Easter

This year in preparation for Easter we dyed eggs with Joel. He had a great time dipping the eggs in all the colors. On Easter day we went to church in the morning and Jason's family, along with some visiting friends, came over for the afternoon/evening. It was a good day. There was a three year old boy for Joel to play with and he had a grand time.

Hannah's Valance

Here is a picture of the valance that Shannon made for Hannah's room. We have received and put together some of the furniture for Hannah's room, but we are still waiting on one piece.

Getting Rooms Ready

We have been getting the rooms ready for the kids to come home. We have set up Joel's old crib in his room for Noah. We have ordered furniture for Hannah's room that we hope will be in this week. Last week Shannon made a lampshade for Hannah's room out of receiving blankets that match her crib bedding. This week she is working on a valance for the window out of the same material. Here is picture of the lamp shade and we will post more as we finish things.

New Pics of Hannah

Here's the latest pics of little Hannah Faith. They were taken at her 5 month doctor's appointment last week. She now weighs 14lbs 8ozs which was the exactly the same amount as Noah at his 3 month appointment. The doctor's report said she can now roll from her stomach onto her back and that she tries to roll over completely. She attempts to grab whatever is nearby and tries to put it in her mouth.

Hannah's Back in PGN!!!

Hannah's case went back in PGN this afternoon! We're so excited! We're hoping we will get through it quickly now without anymore problems. Hannah's case is about 1 week behind Noah's case now. Hannah turned 5 months old yesterday.

Surprise Pictures

Here's our most recent pictures of Hannah and Noah from their surprise visits. Our agency workers in Guatemala drop in on all the babies every 6 weeks or so to check on the babies and take pictures. Here they are!

Not the phone call we wanted

Our case manager called today to tell us that Hannah's case was kicked out of PGN yesterday with a "previo" or problem with her and her birth mother's birth certificates. We don't know yet how long it will take to get the issue resolved so her case can go back in PGN. Needless to say, we're really disappointed.

Noah's in PGN!!! :)

Noah's case entered PGN today! He's about 2 weeks behind Hannah's case. The current update on PGN is that files are still moving but not quite as fast as what we saw last week. So, we're still hopeful our cases will get out before the normal 8 weeks but we really have no idea what to expect. Just pray that we don't encounter any "previos", or problems, that will kick our cases out of PGN, requiring corrections to our paperwork, and making our cases start over in PGN. In the past, about half the cases end up with a previo. We're just hoping for a smooth ride!

New Pictures

Here are some pictures of Hannah and Noah from this past week. Can't wait to bring them home!

Hannah - 4 1/2 months




Noah - 3 months

Noah's Gets Pre-Approval!!

Noah finally got pre-approval (PA) from the US Embassy yesterday. We're so excited! Now his case will enter PGN and will be about 2 weeks behind Hannah's case. We received some new pictures and medical report on Noah just this evening. He's up to 14lbs 8oz. Looks like he might be out weighing Hannah now! The doctor's report said he's alert and active and making lots of cooing noises now in response to others and to draw attention to himself. The doctor also said he's smiling socially and really reaching for things. Now enjoy some new pics!

Files flying through PGN

5 of the 31 files that went into PGN last Monday from our agency, exited PGN today! That is amazing! It would typically take at least 8 weeks! Our file went in last Tuesday so we are so hoping that ours comes out soon too! Our agency is optimistic that many more files will be coming out of PGN this week.

Large Stroller....very large

We ordered a new stroller over the weekend and it is bigger than Jason's car. Well, not exactly, but we are concerned that it won't fit in the back of our minivan! It has 2 seats for Hannah and Noah and a small platform on the back for Joel to stand on (plus a small bench seat in case he wants to sit down) so he can ride too. We're excited about it and are looking forward to picking it up when it arrives at the store. We'll post some pics when we get it in.

Hannah's in PGN!!!!!!

