We Joined The Previo Club!

It's probably not a good club to be in, but at least we know that our file has already been looked at by a reviewer in PGN. Our Previos were for documents that the attorney in Guatemala can take care of, so she should be able to get us back into PGN at the beginning of next week. Tomorrow, September 15th, is Independence Day in Guatemala, so all government offices will be closed. Here is how our adoption coordinator summarized our Previos.

The 2 items are as follows.

There is a discrepancy in some document – one of them says that the Birth Certificate is form book 3 and the other from book 4. Miriam will correct this file and resubmit.
The copy of the Bio-Mother’s BC is illegible – Miriam will get a new copy and resubmit.

I also received some new pictures of Maria. She is in the stroller that we gave to the Foster Mother as well as holding the rattle we left in the diaper bag.

WE ARE IN PGN!
I received confirmation today that we entered PGN on September 5th. This is one of the final steps in our adoption process. Hopefully, we won't have any Previos (Kickouts). The reviewers at PGN can kick you out of PGN for any errors, omissions or discrepancies found in our or the Guatemalan social workers documents. Sometimes the Previos can be fixed by our lawyer in Guatemala...but if the previo is for a document issued in the US, we will have to get a new document, have it notorized, Great Sealed by the State of South Dakota and then Authenticated by the Guatemalan Consulate. Each document takes about 3 weeks to have re-done...so let's all pray for no Previos! I have detailed the PGN process below. Hopefully we will be in and out of PGN in 6 to 8 weeks!

PGN REVIEW AND APPROVAL
The attorney submits the adoption case file and a petition for approval of the adoption to a notarial** officer of the PGN. A PGN notary reviews all documents in the case file and, at his/her discretion, may independently investigate one or more aspects of the case. PGN may reject the file (issue a previo) any number of times for a wide variety of reasons that range from serious (e.g., irregularities in the birth mother’s or child’s identity documents) to minor (e.g., minor spelling errors, expired notary seals). The attorney for the birth mother and adoptive family corrects the problem and resubmits the case to PGN. Ultimately, the PGN typically concurs with the Family Court’s recommendation and issues its approval for the adoption to proceed.
** A notary in Guatemala is an attorney with additional legal powers, not, as in the U.S., simply a person who is authorized to certify signatures.

We made it home tonight...Our luggage hasn't quite made it yet, but I have faith in Northwest Airlines to get it here eventually! We had to give Maria back to her Foster Mother last night around 7PM. It was incredibly difficult to give her back knowing that the next time we see her could be more than a couple of months away. You can tell however that she loves being with Lidia, her foster mother. Lidia also loves Maria. She asked me when we thought we would be back to get her and after my reply of "a couple of months"....she stated she didn't think that was long enough for her to say goodbye to Maria. It is comforting to know that Maria is with someone who loves her so much!

Dave, Steph, Maria and Her Foster Mother Lidia









I'm so cute, I can hardly stand myself!


Daddy and Maria swimming at the Marriott

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!

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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!

We received more good news today!
The DNA test was performed on both the birthmother and Maria on Thursday, July 20th. Our adoption coordinator said that the test was completed without issue....so that is good news on a Friday afternoon!

We Received More Pictures Of Maria Today!
These Were Taken On July 4th.
They Again Put Her In Some Of The Clothes We Sent!

I received this information from our adoption agency, World Partners Adoption, today. Hopefully this step will go smoothly and quickly!

DNA and Preapproval

Congratulations, all of your documents have entered the US Embassyand your journey through this portion of adoption process has begun—Preapproval.

Initially, the attorney will schedule an appointment with an EmbassyLab to take DNA samples of the child's biological mother, and thechild you are in the process of adopting. This is done through cheekcell samples taken form the inside of the child's and the bio-mother's mouth.

When we receive the DNA request from the Embassy, we will send italong with an authorization and payment form to you, so that you canpay for the test completion. The samples are then sent to LABCORP inBurlington NC. This is who processes the DNA test.Some attorneys schedule this appointment to coincide with the Socialworker appointment that will occur in Family Court, while others keepthem separate. The attorneys who complete the appointments togetherdo this to minimize the contact between the child and the biologicalmother. It also can tend to be easier to bring the biological motherinto the city for one trip to complete two processes. Each attorneyhas their preference in accomplishing these tasks. There is not oneway that is better than the other. They are equally successful.

