A weird turn of events - part 2

Hello my friends and family!
I just wanted to let you know to keep praying for the adoptive parents of little Juliana. It has been an emotional rollercoaster ride the past several days (for me as well). My heart just aches for them! I've cried several times over everything! Wish I could tell you more - but just keep praying it will all work out!

As for the other adoptive mom (who's 2 girls are still stuck in the Guatemala court system) - I just got word that the lawyer is finally going to file for DNA approval on this coming monday! :) Yeah!! Please pray that this really happens! Alot can go wrong throughout the whole process, but I know that God can move these mountains!!!! Please keep them in your prayers - come join the battle with me! She is really encouraged that God may be hearing our pleas!! Yeah!!

Thanks so much guys! You are affecting lives and generations forever!

Lori :)

2/09/2011 - I'm posting part of the original unedited post here.

Hello my friends and family!
I just wanted to let you know to keep praying for the adoptive parents of little Juliana. It has been a rollercoaster ride the past several days. One day it seems they are hopeful to get her back, the next day - telling me they hope I get Juliana if they can't, then back to thinking they may get her home. At least that's the gist I get from the mom's emails. My heart just aches for them! It's now looking like they will not bring her home and I just cried - for them and Juliana. I cannot imagine what they are going through. It's like losing a child.

There may be a chance that the adoption process could be "undone". We'll see. I hope so - for Juliana's sake. If it's not, she will be stuck in the court system forever and go to an orphanage. Not a good thing. If the adoption is "undone", I don't know if she would be referred to us again or not. It would all depend on what lawyer gets "custody" of her. She may go back to our lawyer, and in that case, we may see her again. Only God knows and it's all in His hands - thank goodness!

Thank you for your prayers so far for Juliana and her adoptive parents here. They are grieving again, as you can well imagine, and would covet your prayers still. Thanks.

The Rest of the Process

Many of you have asked about when we would bring our daughter home (once we get and are able to accept a referral!). Here is the basic process after referral (apprx. 4-8 months of waiting!):

The Guatemala Adoption Process (and approximate timeframes)

External Relations Ministry
The case is registered with the courts and the documents are certified.
Translations
All documents are translated into Spanish for the courts
DNA Testing (30 days)
The US Embassy authorizes a DNA test for the biological mother and the child. The test is analyzed by a lab in the United States.
Family Court (6 weeks)
A social worker is assigned to interview the biological mother and the foster mother. The report is prepared and the case is approved to continue. DNA test approval. Irrevocable release by birth mother to Guat. atty.
Procuraduria General de la Nacion (PGN) (1-4 months, or more; varies)
The office of the Attorney General reviews the entire case to ensure that all the documents are in order. PGN then approves the adoption to be passed through the remaining procedures.
INS Medical Exam
The Immigration and Naturalization doctor will review the entire medical records to ensure that all vacations are current and that the baby is in good health.
Birth Certificate
A birth certificate will be issued with your last name on it for your child.
Passport (20 days)
A Guatemala passport will be issued for the child. You can get a US Passport issued once you return home.
Final Embassy Review (2 days)
The US Embassy reviews your file to ensure that all the paperwork is in order to process your travel visa. "Pink" interview - waiting to get "Pink" appointment slip to pick up child.
Pack your bags! :)

As you can see - our journey is only half way done (or maybe even just 1/3 of the way done). Thanks for the support along the way so far. Keep on praying! :)

Lori :)

New Best of the Wests website

Just wanted to let you know that I am starting to set up a new website (as a trial). It will allow me to add more pics and videos, etc. I will probably still blog on this site. We'll see. I did import my blog entries on the new site - but it's not as easy to navigate to the entry you want as this site is. Anyways - you can check it out at www.freewebs.com/bestofthewests/ .

Later!

Lori :)

A weird turn of events

Here's the latest.
I got a call from Lucy (our agency director) on Thursday saying she finally had good news and bad news. The good news is . . . . she had some info. The bad news is . . . what the info was.

Evidentally, (to make a long story shorter) our lawyer was not responding to calls/emails as she had found out that Juliana had already been in the adoption process a year or two ago, and something happened that halted the process. Juliana was still stuck in the court system! So, Lucy was going to try and find out who this family was that had tried to adopt her before and see if they were still interested, and if not, if they would write a letter (or whatever they needed to do) to terminate the adoption so we could move forward with it possibly.

The whole story sounded vaguely familiar to me - and I thought I had read something like it before on my Guatemalan yahoo group, so I posted a message for any info on little Juliana on my group. I got a response right away (which was a miracle as this woman had stopped reading the yahoo group email's - but my title had caught her eye. Now that's God!).

I spent 2 hours and over 33 emails on friday to connect the dots between the woman who responded who knew the previous parents, the prev. agency handling the case, the parents who had tried to adopt her, Lucy, and of course - Jeremy (to keep him in the loop). In respecting the adoptive parents, I won't really go into the details. That side of the story is theirs to tell.

