The list is getting shorter

Finally sitting down to breath tonight. I went and got new tires on the car this morning. Not an expense I really wanted to have but they were pretty bad and with baby on board, I wanna make sure we are safe. The car rides so much better and is so much quieter now. I ran a bunch of errands also (exchanging some stuff, picking up a couple of new things). I restrained myself on a VERY cute sundress and bonnet at Babys R Us. I may still go back and get it but I didn't have my Babys coupons with me as I was just going in to exchange a thermometer. I had bought a $20 digital "ear" thermometer. I decided to test it out and within a 5 minute period it read my temperature from 99 to 103 degrees. Not really the kind of accuracy I would have expected. But I am glad I tested it out before I really need it to be accurate. So I decided to go with a much less expensive thermometer. It is Red Cross brand so it should be good. I'll be testing it out.

I also rented a Rug Doctor and just finished cleaning the carpets in the house. I am glad that I don't have carpet in every room. It is a lot of work getting everything off the floor, vacuuming and then cleaning. I guess tomorrow will be spent putting everything back where it belongs. But then I will have checked two things off of the list--clean carpets and clean house!

Next weeks tasks:

• Call pediatrician for appointment
• Call parents as teachers to get enrolled
• Make copies of visit trip DVD and pictures

The list is getting shorter as the days grow shorter. Thankfully time is going by pretty quickly. Work is going well. My replacement is really picking up on the testing very well and I am confident that she will do a great job. The good thing about being in the testing phase at work is that the days just fly. I can't believe that there are only 9 more days of work!!! Don't get me wrong, I do LOVE my job but I LOVE my daughter more and she is my #1 priority now. Thinking back on the past 10 years it is interesting to see how my priorities and focus have changed. I used to really be a workaholic. Now I focus on doing my job the best that I can in the amount of time that I have at work. I don't bring work home much anymore. I am on-call for support but the system has been pretty stable and the users are more comfortable with it so I don't get many after hours calls anymore. That could change after the June rollout to the rest of the center but hopefully we have enough experienced people that will make the transition go smoothly. I hope so as I will miss the first week after go live.

I am now going to put my feet up and relax. Maybe pull out a quilt to do some handwork. Maybe I should go ahead and get the label sewed onto the quilt I am taking to the foster family.

Still hoping for an email from J this weekend. It has been almost 2 weeks since I have heard from them. Of course, this happens periodically when she gets busy with school, the computer goes down or her brother needs the computer. Hoping all is well in Guatemala with my little angel girl.

Susan

Counting Down

I guess the new countdown clock at the top of the blog says it all! I can't wait to bring the love of my life home. Our receptionist at work commented yesterday that I look happier every day. I FEEL happier every day that I get closer to bringing my baby girl home. I am in a little withdrawl as it has been almost 2 weeks since the last pictures from J. I am hoping to hear from them this weekend.

I still want to find something special for J. She has been so wonderful about sending me pictures and updates this past 8 months. She is going to culinary school and also taking an art class. She is just the sweetest young lady and I know Evvy loves her very much. I finished making the label to go on the quilt that I made for J's family. I think it turned out very nicely. I will get it sewn on tonight and then I will take a picture. Not sure if I will post it yet as I have given this link to J to see pictures that I post.

Mom & Dad will be here two weeks from yesterday and two weeks from today I will be going over all of my final checklists and getting ready to leave. Two weeks from tomorrow we will be getting up VERY early for our 6:00 AM flight. And then by 3:00 that afternoon, the family should be bringing Evvy to the hotel. We will then have the weekend to laze around before getting up EARLY on Monday to go to the Embassy. We will then have the rest of Monday and until 3:30 on Tuesday to go siteseeing or whatever. Then we will be back home Wednesday night.

It is such a wonderful feeling. I haven't had any moments of panic yet about becoming a mother full time. I feel totally ready and can't wait.

All right, back to work. Lunch break is over.

Susan

18 more days! What am I forgetting?

18 more days and I will be going to bed for the last time without my baby girl. It is getting so close. I feel totally ready which scares me and makes me think I am forgetting something important. I have always been a somewhat last minute, under pressure type of person but I really think I am ready except for putting everything in the suitcase. I have all the paperwork, travel itineries, passport, visa money, gifts for foster family, cat sitter arranged, baby food bought, bottles, sippy cups, high chair, batteries for the camera.....

What am I forgetting?

Work is going to make time fly as I am training someone in the new system to be my lead backup tester. We are working one-on-one this week and then next week my other testers begin so I will be busy with them getting them setup and then the next week I am only there 4 days!!!! Time is going to fly!

Again, what am I forgetting?

