Still not a done deal

No new picture but I thought I would post what is currently going on in Guatemala. Even though Norm Coleman says everything is good - it is not. We are still optimistic but also know that nothing is a certainty. I have been reading about the issues on the web and we just got an email from our adoption agency confirming them. I will post the contents of the email below so you kind of get an idea what is going on. The email is from MaryLee who if the founder of Hand in Hand (our adoption agency) and it is the report from a call she had with Carlota - the lawyer in Guatemala who handles all of Hand in Hands cases:

Dear All,

Trouble continues to boil in Guatemala. Rumors, threats, etc. are everyday occurrences now. No one can still unscramble all that is going on, but bits and pieces keep coming out in the Guatemalan newspapers that are disconcerting. The latest news involves our Embassy Consul who has been meeting with the Human Rights Commission of Guatemala and suggesting to them, to stop all international adoptions until the children can all be checked and cleared. A bill has been presented in the Guatemalan court supposedly 2 days ago, but nothing has come out as of yet. Carlota is also very upset with what is going on everyday at the U.S. Embassy. Giovanni has been going to the Embassy everyday (in the middle of the night) to be in line to submit cases (for second DNA), and the processes keep changing. Everyday the Embassy staff become angry, the workers on the street trying to submit cases break into fights, pushing and shoving each other, and today, the Embassy chose only 4 individuals (instead of 40) to allow entry. Giovanni will go again tomorrow, but that is his last chance for the specific cases he is working on (none of them MN cases). If he isn't selected or allowed to submit the cases, Carlota is suggesting that the families should consider going to Guatemala next week and as U.S. citizens, they would be allowed into the Embassy to present their own papers. My concern is that there are going to be multitudes of families doing just that and the Embassy is going to get furious with the families, but it might work. There may be other options if that won't work. There are only 2 days next week that the Embassy will be open (Dec. 26 and 27). I wish we had a crystal ball to look into the future to know what will happen, but unfortunately, we don't. The system is currently a mess!

Hang in there everyone.....we are on a wild roller coaster ride!

Anyway - things are still moving forward but it will not necessarily be easy.

No news is good news?

It has only been a few days since my last entry so I don't really have any news. We just got a new picture though so I figured I better get it posted.

It is interesting all the Guatemala news that everyone (family, friends, us) noticices while this is going on. Some of the articles seem to be just wrong or misleading or just a little light on facts. I know we have had friends come to us and say that they are sorry about the news (when there really has not been any news). They have also told us they have heard that everything is cleared up and in-process adoptions will go through. In reality nothing concrete has really happened for quite a while now.

For anyone interested in the state of Guatemala adoptions, the sites I use are:

http://www.jcics.org/Guatemala.htm - seems to just report the facts and also has a lot of information on the Guatemala adoption process.

http://www.guatadopt.com - Also a good resource on Guatemala adoption

Overall the news does seem positive. I think most people want to do the right thing. It is politics though so it is not an easy process getting to the final state. We will stay optimistic though and assume that no news is good news for now.

Embassy Approval!

It has been six weeks since my last entry so I figured I should get a new picture out there. We got the new picture on 11/1. He is really changing so fast.

Part of the reason I didn't post it right away was because I didn't really have anything to say with it. We have been waiting for news on a new law going through in Guatemala that has the possibility of affecting the adoption. The news seems to keep going back and forth - especially if you listen to all the rumors on the web. First the law was not going to be passed until next year. Then it was passed last minute but they had to wait for the new government to come up with the exact details (including a possible grandfather clause). Then a rumor that Guatemala was going to put it off until April. Then a rumor the US was pushing them not to wait. The vote was supposed to happen on Nov 14th -then it didn't. I try not to think about it all too much - and everything we hear from hand in hand is very positive. It sounds like everyone does want what is best for these kids - and what is best for them is not to put them into an orphanage. Hopefully we will hear something a little more firm on that soon.

On a good note we were just notified that we got US Embassy approval yesterday. That was the first step in Guatemala. The US gets all the evidence that Victor should legally be allowed to be adopted - and then they issue this approval. Now it moves to the PGN in Guatemala. The PGN is the central authority in charge of adoptions in Guatemala. This stage is the longest stage and will probably involve the most waiting.

Done with class

It took us a while to finally get to our last adoption class but on Sept 15 we finally got it done. The class was with all new people - two couples both adopting from Russia. It was fun being able to show off pictures of Baby Victor. In this class we got to spend some time going through Guatemala books learning about their history and culture. I think I will probably get one of the books so I can spend some time learning a little more.

