Drumroll please....DIEGO!!

A lot of you have probably heard us or Brynnen talk about our "boy" or Diego- well it's time to get rid of the confusion.  Diego is not the name of the boy in my "belly" and is not Brynnen's favorite Nickelodeon character.  "Our" Diego also speaks Spanish (well, his nannies do), has dark hair and olive skin just like the cartoon, however, he is a two year old little boy from Guatemala.  Who has a piece of our hearts, all three of us.
  
Stephen had the privileged of meeting this sweet baby our second day in Guatemala.  We were touring Hope of Life  and had stopped at the Baby Rescue Center. Stephen headed to the toddler room, while I was infatuated with this sweet baby girl who was alone.  So sweet seeing giggles, smiles and just loving on her/them! Here are a few of the other babies

She has a cleft-palate, waiting for a sponsor for the surgery

Henry, a 3 y/o weighs (i think) 11 lbs.

Could not wait to get back to them!!

We were moving on to the next part of the tour (walking), I was jabbering on about how I wanted all of those babies and what a blessing this place was! Stephen was quiet, not sharing his joy...knowing something was wrong, I said "Honey, are you ok?"  He waited a few seconds...his voice cracked as he softly uttered "They put him in a trash can." My eyes filled and I started crying, not because I had a clue what he was talking about-but anything that moves my husband to tears is worth mine too.  A little louder he said "a trash can....a trash can!  Who does that?"  I could tell by his tone he was appalled, broken-hearted and angry...mostly angry.  He told me about Diego.  Someone heard whimpering coming from a dumpster, after checking it out the discovered it was coming from a baby boy, not a wounded animal.  He was brought to the Rescue Center, was nursed to health, now has a bed to sleep in and nurses who love him.  Praise God!!!

Here he is...

Sweet Diego!

Having a daughter around the same age, this hit our hearts hard.  I don't care the circumstance, Brynnen would not be left in a dumpster like unwanted, discarded trash; all alone, probably cold and afraid.  So many other options.  Cannot fathom.

We got to see and play with Diego several more times on our trip.  One of our last days, Stephen had him (of course), Diego wanted to play with a fly swatter.  No big deal, there were not a lot of toys, so Stephen gave it to him and put him down to play.  One of the nurses came over and took the fly swatter from Diego and put it back (not at all rude or disrespectful).  Diego looked at her, his face sank and he dropped to his knees in a pity party.  His world was crushed, his toy taken- so dramatic.  I started laughing.  I had watched this scene play out before.  Except instead of being in an orphanage in Guatemala, it was in my kitchen in Knoxville, it was at grandparents house, it was at the park or any other place my sweet little girl decides to have the same response. Haha, I always laugh at her dramatic style too :-)

That exact moment I realized this boy belongs at the Sene house, he fits perfectly.  Stephen felt the same.

Right now Guatemala is a closed country for adoption.  Basically Americans cannot adopt children from there (or any closed country).  It's a long story- but it involves the lawyers and doctors (among others) in Guatemala- kidnapping, lying, and forcing women to get pregnant to sell their babies to unknowing Americans.  Bad stuff.  So while they sort out all of that mess, and set up proper adoption channels, we will wait...and pray...and look at our few precious pictures.
  

We have no idea if God will bring Diego to our home, His will not ours.  (Lord Willing) We are going to adopt from Guatemala when it opens even if we can't get Diego.  Pray for us, for him and most importantly for the 147 million children who are without a "forever family" - also pray for the people (maybe YOU) who could be forever changed by the life of a child, through adoption.


I have one more post about adoption...coming soon!!  :-)