I can tell you (with permission) that the original woman who told me about the adoptive parents has also been through a 2 year ordeal and still has hardly progressed with her adoption of 2 beautiful girls (still possibly in Family court -since Feb. Can you imagine?! Bless her heart!). She has given up (mentally,emotionally, etc) and doubts she will ever bring home her 2 girls (3 & 6 years old). :( My heart breaks for these 2 women!

Will you guys please pray for these ladies and their adoptions? Pray for their girls to be released, for their Mommy's hearts to be at peace and filled with hope and trust in God, for these cases to progress forward, and for God to send His angels to do the spiritual warfare needed to get these girls to freedom!!

As sad as it seems that we (once again) did not get the child referred - I am at total peace. I thought earlier today that she may be our daughter and it would all work out - till I talked with Juliana's adoptive mom and found out all the info. I am glad we could be used to (hopefully) help this family. I would want someone to do the same for me!

So - we are back to waiting. :) I'm getting pretty good at it. :) Actually - we haven't really been "just" waiting for long. God knows I like to stay busy, and I think that's why He allowed me to be "able" to redo so many of our forms, etc. :) hee, hee. It gave me something to do. Just imagine if our dossier had been right the first time? I would have been waiting since June! (Not as long as some people - I know) Anyways - it's all in God's hands. Our daughter will come to us when she is supposed to. :) I know that for sure. I've got enough craziness around here to keep me busy till she does. :)

Blessings!
Lori :)

2/09/2011 - Ok I am going to add back in the parts that I had edited out before. It's been 4 years - so I think it's fine to tell her story - especially considering how Juliana is back in our life now!

Here is what I took out of this post. (I'll add things to the other post as well if I edited that one too).

This family actually got to choose Juliana's name the day she was born (the day they got their referral). That was March 2, 2004!!! They got all the way through all the courts in Guat, and all they were waiting on was the official new BC and their visa/travel appt. and the atty stopped the process for some reason (no one really knows). The lawyer didn't really disappear - but didn't continue to work on the case. The poor family hired Adoption Supervisors (probably to the tune of several thousands of dollars) and have been to Guatemala several times to try and get things finalized. No such luck. I think they had given up. I found out they actually live 2 hours from us and still have Juliana's room all ready (they were originally hoping to bring home a baby and were not sure about a toddler - so I thought there may still be a chance they could write a letter to terminate the process - but they are too far into it now to just do that). Anyways - Lucy contacted the other agency and hopefully things will get moving for this poor family. That is my prayer!

**Side note - I found out the adoptive parents are now divorced, and the mom has no intentions of trying to bring Juliana home (I think she still might have been able to as she most likely was grandfathered in before adoptions shut down - because of how far they were in their adoption. I could be wrong though.). So sad.

Happy Independence Day!

September 15 is Independence Day in Guatemala, celebrating the independence of the countries of Central America from Spain! On September 15, 1821 Guatemala gained its Independence from Spain. This Independence Day is shared with all the other Central American countries except for Panama and Belize. Following this, Guatemala was briefly part of Mexico and then later became a part of the United Provinces of Central America. This confederation fell apart due to a war between the members that occurred from 1838 to 1840. At the end of the war Guatemala became an independent nation.

Here is how it is celebrated in Guatemala-adapted from guatadopt.com!

Independence Day is not a tourism draw and is not celebrated much outside of the country (like Cinco de Mayo) but is a local Guatemalan celebration. Since it is a national holiday many Guatemalans take the opportunity to travel to the more traditional tourist areas to watch celebrations. On the day preceding Independence Day the national anthem is sung with gusto in schools. The Schools, and even the school buses, are decorated with patriotic motifs in celebration. Traditionally the army of Guatemala celebrates with a protocol act and air acrobatics, usually for the audience of the President. As the day comes to a close children and adults can be seen waving small plastic Guatemalan flags in the streets and the stores are decked out in Blue and White decorations.
While Guatemala is celebrating so are the other countries of Central America. Since they all achieved independence together they also have ways of celebrating together, though many celebrate on both the 14th and the 15th. A torch, which begins in Guatemala on the 14th, travels by relay race down the Pan American Highway to Costa Rica where it arrives on the 15th. Along the route people decorate homes and schools. Children dress up in their finest school uniforms and cheer along with the adults as the runners and the torch goes by. It is a great honor to be chosen to be a runner of the Independence Day torch. As runners cross between countries borders there are cultural ceremonies with dignitaries of all the Central American countries there to honor Independence Day.

So Happy Independance Day!

Lori :)
ps - I will have to tell you all about the craziness today concerning Juliana. Got to go put the kids to bed, so maybe tomorrow.