Now complete!

The last two weeks have flown by...and Joey is doing really well for the most part. We have noticed in the last 2 days that he seems alittle sad so I guess he is starting to realize that he is here for good and adjusting to that. It is definatley challenging to know what we should do and what we should not so in the mean time we are just trying to give him lots of hugs and kisses. One thing is constant though...he loves his big sister. Sarah can always get a laugh out of him! He is such a doll and the past few weeks have been full of firsts for us!

I am writing this blog post with a lot of mixed emotions because it is my last post. With Joey home now I really need to concentrate on him and my part/full time job of managing the adoption is now over! I still cannot belive that we are home and that we are all together! It is like a dream and sometimes it feels strange. After three years of desperately trying to complete our family the struggle is over. All of you who have read this and supported us over the last 15 mo. holds a very special place in our hearts! Your kind words and encouragement will NEVER be forgotten and I know that I would not have gotten through this with out you. I will continue to email you privately pictures and updates of course! John and I just want to thank you again...adoption is an amazing and wonderful journey and knowing each of you made it even sweeter for us.

God Bless.
Lee Anne

Catch up

So sorry...it has just been busy but I want to catch up on where I left off. The rest of our stay in Guatemala was wonderful, somewhat boring, but wonderful. It was just so great to be with our son and not have to stress about when we would have to go to the lobby to give him back to Yoli. He was ours!!!

We met the most amazing people there and had a wonderful time with them. Joey made lots of Guat baby friends and I want to give a big shout out to Isabella, Jonathan, Gabrielle, Lois and Julia!!! He and Isabella were especially chummy:) On our last night there we all met in the Marriott baby lounge (yes, such a thing exists) and had a pizza party. Food never tasted so good and we were all in great spirits because we were leaving soon.

On Monday afternoon for the first time the gravity of completing this process finally hit me. We were waiting in the lobby for our facilitator to bring us our Visa (allowing Joey into the country) and were sitting with two wonderful woman that we had met and little Isabella. When I saw them receive Isabella's visa I started to cry and when handed Joey's I completely lost it! Finally our long road is over and I could not believe that we were finally taking this little boy with us. How blessed!

I have to admit I was very anxious about the flight home to Philly. It is almost seven hours from Guat. and Joey has only been a car a handful of times never mind a plane! He was AWESOME!!!! The first flight from Guat. to Houston was only 25% full and mostly adoptive parents so he played on that flight and the next one to Philly he slept. What a champ!!!! We had an amazing home-coming, my mom and sister Kelly did such a wonderful job decorating our house and my sister Katie and her man Chris had this unbelievable sign made. The first thing we saw when we rounded the corner of our neighborhood was "WELCOME HOME JOEY" . on a gigantic banner hanging on the front of the house. It was so surreal to finally be arriving home.

The last week has been a whirlwind really, but everyone seems to be adjusting well. Joey is such a good and happy baby. He is walking so well now and starting to eat some solid foods. He just smiles and laughs and loves to play with his big sister, Sarah. He is even taking naps, which I have never experienced before since Sarah has not napped since she was a tiny infant. Today we got to walk around to our neighbors homes since it is Halloween and introduce the new addition to our family on JBL. It was emotional for all of us since these wonderful people have been so supportive of us and been eagerly awaiting this little mans arrival too.

So as I write my little boy is up in his crib (so much for co-sleeping, seems to prefer the crib) sleeping peacefully. So I am off to bed to get some much needed sleep in preparation for tomorrow, getting two kids up and out by 8:30! Wish me luck. Hope you enjoyed the pics!

Love,

Lee Anne

alittle giggle

so I thought that I would give you all alittle run down of how our morning went. We were told by our facilitator that we needed to be in the lobby by 7:30am ready to go, so we had a wake up call set for 6am. At 6am I got up and went into the shower and when I got out started to wake "Sleeping Beauty" (ie. Joey). Note to self, he is not a morning person! To say that he was pissed would be an enormous understatement. He was irate and covered in poop so a bath was in order. John started filling the tub and I put Joey in, but he was is such a tizzy that he projectile vomitted into the bath water! OMG, I just wanted to die at this point it was 6:30! I decided that he would just have to get a shower with one of us so while John was cleaning the puke out of the shower (which clogs ever so easily) Joey peed ALL OVER ME. Guess who ended up getting another shower. He basically screamed for an hour until he was dressed and chugging bottle number two. Poor John had approximately 10 minutes to get showered, shaved, dressed, make two bottles for the morning and meet me in the hotel restaruant. We ate an omelet at record pace and made it to the lobby at 7:29am where Karla (our facilitator) was waiting.

The ride over to the US embassy was uneventful until I realized that I in my haste to leave the hotel room I forgot our tax returns. Karla was sympathetic and told me that it should not be a problem and that if it was she would come back and get them. Thank God the embassy officials never asked for them. The embassy is a rather ugly utilitarian building in Guatemala city, not at all the regal white building with handsome marines guarding the front door that I envisioned at all. So that was alittle disappointing, but everyone there was SO nice and the waiting area was actually fun because we got to meet a ton of adoptive moms and dads from all over the country and everyone there is in a REALLY great mood.

The actual interview process is two parts, the first part is to validate and approve the I600A immigration paperwork. For this part we were led into a small closet (literally) where we were asked our names and if we had visited Joey before. The gentleman examined our passports, smiled and told us we were done. I could not believe it, we hardly said anything. The second interview takes place at a teller window (like the bank). We had to raise our right hand and take an oath that all of the information in our documents was true to the best of our knowledge. Then the woman smiled and said "Congratulations, you are all set, your visa will be ready on Monday". It took everything in me not to bawl...it felt like a million tons were lifted off of me. And with that we are done! John and I feel so blessed to have been able to complete this process and bring our son home, it has been one crazy and hellish ride, but totally worth it. So guys what do you think, you up for another one??

Just kidding :)

Some much awaited pics!

Hi everyone, this morning was our embassy appointment and I am thrilled to announce that we are officially done!! Joey is all ours! The best birthday present ever! Here are some pics. from our trip so far. Note the Boston Red Sox T-shirt "little Papi" :) And Steph, love the Ergo carrier, thank you so much!

PURE BLISS!!!

What a day! I am in heaven! Joey is amazing! We arrived this morning and met with Karla and Yoli in the lobby at 3:30pm. It was one of the most heartbreaking things I have ever seen watching Yoli leave this baby that she loves like her own. She has been such a blessing to us and Joey and we will forever be grateful to her. The goodbye took almost two hours, but we really did not want to rush her and it was clear that Joey had some stranger anxiety so we all took our time. When it was time for her to go, she kissed him, told him she loved him and left with her family. John and I were left in the baby lounge with Joey unsure of how he would react to her departure. What a champ! He had a few moments of tears, but other than that has been a HAPPY and SMILING little boy!!!!

He is walking, actually he is practically running :) but he still loves to hold a hand for reassurance. He says a few words in spanish like hola, gracias, adios and get this...HE SAYS GOAL (I think someone has been watching a lot of soccer). Needless to say our friend Ivan now has alittle buddy to watch soccer with! He even pumps his arm in the air when he says it. John and I just crack up laughing.

So tomorrow morning is our appointment at the embassy so i am off to bed! I will post pics tomorrow when we get back to the hotel.
Love a very happy mommy,
lee anne

I am ready...I think

So tomorrow morning at 3am we are outta here! My MIL (mother in law) arrived tonight and we went over Sarahs routine. Sarah was practically kicking me out the door, she is so excited for us to get her brother and finally bring him home!!! The bags are packed and I think I have everything. I will post pics and an update when we get him! Please keep your fingers crossed that everything goes well.

Getting ready

So most of you who know me well know that I am extremely organized and that I love situations like this...planning, packing, ect. Yah, well not this time. I am a complete mess. I feel like I walk around in circles all day and night making lists and looking for post it notes! We leave tomorrow night at 3am for the airport and Joey will be brought to the hotel later that day. We cannot wait, I just cannot believe this is really over! Thank God!!!

PINK IS MY FAVORITE COLOR

Finally we are PINK and Joey is coming home! Our appointment is Oct.26th (my bday) and we will be home the following week! Finally that little man is all ours. We will post pics from Guat of course!!!!!! Thank you all for your well wishes today and support.
Love,
lee anne

The Jeopardy theme music

SO... I am just waiting and waiting and waiting!


The lab told the agency on Friday that the results should be heading back to Guatemala on Monday, but I do not have confirmation that has actually happened. I guess what annoys me is that almost every single person I know has a different lab than we do processing our results and that lab has an email dedicated to answering adoptive parents questions. My lab...nada!!!

So...we sit and wait and have the Jeopardy theme music playing in our heads!

