Guatemala Adoption 2006

Pictures

noreply@blogger.com (A. Pratt) — Fri, 12 Jan 2007 04:44:00 +0000

Well we feel like two busy parents because we haven't even blogged yet in the new year. We'll post some pictures here and then do a wrap-up post, then it is curtains for the ol' blog. It has sure been fun. Henry is a joy to have at home and has plenty of smiles for everyone. His two cousins from next door love to come over and see him. Tomorrow is his 6-month birthday! He has a pediatrician appointment for that on Monday. He spends some time each day learning to go on his tummy, to grab toys, to sit up, and to talk. We are also pleased to report that he likes baths now, after a rocky start. What a blessing he is. He doesn't sleep 100% through the night yet but is getting there. We'll keep working on it!

Reflections on Guatemala, Part III

noreply@blogger.com (A. Pratt) — Thu, 28 Dec 2006 20:04:00 +0000

Wow, by now we have had Henry in the U.S. for almost 3 weeks; I thought I would have more time to post since then but most assuredly I have not! I also do not have my home computer available so pictures will have to wait! I'll make a few posts into January 2007 for that purpose.

Thursday, December 7

Not much happened on this day, besides the fact that Henry was getting gradually better. We fed him Pedialyte almost exclusively so the roto-virus could completely run through his system. Earlier in the week we had pegged this day as a good day to take a shuttle to market to buy some souvenirs, but we reluctantly held off because of Henry's virus. So it was another windy day walking Henry around the halls and outside, and trying to coax him to sleep. I tried to get on a flight out of Guatemala City much earlier for the next day, but those darn fees to change flights add up, and we didn't want to risk going standby. Although what we saw of the country was fantastic, we just couldn't wait to get out of Guatemala! We will go back of course!

Friday, December 8

Well this was the day we were all waiting for, the travel home. Henry slept fairly well the night before and the morning saw us rushing to pack our things. I brought breakfast back to our room (I had done that every day since Tuesday because we were really unable to leave our room), we scarfed that, and then took off to the hotel gift shop to buy some souvenirs. The gift shop had some good stuff, although we probably would have preferred going to a market, and we purchased a Christmas stocking, Mayan hooded sweatshirt, wallet, hat, small Guatemalan flag, etc. Oh yeah, and some M&M's. We herded all of our luggage (4 bags to check and 2 carry-on backpacks, the most ever!) to the lobby to await the hotel shuttle at 11am. We boarded the shuttle at that time but had to wait for 30 additional minutes. I think some guy who was supposed to be on the shuttle was instead in the bathroom! We finally pushed away, and I noticed Henry was seeming to intently listen to the Spanish conversations on the bus. I think he likes the sound of the Spanish language (too bad we only know un poco).

I tried to take in the surroundings on the ride to the airport. For most of the trip, Guatemala looked like any foreign city with its shops and markets, and even a few American-style chain stores thrown in. But in our last turn towards the airport, I saw a hillside full of shanty houses with tin for roofs and mud for floors. It was pretty eye-opening. We finally made it inside the airport and began our ride home. There was plenty of security to pass through, as well as a cumbersome airport tax to pay, but we finally made it to our gate. We stopped to ask an aiport worker if there was a bathroom we could use, but she replied that there are no bathrooms in the airport past the security checkpoint! Are you kidding me?! My son had a full diaper, and I'm not proud of this, but we set him on a pad on the airport floor to rectify the situation. What else could we do?

Erin bought a few more things at an airport gift shop with the remaining quetzales that we had and before you knew it we were on the flight. We sat next to an older Guatemalan lady who spoke no English. We also saw 3 to 4 other adoptive parents with their children on board. Our strategy was to stand up in the aisle and hold Henry facing out from us as much as we could, and that worked for a while. Then, he fell asleep in my arms for a good portion of the flight, even allowing Erin to watch the in-flight movie for a while (The Devil Wears Prada)! Henry was great until the end of the flight, when he understandably got a little restless, and then his ears were hurting upon landing. As soon as he got off the plane, he was great again.

The problem was going through customs. We asked three different people whether we should go through the "U.S. Citizen" line or the "Visitors" line. The "Visitors" line was about twice as long, but all three people told us to go through that line. It took about an hour to get to the front and Henry was getting upset, when another airport worker told us that we should have been in the other line! Luckily we went to the front of the line and passed through customs in a few minutes, but then we had to go to an auxilury waiting room to process Henry's visa. Henry promptly fell asleep. After exiting this room we had to reclaim our luggage (which was sitting off to the side after our long customs wait) and re-check it at another location (of course my suitcase popped open at this point). I told the baggage handler that I just might relocate to Houston after all of this commotion. After re-checking our bags, Henry had both a monstrous diaper and a monstrous appetite. We met both of those needs and got on the train to our gate. All in all, we had a 2.5 hour layover in Houston but got to our gate 10 minutes before boarding because of all of the delays. We had just about had it!

The flight to the Twin Cities was a little rougher for Henry because he was so tired, but he did fall asleep for a while (and Daddy absent-mindedly spilled crumbs all over the top of Henry's head while eating a sandwich). About an hour before landing, a woman behind me loudly asked me what time it was, and that set Henry off. Needless to say, we were quite happy to be landing in the land of snow!

The best part was when we exited the plane. We excitedly and hurriedly rushed down to baggage claim and as we came down the escalator, we saw 10 of our family members waiting to meet Henry! Henry was awake and a charmer, as he loved the attention. Almost everybody took a turn holding him. I could just feel a great weight being lifted off of my shoulders by the simple fact that we were home, and now others could watch him, if only for a few minutes! We took advantage of that fact quite a bit over the next few weeks!

We drove away from the airport and the next day went up to Duluth as a newly constituted family (dog and all). The next week was good for both of us to bond to Henry, and we got plenty of help as family and friends took care of all of our meals for that week. I had to go back to work the next week, which was pretty difficult, but now we are trying to get Henry into an eating, nap, and bedtime routine. Christmas festivities interfered in that process, and New Year's will too, but that's more than okay. We are seeing Henry integrate into our house and family more and more each day, and we are seeing those gummy smiles even more frequently! It is interesting, when other people hold Henry in front of us, I think his eyes lock on to one of his parents, as if knowing who we are already to him. I could write an entirely new blog on the growing pains of the transition (and the overwhelming feeling of suddenly being responsible for a 5-month-old infant), but it has all been worth it. Looking forward to 2007, I can envision Henry being even more immersed into our family and growing into his childhood. We certainly look forward to that while at the same time cherishing today's moments.

Again, I hope to post some more pictures soon. Thanks for reading.

