What a wonderful family. My heart was overjoyed with the news of your return. Continue to pray for this family as the readjust to 'normal' life. What is that anyway!?!?

WELCOME HOME & CONGRATULATIONS TROY, LISA & AMAYA!!

AMY RICH

Congratulations for staying strong, and welcome home! I have a feeling I know who Troy and Lisa were dealing with -- my attorney was banned by the U.S. Embassy and the facilitator/agency abandoned our case. It took us a year to get our daughter home.

P.J. Barnes

Kevin is absolutely correct about you guys.

Congrats on making it home!

I am so glad you are home...I hope some day you write a book to share your story...it's a story that needs to be told!!

Your success gives us hope. Our case has taken seventeen months and it has been one problem after another. High hopes followed by crushing disappointments. Now we are almost done (so we are told), but after all this time do we dare to think we will have our daughter soon? Your story tells us that there are happy endings at the end of these long roads to adoption. Congratulations !

A big thanks to everyone who helped us along the way. There have been so many people that have played a "part" in getting us home legally and safely. In the nine months we spent fostering and living in Antigua (at least one of us), we have met so many wonderful people. Many adoptive families and many great folks from Guatemala that came from every "walk of life."

You'll be happy to know that Amaya is doing great, but we didn't really expect anything less. We believe she senses this is her final stop!! She is sooo content and happy and she is a "hit" everywhere she goes. Lisa just brought her to school where I teach (for more pictures), and the Jr. High went nuts over her. The students have been aware of our nearly two-year saga for some time now!! We actually took her to her first basketball game last night, and it was great!!

It is so hard to speak of every detail of our case, because some of it still is a little confusing. I have held off from posting how our case "really" unfolded, but I will attempt to explain sometime in the near future.

Best wishes from a VERY happy family!!

Troy, Lisa, and Amaya

Dear Lawrence,
My heart goes out to you and your family. Hang in there. Please let us know when you get the good news.
EB

I had the same lawyer, agency and facilitators that Troy, Lisa and Amaya had, and spent time with these lovely people while I was in Antigua for 3 weeks that turned into 3 months, and I can vouch for the whole experience being a confusing nightmare for all of us. I hope this agency's license is pulled as soon as possible, and I would love to be involved in that process. Troy an Lisa's experience was much worse than mine, but mine was no picnic either, and I made it known to this agency on a continual basis over my 19 month process. Mysteriously, I have been removed from their mailing list, even though I asked to remain on their referral list, as I think people need to know the truth about their unethical practices. But, as luck would have it, they washed their hands of me the moment our plane landed. Oh well!!! Good ridance. My daughter has been home for 7 months now and we couldn't be happier. And we couldn't be happier for Troy, Lisa and Amaya. They deserve it, and without a doubt, have earned it. God speed!!!

jc

For anyone interested, the agency in question was Reaching Arms International and their Guatemalan facilitator was/is Mary Bonn. If you're researching agencies - stay from these people!

Well, I hope that we are not victims. Our attorney is Aida Caldaron and she is now using Mary Bonn. Our daughter is in abandonment and we are supposed to get her in 90 days. Can anyone offer advice to get our daughter home?

By no means did I intend to create an uproar. Most of the uncertainties passed many months ago. Mary, just as Jessie Garcia did, openly expressed a sincere mistake in working with Blanca Martinez. There were several prominent "adoption people" that were taken in by this "Medusa" of an attorney. If we "black list" one, we must "black list" them all!!

As much as we toiled emotionally and financially with our adoption, we still completely understand and appreciate the "fact" that, if it were not for Mary Bonn "digging her heels in" (and her red nails!!), we would not have gotten our daughter home. We respect that we were not abandoned in some really really rough times. I witnessed first hand how hard Mary fought for our case and others, as well. And, when dealing with Blanca, not all information can be passed on to adoptive families. Nothing Blanca said or says to this day is reliable.

Even as we celebrate our homecoming, there are still families in turmoil with this wicked attorney. We know what they are going through, and how little they will get from their agency, as far as information goes. But, if Mary is working on the case, they are absolutely in the best hands they can be in for this situation.

In due time, the responsible party will be "called to the carpet." This is one family that will not allow it to unfold in any other fashion.

Troy

My wife and I have just started researching Guat.I am overwhelmed by the different agencies, fees and uncertainties. We would sincerely appreciate any referrals of reputable agencies that aren't price gouging families. So far most agencies run about 23K. Is that pretty normal? Thanks for the help.

Roger, I tried to email you with my referral for an agency, but my computer was not cooperating. I would love to give you an excellent recommendation if you will email me.

Well, okay, I'm glad for those who were helped by Mary Bonn's and RAI's facilitation. But their names are out their under a dark cloud for some reason. She was my facilitator and I never met her or Medusa, Esq. After a long, arduous, emotionally trying and outrageously and unexplained wait and expense, I had to hire someone else to finish my case for an additional fee. I couldn't be happier that she worked out for you, but she does not work out for everyone.

