Whaa-whooo! Out of PGN!

I am the Lord, the God of all mankind. Is anything to difficult for me? Jer 32:26

Praise be to God! That is all we can say! Joseph's case is out of PGN. For the last 10 days Sandra and I have been prompted in our spirits to pray. We didn't compare notes until a week ago, but we were both feeling the same thing... God wanted us to ASK - to PRAY - to be before Him in prayer. So we did, continually. And, we called and emailed our family and friends to join us. Several of you told us that you too felt a call to pray and were already praying on our behalf. I was specifically praying, "Lord, I know that you are in control. You have the power to simply move our file into the right hands, to have it approved, and we would be out of PGN tomorrow! Joseph is fatherless, and You are the Father to the fatherless. I want to be his father, Lord, so please, let him come to me. Please do not delay, for his good and for Your Glory!"

Today at 1:30, Sue Hedberg called with the good news, out of PGN without any kick-outs. This is our official approval from the Guatemalan government. This means that we will likely travel to pick him up in one month! Here is what comes next: his birth mother must give her final blessing with a signature, then, they order a new birth certificate made (this takes around 2-weeks); then, the US Embassy issues him a US Passport and requests a final DNA test to ensure that he is the same little boy (any picture will tell you this - this adds 5-6 more days); we then get our "pink slip" and are assigned a date in family court (usually a week away); then we can buy our tickets. At this court date, it is final and we can take him home. We expect this to be around Sept 23rd... our 12th Wedding Anniversary.

You can imagine the reaction when I told Sandra, weeping and praising God. Caleb and Sofia were ecstatic at the news. Our big lesson of the day, God answers prayer. He prompted us to pray in earnest so he could show us his Glory.

Thank you Lord. You have given us immeasurably more than we could ask or imagine, according to your power which is at work within us (Ephesians 3:20)

For His Glory,

Keith (& Sandra & the kids)

the latest from Erick

"Like cold water to the weary soul, so is good news from a distant land." Proverbs 25:25

We felt very refreshed to get news, good news, from foster brother Erick about Joseph Daniel (Danielito). It is such a treasure to get a glimpse of what Joseph is doing in his loving foster home. Spanish readers enjoy:

HOla!!!
esperamos que esten bien...Danielito sigue creciendo muy bien y su cabeza ya esta muchisimo mejor. Ya da vuelta para los dos lados y tambien escoge los juguetes que le gustan.. los que no le gustan los agarra en sus manos y los tira... le gusta mucho una pelotita que yo le di y tambien su tabla de surf. Ya balbucea bastante y parece que le van a salir dientes abajo ... cuando yo llego en la noche y lo estan durmiendo y me escucha llegar se despierta para que lo cargue y si no lo cargo cuando llego se pone a llorar entonces siempre lo cargo. Las fotos ya pronto se las enviare lo que sucede es que la camara digital no es mia entonces tengo que prestarla para poder bajar las fotos y enviarlas. Le gustan mucho pero mucho las pelotas y cuando mira una quiere agarrarla. ya intenta pararse solito en la"cuna" pero todavia no puede. Le gusta mucho la musica y cuando escuhca musica que le gusta empieza a mover sus piernitas como si estuviera bailando. Tambien tiene una "araña" (no se como se dira en ingles pero es donde ellos se pueden mover porque tiene rueditas).. a veces lo colocamos alli y le suta porque se puede mover para donde el quiera... Seguiremos en contacto... DIos los bendiga =

In essence, Joseph rolls and grabs toys. He throws toys he is not fond of and has a special love for balls (future soccer player?!) He seems to be cutting teeth on the bottom and is trying to stand up in his little crib. He loves music and moves his feet to the rhythm. He likes for Eric to hold him when he gets home in the evening.

Thank you, Lord, for this news in a time that had seemed so dry. And thank you to those of you, dear family and friends, who have responded to our last post so lovingly and promised to pray.

This email went out today to those family and friends for whom we had addresses. Many of you responded with kind words, scriptures and promises to pray. Several said they were already feeling the prompt to pray...

Date: August 21, 2007 10:29:13 PM CDT
Subject: request for prayer

Hello family and friends,

We have no news about our status in adopting Joseph Daniel... in fact, it has been 8 weeks since entering the last stage of the process (PGN). Both Keith and I woke up this morning feeling a special urgency to pray. So we wanted to communicate this to those closest to us. Please visit our blog again when you get a chance. Since we started our blog as a way to keep everyone up to date with developments, it seemed appropriate to use it to write down some of my thoughts. Thank you for your support and your prayers.

Love, Sandra

As we wait...

In all the research and reading I have done about adoption, no one has ever said adoption is easy. The first few months of seemingly endless paperwork, fingerprinting, lines at embassies, waiting on hold for government officials, and trips to the Fed Ex office were definitely hard. I looked forward to all this being done so we could get to the "easier" part of getting the nursery ready while we waited for our lawyer to take care of the rest. And yet, all the experienced adoptive parents would say that the waiting is the hardest. I didn't really believe it at the outset, so happy was I to be done with the complicated paper trail. But now I know... they were right. It IS the wait that is the most difficult. The loss of control, the days on end of no news or updates, the realization that each day Joseph is getting older and older without us. Now that we've held him and sang over him and seen his smiles and trusting eyes... it is so hard to wait..