The second DNA

I wanted to update you all on where we stand as of today. Joey's second DNA sample was done on Monday. I called the lab on Wed. and they refused to speak to me and stated that they will only speak to an agency rep. Luckily my agency agreed to call and the lab informed them that the sample had NOT arrived! Today my agency called again and thankfully it is at the lab and being processed as we speak! YIPEE, WE ARE SO CLOSE TO BEING DONE!!!!

SURPRISE!!!!

I have to start off by saying that I am incredibly spoiled, I have the most WONDERFUL friends. I am not easy to surprise, just ask John, but today my friends here in NJ got me good by throwing me a baby shower. I want to give a huge shout out to Kristine who planned the entire shin-dig and even managed to keep it from me (an amazing feat if you know Kristine)!

You all have NO idea how much I appreciate your never ending support! These poor women have sufferred through my endless tirades about my agency, attorney's, DNA, PGN, previos and pink! Without you all I would no doubt be heavily sedated by now. This process has been long and bumpy, but you all have listened to me when I ranted, hugged me when I cried, cheered when I had good news and for that I am eternally grateful!

With much love and thanks,
Lee Anne

ORANGE...my new favorite color

Well, it has really been a banner week in Guatemala. Monday we found out about the birth certificate, Tuesday his passport was done and today we received our orange slip from the US embassy. Just to refresh...the orange slip is the embassy's authorization to conduct the second DNA test. SO...tomorrow I hope to find out more about when it is going to be done and how long it takes. I will keep you posted, of course!

What a beautiful sight!

Today we received word from our agency that the new birth certificate has been completed and picked up. Joey is officially Joseph Gustavo C****!!!! Oh, does it feel good to write that!! They are going to take him tomorrow to get his passport done and then on Wednesday they are going to submit the necessary paperwork to the US embassy for the "orange" slip. We are almost there. Probably another 3-4 weeks! LOVE IT...LOVE IT...LOVE IT!!!!!

It's a sad day

I am sad today. This afternoon John and I received an email from our adoption agency that they have officially closed their Guatemala program as a result of the State Department warning and the imminent shut down by President Berger.

I am just so sad for the families that have lovingly chosen adoption and the opportunity that is now lost to them. I am sad for the adoptive parents who have already given a piece of their heart to a child that they now call their own who may never come home. And most of all I am sad for the over 5,000 children in Guatemala that will languish in public institutions or on the streets with out a family to love them.

So what is next???

So now that we are out of PGN and that our adoption has been approved by the Guatemalan government many of you are asking so what is next? Well we are still awaiting the new birth certificate. It should be completed next week and picked up by our attorney. Once our birth certificated is done our attorney will have Joey's passport done (one quick day) and peition the US embassy for authorization to conduct the second DNA. For some bizarre reason this is called "getting orange" because apparently the peice of paper that the authorization comes on is orange. The attorney and foster mother will then take Joey to the doctor so that they can conduct the second DNA test and send the specimen to a lab in the US. Once the specimen is completed and matched we will be submitted for our pink slip. The pink slip is our PICK UP DATE!!! YIPEE!! So here we wait...not so patiently.

DOS warns Guatemalan adoptions to end 1/1/08- make some noise!!!

Yesterday the US State Department issued a new warning on Guatemalan adoptions - it is a very serious warning that adoptions in Guatemala will end as of Jan. 1 2008, when Guatemala becomes Hague compliant. The warning also states that adoption cases in-process (pending) WILL NOT BE GRANDFATHERED IN under the current adoption laws and MAY NOT BE ABLE TO BE COMPLETED. This is completely unacceptable!! These are US citizens who entered a good faith agreement that are now going to be essentially abandoned by their own goverment. Interesting to me that the State Department continues to accept immigration applications (ie. $$$$$$$$$$$$$) for Guatemalan adoptions yet yesterday they made it pointedly clear that they are NOT going to stand behind their citizens. If the situation in Guatemala is so dire than STOP ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS FOR IMMIGRATION. This news sickens me; John and I have many friends that are going to end up in this disaster if the US does not pressure Guatemala to create a transition process for pipeline families.

Guatadopt (www.guatadopt.com) has some good info with a link to the DOS statement. I have spent the better half of my day emailing, faxing and calling the State department and congressmen. Even though our son is coming home it pains me to think of the thousands of children that may not find a forever family and the moms and dads whose hearts are breaking right now. I know how it feels when some out-of-touch beurocrat can control the outcome of your family. But, I also know that when people speak up and make themselves heard that we can make a huge difference, we have done it before! Please keep these families and all of the children of Guatemala in your prayers. Please check out Cheri's blog (see links section on side) for a list of talking points and how you can help by contacting your senators, reps. and the State Department.

Our little Angel

WE LOVE INS!!

Now there is something you just dont read everyday! Today John, Sarah and I got up at the crack ass of dawn and headed into Philly to plead for re-fingerprinting. We walked in fully prepared to hear "NO!" but instead were greeted with a refreshing "I'll see what we can do for you". WOW! I was so happy...they did it! Now there "should" be no roadblocks to our bringing our little man home.

I also emailed the Adoption Supervisors and checked on the birth cert. this morning. They said more than likely next week, bummer. BUT, I am NOT complaining.

On a REALLY happy note my fellow Guatemama and great friend, Trina and her husband Kevin are in Guatemala as we speak getting ready to hold their son for the first time. I have goosebumps just thinking about it, because I remember it like it was a moment ago. Trina, if you are reading this today (probably not because you are too busy) I know your heart is full and finally complete today. I cannot wait to see pics of the little man!

Love to all,
Lee Anne

Dumb Fingerprints...

So throughout the four years that John and I have been trying to complete our family we have been fingerprinted no less than FIVE times! We have been fingerprinted by the local, state and federal government and now despite the fact that fingerprints DO NOT change we must do it again!

I feel like I work for the CIA minus the cool top secret info. I would be privy to. The only problem is this time we are in a major time crunch. Our fingerprints expire on 10/17 and we cannot get an appointment to get new ones done until 10/9; one week before they expire. So you are probably thinking hey what's the problem? Well the problem is the US embassy will not issue us permission to come get OUR son if the prints expire within 30 days!!!!!!! Jez, would have been nice to know that rule! So basically John and I are going to just show up at the INS office Wed. morning (immigration) and beg them to fingerprint us! After spending the last 13 monthes battling a foreign country for our son, I guess we must now battle our own! Dumb fingerprints...

Our awesome kids!!!

more photos...there is another post below too w/ pics

Photos from our visit...

Hola from the Mala!

Hi everyone,

We are in Guatemala right now on our third and final visit trip. The next time we come here will be for pick up. We actually brought Sarah with us this time around and so far so good. Just the normal drama that comes with being the first born and an only child for four years. There have been many tears and a few major meltdowns (from Sarah) but overall she seems happy to be here and LOVES her brother (unless he is using something she wants). In one of her moment of complete despair I tried to explain to her that I once felt the same way when my sisters joined my family and that I understand that she is angry, confused and frusturated. I thought we were really reaching an understanding together as tears welled in her eyes and she nodded, but when I asked her if she wanted to talk about how she was feeling she responded (in border-line hysterics) "but my crotch hurts from my bathingsuit!" I am sorry...what? We were talking about deep seeded sibling emotions and she blurts that out! John applauded my efforts, and we both decided that we will save the philosophical conversations for a later date.

Joey is doing pretty good. He has a horrible cold so he is not to chipper at the moment, but doing better than expected considering he probably does not remember us too much. This visit has really shown us how attached he is to Yoli and her family. His pick up trip and the weeks/months subsequent are going to be a huge transition for him (and for us too). We have been a family of three for SO long now and there have been more than a few times in the last 48 hours where I have thought, wow this is going to be a lot more work than I thought. I feel up to the challenge but welcome any advice from other moms/dads with more than one kid (for the sibling rivalry issue) and moms/dads with older adopted kids (attachment issues).

I will post some photos later, I need John to help me with that part and right now Sarah is holding him hostage at the pool!

By the way, thanks for all of the well wishes on the previous post. It is all going in to his babybook. How awesome for him to look back someday, and he better look at it since that book is a lot of work, and see all of the people who were waiting for him.
Love,
Lee Anne, John, Sarah and finally Joey

THE BEST NEWS EVER!

