Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

There was a great Halloween party at the orphanage today. Izzie got to wear her first costume - an adorable lady bug that Ellora brought back from the States with her this week. Thanks, Ellora! It was funny to watch Izzie and her little buddies react to their parents and each other wearing funny outfits and makeup. I am quite sure that Ellora and Gary's kids didn't recognize them at all for the first few minutes.

Enjoy the pics!

Ellora even brought me a little kitty cat getup:

Izzie with Deisy, Nancy's daughter. I think Izzie will look a lot like Deisy when she gets older...

Lorenzo was a skunk:

Leo the lion!!

Another adorable lady bug: Julia! (Izzie wouldn't go for the makeup.)

Gary and Ellora:

Jorge was a dragon. He doesn't look too scary here, though...
My fave little lady bug! (Yes, they gave chips to the babies at the party!)
Evidently, lady bugs like to dance!!

Have a great weekend,

Kathy

"Probably early next week..."

Hi everybody,

I don't have a lot of time to post, but according to the "latest," we should get our MP letter sometime early next week, allowing us to finish up our approval within PGN.

Let's hope!

Kathy

My New Transportation

Hello everybody,

I thought you might get a kick out of seeing how I am getting around these days. Izzie's orphanage is on the outskirts of Antigua - about 10 minutes by car from my apartment - so for the past several months, I had been hiring a taxi to pick me up and drop me off every day. This became very expensive, adding up to literally hundreds of dollars a month. Finally, Aura, Izzie's nanny, convinced me to start taking the chicken buses and tuk tuks back and forth, which add up to less than half the cost of the taxis.

Here are some photos to illustrate:

CHICKEN BUS: A staple of public transportation in Guatemala, these used to be American school buses. Just take some crazy paint, throw a rosary around the rear-view mirror and VOILA - chicken bus! They call them chicken buses because you just might see someone with a chicken on board. Every morning, I leave the orphanage, walk about four blocks and catch one of these. It takes me as far as the market in Antigua, and then I have a 25 minute walk home. It works out well because I get all my daily shopping done on the way from the market to my apartment, plus it's great exercise! And the cost? Two quetzales, which add up to about 30 cents.

TUK TUK: This is basically a rickshaw built on top of a three-wheeled motorcycle. And when you're inside bouncing over the cobblestones, it feels like Mr. Toad's with no seatbelt. Yeehaw! When I'm ready to go back to the orphanage, I walk back to the market and take one of these all the way to the front door. Cost: between 10 and 15 quetzales - under two bucks!

Well, I've gotta run. My taxi will be here soon. Sunday's a big laundry day, and I still do use a taxi when I have big loads to haul back and forth.

Have a great week! I am praying, BEGGING God to let some major progress happen this week.

Thanks for checking in,

Kathy

Nothing Yet...

Hi everyone,

Well, another week has gone by with no progress at all. The MP did not deliver any of the seven reports that they promised to Nancy for this week. Bernardo went to the MP yesterday to ask about them, and he was told by the investigator the same excuse he's been repeating for two weeks: "The reports are done, but we're just waiting for my boss to sign them."

I did find out one tiny bit of good news today. Barbara Armstrong, the consul general at the U.S. Embassy, e-mailed another parent from our orphanage to tell her that they are "pushing things behind the scenes with the various agencies" and that they "hope to see some progress soon." I don't trust that the "agencies" (probably PGN and MP) necessarily honor their word after they promise things to diplomats, but I am happy to hear that the Embassy is at least trying to help us.

Please keep up the prayers and the pushing of our politicians. As the holidays approach with no end in sight, we are getting VERY depressed around here!

Thanks for your support!
Kathy

MP to Release Seven Reports?

Hi everyone,

I don't have much time to post, but Nancy, our orphanage director, says that the MP has promised to deliver at least seven of their reports this week, with more to come next week. These reports will supposedly unfreeze their respective cases, wherever they are in the Guatemalan legal pipeline. If our report is among them, it should allow us to move to the sign-off desk in PGN (where we belong). I have no idea if our letter is among them, or even if the MP is being honest about delivering them. I'll let you know! Please keep praying!

