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Tuesday, October 30, 2007

The call...

Today was another test in patience. After clicking the "refresh" button over & over to see if there were any "outs" posted on the net & talking to David who was no help with me being patient! (love ya hon) David told me to call PGN...atleast we'll know something, even if it is bad. So, I go tearing through the livingroom again searching for the paper with PGNs # on it, when my cell phone rings. Me: "hello" Caller: "Jodie, this is Sandy with DeC (adoption agency)." Me: "Hi." DeC: "How are you today?" Me: Okay. DeC: Well, your day just got even better, because your daughter is coming home!! Me: "LOL!! Are you SERIOUS?!" Could not stop laughing & crying!! I'm so glad that I got this call. I've been on cloud nine ever since & I don't think I'll be coming down for awhile. I also just got back from the airport where I got to see my friend Amanda & her husband Jeff walk through the terminal entrance holding their daughter Bella. What a great moment. & I got to know that it will soon be me & David walking through those doors with Corynn in our arms!!!

We are OUT of PGN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We are out!! We are out!!!We are out!!!! We are out!!! We are out!!! We are out!! We are out!!!We are out!!!! We are out!!! We are out!!! We are out!! We are out!!!We are out!!!! We are out!!! We are out!!! We are out!! We are out!!!We are out!!!! We are out!!! We are out!!! We are out!! We are out!!!We are out!!!! We are out!!! We are out!!! We are out!! We are out!!!We are out!!!! We are out!!! We are out!!! We are out!! We are out!!!We are out!!!! We are out!!! We are out!!! We are out!! We are out!!!We are out!!!! We are out!!! We are out!!!
My agency just called me!!!!! I'll post the whole story tonight!!!!

Monday, October 29, 2007

Do you believe in signs?

I do. When I was praying about starting this adoption I asked God for a sign. He gave me one in the form of a ladybug. You see if I ever had a daughter I wanted to do her room in ladybugs, & when I was praying for this sign & researching adoption on the net I found a book called "Little Miss Ladybug", about a ladybug that gets an orphaned baby girl from a foreign country & brings her to her forever family. After finding that book I saw ladybugs everywhere...real & not real. That was my sign.
Today has been a difficult day in patience for me. Something or Someone has been telling me not to call PGN...to be patient. So reading about all of the PGN outs, kickouts, & being on Barrios desk that are on the adoption boards has been difficult..at one point I was tearing through my livingroom trying to find the paper that I wrote PGN's phone # & our case # on...didn't find it. I finally sat down, took a deep breath & told myself this is part of my test in patience. So I went to the kitchen to finish cooking dinner when my younger son Cam walked up & said, "mom, there's a ladybug on your shoulder." There was a real ladybug sitting on my shoulder. I believe in signs :) Please continue to pray that we hear good news soon, & that Corynn will be home with us very soon.

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Good news good news good news!!!

Looks like I may need to donate more blood! (see previous post)

from guatadopt.com)

Guatemala Adoption Information and News

October 17, 2007
Grandfathering in cases....the intent is "official"
President Berger publicly confirmed the intent to grandfather
current cases (I assume this means the 3700 cases that are
REGISTERED). The Guatemalan press reported this with a statement by
Berger:

"I have never said that I want to stop adoptions. What my government
wants is full respect for the legislation that is about to be
approved and full compliance with the Hague (Convention)" . The
Guatemalan Press also reported the following:

Congressman Rolando Morales, one of the proponents of the new
legislation, said that the intention with the pending adoptions is a
full review to verify the identity of the woman that is
relinquishing the rights on the child, that she is the natural
mother, and that the child is given for adoption without coercion,
and verify that the child was not abducted (stolen babies). Morales
also mentioned that the final version of the new Adoption Law which
will be published in the following weeks will not affect the almost
3,700 processes in the pipeline.

These changes (even if they delay the process a few days) are in the
best interest of everyone in the process, specifically our main
concern, the children.

From Guatadopt:
As we have said before, we believe that the instability of the
situation and the new law (where the ammendments are still unclear),
prompted the Department of State (US) to issue strong warnings.

From our discussions with Guatemalan officials, we are reassured
that they are supporting the good faith agreements made with
adoptive families.

While legally this is good news, we hold fast that starting the
process at this time is risky. In our opinion, there is an increase
in unethical practices in order to get an adoption started
and "grandfathered". Obviously, these are limited to the
unscrupulous providers that have soured adoptions worldwide. We do
not know to what extent that further investigations will impact the
timelines. While we support the need for these investigations, we
hope that the implementation will be appropriate and reasonable.

