Ana is asking for your help!

Hello everyone,

Just wanted to remind everyone that tomorrow (the 8th) starts the time to participate in the JCICS Guatemala 5000 Initiative. Let's make sure everyone knows that this is about all the children that will be displaced from loving homes. All it will take is six phone calls and an e-mail. You might also want to visit www.5000orphans.com it puts all the issues in one spot in easy to follow terms. By the way, we are getting somewhere! From JCICS, "the Hague Permanent Bureau (HPB) has now joined with Joint Council, the U.S. Department of State and others in agreeing that transition cases should be allowed to proceed to completion without interruption. It is our understanding that the HPB has now conveyed their revised position to both the Berger administration and Guatemalan Congress."

Please help me come home!

How YOU can participate in the Guatemala 5000 Initiative

Make six simple phone calls and one email (see below for what you should say)

1. Call your U.S. Senator.
· You can find your Senators’ phone numbers at www.senate.gov
· Ask to speak with the Legislative Director or Chief of Staff

2. Call your second U.S. Senator.

3. Call your representative to the U.S. House of Representative.
· You can find your representative at www.house.gov
· Ask to speak with the Legislative Director or Chief of Staff

4. Call or fax UNICEF Headquarters
· Ask to speak with Ann Veneman, Executive Director
· Their number is 212-326-7000
· Their fax number is 212-326-7758

5. Call or fax UNICEF Guatemala
· Ask to speak with Manuel Manrique
· Their number is 011-502-2327-6373
· Their fax number is 011-502-2327.6366
Please note that calls and faxes to Guatemala are international calls.

7. Send an email supporting Intercountry Adoption to guatemala5000@jcics.org
· Write briefly or at length
· Joint Council will use the cumulative email petition in our advocacy for Intercountry Adoption

When should you call?
Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday (October 9th, 10th, 11th)
For maximum affect, we are asking you to make these calls within a 72 hour window!

What should you say or write to a member of the U.S. Congress?
Speak from your heart and give them the following information:
· Inform them that you are calling regarding the Guatemala 5000.
· Ask them to sign the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute (CCAI) sponsored letter to President Oscar Berger
· Ask them to sign the Joint Council sponsored letter to UNICEF
· Inform them that the Guatemalan government has announced that all intercountry adoptions with the United States will be suspended on January 1, 2008.
· Inform them that President Berger's announcement also indicated that there will be no 'grandfathering' of adoptions already in process.
· Inform them that if children referred to families are not allowed to be adopted, they will languish in institutions or foster care.
· Ask that their office get involved and sign the sponsored letters to the President of Guatemala and UNICEF. These letters ask that all adoptions in-process as of January 1, 2008 be allowed to process to completion under the existing notorial laws.

What should you say or write to UNICEF?
Speak from your heart and give them the following information
·Inform them that you are calling regarding the Guatemala 5000.
· Ask them to support the right’s of children and lend their considerable influence to ensuring that intercountry adoptions currently in-process be allowed to process to completion under the existing notorial laws.
·Inform them that the Guatemalan government has announced that all adoptions with the U.S. will be suspended on January 1, 2008.
·Inform them that President Berger’s announcement also indicated that there will be no ‘grandfathering’ of adoptions already in process.
· Inform them that if children referred to families are not allowed to be adopted, they will languish in institutions or foster care.
· Ask them again for their support of the Guatemala 5000 Initiative.

Can you explain the problem behind the pending crisis?

Here is some additional information…
·Guatemalan President Oscar Berger has announced plans to effectively stop all adoptions into the United States including those children who have already been referred to adoptive parents
·Over 5,000 children have been referred
·The birthparents for these children have already relinquished their parental rights. As a result, they currently have no family and the Berger suspension will result in these children having no prospect for a permanent, safe and loving family
·The government of Guatemala currently does not have the finances or facilities to even provide housing for these 5,000 children
·The Berger plan is a crisis waiting to happen

Catch up...