I cannot believe that I am posting this, I really can't! We received an email late this afternoon (6:29 pm to be exact) from the Adoption Supervisors that we are OUT of PGN!!!! I nearly peed my pants! John and I just thrilled beyond words! So you may be asking what does this mean? Basically what it means is that our adoption has been approved by the Guatemalan government!! Joey is officially our son!!!!!!!!!!!!! Another four to six weeks until pick up, but I am so happy right now I don't even care about that! Thank you all of you for your never ending support and encouragement. Please post a comment because all of this is going in Joey's baby book!
Love you all,
Lee Anne, John, Sarah and Joey

The Sign of a Cross

This past Sunday John, Sarah and I went to church. I have been praying especially hard lately, but on Sunday I felt completely discouraged. As I sat through the readings and homily I could not concentrate; my eyes wandered to all of women with swollen bellies and the parents holding beautiful babies. I thought about all of the milestones that we have missed over the last 13 mo. of Joeys life and as I saw precocious toddlers snuggling their moms I wondered will he cling to me like that. I thought about his eventual christening and how big he will be compared to all of the other children there on that day. I pondered where will I even find a baptism outfit for a toddler? I just felt so sad.

But, my depressing train of thought was interrupted by a sassy four year old (Sarah) who had tired of sitting still and was quickly becoming disruptive. I took her by the hand and escorted her to the cry room for alittle "come to Jesus meeting". I knelt down and quietly scolded her for her behavior and explained that we would have to now wait in the back of the church for Daddy. As I stood up I picked her up in my arms and as I did so something caught my eye. I could NOT believe it...hanging in my church right next to me on the wall was the exact SAME hand-painted Guatemalan cross that hangs in Joey's nursery.

I know it sounds silly but to me it was a sign, a sign that I need to keep praying, and keep being patient, and keep waiting and that He is listening and that my son will come home.

It's Friday...again!

I have never in my entire life dreaded Fridays, but I do now! In the world of adoption Fridays suck...because they mean two more days with NO information and updates. I am probably the only one reading this who can honestly say this "I cannot wait until Monday".

The Gestation of a Blue Whale

Throughout this entire adoption process (both domestic and international) we have received some "interesting" comments from both acquaintances and strangers, but perhaps my favorite statement is "Adoption takes a long time, but so does pregnancy! It is just like your pregnant!".

My response (with a great deal of sarcasm)...NO IT IS NOTHING LIKE BEING PREGNANT!!! Having been pregnant I have complete confidence in my response. Pregnancy has a clear beginning and... it has a pretty predictable ending (the main thing adoption is lacking); it might even end alittle earlier than it is supposed to, but worst case it ends two weeks later than estimated.

An adoption can go on and on and on: so unless I am pregnant with a Blue Whale (average gestation period 480 days) adoption is NOTHING like being pregnant.

Hee Hee... :)

Okay here we go...week eight

Alright I am really serious now enough is enough we want out! This is week eight since our most recent resubmission (supposedly the magic amount of time)and the director is FINALLY working on cases from July. Last week he made it up to July 6th, we are the 11th. I have emailed both our agency and the Adoption Supervisors (the hired help) to see what their opinion is. My guess is neither one of them will go out on a limb and venture an opinion, but hey makes more sense then asking John (hee hee). Luckily this week will be busy with Sarah going back to preschool and my practically moving into the gym to work off the SEVEN pounds I gained on vacation last week (John did too). I am going to try and contain myself and only check my email twenty times an hour.

AHH...I was feeling so optomistic when I started this post (not my nature) now the sense of dread is returning...please just let us out of PGN!!!

One year ago today...

September first wow!! One year ago today I was lounging on the couch with my baby sister Katie and Sarah when the email came I remember hearing the "DING" of the computer telling me that I had email...the referral of our son! I nearly peed my pants when I saw the subject line I was SO excited, it felt just like finding out I was pregnant and delivering a baby at the same time. When I saw the first pictures of him I just fell in love, I know it sounds cliche but I did. I printed off a copy of the pic and told my sister that I was going to head to Johns office to tell him the amazing news in person. I gave her specific instructions to forward the email when I called her on my cell, but NO sooner, I wanted to be there to see John's expression when he saw Joey's face for the first time. I am still stunned that I did not get a speeding ticket that day as I raced to the office.

John was SO happy when I told him the news and we waited eagerly together for the email to register in his inbox. "OHHHH, he is SO awesome!" is what he said when the email opened as his face blushed. He just loved him too; I could tell. We called Katie back home and told her to get ready, we were all going out to celebrate.

We have a family tradition whenever we are estatic or need to drown our sorrows we go out for huge ice cream sundaes. Until Sept. 1 2006 the last time we had done that was the night that the domestic adoption had disrupted the Novemeber before. But this time the ice cream was especially sweet: it was a wonderful day, the day that our son was born in our hearts.

I think I will go have a little bowl of ice cream...

Giant Dust Bunnies

For all of you Guatmama's that are familiar with this stupid process and those of you that are learning as we go I wanted to let you know where our file currently stands. Our file is collecting dust bunnies on the Director of PGN's desk. It may or may not be signed off yet, I do not know. What I do know is that files are released in sequential order by submission/resubmission date REGARDLESS of original submission date. So despite the fact that we have been in PGN longer than 99% of the cases we must wait until he works through all of the late June, early July cases to get to July 11th!!!! STUPID HUH!! For reference he is currently releasing files from June 25th. Sounds promising right...but he moves at a glacial pace. Just thought I would clue you all in, could be another three weeks + till he blows the dust off ours.
Lee Anne

Thank you

I just wanted to give a little shout out to all of my friends and family that emailed, called or sent me alittle note this week for Joey's big birthday. It was totally appreciated!! I originally was going to be home in NJ for the big day, but as it approached I found myself completely preoccupied with the Guatemala message boards looking for PGN outs near our resubmission date and aching for my baby, so Sarah and I headed north for alittle R&R. We had a great time, but missed John A LOT! It just is not as fun without daddy! I just wanted to thank you all, the kind words and messages lifted my spirits on a day when I was feeling alittle down. Guess this just means we will have to throw a real bender when he finally gets home!!

Happy Birthday Joey!

We wanted to take this time to wish out little boy a Happy Birthday. It is hard to believe our little boy was born a year ago. We never thought it would take, what seems like an eternity, for him to come home. We love you Joey and Happy Birthday from Mom, Dad, and Sarah!

AJ's coming home!!

Finally some wonderful news! One of my greatest friends and biggest supporters, Trina and her husband Kevin, found out late last night that she has been released from the black hole of PGN and will be bringing her baby boy home!!! I cannot even tell you how happy and relieved I am that this journey is almost over for them! Congrats Trina and Kevin!!!!!!!!!
Hugs,
Lee Anne

AHH vacation...

John, Sarah and I returned from a nice get away at my parents house on Lake Winnipesaukee in NH. Most of you are probably saying Lake what?? But Lake Winnipesaukee is a BEAUTIFUL, 26 mile long lake in the White Mountains of NH. My parents have a beautiful home there and we were lucky enough to have perfect weather for our entire trip. John and I even climbed a mountain! Check out the views, here are some pictures.

On the desk...

Well, I received an update from the Adoption Supervisors today that our file is on the directors desk (Mr. Barrios). I was so happy, finally we made it past the first two reviewers. They said that it is not signed yet (aka he could still kick it out), but that as he releases them he signs them. He is currently working on files from the week of June 1st so I am guessing he will get to our week late August. I will certainly keep you posted!
Hugs,
Lee Anne

Maybe he'll walk home...

I received new pics that I wanted to share with all of you. He does not look like a baby anymore (sad), such a big boy!

Hope you are enjoying the Ping Pong match...

Well, I know it probably sounds like I am loosing my mind, but we are back in PGN! Crazy I know, bizarre yes! We actually re-entered last week but I did not post it because I was waiting for confirmation from the Adoption Supervisors. They did confirm it while we were away on vacation last week.

Apparently our attorney (Miriam) went and met with the director of PGN and he told the reviewer that keeps kicking us out that she had to accept the document (GO MIRIAM :) ). So.......we will see what happens now. Keep everything crossed PLEASE!!
Thank you again for all of your support.
Lee anne

Reduced to tears...

We just received word via email that PGN issued the previo (kickout) for the cedula! They have rejected their own process; the one that they suggested and endorsed! The Adoption Supervisors are "baffled and mind boggled", they cannot belive it! PGN is now demanding a judicial rectification, meaning that the cedula problem be brought before a judge who will rule on the problem and then it will re-enter PGN for a SEVENTH time!!!!! We have jumped through every single hoop that they have thrown up, but they just throw up more. We have obeyed every demand they have made, but they keep changing the rules of play. Basically there are NO rules they can just do whatever they feel like.

still holding my breath!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well for all of you that are waiting with baited breath to find out why in Gods name we were kicked out this time...you will have to keep waiting!!! I just received word from AS that our file was NOT released today as promised by PGN. Our attorney went to retrieve the file and it was not there. AS feels it will either be late tomorrow or on Thursday. This email launched me into a bunch of explicatives about the PGN officials and Guatemalan adoption process on whole! I cannot help but feel dread that the previo is in fact for the cedula. Just keep praying really hard and I will let you know when we can all exhale! Thank you again for the support, it means the world.
Lee Anne

ANOTHER KICK OUT!!! ARE YA KIDDING ME!?

