Tuesday, October 30, 2007

She's All That!

The Amazing Izzie. She really is. My mom and I fell in love with her precious heart. She really is the sweetest, gentlest, loving-est, cutest, beautiful-est, cuddliest, darling-est baby girl ever! Our visit in Guatemala with Mary Isabela was perfect (except of course we had to say goodbye.) She did really well considering she had to stay in a hotel room for three days with two complete strangers... who of course are her mommy and her abuela who love her so so so so much. At first she wasn't sure she wanted us to give her a bottle, and the foster mother (who is great!) was worried Izzie might not drink her bottle. She wouldn't look at me when I gave her the bottle, and would slowly drink it down. By the middle of the second day though she started to trust us, and by the third day all was well. She slept with me in the big bed, after my three unsuccesful attempts the first night to get her to sleep in the crib. Trouble is, I'm so short that I could not lay her down in the crib very easily (this was a very simple hotel crib and the sides did not come down). Three times poor Izzie would be sound asleep in my arms and then I'd go try and lay her in the crib, and it was pretty much gentle, gentle, gentle... then almost a free-fall! the last six inches as I tried desperately to lay her down as softly as I could manage. She'd of course wake up, eyes frantically looking around to find out who rudely awakened her from her slumber, then pucker up her sweet bow of a mouth into a big cry. I told my mom, enough is enough. I'm a veteran co-sleeper (Griffie slept with me for his first few years) and so we pushed the bed up against the wall, took all the big blankets off and she laid next to me and slept so sweetly. I actually loved the opportunity as I think it was a great way for us to bond.
I told my mom that for Izzie, it was probably a bit like a baby spa... three days of two ladies attending to her every want and need, holding her all the time, playing with her, fully focused on her, talking to her. For us it was heaven.

BUT

Leaving her in Guatemala was very, very hard, and it makes the wait now seem even harder. Especially since today I got bad news: we got a previo this week from PGN, which means that our file was kicked out. In our case, it was for a minor technicality. Apparently PGN didn't think the photocopy of the birthmother's birth certificate was dark enough so they kicked the file out. UGH!!! Now our attorneys have to go back to the province where the birthmother is from to get a new (darker) photocopy of the birthmother's birth certificate because it has to be stamped from the powers-that-be in that province. This is on the West coast of Guatemala, so they have to drive several hours to take care of this. Hopefully we will get resubmitted to PGN early next week. Needless to say, this delays our case because typically your case is going to take at least 8 weeks to get through PGN, and every time you get a previo, that 8-week countdown starts over. With the Christmas holidays coming up, it is now very likely that we won't get approval from PGN before the new year. That is not good news.

Please keep us in your prayers.

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Two Days! Too Excited!

I can hardly work. I can't believe in two days I will finally get to meet in person her sweetness. I have a ton of things to do between now and the flight early Friday morning, but the only stuff I want to do is that which is related to our trip to see Izzie. Writing stories about RFID is very challenging at the moment.

Of course I have the typical angst of leaving my precious Griffin, and every time I think about leaving him tears well up in my eyes. I am such a wuss. But I love him to the moon and back and around the world a million, million, million, million times, and more than that even! I wish he could come with me and my mom, but he (and my dad and mom) will make the trip to bring Izzie home, hopefully in December.

Please keep us in your prayers that we have a safe journey, and that the ongoing adoption crisis in Guatemala resolves, and that Izzie and the thousands of other babies can join their forever families.

Adios. I'll post new pics when we return.

Tuesday, October 09, 2007

The Final Review

I've gotten word that our file is now in the hands of PGN, the Procuraduria General de la Nacion. PGN is the Guatemalan agency that will review all the paperwork on me, Izzie, and her birth mother (we've already been reviewed by the U.S. Embassy in Guatemala, and the Guatemalan Family Court). Word is that PGN is averaging about two months, if you have no kickouts (the so-called previos). Those are given when the PGN reviwer doesn't like something he or she sees in the file. If there's a kickout, the attorneys have to fix the issue, the resubmit the file, where it starts again at the beginning of the queue. And the average two-month clock starts ticking again.

So, our file was submitted on Oct. 5. Two months from now will be Dec. 5 -- my birthday. What a grand birthday present it would be to receive PGN approval. Of course, I'd love to get an early birthday present!

In the near-term, my mother and I are headed to meet Izzie in less than two weeks!

Peace,
Beth

Monday, October 01, 2007

Time

Really, where does the time go? Griffin started kindergarten the last week of August, and it has been unbelievably non-stop busy since.

He has homework every night. He is learning so quickly. He walks around the house all the time talking about letters and letter sounds and words and numbers and shapes. He loves it.


Izzie's adoption continues to move along, and we continue to receive new pics, new videos, and doctor reports. She is amazing and beautiful and precious. She is five months old now. On Sept. 24, we got pre-approval (PA) from the U.S. government, which basically is their approval that we can adopt this specific bundle of love... Mary Isabela. Now, we will wait for the Guatemalan government to give us approval.

But back to time. Apparently now, time is running out. Guatemalan President Berger is threatening to make changes to the adoption process, to take effect Jan. 1, 2008, that could very will put a stop to all adoptions between Guatemala and the U.S., including ours. It is unbelievably scary. Forces are at work to try and change this. There are many fighting the cause. Because if Berger has his way, thousands of children, including Izzie, would end up in limbo because they have already been relinquished by their birth parents and are waiting to join their forever families. And the Guatemalan government has no money or resources to care for these children. And thousands more will never have the opportunity to find forever families if adoptions shut down. It is indeed very tragic, both for us personally and for humanity. Please pray, or chant, or yell, or meditate, or dance, or whatever method you choose to help prevent this from happening. And if you can, go to these two links and do some more:

Petition

Guatemala 5000 Initiative

Finally, I'll leave you with a sweet Izzie smile.


Peace,
Beth