We Need Prayers Please

Since last Thursday Mike and I learned that our case is still in family court. We learned this after being told that our case had moved on to the judicial process and then PGN, all of which were not true. It turns out we have been stuck in family court since MAY 17. The social worker on our case would not release it. Family court usually takes a normal case 35 days to complete and our case has been in there 4 1/2 months. After discussing this new information with our agency we have since been released and are now waiting to be submitted to PGN. This is scheduled to happen either Friday or next Monday, but Mike will travel to meet with our agency on Thursday to find out why it can’t be submitted any sooner. I can assure you as soon as I hear we are submitted I will be calling PGN myself to verify.

Please understand this recent development is not something Mike and I wish to discuss. Right now we have to focus on getting Ella's case out of PGN and her birth certificate issued before December 31st. Time is currently working against our case and Mike and I are trying to be positive in a very negative situation. Please pray for our case to move through PGN quickly and for her new birth certificate to be issued quickly as well.

Today Guatemala Congress passed the Ortega Law which currently will not honor pending adoptions. Next Tuesday they will discuss adding a grandfather amendment for pending cases to this law. Please pray they add this amendment to honor pending cases.

New Pictures

New pictures are on the website. Ella is 7 months and 9 days old. She is 16 lbs and 4 ozs.
I think she is a little sleepy. What do you think?

She absolutely adorable!

Today I had a Wonderful Baby Shower

Today I had a wonderful baby shower given by Shawn, Carri, Angie and Sara. They all did an awesome job planning the whole thing. Thank you girls.

Thank you to all of the ladies who attended. I know some of you drove from as far away as Atlanta and Asheville.It meant alot to have all of you there. Mike and I are very fortunate to have each of you as a part of our life.

We received a lot of good stuff today. Attached you see some of the goodies we received. Now the only thing missing is Ella.

PGN Like it or Not

I wanted to give everyone an update on our case. Apparently, international adoptions have been all over the newspapers in Guatemala. The newspapers there tend to read like the Enquirer here. Our attorney has decided to put all cases back in PGN. It continues to be legal to get Judicial Approval, however, because the judges are getting so much harrassment from everyone including the press they are afraid to issue approvals. Our attorney said that everyone can rest well that our case went back to PGN on Sept 14th (Last Friday) that had been sent for Judicial Approval.

Please pray for all of the families that are going from the judical process now to PGN with us. Now our file has made no prgress in the last 4 weeks because of this change so please pray that we can get in and out of PGN quickly.

Right now the average time in PGN is about 8 weeks so I will start a counter on the home page.

Prayer Requests

Just wanted to give an update. Our case should be going before the judge next week for approval. I ask that you pray this does take place next week and that the judge does approve our case.
At this point our agency is still hopeful that we can bring Ella home this year. However, even the slightest delay could mean early 2008.

Please keep our the following adopting families in your prayers as well:
The Gower Family is waiting for travel approval to pick up Reagan. (Should be traveling in the next couple of weeks)
The Austin Family is waiting for judicial approval for Gabriella (This is Ella's foster sister)
The Gosney Family is also waiting for judicial approval for Jeremiah.
The Brinkman Family who wait for a referral from China.
The Starr Family who is waiting for family court approval for Madalynn.

Video

I have posted a video so please log on to our website to view. I have been meaning to post this for a while now. This was right before the first diaper change on our visit trip to Guatemala. Please make sure your volume is on. I hope you enjoy!

On to our next hurdle

We were told Tuesday night we were submitted last week to PGN. So yesterday I decided to call PGN and just check on our file. I have an idea of how long each of the 3 reviewers will have the file on their desk. So I called and spoke with a very nice lady who speaks great english and she searches under Marleny (Ells'a birth given first name)and doesn't find us then by Cucul (her birth last name). Long story short they have no record of us.

Tonight I finally got confirmation that our file was submitted for judicial approval. This is instead of going through PGN like most cases. A judge will review and rule on our case. The case is then presented to PGN in which they have an opportunity to nullify the case only but for good reason within 3 days. From what I understand this process is taking about 7 weeks.

Please pray this is a smooth and quick process. Our agency has not experienced many cases taking this route but we all trust our attorney and the decision he made for our case.

Here are pictures from Ella 6 month check up. She is 14 lbs 10 ozs and 24.41 inches long.
Her foster mom did email us yesterday to let us know Ella is doing great. It was nice to hear from her since we did not get her 5 month update.

What is in the world is up with her hair?

We have PreApproval!!!

After 62 long days we now have approval from the US Embassy to adopt Ella. Now our attorney will pick up the pre-approval from the US Embassy and submit us to the final step which is the PGN hopefully in the next week or so. PGN is very unpredictable and yourfile can be kicked out for any reason. This step can be as quick as 10 days or as long as several months.

Please continue to pray for our adoption that our stay in PGN is a short one and for Ella.

Our first Baby Shower

Last night our bible study gave us a couple’s baby shower. Check out Mike's Daddy Diaper Tool belt. We also played a Guatemala Trivia Game and Baby Pictionary. Unfortunately Mary our good friend adopting from China who did a good bit of the planning was visiting a sick uncle and was unable to attend. Her husband DeWayne did a great job in her absence. Greshen, Melissa, Janae and Michelle also helped and all their hard work is much appreciated. It was a great time and we were joined by great company. Mike and I are very fortunate to be part of a great bible study. Thank you!