WE HAVE BEEN ISSUED ANOTHER PREVIO. THE ADOPTION SUPERVISORS NOTIFIED ME THIS MORNING. THEY DO NOT KNOW YET WHAT IT IS FOR, THE FILE WILL BE RELEASED EARLY NEXT WEEK. HOPEFULLY IT IS SOMETHING THAT CAN CORRECTED QUICKLY. IN CASE I HAVE NOT SAID IT LATELY I HATE THIS PROCESS!

June photo update

We just received our June photos! Too cute!!!

Happy Birthday Sarah!!!

Hi everyone, Well tomorrow my baby turns FOUR years old!! Seems impossible, but she is! I cannot even believe that it was four years ago that she entered our world. Amazing how the days can go so slowly at times, but the years pass so quickly.
This weekend we had a birthday party for her and she had a wonderful time. The theme was princesses, which for anyone who knows Sarah this is NOT a surprise. We had princess everything; cake, pinata, moonbouncer, ect. The above pics are Sarah with her friends. She is the one in the blue and white dress.

I cannot even begin to tell you all what a wonderful child she is. John and I are blessed with the brightest, funniest and smartest (not to mention adorable) girl. I thank God every single day (yes, even on those days when she is driving me nuts) for giving me such a miracle. HAPPY BIRTHDAY SARAH!!!!!!! WE LOVE YOU!
MOMMY AND DADDY

HOLY MOLY...THEY SIGNED THE CEDULA

Well our visit trip must have done some good because Tuesday am we were notified that the Civil Registery office had signed the birthmothers cedula (ID card) thereby rectifiying the document!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I just stared at the monitor in disbelief! We are now back in PGN for the first time in over three monthes. This information has been confirmed by the adoption supervisors. I think that this is the most excited I have been in a long time, I was really starting to feel hopeless!!! Thank you to each one of you who called us to offer support and prayed for us. Keep it up...seems you have some pull (smile). Now that we are back in PGN it should be another 6-8 weeks, unless we get kicked out again! Then another 2-3 weeks after that until we could travel for pick up. I will keep you posted, but hopefully my next post is that we are OUT!
Love,
Lee Anne

We're back!!

Hello, Well John and I are exhausted, but home! We left Guatemala yesterday at 4am and pulled into the driveway at almost 10pm!! What a day! But enough about yesterday we want to tell you about the rest of our trip. We had a wonderful time and both agreed that we were glad we decided to come. It was SO good to see Joey and spend some quality time together. He recognized us immediately and came to us willingly, but I know that the real attachment will take awhile once we have him. The weekend was full of firsts for us. First time feeding him cereal and bananas, first time helping him to walk, his first haircut (given by ME, scary huh). We had a wonderful time!!

On Sunday night we had to meet up with Yoli and Karla in the lobby to give him back and it was so impossible. John put it best...it just feels wrong! Why do we have to keep giving him back?! We wish that the PGN officials would have to sit in the lobby of the Marriot and witness the toture of handing these babies over to the foster families. I cannot even describe to you how sad it is to sit there and watch what happens. The longer it drags out the worse off everyone is, including the foster families who love these children so deeply. We are hoping for some positive news this week (just as we have every week for 10 mo now), I will keep you posted.
here are some pics from the week.
love
lee anne

Hola from Guatemala!!

Hi everyone! Well we made it here and are having a wonderful time! I'll start from the beginning. We left for the airport on Friday am at 3:30!! We had un-eventful flights to Houston and then to Guatemala City. For those readers who have been to the GC airport I can report that they have made NO progress, the place is such a mess! We arrived to the hotel about two hours before they were to bring Joey so we had time to eat and get washed up. When we walked off the elevator at 3p. to meet with Yoli (foster mom), Joey and Karla (facilitator/translator) I knew his voice right away! He was dressed in an adorable outfit we had sent down mo. ago and looked wonderful. He was genuinely happy to see us and shockingly came right to us all smiles. John and I had talked about the possibilty of stranger anxiety, but it was non-existant. He was smiling, laughing and showing off his newly acquired walking with help skills. The rest of the day was fun, just the three of us playing with his new toys and taking lots of pics. Bedtime however was NOT too fun! I think it hit him around 9pm that he was in a strange place with people that he is not too familiar with and he was pretty upset. But after some walking and back rubs finally went to sleep.

Today was wonderful. We had a leisurely breakfast, the buffet here is amazing and it was a lot of fun to feed Joey his cereal with mashed bananas. John and I then headed back to the room to stock up on the supplies we would need during the day out by the pool. I left breakfast before he did and when he made it up he told me that he met a Payton Manning look-alike! Boy did he ever, we met up with "Payton" (Marc and Emily) down at the pool and spent the day with them and their beautiful little girl, Adeline. John and I just cannot believe the incredible people that we have been blessed to meet on this adoption journey and they were no exception. We had a great time with them, what sweethearts!! We also met lots of other Adoptive moms and dads, everyone is just so great and supportive. One woman even approached me by the pool and asked me what my babies name was. When I responded Joey she said "yes, I thought that was him, I would know that baby anywhere". She recoginzed him from Cheri's blog previo prayer baby section! I thought that was great. Well tomorrow is the last day, we are giving him back to Yoli at 6pm :(
More from Guat. later on!!!!!!!!!! This mama has to get to bed!
Love,
Lee

We're going to visit! Oh...and there was an earthquake!

Hi everyone, First John and I want to thank you for the amazing amount of love and support that have been shown to us over the last week. I am overwhelmed by the amount of emails and hugs that I have received, thank you. We have decided, after much deliberation, to go on our visit trip. We know that this is the last opportunity that we will have to see Joey as a baby since he is growing so fast; so we are going to seize that chance. We will be in Guatemala City from June 15-18th at the Marriot and will be posting lots of pics so stay tuned.

Some of you may have seen today on the news that a "strong 6.8" earthquake occurred in Guatemala today 70 miles from the capital, Guatemala City (yup, where we are staying). This region is prone to earthquakes and thank God no one was injured or killed and there seems to be minimal damage. I spoke to one of my friends in Guatemala this afternoon and she said that it was the strongest that she has experienced, but that she was fine. As someone who is TERRIFIED of earthquakes, volcanos, tornadoes, ect. and has lived her entire life in the northeast I just pray nothing shakes from June 15th-18th!!!

Well off to pack all of the goodies I bought for little Joey and practice huddling in doorways!
Hugs,
Lee Anne

Some of our blogger friends are STUCK IN GUATEMALA!!!

I wanted to take a few moments to share with you some of my fellow Guatemamas that are stuck in the same damn cedula disaster as we are; only they are fostering in Guatemala and cannot leave until the problem is resolved.

There are two women stuck with their daughters in Guatemala. They have been fostering for several months and their cases, along with several others with the same issue, have taken a turn for the worse. As it stands, there is no way for the problem to be corrected and, therefore, no way for them to bring their children home.

Please check out the following links and do what you can to help.

Cheri's blog site: Click Here

Erins's blog site: Click Here
Check out the website, if interested!
Lee Anne

UPDATE

We have been notified that this week that after 11 weeks our case left the PGN rectification department and is back at the civil registry office for signature. Here lies the problem, our attorney does not believe that they will sign it. PGN made a decision this week that they will NOT render a decision on cedula retifications. Bottom line (for those that are completely lost on this stupid process)...There is a very big possiblity that Joey will NEVER come home if we cannot obtain a signature for the cedula and no one currently will sign it. My nerves are frayed and my hope for a positive ending of this is shattered in peices. I cannot stay cheerful and optomistic anymore.

Our trip next week has been infinitely postphoned, we will not disrupt his life and continue to bond with a child that may never come home. Please pray hard for us, although I think he has been ignoring my pleas lately. In the next few weeks we should find out if they will sign it or not and if they do not we start over again at square one on a process that may or may not work.

The news is...there is NO news!!

I know you all must be thinking that I have completely forgotten about the blog and have left out so many wonderful things that have been happening on our case, but the sad news is NOPE!! Our file is still kicked out of PGN because of the ever problematic cedula (unsigned birth certificate). Every week we receive an email from the hired help telling us "this is the week, the cedula issue will be rectified this week". But, as every week passes nothing seems to happen. Meanwhile I read the forums daily and hear about people flying through PGN in four weeks with NO kickouts...I am bitter. The process is unjust and mind blowing, there is just no consistancy. How can my file be such a mess and others just breeze through. Don't get me wrong I am happy for those people...I just want it to be our turn.

We leave in 12 days for Guatemala and I cannot wait to see our little man. I will keep you posted...I promise!