Love,
Kathy

Letter to Senators and Members of Congress

Hi friends and family,

We need your help to get our orphanage's cases un-frozen within the political system here in Guatemala. Today, I mass-emailed a sample letter to many of you which you can personalize and send to your senators and members of congress. If I missed you in my e-mail and you would like to help, please send me an e-mail at kathykron@yahoo.com and I will send you the letter.

Inevitably, many of us are going to receive a form letter back from our politicians, saying that they "cannot get involved in affairs of the Guatemalan government." Please do not accept this answer. We are NOT asking our reps to get involved in the Guatemalan government; rather, we are asking them to inform the U.S. Ambassador to Guatemala and the U.S. Congressional Coalition on Adoption of the situation. (They will realize this if they read the end of the letter, but you know how some of these offices can be!)

Also, if any of you are politically connected, no matter where you live, but especially in Texas, please contact Jaimie at jgmorris@travelers.com. We would like to have as many "live" interactions with our representatives as possible.

Thanks in advance for your help (again)!!
Kathy

Crummy News and Photo/Video Fest

Hi Friends and Family,

Well, we got some crummy news yesterday. We are back on the investigations desk. Nope, I am NOT kidding. The ministerio publico (MP) somehow got word that we were making progress within the PGN and ordered our file to be frozen right where it's been for the past several months - in investigations. It's not because of a problem with our case, it's because we are associated with our orphanage, which the MP is investigating. They are blocking any of the cases from our orphanage from making any progress at all within any agency in the country.

Lissette actually scared the crud out of me when she called to tell me the news because she started the conversation like this: "Kathy, there's no easy way to say this, but..." My heart stopped. I thought she was going to tell me that Izzie's birth mom changed her mind or something! Jeez.

Oh well. I feel like it does no good to report our progress, since any steps forward always seem to get revoked later. Lissette IS hopeful that we might start moving again on Thursday because of some pressure the British Embassy is putting on the PGN. Let's hope it benefits the American families as well as the British ones!

ANYWAY...here are some videos and photos, as promised! I finally brought my memory card back to the apartment.

During Jaimie's visit a couple of weeks ago, Izzie figured out how ticklish her daddy is:

Fun with Daddy's Blackberry!

Gary endures a kid attack:


Sonia (above Izzie in the picture) made Izzie a grass skirt out of palm leaves!

Izzie and the "big" kids:

Sonia models her creation:

Izzie insists on feeding herself these days:

Luckily, she doesn't mind cleaning up afterward!

Fortunately, Aura's son-in-law made us a new high chair, which works much better than the saucer at feeding time. It's great for coloring, too! Doesn't our little girl look so grown up?


The videos are of Izzie washing her own feet and of Izzie dancing with Leo:

Thanks for checking in and please continue to PRAY. We obviously have a long way to go!!

Have a great weekend,

Kathy

Waiting for Sign-Off!

Happy Friday, everybody!

We found out yesterday that we are finally on the sign-off desk, which means that we should be out of PGN sometime next week.

Sorry I haven't posted pictures in a while -- I keep accidentally leaving the memory card from my camera at the orphanage when I come back to the apartment each day. I have some cute pics of Izzie and Jaimie from when he was here a couple of weeks ago that I want to share.

Here are a couple of recent pictures, courtesy of our friend Gary:

Have a great weekend!

Kathy

Get to Keep the Apartment

Good news on the apartment...Jaimie contacted our landlord and worked it out so we can stay here as long as we need to. Thank God for Jaimie! I was so shocked and upset that I couldn't negotiate for myself yesterday. This morning, when I saw the landlord he apologized profusely. So, all is good on that front.

Still waiting for news about whether we got to the final desk yesterday. I will update when I hear!

