NEWS!!!!!

The agency called today and said that they had the authorization for the birth certificate!!!

This is what we've waited nine weeks for! They expect to get the new, improved birth certificate next week and deliver our file to the US Embassy by the end of next week. Then the lawyer who is handing over the file will get the DNA authorization from the Embassy, they will do a second DNA test to make sure she's the same baby who was tested at the very beginning. The results will be fedexed to Labcorp in NC, and once the Embassy receives the hard copy results, they will schedule our Embassy appointment. That has been traditionally scheduled 10-14 days in the future. So, we're thinking that we'll at least be traveling by the end of June!

Our Agency person, Julie, was very happy to deliver good news, as there hasn't been much of that coming out of Guatemala lately and lots of families are waiting for any good news in the face of ever-increasing new rules and regs and uncertainty.

That probably means that we will NOT be meeting Ann & Mark & CO in Missoula for the half marathon. We will have to find another one later or in the fall. I know Mark's been training for it.

I will post more updates as I get them. I will hear from the Agency once the file is handed over, when the DNA is done, etc...


Here are a few more of the recent pics:

More pics, Still no news

I don't know why we have more pics so soon after the last (with no medical update either time, BTW), but we'll take them. I think we're going to miss the entire "baby" phase- she looks like a little person (a pretty big one at that compared to her FM, but then the avg height there is shorter than here). I have sorted through all the clothes that I've bought on eBay and anything that's 9mths or less will be being re-sold on eBay soon. That's most of them. Oops. That's what I get for believing in April that it was happening soon and diving in. At least I haven't installed the car seats yet, so we're not driving around with empty seats in the back.

No News, more pics

New Pics

She just keeps getting cuter and cuter.......

Absolutely no news

Well, I talked to the agency last week, and they had nothing to tell me. Except that we're among the lucky ones, as we're at least out of PGN, the court system and by Guatemalan law, Katerine is our baby. There are up to 3,000 cases still in the courts and the attorney general has brought in all new people to complete them, had shut them down for over a month AND has implemented a new process that involves the interviews (I've read that this is often also an interrogation and that offers to bribe the birth mother to take their babies back have occurred) of each and every birth mother. They released 180 cases last week, and annulled 15 cases. Those cases may well have been annulled for a good reason(s)... we'll never know.

We're past that stage, which is great, but still awaiting the birth certificate. The agency called us on 4/7 with the news that all we needed was the new birth certificate issued in our names from her hometown (Municipalidad de Barberena, Santa Rosa). BUT that they had implemented a new process for getting BCs and that the first one done in this municipality took 2 months. So they estimated that it would take less than that. This now seems unlikely, as today is 7 weeks. ONCE they get the BC, then we're almost done. They have to finish translating our file (all but the BC could have-and hopefully has-been done in the previous 7 weeks), which traditionally takes 3 weeks, but will hopefully take less. Once the file is translated, then the 2nd DNA test takes place (to make sure it's the same baby they tested against the mother at the beginning), and once the US Embassy gets hard copy results of the DNA test, about a week, then they issue our interview date 10-14 days from then, and THEN we head to Guatemala City.

So, it could be worse, far, far worse, but we're hoping to finish this process sooner than later and meet our little girl. And are hoping that she fits in the diapers/clothes, etc that we finally broke down and bought when traveling looked imminent.

The idiot twins and I road-tripped to Calgary when Dan was on his east coast tour. We had a great time, great weather and a ton of fun. Wendy threw us a baby shower, which was wonderful. We got to see all of our favorite two and four legged Calgarians and the dogs got just a little spoiled. He had scrambled eggs for breakfast more than once. By the last morning, Boo caught on and refused his kibble, so Wendy cooked them both eggs as a sendoff. We were all reluctant to leave.

New Kat pics

Here are some Kat pics that I just received. Can't tell if she has any teeth yet, as she's not smiling. She's 19lbs, 9oz at 8.5 months. She appears to be a good eater. No news on when we move on to the next step, let alone when we go get her.