Worked some around the yard tonight blowing leaves; picking up my fabric stash from the sewing room so it is out of baby reach but I thought I would organize it all first so that might take me a few days :) Put the quilt frame back in my office which stays shut; all the outlets are covered; cabinet locks in the kitchen. Car seat installed (rear facing).

Note to self:

• Call pediatrician for appointment
• Call Vital records for name change/birth certificate packet
• Get new tires on car
• Call A/C guy
• Make an appointment to have carseat turned front facing (before family reunion end of May)
• Shampoo carpets

What else am I forgetting?

I think I am in pretty good shape. I have two more weekends to get everything done.

I just want to go get my baby girl!!!

Susan

We are PINK and oh so HAPPY!!

I got the call last night at 7:36pm that we have our official appointment at the Embassy. I actually have a scanned copy so I KNOW it is true. Our appointment is Monday, April 16 at 7:15am and we are #3. The interviews actually start about 8:00 so hopefully we will be done by 8:30 based on about 10 minutes per appointment. I can hardly believe it. I bought the airline tickets this morning and the agency is supposed to make the hotel reservations so we are all set. Just need to finish packing and wait a little longer. We are leaving 3 weeks from Saturday. Now to get all the last minute stuff that I couldn't do before done.

Call for pediatrician appointment.
Get her added to insurance.
Make label for quilt for foster family.
Design announcement.
New tires for the car (OK should have already had this one done).
Clean the carpets.
ETC, ETC

All I have to say is that it is a good time I made a list about a month ago because my brain is shot now. I already filled out all the paperwork for the Embassy so really the only things I HAVE to do is pack and get to the airport with my passport.

Can't believe this is finally happening. I have felt pure joy today finally after so many months of anxiety and uncertainty. I like how joy feels so much better.

More to come.....
Susan

Getting Close....Maybe today???

I am on pins and needles in anticipation of the all important phone call that the Embassy has issued my PINK SLIP.

The Embassy approval process is a two part process. First all of the paperwork goes to DHS (Department of Homeland Security). They review the file and verify that everything is beyond reproach. This part of the process used to take 1 day and lately since the DOS (Dept of State) has issued some precautionary statements, they have been taking upwards of a week. After DHS approves the file, they send it to the Consular section of the Embassy who actually issues the appointment and prints the PINK SLIP which is in fact a pink piece of paper. The Consular section used to print the pink slips the same day that they received the file from DHS. This is now a next day process.

Anyway, I emailed the Embassy (both DHS and Consular sections) to see if they had my files and which department had it at the moment. The auto-reply message I received from DHS said to allow 7 days for them to reply because they are very backlogged right now. Imagine my surprise to come back from lunch (1 1/2 hours after sending the email) and having a response back from them. The great news is that they sent my file to the Consular Section on Monday 3/19. Today being 3/21 gives me great hope that I will get my PINK SLIP tonight or tomorrow at the latest.

Several people on the Guatemala Adoption Forum received their Pink appointments today. The dates they received were 4/3, 4/13 and 4/16. I think the Embassy is just tossing names in a hat and drawing for the different dates. They used to be very predictable in their appointments. It makes no sense to me why they are jumping around like this. If they still have slots available on 4/3 then they should keep issuing appointments for that day. Maybe they are saving a slot for me :)

In addition to this great turn of events, I also received a copy of Evvy's new birth certificate showing me as her mother. I got teary-eyed when I received it. This is the first official document that says I am a mother. It still has Evvy's given name (Maria Fernanda) on it but I am her mom! The birth certificate was issued on 3/6/07 so it looks like the attorney took his sweet time getting her passport and getting everything submitted to the Embassy. Not that this surprises me but it is frustrating.

THINK PINK!
PLEASE LET ME GET THE CALL TONIGHT!

Here is a picture of my sweet girl taken a couple of days ago. Look at that tooth! J tells me that she is cutting her second tooth and chewing food like she has a full mouth of teeth. She weighs 18 1/2 pounds now and the doctor pronounced her VERY healthy.



Susan

THINK PINK!!!

OK. Everyone THINK PINK this week. Pink is the color of the form that the US Embassy uses to issue visa appointments to adoptive parents. I am really hoping that my attorney did his job this week and submitted all of our paperwork to the Embassy. The Embassy has been averaging about 7-10 to issue pink slips lately. They used to only take 48 hours but they are scrutinizing paperwork more carefully since the DOS (deparment of state) issued a statement about Guatemalan adoptions. For more information about the DOS statement go to http://www.guatadopt.com.