Reflections on Guatemala, Part II

noreply@blogger.com (A. Pratt) — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 23:30:00 +0000

Tuesday, December 5

Well, as was posted before on our blog, this day was perhaps the toughest day of our lives. After a nice morning, in which Henry was letting us hold him and was even cooing, he took a turn for the worse around 9:30 or so and began crying hysterically. It was like he was in real pain. If you ever have had a child scream like this and not know what is wrong with him, it puts you in real pain too. The hard part for us was that we had just met Henry and we didn't really know about his likes/dislikes and moods! We were a little worried that Henry just didn't like us! The only thing that pacified Henry's screams was walking him around the hotel grounds, either strapped to our bodies or in a stroller. We went for many long walks this day. However, we were so upset at what was happening--our lunch and dinner consisted of a few Twizzlers and Goldfish pretzels--that at 9pm finally we asked the hotel to call in a doctor to see what was wrong. He checked Henry over and felt "gasses" in his stomach. He gave Henry some anti-colic pills and amazingly he calmed down within seconds. He was back to smiling and cooing again, almost like he was a different child! He went to sleep well that night, as did his parents, thinking the worst was past. Boy were we wrong.

Wednesday, December 6

What a wild day this was! It began very early, with our attorney Ivanna picking us up at the hotel at 6:20am, to go to the U.S. Embassy downtown. Henry had been sleeping beautifully that night and we were very hesitant to wake him up. He remained in a good mood on the drive into the Embassy, much to our delight. Once we pulled up to the Embassy, we could see mobs of Guatemalan people waiting in line to get into the building. It appeared that many people had been waiting for hours, as they were sitting in their places on cushions and were drinking coffee and eating snacks. Presumably they were all trying to get into the Embassy to get travel visas, although I don't know for sure. Luckily for us, we had a pre-arranged appointment to get Henry's visa. We met a handful of other adoptive parents in line who were very excited as well. Henry, amazingly, was sleeping. Because we had a pre-arranged appointment to get our travel visa, we went to the front of the line and after a few minutes went through security and through the front door, to another waiting area. We probably waited there for an hour and a half, of which Henry was doing great for probably 1 hour and 23 minutes, then he had had enough. An Embassy employee called us to a window where she went over our final documents and told us that Henry's visa would be available the next day. That was it! Someone from our agency drove us back to the hotel, and Henry fell asleep in the car. Then the fireworks began.

After Henry woke up he again was inconsolable. He wasn't eating and he had dirahea. His "happy drops" that worked the night before weren't working, so we broke down and called our attorney's office. She called back quickly and told us that she had made a doctor's appointment for us at an office they use downtown, and that her husband Francisco would drive us there. Soon he was at the lobby and away we went.

When we got to the doctor's waiting room Henry just erupted. Nothing could calm him down whatsoever. It was heartbreaking to hold his little body against us and pray that he would be all right, while watching other people in the office shoot concerned glances in our direction. After what seemed like hours we finally got called back to an exam room, where we met a nice doctor who spoke perfect English. He examined Henry and then ordered a stool sample (I'll spare you the details of how the sample was procured). After the sample was extracted Henry, who had been crying so loud my ears hurt, fell asleep on the table. Apparently some stress had been released from his body! We waited a while for the results of the test which came back positive for roto-virus! The doctor explained that the virus made Henry lactose intolerant to his formula; for the past few days we had been forcing formula down him to try and get him nourished, and as it turns out that was exactly the wrong thing to do! The doctor told us to get soy formula and something called Pedialyte for hydration.

We left the doctor's office around 6 (Francisco paid for the appointment, what a nice man he is!) and took off for a pharmacy. Traffic was heavy but we finally found a store. Henry was having trouble in the car so Erin asked if she could stay with him while we went into the store. Francisco nicely replied that we could not do that, and we passed by an armed guard at the front of the pharmacy. You have to be careful in Guatemala City. Francisco paid for the items (again, how nice!) and drove us back to the hotel. At that point he had been with us for over 4 hours driving us around the city and waiting for us at our appointment. His cell phone was ringing constantly so we could tell how busy he was, yet he always had time for us. We could never repay him fully for how much he helped us this day.

It was a windy night as we were on our way back to our hotel room when we passed by a lady, who remarked on how cute Henry was but also the fact that he was not covered from head to toe in a warm blanket (his legs were dangling uncovered). She said that while we could maybe carry him like that in the United States, that is not how things are done in Guatemala. She was nice about it, but after the day we had just had, we were not in the mood to be culturally educated. We just wanted to get our crying son to the room. I don't really remember what happened for the rest of the night, but odds are that we were up and walking him around, trying to soothe him, for most of the evening. I kept thinking, in 48 hours we'll be home.

We have cute pictures to post of Henry enjoying some toys at home but right now I have no way of posting them. Look for those soon!

Reflections on Guatemala

noreply@blogger.com (A. Pratt) — Thu, 14 Dec 2006 22:13:00 +0000

This could end up being a long post, but I wanted to put some thoughts down before I forget them. As this blog is named "Guatemala Adoption 2006," it is only fitting that its existence will end with the end of 2006, so I better get started.

Sunday, December 3

On this day we left the cold Twin Cities and flew south. The thought that stays with me on this day is that, on the countless flights I have taken in my life, I usually follow a set routine: Bring stacks and stacks of periodicals on the flight and, if there is a layover, find some chinese food to eat. On this day, as I was digesting my sesame chicken and cracking open a Sports Illustrated in Houston, waiting for my connecting flight into GC, it occurred to me that hey, this is it. This is the last time I can follow my plane "routine" for a very long while. From now on, beginning on the flight home, I'm not living for just myself anymore. I will have to subordinate my needs and wants to someone else's, who is much more vulnerable than me. The thought was pretty compelling to me, at least it was before I read an interesting article about predicitions for the upcoming college basketball season.

We arrived at GC at 10pm or so and had to wait over 30 minutes for our luggage, as ours were the last suitcases placed on the line, which was a little nervewracking. Now we were at a nervous point in the trip: we had read on other websites that leaving the GC airport would be a challenge, as there would be masses of people converging in on you, wanting to help you with your suitcases, or call a taxi, all for a couple of bucks in return. There was also the great potential for mischief. We weren't sure if our hotel shuttle would be waiting for us as we manuvered through the airport's construction. Sure enough, the shuttle driver was there, as well as a few kids who pried our suitcases out of our hands. We gave them a few dollars and moved on. That wasn't too hard.

We then arrived at our hotel, what with its waterfalls and plush grounds looked more like a resort in the darkness. We nervously watched Spanish ESPN and eventually fell asleep, looking forward to the next day's events.

Monday, December 4

We had never heard from our agency when we were to meet Henry on Monday. We both figured it would be around noon time or so, and we nervously got ready for that moment (sleep had been okay the night before probably because we were so exhausted). Noon came and went. I finally broke down and called Ivanna, the attorney who was working on our case down there. Her office said that Henry would be brought over around 4pm. Given some time, we decided to take a taxi to do some shopping. It was a short drive to a shopping complex that looked a little bit like Southdale, or the Galleria in Edina! There was a Wal-Mart type grocery store where we got some snacks and bottled water, then an American-style mall where we picked up some knick-knacks and a book. What a weird experience to shop in that environment just a few hours before we were to meet our son! This is a picture of Andy waiting outside the "Wal-Mart" for our taxi driver to bring us back to the hotel.