This week's news

Well, there is no news on the Kat front, I'm really, really hoping there will be some soon. We HAVE to hear something next week. Anything would be good. Well, maybe not anything..... I suspect that it could get worse.

The good news is that I am currently off for the summer (whether or not summer ever actually arrives in the PNW-which is hasn't yet), with partial pay, as I got laid off yesterday! Work has been really slow and I thought that there might be layoffs. I was right.

That's it. I'll let y'all know when we learn something new.

Cat news....no Kat news

Our very sad cat news is that after 18.5 years of loyal service protecting his siblings, moving with us to 8 different locations in 2 countries, and, 6 weeks barely surviving on bugs on his self -imposed sabbatical in urban Calgary at (15 years of age), Dippy the Brave has passed on. He can now resume protecting his siblings (and his own pet Mr. Mistopholes) on another plane, as they have all preceeded him.

Dan and I were there at the beginning, when he was born in my sock drawer almost two decades ago, and we were there when he was stricken last night. He was a big, tough guy to the end- he had a stroke or heart attack, pitched off the table and was gone within three minutes. When it was over, Ben lay next to him, both in the house and then in the yard as we (Dan) dug his grave. And Ben was the principal mourner once the hole was dug, he was laying there with his paws in the hole, trying (I think) to figure out why we were burying his cat. That was really interesting to see... He will be missed. He already is.

As for the human Kat, we know nothing. I will call this week to see if there's any news, though I'm confident that they'd let me know if there was. I have heard/read that the new gov't/program is installing its own corrupt officials and that the whole PGN/court system has ground to a halt. If there's any truth to this rumor, I am very happy that at least we've successfully completed that step. Or even if there isn't, I'm still happy about that. We'll try to get some idea if they know anything, as Dan's going to be traveling in mid-May for almost 2 weeks if it looks like we won't be heading to GC in that timeframe, and I think it unlikely at this point.

That's all the news from here. Thanks for reading and I'll keep you posted.

BTW, we went to the pound and brought home a new feline cat today....... Emma. We had a vacancy. With any luck, the next Kat we bring home will be human.

New Pics

Well, at 7.5 months, she weighs 19 pounds..... I guess she has been making up for starting out so tiny. We have no news, no update on how this new step is going , nor how long it will take. I just looked at a growth chart and 19 lbs at 8 months is dead center in the middle. I thought it might be on the high end.

We have had a great time skiing in Whistler. Conditions the first 2 days were great, even saw a little sun. Third day we got snowed on a lot, had some clear weather and some good skiing. Today, winds and temps of -19C at the peak (thus guaranteeing that the snow would NOT soften up) kept us off the hills. But we drove around the mountains a bit and found the bobsled/luge sliding center, so that was cool. And we saw the doggie dancing competition--today was the "dog day" of the Snowboard Festival taking place in Whistler. Dan has a new goal- teaching Ben to Samba. Or waltz, I'm not sure if he has decided yet.

I'll let you know if there's any news.

No news, we're heading to Whistler

Hi all,

Well, nothing new to report. And there probably won't be for a while. The good news is that we will make our Whistler trip with no problem. And we won't have to travel to GC immediately after our vacation. We'll have some time to decompress and Dan can recover from tax season (which he could really use, the last week's been pretty rough).

John is here and we did DT Seattle on Saturday- it was a rare and wonderful 72 degrees! It didn't last, but it was a perfect day to be outside and DT. We ran the Whidbey Island marathon on Sunday. Well, Dan worked; John ran the whole and kicked butt with a 4:02 time; and I "ran" the half with a 2:40 time. the course was EXTREMELY hilly- there wasn't a mile on the half that was flat (and thus I walked a lot). We leave for Whistler tomorrow and the boys head to the spa.

Look at that form.....very impressive after 26.2 miles. I don't think he even broke a sweat.

Good News...and Bad News...