We also got to talk to Karin a little bit about possibly taking a trip down to see Victor. We learned that taking a trip down will actually change which Visa Victor would get when he travels to the United States and would make him a citizen immediately instead of having to wait for that. In the long run it probably doesn't make much difference but gives one more reason to go down and see him. We did learn when you are down there you do have to stay in the hotel with Victor. I am not sure I would want to be in a foreign country with a baby trapped in a hotel for too long - but I am sure I could manage a few days and do some tourist stuff for a while before or after that.

We just got a new picture today as you can see. We are told that as of Sept 13 he was 6 pounds, 9 ounces and 50 cm (19.7 inches). I am not sure if that is good or bad but I am sure Lara and a lot of you know. I just think we need to get that tiger rug he is on so we can compete with Grandpa David's tiger rug from Nepal.

Meet Victor Hugo

I am pleased to present Victor Hugo. No - not that Victor Hugo. Of course there is still a lot that needs to happen and a lot of things that could go wrong but right now it looks like we may be able to adopt baby Victor. Victor was born on July 22, 2007 in Cuilapa Guatemala. July 22 is also Lara's Grandmother's birthday so it is easy to remember for her. He seems to be very healthy from all the reports we have received. Now it is mostly just waiting for us. It is a slow process now because of the Hauge but we can live with slow. Our best estimate is sometime around 6-8 months from now so hopefully sometime by May of next year.

As far as Victor's name - we really haven't thought of it much yet. We will probably wait until we are close to getting him before we decide on what to call him. For now I will just call him baby Victor.

One or Two?

One of the big questions we have been trying to answer is whether we should get one or two children right away. I've thought all along that eventually I would like us to have two children, but should we get them both right away or one now and one later? We decided we would like one boy and one girl. I would go with the boy being the oldest ( it worked for me ) but Lara thinks the girl should be oldest (it worked for her). This is the time we have to decide since they have to prepare two copies of the paper work for two babies. After much deliberation, we decided that we would get two right away.

A few days after we make this decision we get a call. The time pressure created by the Hague that I discussed in my previous post is creating some issues. They want all of the people adopting from Guatemala to be matched with a child and a fair way through the court system as soon as possible. We are the last couple that Hand in Hand is matching in Guatemala because of this. They called to say there are three other couples in front of us and they all want at least one girl. That makes it probably that we would not be able to get two children with one being a girl.

We talked it over and decided there is no rush. We will just get one child now, and we can return later after these issues work out if we still think we want two. So that was our decision, just get one for now. The next day we get another call. They say they think they have two available for us if we will take two boys. Thats certainly a lot of pressure. Way to much deciding for one week. We still decided to stick with one for now. I think either decision could have been right but there is no reason to rush. There are certainly pluses and minuses either way.

If we decided to adopt another in the future it is MUCH easier. There would be no more classes, most of the paper work would be done, we wouldn't have to do a new autobiography, and there would be only a small home study update. I can't say for sure we will adopt another, it all depends on how God leads us. For now we will just focus on getting this adoption finished .

The Hague Convention

I thought I would give you a little information on the Hague Convention since that is what is making the time-line so important for us. I won't give you a lot of boring detail because I don't understand it all myself. The Hague is a international treaty designed to make sure that adoptions are done in the best interests of the children. It does many good things to prevent illegal adoptions. The US signed the treaty in 1994. Guatemala also signed this treaty. Move ahead 13 years and the US is almost ready to ratify the treaty that Jimmy Carter signed.

The problem is that after Guatemala signed the treaty, their congress decided it was unconstitutional and they were not going to do it. Apparently with international treaties there are no take-backs. When the US actually ratifies this means that a bunch of rules take affect for adoptions with other countries that have signed the treaty. What this ultimately means is that at some point adoptions between the US and Guatemala may stop for some period of time until Guatemala has proper controls in place. To us this means we have to get things done as soon as possible. Most people seem to think this date will be some time around the end of the year. Our adoption has to be a good deal done at that point in order to continue. Hopefully this won't affect anything, but anything can happen.

