Travel Time Frame!

Hi Natalie,
Hopefully within about 3 weeks you will be requested
to go down and get Alexander. When we get the pink
slip that will have the embassy appt. on it.
Please bring down both passports. Again, which one is traveling? It should be the petitioner.
So we shall be in touc

WOO HOOO!!!!!!!!!!

We are out of the PGN!!! YES YES YES YES YES!!!!!! We are so very thankful for this development as things are really slowing down and looking to get slower. This is a huge blessing. It means that we are simply awaiting our Embassy appointment. Some folks even choose to go down at this point to start caring for their child and wait for their appointment time there. We really are not in a position to do that so we are awaiting our pink slip. Then we will have definite date. Embassy appointments are scheduled very early in the morning, before 8:00. We are supposed to fly in early enough the day before so Alexander can be brought to the hotel. He goes to the Embassy appointment as well. Then we have another appointment the next day. After that we will be free to leave. He will be adopted with the name Alexander Laynez McCormick Watkins. Eddy really loves that one! As if me keeping my name is not annoying enough! :) In the Latin world, this is the naming custom. . We will change it to Alexander Lorenzana McCormick when we do a name change here. We plan on calling him "Xander" if he likes it.

I feel so blessed that Alexander will be able to get to know us before getting his surgery. Such a wondeful thing!

Tonight we went out to celebrate. We have yet to find a Guatemalan restuarant in San Antonio, so we went for Mexican food. No, it is not the same! :)

Thanks to our friends, family, church family and Community of Hope for the continued prayers and support. This has been a challenge, like most good things in our lives so far. Thanks for the interest, compassion and love.

SOOON!!!!!!!!!!!

C'mon Have a Heart!

We are now in "full-on weasel" mode. Below is the email reply we have received from our latest attempt to find some sort of way out of the PGN.

Dear Natalie,

I spoke with M today and they are going to the PGN today to see if there's anything they can do to hurry things along. The staff of the PGN is very stubborn and user unfriendly--it's really been tough!

I will let you know if there's anything we can do, but M was not too hopefuly. They will try.

Regards,



Hi ,

I have a concern --I wonder if we could get some sort of humanitarian expedited service on Alexander’s case. Our specialist told us he needs to have surgery on his palate by 18 months of age. His first birthday is 10/18 and, with the delays, I am concerned he will not have time to adjust to us prior to needing surgery. Is there any historic precedent for this type of issue with the PGN? We can get any supporting data or letters needed. Thoughts?

Thanks in advance,

Natalie

Update on our case

Well, it looks like my ongoing friendship with the Fed-Ex guy shows no sign of waning thanks to my good friends at the Embassy. I guess, on the bright side, at least the PGN has not lost our case or spilled coffee on it. Always a good thing.

I always love the social worker pep talks, God bless them. "We all have to be patient"-- As opposed to what? Staging a hostage situation? Taking big bags of money and trying to bribe people? Okay, in our case it would be a very little bag of money, but you get the point. Maybe staging a distraction by running through the PGN offices nude and havmg our spouse snatch the file in our wake? I mean, is there a choice? Because if there is, I would like to know about it.

On another note, I was making Alexander's bed today. C. asked if she could sleep with him when he comes. She brought her pillows and blankets in to his room and set up her "bed" on his little jungle rug. Aah!

Dear family,

This morning I called M and your case is still in the PGN! M has been checking everyday--and is told to come back the following day or within two days. I know this is a trying time and we all have to be patient with the PGN! All cases are being subjected to delay.

In the meantime, the US Embassy has issued some NEW REQUISITES IN ORDER TO OBTAIN YOUR APPOINTMENT DATE for the exit interview. They want you to fill out another I-600 blue form, AND they are asking that you send them a copy of your passport which should only include:

1. the page with your photo on it and
2. the pages which show, via the aduana stamps, your first trip to Guatemala.

M will fill out the ENTIRE I-600 for you (because we want to submit this form with just one style of handwriting, so Embassy will not reject it) So please send the following to the attn of Meghan at our office BY OCTOBER 4TH!

PLEASE SEND , at BAAS THE FOLLOWING:

1. A new I 600 blue form, signed only, NOT DATED OR ANY BLANKS FILLED IT. Please sign this document AS YOUR NAME HAS APPEARED ON YOUR 171 H FORM! Usually on the 171 H, your name in full is shown there.

2. Submit a copy of your passport, only the page with your photo and page(s) that show your first visit to Guatemala

3. A check to BAAS for $20--this is to cover your part of the fed-ex package that will be sent to M.

PLEASE NOTE: if we do not receive your documents by Oct. 6th, you will have to send the documents yourself, and thus pay more for the fed-ex mailing.

Thanks for your cooperation! I will send you the I-600 form out in the mail today--you should get it by Wednesday.

Regards

Our social worker called us tonight. She does this periodically. She is a very nice lady, however I wish she would preface her conversation with, " NO THIS IS NOT THE CALL!!" We always do this little small talk dance for a minute or so. This sixty second period feels like an hour.

She said M checked on our case and the PGN people told her to come back on Friday. Maybe she will go back on Friday and they will say, "Oh, thanks for coming back. We are happy to award you with this PGN partner of the month award." She could also go back and they could state, " Oh....Pablo always tells people to come back on Friday when he has no real information for them." Maybe it will actually happen on Friday. That would be very exciting!!

A friend came over to do some decorative painting on Alexander and C's walls. We are setting up his crib this weekend. All that is missing is the baby! :)

Tick Tock

Time is starting to crawl. Every time the phone rings, I run to grab it hoping to hear Marilena's voice on the other end. C. is getting settled in to school and life is becoming a lot easier, so I can see how the timing is a good thing. There are still forms to get notarized and household projects to complete. I am trying to stay busy and distracted. However, it is becoming increasingly more challenging. Also, while bureaucrats make their demands, Alexander is getting older and the separation is going to be all the harder.

I have also started getting the strange adoption conversations. FIrst and foremost, anyone who actually knows Eddy and me is well aware that we are not saints and as for any of our children being "lucky"??? We feel lucky we will be able to call Alexander our son, God willing. As for him being "lucky" to have a family, every child deserves a family who embraces him. Winning the lottery is lucky, having a family?? That is a right.

I am noticing a real bias in our culture that I guess, on some level, I always knew existed. The phrase "Angelina Jolie has her first child" just is so insensitive and incorrect. Like the children she has adopted are somehow less hers.

So, just a little venting. Hopefully things will keep progressing and we will be traveling to get our little man soon.