Well, the agency just called me and the good news is that the birth mother finally signed off (she now lives in Mexico and they had to track her down) for the third (fourth?) and final time and in Guatemala's eyes, she is now our baby. This took (much) longer than expected.

The bad news is that Monday is probably NOT my last day of work (we're heading to Whistler to ski with John on Tuesday), as the Guatemalan government has implemented a new pilot program in some smaller locales just the slow down the process. Well, maybe that isn't the intent.....

The City Hall in the town where Kat was born is one of the agencies piloting this program. I don't know exactly what the program entails, nor what they're trying accomplish. The program is allegedly called RANEP, though I couldn't find anything on-line about it at all (if you do, please mail me the links). Anyway, the very first adoption to go through this program took two months to get signed off under RANEP. We are not the first, but are among the first, so they are estimating from two weeks to two months, likely on the shorter side, but who knows.

The Agency said they would ask the lawyer to start translating our file documents now, so that there isn't an additional three weeks for translation AFTER this new step. So we are back to....we don't have a clue when we'll be traveling and when we will bring her home. The remaining steps after this new one, are file translation (about three weeks-hopefully much less), final DNA test (about a week) and then the Embassy appointment scheduled ten-fourteen days from the Embassy's receipt of the hard copy results of the DNA test.

That is the update. No news on when Kat's first plane ride will take place. It looks like we just may be reverting back to a late May to June-ish pickup date.

I will keep you posted.

It still doesn't seem like spring here, though I have cut the grass twice already. And we didn't have snow this weekend, so that's a plus.

What the.......

Well, no Katerine news to report, but the pics show what our yard looked like this morning In Bellevue. In LATE March. I don't think anyone is getting an early spring this year.

We left Bellevue at 5 last night to go to the Springsteen concert DT Seattle (which was awesome, BTW) and came back at midnight to 3-4 inches of snow on the gound. None falling. There was absolutely no snow in Seattle, and it wasn't till we crossed the bridge back to Bellevue that we started to see snow.

Waiting.....

More happy baby pics. I hope she laughs like this all the way home on the plane.

From 8/21/07- the early days
From 10/21/07- getting bigger

No updates. I'm posting some pics of Kat that you haven't seen yet. We should be down to 4-6 weeks now. Or less? I've been updating the baby registry on amazon.com, shopping at Target (we have to take stuff with us for any eventuality- all sorts of baby drugs, all feeding implements (is that what they're called?)). The only things we don't need to take with us are diapers and formula, as they will take us shopping there for those items. I think we will only be there 5 days or so. Sunday- Thursday, I think.

Once we get there, they will take us out on three (extremely well guarded) trips: the store for diapers/formula, the American Embassy for our appointment with the Embassy folks (I think that Kat also will see a Dr. on that trip) and to the Guatemalan craft market, which will be a great place to stock up on all things Mayan for Kat for the future.

Our progress: the crib is set up, I ordered & received a high tech/high end jogging stroller from REI. I really plan to run with her and we're signing up for a July half-marathon, so Kat may do her first half soon. I started buying diapers, finally, now that I have some idea what size she'll be when we get her. Can't buy formula yet- have to see what the Dr. says about what to put her on (and what she's on already). I've bought clothes in lots on eBay, so we have a vast array of baby clothes (and sizes). I researched car seats, but haven't yet bought them. I suppose it's time, especially since we want to take them to a car seat check to make sure they're correctly installed, since we are clueless.

We have just two more full weekends left, we assume. John flies in on Friday 4/11, we're checking out Seattle and maybe going to listen to the Dalai Lama on Saturday, on Sunday at some ungodly hour, we will head to Whidbey Island (about 2 hrs away) I'm running the 1/2 marathon and John's running the whole (has been training hard in the snow in BUF-CRAZY). Dan will be doing the 1/2 if he's not working that day. A few days of recovery/work then on the 15th, we all head to Whistler to ski for four days and return on 4/20. I'm hopeful that we'll then head to GC that night, but who knows (though if we're going, we will know before we leave for Whistler).