We got back and wasted some more time waiting for Henry. Then, at 4:00, Ivanna called our room and said that Henry would be coming around 6pm! Two more nervous hours to withstand! As I remember, we watched a really stupid MTV dating show, and Jeopardy. 6pm finally rolled around and we decided to wait for Henry in the hotel lobby. Seems that there was a large dinner party entering the hotel, as well as a bus tour of some sort, so there were many people mingling about. We took a seat and tried to stare past all of these people but we just couldn't see anything! It was really crazy. FINALLY, at 6:30, a nice car pulled up, and we just had a feeling it was him. Once we saw a middle-aged woman get up with a bundle in a blanket, we knew it was time.

We didn't actually get a good luck at Henry until we got back to the hotel room. Words cannot really express what we felt and what we saw, you've seen the pictures. It was interesting because his foster mom continued to hold him, so we felt a little like outsiders, even though Henry was officially our son. We began to chat about the process over the next few days and what Henry was like. The foster mother didn't speak any English, so Ivanna translated. A short time into the conversation the foster mother began to cry, and we all did. It was very evident that she loved Henry very much. At one point she said that she never considered herself to be a foster mother, but instead a real mother. It was probably the most emotional moment we'll ever have in our lives.

When the time came to go we gave the foster mother a final moment alone with Henry. We have promised to send pictures and information on our little guy so she can keep up with him. I walked the foster mother and Ivanna to the lobby while Erin had her first time alone with our son, I think he was on the verge of sleep. I sprinted back to the room, closed the door, and we looked at each other as new parents. Finally. Kind of a freak-out happy moment, tempered by the foster mother's sadness.

The rest of the night was actually pretty quiet. If you can believe it, we ordered in Domino's Pizza, since we were tired and didn't know what else to eat. The hotel staff brought the pizza box in on a very nice tablecloth with silverware folded nicely in heavy white napkins, which I thought was kind of funny. Henry slept in the crib for most of the night and then we eventually moved him to our king-sized bed. The foster mother thought he would be sort of out of it because he had received an immunization earlier that day. All in all, a wild day.

Congratulations if you have read this far! I'll post more about the wild week later.

Pictures, Part II

noreply@blogger.com (A. Pratt) — Wed, 13 Dec 2006 02:36:00 +0000

Hello all, it is great to read your comments about our little guy. I thought I would have more time to post as I'm off work all week, but that is not the case! Henry is taking up all of our time, but in good ways, i.e. cuddling, playing, feeding, rocking to sleep, etc. We went to the pediatrician yesterday and he got a clean bill of health, the roto-virus should be officially gone from his system in a few days. Now we will attempt to work to get a consistent sleeping and feeding schedule, but really with all that's going on this will start in earnest after the holidays. In the meantime, more pictures! The above two are from the airport homecoming (featuring two grandmas and a grandpa) and were taken by my cousin Heather. The good-looking kids on the bottom are Henry's cousins, Isaac, Sammy, and Lincoln Bailey and a very loving cousin Clare Fresvik. Her brother Eli didn't seem to make it into a picture!

Pictures, Part I

noreply@blogger.com (A. Pratt) — Sun, 10 Dec 2006 22:28:00 +0000

Hello everyone, I have finally posted some pictures from our time in Guatemala. These were taken in the few moments when Henry wasn't ill. Later I will post pictures of Henry's first moments in the United States, if I can get them from assorted family. I would also like to memorialize all of the things that happened in Guatemala that we didn't have the time or energy to talk about before. Things have gotten so much better in the last few days.

HOME!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (A. Pratt) — Sat, 09 Dec 2006 05:55:00 +0000

Well folks, I am writing this message to you from Henry's grandparents' house in White Bear Lake. Henry is sleeping only a few feet away from me. Although he is not officially home yet, words cannot describe the elation we both feel with having Henry in Minnesota. It is amazing that we woke up today in our tired old hotel room in GC and are ending it at "home". Tomorrow sometime (when the parents feel adequately rested) we will head up to Duluth with Henry and Rosita in tow. That will be another in a series of emotional moments for us.

Henry was really a trooper on the plane today, which was something we were worried about. He was terrific on the flight from GC to Houston, until the very end when his ears hurt. Then in Houston we got stuck in customs for 1.5 hours (got put into the wrong line), had to re-check bags, go through security, etc., and that took a lot of starch out of him. But included in that ordeal was Henry's official entry into the United States as a permanent resident. Now he can get a social security card! Henry slept for half the flight to the Twin Cities then had a rough patch. It was all worth it when we came down to the baggage claim and saw our small gaggle of family there to welcome us home. After all Henry had been through that day (which included soiling 2/3 of his outfits) he loved being introduced to his family, and had smiles for all.

I can't believe that we don't have pictures up yet, but that will be something to do for the weekend. In the meantime, good night and good luck.

Henry Update

noreply@blogger.com (A. Pratt) — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 14:14:00 +0000

Some of our family knows about Henry's sickness these past few days, and that's the reason why we haven't been posting anything. We found out yesterday that Henry has the roto-virus, a gastro-intestinal virus, which has also caused him to be lactose intolerant (probably temporary). We found this out at a doctor's office in downtown GC yesterday afternoon, after Henry had been hysterically crying for most of the afternoon. On Tuesday, he had been hysterical and inconsolable from mid-morning until about 9pm! He only abated when we took him for walks outside. On Tuesday night, the hotel called a doctor who found that he was really gassy, and gave him anti-colic drops and prescribed anti-gas medication. That helped for that night and he slept pretty well, then he was great during the 4-hour U.S. Embassy appointment on Wednesday morning, then took a 2-hour nap, so we thought he was out of the woods, but he got really bad yesterday afternoon. We are giving him Pedialite for the dehyrdration and we bought soy formula for food, but he probably won't want that until the "bad" formula has exited his system, which might take 24 hours (so by mid-afternoon today).

In the meantime, we can tell how bad his stomach hurts and how much pain he is in but our powerless to stop it. Really, this has been the hardest few days of our entire lives. The pure joy of meeting our son is tempered by the fact that he is very sick, and we as new parents are trying everything we can but we don't really know what to do in the end. The good thing is that he slept fairly well last night, which allowed us to sleep too! If he doesn't improve by this afternoon we will have to take him into the doctor again, which we might do regardless to get some advice on his condition.

We have been talking to family members with a medical background for advice as well, but any suggestions from our "readership" would be great as well. In the meantime, we will attempt to keep that stiff upper lip.

Henry is Here!!

noreply@blogger.com (A. Pratt) — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 15:43:00 +0000

NOTE: I TRIED TO POST THIS ON TUESDAY MORNING BUT FOR SOME REASON IT DIDN'T TAKE. IT IS OUTDATED NOW, FOR REASONS OBVIOUS TO THE NEXT POST...

