We are in PGN!!!!

Its official, we have been PGN since December 21st... this is where the Guatemalan Govt agency looks over all of your paperwork... while I'm ecstatic that we are in.. we are definetly going to get kicked out for not having our Pre Approval, the PA arrived on the22nd of december. Our lawyer wanted us submitted into PGN before the end of the year due to all the political turmoil, its better to be safe than sorry. At least our Kick Out will be an easy fix, lets just hope it comes sooner than later. Apparently there are 3 reviewers & a final signature. If you get kicked out from the 3rd reviewer you go back to the first reviewer, at least this is how I think its works, ladies correct me if i'm wrong... So right now i'm praying to get kicked out, I NEVER thought I would be hoping for this, but as everyone who is going through this process knows, this is the ultimate rollercoaster ride & frankly I hope it ends soon LOL.. This portion of the process is usually about 3 months, lets hope its sooner... we should have Rachel home by sometime in april!!!!!!!!!!! Just in time to head to the beach.. yipee!!!!

love
alex & sam

Pre Approval!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today we received our Pre Approval!!!!!!!!!!!! what this means is that the US consulate is allowing Rachel to come into our country. Now we go into the black hole of PGN. This is where the Guatemalan Govt goes over all of our paperwor with a fine tooth comb... almost everyone gets kicked out for one reason or another.. I just hope the Ko's come sooner rather than later, & lets hope they are easy fixes... After we are out of PGN, it will be about a month before we can get Rachel for good...

please pray that we get through PGN quick with no KO's

merry christmas & happy new year to everyone

alex & sam

rachels a ham

We are home!!!

we made it home without any nonsense in the airports. thank god!!! I miss Rachel sooooo much, I wish we could go back tomorrow, but February will be here soon, it will seem like forever.
thanks for everyones support & kind words, here is a little video of my peanut...

our last day pics

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plain & simple, saying goodbye really sucks!!!!!!

well, saturday arrived, & it was nearing the time we had to give rachel back to her foster mother, I woke up crying & I know sam did too!!! We had breakfast with the foster mother, benjamin (from the lawyers office) & edwin out tour guide for the day, he was our translator. breakfast was sad to say the very least, I told the FM that I was going to smuggle Rachel =in the US, she laughed. how funny is it that her last name is Orozco (which is my maiden name). She then went on to thank us for adopting Rachel & giving her a better life than she would have in Guatemala, of course that made me cry too.. she also said that we are sad now but in the end we will be happy & she will be sad when Rachel comes home. I just had a good feeling about her & know that she will take great care of my munchkin... the foster mother even cried when she saw us so upset, she hugged us & told us that rachel will be just fine. that made me feel a little better.

after we said goodbye we went on a tour of antigua, a part of guatemala city. some parts were beautiful & others were just down right & utterly depressing. It was very sad to see how these people are living & all the starving stray dogs made me ILL!!!
We went to a jade factory & rachel has herself some jade earings, hopefully her ears will be pierced by our next visit. It was an eye opener to see how these people are so destitute & how the Guatemalan Govt is fighting so hard to stop adoptions.. they should all walk a day in these peoples shoes.

here are pics of our last morning together (till february) & of our tour..

Rachel Visit

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our last nite together (till February)

well, we just packed all of rachels things to go back. they are coming for her at 9am & will have breakfast with us. Just thinking about it makes me cry.. we all cried at Joanna's give back. Kristi said she doesnt want to be anywhere near me, I dont blame her. this trip was sooooo worth it, I know she is being taken well care of.. We are planning a trip for february.. Whose coming this time??????? ladies??

Rachel is a bit confused, she likes to sleep all day & be up all nite. Hopefully the cereal will make her sleep tonite. She hates the bath, & when sam brought her in the pool, you would have thought we were killing her. My mom said she was going to be like pig pen with the ring of dirt following her LOL.

here are some pics from the last 2 days, will post the rest when I get home

talk soon
alex & sam

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Day 1 Pix from guatemala Visit

We are here!!!!!

we are finally here... Rachel came to us about 4pm. Our friend Joanna saw her first & called me. I couldnt wait for them to call us so I went down to the lobby to meet them. what could I say, shes just beautiful, she has gained about 2lbs, so happy about that.. we had dinner with friends that are here visiting. Rachel warmed up to us right away.. I did find out that she moved foster homes, not sure why, I will be asking maria the lawyer at breakfast tomorrow..carol didnt even know which concerns me a bit..
after sam watches Rachels diaper getting changed i will have him post some pics.
this hotel is beautiful, all decorated foe xmas, we will have more tomorrow

love,
alex & sam

getting ready to see Rachel

hello everyone,
well, 4 more days till we get to meet Rachel. needless to say we are thrilled!!! I will try & post at night all the pictures from the day.. We are staying at the Westin in Guatemala City. Well, I called Verizon Wireless & they told mr that it would be $2.50 a minute to call the states, so neeless to say We wont be calling home, although its much cheaper for you guys to call me. I called Guatemala & was on the phone for about 5 minutes & it was only about 4 dollars. We would love to hear from you guys, I think they are on central time, not positive though. If you dont have a long distance carrier like me you would dial 1016868 then 011 502 2333 3000.
We welcome all the phione calls..