As a side note: The Guatemalan Embassy has been bombarded with calls
and emails. Guatadopt.com would like to request that you ease up a
bit. They need to do their jobs as well.

We will update as we know more.

Still in...

So I called PGN today..6 weeks down & still in....praying that the next time I call in 2 weeks they will say we're done with PGN.
In other news, Joint Council amended their post from Monday to add this statement from President Berger
http://www.jcics.org/Berger%20Statement.pdf
some okay, some bad I guess.
Now I'm off to donate blood...yes, I did bargain that if there was good news today I would do a good deed.

Edited to add:
Roseann tagged me...thanks Roseann ;)-

JOBS I HAVE HAD
Pet Shop
Retail
Secretary
Nurse Tech
Nurse

PLACES I'VE LIVED
Louisiana

FOODS I LOVE
Chinese, Sushi, Greek, Chinese :)

PLACES THAT I WOULD RATHER BE:
On a flight back to the US with my daughter

TV SHOWS I WATCH
Grey's Anatomy
Biggest Loser
Ugly Betty

BOOKS I LOVE
"Something Borrowed" "Something Blue"

I AM TAGGING
Courtney

Monday, October 15, 2007

Joint Council update

Joint Council has posted a new update http://www.jcics.org/Guatemala_5000_Update.pdf
& it looks like the president of Guatemala is still against allowing in process adoptions to continue. The amendment to the Ortega law, which was supposed to be read last Tuesday was postponed, we thought until November, but it looks like it may happen as early as this Friday. Please continue to keep us in your thoughts & prayers, & I will continue to update my blog as we get information. I still believe she will be home soon.

Thursday, October 4, 2007

The good with the bad...

Corynn is 9 months old today :) Happy 9 months!
My bit of good news is that I called PGN yesterday; we have been in for 4 weeks & we are still in & are still with the 2nd reviewer...praying we continue on with no kick outs. (For those of you just joining us :) A kick out would put my paperwork right back at the beginning of the whole PGN 8 to 12 week process...not good!)
and the bad..

The Ortego Law was approved yesterday in Guatemala and that is NOT a good thing. On Tuesday, October 9th, there will be the 4th and final reading. At this time, they will decide what amendments are going to be allowed for current adoptions. Here is an explanation that I found on my friend Amanda's blog who found it on her friend Krystal's blog:

"The Guatemalan Congress has passed the Ortega Law. Birthmothers currently have the right to relinquish their child for adoption, to know who will care for the child during the process, and to know that the child is going to America. This law takes those rights away. Also, unless an amendment is passed, this law says that our adoption is now null and void. This law also says that the home in which Corynn is currently receiving care, will no longer receive any funding from adoptions --it is currently 100% funded by adoption fees. The law provides no place for them or the thousands of children in this situation to go. The implementation date has not been set, but it could be as soon as 30 days. There is still hope for the amendment, that the Children's Committee is working on, to allow our adoption to be processed under the law in which it was initiated, but this is a huge knock against us and other in-process families."

Right now I'm trying very hard to stay positive...most of the time it's difficult to do. I just can not fathom not having Corynn home with us ever. I'm okay not having her home by Christmas like I originally hoped...I'm even okay not having her home until the middle of next year!! I'm not okay with the possibility that we may never see her again.
To all my readers, please please keep every family that is waiting to bring their child home from Guatemala in your thoughts & prayers. This is a very scary time for all of us. We may not have given physical birth to these children, but I assure you, we have been in labor for a long time. We have held these precious children, fed them, taken care of them... fallen head-over-heels in love with them, and then had to leave them to continue on with our daily lives here, with our only comfort being that they would be with us again soon. They are our children, and it is just too hard to go down without a fight.

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

Please take time to read & sign

I've been waiting to post this until David & I were able to talk our parents about what is going on in Guatemala right now. Please take the time to read the info that the US Department of State has posted & then take a minute to sign the petition. There is a very real possibility that our adoption will not be completed by the end of the year & this will effect us & the thousands of other children/parents waiting. Thank you so much for your thoughts & prayers



Department of State Warning:
http://travel.state.gov/family/adoption/intercountry/intercountry_3825.html

Petition:
http://www.petitiononline.com/foafoa1/petition.html

**bangs head on wall** I can't get them to link...please type the address in :) thanks