Our Family Journey

Although it seems like not much has happened in the past few weeks, in reality much has happened.

Our attorney has affirmed that Flora's birthmother has signed the final adoption decree. This means that she has officially relinquished all parental rights and Flora is now our daughter as far as she is concerned, as well as the Guatemalan governement. I'm torn as I write that statement as I'm certain it was an incredibly difficult thing for her to do. I guess I didn't realize how hard something like that would be until Maria entered my life, now I know just what a gift both of our children's birthmother's have given us. We owe them much, much more than they will ever know. They have given my husband and I an opportunity to be parents, our parents to be grandparents, our brothers and sisters the opportunity to be aunts and uncles and their children to be cousins to two of the most precious children God ever created. We are forever in their debt and if given the chance I hope to tell them that some day.

Our attorney has also said that they have received Flora's amended Birth Certificate. This means that in the eyes of the US government, she is officially our daughter and now has our last name. Her name now is...L**** F******* Richter. We will change her name to Flora L**** F******* Richter after she comes home. But, YAY!! She has our last name!! How cool is that!!

The attorney will be submitting the final adoption decree and the amended Birth Certificate to the Embassy in Guatemala City tomorrow, Wednesday April 23rd to receive her Guatemalan Passport. She will have her picture taken, she will be fingerprinted and footprinted. And they will issue that little blue book that is her Guatemalan Passport. This Passport will actually show her Guatemalan citizenship, which she will forever be able to retain, unless for some reason she deems it necessary to renounce. She will in effect be a dual citizen of both countries with the rights and privledges of both. I think the only reason she would have to renounce her Guatemalan citizenship is if she wants to join the military of the US, then she can only be a citizen of one country, for obvious loyalty reasons.

After they have her passport, probably on Thursday or Friday, our attorney can take all of the information gathered to the US Embassy and request DNA Authorization. DNA Authorization usually takes a day or two so we should have that by Friday April 25th or Monday April 28th. The US Embassy requires that a second DNA test be done now at the end of the process to ensure that the DNA that was performed at the beginning of the process is still valid. Meaning the child that is brought into the second DNA test is the same child that was brought into the first DNA test.

Once the attorney has DNA Authorization and we pay the fee for the test at the lab, which can't be done in advance, but will be done the same day as the authorization, the attorney will be able to schedule the actual DNA test. It usually takes a day or two to get the appointment, so we are hoping to have the DNA testing appointment by Wednesday or Thursday of next week...that puts us at April 30th or May 1st.

If the DNA test is taken on May 1st it will likely take a week to 10 days to get to the lab in the US and get shipped back to the US Embassy in Guatemala. We are now at about May 9th for arrival. The US Embassy will go over our paperwork one last time and give send us an email stating our appointment in about 3 days...we are now at May 14th. The appointment is usually about a week later, so on or about May 21st we should be at our appointment at the US Embassy in Guatemala City. We must stay one day after the appointment to receive her US Visa, which will allow her entry into the US, and then we can come home.

I'm not sure how much extra time we will spend in Guatemala after we receive her Visa, probably a few days. I know that this will be the last time for a little while that we will be able to go there and I am already missing being able to plan travel to this extraordinary country. I also know that I will be extremely excited to get home, get Flora home, introduce her to all of the people that already love her and get settled into our new life.

I do know that we plan to make regular trips back to Guatemala so that both girls are familiar with and continue to have a bond with their birth country. I also know that life gets hectic and it seems that time slips away and it may be longer than I want it to be before we are able to go back.

We will see in the next week or so how my timeline listed above pans out, but it shouldn't be too far off...hopefully we can shave a day off her or there and be home sooner than the 23rd or 24th. It doesn't really matter at this point as I know things are moving and we are going to be bring Flora home soon!!!