Happy Birthday - 5 Months Old!

Today, Samantha is five months old. I can hardly believe it! It's been an emotional weekend. Thoughts of her birth mother and the courageous decision she made to give birth to our daughter and relinquish her. We are eternally grateful. Our prayers are with her, hoping and praying that God will send someone across her path who will introduce her to the true Lover of her soul. As our church begins its Hispanic ministry and welcomes a new Hispanic pastor on staff today, we wonder who God will bring across our path and who we might have the awesome opportunity to minister to and share the love of our God. While we may never have the opportunity to share with Samantha's birth mother, we do have the opportunity to share with others every day and maybe be the answer to a prayer someone else has prayed.

Samantha, know that we love you so much already and are doing all we can to bring you home soon. We are counting down the days until we see you in August. We can hardly wait! Happy birthday, princesa.

It's a Match!

We just got the call from Alex, our case manager. DNA is a match! Greater than 99% probability that the woman claiming to be Samantha's birth mother is indeed the birth mother. So we keep moving. The US Embassy now needs to issue a pre-approval (PA) indicating they plan to give a visa to Samantha. They have up to 63 days to do so. Lately, we've seen PAs issued as soon as 45 days. It seems to depend on where you fall in the pile of embassy papers. Let's pray that things keep moving and we don't have to wait that long. We'd love to have PA before our visit in August but we continue to trust His sovereignty and know His timing is perfect. With God, all things are possible!

June Doctor's Visit

Samantha saw the doctor on the 15th. Report is good. She now weighs 12 lb 6 oz and is 63.5 cm long (25 inches). Doctor noted...healthy, good cry, holds head up, heart and lungs normal, has a little bit of a cold. You can tell from the pictures posted below that she isn't feeling too well! For some reason, these pictures were harder for us to see. Maybe because she isn't feeling well, and we long to be there. She's getting good care, we know that; but we want her home! Thanks again for all your support.

DNA Done!!

We got the wonderful news this morning that the DNA test has been done and the lab work is in the US being processed. This is great news! We should have results Tuesday.

We also got the news that all the family court interviews should be done by the end of this week.

There are four times at which the birth mother has to sign stating she still intends to place Samantha for adoption. Initially; at the DNA test; when interviewed for family court; and at the end. It now looks like we've passed three of those.

So, what's next? Once the DNA test is complete, we start counting 63 days from the date of notarization. We expect our PA from the embassy on or before that day. While we're waiting for that, a social worker in Guatemala is writing her report based on all our documents and her interview with the birth mother. Once she completes that report we head to PGN without a PA. Our case is reviewed there. Hopefully, the reviewer will accept all our documents, and then kick us out (KO) because we don't have PA. Then, once we get PA, we get resubmitted to PGN complete.

Thank you for your prayers. We're so excited to hear our DNA is already done. What a great way to start the weekend!!

The Process

Some of you have asked about the DNA testing. Here's the deal. The US requires verification that the woman presenting herself as Samantha's birth mom is in fact the birth mother. To verify this, our attorney makes an appointment at a lab in Guatemala City. Her office notifies Samantha's birth mother of the appointment and she shows up at the appointed place and time(hopefully!). The foster mom will bring Samantha to the same place at the same time. Pictures are taken of Samantha with her birth mother and then DNA samples are taken. The samples are shipped overnight to a lab in North Carolina. It takes about three days to get the results which are emailed to us, faxed to the US Embassy and to our adoption agency. As long as the DNA is a positive match, the adoption can continue. We are not expecting any problems. Once the US Embassy receives the results they have at least 60 days (which they are currently taking full advantage of) to issue a pre-approval of a visa. Those of us in the adoption world call this the PA. Once there is a PA, we can proceed through the Guatemalan court system (PGN). While we can't see the future or anticipate how quickly things will move, we are still hopeful that we will have Samantha home by Thanksgiving. It's a crazy process involving two very bureaucratic governments who don't always see eye-to-eye! So, we wait and trust that El Roi the God who sees is watching over our paperwork and our daughter and knows exactly when she will be home! Thanks again for all your support. It means so much to us!