We received good and bad news this week....the DNA test still has not been done, but we are in family court and they are trying to schedule the DNA test and birth mom interview for the same day. So hopefully it will be done within the next week or two. We are heading down to Guatemala in 3 weeks and the time is going by soooooooo slow! Thankfully with Christmas and stuff we are keeping fairly busy. Tom's new business is picking up quite well so it's starting to look like Kirsten might have both mommy and daddy home with her :-) which would be absolutely awesome! Hope everyone has a very Happy Holiday!

As I freeze my butt off in Canada waiting for my expeditied passport I got great news that we received DNA authorization on Dec. 5th, and the test should be done soon if it hasn't been already and a second wonderful email!

Kirstens 3 month medical and a few more pictures!!!!


Medical:
I saw Cristel Sofia 3 month old girl with normal physical exam she has a nice social smile and follow everithing with her eyes, W:11p., 8oz., L:58cms. (23 inches), HC:38.5cms (15.4 inches), 1st. dose dpt, polio, Hep.B., H. influ. type B.Mynor Vivas MD.

More pics:








-Diana

We LOVE our agency!!! We got new pictures today, she is 2 months and 3 weeks old here. We received about 10 in total, below are a few. They were taken over the weekend...

~*All Smiles*~

~* Tired little girl*~

~*So Girly :-)*~

To see the rest click here


We are so blessed!!!

Yippeee! Kinda We just got an email from our agency asking us to fill out a new I-600 form and priority ship it to our attorney in Guatemala. They said our attorney went to the embassey today and all 3 of his files got rejected because they didn't believe they were originals....So I'm hoping this means one of them was ours! I was sad because I hadn't heard anything about DNA yet....this is not good news but at least it some news LOL which is the yippe part

I did the only thing I can for our little princess right now, I mailed her FM (foster mom) a package today with another camera and 2 winter outfits :-)

and onto some not so great news....

OK so I broke down today and asked our agency if they had heard anything yet and their response was "no info on this front yet". Can I be sad and pout for a bit? I know I should not be expecting anything yet but it's so hard to see the fact she will be 3 months old in a week and a half, It honestly breaks my heart. I see all these timelines with DNA 2, 3 and 4 weeks after their ppw is in Guatemala and your not supposed to compare timelines BUT COME ON!!! there is no way any sane person couldn't compare them. I swear if we don't have at least DNA by christmas I will cry! *pout pout* Don't get me wrong we have an AWESOME agency, I don't think I could even ask for anything better. I think the whole reason this is making me crazy is the fact that I want to do everything in my control to get her home asap and even though I know this already....when your dealing with Guatemalan adoption, control is the one thing you don't have.

and to think this is just the beginning.....

:-( No DNA yet.....I'm trying really really hard not to ask our agency for a status until Dec. 4th, which would be 4 weeks our dossier would be in Guatemala. Hopefully we already have DNA authorization and they just didn't notify us (we paid for our dna test in the amount we sent when we accepted our referral, some agencies have you pay for it with a credit card @ time of the test) Once we get the authorization things *should* move fairly quickly because 99% of the time they do the DNA and interview with the mom the same day which saves some time!

Oh well hopefully this week will pass by QUICK!

To our surprise we received a video from our agency today from their trip in the beginning of October. There is about a 30 second clip of Kirsten (Cristel Sofia by birthname). In the video they have the wrong sign with a different baby's name, but they figured that out after a few seconds.

The whole clip tommy took from the video is about 4 megs so it may take a second to load.

Here's the link
http://dietzel.com/kirsten.html

Now if only we would hear on DNA and FC I would be estatic!

-Diana

Found this very interesting and sad. It was posted on the adoption form I visit.

(taken from the World Fact Book, the World Bank, and US Dept of State):

Out of 100 children born in Guatemala:

1 will be adopted by a US family
5 will not make it to their 5th birthday
16 will be born with low birth weight
22 will never see the inside of a school
28 will never learn how to read and write
54 will grow up in extreme poverty and malnourishment
74 will never make it to the 7th grade
84 will need to travel over an hour to reach a health care facility.

We got a new picture! Yippee!!!!!!! She is 1 month 3 weeks in this picture :-) We just love her to pieces!

Woo Hoo! We got an updated medical report for Kirsten (I'm not sure when it was done but it was probably in the last week or so) She is now 9lbs 8 oz, 21 inches long and her head is 14 inches round. Someone likes to eat ;-) 3 pounds since birth and she is almost 2 months old! Glad to see she is gaining weight and growing! Below is the report from the doctor:

I saw Cristel Sofia Gutierrez (Kirsten's birthname) with a normal physical exam. She follows everything around her with the eyes, she says aju, aju, and has a nice social smile. W:9p 8oz., L:54cms., HC:37cms.,
Mynor Vivas MD.

