fresh snow for her! Ok, so God blessed us on His own with that, but we were hoping for so...

***WARNING*** Really long and picture heavy. Don't forget you can click on the picture to see it larger. If you want to see more pictures, you can visit our page on Snapfish: Santa to the Villages . If that link doesn't work, email me and I'll email you an invitation to see them. Ok, so Monday morning I wake up to go in with Zach to the base. He was scheduled for a flight and I was volunteering with Santa to the Villages - an OSA program to bring Christmas to the outlying villages of Kodiak. The presents had all been wrapped and organized into their proper locations - seven villages in all I believe - in the few weeks leading up to this and this was the day we got to distribute gifts to the children of Chiniak. You may be wondering how we got the gifts to the villages....well, Santa of course...only he arrived via helicopter with his elves in tow. I was one of the elves. That's right, I got to fly in a helo...not just any helo, but a 60, the same thing Zach flies. Zach ...