February 14, 2008

Happy Valentine's Day! It has been a wonderful week for us! We received our two registrations, finally exited Family Court, got new pictures and are waiting to be put into P.G.N. next week! Dawson is now 7 1/2 months old. These pictures are only a few weeks after the last ones, but I was happy to find them in my email today!

February 10, 2008

Guatemala remains in turmoil this past week! The Central Authority is now making all grandfathered cases reregister with another governmental office throughout the weekend. Right now, all attorneys are waiting in long lines day and night to get another new registration number. Any cases that do NOT get two registration numbers will be null and void. I do know my attorney is in line and we have until Monday to get this done. From what I've heard, the registrations are happening but, at a slow pace! They are really running the attorneys around down there! What next? I must say, I have complete confidence in my agency due to the fact that they have an actual office in Guatemala with many attorneys on site plus, they keep me updated ALL THE TIME! On another note, here is what I have decided on for her bedding. I love the bright colors for her! Thanks to my sister for picking it out and picking it up at Pottery Barn last week! If you ever want a little more info on what is going on down there, check out this website.. www.guatadopt.com. It's a nonprofit website that keeps us up to date! FYI... I don't plan on getting pictures soon due to all the happenings down there right now so...enjoy the bedding picture for now!

February 6, 2008

Another weekly update..... We have been waiting for the "Central Authority" to actually exist so we can register and move on with the process. Because of the recent law changes, all grandfathered cases must register with the Central Authority to fall under the old law. The old president of Guatemala elected people for the C.A. but, 3 days later, the new president was inaguarted, fired the 3 people and then elected his own people! Where did that leave the C.A.? It was left with 3 people filing lawsuits againt the government. As of yesterday, the courts ruled the old C.A. out, the new C.A. (hired by the new president) in! This mess has been holding ALL adoptions up. We now wait for our newly registered cases to get an exit stamp from the authority so we can continue on. Come on C.A. and let us out!!! Politics, politics, politics!!!

January 25, 2008

New measurements..weight 14.5 lbs...height 24 inches. Everything is looking good!

January 22, 2008

It's PICTURE DAY.... Dawson at almost 7 months. I think she's looking a little sad because she wants to come home! My agency did not go down to Guatemala this month so the picture was courtesy of the attorneys down there. I only got three so I posted the best one! Notice the new look on my blog! There is a person I met who is "snazzying up" blogs for a small donation. With this money, she is funding her way to the Dominican Republic on a humanitarian trip. I'm quite impressed with how my blog turned out! What do you think? Tomorrow is Family Court for Dawson's mom. Hopefully she will show up and we can get on with the long wait in PGN! Look for weight and height info to follow in the next few days!

January 14, 2008

Some good news today...These past few months have been shaky on whether or not all pending adoptions were going to be completed since the announcement that Guatemala was closing all adoptions. It has been a roller coaster ride but...the news looks promising. Here is a statement published by the Department of State....



Processing of Transition Cases
On January 1, 2008, PGN stopped the processing of all pending adoption cases including the acceptance of new cases, acceptance of cases with previos and the review of cases previously submitted. PGN has however continued to release those cases in which reviews/approvals had been completed as of December 31, 2007. The processing of pending adoptions will begin with the registration of those cases with the Central Authority no later than 30 business days after January 1, 2008 (approximately February 11, 2008).
Both USDOS and USCIS continue to process adoption cases, including the issuance of visas, released by PGN.



Where is Dawson now in this process? We are waiting to register with the Central Authority which was just formed last Friday. All pending cases (Dawson) must be registered by Feb. 11. What the process is to register is still unknown. The authority hasn't met yet, but will announce procedure as soon as possible. I'm just relieved to hear that we are moving forward and I am now quite confident she will get here! Here's to good news!!!! Keep it coming!!!

January 3, 2007

Just a few updates....I FINALLY have a Family Court date of January 23. The reason for the long wait is that Guatemala takes a lot of time off for the holidays. Being a Catholic country, they celebrate every feast and holiday from Thanksgiving until mid January. Most of the working people are off during this time. Dawson's stats came through today. At 6 months she is now 23 inches long and weighs in at 13.5 lbs. She goes to bed at 8:00 and sleeps until 5:00 a.m. This means she is sleeping through the night. Good news for me!!! (hope she can keep this one up) She did have a case of viral tonsillitis, which was treated and cured with an antibiotic. All is going well now! Now, we just wait for an exit from Family Court!