Just let me preface this posting by stating the unfortunate fact that we forgot the connection to hookup the camera to the computer, so it doesn't look like we can post any pictures on this trip! We will try to read the instructions for the camcorder and see if that works later...

But the big news is that we have had custody of Josue/Henry for about 15 hours. He came to the hotel last night at 6:30 with the foster mother and our attorney. We met them in the lobby then beat a path back to our room. Henry was all covered up for the weather so it was hard to even see him! Once we got back to the room he looked around and we looked into his eyes for the first time. Quite a moment! He is even more beautiful and handsome then the pictures that we have seen, although we are pretty biased! The foster mother gave Henry for us to hold, but it was clear that she was having trouble with the situation. It was so obvious that she is really attached to Henry and loves him very much. She stated that she never considered herself a foster mom, but a real mom (the attorney was translating for us). Kind of makes the eyes moist to think about it now. There was not a dry eye in the room.

We eventually did get to cover the paperwork that we need to bring to our U.S. Embassy appointment tomorrow. We are to be ready to go in the hotel lobby by 6:20am! Yes, a.m.! Once we did that, Erin asked some questions of the foster mom about Henry. How often does he eat, how does he like to be held, what is his temperment, etc. This was a great time to find out some information on the little guy, who was taking a bottle at that moment. We found out that he sleeps in a crib unless he fusses too much, then he goes into bed. He also likes to play with "foamy" toys, and he needs to be covered up most of the time. Once we got done with this there were more tears then we handed over some presents for the foster family. Then, another tough moment as the foster mother said her final goodbye, in private, to Josue. We will be sending many pictures of Josue's growth to her and may even telephone her in the future. We were blessed to have her taking care of our son.

Andy walked our guests to the door and then it was go time. Remember when your parents dropped you off at college for the first time and then left you? Take that times 100 and that's what it felt like last night. Life is definitely not all about us anymore! It already seems like a blur, but Henry drank a little of a bottle and went to sleep. He had received an immunization that very day in his arm so he was a little groggy. He slept in the crib for half the night and then came over to our bed for the other half. He woke up a couple times as well, then was up for good at 6:30 this morning. I think this morning he was finally realizing that his foster mom wasn't around and he was having a bit of trouble with that. Andy took him for a walk outside and surprisingly has acquired the ability to get him to go to sleep (2 for 2 thus far). Erin is very busy with diaper changes, clothing changes, and feeding. I don't even think we will leave the hotel today, too tired!

Let me digress for a moment about yesterday, which probably was the longest day in my life. We just assumed that we would get Henry around noon or so, since we had flown in the night before. We got antsy around noon and called our attorney's office, and was told the meeting would probably be at 4. Because we had some time, we took a taxi to a nearby mall and bought a few things, as well as groceries (imagine traveling to the Guatemalan equivalent of Target in the few hours before you meet your son...very weird). The mall was in a suburb of GC called Santa Catarina Pinula, which is actually where Henry was born. I didn't realize it was that close.

I have to head back now. More to come later!!

GC Day One: Where's Henry?

noreply@blogger.com (A. Pratt) — Mon, 04 Dec 2006 15:51:00 +0000

Buenos dias everyone, we are writing to you from the "business center" in our hotel. Today is a bright and sunny day with a temp. in the 60's, but extremely windy. Guatemala looks very beautiful and tropical looking from our hotel window, similar to inland Hawaii. Obviously, we don't have Henry yet, as we are hanging out in the business center instead. We still haven't got word on when he will be coming. Our attorney and the foster mother will bring him to our hotel sometime today (it is about 10am right now).

Travel yesterday went relatively smooth, except for Andy forgetting the camcorder on the first flight. He had to sprint through the Houston airport after just eating a full chinese food meal to get it, but it was successfully retrieved. We met a few other couples by the gate going to GC who were also adopting, and I think we saw some more on the flight too. It was pretty surreal landing in GC, as it was so dark we didn't really have a reference point. We breezed through customs but then waited at the baggage claim for probably over half an hour. Seriously, our bags were about the last ones to get off the plane! Then we took a long walk down a narrow corridor to the oustide of the airport. There were many people waiting for others, as well as people who just seemed to be milling around. Our hotel shuttle driver was there with our names written on a piece of paper. He sped through the streets of GC and then we arrived at our beautiful hotel.

After not a ton of sleep we awoke today and had a very nice breakfast, probably our last quiet meal as a couple for 25 years. So, now we are waiting. We will head back to our room now to check our messages, if there are any. We also have been talking to our bank today and have been assured the problem will be fixed! Erin is probably blacklisted at that bank, she has been so tough on the phone! Thank you again for all your thoughts and good vibes. Next time we hope to post some very good news (and perhaps pictures).

A&E

Bank Error in Your Favor?

noreply@blogger.com (A. Pratt) — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 15:02:00 +0000

Hello everyone, I'll make this short and sweet. Actually, there isn't much left to say anymore, since we will be heading to the airport in a few hours. As you know, our process went by so smooth, with no problems or concerns, even making it through the Guatemalan process with no problems. So what turns out to be the problem on the day we are leaving? Our bank!!! There was a bank error with the issuing of the cashier's check to pay the rest of the adoption fee, which has caused problems with our account. The bank representative suggested that we could drive to Faribault this morning to fix the problem. What part of "flying to Guatemala" do they not understand?!

The bank is working on the problem as we speak, and we have a plan B in any event. I have a feeling that the teller who "processed" my request was the one who blew it, because he was more interested in flirting with colleagues that he was working with than paying attention to me.

As you probably can tell, we are a little stressed out right now. But the grace of God will see us through!

The Calm Before the Baby

noreply@blogger.com (A. Pratt) — Sun, 03 Dec 2006 03:27:00 +0000

Before we start, here is a picture of Guatemala City for you. The Pratts will refer to it as "GC".

Last night, as we were hanging out in the house, getting everything ready for the trip, we realized that it was going to be the last night we spent in the house sans baby, because Saturday we were driving to the Cities to get ready for our flight. That was a pretty amazing realization. What did we do? We packed everything we could and then watched "Annie Hall," the famous Woody Allen movie. The movie is about Woody and his trials and tribulations finding meaningful long-term relationships in the quintessentially urban setting of New York City. Quite a fitting movie for our last night as just a couple!

Duluth on Saturday dawned sunny, but windy and bitterly cold. GC, with its temps in the 70's and tropical climate, but more importantly for a certain baby in that climate, beckons. We packed everything up and tried to calm our hysterical Rosita, who was positive that we were leaving without her. She risked rupturing her sutures from her surgery when she leaped into our car and into her dog bed. The drive to the Cities was very surreal, kind of like a dream landscape, because the very reason for our drive was so amazing. In times past, we were going down to a wedding, or to visit family, or for a holiday. Now we were going down to officially become parents, and the next time we make the drive north we will have another person in the car. If you could think about that for a second, you can probably understand why it is all just so surreal.

