The Gringo Lifestyle

I thought I would post my first update from Antigua! I am here fostering Jessica and we are having a great time. Now I have been here for almost 1 week I can safely say I am far less anxious, already into a good routine (especially at bedtime) and enjoying being a mummy!

At the first part of the week I had Marco to help me get things in order. Now I have my good friend Sarah until Sunday. So from Monday Jessica and I go it alone!

Already she is eating great - she is not a fussy eater at all - and she loves my shepperds pie! She loves the bath and the pool and all the wonderful books we have been given to read. Mostly at this stage she likes to see if she can turn the pages and occassionally she is quite taken with the pictures!

Bedtime has so far been a huge success. She was not used to going to sleep awake - and putting herself to sleep. But now at 7.45pm (ish), after her nightime bottle, bedtime stories, and a quick chat about her day, I lay her in her crib and she happily lays there, sucking her thumb until she is able to fall asleep! This is the biggest acheivement I have made in ages (forget the recent promotion at work - this is HUGE!!). Of course the first night of trying this was hard - I had to literally pace the livingroom coaching myself into not picking her up! But as my sister Vanessa wisely said, it is a parents responsibility to get their baby into bed, but the baby has to learn to put themself to sleep.

I have signed up for Spanish lessons - and had my first 2 hour session. Jessica was great and we spent a lot of the lesson talking in Spanish (using our new words) about Jessica! She was most amused and had fun wiping her biscuit all over the desk!

On Monday I am meeting a couple of other mums at the pool who are also here fostering their babies. It will be the first time I meet them - so hopefully we can strike up a friendship to help us through this journey.

So there you have it - all in all a huge success!

As far as the adoption process is concerned, we are still out of PGN, and waiting for our CNA (central authority) number, like all the other parents in limbo. We hope this will soon resolve itself and we can get back into PGN and finalize the process ASAP. Please pray this will happen soon. As much as it is beautiful here, I can not wait to take our baby home.

Look out for the next post soon!
Lorraine y Jessica xxx

Good news and bad news

The good news...well we are all healthy and God has a plan for us....AND I finally managed to upload our Christmas pictures below!

The bad news...our case got kicked out from PGN.

On January 25th we were kicked out of PGN with 1 previo. Apparently the Barrios did not like our (standard issue) state police clearance letters. They stated that neither of us have any criminal history, were authenticated and all in order and based on fingerprinting we carried out last summer. But for no known reason they decided we need to get new letters. Lord give us patience and strength.

So that means two things - 1. I only have 2 days to sort this out before travelling to Guatemala on Saturday (and tomorrow I am in Minneapolis all day), and 2. we are out of PGN and waiting in limbo to see what will happen next. Despite the fact that the new Central Authority in Guatemala is registering cases, PGN is refusing to accept such cases back. So it is complete shut down and we, along with hundreds of other familes, have no idea when (or if) we will be back in PGN to try once more to complete our journey.

Please please please pray for us. Pray that we can sort out the State Police Clearance letter situation and get our adoption case back on track in PGN soon.

We really need your prayers and support and this time.

In PGN - praying for a smooth journey!

Apologies for taking so long to update the blog, I can offically confirm that our case was submitted to PGN on Dec 21st and registered on Dec 27th!

So now we are hpoing and praying that we are not kicked out of PGN for any previos and have a speedy and uneventful journey through.

Unfortunately due to the new laws that past at the beginning of this year, all new cases to PGN and any case that have to be resubmitted after a kick out, will now not be accepted by PGN until they are registered with the new body in Guat - the Central Authority ("CA"). The problem with that is that the CA is not just formed and there is no date for when it is likely to be formed. This has created delays and huge concerns for so many families and we pray for all of them now. We also of course pray that our case goes through and does not for any reason have to be resubmitted - if it does we join all those familes stuck in limbo.

On a lighter note I booked my flight today for my stay in Guatemala in February. From February 2nd I will be in Guatemala caring for Jessica until we can bring her home. Never again will I have to leave her there. That is such a blessing. I am renting a beautiful apartment and can not wait to have her with me!

Roll on February 2nd!

We got PA!!!!

Thank you God - we received the email notification this morning that we have received Pre-Approval from the US Embassy in Guatemala.

This is a good step forward. Now we need to hear that we are out of Family Court in Guatemala and have entered PGN. If we can speed through PGN we could potentially be out before year end. Let's all pray for that.

So dear Lord we pray for your help to work through all the people responsible for our case in Guatemala, so that they may handle all paperwork quickly and efficiently and do everything in their power to ensure our daughter is able to come home soon.

Praise the Lord for he is good!