Good News for Anyone Adopting is Good News for Us

I heard from our friend Shannon today that she has her travel date to pick up Isabel. After she got out of PGN, she didn't have to wait long for her appointment. About 4 weeks. She'll travel on September 23rd and get to bring that sweet girl home that week. We're so excited that someone in our group is coming home. That Isabel is a doll and we're thrilled that she's got a mother and grandmother who love her so much! She has no idea how much attention she's about to get when she returns to Cincinnati. We'll be praying for your safe travels.

Please continue to also pray for Reagan's case. We should hear this week. And please keep all of the families who are in our same position (judicial approval) in your prayers as well. We want all of the orphans in the world to ultimately find a home. This is a tall order, I know. But we have to ask God for the blessings we want to receive.

Re-write

After I posted that last post, Kristin called and said that the new timeline for receiving your Embassy appointment after Guat approval is closer to 6-8 weeks-- not the 4-6 weeks it has been over the summer. Part of this has to do with our Embassy's new requirement for a second DNA test. It isn't the actual testing of the sample that is taking so long. The collection and handling of the sample is getting hung up in Guatemala and causing up to 2 weeks in delays. I don't mean to holler, but is it so hard to find someone competent to do a job. Evidently it is. I say, if a person can't get DNA samples in the mail within 2 days, fire him. Hire someone who can. There are plenty of people who need jobs in Guatemala. Surely there is someone there who can make the turnaround of these samples considerably faster. Gabi's first test was in the American lab's hands within 2 days. The whole process- results and all- took 7 days. And this is only one sample-- not 2 like the first test.

Ultimately, I no longer believe that our girl will be home in 2007. Reagan won't be home in October, like we had hoped, either. We're shooting for November for her. Please pray that her case is released from PGN this week. And, Gabi, I guess we'll be spending Christmas in Guatemala with you.

All We Know

We found out on Friday that the estimate for our time in Judicial Approval is about 7 weeks. Apparently, it takes about 3 weeks to get approved and then they hold your dossier for another 3-4 weeks. This is about 2 weeks shorter than the average wait time for PGN right now. Those cases are taking about 9 weeks to get out. There is, of course, no guarantee that it will only take 7 weeks. We'll see. If our case sticks to that timeline, we could have her home any time between the last week in November and the second week of December. If it doesn't, it could be the end of time.
She would be between 8 and 9 months old. We would give anything to have her home for Christmas.

I tend to agree...

There is a website that I often go to in order to better understand what is happening in Guatemalan adoptions. An adoptive parent and child advocate is one of the authors. He's penned this rant that I think says it all. It might help you better understand why it's taking so long to get Gabi home.

Kevin's Rant

The latest we've heard about the judicial approval process is that it takes about 7 weeks. I have no idea how accurate this is, if it's wishful thinking, if it's a conservative guess, or what. But until we hear otherwise, we're going to go with it. I'll start a timer on the bottom of the page to tell us how long until 7 weeks is up. Let's pray that it's sooner rather than later. We are just one of the families experiencing this new approach for adoption approval, to include Gabriella's foster sister, Ella. Please keep them in your prayers as well.

BIG NEWS!

I spoke to our agent today who cleared up the confusion about whether our case has or has not been submitted to PGN. Our Guatemalan attorney who oversees our process has chosen to go a different route than PGN. PGN, the Guatemalan court system who approves adoptions, is a disaster. PGN is a festering boil on the butt of the adoption process in Guatemala. Sorry for the graphic image. It is corrupt, political and indisputably unethical.

There is a second route, apparently, that can be taken to get an adoption approved in Guatemala. This process is called judicial approval. Rather than working your way through the bowels of PGN, the case is reviewed by a judge and s/he issues a ruling. This ruling is then presented to PGN and within 3 days they have the opportunity to nullify it. PGN can only nullify it for good reason; although out of spitefulness they attempt to nullify cases without reason.

Read this article that explains the political turmoil involved in the Guat adoption process, specifically between PGN and the judicial approval process. http://www.guatadopt.com/archives/000696.html#000696

We sincerely hope that this is a good move for our case. There is a possibility that this could be faster. We also have no reason to worry that our case wouldn't be approved since our file was not kicked out of PGN before for problems on the birthmother's side. All of the issues were with our paperwork and they have been rectified. This is a huge plus. We feel hopeful that this will be a beneficial decision for our case. Ultimately, we just want Gabi home before Christmas.

Cutest Ever

Ed went to get the mail today and we received a card from our nephew Spencer. He's about to turn 4 and he's very bright. He wrote us a thank you card for the t-shirts we sent them from Guatemala. This is what it said,

"Dear Edward and Amanda,
Thank you for the shirts. I love Gabi. Does she cry a lot? Does she smile a lot? I can't wait to
hug her.
Love, Spencer"

I could eat him. He is so cute. I wish we were able to see them more. We love you Spencer and Griffin!

Poll Winner

I've been meaning to post this. The winner of the photo contest was the last one. I venture to say it is because of that angel's grin, but I can't be positive. Personally, I'll vote for any picture with her in it. She's the cutest thing I've laid my eyes on in a long time. I'm soooo biased.

Here's the winner!

Still Haven't Heard

We still haven't been told if our file was re-submitted to PGN. We were told that it would be on Friday. We have no confirmation of that... still. And it's Tuesday.

I have a fair amount of patience for parts of this process which are within reasonable parameters. For example, if it was first explained that something would take 30 days, I'll usually give you 40 before I get hostile. However, my patience is very short when I realize that our file may be sitting in our attorney's office waiting to be delivered to the appropriate office. There is no excuse for this, in my mind. After all, this is precisely why we pay our attorney. To oversee our file and make sure each step is completed in a timely manner.

I understand that this seems like I have unreasonable expectations. Perhaps. But I'm also looking at the weather and seeing that Guatemala is about to be pummeled by a hurricane, elections are due next week that will shut down PGN for a few days, and we haven't gotten a medical update on Gabriella in 6 weeks. I'm a little short on understanding.

Are we in PGN or what? Wouldn't you want this face to come home, if she were yours?

I've been looking for this...

This clip was recorded on our video camera while we were in Guatemala, but I didn't have the right cable while we were there. I wasn't able to upload it to the blog. Then I kept procrastinating downloading all of the video we took. This is just one clip that is ADORABLE! She kept laughing at this sound Ed was making. She thought it was so funny.

No News

Usually I take the stance that no news is good news. That does not apply in this process at all. At all. We hoped to hear from our agent today that we were entered into PGN. We were not notified of that. It doesn't mean that it didn't happen, but we know nothing about it. If we did go in, I hope we hear this weekend. Weekends are hard to tolerate when you're waiting for some news. Also, we're still anxiously awaiting the pictures and medical update we've been expecting.