Happy together In Guatemala City

After a long day of travel, we arrived in Guatemala City late wednesday night. We found the people to be very kind and eager to be of help. After checking in to the Radisson, we went for a walk to explore our surroundings and get a bite to eat... more on that in the next post. We had a restless night as we anticipated meeting little Joseph Daniel on thursday morning. While enjoying breakfast, we got a phone call from Sue Hedberg explaining that Joseph was sick with a fever and we needed to meet him and his foster mom at Dr. Montiel's office. Anxiously, we hopped in a cab and waited outside the doctor's office. We recognized the foster mom walking towards us with a wrapped bundle of baby... Can't explain in words the feelings! First glimpses and introductions, with much joy of seeing him face to face. He was content to be held by the two of us. The foster mom, Trini, and her grandson, Eric (18 years old), filled us in about his routine and likes/dislikes. They are obviously very loving and told us they consider him part of the family. Eric calls him "hermano". They are evangelical christians and gave us a cute little keepsake with a picture of him and these words: "HELLO MOM AND DAD!! I LOVE YOU SO MUCH. YOU ARE THE ANGELS THAT GOD PUT IN MY WAY TO CARE FOR ME AND LOVE ME. SOON WE WILL BE TOGETHER. GOD BLESS YOU SO MUCH... WITH LOVE... YOUR SON, DANIEL. PSALM 127:3" The long and short of it after seeing the doctor is that he has a cold and a low fever. Also, the doctor felt that we should not travel to Antigua. Disappointed, yet all that matters, is that we are together. He is a little treasure and is doing well!

5/30 – 8:00 Our First meal…

O.K. Guatemalan food is to die for! Why don’t we have an authentic Guatemalan restaurant on every major corner of Chicago? I ordered a “tipico” meal… pork al carbon with a rich sauce, pork sausage, frijoles that were black and like nothing I’d tasted before… almost sweet with a touch of cocoa… chipotle sauce… a fried Guatemalan taco and Sandra had a 2-inch thick beef roast that melted in your mouth... plus the most satisfying beef-stock soup that tasted like magic. Plus, there were a half-dozen large cooked vegetables, half of which I’d never seen or tasted… potato, carrots (recognized these) and a round vegetable that tasted like a zucchini, a large oval one that looked like a peeled potato but tasted nothing like one… an avocado… rice, etc. Topped it off with, get this, a deep fried custard filled pastry with cinnamon on top sitting in a bowl of sugar-water… they split it for us and neither of us finished it, plus black coffee. The place itself was all tile, dark hardwoods and colorful textiles. The people are casual, smiling and helpful. Sandra’s Spanish is terrific, so that is fun. I’m smiling and nodding, understanding much and pretending like I understand it all!

Our First Trip

On May 30th... next week... we will be going down to Guatemala to see Jose Daniel for the first time. We pray for him every day and we have dozens of photos, but now, finally, we will be able to hold this little one who holds so much hope for us. He is our child of hope! Hope, not as in "wish" but as in "promise" ... he holds the promise of so much good to come. Life is beautiful. He has life and we so desperately long to join his life to ours.

Understanding the process...

DNA: This is a US requirement to insure the woman who has made the adoption plan is indeed the mother who gave birth to the baby. Although the birth mom signs off on the adoption 4 times, this is the only time she is required to see her child while the process moved ahead.

Pre-Approval (PA): Again, a US requirement. This is where the US reviews our case and issues PA, this simply means they intend to issue the child a visa to enter the US upon the finalization of our adoption. This process used to take 30 days, but is currently running about 55 days !

Family Court (FC): After the referral the adoptive parents must sign a power of attorney so that the attorney can act on our behalf in Guatemala. Once the POA is registered, the dossier is translated into Spanish and the case enters into Family Court. During the Family Court stage, a social worker is assigned the case. The social worker reviews the dossier, interviews the birth mother, and sees the child. The social worker then writes a several page report summarizing the facts of the case and attesting to the reasons that the birth mother cannot care for her child. FC generally happens simultaneously as DNA and in most cases will exit FC before PA is issued.

Procuraduria General de la Nacion (PGN): PGN is equivalent to our Attorney General's office. A PGN Attorney will look at the documents and can reject them based on notarization, mis-spellings, smudges, cross-outs, etc...These errors also known as "previos" can be in the dossier provided by the adoptive family or the Guatemalan documents provided by the lawyer. If there are any problems, PGN will issue a Kick Out (KO) and request the documents be corrected. One of the requirements to get through PGN is DNA and PA. Often lawyers will submit a case to PGN w/out PA so you will receive a KO, their hope is to also find out what other previo's need to be fixed. You will get KO at least once and sometimes more...some feel this to show that they are scrutinizing our cases other think it is because some PGN Attorneys are against international adoption. Each time you enter PGN you can be in for 6-8 weeks and sometimes longer. Once you exit PGN, the birth mother signs off for the last time, and the child legally becomes yours !
There are a few more steps after PGN before you are able to travel and pick-up your child, they can take up to 4 weeks... we'll get into those steps once we get the call "YOU'RE OUT" !

3-month Doctor's visit

From: Dr. Francisco Montiel (via Sue Hedberg)
To: Keith and Sandra
Date: May 04, 2007 04:38:18 PM CDT
Subject: FW: Jose Daniel Sanchez Ramos

Sent: Friday, May 04, 2007 10:23 AM
Subject: Jose Daniel Sanchez Ramos

Good day!

Today I had the opportunity to see little Jose Daniel for his monthly medical visit, he is now aged 3 months and appears, from what the caregiver shares with me, to have a normal growth and development, he is an alert and active little one who likes to look around, he is more and more alert as the days go by and shows interest in what goes on around him will listen when spoken to and turns to the sound of voices, he is also quite vocal himself making cooing noises of his own and also smiles socially as well cries if disrupted, he is able, when on his stomach, to lift his face briefly from the bed, he now shows voluntary control of his arms and legs and will alternate opening and shutting his hands as well as kicks and pushes with his feet. I am told that he takes well his formula an is also receiving his ordered vitamin supplement. Upon evaluation today I found him in good health with no obvious physical or neurological abnormalities, his weight is 15 lbs 6 oz, length of 57.9 cms and head circumference of 40.6 cms.

He received today his following dose of polio vaccine. Please find some pictures attached.

Best Regards

Francisco