Today Anna is 6 months old.

Wow, how time flies. At exactly 6 months old, Peter arrived home. Anna just turned 6 months and she is still in PGN. But, the only people we could blame is PGN, because Anna entered PGN on Oct. 1st at only 2 1/2 months old. I don't know of any babies getting into PGN at that young of age. Our lawyer did a great job with our case, and he has no control what PGN does. Hopefully Anna will be home before she turns 7 months old.

Called Delta today, regarding my claims...

Margaret called Delta today, after being on hold for about 25 minutes, the customer service rep finally came back to inform me that yes, they have both claims regarding damage done to the suitcase and damage done to the stroller. He then informed me that it will take 10-14 weeks for a response, and that response I will receive in the mail. I informed him that I will not be flying delta until I know the outcome of this mess. I also informed him that it would be Delta's best interest to get back to me sooner then that, because we planned on traveling within the next couple of weeks, and it would be Delta's lose. He then repeated what he previously said, and said that it will take up to 14 weeks to receive a response in the mail. I said okay, guess I am done flying Delta.

So, I guess in 14 weeks, we'll see what Delta does about this. I'll keep you posted.

Having Faith....

Or as Margaret would say - "Think Positive". Well, this week has been a very busy week of bad news. My new friends - who I just spent a week with in Guatemala visiting our children - were told some bad news over the past few days. My friend Martina who was in the same boat as we - was just told that she was kicked out of PGN for the 3rd time, Barbara from Rochester - was told last Friday Congratulations, you are out of PGN by the receptionist that answers the phones in PGN, only to find out later that day that it was a kick out not an approval by our lawyer. Pam, just found out today that she too got kicked out of PGN. Laurie who wasn't able to travel with us, was kicked out just before the New Year. So, that leaves little ole me still in PGN. Of course I (Margaret) went into panic mode, and was going to call PGN to find out for sure that I was still in PGN - but it was too late for that. So I panicked even more and called my friend Soni (my pal who translates all my calls to Guatemala), and got her voice mail, so I left a message of my game plan. Then I called my friend Pam O. to let her know what was going on, and how I was still thinking positive, but it was hard to do at this moment. Then Soni called me back, and she said Margaret "do you have faith". I was like, what, of course I do, I told her that I pray more than ever. She said well, let faith take care of it. I told my friend Soni that its pretty hard to have faith when the odds are against me and faith can not control the corruption that takes place in PGN. We talked about my game plan, and after talking to my friend Soni, we decided to just wait and see what happens, who knows - tomorrow Edwin will be calling me to let us know that we are approved and out of PGN. That would be sooo sooo great! So, I told my friend Soni, that I'll wait until tomorrow when I call PGN to see what I am told. But, I do have to keep in mind that PGN does give mis-information as you read above, but I'll take that chance - and then just confirm it with our lawyer.

So, now more than ever I am asking my friends, family members, my bloggers/readers to help me with faith and pray that we get approved from PGN, so our Anna can come home. I also request that we pray for my friends, who I just met and who just got kicked out of PGN, that they can get back into PGN real soon. I know right now our Lawyer has to be having a hard time with all this bad news, I hope and pray that he and his family can find the faith and fight to get our children home where they belong.

For those of you who don't know, the Hague Treaty is slowly falling into place in Guatemala (read guatadopt.com for details) and the Central Authority employee's were just sworn in by the new President of Guatemala (he fired the previous hired employees to the CA). My friends who were just kicked out, can not go back into PGN until their folders are registered with the Central Authority and nobody has any idea when they will be open for business, so nobody has any idea when these cases will be able to be resubmitted back into PGN. We can only hope and pray that it is done quickly. Even though we are in the "grandfather clause" we do have to register with the Central Authority if we get kicked out of PGN. Lets just hope and pray, that at least one of us/Anna remains in PGN until she gets an approval to get out.

I read this on another blog, and just had to copy it and place it here................

"We witness a miracle every time a child enters into life. But those who make their journey home across time & miles, growing within the hearts of those who wait to love them, are carried on the wings of destiny and placed among us by God's very own hands." ~Kristi Larson


Thanks soo much for all your support and prayers!
I can not begin to express how much we appreciate it.

Just an Update on Anna's Measurements and Anna getting her Ears pierced

Today, we got an email from our International Dr. here in New York and he said "Anna's measurements are doing well - her height at 6 months is up to ~25th percentile (previously at the 10th), her weight continues at the 25th percentile, and her head continues at the 10th."
It's nice to see Anna is growing just fine and she is on the chart.