Love,
Lee Anne

Happy Mothers Day!!!

I was thrilled to receive updated photos today from the agency, alittle Mother's day gift of sorts. Of course I would rather news that he was coming home or that we were atleast back in PGN, but neither of those occurred so I will take pictures of our precious little boy! He is just so cute and I swear I see teeth in one of those photos. He looks to be sitting alone (good developmental sign)and happy. I can tell that he has completely grown out of the clothes I had sent since he is in an outfit from his foster mom and I know they always try to photograph him in items we send down.

As far as a legal update goes I have no good news on that front. We were told by AS today that the civil registery is STILL not done the paperwork (week 6)!!! We are frusturated beyond words but the Adoption Supervisors tell us that it is better for them to take their time and do it right rather than submitting paperwork that will get thrown out of court. I will continue to keep you posted.

And as Mother's Day approaches, I am very clear that one of my greatest joys comes from another mother's greatest sorrow. I wish I could thank Joey's birth mother for the incredible gift that she has given us and let her know her son, our son, is safe and well and so deeply loved.

Happy Mothers Day to all of the moms out there, especially my own and John's, the new ones and those whose babies are apart from them right now!!
Love,
Lee Anne

Mini Update...

Hi all,

We received a medical update yesterday and Joey continues to grow well. He is up to 21.6 pounds and is measuring in the 50th-75th percentile on growth charts. John and I booked our visit trip last week. We will be leaving on June 15th and come home on the 18th. Thanks to Auntie Kelly Sarah will be well cared for here at home so we will be able to enjoy every minute that we have with Joey. He will be almost 10mo. Old then so we are concerned with how he will transition to us for the few days that we are there and if we feel that he is struggling will contact his foster mother to be with him. We do not want to upset him on this trip and are willing to make whatever concessions necessary to make sure that he is okay with us. Our hope is that he will be fine and that we can enjoy some quality time together and even go swimming in the hotels recent renovated pool.

I was able to touch base this week with some adoptive parents that are stuck in the same mess that we are with the un-signed cedula. It actually brought me a lot of comfort to know that we are not alone in this long process. We have promised to keep each other updated on the status of our cases. Unfortunately as of today I have not received a legal update as to where we are in the rectification process!

Sarah and I went out last week and she picked out some toys for him. She loved it and plays with them constantly. I have posted some pics of the nursery so that you all can see what it looks like. John and I love it, and find it to be a soothing place to be. Take Care and thank you for your support.

Love,
Lee Anne

Yay...it is nice out!

Finally Spring has sprung...I was starting to think that it was never coming! Today was beautiful out and John, Sarah and I enjoyed the day outside. I did quite a bit of Joey shopping at Old Navy last week and bought tons of cute stuff to bring on our second visit trip in June. I never thought I would say this but it is kinda fun shopping for boys.

No new news on the adoption :( The Adoption Supervisors told us that they will touch base again on Monday or Tuesday with hopefully some good news that the paperwork that must be fixed is in court. Sometimes it just drives me nuts when I read through the forum groups that I participate in and see kids coming home at 5, 6, 7 mo. I mean I am happy for them, but so jealous! This process has literally taken us forever and yet some breeze through. I know that much of it is pure luck and that 99% of the time there is nothing that we can do to change things. I guess that is what makes it so frusturating. Oh well...just thought i would vent for a moment. Luckily we have a lot coming up in the next few weeks to keep us busy and hopefully my mind occupied!
Love,
Lee Anne

Hokie Pride!!

John, Sarah and I want to say that our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims of Monday's Virginia Tech. massacare. Go Hokies!!


We will continue to invent the future through our blood and tears and through all our sadness ... We will prevail ...
-- Nikki Giovanni, University Distinguished Professor, poet, activist

New pictures...he is the cutest!!!!!

He looks wonderful and so big. We will be going for a second visit trip in June and bringing lots of clothes with us so that his foster mom, Yoli can snap his clothes shut! :) June just cannot come quick enough for me! Sarah still asks every single day, when is he coming home?? My answer...not soon enough!

Love,

Lee Anne and John

March Medical update

Hi all, We received an email yesterday updating us on Joey's height, weight and head circ. He now weighs 19.8lbs, is 70cm and has a head circ. of 44cm. He is growing very well and on US growth charts plots in about the 75%.

We were also told that our agency is going to allow a visit trip in June and another one in August to celebrate his birthday! I never ever thought that we would be having a first birth day party at the Marriot in Guatemala City but there is nothing that we can do about it and I am certainly NOT going to miss that day. We have been informed by the Adoption Supervisors that our attorney has submitted the cedula (a kind of government ID card, that was not signed) to the civil registrars office so that they can gather all of the documents required to then submit back to the courts. Once the courts has reviewed all of the documents they will court order a signature. Seems so ridiculous to me!! But, we cannot dwell on these things that are completely out of our control...it would make us nuts. Hopefully this process will be completed in under the two month timeline that we were quoted. As it stands now we are planning to visit the weekend of June 15th for three days and then will go for about a week in August.

Keep us in your prayers.
Thanks for the support,
Lee Anne

Happy Easter!!

Happy Easter to all of our family and friends! Easter is the most important holiday in Guatemala so we know that Joey is partying with his foster mom, Yoli. I thought for a change I would post some interesting information about the culture in Guatemala (Thank you Trina)...

Antigua, Guatemala is home to the largest Easter celebration in the world in which the Passion, the Crucifix and the Resurrection of Jesus are commemorated. The procession is rooted in Andalusian tradition and was brought over by Spanish missionaries in the 16th Century. The entire city takes part in the event, accompanied by thousands of travelers coming to experience the energy of Holy Week.
The processions begin on Palm Sunday, with images of Jesus of Nazareth and the Holy Virgin of Sorrows being carried on floats from the churches on the shoulders of devotees. These floats can weigh up to several tons and require 50-100 people to bear the weight. The carriers, or cucuruchas, dress in traditional Maya costume on this day and recreate Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem. Although there is a definite level of social status involved in being a cucurucha, penance is the primary inspiration. Monday through Thursday, the streets are filled with similar events, in memory of his final days on Earth. Each evening, a funeral band plays outside of the church, and the people gather around for food, drink, and games.
On the afternoon of Good Friday, the city is dressed in black, along with its devotees. Black crepe paper is strung throughout town on the buildings and trees, and thousands of mourners clothed in black burn incense and carry lanterns. A man bearing the crucifix, followed by supporters carrying banners engraved with Jesus’ last words, leads the procession. The masses pray quietly, while some more emotional followers weep and perform penitence. The thickness of incense in the air, along with statues of a crucified Jesus creates a haunting atmosphere. The image of Christ is laid to rest in the church at 11 pm.
Holy Saturday’s funeral processions are dedicated to images of the Virgin Mary. These floats are relatively smaller and carried by women dressed in their best outfits and often in high heeled-shoes! Easter Sunday is a jubilant festival celebrating the Resurrection of Christ, and fireworks can be seen and heard throughout the city. The mood is casual and joyful on this day.One of the most impressive aspects of the Easter Festival (Semana Santa) in Antigua are the alfombras (Arabic word for carpet) that adorn the processional route. Residents along the streets begin preparations weeks and even months in advance creating these beautifully intricate offerings. Sand is first laid to level the cobblestone, followed by sawdust that has been collected and dyed to bright shades of yellow, red, blue, green, purple and black. Pine needles, flowers and native plants are also used for decoration and fragrance. The carpet designs reflect Maya tradition, biblical symbolism and scenes from nature. The art of carpet-making is thought of as sacrificial because of the intense detail and amount of time dedicated to their creation, only to be destroyed once the processions pass. This is a way for the people to give something of themselves in memory of Christ’s death. If there is more than one procession on a particular route, residents will make a new carpet for each following procession. Not only are the people busy making carpets in the weeks before the Easter Festival, but also vendors are getting ready for market by preparing local products in anticipation of the large crowds. The impressive flower markets and produce markets are enticingly colorful and fragrant. The Easter Festival is a wonderful time to travel to Guatemala to experience the fusion of Spanish and Indian culture and religion.

Enjoy your families today!
Love,
Lee and John

I am going to go crazy...bad news today!!

Today we were notified by our adoption agency that our case has been removed from the PGN court because an error was not fixed properly. The error will take atleast two months to fix and nothing can be done in the meantime on our adoption. The agency and Adoption Supervisors are uncertain at this time as to when the adoption will be finalized and this significant delay means that Joey will probably not be home for his first birthday. To say that John and I are disappointed would be the understatement of the century and we are exhausted from dealing with this process. We have verbalized our concerns and frustrations with both our agency and attorney in Guatemala. Both agree that this is an unfortunate situation but say that there is little that can be done. We have asked the Adoption Superviors that we hired back in January to step in (this will inturn infuriate our attorney) to see if they will be able to offer any legal solutions. Unfortunately Guatemala is essentially shut down for the next two weeks because of the Easter Holiday and Holy Week.