A couple friends asked me today what my emotions were at this time. Frankly, I really don't have any emotions. I am just trying to get from Point A to Point B. The devil is in the details: we will leave the house at mid-morning, will check our bags using our confirmation code, which I've procured because I've already checked in for the flight, then we will scout out locations for our family to meet us at the airport next Friday, etc. Pretty wild stuff, eh?

We have heard that we will be meeting Henry, our attorney, and the foster mother on Monday at our hotel. We don't even know what time they will be coming! We are trying not to idealize the first meeting; Henry might be tired, or hungry, or upset, who knows. We do know that he will be ours. Actually, he is ours. His birth mother has signed the final adoption decree and the Guatemalan and U.S. governments have signed off on the adoption, so we are officially and legally his parents. Can you imagine being a parent to someone you have never even met?

How many times over the past year have we explained the Guatemalan adoption process to people? Probably too many to count. Also, I remember that we attended an introductory meeting with our adoption agency in Duluth in late October, 2005. We began filling out beaucoup de forms for the various background checks around Thanksgiving 2005. So the entire process has taken a little over a year. I told a couple friends today that a political analogy is somewhat appropriate here: it is like a candidate for a major office, who works so hard on the campaign, spends so much time on it, constantly thinks about it, and on Election Day it all comes to a head. Well, it will all culminate for us in less than 48 hours! But, whereas the candidate doesn't know if he/she will "win" on Election Day, we know that the victory is already ours.

Everyone, thanks so much for your support and thoughts and prayers. We'll probably update you on the "gameday" feeling tomorrow morning, then it's off to Houston and GC. Please keep checking the blog over the next week, as we think we can post some pictures using our hotel's main computer. Also, go Northfield Raiders!!

Hello Guatemala!!

noreply@blogger.com (A. Pratt) — Thu, 30 Nov 2006 19:49:00 +0000

A few of you have already heard the GREAT news, but we officially got the call this morning to come get Henry! We will be flying to Guatemala City (via Houston) from the Cities on Sunday afternoon. We will get in about 10pm, so I'm assuming we'll meet Henry for the first time sometime on Monday. Our appointment at the U.S. Embassy is on Wednesday sometime. We have been advised to stay after the appointment in case there are any snags, so we will leave Guatemala on Friday afternoon and get into the Cities around 10pm. Then the next day will be our first drive as a complete family (dog included) to Duluth.

We have so much to do in the meantime so I have to make this short for now. I had just brought Rosita home from the vet (she was spayed yesterday) and we were trying to soothe her from that experience when the phone rang from our agency, so we were both there to hear it. How blessed we are with our fast timeline! Thank you to all for your thoughts and prayers.

Current temp. in Guatemala City: 79
Current temp. in Duluth: 18

The Last Days???

noreply@blogger.com (A. Pratt) — Mon, 27 Nov 2006 03:10:00 +0000

Buenas noches everyone, we hope you had a great Thanksgiving. Obviously, a bit of excitement was injected into our Thanksgiving with the news that Henry will probably be with us soon. In the days after this news Erin was on a mission to spruce up the nursery, and she did a fantastic job. I wish I could have helped more! She painted the room a beautiful blue and set up Henry's dresser, changing table, palm tree, curtain, and other decorations. I "assisted" in assembling the crib.

At the end of this post are some pictures of the nursery. The "before" picture below is from last fall, when the nursery used to be the guest room. Then we have three "after" pictures. The nursery is now a cozy place for our son to sleep and play! We are very happy with it.

Andy was busy getting the final documents in order to bring down to Guatemala, and that seems to be done, except for the final act of requesting a 2005 W-2 from the State of Minnesota. We know, kind of inane. Last week hopefully Henry (currently Josue, which I accidentially typed in the last post as Joise, my pathetic mistake) had a birth certificate ordered with the last name of "Pratt" on it. Then, our case may be submitted to the U.S. Embassy for a "pink slip", which sets the date of the Embassy appointment in Guatemala City that we need to be at!! The best news of all would be that this week we receive that appointment date, which would probably only give us a week's notice to travel, which will set off a frantic search for airplane and hotel tickets (and you know we've already been researching those items).

To reflect, we are so lucky and blessed that we got out of PGN when we did. We have scoured many websites and found that other couples are stuck in PGN for way longer than the month and three days that we were there. Some couples can be in PGN for 9 months or more, maybe even over a year. Usually to be stuck in PGN for that long there is something, in the opinion of the PGN attorneys, that is suspicious with the adoption that requires further investigation. Or, perhaps the most tragic result, there are some typos or technical errors in the case that constantly have to be fixed, and that delays the review time. The increased wait time due to these non-substantive minor glitches really hurt the waiting kids the most, as they are in limbo to join their forever family. Thanks to God that we flew through PGN, but we also think of those couples who weren't so lucky.

Also, I can't help but wonder how Henry is inexplicably tied to the success of the Minnesota Twins. We first were notified of Henry in mid-July, when the Twins were beginning the midst of their incredible hot streak. Our case progressed with the Twins success and is now peaking with the news of Johan Santana winning the Cy Young, and Justin Morneau the MVP. Given that Henry is growing up in our house, it is almost certain he will be a huge Twins fan, and he can always share his birth year with their magical season.

Adios for now. Let's hope that we'll have more news posted up here this week!

The Pratts

He'll be Home . . . for Christmas

noreply@blogger.com (A. Pratt) — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 03:08:00 +0000

Yes everyone, we got the first out of two calls that we have really been waiting for. Erin was actually the one who got the call, at about 1:30 this afternoon. Someone from our agency informed us that we are out of PGN and that we are expected to travel to Guatemala in 2-3 weeks. Erin called me and I blurted out "What?!!" quite loudly that I'm sure I startled some in my office. Needless to say, neither of us got any work done for the rest of the day as thousands of thoughts, questions and emotions whirled around our heads. We came home and left again for baby shopping (big ticket item: camcorder) and a little dinner celebration at a Mexican resturant in Duluth. I'm sure you all can think of a time where you were on a real emotional high. The common tangent with those highs? You crash, and we're both definitely crashing right now.

So what's next? Well, Josue will get a birth certificate that will change his name to Josue Moises Pratt. Kind of a nice ring to it, eh? The civil registry office in his hometown of Santa Catarina Pinula will issue a final adoption decree with the new birth certificate. Erin has been checking websites to see how long it takes for this action to occur (there are three examples of cases passing through the Santa Catarina Pinula office) and each time it has taken ONE DAY!!! If that holds true for us, I would expect us to be traveling in two weeks. We expect someone to be calling us in the next 1-2 weeks to tell us that we have an appointment in the U.S. Embassy, and a specific date and time will be listed. So, it will be our responsibility to rush to get plane tickets and hotel reservations for that date! Sometimes people only get a 48-hour notice.

