SIGH! It's been a long day.

Today Margaret and Peter started off the day at 8:30am by going to Town Hall to get a new marriage license. Luckily, Margaret had a birth certificate, so that was already taken care of. While at Town Hall we find out that the computers are down and they don't know when they will be up. The woman in charge of this paperwork was due to come in at 9am. So Peter and Margaret waited. Luckily, Margaret had one extra original of the marriage license, but needed another marriage certificate. The woman said she would be able to do the certificate on the typewriter (didn't know these still existed), but would not be able to give us a marriage license (which was fine, since we had one already). So after that long wait, we headed to Riverhead. Keep in mind it was raining in New York today and there were a lot of Sunday drivers out. We finally made it to Riverhead, and the woman did our county clerks certified documents. Margaret looked at them and wouldn't you know it..........THE DATES ARE STILL NOT IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER, are you kidding me. I asked the woman how can that possibly be. She explained to me that the judge takes a stack of blank forms and signs them and dates them, and she just uses them and then on the bottom of the same page, she certifies it with today's date. UUGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH. Margaret asked if there was any one, to get them to be in chronological order, she said no - that is the way they've been doing them and it's been fine. So, now I am going through the same authentication process for the same mistake we got kicked out of PGN. So, Margaret decided to still go into the city, and hopefully on the way will find out some answers. Margaret called her husband to let him know they were going to the city, and it turns out that Kerry had a 1/2 day so he took a trip into the city too. Since the day started off bad, it might as well continue, we managed to miss the 12:08 train, because it is IMPOSSIBLE to find a parking spot midday at any Railroad station. So we caught the 12:35pm. While on the train Margaret tried calling her lawyer to ask about the last page not being in Chronological order - it was pretty hard to talk to him on the phone, so Margaret told our lawyer that she would call him this evening to talk about it. Margaret and Kerry discussed it and decided to not go to the Guatemalan Consulate until tomorrow after we talk to our lawyer this evening about the paperwork. We made it into the city and took the subway to the States Dept - the place was PACKED! Margaret has never seen it sooo packed. The woman at the window said that they close the window at 3pm, that's why everyone is here, before the window closes. Margaret and Kerry discussed what we were going to do about the paper work, because if we omitted the last page (the certify, of the certify) then we wouldn't have to worry about the chronological order. So once up at the window Margaret asked the gentleman about omitting the last page and he said, that 's the most important page, because that exemplifies everything else. So in actuality, one document was certified 3 times, but all our other documents in the dossier were only certified once and they didn't have a problem with PGN. It's a Suffolk county thing for sure. After the State Dept. we met up with Peter's cousin Tami for a bite to eat and then we headed home on the train. We finally got home at 6:30pm. Luckily Peter napped on the way home on the train, so he was ready to eat dinner. Lets see how good he is tomorrow when we have to take another train ride. :)

Counting our Lucky Stars

This evening Margaret was getting stuff together to go to Riverhead (Suffolk County Clerks Office) and New York City to get the paper work redone - so we can be resubmitted back into PGN. On Tuesday, Margaret & Peter are doing this trip again.


Luckily, Margaret thought about re-checking the dossier (good thing for copies) and its a good thing Margaret did, because that "stupid mistake" Suffolk County Clerk's office did on our marriage license they also did on Margaret's birth certificate. So Margaret will be taking care of both things. Lets just hope Pedro at the Guatemalan Consulate is in a happy mood so he gives me that Guatemala Consulate stamp on the documents so I can fed ex them from NYC to Guatemala. Fingers crossed.

Hmmm, it's funny how those who never did a Dossier, always have a comment to make - BUT those who did do a Dossier, don't make a comment - only because they know how much work actually goes into it and how time consuming it is. Yes, Margaret knows if she checked the paperwork, before leaving the Suffolk County Clerk's office we would still be in PGN. But, she didn't. Who would of guessed a person would put the wrong date on the document - and I am sure she put that same date (wrong date) on the rest of the documents she did throughout the day. But, if we didn't get kicked out for this mistake, the reviewer would of just found something else to kick us out for. So lets just hope, this satisfies PGN and the next time we are out - it is for GOOD!

Please continue to pray that our Anna gets out of PGN so she can come home.

Thanks for your continued support.

Peter's new room is finally getting somewhere........

HI All,

Today was a busy day working on Peter's room. We decided to let Anna have the Nursery, and we would move Peter. We got rid of our dining room furniture, since we only use it for Christmas Eve Dinner and decided to make that into Peter's room. The room will be big, so it'll be Peter's bedroom and toy room, this way the living room can be a living room.............well, at least that is what Peter's daddy is hoping for.

