Thursday, March 29, 2007
More little updates on Maria
I was really missing Maria when I was urged by a friend to try and contact the hogar to see how she was doing. In the past it has been hit or miss whether they would return the emails (mabe they never received them?). Anyway, after a few days, they emailed back something I thought was funny and very "Maria". As I mentioned, she has been attending a pre-school. Apparently, in the beginning she had a "little trouble" (stubborn) doing what the teachers asked her to do...but of course now they all love her! They also sent this picture of Maria doing some finger painting with her teacher. Her hair is short again!!! Rachael will love it! Thanks for stopping by! Janet
Monday, March 26, 2007
Maria is doing great!
We contacted our agency rep today to see how Maria is doing. It feels like an eternity since we have had any contact with her. The agency emailed back saying that they had spoken to our attorney who runs the hogar (the orphanage where Maria is living). She said she is doing great! She loves going to school, she talks about us all the time and keeps her picture book near her at night so that she can look through it before she goes to bed. The other good news is that most of the older children have been placed with waiting families so they all talk amongst themselves about their families and I guess how it will be. This little bit of information makes us able to keep hanging on. We are so fortunate that she is an innately happy child in a good environment. More good news is that we are seeing "outs" (out of PGN that is) on the listserv every day. So that is it for today!! I will try and attatch some more pictures of the ones we received in February! Thanks for checking on us! Janet
Saturday, March 24, 2007
Finally back in the BLOG!!
Ok for those of you just joining us or those of you who have been patiently waiting for an update here is the funny story! I locked myself out of my own blog!! Need to learn how to write down those passwords! Anyway, so I have cut and pasted onto this new blog site and I hope it works! Ironically, there has been nothing new to report other than we are STILL in PGN! We are going on just over three months with our kick out. The goood news is that we have seen many post on "the big list" which indicates that PGN is now moving and lots of folks with our timeline are getting out. So mabe we will be next!! It has been since November since we have seen Maria and each day is truthfully more painful without being with her. We are still very fortunate as there are many more families who have waited much longer and continue to wait. We are keep our fingers crossed that we will begin our trip to join Maria sometime in the next few weeks. GO PGN!!!! Well, it is great to blog again, it really is therapeutic. I will be posting alot over the next two weeks to catch up. Hopefully, I can download all the previous pictures. Once again my inspiration for doing this is learning from so many other families in the process. We truly keep each other going by seeing our children come home!! Have a great evening!! Janet
February new pictures!
Today we received just a few pictures to tie us over until we receive our DVD from Tracey's trip to the Hogar. Seeing these almost took my breath away as she continues to change so much. It is really hard to watch from here but we can only keep hoping that soon soon soon she will be with us forever!!!!
Docs are in GC!
February 08
Doc's are in GC!Good news today, the documents that were re-done are now in Guatemala City TODAY!! The drive yesterday went smoothly and this was so worth it to hopefully get back into PGN next week. I am so thankful that I could take care of this and had the resources (good friends and a flexible work schedule) to do this. Found out that about 90% of all agencies require three separate letters. So we found out the hard way but hopefully will prevent another family from this delay. I can't wait to see her again, I know she is constantly changing which is hard that we are not there but hopefully SOON!!! Have a great day and thanks for all the support! Janet
Doc's are in GC!Good news today, the documents that were re-done are now in Guatemala City TODAY!! The drive yesterday went smoothly and this was so worth it to hopefully get back into PGN next week. I am so thankful that I could take care of this and had the resources (good friends and a flexible work schedule) to do this. Found out that about 90% of all agencies require three separate letters. So we found out the hard way but hopefully will prevent another family from this delay. I can't wait to see her again, I know she is constantly changing which is hard that we are not there but hopefully SOON!!! Have a great day and thanks for all the support! Janet
Kick out!!!!!!
February 06
Kick out!!!!
My head was spinning today at around 11:55am when I got the call from our agency saying that we have a "previo"...or more blatently..a kick out of PGN. This really stinks to be politically "nice". The worst of it is that it is for something so ridiculous. Our dossier guidelines from more than one agency were that we have one medical form from our family physician saying that she has examined us all and we are healthy and able to adopt a child. PGN says they want three separate pieces of paper saying the SAME THING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So what this means is that I had to re-do the forms take them to my incredibly helpful and wonderful family practice doctor and her staff who dropped what they were doing to retype the forms on her letterhead, then she had to personally take them to a notarary have them notarize her signature and then leave them for me. I will have to cancel my patient's tomorrow, reschedule them to Friday, arrange for child care Friday, arrange for child care tomorrow afternoon and tomorrow evening while I drive 120 some miles to Bakerfield have the county clerk put a commission slip on the documents from our local notarary then I will drive 112 more miles (different direction) to Los Angeles to the Secretary of States office have a state seal put on the documents then drive 3 miles to the Guatemalan Consulate office for an authentification seal THEN find a Fed Ex building to get the docs overnighted to Minnesota then they are sent to Guatemala and once they arrive there they have to be transulated and authenticated there and THEN HOPEFULLY we will be back in PGN. Oh, then I drive back home another 150 miles! Hopefully the traffic gods will be good to me! Then this could all happen again depending on who is reviewing our case if they don't like something else they see. OK, in the big scheme of things, I would do it tens times over for Maria, it is just frustrating. However, atleast we certainly know we are in PGN and just mabe this will be the only kickout and we will still be out by the end of February. Who knows. We just miss her and want her home. Every minute that goes by is heart breaking at this point. However, I have read many other stories which have waited YEARS if you can believe it.. So at this point, after venting....yes, I feel better.....we are still lucky and feel that things will continue to move forward!!! One other good note..I have been seeing quite a few post that PGN is definately moving and I am seeing cases with KO's go back in and only be delayed one or two weeks. Keep you fingers crossed!!
