I thought I would post some more pictures of Antigua while I had time. Daddy and Maria are taking a nap. They had a long day of siteseeing again today. We went on a tour that took around the surrounding area of Antigua. We went to a macadamia nut farm, another jade factory, several cities and a couple textile markets.

At the base of the volcano is a town where in the town center there is a public laundry. The women walk down from the mountain to do the laundry and socialize and then carry the heavy wet laundry straight up the mountain.



These are beautiful Mayan shirts for women that are woven by hand. These particular ones were not for sale, but are a display. Each area or village has a distinct design and colors to distinquish itself from the other villages. The same design has been used for centuries.



A young Mayan girl weaves a tapestry.



Public school band practice.

Maria is watching...OK, sleeping...with me in the business center as I check emails and create this post. Here are some more pictures of Antigua. We will be leaving here in the morning (Friday) and going back Guatemala City. We have certainly enjoyed our time here and hope to travel back in the future.



Antigua is surrounded by 3 active volcanoes. You can see one here in the background.

We are in beautiful Antigua Guatemala. It is a wonderful city with architecture that is out of this world. We enjoyed a four hour tour of the city yesterday. We visted a jade factory, a couple markets and several churches and cathedrals. The history of Antigua is fascinating. It has survived hurricanes and earthquakes and many of the original buildings still stand. We hope to take another tour this afternoon...possibly of a coffee plantation. The weather is perfect. It requires a sweater in the morning...short sleeves in the afternoon and a sweater again in the evening. It is the rainy season here, so it does rain every afternoon, but the rain keeps everything clean and green!

Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing


Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing


Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing


Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing


Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing

Our first few minutes together. Maria is a little scared. I'm sure she's thinking, "Who are these crazy people that act like they have known me all my little life?" We couldn't wait to hold, squeeze and kiss her! You will notice that she is just completely preoccupied with her fingers as the picture with Dave shows. She loves her fingers!

We arrived in Guatemala City on Friday evening. After a long day of flights and customs we were ready for a good nights sleep. We were supposed to received Maria prior to 10 AM on Saturday morning. Apparently there was a communication error between our agency, the lawyer or her staff. We basically waited in the lobby of the Marriott from 8 AM till 8 PM with no Maria. We were told in all of our communications to be patient...that they knew we were there and they would be there eventually. I finally called our adoption coordinator in the USA around 7 PM, but only received voicemail. We decided it was too late that evening anyway and went to the room around 9 PM. The next morning, Sunday, I emailed our coordinator again as well as the Latin American Director. To our pleasure, he called right away, apologized for the mix-up, called the lawyer and we had Maria in our arms in a couple of hours. Here are our first pictures...from around 11 AM on Sunday. We are just getting ready to check out of the Marriott and travel to Antigua where we will spend the next 5 days. Maria is a perfect baby! She only cries if hungry or wet. She slept last night from 8 PM till 2 AM, had a bottle and went right back to sleep until 8 AM. Enjoy the pics and we will post more soon!

We have also planned our visit trip to Guatemala. We will be leaving Sioux Falls on Friday, August 25th and returning Monday, September 4th. We are so excited to be going to meet Maria for the first time, we can't hardly stand it! We are going to spend Friday evening, Saturday and Sunday in Guatemala City and then go to the tourist haven of Antiqua, Monday through Thursday and back to Guatemala City, Friday through Sunday and home on Monday.

Guatemala City

Although some families decide against going on a visit trip because they believe it will be too hard to leave the baby and return home, we have decided that it will be well worth it. I believe that we will be able to do some initial bonding with Maria as well as see first hand how much her foster mother loves her and how well she is being taken care of. We will get to have Maria in our hotel for the entire time we are in Guatemala, so it will be very exciting....and probably a bit exhausting! We'll take lots of pictures and hopefully be able to post while we are there.

We Received Some New Photo's Of Maria A Couple Days Ago And I Finally Have Time To Post Them! Although It's Hard To Wait Between Updates, It Certainly Is A Nice Surprise To Get Them Unexpectedly!

We Received Our Pre-Approval From The US Embassy In Guatemala!

A pre-approval was issued for the above-listed adoption case. You may pick up this
pre-approval at Window #10 at your earliest convenience. You must bring a copy of
this notification.
Reminder: Adopting parents should not travel to Guatemala prior to issuance of the pink slip
by the Consular Section, in order to avoid unnecessary expenses. Travel before pink slip
issuance will not be considered an emergency and final documents will be processed as
usual.
This office will not be giving priority to other cases over those who have complied with this
requirement.
The Consular Section has implemented an Appointment System for the Immigrant Visa.
Please do not travel until you have received your appointment date and time.

It's A Match!!

We Received Information From Our Adoption Agency Today Letting Us Know That The DNA Test That Was Performed Came Back As A 99.96% Probability That There Is A Maternal Connection Between Maria & The Birthmother.

That's Good News!

It Will Probably Take Another 30 Days Until We Get To The Next Phase...PGN. PGN Is Sort Of Like The Attorney Generals Office In The United States. It Is The Office That Reviews All Of Our Paperwork For The Government Of Guatemala And Approves The Final Adoption Decree...So 30 Days Till PGN...Then Approximately 2 Months In PGN...Then Another 30 Days Until Pickup....That Puts Us Right Around Christmas As A Target Date To Be Able To Bring Maria Home. I Hope It All Goes Faster Than That...But I Have Learned (& Am Continuing To Learn) To Be Patient!