Hi everybody,
We finally got some great news today. Lissette has located everything we need to fix our previo. She received the letter from the mayor's office last week, and she has definitely located "troublesome document #2." She will be picking up document #2 tomorrow morning and Blas will be resubmitting our file to the PGN by tomorrow afternoon at the latest! The reviewer and PGN chief promised they would expedite our file once they got these letters, so Lissette thinks we should be out of PGN within a few days, rather than the more typical two weeks.
Jaimie is going to be here from Thursday through early Tuesday morning. Could it really be that we will have something REAL to celebrate when we are together this weekend? I sure hope so! As you all know, we don't count our chickens before they hatch around here, but I can't help but to feel hopeful again. Once we are out of PGN, it will probably be seven weeks or so before we get to come home, barring any other bizarre events.
Bernardo has said that he truly believes that these two documents are the last obstacle that anyone can throw in our way. He thinks that our case should progress at a "normal" pace after we finally exit PGN. I am trying to trust his optimism. We shall see!
Thanks for the prayers and for hanging in there with us!
Love,
Kathy
Monday, January 26, 2009
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Still No Movement...
Hi everyone,
Sorry for the delay in posting, but there has literally been nothing to report. As it turns out, there are two documents the PGN is requiring, and one if them is extremely obscure and is proving difficult to produce. So, we have not submitted anything to fix our previo yet. I feel like we will never get to come home.
On the bright side, Izzie is getting cuter and funnier by the day. She is talking a lot and actually makes sense most of the time. She is learning her colors, and recognizes and says "blue" and "yellow" when I show them to her. Yesterday we were coloring, and I asked her what color the sun should be, and she said "yellow." Not bad for 19 months old! Of course, we think she must be a genius!
I have been having a lot of trouble uploading photos to this blog, but if you click here, you can see some cute pics from January.
Thanks for checking in! As usual, we hope to have some good news to share soon!
Love,
Kathy
Sorry for the delay in posting, but there has literally been nothing to report. As it turns out, there are two documents the PGN is requiring, and one if them is extremely obscure and is proving difficult to produce. So, we have not submitted anything to fix our previo yet. I feel like we will never get to come home.
On the bright side, Izzie is getting cuter and funnier by the day. She is talking a lot and actually makes sense most of the time. She is learning her colors, and recognizes and says "blue" and "yellow" when I show them to her. Yesterday we were coloring, and I asked her what color the sun should be, and she said "yellow." Not bad for 19 months old! Of course, we think she must be a genius!
I have been having a lot of trouble uploading photos to this blog, but if you click here, you can see some cute pics from January.
Thanks for checking in! As usual, we hope to have some good news to share soon!
Love,
Kathy
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Bernardo to the Rescue - Again!
Hi everybody,
We got some positive news today. Bernardo, Lissette, and our adoption attorney, Blas, met with the PGN reviewer and his boss (the head of PGN) today. These are the last two people whose signatures we need to finally get our PGN approval. In the meeting, it was decided that in order to get both signatures, we need to provide a letter from the mayor of Izzie's birth mother's town to explain why there are no public records available from before the civil war. The reviewer and head of PGN promised that they once they receive this letter, they will both immediately approve the case and process our exit from PGN as quickly as possible. We expect that the mayor will very willingly issue the letter, but it will probably take a few days to deliver it to PGN, since the town is really far away.
I am still trying to get over the disappointment of not getting out of PGN this week, since that is what we had originally expected; however, Lissette thinks that within another week and a half we should be out for REAL this time. It is also wonderfully reassuring to know that the head of PGN already knows our case and is ready with "pen in hand" to sign off. It was a brilliant strategy on Bernardo's part to make an appointment with both her and the reviewer, since it puts everyone on the same page and prevents any other requirements from popping up at the last minute.
Thanks as always for the unwavering support and prayers! I can see an teeny, tiny little light beginning to shine at the end of the tunnel.
Speaking of prayers, could I ask all our "prayer warriors" to also pray for my two aunts? My Aunt Susan took a fall the other day and broke both her wrist and her foot on the right side. More seriously, my Aunt Rosemary (also my godmother) was diagnosed with oral cancer yesterday. The doctors are optimistic that it is treatable, but she will have to undergo what will surely be a painful surgery and radiation to her tongue. It is one of those flukey things, since she doesn't smoke and obviously doesn't chew tobacco, either. I love both these women so much, so I would appreciate if you could ask God to watch over both of them.
I hope to be able report some SERIOUS progress in the near future. Thanks for hanging in there with us!
Love,
Kathy
We got some positive news today. Bernardo, Lissette, and our adoption attorney, Blas, met with the PGN reviewer and his boss (the head of PGN) today. These are the last two people whose signatures we need to finally get our PGN approval. In the meeting, it was decided that in order to get both signatures, we need to provide a letter from the mayor of Izzie's birth mother's town to explain why there are no public records available from before the civil war. The reviewer and head of PGN promised that they once they receive this letter, they will both immediately approve the case and process our exit from PGN as quickly as possible. We expect that the mayor will very willingly issue the letter, but it will probably take a few days to deliver it to PGN, since the town is really far away.
I am still trying to get over the disappointment of not getting out of PGN this week, since that is what we had originally expected; however, Lissette thinks that within another week and a half we should be out for REAL this time. It is also wonderfully reassuring to know that the head of PGN already knows our case and is ready with "pen in hand" to sign off. It was a brilliant strategy on Bernardo's part to make an appointment with both her and the reviewer, since it puts everyone on the same page and prevents any other requirements from popping up at the last minute.
Thanks as always for the unwavering support and prayers! I can see an teeny, tiny little light beginning to shine at the end of the tunnel.