Kick out!!!!
My head was spinning today at around 11:55am when I got the call from our agency saying that we have a "previo"...or more blatently..a kick out of PGN. This really stinks to be politically "nice". The worst of it is that it is for something so ridiculous. Our dossier guidelines from more than one agency were that we have one medical form from our family physician saying that she has examined us all and we are healthy and able to adopt a child. PGN says they want three separate pieces of paper saying the SAME THING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So what this means is that I had to re-do the forms take them to my incredibly helpful and wonderful family practice doctor and her staff who dropped what they were doing to retype the forms on her letterhead, then she had to personally take them to a notarary have them notarize her signature and then leave them for me. I will have to cancel my patient's tomorrow, reschedule them to Friday, arrange for child care Friday, arrange for child care tomorrow afternoon and tomorrow evening while I drive 120 some miles to Bakerfield have the county clerk put a commission slip on the documents from our local notarary then I will drive 112 more miles (different direction) to Los Angeles to the Secretary of States office have a state seal put on the documents then drive 3 miles to the Guatemalan Consulate office for an authentification seal THEN find a Fed Ex building to get the docs overnighted to Minnesota then they are sent to Guatemala and once they arrive there they have to be transulated and authenticated there and THEN HOPEFULLY we will be back in PGN. Oh, then I drive back home another 150 miles! Hopefully the traffic gods will be good to me! Then this could all happen again depending on who is reviewing our case if they don't like something else they see. OK, in the big scheme of things, I would do it tens times over for Maria, it is just frustrating. However, atleast we certainly know we are in PGN and just mabe this will be the only kickout and we will still be out by the end of February. Who knows. We just miss her and want her home. Every minute that goes by is heart breaking at this point. However, I have read many other stories which have waited YEARS if you can believe it.. So at this point, after venting....yes, I feel better.....we are still lucky and feel that things will continue to move forward!!! One other good note..I have been seeing quite a few post that PGN is definately moving and I am seeing cases with KO's go back in and only be delayed one or two weeks. Keep you fingers crossed!!
Happy Birthday Maria!
January 16
Happy Birthday to Maria Yesterday was Maria's 4th birthday. We called and left a message hoping it will reach her. Our agency is traveling down at the end of the month so she will receive our present then. Due to the many care packages our agency takes down we are only allowed to send one ziplock storage bag. So as you can imagine I stuff it as full as I possibly can! Other than that no news is ...no news. We have only been in PGN for a little over 3 weeks. That's all for now. Good luck to all those in PGN!
Happy Birthday to Maria Yesterday was Maria's 4th birthday. We called and left a message hoping it will reach her. Our agency is traveling down at the end of the month so she will receive our present then. Due to the many care packages our agency takes down we are only allowed to send one ziplock storage bag. So as you can imagine I stuff it as full as I possibly can! Other than that no news is ...no news. We have only been in PGN for a little over 3 weeks. That's all for now. Good luck to all those in PGN!
Care packages in the mail!
Care packages in the mail!
Tomorrow we will send a huge box of lots of care packages, 16 to be exact to many older children in Maria's hogar that are not yet placed with families. How did "we" do this??? Many of my wonderful friends and co-workers signed up for one or two children and promptly filled a one gallon zip lock bag (that is the maximum container allowed due to space issues) full of goodies for each child. It was so great to see how enthusiastic and creative everyone was at this meaningful task. We are also sending Maria's package packed to the brim with lots of fun things as well; but most of all, I created a photo book (an actual paperback) that has pictures of our last visit together, our house, her new room with Rachael, our pets and things that I want her to know she is coming home to. My dear friend helped me translate the captions in spanish so the care givers can easily explain each picture. I wish I could see her face when she opens it. Today, I actually took some time and really day dreamed of her coming home and being here with us. It was such a great feeling and even though there is no way to predict, I am so hopeful it will be soon. Anyway, tomorrow starts our 5th week in PGN. We are keeping our fingers crossed that things continue to run smoothly!!