talk to you all soon

Some of Rachel's new clothes

here are some of the things we sent to Guatemala.... Rachel has LOTS!!!! of new clothes

Great News from Guatemala

I received word today from carol thats there is Great News coming out of Guatemala..
the date of jan 1st 2008 to end adoptions is likely going to be pushed back to april 30th.. thats great news for all of us in the process of adopting... The congress will be voting on this bill next week... lets hope it passes

talk soon
alex & sam

New Pictures

hello all,
I just received new pictures of Rachel from her doctor visit, she getting so big.
27 days & counting till we see her!!
the new pics are at the back of the slideshow, you can click the arrow if you dont want to see the whole thing all over again

ale & sam

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It's a match!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We got an email from carol on nov 5th to let us know that there was a positive DNA match with rachel & her birthmother... Now we can move on to getting our pre approval from the US embassy in Guatemala, after that we move to our last step called PGN where all of our paperwork is scrutinized, most people get kicked out for one stupid reason or another.

Me, Sam & my mom will be going to visit Rachel on dec 4th we will be there for 5 days!!
We can wait to hold her in our arms & we will certainly have TONS!!!! of pictures when we get home

alex

Great News

On October 26th in the afternoon Carol called with GREAT NEWS!!!. We were approved to have the DNA test done on the baby & her birth mother, just to make sure that Rachel is actually hers.. While this is being done the birth mother has an interview with the family court system just to make sure that she wants to give up her baby for adoption.. this is just routine procedure..

Once we get a positive DNA match, sam & I will be going to visit Rachel in Guatemala for a few days.. The foster family will drop Rachel off to us for the length of our trip.. We cant wait to see her in person!!!!!

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new pictures of Rachel

hello all,

Sam & I came home to find new pictures of Rachel, shes about 6 weeks old & has gotten so big. Carol form Guatemala Miracles was in Guatemala to visit all of her babies. We are so excited because this is the first time we've seen her with her eyes open.

On October we rec'd the paperwork from INS that will allow us to have the DNA test done, hopefully we will get authorization to have this done by next week. Once this is done Sam & I will be visiting her in Guatemala... We cant wait

she looks like a good sleeper!!!!

updated pictures

hello all.
we received updated pictures of Rachel... she's 22 days old here & is now 6.4 lbs... no more chicken legs.. I am asking for everyone's prayers that we are able to bring home our little girl.

We need your help

Hi everyone,
Rachel needs your help to come home!!!!! President Berger of Guatemala is planning to suspend all adoptions on January 1,2008. the Dept of State, the JCICS, and Unicef are fighting to allow all adoptions all ready in progress to go through without any new rules and without a substantial delay. We are asking you to email or call your US senator so everyone who is waiting for their baby will be able to bring them home.... The link is http://www.jcics.org/ please click on Guatemala 5000. there is also an online petition if you could all sign.http://www.petition online.com/ 41203gm/petition .html

Sam & I appreciate all of your time and effort in trying to help all adoptive parents bring home their children safely. Guatemala does not have the means to take care of these children, they will all be either homeless or lost in the foster care system that they cannot currently afford. What would they do if they had an extra 3000 children to take of.....

thnx again
alex & sam

Rachel 3 days young

17 Days Young Pic

Great news

On September 26th at about 8pm i received a call from carol.Never in a million years did I expect what came out of her mouth next. She had a referral for a baby girl for us!!!! Her given name is Marjorie (which we will change), she was born on Sept 10th 2007 weighing 5 lbs. She is a skinny minny. On Sept 28th we spoke with the doctors from the childrens hospital inPhiladelphia & they gave the baby a good bill of health. We officially accepted the referral on the nite of Sept 28th.. Her new name is going to be Rachel Carlisa Infante.

Carol is going to Guatemala in a few weeks so I will be getting more pics & a video.
As soon as I get them they will be posted.

I also want to send out a special thank you to my cyber-friends ( you know who you are) for all of your support. I couldnt have done this without all of you!!!!

our decision

In the spring of 2007 Sam & I decided to adopt a baby girl from Guatemala. We signed with our agency Guatemala Miracles the first week of July after many weeks of intense research. Signing with Carol Slater was the best thing we did. July 1st, we signed with our homestudy agency & the paper chase began. We want to thank everyone for their time in writing reference letters, ect. Aunt Franny, thank you so much for notarizing what seemed like a million documents. We both thank all of you from the bottom of our hearts.