Though we could head to GC sooner. Who knows? I'll post any info here once I get it.

Very Happy Baby Pics

Be sure to read the previous post for the scoop on Kat's planned emigration in early May.

BIG NEWS

Well the agency called today and said that we're out of PGN (the court system). So much for the average of 10-12 weeks, we cleared it in 4!! They said that since we were among the first to hit the courts after the law changes, there was no one ahead of us.

So, the current projected timeframe to travel to pick her up is about the first or second week of May!!! Holy crap!!! I was beyond any expectation that she'd come home in May, so this is indeed amazing news. It's all very rough timeframe-wise and subject to change, in either direction.

The next steps if, you're curious, as I understand them are:
The attorney will get her birth mom's fourth and final sign off on the adoption, then will get a new birth certificate with her new last name (Cassidy....for now). These events could take a few days, or a few weeks. Then they will get her a Guatemalan passport, which takes a few days. Documents will have to be translated and returned to the Embassy, that's about 3 weeks, then the Embassy will issue the order for the 2nd DNA test (to make sure she is the same baby who was tested along with her mom back when all of this started) and once the hard copy of the DNA test gets back to the Embassy, they issue a pink slip, which means that we have an appointment with them 10-14 days in the future and then we'll practically be on our way! Holy crap!!!

We have to do some shopping (can you say Amazon.com and Target.com?) !! At this rate, we may practically go from Whistler to Guatemala City. Cool!

When I hear more, I will post it so y'all will know what's happening and how soon we expect to wrench Kat from the nearly tropical climate that she's used to and bring her to the Pacific NorthWest. At least she'll see summer first.

No actual news, more Pictures

2/29/08

2/29/08

From 12-28-08

Well, the agency called today and said that we actually entered PGN (the court system) on 2/14. Traditionally this has taken 8-12 weeks. But of course, there may be new roadblocks due to the new system. Or maybe there will be fewer cases and it'll be sooner. We don't know. Then they have to get a new birth certificate, a Guatemalan passport, translate our file, do embassy stuff, and that is estimated to take 4-8 weeks after getting out of PGN. SO...as usual, we don't really know anything definitive. It's looking like late June? But could be sooner or later. Stay tuned.

No News, but some new pictures

No new medical info.....I expect some shortly. I'm not sure that the poor kid will ever be dressed this cute once we get a hold of her..... shoes? She's not going to wear shoes!

Our Visit to Meet Kat

Well, we were scheduled to travel to Guatemala City on 2/28-3/3. The agency called us this week and said there was a problem with the hotel- there was a golf tournament and they didn't have rooms for visiting adopting parents. So, they are giving us 2 free nights at the hotel when we do go in lieu of the cancellation charges on our tickets.We admit to being a little relieved, as I was on the Department of State's travel advisory site and GC seems to be of questionable safety.

At this point, we are planning on not visiting and just doing the pick up trip. Which means she will NOT be a US citizen when we land, but we have to re-adopt her here anyway.Still no word on when that pick up trip will be. We are hoping that will happen in May, but who knows. Here are some new Kat pictures. She is about 5.5 months. Weight is 16 pounds 13 ounces and she is 64 centimeters long.

2/23/08 Post

We have absolutely nothing new to report on anything. However, I have some Kat pics, that while not really new, many of you haven't seen. So I will post some.

I was in Denver last weekend to help Jill celebrate her 40th and to meet her twin boys. They were very cute, but everyone was sick most of the weekend and when I left, Jill and one of the boys had 101 temps (I was at 97.7- apparently the control). Jill said she was up to 105 degrees later in the week and then diagnosed with strep. So far so good for me...... and whomever gets the blood that I donated on Friday morning.

New Pictures..Nothing Else New

That's it, we have some new pics, but no new medical info and no news on when we'll be heading to GC to pick her up.