We have asked the agency if they will authorize two more visit trips, one for May/June and the other to celebrate his first birthday should it be necessary, although we are hesitant to go and remove him for a few days from the only people he knows. He has already been through so much.

We really need all of your prayers that this situation will be fixed quickly and that we will have Joey home in time for his birthday. Every delay is critical not only for us but more so for him! Poor Sarah keeps asking us about her brother and if he is ever coming home and to be perfectly honest I do not know the answer anymore.

Take Care and please keep us in your prayers,
Lee Anne and John

New pics of the little man...no, make that big man!

Hi all, we just received updated photos of Joey taken the first week of March. He looks happy and well cared for...and he needs a hair cut. His curly tendrils are beautiful though. Just cannot wait to sqeeze him. No new legal updates, the courts in Guatemala are pretty much at a halt for the Easter holiday. Easter is the biggest holiday celebrated in Guatemala so not too much will get done.

Happy Easter to all,

Lee Anne

ALITTLE MIS-COMMUNICATION...

Well it seems that there was alittle confusion about the dates that I re-entered PGN and the news is not as good as I had hoped. We were told, if you recall, that we were resubmitted to court the same day that we were kicked out and apparently that is not the case. We were actually resubmitted to court only last week!!! So the clock started up again on 3/15 instead of 3/2. I know it does not seem like a big deal, but two weeks actually does make a big difference. So we are back on the desk of the reviewer and hope that we do not get kicked out again.

We are still awaiting updated March pictures and we have also asked for a developmental report. I am so curious to know if he is sitting alone, rolling and babbling. These types of reports are often very difficult to get when adopting from a foreign country because although we as Americans often use these as major milestones they do not mean as much in developing countries. Kids in Guatemala just do stuff when it happens, there is not a big push to intervene if there is a delay like there is here.

Thank you for the support and prayers,
Lee Anne

We're in..we're out...we're in!!

So...is your head spinning because mine is! Today we found out from the Adoption Supervisors that we actually re-entered PGN the same day we were kicked out (I am not sure how this is possible and neither were they). So our file has returned back to the reviewers desk and the adoption supervisors are "confident" that we will not receive another previo (kick out). I am trying not to put a lot of hope in that statement so that I am not crushed if we do get another one. Once this reviewer has approved our file we are on to the directors desk for final sign off. Once the director, Senor Barrios, signs his name the adoption is considered final by the Guatemalan government. Senor Barrios is generally anti adoption, an interesting dicotomy given his job description, and definately takes his time signing off on files. I just pray that he takes pity on us and releases our case.

We also received news today that our Guatemalan facilitator that works for our agency will be leaving for maternity leave. I am happy for her, but for us this news is horrible! We depend on her for all of our medical, legal and photo updates, plus process questions so her leaving is making me very nervous. Hopefully whoever takes her position is well experienced in Guatemalan adoptions and extremely patient!

Keep your fingers crossed (toes too) that we get the heck out of PGN asap, we are going on six weeks now!!
Take Care,
Lee Anne

WE MADE A DIFFERENCE!! THANK YOU!

I just found out that President Bush has heard our pleas to address adoptions and has added this to his agenda to discuss with President Berger (Guat. president) at their meeting on Sunday/Monday. Hopefully he will be able to exert some influence over him and make a change!
Thank you again for your letters to the Senators and President!
Lee Anne

KO'D WE HAVE BEEN KICKED OUT AGAIN!!!

Well family and friends we have been kicked out of PGN court...again! We re-entered court on Feb. 27th and within three days of submission were kicked out again. We have been told that it is a simple error to fix, we are just tired of getting the boot! In the past it would have been almost unheard of to get issued this many previos (kick outs), but lately PGN seems to be picking on silly little things just to have the file removed. I will let you know when we are back in!

UNICEF

Hi all,
I have been asked a few times recently about the United Nations organization UNICEF and why I am not a fan of it. This question usually comes up around Halloween when many children are out "trick or treating for UNICEF" with their little orange boxes. Probably seems alittle untimely (being March) but much of the turmoil occurring in Guatemala now with adoption is related to 15 million dollars that UNICEF is planning to give the president of Guatemala if he closes the country to international adoption.

Although I admire much of their humanitarian work including feeding and immunization programs their views on International Adoption leads a lot to be desired. Their stand is basically this...the following statements are taken from www.guatadopt.com

UNICEF’s official position would not in itself be a cause for concern. It sounds quite logical and hard to debate. However within it lies the question of implementation, pragmatism, reality, and idealism. In addition, it is worth noting that it was only in the last couple of years that UNICEF’s official position admitted that ICA was preferred to long-term institutionalization. To illustrate my point, it is hard to debate that it is best for a child to stay with his biological family. From there is it best if she stay within her country of birth. And after that, ICA should be considered. Sounds good, but let’s illustrate where the problems lie in the details.1.) Stay with biological family – should a birthmother have the right to say that she does not wish for her child to grow up within her biological family. Should UNICEF pressure countries to pass legislation that would remove a woman’s right to develop an adoption plan? What if she knows her family would want to keep the child but not provide a safe, stable, loving environment?2.) 2.) Stay in country – So just how long should a country, under law, have to search for a hypothetic domestic family to adopt the child? What happens to the child in the meantime? What if the country offers no good foster or institutional care?
The main issue with UNICEF’s position and formal lobbying efforts are that they are based on one universal standard that does not waiver or give consideration to the uniqueness of each country. Impoverished nations with poor government infrastructure, absent of social programs, do not have the ability to implement the UNICEF ICA model and end up with a clean, functioning system. Instead what we have seen time and time again in countries like El Salvador and Honduras is an end to ICA with no evidence of an increase in family unification or domestic adoption. This is what UNICEF calls “success”.

** if anyone is further interested this is a great publication http://www.familieswithoutborders.com/FWBstudyGuatemala.pdf

just know that next year when Halloween rolls around we will not be trick or treating for Unicef :) Just something to think about!
Take Care,
Lee Anne

Uncertainty

Hi everyone,

we want to thank you all so much for the support extended to us last week. Many of you faxed, emailed and called senators offices on behalf of continuing adoptions in Guatemala and we appreciate it. As of today March 5th the situation is still unstable and there seems to be no real consenus on what will happen to in process adoptions like ours. For adoptions to continue in Guatemala they must become Hague compliant and to do that they must make major changes to the system. But, it is unclear as to whether the Guatemalan government will "grandfather" existing cases and simply apply the new guidelines to "new" referrals. It seems to make sense that they would, right? But, not much makes sense down there and to be honest the government does not seem to have the finances and organizational skills to transition into the new process smoothly.

Our case was kicked out of the PGN court last a week and a half ago for an error and should have entered last week for another review. We will hopefully find out today from the Adoption Supervisors where we stand. I think the most difficult part is the uncertainty. There is a real lack of information from authorities and the threat that this may end poorly seems very possible now. The government feels that it will take weeks to implement their new plan (I would guess mnay monthes) so hopefully we can finish up in PGN before they make any real progress. As of right now (and that could change in a nano second) there is NO moratorium on adoptions. If anyone is interested in keeping themselves up to date on the situation I have posted some websites below

www.guatadopt.com
http://travel.state.gov/family/adoption/intercountry/intercountry_3146.html

Take Care,
Lee Anne

SAY YOUR PRAYERS!!

We have received some potentially devasting news out of Guatemala. The President of Guatemala is planning on issuing an Executive Order tomorrow that will SUSPEND ALL ADOPTIONS! The announcement will be made tomorrow at 10:45am in Guatemala city by the presidents wife and will impact ALL Guatemalan children and adoptive parents. I will keep you posted on what happens but PLEASE say a prayer tonight that this does not happen and that if it does, our elected officials in the United States will stand up to defend us. To keep posted you can go to www.guatadopt.com

Another sleepless night!
Lee Anne

We have been KO'd

BUMMER! That is all that we can say. After almost three weeks in PGN (the last court we have to endure) we were kicked out on Friday. Receiving a kick out (the technical word is previo) is VERY common in PGN but we were praying that after almost four mo. in family court we would breeze through this part. Unfortunately no! We were notified by the hired help (Adoption Supervisors) that our file had been reviewed and that some type of error had been found. However, they were unable to determine at this time what the error is because our main attorney had retrieved the file quickly (hopefully so she coud fix it). We hope to find out Monday what the exact problem is and when we can be re-submitted to PGN. Typically it takes ANOTHER 6-8 WEEKS to get reviewed after a kick out so it is a significant setback. We will keep you posted...the saga continues!