Kathy

Some Hope for Progress?

Hi everybody,

I am hoping to hear some news of progress in our case today. I talked to Lissette yesterday, and she seems to think that our file should be leaving the "legal consultants" office by today and heading straight for the sign-off desk. (This is based on a meeting I didn't know about that Bernardo had with the head "legal consultant" on Friday.) Lissette thinks that she and Bernardo can then get us out of PGN within 5 days once we get to the sign-off desk.

Meanwhile, I'm a bit miffed because my landlord said that he needs me out of my apartment by January 1. I am not at all confident that we will be home by then. Our original agreement was that I could stay in my apartment until our process was over, but he decided to accept a deposit from someone for January. He said he feels obligated to this new guy because he gave a $300 deposit. What about the $9K I've spent on rent here this year? I can't believe I now have to look for a new apartment on top of everything else. It is sad, because my apartment is so nice and secure and it is perfect for Izzie - nice dogs, big yard, etc. Plus, I was looking forward to bringing Izzie back here because she will hopefully remember the place and already feel at home.

Anyway, I hope to have good news by tomorrow. Maybe we will get home by the end of the year - who knows?

Thanks for checking in! Please keep up the prayers! We need them!

Kathy

A Step Backward

Well, we have taken another step backward within the PGN. Our file was supposed to have gone to the second reviewer's desk earlier this week, but Lissette found out that as of yesterday, we were being held in some office called the "legal consultants." After they check out our file (supposedly today, which probably means sometime next month), we will then get to go the second reviewer. I am really, really frustrated, and I am beginning to wonder if we will ever get to come home!

In the meantime, here's a cute pic of Izzie and two of her three boyfriends, Jorge and ZoZo. (Leo is usually in contention, too.) It seems that the boys can't get enough of Izzie's cuddly love!

Out of Investigations - For Real, This Time!

Hi all,

We have some PGN progress to report:

Yesterday, our file finally left the investigations office. We were told it would happen three weeks ago, but it actually did yesterday. Instead of going to the final sign-off desk, we got sent to a second reviewer, which is ridiculous because we already passed the second reviewer before the investigation. Also, there should be nothing left to review, considering how extensive the investigation was.

Anyway, it's still progress, and it should mean that we have now cleared the toughest critics within the PGN. Lissette and Bernardo are very friendly with the department where our file is now, so they should be able to move us to the final sign-off desk soon. They are hoping to get us out of PGN sometime next week.

Thanks for keeping us in your prayers!

Kathy

Pictures from Trip to the MP

Hi Everyone,

Here are some pictures from our trip to the interview with the MP in Guatemala City on Monday. Our photographer friend Gary and his wife Ellora had to bring their son Leo for his interview, so Gary snapped photos of all of us to record the event.

Here we are en route to the interview. Unfortunately, car seats are something they don't really do in Guatemala:


Izzie is being helped out of the van by our driver. I had dressed Izzie in a special, super-cute outfit, but she got carsick on the way and puked her guts out, which made it necessary for me to break out her back-up clothes:

Here, Izzie eats her cheese puffs while resting on some trunks of evidence:

While waiting in the lobby, a parade passed by, so we all stepped outside to watch it. It was amazing, actually, because it was a band made up of students from a school for the deaf. The music sounded great!

Here, Izzie and her birth mother get their picture taken by an MP official while I try to get Izzie to look at the camera. I was sad for her birth mom because Izzie wanted nothing to do with her, and it was probably the last time they would ever see each other.

Here we are going back to the car after the interview. You can see a lot of our "cast of characters" in this picture: in the forefront are nannies with other kids from the orphanage, the white-blonde lady is Nancy, the orphanage director, the young woman in the black top and gray pants in the middle is Lissette, and on the far right is Izzie's birth mom. Ellora is in the back in the yellow sweater and jeans.

I will keep y'all posted about any news we get about our case!

Thanks for checking in,

Kathy