Douments, Tests, and more Documents

The past several months have been spent doing all the required forms, tests, and paperwork that is required for an adoption. Here is a brief summary of what is required:

• Numerous State and Federal Forms filled out
• Reference letters from four different people
• Certified Birth Certificates
• Financial letters from all banks listing balances and transactions for the past year
• Employment Letters
• Financial statements
• State Police clearance letters
• Marriage Certificates
• Medical Exams
• Fingerprinting by INS
• 1040 tax forms
• Power of Attorney forms
• Psychological Evaluation (Need to take MMPI test which has 550+ True/False Questions.)
• Photos
  
• Autobiography
• Home Study

I would have to say the big things are the last two. The autobiography is a 5-20 page autobiography that we each had to do. Mine was 6 1/2 pages long, Lara's was probably closer to 20 pages. They give you an outline on things to include (How were you disciplined, what was good about each of your parents, what was not good). I know my Mom would like to get her hands on mine but we all know that is never going to happen.

A lot of this paperwork is ultimately a requirement for the Home Study. The Home Study was a day long (1-7) meeting with a Social worker that we had on July 20. It is a lot of questions that are required by Guatemala and a lot of questions required by Minnesota. They include questions on how we would parent, on religion, on how we and the extended view adoption and international adoption specifically. It was definitely the longest I have talked in a long time. A lot of the questions they require the man to answer first so it was tough on me.

It is July 30th and we have just been told that the report from the Home Study is complete and they are ready to start certifying the dossier. I don't think we expected it this quickly but they are trying to rush everything with Guatemala because of possible issue. Anyway, most of the work is done now; now comes the waiting.

Adoption classes

Today was the first of the three required all day classes. These are all on Saturdays, once a month. The class is in the local Hand in Hand office, which is located in Karin's basement. There were three other couples in the class. It was the first class for us but everyone else had a one class head start on us. That was actually kind of nice because we got to hear from people going through all the steps before we actually had to do them. The other three couples all were adopting from different countries than us (Philippines, Haiti, and China) The class was a lot of hands on worksheets and activities. We learned about different issues with adoption and how to handle them. We learned a lot of what to expect with the adoption. We learned all the things we need to do to make the change easier on the adopted child (No party at the airport and a lot of alone time for us and the child). It was a lot of information to take in.

The Application

It is one month after the orientation and we have everything to turn in our application. The application is only a six page document. This is mostly routine information about employment, family, references, and finances. The big thing is the selection of a country. You're not actually locked in at this point but there are some differences in things needed for different countries so this is the point you select and sign fee agreements for the country. We have decided on Guatemala. There are many reasons for deciding on one country over another. I think I had a hard time choosing but Lara seemed to make up her mind on Guatemala without much difficulty. One of the things we liked about Guatemala was the fact that the children are in a foster home before the adoption instead of the orphanages of some countries. Another thing we liked was the speed and order of the different parts of the adoption. With some countries you are matched with a child fairly quickly and then have to wait a long time to actually take your child home. That seemed like it would be torture for us. Guatemala also matches children very young so we would be able to adopt an infant.

Orientation - The first step

I'm not exactly sure how this started. I think it was probably me that mentioned it first. We have talked about it in the past and it has always been something that we thought we might do some day. I had done a little research on it a few times and found out there were some age restrictions in different countries so I started thinking we should start looking into adoption now so that we had as many options as possible. I had a friend at work adopt from Russia a couple of years ago. I knew he was very happy with the agency they used so we decided to check them out. Lara called and they had an orientation in two weeks in West Saint Paul, or we could wait six weeks for one right by our house. We decided to drive the 35 miles since we don't like waiting much.

The orientation was given by Karin at Hand in Hand Adoption. There were about 10 other people at the session but I think we were the only couple. While waiting for the orientation to start they had a bunch books of photos out to check out. Photos of a lot of adopted children and their families from all of the countries that they worked with. The orientation was 90 minutes long and Karin briefly went over a lot of the basics of adoption. She laid out the process and what steps were required. She went over all of the countries that Hand in Hand worked with and we got sheet showing details from each of the countries (China, Guatemala, Haiti, Philippines, Russia, and Ukraine).

After the orientation we went out for dinner Famous Dave's and discussed what we had learned. We still liked the idea of adoption after the orientation and decided we keep going forward with it.

Welcome to our Adoption Blog!

Here it is. The first post in my first blog. I'm not really the blogging type but this seems like it a good reason to start. If your reading this you probably already know that Lara and I are working on adopting a child. It has been a long process and there is still a long way to go. I have been procrastinating on starting this blog so I am a little bit behind. I have a good excuse though - I have been working on the adoption. I am starting the blog in July but I am going to go back and put in some back dated posts to catch everyone up on what the process is that we have gone through so far. Please keep us both in your prayers and hopefully we will be parents in less than a year. Hope you all enjoy the blog.