Hello again. I know I promised, and I did start this last night, really! Sorry you spent the night hitting the refresh button Mimi!
We arrived in Guatemala Thursday at 1:18pm and got through customs and baggage claim very easily. When we walked out the doors to the airport, there were hundreds of people waiting to greet their friends and family and people holding signs from taxi services and businesses. Talk about sensory overload! We were able to get to the area where we were to wait for our shuttle and didn't have to wait long before it came along. We got into our hotel room at about 2:30 and I immediately wanted to get unpacked so we didn't have to think about it once Ana was here. We were told she would be brought to us 2 to 4 hours after we arrived. I put together our gifts for the staff at the hogar, unpacked Ana's clothes, diapers and wipes and then waited. We didn't really know what to expect. We didn't know who was going to bring Ana to us and whether we would retrieve her in the lobby or if we should invite them up to our room (I had remembered somewhere reading that it is customary to offer your guests a drink from the mini bar), and what we should bring down when we went (we had donations from us for the hogar, the gifts for the caretakers and some things that were sent to us by our agency to bring along). The excitement to see Ana was, by itself, enough to make me crazy but with all the uncertainty about what to expect I was very nervous! We ended up getting the call at about 5:30 and we brought just the gifts for the caretakers down. The lobby was so busy, we had no idea where to go! We walked around aimlessly before noticing a woman with two children sitting by the window holding a little pink bundle with a tuft of sticky up black hair. The baby looked familiar, so we approached uncertainly. The woman turned out to be our attorney Dinora with two of her children. She had Ana's schedule written out for us and then asked if we had any questions about our case. She informed us that we are out of Family Court to our complete surprise and that she expects our case to enter PGN on Monday or Tuesday of this week! We were floored! Last we had heard it would be a few weeks probably before we even got out of family court. So this was just so exciting to hear. But back to the little pink bundle! I didn't cry, I'm shocked as I'm sure all of you who know me are. I think I was so panicked that I was going to do or say something that was going to unknowingly offend someone that I just didn't. But this little girl is sweeter than you can imagine! When Dinora handed her to me, she looked at me and smiled. As you all know I was slightly disappointed that in our last batch of pictures they didn't catch her smiling so this smile was amazing to see! We were told that Ana had just seen the doctor last week and she was continuing to do well. It was such a surreal experience, we walked into that lobby just the two of us and walked out with a baby. I can't explain how I felt! So we rushed back up to our room and immediately pulled her socks off to count her toes (there are indeed 10, in case you were wondering). She was so happy, just an angel baby! It's been an amazing two days, and even though Ana seems to battling a bit of a cold she is such a trooper! She eats well, about 4 ounces every 2.5-3 hours, she sleeps well, waking about two times through the night, and only cries when she's hungry or tired. She has the cutest little dimples and she plays with the hair on the back of her head when she is eating or falling asleep. Yesterday I heard her giggle, the sweetest sound! She gurgles and coos when you talk to her, and is just full of those sweet smiles! Oh, and by the way, those who know about my stressing out over what size she is wearing, I happily discovered that she is just in between the sizes that we brought so both are fitting her. We are so fortunate to have been here to see her at this stage. I just want to thank all of you who helped to make this visit possible. It is the most incredible gift you can imagine. We are so blessed with all the support and prayers everyone has had for us during this process. I have really felt all of your love and good wishes, so thank you from the bottom of our hearts!

more pictures

Hello all! Just wanted to share a few pictures taken today. I'm going to write more tonight I promise, after we lay her down for bed! So check back later on tonight (remember that we are two hours behind you!), I want to tell you all about our first two days with our daughter.

Safe and sound

We're really tired tonight so I'm not going to write much. Plus, Ana is sleeping in my arms so I'm typing this all with one finger! We are safe and sound here in Guatemala and Ana is so precious! It is such a strange feeling to have her here! I just wanted to post a couple photos for those of you who are waiting! I promise to write more tomorrow. Love to you all, sweet dreams.

Short and sweet.....

We have Ana

-Greg

Moving Right Along.....

Okay, so I have that Muppet Movie's song stuck in my head, "movin' right along dugga doon dugga doon, footloose and fancy free...." Okay, enough of that! Just so excited to announce that we have received pre approval (PA) from the US Embassy today! I just received the e-mail about an hour ago. We have been seeing the PA's come sooner and sooner over the last few weeks so we were hopeful (though cautious) that we would be getting ours in the next few weeks. We never expected it to come today! So what does this mean? Well, we are one step closer to bringing Ana home. After we received our referral, we simultaneously began steps to perform the DNA test while entering Family Court. As far as I understand, we have to receive PA before exiting family court, though I don't know how long the family court process normally takes. The PA usually takes 60 days from the time DNA is received, so it's happened rather quick to say the least (15 days!). I don't know how long we'll have to wait to exit family court. After we do, we'll be heading on to PGN which is the final (yet most unpredictable) step. We're not out of the woods yet by any means, but it sure is nice to keep moving forward!

A Happy Heart

Greg allowed Ian to sit at the computer and type tonight before bed time. He told us we couldn't look until he was done.
This is what he sounded out all on his own:

ian.ana.i.hava.ban.watag.for.yor.love.ian

translation:

Ana I have been waiting for you, love ian.

It makes my heart happy.