Speaking of prayers, could I ask all our "prayer warriors" to also pray for my two aunts? My Aunt Susan took a fall the other day and broke both her wrist and her foot on the right side. More seriously, my Aunt Rosemary (also my godmother) was diagnosed with oral cancer yesterday. The doctors are optimistic that it is treatable, but she will have to undergo what will surely be a painful surgery and radiation to her tongue. It is one of those flukey things, since she doesn't smoke and obviously doesn't chew tobacco, either. I love both these women so much, so I would appreciate if you could ask God to watch over both of them.
I hope to be able report some SERIOUS progress in the near future. Thanks for hanging in there with us!
Love,
Kathy
Monday, January 12, 2009
Kick in the Teeth #9 or #10 or I lost count...
Hi everyone,
We were expecting great news this week, but it seems that the powers-that-be here in Guatemala have thrown another major roadblock in our way. On December 23, we received word that the Ministerio publico cleared our case to continue. This was great news, because it meant that we could get "unfrozen" within PGN. Since we were already at the final reviewer in PGN, we thought it would be easy and quick to finally get our approval. We had already survived an extensive investigation by the PGN's investigations unit, we had been cleared by a special "legal consultant" inside the PGN, and of course, we now had our magic "golden ticket" in the form of our MP clearance letter. Our case has been investigated backwards, forwards, inside and out, and has been found to be absolutely problem-free.
Apparently, all that is not enough for the final reviwer inside the PGN. Today, he revived an old previo (kick-out) that we had gotten over a year ago -one that we had been told had been forgiven during the PGN investigation. This previo claims that the birth mother is faking her last names, and requires us to submit a copy of her parents' marriage license. What the PGN already knows is that we simply cannot produce this document because it was burned during the civil war here in the 80's. (Back then, the Guatemalan army went around burning down the court houses in the Mayan parts of the country to destroy people's land deeds so they could steal their property for themselves.) Anyway, so even though the head of the investigations unit inside the PGN itself forgave this previo, and even though the MP (equivalent of the FBI) did not question the birth mother's identity, some self-important guy is now making an issue of it.
I have no idea how much time this will add to our process. It could be days, weeks, or months, depending on what the reviewer is willing to accept in lieu of the marriage license. Bernardo already has a collection of substitute documents that may or may not fly with him. Please pray that this reviewer will start thinking reasonably and compassionately and just let us go home already!
I can't even express how depressed I am. These ridiculous people have kept Izzie and me from living with Jaimie for over a year based on completely false and unfounded accusations. This is all the result of a personal vendetta on the part of petty people. I am 100% sure that if we weren't associated with Semillas de amor, that we would have been home a year ago. And now I have to wonder how much longer we have to go on living this way.
Anyway, thanks for checking in. I know you all have been praying very hard for us. I just hope we are all rewarded someday for keeping the faith.
Love,
Kathy
We were expecting great news this week, but it seems that the powers-that-be here in Guatemala have thrown another major roadblock in our way. On December 23, we received word that the Ministerio publico cleared our case to continue. This was great news, because it meant that we could get "unfrozen" within PGN. Since we were already at the final reviewer in PGN, we thought it would be easy and quick to finally get our approval. We had already survived an extensive investigation by the PGN's investigations unit, we had been cleared by a special "legal consultant" inside the PGN, and of course, we now had our magic "golden ticket" in the form of our MP clearance letter. Our case has been investigated backwards, forwards, inside and out, and has been found to be absolutely problem-free.
Apparently, all that is not enough for the final reviwer inside the PGN. Today, he revived an old previo (kick-out) that we had gotten over a year ago -one that we had been told had been forgiven during the PGN investigation. This previo claims that the birth mother is faking her last names, and requires us to submit a copy of her parents' marriage license. What the PGN already knows is that we simply cannot produce this document because it was burned during the civil war here in the 80's. (Back then, the Guatemalan army went around burning down the court houses in the Mayan parts of the country to destroy people's land deeds so they could steal their property for themselves.) Anyway, so even though the head of the investigations unit inside the PGN itself forgave this previo, and even though the MP (equivalent of the FBI) did not question the birth mother's identity, some self-important guy is now making an issue of it.
I have no idea how much time this will add to our process. It could be days, weeks, or months, depending on what the reviewer is willing to accept in lieu of the marriage license. Bernardo already has a collection of substitute documents that may or may not fly with him. Please pray that this reviewer will start thinking reasonably and compassionately and just let us go home already!
I can't even express how depressed I am. These ridiculous people have kept Izzie and me from living with Jaimie for over a year based on completely false and unfounded accusations. This is all the result of a personal vendetta on the part of petty people. I am 100% sure that if we weren't associated with Semillas de amor, that we would have been home a year ago. And now I have to wonder how much longer we have to go on living this way.
Anyway, thanks for checking in. I know you all have been praying very hard for us. I just hope we are all rewarded someday for keeping the faith.
Love,
Kathy
Sunday, January 4, 2009
One Year Ago Today...
One year ago today, we picked up Izzie from the orphanage and we began living together. And what a rollercoaster of a year it has been! Thanks to God and to our awesome lawyer, I have only had to spend two days separated from our precious baby. I thank God every day that I get to live with my beautiful Izzie and I pray that she, Jaimie, and I will all live together soon!
Here are Izzie and Jaimie a few days ago:
And Izzie and me a year ago:
Here are Izzie and Jaimie a few days ago:
And Izzie and me a year ago:
I am hopeful that this first full week of 2009 will bring about progress and the beginning of the end of our stay in Guatemala!
Thanks for checking in!
Kathy
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