I woke up this morning feeling quite down. Guatemalan adoptions are no longer taking the 4 to 8 months average quoted to us when we first started on this adventure. Many events this year have impacted adoption and now the average is 6 to 12 months. As of just this month, the embassy is requiring a 2nd DNA test after PGN which will add several more weeks to the process. When we started the journey last November, we imagined a little dark haired baby spending the summer with us in Chicago. Now, It seems that things have gotten so difficult, so very difficult. Those thoughts filled me this morning and I started to feel quite down and much less hopeful. So, I was driven to my knees and then driven to search for wisdom from the Bible. It pretty much fell open to the book of Jeremiah, chapter 32. In this chapter God is telling Jeremiah to purchase a field in Israel at just the time when the Chaldeans are about to invade and take over the land. It seems like an almost impossible situation. Jeremiah prays in verse 17, "Ah, Lord God! You made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and Your outstretched arm! Nothing is too difficult for you!" God confirms this in verse 27, "Look, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh; is anything too difficult for me?" I truly believe that God brought these verses and thoughts to me today. I also truly believe that He quietly is urging me to pray and to ask for a miracle... Nothing is too difficult for God. Not the red tape, not the Guatemalan political unrest, not the extra DNA test, not the miles that separate us from Joseph, ... Nothing. So, I (in my more charismatic persona) am asking God in faith to get Joseph through the process. Soon.. Now...! I know God is able to do it. So I am asking. Please join Keith and me and PRAY that his adoption will be completed as soon as possible. Matthew 21:22, Philippians 4:6

6-Month Photos!

It was great to get this update from Dr. Montiel who saw Joseph just after his 6-month birthday. His note was a real encouragement to us. Somehow we never got a copy of his 5-month visit, so we were feeling starved for information. Sandra's Mom, Esther is in town so she was able to see this pictures with us for the first time. Great fun.

Much Love,

Keith & Sandra

Date: August 07, 2007 04:31:17 PM CDT
Subject: FW: Reenviar: Jose Daniel Sanchez Ramos

Hi!

I hope you are doing fine, this morning I had the opportunity to assess little Jose Daniel he is now aged 6 months and ha seen, in the words of his caregiver, been doing, except for about of dairrhoea that has now disappeared completely, well in the time since he was seen for the last time one month ago, he is a bright lad who is now showing interest in
and interacting with all that goes on around him, turns to sound and recognizes the sound of his name turning towards the person who calls him, he is quite vocal himself and will make many cooing and some babbling noises of his own, playing with the pitch and the different
sounds he can produce. He has now mastered rolling over to either side and also tries hard to sit up. Reaches out and grabs things that he will then put into his mouth and "helps"
holding his bottle. I am told that he takes well his formula and diet and 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 19 lbs 13 oz, length of 64.1 cms and head circumference of 42.9 cms. Please find some pictures attached.

Best Regards

Francisco

All is well... at almost 6 months old!

Hey, more news (in Spanish) from Erick... he is so thorough and helpful. We are very grateful for he and Trini's good care for Joseph. We were especially happy to get this as, for some reason, our 5th Month Doctor's report never surfaced. Typically we would have some new photos from this visit, but for now it is a hole in our information. We are simply in PGN and waiting.

Keith

Date:August 02, 2007 12:43:57 PM CDT
To:Keith Hadley
Subject:: saludos

Hola ... les escribimos para contarles que Danielito ha estado un poco enfermo de su estomago pero gracias a Dios ya se esta mejorando, paso varios dias malo pero ahora ya esta bastante mejor. Le gustan mucho los juguetes que le mandaron y se la pasa jugando con ellos todo el tiempo al igual que las cadenas de colores que le mandaron le encantan. Ya se sienta mucho mas y su cabezita ha mejorado considerablemente, ya lucha por darse vuelta para ambos lados pero se le hace mas facil para el lado
izquierdo.

por lo de las fotos he tomado muchas mas pero no las he podido enviar porque la camara digital no es de nosotros entonces estoy esperando a conseguirla nuevamente porque alli estan guardadas para poder enviarselas...hay algunas de el dia de mi cumpleaños con toda la familia y el esta contento con nosotros. le gusta mucho jugar con mis primos que tienen 4 y 7 años...cuando llegan de visita a la casa el rie mucho con ellos es muy feliz.... me alegra que cuando le decimos que ustedes son sus papas y mira la foto se rie....ademas ya nos conoce muy bien a nosotros porque cuando mi abuela le dice "alli viene Erick" el me esta esperando para que lo cargue y lo lleve a mi habitacion para jugar con él.

espero la proxima semana poderles enviar todas las fotos que tenemos de el
(son como 60)

DIos los bendiga.

Erick