Hello from Guatemala!

Hello from Guatemala! Today is Sunday, July 29th and in two days we will be home forever! The time has been going very slowly. I guess the anticipation is killing us. We can't wait to touch down in Houston because Miranda will automatically become a US citizen!!! It will be even more exciting to touch down in Baltimore so we can see our family, especially Patrick and Luke.

Today we are going to Antigua. It is about 40 minutes from Guatemala City. We are taking a guided tour with another couple from our agency. We are hoping to be able to see some real Mayan ruins, and a little bit of how people live. Also we are looking forward to shopping in the local markets.

We will be home very soon and we can't wait for everyone to be able to finally meet our little princess!

We are tickled PINK!!!

For those of you in the adoption world, you know what this means. For everyone else, PINK is the official notification from the US Embassy re: the time and date of your embassy appointment. Between the time that Miranda's file exited PGN and now the following things have taken place:

1. New birth certificate issued in the name Deysi Marbella Ochs
2. Birthmother signs off on the adoption for the fourth and final time
3. Miranda had to have an exit exam by a US physician
4. Our file is submitted to the US Embassy. If everything is in order, they issue you an appointment date and time on a pink slip of paper...thus an actual pink slip.


Our appointment date is Friday, July 27th at 7:15 a.m. We are leaving for Guatemala on Thursday. We will arrive back in Baltimore Tuesday night, after a brief layover in Houston, TX. Miranda's visa will be ready 24 hours after our PINK appointment; however, since this would be Saturday we have to wait to pick up her visa on Monday.

We came home from our vacation one day early. We have so much to do. Make flight arrangements, hotel arrangements, wash and repack our suitcases, and get all of our final documents in order.

Stay tuned for more information!

It's Picture Day!!!

We received our last update today. Does that mean that our Embassy date is right around the corner? Miranda is now pulling herself up in the crib, she is starting to crawl, and has started talking. Wow! She is going through a cute phase where she closes her eyes before her pictures are taken. She is still 17 pounds and is a about 25" tall.

Our caseworker is checking on the progress of our file. We are getting ready to leave for vacation and we need to get a sense of when we might travel. I have a business trip scheduled for two weeks at the beginning of August and I can't stand being in limbo.

I have attached a picture of Miranda, and one of her and her foster mother.

Enjoy!

Still No News!

Well here we are...eleven days after getting out of PGN and we still do not have any additional information. Talk about an anti-climatic event! Our caseworker is on vacation this week so we will have to wait until Monday for an update. I would like to know the following:

* Has the new birth certificate been received from Coban?
* Has the birthmother signed off on the dossier for the fourth and final time?
* Have the necessary documents been translated yet?
* Have we been submitted for pink?

We are anxious to make our flight arrangements. We have been experiencing a little bit of sticker shock as we start looking at possible flights. The flights will be about twice as much as they were in February & April. Oh well, we plan on being in debt for the rest of our lives (especially with three children)!

We leave for vacation on Saturday, July 14th. We will be going to Myrtle Beach for a week. Our boys, Patrick and Luke, are looking forward to spending the week with their cousins. We were so hoping to have Miranda home with us but that isn't God's plan. We will take the opportunity to spoil the boys rotten since their lives are going to change once Miranda comes home.

I did take the opportunity to shop for some new clothes for Miranda. She weighs about 18 pounds now. I bought several cute outfits, especially her "Welcome to the United States" coming home outfit.

I'll post once I have some additional information to share.

We are out of PGN!

After 9 weeks and five days, we are happy to announce that we are out of PGN. Our agency is working on getting a new birth certificate from Coban, which is where Miranda was born. Our estimated travel date is the middle to late July!!!!!!!!!

Thank you God for answering our prayers!

Nine Weeks in PGN

I'm sad to say that we are still in PGN. Today marks our ninth week. I do have some good news to share. My friend Kristin begged, borrowed, and stole to get the direct # for PGN. She gave me her # for her international calling card and it had 19 minutes left on the card. So I called PGN and got through to a man that spoke a little bit of English, which is more Spanish that I can speak. We were having some communication difficulty but we finally got to the point where he was going to tell me the status of our file. Guess what? My card ran out of minutes!!!!!!!!! Ugh!
I was totally freaking out. I called everyone that I could think of to tell them what happened.

I called Eric (my brother-in-law) and left him a message. He has friends, Jose & Mariana, that speak Spanish. Eric arranged for me to go to their house after work so Mariana could call Guatemala for me. After two hours of delays, she was finally able to get through to PGN. She spoke with a nice lady named Laura. Laura informed Mariana that our file was sitting on the director's desk waiting to be signed; however, there was still a chance that the director could personally kick out our file. Laura said that the file should be signed next week and we could call back for new information at that time.

This is more information that we have had in nine weeks. We are getting so close! Once our file exits PGN approved, it goes to the US Embassy. The embassy will set an appointment for the exit interview.

Please continue to pray that the rest of our process goes smoothly.

Eight Weeks in PGN

Today marks another day in PGN, and another week in the dreaded black hole. We had contact with our case worker in Texas this week. She confirmed that we did enter PGN back in mid-April. She indicated that she should be getting case updates either later this week or early next week. We should also be getting our monthly medical update and picture update. How we live for some information from our agency! The pictures are all that we have to carry us through from one month to the next.

Our friends Kristin and Josh are happy to announce that they have exited the building-the PGN building that is. They are now waiting on their "PINK" slip from the US Embassy in Guatemala. The appointment date and time is actually issued on a pink slip of paper.

Here is a sample of a letter that I would like to send to PGN...

Dear Senor Barrios:

Please sign our file today!!!!! We want to bring Miranda home!!!!!!!!!!!

I hope that I do not have to give you another weekly update. I want to be able to post that we are O-U-T.