Happy Birthday, Adan!!!

Today, we are celebrating Adan´s first birthday. Some of the people we have met here are coming for pizza and cake around noon today with their little ones. We bought a pinata that we have put baby safe toys in. I´m sure the adults will have to do the breaking of the pinata, but hopefully the kids will enjoy it.

When Adan first woke up today, we sang Happy Birthday to him, and he lit up with such a smile we would swear he was understanding why we were singing to him. He was pretty tired and fell asleep for an early nap, but hopefully that means he´ll be in a chipper mood for his fiesta.

We were approved for his visa on Friday and it should be delivered to us at the hotel tomorrow afternoon. Our flight is at 8:50 am on Wednesday!

We are coming home!

We just scheduled our flight out for next Wednesday, January 17th. That date was my grandmother's birthday. She just passed away this last July and I'm very sad she never was able to meet him (she did see pictures, though), but I think it's special that her birthday is the day we bring him home.

We had our final doctor appointment with a US Embassy approved doctor today and Adan was given a clean bill of health. They provided us with a sealed report that we will then bring to the embassy on Friday when we have our visa interview. Unfortunately, they don't give the visa until the next business day, so with the weekend and the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday on Monday we won't get it until Tuesday. The visa arrives too late in the day to still make a flight that afternoon, so we are flying out at 8:50am the next morning. If flights are on time, we should arrive home around 3:30pm, so not too terribly long a day of travel. Hopefully, Adan will handle it all well.

So, we will be celebrating Adan's first birthday in Guatemala on Monday, Jan. 15th. I've been planning a little party with some of the people we've met here, so he should have a nice day. I just have to do some shopping for some party supplies and a couple small gifts this weekend. I have to be careful not to buy too much or too big, because we already had to buy a big duffle bag here to be able to bring all our stuff home. Don't worry...I've gotten the impression that there may be a 'few' Christmas and birthday presents waiting for him in the States. :0)

Progress

Well, our coordinator made some phone calls for us today, and the attorney once again stated that we were indeed submitted to the embassy yesterday and should get our pink sheet on Monday. Apparently, Adan's passport just needs to be presented when he picks up the pink sheet, so, we have a passport appointment scheduled for 8am tomorrow morning. Adan will have his photo taken and then they'll issue the passport to the attorney. We'll get a photocopy for now, and then we'll get the actual passport before we leave. Therefore, we are feeling a little more confident that this is now actually moving along again.

We went to the zoo here today. It is a very nice, well maintained little zoo. Adan really loved watching the animals, especially the big cats and the monkeys. We are looking forward to taking him to some of the zoos back home.

Tomorrow, Adan's foster mother, Maria, is going to come visit him. She usually brings along her father who can speak a little English. She has called us every few days to see how Adan is doing, so we know she is missing him. We'll hopefully be able to set up one more visit when we are back at the Marriott before leaving.

I probably won't know more until Monday at the very earliest, so I should be able to post more then.

Who Knows What to Believe...

Well, we found out today, that we really weren't submitted to the Embassy for Adan's visa appointment nearly two weeks ago, as we were told. Instead, we were told we were submitted today and that the application was accepted. At this point, I'll believe it when I hear we actually have a visa appointment. Now, the soonest we will get our pink sheet is Monday. So, our coordinator told us he would send an email to the Embassy to let them know we are here, and, thus, we do not need time to travel and so to give us the earliest available appointment. I asked him to please copy us on the email and he told us he would, but guess what, no email. I'm really getting frustrated with the lack of communication and the fact that I feel half the time, we are having to figure out what is going on with our case. We have paid an agency a lot of money to be following up with these things and doing the legwork for us. If you can't tell, we're very frustrated. We plan to go to the embassy ourselves tomorrow and verify our submission but have been warned by others here that it can be an exercise in frustration to go there. We still want to try, but it may not help us glean any more information. Hopefully, we'll have good news soon.

Holidays and Presidential Funerals

Well, we found out last week that the department of the US Embassy that issues the visa appointments was closed from Christmas to New Years. So, we settled in to wait it out, trying to be patient, and then President Ford passed away. Due to his funeral today, the Embassy was closed again. Therefore, we have had no movement in a week and a half. Our attorney plans to go to the Embassy tomorrow and, hopefully, pick up our Pink Sheet. In other words, find out when our visa appointment has been scheduled. Please pray that he made no errors causing him to have to resubmit us! Anyway, once we have the Pink Sheet, we can actually contact the Immigration and Visa department of the Embassy and request an earlier appointment. Because people most of the time need time to travel, the appointments are usually a week or two out. However, we have been told that if you are already here, they can usually fit you in earlier. Cross your fingers!

We plan to go to Guatemala City tomorrow, so that we are available at a moment's notice if need be. Even if we could get in Thursday for a visa appointment, the Embassy is closed on Fridays, so we wouldn't actually receive the visa until Monday late in the day. Therefore, we believe the earliest we'll be leaving Guatemala is Tuesday. Oh, please let it be so!

Don't get me wrong, we are enjoying Antigua's beautiful weather and this time we are able to spend getting to know Adan, but we so want to get home and introduce him to friends and family. (And, if I'm not mistaken, they seem pretty anxious to meet him too!).

I will hopefully know more about our departure date in the next couple dates. Also, in Guatemala City, I will have easier access to the internet, so I should be able to post as I have updates. Hope to see you all soon!