PHOTO UPDATE

Hi,

John, Sarah and I just returned from a vacation with John's parents in the Cayman Islands! We had a wonderful time and it was a welcome break from the freezing cold and stress of the adoption. I have attached a few photos of Sarah on vacation and one of us all together. While away we received a photo update of Joey and he looks so cute. He just turned six mo. old the other day and seems like a happy baby in the photos. Our thanks goes out to Karla the attorney's (in Guatemala) assistant. She always puts so much thought into doing the pictures for us and made sure that he was wearing some clothes that we just sent down (12 mo. mind you!) We also found out that our case has finally been assigned to a PGN reviewer so hopefully she will get to our file soon and be in a great mood when she does:)

Take Care,

Lee Anne

WHOO HOO!!!!!!!! ONTO PGN

Finally...that is all I can say. After almost four monthes in family court (an unheard of record) we are onto PGN (the final court). The last few weeks have beene especially stressful. After monthes of nothing, we finally could not take it any more and hired additional help with our adoption. The people that we hired are called Adoption Supervisors and their basic function (for a heafty sum of money) is to step into stalled adoptions and get the ball moving. Now you may be thinking "isnt that what you pay the agency for?" and the answer is yes!!! But, they were not doing their job so we reached out to this very reputable third party and they got us out of family court. They are a Godsend really! We never received much communcation from our agency unless we asked questions, however with the Adoption Supervisors we received weekly sometimes daily updates on what is going on. John will tell you, it has saved my sanity (sorry hun, I was alittle crazy huh). So now that we are in PGN our dossier (the papers we put together mo. ago that back up that we are good stable people) will be reviewed by a Guatemalan attorney who works for the government. This process can take anywhere from 6-12 weeks and our paperwork can get kicked out for any reason. If we do receive a kick out the errors must be fixed and then we would get re-submitted. So we are praying that we get through PGN quickly with NO kickouts...I think we deserve it after 3+ monthes in family court!

Joey is doing well. We received a medical update a few days ago and he is upto 18 lbs!! Insane huh, that is how much Sarah weighed at one year old. We have not been sent new pictures yet but when we do they will be posted here.

Sarah now knows about her little brother and asks about him constantly. "When is he coming home" "who is going to watch me when you go get him"? Oh I feel so bad for her, this process is confusing for an adult never mind a three year old. She loves to look at his pictures though and tells everyone she knows about him and what she is going to teach him. We just know that she will be a wonderful big sister!

Thank you again for all of your support. Keep the prayers coming and stay warm!!
Lee Anne

STILL TRAPPED IN FAMILY COURT!!!!!

Hi everyone,
No, we did not forget about the blog, there is just NOTHING happening on our case. We are still stuck in family court. The average time spent in family court varies, but is usually 4 weeks. We are going on week 11!!!!!!!!!!!!! My patience are a thing of the past and I am desperate to move on to the final court (PGN). The holiday season really put the brakes on our process because each government employee in Guatemala gets to have ONE MONTH (yes, you read correctly) off for vacation! Insane! There is no one to cover for the staff so when they leave literally everything shuts down. We have been told that we should be out this week, but we were also told that on December 18th so I dont hold a lot of stock in that promise. Sorry for the bitter tone of this post...we just miss Joey so much and have told Sarah about her baby brother so she asks for him constantly. We have tried to explain that he will not be home until after the Easter Bunny comes, so then she asks "is today Easter"?? It is actually very cute and she is already so infatuated with him. She loves to look at pictures and our video and will tell anyone who will listen that she is getting a baby brother from "Caramala" that is three year old speak for Guatemala. We read books about being a big sister and international adoption and she seems really excited. We have decided not to bring her on our pick up trip as we had originally thought we might do, her asthma is just too unpredictable and the food supply there just too risky for food poisoning so she will meet us at the airport!!! She is busily deciding who will take care of her while we are gone and I think she has narrowed it down to 12 people!

Thank you again for all of your support. Keep the prayers coming... pray most for my sanity!

Lee Anne

We're home!! We miss Joey!!

We had to do V-day alittle early
GO EAGLES!!!
Hi everyone,

Well we arrived home from Guatemala yesterday night. We were so excited to see Sarah, but already we are missing Joey a lot. The trip was wonderful and as hard as it was to say goodbye to him we would not trade those four days for anything. He is such a good baby, happy and lovable. During the day we would walk around the hotel and hang out in our room. Joey, unlike his sister Sarah, is a napper and I could not believe the wonderful naps this baby took. He was such a charmer and everyone we met at the Marriot commented on his beautiful big brown eyes! He is SO big and well fed. At four monthes he weighs almost 17lbs!!! Almost all of the closes that we brought were tight and I felt bad that I was sending him back to the foster mom with a bunch of clothes that border on tight! Who knew he would weigh so much. Healthy atleast.

Handing him over to his foster mother was nearly impossible. It was one of the hardest thing I have ever done and I cried for hours. Yoli (the foster mom) is so amazing though and she understod our saddness. She tried to reassure me (in spanish) that he is getting great care and that he will be fine. I do believe her, it is just hard and we miss him so. We cannot wait until Sarah meet him and I know that she will keep him busy.

Luckily Sarah never missed a beat. She had a wonderful time with her grandparents and I dont think missed us too much. She did greet me when we came home looking for her "carmella" (that is three year old speak for Guatemala). When I gave her the dress we bought she was so excited she wore it to bed.

We will keep everyone posted on our legal process. Just keep praying that this moves quickly.

Thank you for all of your support,
Lee anne

Greetings from Guatemala

Hi everyone, here we are with Joey in Guatemala (Guat.)!!! He is wonderful! We arrived on Wednesday after a few turbulent flights and around 3p we met up with him and his foster family in the lobby of the Marriot. We recognized him the second we saw him only he is about 4 lbs bigger than they told me he was. He is huge (17lbs, 4 mo). His foster family is wonderful and loves him so much. They are very affectionate with him and kept saying "look Joseph, it's Mamma and Pappa". We appreciated that so much! After reviewing his daily schedule we were off to our hotel room and we have been having fun ever since. The time passes quickly and tomorrow we have to meet in the lobby at 6p. to return him to his foster mother :(

John and I keep saying how amazing it is how much we love him already! He is really sweet and loves to smile. I cannot believe how big he is and unfortuantely many of the clothes that I brought are on the brink of not fitting. Our days are filled with roaming the hotel and speaking with other adoptive families. Everyone is WONDERFUL and supportive. Here are some pictures of our trip.

more updates later...all our love

Lee Anne, John and Joey

The very best Christmas present of all!!!!!

HO HO HO...we think that Joey is the best looking Santa that we have ever seen! What a doll. We receive this pictures from our agency yesterday and were estatic, he looks wonderful. Obviously not missing any meals at almost 14lbs. He looks happy and content. We leave in four days for our visit trip and are SO excited! We have enough packed for an army and cannot wait to spoil him rotten. We are also looking forward to sharing this exciting news with his big sis when we return home. For those of who check the blog frequently we will be posting pictures (i am sure many many many pictures) from Guatemala. Thanks to Johns tech skills we will be able to send and receive emails from our hotel room in the Marriot Guatemala. We hope each of you had a wonderful Christmas and wish you a HEALTHY AND HAPPY New Year!

Love,

Lee and John

AHHH the stresses of adoption

AHHH!! It has been a difficult few weeks with the adoption process. Our case has been trapped in Family Court for almost seven weeks (pretty unheard of) and now we found out that the social worker in Guatemala has just left for a one month vacation! Therefore the report will not be completed until January 15th. This setback delays our case about two months! To say that we are disappointed would be a major understatement we are really disgusted and we have not even reached the difficult part yet...PGN.

On a bright note we do leave on January 3rd for our five day visit trip. We will have custody of Joey for the entire visit and cannot wait. I have packed enough stuff for ten babies, but I cannot help it! Sarah will certainly have a blast while we are gone thanks to her grandparents, I just hope they can all keep up with her (lol). We had originally hoped to begin explaining the adoption to her upon our return home in Jan. but now with this setback we may delay that. It is just too confusing and the time is too unpredictable. We will blog and post pics while in Guat. so keep checking for updated pictures. Have a very Merry Christmas and say some prayers that our case gets back on track.

Lee Anne

IT'S A GO FOR OUR VISIT TRIP

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!! We wanted to share that we have been cleared by the agency to travel to Guatemala for our first visit trip. We will be leaving on January 3rd and staying until the 7th. We will be staying at the Marriot that we stayed in back in September which is very nice. The foster mother and an attorney will be bringing Joey to us on the third after we arrive and we will get to have physical custody of him for our entire visit!! Since our agency only allows one visit trip we will be bringing down lots of goodies for Joey and his foster family, I am sure that the airline will be very annoyed by the weight of our bags, but oh-well!! Take care and enjoy this holiday season!

