More news

We received news this week that the "lawsuit" that was filed against the PGN for these birthmother interviews was not successful, but they have appealed it. If we want to go forward with the birthmother interview we would have to sign a waiver saying that our agency (and the lawyer who is the director of the orphanage that Rosalia was at) are not liable if the PGN decides that something is not right during the interview and wants to remove Rosalia, etc. After talking with several people, (and some restless nights) we have decided to proceed, since most of the other lawyers and adoptive parents are doing so. We also won't go anywhere until this interview is done. The appeal and court stuff will take too long. From our reports MOST of the interviews are going well, although there is always the chance that the birthmother can change her mind and if she doesn't answer something to the satisfaction of the interviewers they can ask for further investigation. If the interview goes well, reports are that "most" cases are being released within 2-3 weeks now.

Kind of scary, but we thought it best to try and get this hurdle out of the way so we can try and get home sooner. Hopefully we will hear more this week.

Rosalia and I have been able to get to know some of the other adoptive parents and their children in the apartment complex. Still raining everyday.. mostly in the afternoons. Rosalia is still walking while holding onto things. She has been a little more verbal and is doing the cutest scrunch of her nose when she smiles. She is the cutest girl.... IF I must say so!!

I will let you know when we find out when our interview will be. We will need all the prayers we can get. Miss you all!!!
Linda and Rosalia

3 Months today and no end in sight

Well I landed in Guatemala 3 months ago. It seems like I just got here and like I have been here forever!?! I feel very blessed to have been able to be here with Rosalia and see her grow and change... truly an experience. She is pulling up on everything and walking, holding onto moms fingers. It has been a little harder since it is raining every day and cooler.. (we can't go to the swimming pool which was our most exciting outing of the week.) She still has only one tooth at 13 months! (I think another one is coming though on top.)

We got word from our agency yesterday that during one of the birthmother interviews for a child at the orphanage (one that Rosalia was at) the PGN ended up removing the child and again no one knows where. Supposedly there was a woman who claimed the child was hers. The director of the orphanage asked for them to do a DNA test, but they refused it at that time. Our attorney has filed an "ampro" with the courts to challenge these interviews and request that the DNA be done in 5 days. Supposedly, they have decided not to go to any more birthmother interviews if called. Soo.... we are waiting to hear how it turns out in the courts. We had not heard anything about our birthmother interview and now who knows when??? (I really wish we had ours done.)

It is hard to incorporate all the news that we hear about the things going on in PGN. There are some that say their interviews went fine and others have had their child forcibly removed and not told where they have placed the child. There doesn't seem to be a real system for when they release files/cases. There have only been a handful approved from what I have seen online and from what our lawyer says. Anyway, every day it seems like there is more craziness and frustration. It is impossible to relay everything.

Thank you for your prayers and please continue... God will get us home when he has planned.

Love to all and missing everyone-

Linda and Rosalia

A new month, a new place

Rosalia scooting around the new deck.

On a clear day you can see several of the volcanoes.

Street next to central park -celebrating the feast of Corpus Christi.

We moved this week into our new apartment. It is a 1 bedroom and smaller, but has some great views. We are also closer inside Antigua, so we can get anywhere pretty quick. There are a couple of other fostering moms in the complex as well, so we will have some others to play with.

On Friday we learned that PGN released some cases... so things are starting to move, but WE will still need a birthmother interview (different from what the social worker has already done.) We have heard in some of the interviews the mothers have been coerced into changing their minds, but most of the time they stand their ground with their decision to give the child up for adoption. If the BM is nervous and doesn't answer a question right, or they think there is anything questionable, they have "seized" the child and placed him/her somewhere without telling the BM or attorneys where till they investigate further.

It has been crazy times here and we have heard of several orphanages closing because there is no longer money to take care of the children. There are also many stories that I can't relay here. There are a lot of anxious parents (as you can imagine), but at least we saw some movement of things moving forward and hope to see more this week.

Rosalia has been pulling up on everything and loves to walk holding onto mommies fingers. Hope everyone has a great June. We have had rain every day the last week.

Love to all. Linda and Rosalia

Pictures of days together in Antigua

Peek-a-boo..... on our walk into town.

In the market -yum-yum!

I found an amigo in the market.

Where is KANSAS??

You don't see a McDonald's like this in the States.

Place where some of the women still do laundry. Go ahead boys-get at it!

Hey.. there's somebody else in my bathtub!

Some authentic Guatemalan cuisine complete with Gallo cerveza!!

Relaxing after playing some baseball.

Cerro de la Cruz

"Hill of the Cross" with Antigua below.

(Yes we walked up there!)

A classic:

Says "don't urinate here"

Mom must have been reading something

interesting!!

Hey- let me have some of that!!

Joshua reading Rosalia a book... "this is Mickey and this is Goofy."

Rosalia... "let me show YOU big brother."

We had such a good time together... I had to go in mourning after they left. Even Rosalia was fussier the next day. It has been a busy week though... I am looking for another place to live since it is just Rosalia and I now. (no roomate and no help with the rent)

Wednesday we went back into the city to see the doctor for Rosalia's 1 year check-up. She is doing really well although she is still only about 5% on the growth charts. (He said she is just small-surprise!)

For the rest of her developmental skills she has caught up to where she should be -YEAH! Dad was here for some major crawling and she is making Mom keep a closer eye on her since she is into everything. Worst part was 2 vaccination shots, but they were over quick.