Welcome home!!!!!! Any agency can run through a good adoption case with success and happy clients. What really tests these adoption agencies and facilitators is when problems arise and how they handle them. That stated, we ran into problems and was absolutely disgusted with how things were handled. With great dissapointment, we completely lost any trust and respect for them. We ran into problems with our attorney (Blanca) and they did not hold any of their words in relation to their statements and letters sent to our house. I ended up flying down there in an emergency because I had a gut feeling that our little one was not doing well. Spoke on the phone to our facilitator and was told that I just saw him and he is just fine, just lazy. Anyways, a very sad blind eye to the real problem. Found him completely starving and in a state of complete withdrawl. 16months and not even able to hold his own head up. Just a tiny, tiny piece of the diception that made us loose all respect for our "Christian" agency. Lies, deception, and utmost disrespect for sincerity and honesty. I hope they will get what they deserve so others do not need to go through what so many of us have. For them, I hope somewhere in their hearts and souls they can feel something. It saddens me to think that people can deal with such helpless little children and feel no remorse. Don't just sit there and accept it that this is how it is. Help these little ones, not just in getting them home.

Sorry for this all in between, but again, congratulations on bringing your new family home.

Thank you for putting the details into words about this "Christian" agency and their lying, deceptive facilitators and lawyer. I couldn't agree more with everything you said and I can relate to the pain of the process. These people belong in jail!!!!

Congrats are in order first off! It is always a happy day when a child arrives home to their forever family!

I am saddened at the tone of the most recent comments. Of course everyone is entitled to their own opinion but it hard to see how much resentment there is for any agency. I can speak from experience with a poorly run adoption but after time passed and I was able to seperate my emotions from the facts of the adoption process, and things became much clearer. Sometimes there is only so much an agency can do. Legally their hands are tied. My daughter almost died and came home at 2 years old weighing 15 pounds, couldn't walk or hold her head up and was severly delayed, dehydrated and malnourished. Is that my US agencies fault? No, at the time I thought it was but now I realize it was not. They did what they legally could to assist, which of course I didn't think was enough, but there are legal boundaries for them. They have other adoptions and other clients and as much as we would all like to believe that our case is the most important, all the cases are. The main thing here is that when we are adopting internationally things can happen that we do not understand, things can happen that we do not like or agree with and that is part of it. Things are totally out of our control and I know for myself it drove me crazy. I just wanted my babies home. My son came home quickly and was in wonderful health and my daughter had to suffer? Why? Who knows? I certainly do not think it is fair to attack someones morals because her health was ailing. I think we should all be proactive and take a large part in the process. I was encouraged to visit with our Guatemalan adoption and I did. I think it is a great way to bond with your child and also to see their status for yourself.

I am glad the kids have come home, we are our children's best advocates.

I have contacted a few of you privately and am havng a hard time with some of the email addresses. They seem to be bouncing and coming from an unknown source. I guess anyone can make up an email address and say whatever they want if they don't have to be held accountable for their words.

Angie

Wow-- I am sorry that "many" of you have such negative feeligns about your adoption. I have 3 beautiful children from Guatemala (one process was 3 months adn the other was 9 months) and one bio. There is great variences in adoption time because of how eash case proceeds leagally though the courts. I have to say that my pregnancy was the hardest of them all being that I had 9 weeks of bedrest-- I knew that was what was needed to get her here and it was not my docotrs fault that I needed bedrest, he cared as much as I did. It is the same with Reaching Arms and Mary Bonn. They care and love and do everything and more in their power to get these kids fabulous care and home "soon". You canot blame others actions and disreputable behavior on them. I could NEVER adopt from Guat without using them. God has greatly used them to bring together our beautiful family. I love them!
I have been home for 3 1/2 weeks with my twin sons and after the first week we spent 24 hours with each of them in the hospital. They came home with Rotavirus (diarrhea). I am a pediatric nurse I have seen this MANY times over with kids here. It is a common virus that your child can get from a grocery cart. In no way do I think that Mary or RAI is in any responsible for this. I called to let them knwo and they were very caring and supprotive of anything we might need. My bio daughter ended up in the hospital at 1 month for 3 days with a respiratory virus-- it was not my fault or anyone else's. God puts circumstances i our lives to santify and refine us. If you are looking to avoid extra trials then I would not reccommed adoption. The trail is frought with challenge and unexpected pitfalls that no one can forsee. I know firsthand that RAI and Mary care deeply about the children they work with and about their families.
As far as RAI being a Christian agency, I know Nila and many of their staff-- They love the Lord and are "working out their salvation" by helping bring orphaned children home to their families. I am greatly sorry that this process, that is a reflection of how God adopts us through Christ's sacrifcie, has caused many of you to become bitter and lose sight of joy. There is no hesitancy on my part to whole-heartedly reccomend them to anyone wanting to adopt from Guatemala.
Sicerely-- Ruth

By the way-- I forgot to congratulate all of you on you new family. I know that I am greatly enjoying mine. Blessings-- ruth

Can anyone help with a referral to a reputable and honest agency??? My husband and I have been researching agencies on the internet but it is all so overwhelming! We live in Ohio and would prefer an agency based in Ohio but will go out of state if need be. We would love to adopt from Guatemala. My apologies if this is not the correct place to post this question, we are just getting desperate. Please feel free to e-mail us at shane@bartelsinc.com. Thank you!