The wall is done! Margaret will order the doors for it on Tuesday. And the guy will come to spackle on Tuesday. Hopefully it will be ready for Peter to move in before December.

Here are some pics of Peter hard at work........

We spoke to our Lawyer today about the "Previo" (Kick out) of PGN

Today Margaret called Edwin (with assistance from Soni - translating - just to make sure there was nothing misunderstood, thanks Soni).

It turns out that we were kicked out of PGN, thanks to Riverhead Clerks Office making the mistake. Margaret didn't even think to check, because how hard can it be to write the date. It turns out the date on the paper work for our marriage license was not in chronological order, so we were kicked out. What happened............well, Once we got our marriage license, we had to go out to Riverheard Clerks office to get it certified (dated 7/26/07). Since it was a marriage license we also had to bring it to the courts (same building, no biggie) to get the certification that the clerk just did - certified (this was dated 7/25/07). Then we went into NYC to the State Dept. and they did their part (dated 7/26/07), then we went to the Guatemala Consulate and they did their part (dated 7/26/07). It turns out that the court dept. in Riverhead should have put the date as 7/26/07. But since they put 7/25/07 that means I got that certification done before the clerk's certification, and that shouldn't of been - because that shows/means I did not do it in the correct order.

So, what do we need to do now. Well, remember during the summer how Margaret & Peter went to Riverhead with the paperwork, and then took a trip to NYC to get all the paperwork authenticated............... well, we have to do that again. Monday is a holiday (Veterans Day) so Margaret will not be able to do it until Tuesday. So first thing Tuesday morning we will be heading to town hall to get a new Marriage License with the raised seal on it, and then to Riverhead, and then to NYC. This time Margaret will be making sure the right dates are on the paperwork, before heading to the city. Hopefully once we get to the Guatemala Consulate, Pedro will be nice and do our one document while we wait, so I can Fed Ex to our lawyer in Guatemala that afternoon, so he gets it on Wednesday afternoon.

Once our lawyer receives the docuemtns, the next day we will go back into PGN.

Gotta Practice what I Preach!

Hi All,

This afternoon after getting the bad news of another kick out. I came to realize how lucky we are, and how I have to practice what I preach (thanks Pam, Barbara, Soni, and Martina). We have a wonderful son, that just gets cuter by the day, even when he copies Daddy when he snores, or when he thinks our cocker spaniel is a horse - luckily Max doesn't mind it. I have a wonderful husband who cares about us very much. This evening my husband brought me home a bouquet of flowers, because he knew I was having a bad day. We have a great family and friends, who is excited about Anna coming home too.

As for the "practice what I preach" - With our first adoption and this adoption I have always told my friends going through the adoption - "To think Positive" it will happen. That was always my motto. So I have to continue to "THINK POSITIVE", because Anna will be coming home soon. And in the meantime, we have lots to do here to get ready for our little girl. This weekend, we are working on making Peter's room. We got rid of the dining room (only used it on Christmas eve, so no biggie), and we are building a wall - so Peter will have a nice room so his baby sister can go in the nursery. Hopefully my husband and his friend will be able to handle it, while Peter and I go out and do some more Christmas shopping. I wouldn't want Peter or I to show up the men on how to do it.

As for the "kick out", our lawyer emailed us at 10pm this evening, he just got home from a long day and was getting ready for dinner. We are going to call him tomorrow to discuss it, but it something that the translator in Guatemala is going to have fixed by Monday morning and we will be back in PGN Monday afternoon. Lets hope the reviewers in PGN have the holiday spirit this time around.

thanks for listening and thanks for your continued support.
Margaret

Another letter from a Congressman

Wow, they must know that these letters are going to be put in Anna's life book Today we got a letter from P.K. congressman. And it turns out that he is a member of the Congressional Coalition on Adoption. He also signed "the letter to President Oscar Berger Perodomo (president) of Guatemala and leaders of UNICEF urging them to adopt an interim plan to allow for the processing of pending adoption cases". And, P.K. even had a real signature on his letter.

Lets just hope, adoptions continue.

thanks for your continued support.

Kicked Out Again! :(

Okay, so today Margaret decided to call PGN herself - to see what is going on. And found out that we were kicked out (previo) on 11/06/07. Margaret then called her lawyer to find out why. Our lawyer picked up our folder this morning and he was going to look at our folder later this afternoon to find out the reason why and he would get back to us. Unfortunately, with PGN once you get "kicked out" it takes a day or two for your folder to get to the front window for the lawyer to pick it up. Nobody really knows why, but that is the way it is with PGN.

So now, Margaret just added something else to her Christmas List - A Visit trip to see Anna!

Please continue to pray, keep your fingers crossed, best wishes that all of this is resolved and Anna comes home real soon.

thanks.