A Long Weekend Ahead

Tomorrow morning, Dave and I are headed to our favorite city, Chicago! Although we plan on seeing some of the sites such as the Sears Tower and the Museum of Science and Industry, we also plan on spending a fair amount of time visiting the sites along Michigan Ave. such as Crate & Barrel and the Pottery Barn. I love touring along Michigan Ave!!!!!!!

According to my 'secret source' Lili's birth mom was to be interviewed by the Family Court assigned social worker today. Although our agency thought the interview was going to take place the same day as the DNA testing, that apparently didn't happen and I'm hopeful that it was actually done today. Unfortunately, I won't get an update from our agency again until the end of next week or the beginning of the following week. Assuming it was done, the social worker will have to write a report and hopefully we'll be out of Family Court within a few weeks. As always, I'll keep you posted as soon as I have gotten confirmation that it took place.

Since I won't be blogging for a few more days, I want to wish all my readers a safe and wonderful Labor Day weekend.

Let the Countdown Begin

We received word from our agency this morning that our DNA test results are in and we have a positive match. Now we can officially begin the 60 day countdown to receiving our U.S. Embassy pre-approval. Of course we're still waiting for our case to exit Family Court, but once we have pre-approval and are out of Family Court we enter PGN, which is the last phase before Liliana becomes our daughter legally.

What a wonderful start to a wonderful day!

Also, today my parents celebrate their 47th Wedding anniversary.

Hoping For A Good News Week

It's Sunday, the beginning of a new week and we're hoping this week will bring news of a positive DNA match and that the Social Worker interview was completed. This part of the process can certainly be the longest, so knowing those two things are out of the way would be a big relief.

Everyday, I try to come out and check for any new comments on my blog. I was thrilled to read that there is another local family going through International adoption right now. Our little village is around 1300 (give or take a person or two), so there is not a lot of racial diversity here. Knowing there will be two more children of a different cultural background is very exciting. I hope our families are able to connect soon.

Again, I'm amazed at the number of friends we've made on this journey so far. It seems that every week I'm in communication with another family on a similar journey. Some are local and some are not, but we all share a bond because of our love for children and the countries they come from. One of my new friends is in Guatemala right now picking up her daughter. They are very fortunate to have had the opportunity to adopt this baby girl who is the biological sister of their older daughter. I wish them a safe and wonderful trip.

Some Thursday Humor

If you need a laugh today, click on this Ebay link, notice the item for sale and then scroll down and read the description.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130144061675&ru=http%25

Another Part of the Process Done

I was able to verify that DNA testing was done on Friday, August 17th. It takes 1-2 weeks to get the results of the test and then we can begin our count down for U.S. Embassy pre-approval. Once pre-approval is received, we can move to PGN, which is the Guatemala side of the legal process. We're jumping another hurdle in this process and each hurdle seems to get a little higher as we move forward, but I just keep reminding myself that with each day that passes, we're one day closer to bringing Lili home.

How Cute Can She Possibly Get?!!!!!

I just received updated photos of Lili this morning. She is 3 months old in these pictures and I can't believe how much she's grown and changed over the last month. Her personality is starting to shine through and I become more and more anxious to travel to Guatemala to see her. Our November visit trip can't come soon enough now!!!!!!!

Did you notice that her hair is really starting to fill in now? I'll be able to put all those bows, ribbons, and hair clips to good use.

I'm also sorry to report that I have no new updates on our adoption case. Hopefully we'll have more news by the end of the week. No matter how long the wait though, she'll be worth it.

Another Lili Update

I have new information on Lili from a secret source and I'm thrilled.

As of July 28th she weighed 11 lbs 8 ozs
She likes to watch t.v.
She likes to talk (sounds like she was meant to be part of this family)
She's a very good baby and so cute

I also found out that DNA did not happen today, but Lili is being taken tomorrow to have DNA testing done.

Anytime we get new information, it's a good day.

Here's the Latest Update

I heard from our agency and as of today, DNA testing is schedule for this Thursday, August 16th. Since our case is in Family Court, they are going to try to conduct the social worker interview the same day so Lili's birth mom doesn't have to make another trip into Guatemala City for that. Hopefully I will get confirmation that DNA and the social worker interviews were completed, but probably won't hear anything until next week.

So, while we aren't necessarily any further along in our case, at least we know for sure that our attorney is trying to keep things moving.

Stay tuned for more details to come.

Good Quote and Birthday Wishes

Someone recently shared this quote and I thought it was worth sharing as well. I think it is a very good description of how I feel.

"I see international adoption as a path toward awareness of world issues, as a lens into another world -- the world where the children live. Most of us in suburbia have little firsthand knowledge of how poverty and politics undermine the future for a huge number of the world's children. But through adoption, thousands of American parents contribute a legacy for the future. They take actions they would have not thought of before. They learn about child development, attachment, culture, geography, history and identity. They support and guide their children through the challenges intrinsic to adoption."

