here are some more pics

new fern pics!!!!

we got new pics today, mr. president berger guy, how can you resist that face? huh? HUH? thats right, i thought so..

So several times a week I check out one of the Guatemala forums to see what people are saying and how their cases are moving along through this brutal process. I've told myself over and over again that I can NOT compare our timeline to the timeline of other families. Every case is different and it also depends on whether Mr. Barrio (the reviewer at the PGN that let's paperwork sit on his desk for 8 weeks) is in a good mood that day!

Well..now that we are officially 4 weeks in PGN..I can't stop counting the days. I was doing such a great job of being patient during the first few months ..but now its killing me! Anyway, the deal with PGN is this - they will review your application within 8-11 weeks then at that time they will either give you the green light OR kick out your paperwork. We've seen many many families get kicked out for stupid paperwork issues.

Here are the timelines for two recent posts on the forum
One family entered PGN on 09/05/07 (we entered on 09/25/07) - and they got the green light from PGN on 10/25/07. That means it only took them a month and half to get through with no kick-outs. that's what I WANT!!!

Then this other family - they were in PGN for 10 weeks and then got kicked out. How depressing..

Sorry for the rambling. As you can probably tell - this is a roller coaster for the emotions and I hate roller coasters!

Bathroom is coming along

Ah....sweet piggy

For those of you that missed the NC State Fair....

Barbecue Sundae
Layers of bbq, beans and coleslaw
A new tasty treat at the Fair!

And of course, the beautiful piggy!

A tribute to a dear old friend...

It is with teary eyes that I share the sad news about Mr. Visa. It was a wonderful 18yrs with an owner that spoiled him, attempted to dress him up at the holidays, made him move homes about 10 times and to think it all started back in 1989 at the Pet Store in the Greensboro Mall. Thank goodness my Dad gave me that credit card for "emergencies" otherwise there would never have been a Visa!!!

A lesson in patience

Boy..I can tell the next few months are going to require a lot of patience. It is my understanding that Pres. Booger (ok -his name is really Berger) has publicly stated that he will NOT grandfather in the pending cases - but that goes against current laws - so not really sure what he is going to be able to get away with before he is kicked out of office on Jan 14th.

Our agency has stated they are also temporarily suspending any new referrals due to the uncertainty in the coming months, whether or not Guatemala will be Hague compliant by Jan 1st, will they let us grandfather in the existing cases or will we have to start our paperwork all over again.

What does this all mean for us? Well, we don't know. Right now its one week at a time. So far we have been in PGN court for 3 weeks. We KNOW in our hearts that Fern was meant to be a part of our family and she WILL BE. It just may take a little longer than expected. I suppose that gives us a more time to sleep in on the weekends and watch lots of movies!

An update for those of you checking in...

Read the statement posted on this link. Keep fingers crossed for good news on Oct 19th. Let's hope they made a decision SOON.

http://www.jcics.org/Guatemala_5000_Update.pdf

If enough people shout, their voices are bound to be heard.

So anyone reading this knows of our current plight with the adoption. We sent out emails, posted on forums, I even posted it up on some of the skateboard sites that i frequent. I cannot believe the overall response that we've gotten from this, friends, family, even people we don't know are signing the petitions and sending faxes and emails to there senators, congressmen, and unicef, all to bring Fern home where she belongs, and to make sure that all these other children aren't the victims of grown men playing political games.

I can't really express how much this means to us, don't ever let it be said that there is no good in this world, when you think you're down and out, people will come to your aid. I can only hope and pray that all the other couples out there in this same situation are getting this kind of support.

Thank you all so much for what you are doing. We cannot thank you all enough.

Don't you dare Mr. Berger...

There is currently political unrest within Guatemala. The outgoing Guatemalan administration intends to shut down Intercountry adoptions.

UNICEF is dangling several millions of $$ in front of outgoing Guatemalan President Berger. He gets the money, if Guatemala gets "Hague compliant", which will effectively shut down adoptions. Berger announced on 09/26/07 that ALL CASES, including the pipeline (5000 cases) would NOT be grandfathered in after January 1st 2008.

HOLY SHIT...yes, excuse my language..but I think its called for. (and for those of you that understand abbreviations...WTF!)

Click on this website with some preliminary information. We are reading to see what needs to be done...be forewarned that we WILL be calling upon you all to help by calling your local senator, faxing the US Embassy, etc.

We will post more SOON.

Ah...the comforts of your own home..

We've arrived safely back in Raleigh. Traveling today was breeze - customs in Dallas was quick and painless (I kept thinking that our next trip home from Guatemala - we will have her with us! Sure hope the journey is as easy - yeah right!).

So our last afternoon was great - she was of course all smiles and giggles for us, which made it even harder to say good-bye. Unfortunately the attorney and foster mom arrived an hour late - nothing like dragging it out for us. We talked for a few minutes in the room about how we managed - we complained of aching backs and sore arms (time for us to head to the gym!) and then we walked them to the lobby..and off Fern went in a taxi with a wonderful foster mom who loves her dearly. Did I mention that when they dropped her off on Thursday afternoon - the foster mom was crying when she said good-bye to Fern. Then Mommy & Daddy headed directly to the bar..ordered ourselves a bourbon and a beer each. What a fabulous, exhausting weekend!

In the next few days I will post all the pictures on another website. I'll try to provide you guys with a link.

Even though we are back in Raleigh - check the blog for updates - we get new pictures from our agency every month. And I'm sure Jer will continue to post his odd rambles from time to time.
That's all for now.......