November Pictures!!

Hi all,
We received the November pictures of Joey today!! He looks so great and well cared for!

We cannot wait to get down there and hold him. His Christmas package is going down this week, with lots of good stuff for him and his foster mom! Keep praying for a speedy process.

Love,

Lee Anne and John

IT'S A MATCH!!!!!

Hi all,
We received the wonderful news this evening via mail that Joey is a DNA match with his birth mother and our case can now be approved by the US embassy and proceed to the final court (where unfortunately the longest wait is yet to come). The US embassy has been notified of the DNA match and will now have 30 days to issue pre-approval for the adoption, basically telling us and the Guatemalan Government that from a US standpoint the adoption is cleared. Once this has been done the case proceeds to what is called PGN. Here the case is reviewed, each and every paper for content, clarity and accuracy. Everything must be perfect for it to be approved and PGN is extremely unpredictable, it completely depends on which case worker is assigned to the case. Some cases are through in as short as four weeks, and others are stuck there for six monthes. Some reviewers are picky and others seem more forgiving, we are praying for an nice and easy one, the rest of this long road has been difficult enough. There really is no set standard for how long a case can be reviewed in PGN and that is certainly one of the issues with Guatemalan adoptions. All we can do it pray that it passes quickly with flying colors!

We also received a medical update for Joey and I can say with complete certainty that he is being well fed. The report is from his seven week check up (10/5/06) and at that time he weighed 11.5lbs and was 56 cm long. There should be a photo coming next week, hopefully in time for Thanksgiving. We sent down a package with some friends that were picking up their daughter, Ava and inside the package were some turkey items so I can only imagine what his foster mom is thinking! :) They obviously don't celebrate Thanksgiving, so we are sharing some of our culture with them as well!

We will continue to keep you posted on our progress, the next two monthes should be pretty eventful as we look forward to planning our first visit trip with Joey hopefully in January! Yay, we cannot wait to hold him!
Take care,
Lee Anne

LEGAL UPDATE

Hi all,
We received a legal update from Guatemala that the DNA test will be conducted on November 6th. During the test swabs will be taken from the mouth of both Joey and his Birth Mom to make sure that they match. The DNA test is typically processed in five days by the lab and then the results are forwarded to the agency, the attorney in Guatemala, the US embassy and us. The DNA match is a critical step in the adoption because it is at this time that the Birth mother will have her second and third opportunities (out of four) to change her adoption plan and decide to parent. Usually after an adoptive family finishes DNA they are in the clear regarding the birth mother changing her mind. Once we have the match and the social worker in Guatemala completes her report we will then have to wait for the US embassy to issues us PRE-APPROVAL. Basically pre-approval is the embassy's way of saying that the adoption is approved by the United States, and we will then move onto the final stage of PGN! Oh, don't worry if you are having trouble following me...I can barely keep up with this insane process. Just keep your fingers crossed that DNA goes well!

Our new pictures!! So handsome!

It is hard to believe that Joey celebrated his 2 months on this earth yesterday. We are dying to see him. Here is a link to his new pictures.

JOE CLARK

He looks so alert and really well cared for. We have complete confidence that he is really loved down there by his foster mom. We appreciate that she took the time to dress him in an outfit that my mom sent down and lay him on blankets that we sent. He is surrounded with toys that we gave him and even the photo album we filled with pictures of the people who love him. We were laughing looking at the picture that has the album in it...its our first family photo.

Things have been crazy in Guatemala over the last 48 hours. The police were raiding the medical clinics and hotels where the adoptive families stay looking for babies and their foster moms. They were detaining and harrassing the foster moms and taking the children into "protective custody" (I use that term jokingly). The government down there is really against international adoption and this was yet another ploy to frusturate and scare those involved in the adoption community. The attorney's have since rectified the situation and the government states that they have recinded the order. We will see how the next few weeks play out. We just pray that Joey can have his DNA sample taken so that we can proceed with the next step of this process. He also has a physical next week so we should have new measurements soon. At last check on Sept. 25th he was almost 8 pounds! Keep the prayers coming. You have NO idea how much we appreciate the support of our friends and family.

Yay!! Alittle progress

Well good news, we have made alittle progress. Yesterday we found out that the US Embassy in Guatemala has authorized for DNA to be done. This means that our attorney may now contact Joey's birthmom and arrange for her DNA to be matched with his. During this process she will have her second and third of four opportunities to change her mind. Most agency officials say that after DNA you are pretty much in the clear as far as the birthmom goes and once the match is confirmed we will be allowed to visit him!!! That is the best part. We are also anticipating updated photo's and a medical report this week. Our dossier is still in translation (week three of a four week process) and once that is complete we will be registered to enter family court.
Hopefully we will have new pictures to post this weekend.

Turmoil in Guatemala

The stress of adoption is unlike anything I have ever experienced!! Yesterday while up in Mass. I found out that the president of Guatemala had plans to issue a moratorium on 10/1/06 to stop all international adoptions!! This was apparently planned out and signed by the president and/or his wife and was to be issued as an Executive Order therefore bypassing the Guatemalan Congress. I immediatley began contacting everyone that I know and was able to get some info from our agency late yesterday afternoon. Our contact there informed us that the situation in Guatemala was changing minute by minute and that she had no concrete information. She urged us to contact the State Department and our senators so that pressure could be put on the Guatemalan government to stop the moratorium. I contacted the State Department and was put in touch with the gentleman who oversees the International Adoption Unit for Guatemala. He tried to assure us that he had spent the day talking with heads of government in Guat. and that there was no plan at this time to stop international adoption, although this could happen in the future.

I ask everyone who reads this to please say a prayer for all of the children who are waiting to come home to their families, that the government officials in Guatemala realize that the children need their loving homes as soon as possible.

Keep Joey in your prayers!

Lee Anne

Our first trip to Guatemala

9/24/06
John and I are exhausted from our whirlwind trip to Guatemala this weekend, but we had a wonderful time. We received word about two weeks ago that if we were willing to travel to Guatemala to sign our Power of Attorney paperwork it could bring our son home four weeks sooner. Power Of Attorney or (POA) is the paperwork that must be signed to authorize the attorneys in Guatemala to work on our behalf. Typically the paperwork is sent to the US in Spanish and must be translated to English, then signed by us, notarized, state certified, authenticated by the Embassy, and then translated back into Spanish. As you can probably imagine this process takes a ridiculous amount of time so we chose to travel to sign it, thereby skipping ALL of the steps (yay). We left on 9/22, just the two of us. Sarah stayed at home with my sister Kelly (thank you so much Kelly) and they had a blast. The trip down was fine, only five and a half hours and we were able to get to the Marriot hotel there with no trouble at all. We met our attorney, Miriam that afternoon and she was WONDERFUL! We were both so impressed with how up front and sweet she was. But she was not happy when we told her that we were planning on spending the next day just sitting around the hotel and hooked us up with one of her paralegals, Karla. Karla met us the next morning in the lobby and we hopped in her car and headed out to Antigua (no not the island). What a wonderful woman, we are so blessed to meet such people! She really took care of us on Saturday, showing us all of the landmarks, securing us a safe meal to eat and most importantly helping me shop (as she translated and bartered for me). We really had a wonderful time with her and without that experience would not have seen anything beyond the hotel gates.

Guatemala is a beautiful country and the people are amazingly kind, but it is completely impovished and my heart broke as I watched small children living amoung farm animals. John and I truly feel thankful for everyperson and thing that we have been blessed with, we are very fortunate. The hotel was great and full of American families seeking out their new family member. The lobby was like a superhighway for strollers and I must have smiled a thousand times just looking at the babies. They looked so happy and content.

Sunday was spent primarily in airports or on a plane playing Scrabble or watching 24 on our DVD player. We got in late and are exhausted, but renewed at the same time. It made us want to bring Joey home even more than we did before: and I did not think that was possible.

Referral Day 9/1/2006

Today we met our son for the first time and he is amazing. This afternoon John and I received the referral that we have been waiting for via e-mail from our agency. Neither of us could believe how we just fell in love with him. His name is will be Joseph (Joey for short) and we cannot wait to meet him and hold him. He was born in Guatemala City, Guatemala on August 17, 2006. He was born 6lbs 12ounces and from his assessment by a pediatrician there has been deemed healthy.

The process will now officially begin. After MONTHES of collecting the correct paperwork, having it notarized, state certified and authenticated by the Guatemalan Consulate we will now begin proceedings to bring our son home. Typically this porcess runs 6-8 monthes long! Now is the time that I must really practice my patiences that many of you know I am lacking.

Keep us and Joey in your prayers! Keep you posted on our progess.

Lee Anne