A BUMP IN THE ROAD

We got another update yesterday. It wasn't exactly the news we were hoping for. In my last post I put in parenthesis that I assumed we were out of Family Court. Well, that is not the case. Therefore we have not gone into PGN yet. Basically the social worker in charge of our case in Family Court has not signed off on it yet. The hard part is that we could get out next week, or it could be weeks from now. We are not scheduled to get another update from the agency for the next few weeks so we will not know for awhile what has transpired (if anything). I told Chris that I really thought we were going to be in PGN by now! He lovingly reminded me that I thought David was going to be a girl - so much for my intuition!
On a postive note, we have heard wonderful things about both the attorney that is handling Rebecca's case and the foster mother she is staying with, from other clients at our agency. We'll keep you posted when we hear anything new! STILL hoping for updated pictures!

MORE GOOD NEWS!

We received an email today from the US Embassy in Guatemala granting their pre-approval of our case! Here is the description of that step from the "adoption process" link to your right.
The US Embassy reviews the DNA test results and all supporting documentation. If all documents are in order, the US Embassy/BCIS provides the attorney with the Consentimiento (consent form), which is required before the PGN will authorize the attorney to prepare the final adoption decree.
As long as we have been released from Family Court (which we assume we are, but haven't heard for sure) then our next step is PGN (Procuraduria General de la Nacion – the Guatemalan Attorney General’s office)
PGN REVIEW AND APPROVAL The attorney submits the adoption case file and a petition for approval of the adoption to a notarial** officer of the PGN. A PGN notary reviews all documents in the case file and, at his/her discretion, may independently investigate one or more aspects of the case. PGN may reject the file (issue a previo) any number of times for a wide variety of reasons that range from serious (e.g., irregularities in the birth mother’s or child’s identity documents) to minor (e.g., minor spelling errors, expired notary seals). The attorney for the birth mother and adoptive family corrects the problem and resubmits the case to PGN. Ultimately, the PGN typically concurs with the Family Court’s recommendation and issues its approval for the adoption to proceed.
PGN is the most random part of the process. A great deal depends on how thourough your paperwork is (job of Guatemalan attorney) and which reviewer's desk your file lands on! If you are a pray-er you can pray for our reviewer! Cases can be approved in as little as 11 days or as long as 10 months! The average stay at this step right now is about a month.
We should hear for sure next week whether or not we are in PGN! And we are STILL waiting for updated pictures! Thanks for stopping by!

No new pictures - but NEWS!

We got an update today from our agency. Our case is in Family Court in Guatemala and Rebecca's birthmother had her interview with the social worker on February 23rd. Hopefully our case will be released from Family Court in the next few weeks. We also found out that the DNA testing has been done and that it was a match. We are now awaiting "pre-approval" from the US Embassy. This should also happen in the next few weeks. Our case is moving along at a good pace. We are still expecting that May would be the earliest we would travel to bring her home.
Rebecca turned two months old on Tuesday the 28th. We are very anxious to see new pictures of her and find out how she is growing! I find myself magnetically drawn to the baby girl department of any store I go into! I have picked up a few things - it's so hard to resist! Now I just can't wait to see her in them!