As for progress with our case.... well, that is a longgggg story and will need another post. PGN still has not released any files since the end of April, but we are hearing it should be within a week. (Again, you don't want to hold your breath.) They are still interviewing the birthmothers and most likely will for all the rest of the cases left to be completed...around 2000. I will try and post more about the process.

Happy Memorial Day weekend.... wow the start of summer and in Guatemala it is their "winter" season. That means..RAIN. We have had some every afternoon/night this last week. Let's pray that Rosalia can see this 4th of July in the good old USA!!

Happy Birthday Rosalia!!

Well - I have my men here in Antigua for a week!! Tony and Joshua got here Friday and Joshua was so excited to go on this "adventure". Tony did a great job preparing him. He was really excited to fly in a plane and Mommy was sooo..... excited to see them. He has gotten so big!! He loved finally meeting his sister Rosalia in person. He likes to say "I'm a good big brother." He actually shares his Goofy her her!!

We celebrated Rosalia's birthday Saturday by walking around Antigua and showing Tony and Joshua some of the town. Bought her a cake that had fruit on top (Guatemalan style) and she went to town with it. You wouldn't know that she has only one tooth. We opened her birthday presents, but the big green duffel bag was the best - (full of toys and books from home!)

Sunday was a great Mother's day and Mom was treated well. The best thing of course was having my family together at last!! We went to church and out to eat and I got some wonderful presents from hubby and children. Joshua's daycare teacher has been taking pictures of Joshua while I have been gone and they were wonderful!!! Tony also took care of the kids (today) and mom went to have a massage and pedicure! My feet were looking pretty rough after several months of walking around Antigua.

Monday we hit the pool and had a great day. The hardest thing has been getting the naps in for both of the kids. They are on different schedules right now and we're trying to accommodate both. We have been walking around Antigua with sleeping children several times.

Tony has been taking pictures of EVERYTHING! (Taking over my brother Dean's job.) He is loving the time off of work and it is awesome to have the family together. We have some great video of Joshua helping feed Rosalia and play with her. We haven't got him to help with changing diapers yet (still working on that!) Rosalia has really taken off with her crawling and pulling up on things. She is enthralled with daddy's repertoire of noises that he can make and equally loves to watch big brother jump and sing.

We are looking forward to the rest of the week.... I know it will go by too fast.

Last week the PGN started some interviews with birth mothers for several of the cases that were signed off by the old attorney general. (This is part of the "audit" process that they said would happen with the new attorney general.) It appears that they are not going to release any files for adoption for several weeks. The newspaper reported that adoptions were being suspended for a month, but we hear different things every other day. I will keep you posted when we hear more about when things will start moving again.

Well, I better hit the sack... everyone else is asleep and the 6am wake-up call from Rosalia will come soon enough. Miss you all and hope all the mothers had a wonderful day last Sunday.

"Wait and see"

Waiting another week. May 1st was Labor Day in Guatemala, so PGN was closed and I doubt if anything got done on Friday either. Although we didn't get any news about cases except "wait and see" it was fun to have Melanie (my niece) here for the week. We got to explore some new restaurants in Antigua and the local market. She helped me stretch my "boundaries". We were out after dark!! I usually am home and putting Rosalia down for the night by 7pm. The pool at Hotel Antigua was also a hit for Rosalia. They will let you pay to swim for the day. She really enjoyed the water (just a bigger bathtub!) On Friday we took a tour of several villages close to Antigua. Saw 500 year old churches/monasteries and how most of the Guatemalan people live.

Melanie was surprised at how fast her Spanish came back! She is much better than her aunt.

Well, pray for good news this week. Tony and Joshua are coming in on Friday and we get to celebrate Rosalia's first birthday on Saturday!! Can't wait!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rosalia is really starting to crawl around on all 4! She also started pulling up on the furniture. (You go girl!!)
Love to all- Linda and Rosalia

UUGGGHHHH!

Well, we had some bad news this week. The president that took power in Jan. replaced the attorney general on Tuesday and then he proceeded to change the sub-attorney general who signs the adoption cases when they are ready to come out of PGN. There was also reviewers who were replaced. Soo.... what does all this mean??? No one knows for sure yet, but it will mean a slowed down process for a little while (if it can get any slower.) We were told our case was supposed to come off the 2nd reviewers desk to get signed soon... but now who knows. The new administration is asking for an audit of the PGN, etc. It is POLITICS, but we can only hope it is for the better.

My lucky streak with not getting sick came to an end on Sunday night. I woke up vomiting and felt like crud for a few hours, but it didn't last long. I am sure it was something I ate --- bought some tortillas from a vendor stand after church on Sunday. (I was getting pretty cocky!!)Thankfully Rosalia has not been sick at all!!

I took some private Spanish lessons this week. I had a woman come to the apartment and had a babysitter for Rosalia for 3-4 hours in the afternoon. (I learned that I need more lessons!) She was very good and I did learn a fair amount. Now I just need to study, practice and use it. Rosalia did well with the babysitter. She did not nap as well, but did not seem to have any problems. (Who needs Mom anyway!)

My roommate left on Sunday for Guatemala City where she has her embassy appointment on Monday and is leaving for the good old USA on Wed. It was sad to see her go but we are happy for her and her daughter. Can't wait till it is us!!

The good news is I have my niece Melanie coming in on Monday for about a week! Looking forward to having family here and maybe seeing some new sites. About a week after Melanie leaves I get to have Tony and Joshua come- oh boy!!!