Finally, after over 6 weeks of waiting, Hannah's case was entered into PGN in Guatemala today! PGN is the last Guatemalan phase that Hannah's case needs to go through. This phase usually takes around 8 weeks but with all the recent changes, it could be shorter or longer. We're hoping for shorter. :)

Registered with Central Authority

We've just received word tonight that both Hannah's and Noah's cases have been successfully registered with the Central Authority in Guatemala. Our lawyers and paralegals in Guatemala spent the entire weekend in line submitting and resubmitting our paperwork (along with all the others from our agency) to the Central Authority. This means that Hannah's case should be submitted to PGN tomorrow as long as there is no limit as to how many cases can be submitted. There are approximately 2600 adoption cases waiting to get into PGN so our agency will work as quickly as possible tomorrow morning to get the cases submitted in order of how long they've been waiting. Noah's case is still waiting on pre-approval from the US Embassy before his case can be submitted to PGN. We've been waiting almost 9 weeks for pre-approval. We're hoping it will come soon but we know of others that are still waiting at 11 weeks. We're excited that Hannah's case is going to start moving forward again. Her case has been on hold now for 6 weeks. Our agency has heard that PGN is going to try to process cases faster than they have in the past so we're hoping this next phase will go faster than we've previously thought it would. We'll see. Here are some new pics of Hannah Faith we received this past week. She weighed in at 13lbs 4oz at her 4 month doctor visit last week. Cheekolas! :)

Noah Out of Family Court

We received word today that Noah's case exited Family Court on January 28th. Hooray! Now we are waiting on pre-approval from the US and then Noah will be at the same place Hannah is, waiting for their cases to be registered by the Central Authority so that they can enter PGN. Pre-approval with Hannah took 8 1/2 weeks which had been the norm, but several other people from our agency have been waiting more like 10 weeks right now. So, although Noah has been waiting 8 weeks and we would hope to have pre-approval soon, it could be a couple of weeks. What is taking the US so long?

We also heard today that their have been more delays with the Central Authority as some people appointed by the old administration were let go in order for the new Presidental administration to appoint their own people. This will probably cause at least a several day delay. In the end this could be good news to appoint people more supportive of adoption, but in the short run it is more delays.

New Pics and Central Authority

Here are some new pictures we received this week of Hannah and Noah. These are from surprise visits where our agency drops in unexpectedly on the foster moms to check up on our babies. We're still waiting for paperwork from Central Authority. There have been some delays but we are still hoping it will be ready next week. Enjoy the cuties!

Hannah on Jan 19th



Noah on Jan 23rd

Central Authority Registration

We've been waiting for Hannah's case to be registered with the new Central Authority in Guatemala so her case could enter PGN. We learned last week that both Hannah's and Noah's cases have been submitted for registration and should be registered in about 7 business days. Noah's case is not ready to enter PGN just yet but at least we won't be waiting on this step when his case is ready. We're hoping Hannah's case will be registered by the end of this coming week and her case submitted to PGN. We're still waiting for Noah's case to exit Family Court and to receive pre-approval from the US. We're hoping for both of those to happen in the next week or two. We received updated pics of both our babies this weekend so here's a few we wanted to share.

Hannah is now 3 1/2 months old. Such a cutie!



Noah is now just over 2 months old. Handsome boy!

Update on Hannah

We received pre-approval from the US on December 28th to bring Hannah home. This was the step we were waiting on for her case to move on to PGN. However, we just learned this past week that PGN has stopped processing cases as of January 1st because of the recent changes in Guatemalan adoption law. It is a violation of their own laws for them do this. Hannah's case is on hold until they start processing cases again. We are hopeful that this will be soon. Please pray to that end! Here are some pics from her doctor's visit today! She's so beautiful!

Update on Noah

We received Noah's DNA match report last week so that was great news. It was a 99.71% match. We're still waiting for confirmation on whether or not his case is in Family Court. We decided Noah's middle name will be John. Jason's middle name is John and Noah's birth name is Juan so we thought it was a good fit. :) Noah John is doing great - here are some pics from his doctor's visit on December 19th. He was already up to 11lbs! Growing boy!

Update on us

The last few weeks have been absolutely crazy! Jason finished up his job in Abilene on Dec. 21st and we left that day to begin our holiday travels. That was also our final day at our home in Abilene. We spent time with both our families for the holidays and enjoyed our time with them all. We ended up sick during and after so that was a drag. Jason started his new job on Jan. 2nd and we're living with his parents until we close on our new house on Jan. 14th. Needless to say, keeping the blog updated through the packing, travels, sickness, and craziness has been difficult. We should get back to our more regular updating in a couple of weeks after we move into our new house. Joel is enjoying his new toys from the holidays and his extended amount of time with grandparents. Here's a recent picture of him.