Tomorrow we will send a huge box of lots of care packages, 16 to be exact to many older children in Maria's hogar that are not yet placed with families. How did "we" do this??? Many of my wonderful friends and co-workers signed up for one or two children and promptly filled a one gallon zip lock bag (that is the maximum container allowed due to space issues) full of goodies for each child. It was so great to see how enthusiastic and creative everyone was at this meaningful task. We are also sending Maria's package packed to the brim with lots of fun things as well; but most of all, I created a photo book (an actual paperback) that has pictures of our last visit together, our house, her new room with Rachael, our pets and things that I want her to know she is coming home to. My dear friend helped me translate the captions in spanish so the care givers can easily explain each picture. I wish I could see her face when she opens it. Today, I actually took some time and really day dreamed of her coming home and being here with us. It was such a great feeling and even though there is no way to predict, I am so hopeful it will be soon. Anyway, tomorrow starts our 5th week in PGN. We are keeping our fingers crossed that things continue to run smoothly!!
Does Blogging Makes Things Go Faster??
Does Blogging Makes Things Go Faster??
Funny, I know! Maria has been on my mind so much lately. Mabe it is the care package we sent. Mabe it is that she just had a birthday or mabe I wish we were getting on a plane to go pick her up!!! I have toyed with the idea of going for a visit but I am just hoping that won't be necessary and we will get a call in a couple of weeks. Probably wishful thinking but it gives me hope anyway. I try to keep all of my thoughts positive and not let the wait get to me. Like I mentioned before, we have been very lucky and things have gone very smoothly so far. I will be excited for the video and pictures Tracey our agency rep will take when she goes down next week. I am just little bummed because the last two trips Tracey has taken we have been there as well. I am wondering what Maria will think if we are not there also this time. I know Tracey will tell her soon. I did make a very cool book for her that has all of the pictures/places she will be coming home to. Did I mention this? Worth repeating. I am hoping it will broaden her dreams and keep her hoperful that this process will soon end!!
Funny, I know! Maria has been on my mind so much lately. Mabe it is the care package we sent. Mabe it is that she just had a birthday or mabe I wish we were getting on a plane to go pick her up!!! I have toyed with the idea of going for a visit but I am just hoping that won't be necessary and we will get a call in a couple of weeks. Probably wishful thinking but it gives me hope anyway. I try to keep all of my thoughts positive and not let the wait get to me. Like I mentioned before, we have been very lucky and things have gone very smoothly so far. I will be excited for the video and pictures Tracey our agency rep will take when she goes down next week. I am just little bummed because the last two trips Tracey has taken we have been there as well. I am wondering what Maria will think if we are not there also this time. I know Tracey will tell her soon. I did make a very cool book for her that has all of the pictures/places she will be coming home to. Did I mention this? Worth repeating. I am hoping it will broaden her dreams and keep her hoperful that this process will soon end!!
The Beginning
January 13
Where we are!
Welcome to our blog. This is very new to me but I have learned so much from other family's who are adopting by reading their blogs. It is such a great way for people to learn about the process and know where we are in the process on a semi-daily basis.
So where are we??? We are in the final stages of the adoption process for Guatemala. It is called PGN. It is also known as the "black hole", where once you enter you really don't know how long or when you will get out. We entered 12-22-06. It was our early Christmas present! Our timeline as gone very smoothly so far, we are very fortunate. Families can be in PGN for 4-6 weeks or 4 to 6 months! There is no rhyme or reason most of the time. There are things called "kickouts" of which if your paperwork is incorrect it can be sent back to your attorney for corrections. Our attorney has taken time to review our case thoroughly before we entered so we are hoping that it will be an "uneventful" trip through "the black hole"
The pictures above are from our last visit trip in November. Maria is almost 4 years old. In fact, her birthday is Monday, 15th!! She is amazing and Rachael (who is almost 5 at the end of the month) have hit it off as sisters. Rachael has called her "Sissy" before they even met and the nick name has stuck!
I will be posting more pictures as I learn the "blog" thing!! Thanks to Alisha for getting me to this easy blog site!!! More later!! Janet
Where we are!
Welcome to our blog. This is very new to me but I have learned so much from other family's who are adopting by reading their blogs. It is such a great way for people to learn about the process and know where we are in the process on a semi-daily basis.
So where are we??? We are in the final stages of the adoption process for Guatemala. It is called PGN. It is also known as the "black hole", where once you enter you really don't know how long or when you will get out. We entered 12-22-06. It was our early Christmas present! Our timeline as gone very smoothly so far, we are very fortunate. Families can be in PGN for 4-6 weeks or 4 to 6 months! There is no rhyme or reason most of the time. There are things called "kickouts" of which if your paperwork is incorrect it can be sent back to your attorney for corrections. Our attorney has taken time to review our case thoroughly before we entered so we are hoping that it will be an "uneventful" trip through "the black hole"
The pictures above are from our last visit trip in November. Maria is almost 4 years old. In fact, her birthday is Monday, 15th!! She is amazing and Rachael (who is almost 5 at the end of the month) have hit it off as sisters. Rachael has called her "Sissy" before they even met and the nick name has stuck!
I will be posting more pictures as I learn the "blog" thing!! Thanks to Alisha for getting me to this easy blog site!!! More later!! Janet
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