I would also like to publicly say "Happy Birthday" to my wonderful husband, Dave. I couldn't ask for a better husband!

Another Weekend Come and Gone

Sadly, I have nothing to report on the adoption front. We are still playing the waiting game on DNA. If I haven't heard anything by the end of the day Monday, I will be contacting our agency to try and get more detailed information on what is happening. Although this stage of the process can take up to 4 months, it will also take an average of 60 days from the time DNA test results are received to get our pre-approval from the U.S. Embassy. Pre-approval is basically the U.S. stating that if Guatemala deems the adoption to be final, then the U.S. will supply Lili with a Visa to come to the U.S. Until we have pre-approval, we can't go through PGN (the Guatemala side of the process). Hopefully I'll have some news to report before the end of the week.

For those of you not living in this part of the country, it's "hot." I don't even want to get in my pool, it's too hot. Despite the heat though, Dave and I met a group of families who have adopted children from Guatemala. Although the group is open to any families adopting from any Latin American country, there is only one family that has adopted from Mexico as well as Guatemala (that I'm aware of). We all met at the Miller Park Zoo in Bloomington, IL. It is not a very big zoo, but it is well kept and very nice. They have a new rain forest exhibit, which I personally liked a lot. We were able to meet a couple more families from the area and very much enjoyed everyone's children. In addition, I was able to try out a couple different strollers. Although it may not seem that exciting for some, having looked at several stroller already, it's difficult to tell how easy they are to push and steer when a child is on board. Sometimes, it takes very little to thrill me and pushing around little ones in strollers yesterday was one of those times for me :-) So, in addition to helping me decide on a stroller, I got in some stroller practice. Thanks Julie and Connie!!!! After a couple hours in the zoo we went next door to the park for a picnic lunch and had a nice visit. In addition to Dave and I making some new friends, some of the kids made new friends as well.

The other highlight of our weekend was getting to visit with some out of state family members. So, it's been a good weekend!

Keep watching for updates this week and let's hope that we get some good news.

It's Wonderful Finding New Friends

When receiving Liliana's referral back in June, we discovered that her foster mom is fostering two babies. I requested information regarding the other family and was informed that I would need to talk to our attorney about putting us in contact with them, but we wouldn't be able to do that until our visit trip. Since I like to take matters into my own hands, (Dave says it's a control issue, but I think I'm just being efficient) I decided to post a note on one of the more popular forums to see if I could find the family myself. Little did I realize I would connect with a family who had the same foster mom when they were adopting their first daughter. It was wonderful to find someone who was able to tell me how well the foster mom cared for her daughter and that she loves and adores all the children in her care. Information like this is priceless and really helps ease my mind.

I had no idea that this journey would not only lead us to a beautiful baby girl, but that it would also bring so many wonderful new friends into our lives. Some I have never met in person, but we share the same love and passion for the children and people of Guatemala. That alone makes us friends for life.

Bad News, Good News

Although I prefer to only post good news, sometimes not so good news surfaces. Since the purpose of my blog is to keep family and friends posted of different things happening in our lives, then I need to post as much as possible.

With that said, we found out Saturday morning that Josh wrecked his car. Although we don't know for sure yet, there is a good chance that his baby is totaled. That of course is the bad news. The good news is that other than an apparent bruised knee, Josh is fine. Not happy, but fine.

The other piece of news for today is that Ryan is most likely going to be moving to a different MARC Center home. I got a call this morning that some of the MARC Center clients were recently able to move into their own MARC Center apartments. That has opened up room in some of their other homes and will enable them to close one of their residential homes. At this time it appears that the home Ryan lives in, will be the one that they will close. While this isn't necessarily good news or bad news, it is news none-the-less. Dave and I will be visitng his future home very soon and working closely with MARC Center on making his transition go as smoothly as possible.

From the World of Weeks, this is Debbie signing off!

Blog Update

Some have told me that they've not been able to make comments to my blog posts without a Google account. I've played around with the settings and hopefully anyone can add comments without a Google account now. So, comment away!!!!

By the way, only positive comments will be allowed :-)

Happy August

I've obviously spent a great deal of time discussing Liliana and our adoption, but we do have other children still at home. Of course they have four-legs and they are as cute as cute can be.

We brought Jada home in Janaury of 2006 at the ripe old age of 9 weeks. She was nothing but a little puff ball. She's now full grown, yet still has some puppy left in her.

Lexie came home in August of 2006 at 11 weeks of age. She wasn't quite as much of a puff ball, but what she didn't have in puff she made up for in personality.

For those who may not recognize the breed, they are Keeshonden. Here are a couple links for those who would like to know more about the Keeshond breed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keeshond
http://www.akc.org/breeds/keeshond/index.cfm

This was a wonderful choice of breed for us. They are great family pets and highly entertaining.

I could go on and on about my precious pups, but eventually writers cramps would take over and then carpal tunnel syndrome would set in. Instead, I'll let you read about them at your leisure and enjoy their pictures.