Visiting in April!

Waiting on the "uncontrollable" aspects of Guatemalan adoption is the most frustrating. Currently we are waiting on pre-approval in order to re-enter PGN. It seems the Embassy these days isn't too concerned about doing anything too quickly. I know they are overwhelmed and under-staffed, but pre-approval should be a fairly standard procedure. Now days, it is even hard to get a legitimate response from and email - the automatically generated response isn't exactly helpful while waiting.

As we wait, we have been contemplating the best time to visit. We most definitely intended to visit prior to exiting PGN in order to bring our daughter home on an IR3 visa as opposed to an IR4. In Illinois, we don't necessarily have to readopt - even though most recommend it - as long as she comes home on an IR3. Soooooo, we booked our tickets today for an April visit. We'll be flying down over our Easter vacation from school to meet our little girl and do some "catching up" with Feliciano and his family. We are anxious to hold her and get a better understanding of her personality. We are a bit nervous, because in our first adoption we didn't meet Amaya until she was 8 months of age. Gloria will not quite be five months old, and that makes us a little nervous. We haven't even prepared ourselves for going back to bottles and "mucho" diapers!! Reality will set in quickly.

Even with the.........

excitement of visiting baby Gloria, we are holding our emotions "in check" for Alexia. As much as we would like to announce to the world that we will be bringing two little girls home in due time, we understand just how unpredictable that possibility is at the moment. We anticipate her abandonment to be complete the first of May. We can start her adoption a couple weeks after that, but a lot could happen between now and then. Not to mention we have some documentation addendums to be completed after Gloria's adoption is complete and prior to starting Alexia's adoption. I guess if it were for the "faint of heart," everyone would do it! 8)

We're hoping to spend significant time in Antigua - we miss it dearly. The beautiful scenery of volcanoes, historic cathedrals, and cobblestone roads, along with the wonderful weather make it a place that everyone should see. Our travel dates are set for April 7th through the 13th. If anyone needs something to be taken to Feliciano's hogar, just let me know and we'll sure help in anyway we can.

tw