It was truly amazing and shocking to us that we got out of PGN so quickly. We got in on October 17th and out on November 20th. We were told by our agency to expect a wait time of 1-3 months, but we have both read so many horror stories on the Internet about this waiting time that it would not have been surprising (although it would have been heartbreaking) to wait for 6 months or more. The great thing about this quick timing is that Josue/Henry will be around 5 months old when we get him, and babies start to have attachment issues usually around 6 months. Also, he's home by Christmas!! That is truly a God-given miracle in my opinion.

So, in the meantime, there is lots to do and even more paperwork to fill out (with notarization). The major thing to do is to paint and decorate the nursery, which right now is just an empty room. Soon we will have a little boy in that very room...amazing. We are still trying to make sense of it all. My legs have finally stopped shaking! We aren't hosting Thanksgiving like originally scheduled because of everything going on, but there is no doubt that we are so thankful that we will soon cradle small, precious Henry in our arms....more to post later.

A&E

Major Announcement Coming

noreply@blogger.com (A. Pratt) — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 20:43:00 +0000

Hi folks, stay tuned for a major announcement from the Pratts. We definitely have a lot to be thankful for this year!!

First Adoption Completed!

noreply@blogger.com (A. Pratt) — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 03:36:00 +0000

Last Thursday we officially became adoptive "parents"...of a dog. She is a mutt, with a mix of a lot of things, like pug, shepherd, lab, and who knows what else. We named her Rosita. She is between 1 to 3 years old, and we got her from a humane society outside of Superior. We took her home as soon as we saw her. She is very timid but sweet and wants to learn. She also likes to get attention from our one niece and four nephews. She has even had her own babies in the past. We have attached some pictures of her. When we first got her she was scared of common house items, such as the toilet and the stairs. Now she's better, but she is still terrified of music coming from the piano! We have no idea why. Her favorite thing in the world is the dog bed that we got for her on the way home. She spends 2/3 of her day on that thing.

We think Rosita has some attachment issues, though. She gets fairly nervous whenever we leave her and vocalizes her concerns (instead of barking, however, she does sort of a high hum). I suppose that is similar to what Henry might do when we get him, as he will probably have some attachment to his foster family. All in all, it seems like Rosita is a good way for us to take on some responsibility while getting ready for even more responsibility. We can't wait for her to meet Henry and for us to become even more of a family.

Speaking of our little dude, we got another medical update on him today. He was evaluated on November 7th. He is 12 pounds, 14 ounces (up from 11 pounds, 8 ounces on Oct. 5), 54 centimeters long (up a whopping 2 cm's from October), with a cephalic circumference of 38 centimeters (up one cm). He was given a third dose of polio vaccine, meningitis and Hepatitis B. According to the report, Henry presents a normal physical and mental development and a good nutritional and nuerological state. Additionally, he moves his head in the directions of sounds and colors. His favorite sound is the sound of a basketball swishing through the net. I wonder what his favorite color is?

Now we have to wait for a few weeks to get another case update and pictures. In the meantime, we will have a happy Thanksgiving and will save some pumpkin pie for our little pumpkin. To everyone who is reading and commenting, we can't thank you enough for your support. It truly feels like there is an army of people urging us on.

The Pratts

Mr. Eyes

noreply@blogger.com (A. Pratt) — Wed, 08 Nov 2006 22:38:00 +0000

Hello all, this will have to be a short post, but we got some new pictures of Henry yesterday. Look at how big his eyes are! These are the first pictures where he is totally awake. Do you see the blanket behind him? We sent that blanket down to him shortly after we first saw him, so it is very nice to see that he's using it. He is also wearing pajamas that were bought and sent down. The overriding theme for these pictures is how much his face has changed. He looks so much more grown up than a month ago! We can still tell that it's him, but his look has definitely changed. Now we want him to get up here so we can see the changes for ourself!

We learned today that our case was submitted to PGN on October 17, and that the wait in this phase has typically been 1 to 3 months. It won't be shorter than a month (which were almost at already) but it could be a lot longer than 3 months. Our agency will call us once we are out of PGN, and we should get the OK to travel at the latest a month after that. So that is exciting news. Here is our updated case timeline:

Homestudy approval by Social Worker: 6-5-06
I-171H received (approval by U.S. govt.): 6-26-06
Josue Moises Morales born: 7-12-06
Guatemalan dossier completed: 7-17-06
REFERRAL OF JOSUE!!: 7-24-06
Referral paperwork completed: 7-28-06
Power of Attorney sent to Guatemala: 8-8-06
Birth mom & Henry DNA test: 8-25-06
DNA Match: 9-11-06
Approval by Guatemala family court (estimated): 10-1-06
U.S. Embassy Pre-Approval: 10-6-06
Entry into PGN (estimated): 10-17-06
Approval by PGN:
Travel date:
Return home!:

Adios!

Letter to Henry

noreply@blogger.com (A. Pratt) — Mon, 06 Nov 2006 04:20:00 +0000

Hola amigos. Well Halloween came and went and we didn't see any trick or treaters with UNICEF boxes. Actually, we barely saw any trick or treaters due to the brutal cold up here. Classic Duluth Halloween, as you can't see the kids' costumes under the Gortex coat and numerous layers of long underwear. In a nutshell, the problem with UNICEF is that it pushes each country currently doing adoptions to shut down their systems in favor of a system regulated by governmental agencies and more red tape. I have mentioned the Hague Convention on adoptions before, which should be ratified by the U.S. in 2007. The Hague contains some admirable provisions, such as the requirement that health histories of both birth parents be disclosed to adoptive parents. However, even if countries are set up to handle all of these requirements, the end result would be an even longer process that would jack up prices and in the end severly restrict adoptions. Also, UNICEF advocates for countries to place their adoptive kids internally, with other families from that country. Unfortunately, countries like Guatemala are so poor that there aren't even enough families around with the resources to raise these kids. So in the end, the kids would end up in orphanges or on the street.

Okay, I'm done ranting.

We are waiting for updated pictures and medical information on our Henry. Our last update came on October 13, so we're not expecting another one right on time, although now we are into November and would like to hear something. This weekend we attended Andy's 10.5-year high school reunion in Northfield, and a fun time was had by all. We got a gift bag with a baby bottle and bibs because Andy stated on a questionnaire that he was expecting a child. We also put together a care package that will be dropped off with our agency this week, for further distribution to Henry's foster family in Guatemala. We enclosed a set of clothes, some pajamas, a baby book with our pictures in it (so he can see us) and a teddy bear that records sounds (so he can hear our first words to him). We also wrote a note to the foster family that was translated into Spanish by a gracious friend of ours. We wrote that we cannot express our gratitude in mere words, that we think and pray for the foster family every day, and that we promise to love Henry every day forever. It will be great to meet the foster mother when we travel down there, and we know the experience will be somewhat bittersweet because she has to give away a part of her life while we get the best gift of our lives.