Once the test is complete, the lab sends the Samples to LabCorp andthe DNA is processed and analyzed. In almost all of the cases thetwo samples are a match and maternity is proven to a 99.9 % certaintywhich is required by the Embassy. If the results are below 99.9 %LabCorp will dig deeper to obtain the appropriate match.

If the rare occasion happens and the purported bio-mom is in fact notthe mother, meaning that the tests resulted in a 0% probability, thatchild will be lost as a referral. This is very rare, but is apossibility. Our attorneys do much work prior to the process to makesure the purported bio-mother is in fact the mother. Once again, thisis extremely rare, but we want you to be fully aware of theintricacies of international adoption in Guatemala.

Once the testing is complete and the samples have been matched, youwill receive a DNA match sheet with all of the appropriateinformation. Many families receive a photo of the child's birthmother within this packet, as well. WPA will also receive the resultsand will authenticate those results and send them to Guatemala and toyour attorney.

Simultaneously, the Embassy will have received from LabCorp theresults and begun the Pre-approval process. This process can takeanywhere from 3 to 12 weeks depending on how quickly the Embassy isoperating. We may also receive an I-72 notice requesting additionalforms that generally require the attorney to submit new forms fromGuatemala, or possibly a modified I600 or G-28 form from you. Onceagain, each adoption is unique and every case will proceeddifferently.

At some point you, the attorney and WPA will be notified via e-mailthat pre-approval is ready. Once that Pre-approval notice has beenissued, and the attorney has picked up the Pre-approval (usually 2 to3 days later), you are prepared to enter PGN. You will not enter PGNthough, if the Family Court process is not complete. (See previous e-mail regarding Family Court) In order to enter PGN, your case must beout of Family Court, Pre-Approval must be issued, and theauthenticated DNA results must be in Guatemala.

This process can be frustrating because of the Embassy and theirsometime infrequent or total lack of communication. This US Embassyoffice processes hundreds of cases at a time. Like most embassiesthey are understaffed; but, trust that in the majority of cases thereis not an "overall" pre-approval problem that effects the adoption ofa child, only waiting for the pre-approval to be issued.

Overall process time – 10 to 14 weeks.

We received some updated measurements today. I would have to say they are not incredibly up to date as they are over a month old, but we were told from the beginning to be happy with what little information was forwarded to us and so we are!
On 6-June-06 Maria weighed 10.8 pounds has a length of 56 cms. and a head circumference of 37 cms. She was 10 weeks old at that time, so I think she is pretty normal for a Guatemalan child...they are smaller than US children. We hope to receive updated pictures soon and we will get them on this site as soon as we do.

We finally received our I-171. This document states that we have notice of favorable determination concerning application for advance processing of orphan petition. It basically means that we have been approved through the USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Service) to bring an orphan into the United States. The document had to be sent to the Secretary of State of South Dakota to be "Great Sealed" and then to the Consulate of Guatemala in Denver to be "Authenticated". Our adoption coordinator received the document from the Consulate today and now it will be sent to Guatemala with the rest of our dossier to be translated into Spanish.

We were happy to receive these pictures....the first ones without a hat on! We can finally see that she has hair....and it looks like plenty of it!

We sent a package to Maria and they sent us pictures of her with the clothes we sent. The pink dress is one that we sent to her and the other clothes are placed around her in the pictures.

I haven't posted for a while, so I apologize that I didn't get these photo's uploaded sooner. Maria was not quite 2 months old in these photos. I haven't received an updated medical report yet, but our adoption coordinator said that she is scheduled to go to the doctor either this week or next, so hopefully we will receive an update as to her weight, length and head circumference. I have been doing some shopping for Maria and had quite a few items, so I thought I would send down a box of clothes to her. I was packing the box and I realized that one of the sleepers was the same one she is wearing in these pictures. What a coincidence. I decided to hold on to that one for a keepsake. Right now we are still at the beginning of the Guatemalan adoption process. We are still waiting for our I-171. This is a one line document that simply states that you have been approved to bring an orphan into the United States. It is a very small document, but incredibly important. We expect it any day. Our process can start in Guatemala without the I-171, but we obviously need it prior to doing anything with the US Embassy. Hopefully, one of these days, I will go home and check the mail and it will be there!

We received our referral today!
Her name is Maria Rene and she was born on March 29th.
She weighed 6.2 pounds when she was born.