As for Anna and her getting her ears pierced. With the help of Laurie (who is in Guatemala now visiting her son - thanks Laurie) Anna will have baby Jade earrings to wear when she gets her ears pierced. Margaret called the Jade Factory in Antigua today and ordered the baby earrings and requested them to be delivered to the Vista Real Hotel and for them to be given to Laurie. Once Laurie gets these earrings she will give them to Jacqueline, who in turn will bring Anna and Carolina (the foster mother) to the Doctor's for Anna's ears to get pierced. When the ears get pierced, Pics will be taken, so when I receive them - I'll be posting them on the blog. Anna is going to look so cute with this baby jade earrings. Thanks Jacqueline for taking care of this, it is greatly appreciated.

We called the Foster Mom this evening

With the help of Margaret's friend Soni (thanks soni) we finally got a hold of Anna's foster mom and talked to her. She said Anna is doing great. She also told Margaret that her and her family is going to miss Anna very much when she leaves - because they love her so much, but she knows Anna is going to a good family. Margaret asked Carolina (foster mother) her thoughts on baby girls getting their ears pierced. Carolina got very excited and said she would be thrilled to get Anna's ears pierced - that would mean so much to her. She also told us that she got her daughter's ears pierced when she was only 2 days old. Kerry and Margaret discussed this earlier and decided, if it was important for Carolina to do (since it's a cultural thing to do in Guatemala, see below) then we would let her get Anna ears pierced. So Margaret told Carolina, that she would have to bring Anna to the Dr's to get it done, and Carolina said absolutely - only a Dr. can touch those little tiny ears. Margaret then told Carolina that she would inform Jacqueline & Edwin, that we give her permission to bring Anna to the Dr's to get her ears pierced. Carolina informed us that she was bringing Anna to the Dr's this Friday for a check up, so we suggested to her to put it off for a couple of days - this way Margaret would have time to get earrings to her for Anna to wear once her ears are pierced. Margaret also asked for Carolina to take pictures of this event, so it can be put in Anna's life book. So Carolina is going to re-schedule the Dr. appt. for next week, this way the ears can be pierced at the same time.

As for the Cultural thing in baby girls getting their ears pierced. It's to my (Margaret) understanding, that birth moms get their daughter's ears pierced as soon as they are born to show their love for their daughter. The Birth moms would buy the pair of earrings and bring them along to the hospital so as soon as their daughter is born - they can ask the Dr. to pierce the ears. It's also a cultural thing for foster mother's to get their foster daughter's ears pierced to show their love towards them.

Got an Update on Anna's measurements

Hi all,
We received an email from Jacqueline, informing us..."Monday January 14, her doctor said she is healthy, her measurements are weight 15 pounds Length 63 cms and head circumference 41 cms" We sent this info to our Dr. here in New York, so it'll be interesting to see what percentile Anna is at now. I'll keep ya posted.

Our little girl is getting big. But she's a cutie pie just like a big brother Peter.

We are still waiting to get approved, so please keep us in your prayers and keep our fingers crossed that Anna get approved from PGN real quick!

Thanks for your continued support.

Patience...............and Planning ahead.

Okay, so Margaret's patience are definitely being put through the test these days. Every time Margaret's cell phone rings.............her first thought - IT'S EDWIN WITH GREAT NEWS! But it's not. This morning Margaret's cell phone was non stop ringing, and it wasn't Edwin. While in Guatemala visiting, while we were all at Edwin's house - he asked us how we wanted to be notified of being out of PGN. Quite a few of us said Email, BUT Margaret said - No Way, "when we are out of PGN, you best be busting at the seams and just dying to call me with the great news". I then told Edwin that he best be dialing my number while he is walking out of PGN to tell us the GREAT news". Edwin just laughed, Com'on now, with that great news, why would we want to wait to get an email.........when a phone call is just sooo soo quicker! So lets keep our fingers crossed and some really good prays, that the phone will ring this week with some GREAT news of us being out of PGN.

Margaret even has Peter saying his prayers, before he goes to bed - so Anna comes home quicker. It's the cutest thing to see. Last night mommy let him do it himself (without repeating what mommy said) and he was soo soo cute. And he always ends it by giving mommy a kiss and hug. He's such a cutie pie.

Today Margaret called Orchid Labs (yes, this is Margaret planning ahead), and paid for our 2nd DNA test. This is what gets done once out of PGN. The 2nd DNA test confirms that Anna is the same baby that started the adoption in the beginning. I figured I would have it paid for, so when Edwin gets our folder out of PGN he won't have to wait for Margaret to do the payment to get the DNA test done, it's already paid for. The woman at the Labs, that it was a great idea.

So please continue to pray, wish, fingers crossed - whatever works for you these days, that Anna is out of PGN now! so that she can come home real soon.

Thanks for your support!