On the ride back to Duluth we entered into serious discussions about buying a dog. We both want one, and it's amazing to think we've owned a house for over a year without one! The pros to getting a dog are obvious, but some cons are that we wanted to have our baby home first so the dog would know he is second fiddle, as well as the fact that the dog could mess up our wood floors (the latter is more Andy's concern than Erin's). So, what do you think? Should we get a dog or wait until our fella is home first? Please feel free to comment and we will post them.

In the meantime, here are a few pictures of decorations for Henry's room, as well as the "G" we carved into our pumpkin (for Guatemala, of course).

Case Timeline

noreply@blogger.com (A. Pratt) — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 02:42:00 +0000

As you can see by our postings, we usually only get to it on the weekends. It seems like the weeks fly by in a flurry of work, work, work (either job work or house work). So, I am using the bonus hour that we received due to daylight savings to post our case timeline:

Homestudy approval by Social Worker: 6-5-06
I-171H received (approval by U.S. govt.): 6-26-06
Josue Moises Morales born: 7-12-06
Guatemalan dossier completed: 7-17-06
REFERRAL OF JOSUE!!: 7-24-06
Referral paperwork completed: 7-28-06
Power of Attorney sent to Guatemala: 8-8-06
Birth mom & Henry DNA test: 8-25-06
DNA Match: 9-11-06
Approval by Guatemala family court (estimated): 10-1-06
U.S. Embassy Pre-Approval: 10-6-06
Entry into PGN (estimated): 10-20-06
Approval by PGN:
Travel date:
Return home!:

As you can see, we only have three dates left to fill in! We are estimating that we left "phase two", i.e. the Guatemalan family court process, around the start of October. We haven't officially been told yet that we left that phase, but because it is a prerequisite to entering into PGN we are assuming it has happened. I said in a previous post that our U.S. Embassy "pre-approval" packet was being held at Window #10 in the Embassy because we had to fill out another form to have the packet physically picked up. We are assuming that has happened and hope the turnaround time to actually enter the PGN system (as we've stated before, the most unpredictable and intimidating section of the whole process) has occurred as well.

PGN is the most trying time for most families, as it is left to the vagaries of the Guatemalan civil service. We feel that God is on our side and will guide little Henry's file through the system in a speedy time. We appreciate everyone who reads about our experiences. We are getting near to the time where we would get a monthly update and pictures but we aren't holding our breath because we didn't get our September update until October 13. That's okay, because we never tire of looking at pictures of our son that we already have!

We haven't heard any new news about Guatemalan government decrees or foster mom harassment, so that is good. Tomorrow we will try to post information regarding UNICEF's role in international adoptions, and why we won't be giving any change to UNICEF this Halloween.

Medical Update and Another Word of Warning

noreply@blogger.com (A. Pratt) — Sat, 21 Oct 2006 03:16:00 +0000

Unfortunately we didn't find any time to blog during the week, I guess we were just too busy. I went to meetings in Cloquet, Tofte, and Brainerd just during the first three days of the week! Henry's meetings consist of every few hours with a bottle of formula in Guatemala City. Then, as you can see by the pictures, a lot of sleep.

Like we said last time, we hope we are in PGN by now, although we can never be sure. A form had to go down there and then our pre-approval from the Embassy was going to be picked up. Of course, today was a holiday in Guatemala: Revolution Day. In October 1944 popular revolts were held around Guatemala to protest the military strongman who was the ruler at the time. The revolution led to democratic elections and a new, albeit socialist, leader. Anyway, what this means for us today is that no one will be around to work on our case! Erin found out online that one case had gotten all the way through PGN in only 10 days! So, if we also went through in 10 days, assuming we officially go in on Monday, we would be out by Election Day and would likely have Henry home by Thanksgiving! Let's not bet on that...

We did get a medical update on our bundle of joy. He was evaluated on October 5 and weighed 11 pounds, 8 ounces, with a length of 52 centimeters and a cephalic circumferance of 37 centimeters. A second dose of polio, triple meningitis and hepatitis B was administered. On September 2, Henry weighed 9 pounds, 10 ounces, with a length of 51 centimeters. According to the medical report: "The patient presents a normal physical and mental development, according to his chronological age, the patient is asymptomatic with no evidence of infectious disease at this time, and he presents a good nutritional and neurological state, according to his age." Now, the sentence that really gets us: "The baby smiles when someone laughs at him or when he sees faces." I don't need to say that we wish he was smiling and laughing at our faces! Okay, I guess I said it anyway.

We are truly blessed to have a healthy baby, even though he is thousands of miles away. And, we are also blessed to have a foster family that is caring for our baby. How truly blessed we are came into focus a little bit more in the last few days, when more disturbing news came from Guatemala. Apparently a "police directive" was issued stating that custody of a child in the adoption process was only legal if the custodian had a judicial court order. Because the placement of children with foster mothers is a purely private process, a foster mom will never have a court order. So, one possible interpretation of the directive was the police had free reign to "raid" foster homes. There were also reports of foster mother harassment and detainment outside of hotels, although we aren't sure how many mothers were actually detained, if any.

We have now learned that the directive was rescinded, so maybe now everything is okay. But many online forums are not recommending travel to Guatemala to visit children. We weren't planning to visit anyway, but of course we will make the trip down there to pick Henry up when it's time. This threat, just like the last one a few weeks ago, again looks like posturing from the anti-adoption forces in Guatemala. You have to wonder however when this whole thing will blow up. We feel pretty comfortable now because we are matched with a baby and are fairly deep within the process. However, I would not start a Guatemalan adoption right now and it's sad, but I can say with confidence that we will probably not be adopting a second child from Guatemala (not that we don't want to, but it just might be impossible).

So that's it from chilly Duluth. October is almost in the books already, but we have no idea if we will be getting a case update or more pictures sooner or later, since we didn't get our September case update until last week! Plus, some agencies are shutting down further medical visits (which is when new pictures are taken) because of possible harassment of foster moms. This just adds fuel to our fire of hoping that the adoption process will move swiftly. We should stress, however, that this latest hiccup doesn't seem to be affecting the adoption process. So, even though we haven't even started on the nursery yet, we wouldn't mind having the "problem" of Henry being home despite no nursery!

Sorry for the long post. We'll try to be more frequent. Happy fishing.

Fast and Furious

noreply@blogger.com (A. Pratt) — Sun, 15 Oct 2006 03:29:00 +0000

We got our case update on Friday afternoon, and whoa, what an update! As was noted in a previous post, there are basically four "phases" in the Guatemalan adoption process. The first is the DNA test of the birth mother. Second, the family court process, which includes an interview of the birth mother by a social worker. Third, the review of the adoption dossier by the PGN (attorney general) office. Last, final paperwork and the scheduling of an appointment for us at the Embassy office.