I think we have another smarty pants in the family (Nisey you better watch out LOL j/k)

Well that just made my weekend! They sent pictures but they didn't work so hopefully over the weekend or monday we will get the pictures :-)

Well I got word from our agency that our dossier went to Guatemala either yesterday or the day before :-) So thats good news! It will take probably about a week between mailing time and actual translation before it is actually translated and we can be submitted for DNA and family court. If dna, family court and preapproval from the us embassey all take there average amount of time (considering we have no hold ups) then we should be able to visit in January and hopefully we will be in PGN around that time if not right after!!!! Our agency doesn't allow you to visit without DNA being done, and I don't want to wait to book flights/hotel because we may not get one then so I think we will just book everything with the ability to cancel and get refunded.

No updated pictures yet :-( I can't wait to get our next set of pictures! She will be 2 months old in 11 days and we haven't seen new pictures of her since she was 3 weeks old! I am so curious to see how much she has grown and changed.

Our dossier got to our agency today and they said it will go to Guatemala hopefully this week. The next step is translation which will take a few days to a week. After that is when things really get complicated. We have to wait for DNA to be done and family court (interview with birthmom). Most babies that are taken back by their moms are usually taken back either within the first 2 weeks the babies are in foster care or at the DNA appointment, so if we can just get past the appointment then I will feel 100% better!

-Diana

Paperchasing is DONE!!!!! Our dossier was authenticated today and to our surprise we got our 171-H (immigration approval) today also!!!! Tomorrow is the day it is no longer in our control.....I'm praying our lawyer is quick with this stuff and we can get her home a.s.a.p. :-)

Road Trip!!!!

I'm dragging my best friend niki to Tallahassee on Tuesday to get our dossier state certified and then we are going to Miami on Thursday to get it authenticated by the Guatemala consulate! Which means our dossier will be done by FRIDAY!!!!!! Yes!!! Finally after 3 months of paperchasing! Hopefully our INS office will have our 171-H to us by early next week. Our agency seems to be pretty quick with family court and dna authorization so hopefully by January/February we will be in PGN (The last BIG stage in the process)

But on a side note I finally have pictures to post of the nursery...It's still in the early stages of painting and decorating but I am in love with Kirsten's crib (even though I can't leave it like that for long!)


*In Love w/ the Canopy*


*Close up of her Bedding and Stuffed Animals*


*Picture does no justice for these beautiful paintings*


*Yes I have a HUGE shopping problem!!!*

The last 2 weeks have seemed like forever, I can't imagine what the rest of this wait is going to be like!

Finalized home study is here!!!! Our agency is reviewing it and tomorrow it is on it's way to Immigration in Tampa! Thankfully things are moving right along now, and hopefully they will stay that way!

I can't believe tomorrow will be one week we have had our referral of Kirsten. Our agency informed us that the director is going there at the beginning of November and they will allow us to send 1 gallon size ziplock of stuff to her. So today was spent hunting through the closet of clothes she already has and picking out the 0-3 mts. and 3-6 mts. stuff, washing and packing them. I originally had 11 outfits stuffed into a gallon size ziplock (don't ask me how but I did) but I have now settled on sending 8. We are also sending disposable camera's for her foster mom to take pictures of her with, which I am kind of excited about because then we will have some picture for her scrapbook of the months she spent in Guatemala.

So we have decided that we are going to go for a visit trip sometime in January. Tom and Debbie are coming with us, which makes me feel 100% more comfortable because I don't know how much I would have liked being 1000's of miles away with a baby for the first time. And of course I am already thinking about stuff to bring....more baby clothes and cameras, video camera, etc...I am going to have her foster mom give us back the disposable cameras I'm sending now while we are there that way we can start her scrapbook (help keep me busy in the final few months)

Oh and BTW finalized homestudy should be here tomorrow!!! YIPPIE!

-D

What a day! All the paperwork is done! For now:-( LOL We sent in all the confirmation paperwork for Kirsten and of course can't send that in without a check *figures* and now lets hope for a smooth next couple of months!

So I've decided I'm buying stock in the post office...I feel like I live there lately with all this dossier paperwork and it's not over yet. I'm going to need a vacation after this dossier is finished! One more month and it should be over!

Maybe I can con Tom into hanging up the pictures we got for her room and then I can post some pictures! Hope she grows up to like purple (I HATE it!) because the nursery is pink and purple! I'm not worried about the pink, all little girls like pink :-)

-D

We got pictures of our little cutie!


*She is all cheeks!*


*I don't think someone was very happy LOL*


*Yawning??? Got me! :-) Tom's favorite picture! LOL*

Baby K has arrived!

Last night after the sad loss of our previous referral (Thank gosh it was only after a few hours!) we were blessed with our little princess! She was born 9/10/06 in Guatemala City, Guatemala. She weighted 6 pounds, and was 18.9 inches long. She was born with an eye infection :-( but the doctor gave her medicine and said other then that she is perfectly healthy! Now is the hard part....sitting by for the next 5-7 months for her to come home! Tom and I are ecstatic about our new baby girl; we can't wait until she's home and are able to introduce her to all our family and friends.