6 Months

Well, Samantha is now 6 months old. We got a new medical today. Doctor's report is good. She now weighs 13 pounds 8 ounces and is 64.5 centimeters (25.39 inches). Doctor notes that Samantha has a little clear snot occuring (I'm sure she'll love me for posting that!), explores everything, and takes objects to mouth. We can hardly believe that we'll be seeing her in just one week! For those of you who don't know (or have forgotten), we head to Guatemala August 1st. Samantha will be delivered to us on August 2nd at 10AM. We head out to La Antigua to stay until Sunday. Sunday afternoon we return to Guatemala City and fly home on Monday.

We have been truly amazed at the people God has put in our path who will be assisting us on our journey. By no coincidence, our Pastor is friends with several people in Guatemala who have generously agreed to be available to us while we're there. We are looking forward to meeting each of them.

We believe we'll be taking a laptop with us. If this is the case, we'll most likely be able to update our blog while in country. So, stop by and see what we're up to.

Specific prayer requests for our journey are posted in the margin. Thank you for partnering with us in prayer.

Blessings,
Amy

PS -- You can view the other new pictures in the slide show at the bottom of the page!

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!!