Well, it looks like we will be moving into "phase 3" next week! Our case updated stated that the birth mother had the interview with the social worker on September 7. And we already told you that we received "Pre Approval" from the U.S. Embassy on October 6. The two prerequisites for entering the PGN process: (a) completion of Guatemalan family court (which we assume has happened since the birth mom was interviewed over a month ago) and (b) Pre Approval. However, the official Pre Approval form is still waiting at Window No. 10 at the Embassy office because the person at our attorney's office who was supposed to pick up the paperwork resigned, and the Embassy won't release the paperwork to anyone else until we signed and sent another form. Heck, I'll fly down there and get it! Or I could drive: take I-35 south from Duluth to the tip of Texas, then ask for directions through Mexico and into Guatemala City, no problem. Anyway, that extra form was sent down on October 12, so once it gets down there, hopefully early next week, the PGN process will begin.

We have done a lot of looking around on various Guatemalan adoption websites and they all agree that PGN is the most nerve-wracking and/or intimidating process. Probably something like facing Johan Santana. Our agency said that the average wait time for the PGN process is 1-3 months. It probably won't go any faster than 1 month, but it could go a lot longer than 3 months. We have heard of people waiting 1 year or more for the case just to get through PGN!! One common problem is that cases are often "kicked out" of PGN for some weird reason, like not filling in technical language or not filling out forms 100% correctly. What is the use of delaying an adoption just because one blank was not filled in exactly to the bureaucrat's liking? That only hurts the waiting kids, in my opinion.

But I digress. We are just thrilled to be entering this stage and it has come a little earlier than we thought. We still have kitchen remodeling to finish and haven't even started on the nursery! That project will consist of painting, electrical service, decorating, etc. If we can just carve out some time it shouldn't be too bad.

I am out of town so I can't post any new pictures right now. We also got a medical update for Henry tonight and will talk about that in the coming days. In the meantime, it is an exciting time in the Pratt household. Mr. PGN, please be nice to us!

A GOOD DAY!

noreply@blogger.com (A. Pratt) — Fri, 06 Oct 2006 23:46:00 +0000

Despite the Twins getting swept right out of the playoffs, today was a good day on the adoption front. First, we got new pictures of Henry Moises. We've officially decided on Moises for the middle name. Apparently, these pictures were taken at night because our little guy was sleepy and he's in pjs. Actually, he's in pjs in every picture we have of him. Andy and I stare at them, discecting every little detail. In one of the pictures we think he's winking. Andy can't even wink, so obviously Henry's advanced. Most important, Henry looks healthy and well cared for.

Next, we can fill in another date on our adoption calendar. The US embassy issued us Pre-Approval today (PA in adoption lingo). That means they've looked at our paperwork and the DNA results and everything looks ok on their end. We received an e-mail directly from the embassy with this news. We're also hoping to get an update from our agency in the next couple of days. The best scenerio would be that we are also approved by Guatemalan family court. If we are approved by family court and now that we have PA, we will be able to enter PGN. That is the final sign off on the Guatemalan side. PGN is the most unpredictable step and one that we've been nervous about from the beginning. So, I won't think about it on this good day.

Finally, it appears that the threatened halt to adoption has been avoided, for now at least. Its actually very unclear what even happened. Some people say that there never was a big threat. Others say that adoptions were very close to being shut down. Almost everyone we've seen comment on the internet believes that in-process adoptions are ok.

More pictures and news to come!

Empty Threat?

noreply@blogger.com (A. Pratt) — Fri, 29 Sep 2006 01:56:00 +0000

As if the adoption process wasn't emotional enough, today brought disconcerting news from Guatemala. There isn't enough room here to go into it all, but apparently (the facts are a little murky) the president of Guatemala, President Berger, has drafted an Executive Order halting ALL adoptions in Guatemala, even ones currently in process! Like us! As of right now, no EO has been issued and there is uncertainty over its existence, contents, and legal effect. Our agency has told us that things are continuing to process and there is no need to panic. Easier said then done!

Guatemala right now is somewhat chaotic with adoption, and we are used to reading websites that spread rumors. But this "threat" seems more serious then the average rumor. The plan was for the Executive Order to go into effect October 1. However, attorneys in Guatemala have said that the EO would just be ignored because it is contrary to current law, which allows for private placement of adoptions. The long and short of it is that there is a Hague Convention on Adoptions that the U.S. is supposed to "adopt" next year; Guatemala has taken many actions to be compliant with the Hague but in 2003 their Supreme Court ruled that they were not in compliance with the treaty. So...once the U.S. adopts the Hague it will suspend all adoptions with Guatemala until Guatemala correctly ratifies the treaty. We know that we are grandfathered in as far as the U.S. government is concerned, so that isn't a problem for us with Henry, although we probably wouldn't be able to adopt from Guatemala again. I don't know all of the provisions of the Hague, but it probably would move the adoptions into the public sphere and may cut off a lot of them (as has happened in Honduras, for example).

President Berger and the First Lady have long been opposed to international adoption, and they may be posturing for their Congress to act against it. There is no indication that that will happen. Also, UNICEF (remember the little coin boxes kids carry with them on Halloween) has long conspired with Guatemala and other countries to stifle adoptions. UNICEF reportedly has donated $28 million to a social department within the Guatemalan government with the catch that Guatemala cut off adoptions until there is Hague compliance. UNICEF stands for "United Nations Children's Fund," with a mission statement of "child survival, protection and development worldwide through education, advocacy and fundraising."

The U.S. State Department is saying that adoptions in process are just fine and that the EO, if there even is one, will not be acted upon and things will go fine. That is encouraging and we already knew that there is a lot of political posturing in Guatemala over adoption. We just pray that Guatemala arrives at an ethical adoption process that is realistic given their economic contraints. We don't want them to set up a great in theory, but impossible to meet in reality, system that leaves children without families.

Right now, we are staying positive and realize that every day that passes without any action prohibiting adoptions by the Guatemalan government means we're further in the process. Its a hard situation for so many and we ask for your thoughts and prayers.

Buenos noches...

DNA Match!!

noreply@blogger.com (A. Pratt) — Tue, 12 Sep 2006 02:41:00 +0000

We just wanted to let you know that today we got an envelope from a DNA lab in North Carolina which concluded that the birth mom is actually the birth mom to Henry. Well, they are 99.71% sure, so we'll take that as a yes! So, here is the revised case update (it's always good to include more dates):

Homestudy approval by Social Worker: 6-5-06
I-171H received (approval by U.S. govt.): 6-26-06
Josue Moises Morales born: 7-12-06
Guatemalan dossier completed: 7-17-06
REFERRAL OF JOSUE!!: 7-24-06
Referral paperwork completed: 7-28-06
Power of Attorney sent to Guatemala: 8-8-06
Birth mom & Henry DNA test: 8-25-06
DNA Match: 9-11-06
Approval by Guatemala family court:
Approval by PGN:
Travel date:
Return home!:

The race of Henry and the birth mom was listed as "Guatemalan". A very cute picture of our little guy was included as well, but we can't post it because he is sitting with his birth mom. Henry is spreading both of his arms out as far as he can and has a shirt with the number "34" on it. That's Kirby's number!