I have been staying busy quilting this past week. I am still working on a quilt for Evvy. Not that she doesn't already have enough quilts but it has been a project to keep my hands busy while I wait. I have picked up some things for her foster family this week to take down to them (mostly chocolate candy bars). I know how hard and expensive it is to get good chocolate down there so I hope they appreciate it. I have tried to send some down in all of the packages I have sent and they always thank me for it. I also mentioned in my last email to the family that I would like to take them out for lunch or dinner while we are down there. I just want to give us all a little closure and have a chance to visit in a more personal environment than just in the lobby of the hotel. It is going to be such an emotional experience for all of us.

Work has been busy which has made time go by quickly also. System testing has been extended by a couple of weeks so user acceptance testing (UAT) has been pushed out until March 26. I feel like I am in a pretty good position to pass things off to my "testers" to make sure everything is working the way it needs to before we flip the switch. I have been pretty involved in the system testing the past 3 weeks so hopefully we are working out the main kinks before the users start testing. The implementation date is set for June 1 right now I believe. I will probably still be out on leave when we implement unless it gets pushed out again. I would have really liked to be there for UAT and implementation but a combination of factors have made it so that I probably won't be there (Guatemalan lawyer lies, Guatemalan lawyer delays, US Embassy Delays, System Testing delays). I just have to believe that it will all work out fine. I know I am not indespensible but I like to think that I bring some value to the company with my expertise in this computer program.

OK. So I went off on a bit of a tangent there. I am SOOOOO ready for baby Evvy to come home. I worked on packing this week. I think I am going to end up taking my bigger suitcase since I am taking the quilt and other stuff down for the foster family. I really don't have that much for me or Evvy but I would rather have a little extra space than not enough. We will see. Maybe mom and dad will have extra space in their suitcases and I can go back down to the smaller suitcase. Mom and dad are planning a trip to Utah the last weekend of March and then they will drive out to my house probably stopping at my sister's house in Nebraska on the way. We are just playing it by ear and hoping that we hear something this week so that we can finalize our travel plans.

THINK PINK!!!!!

Susan

Erica says hi to Evvy

My best friend's little girl just can't wait for baby Evvy to come home. She has been hearing about Evvy for 9 months and she is ready for her to come home. I was over at her house this weekend and she told me, "Let's go get baby Evvy now. I go get dressed and then let's go." They are going to be best of pals. I can't wait for them to finally meet. Here is a little video that we sent to baby Evvy from Erica Saturday night to introduce them to each other. This video stuff is great!
Susan

Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos

Giggles

I received another email from J last night that has a video clip attached to it. Here is my DD beautiful laugh. Again just showing how happy she is and how well loved she is with this wonderful family. I hope this works. This is my first attempt at posting a video.

Susan

Photo Sharing - Upload Video - Video Sharing - Share Photos

A Glimmer of Hope

This past week has been pretty rough. The uncertainty was really getting to me and my agency's attitude of "don't worry" was annoying me. Yesterday I decided I would take care of Susan. After doing some house work, I went and got a massage at the local beauty college. Then I went to a hillarious movie (Music & Lyrics) and laughed for 2 hours. Then I went to my dear friend Peggy's house to drop some hairbows off to Erica along with 2 Spanish children's song CDs that Erica likes. OK well she really likes one song called Chocolate (and who wouldn't love a song about the best food in the world). I needed my dose of Erica. She just makes me smile so much. After leaving Peggy's I went to eat at my favorite Mexican restaurant.

Soon after I got there Erica says, "Let's go get baby Evvy now. I will go get dressed and then let's go get her." It just broke my heart a little. She just doesn't understand. All she knows is that she wants this friend that she has only met in pictures and video to come home and play with her. We explained as best we could that it would be soon.

I felt pretty relaxed and recharged after my day of pampering. So I got home and went through my ritual of checking my email before going to bed (of course I usually check it about 100 times a day while I am there) and what should I receive? A wonderful email from J. This girl has been my saving grace the past 8 months. She has sent me so many pictures and shared such wonderful information about my dear daughter with me so that I feel like I know what to expect when I go pick her up. Well speaking of picking her up.... J told me that her mother received a call Saturday that she needs to take Evvy to the doctor and to get her passport on Tuesday!!!!!! That is the news I have been waiting for. It would have been nice if my agency were able to provide it to me but at least I don't have to wait for my agency to find out before I know the wonderful news.

I was so excited I had a hard time sleeping last night. She is finally soooo close to coming home. The next step after she gets her passport (usually takes 1 day) is for all of the paperwork to be submitted to the US Embassy for their review. This used to take 48 hours but it has been taking 1-3 weeks lately it seems. After they review the paperwork, they issue our appointment date. Since appointments seem to be pushed out until at least April right now, I think the soonest I would travel would be the first week of April. There can still be obstacles if the Embassy has lost our initial pre-approval that was issued last June (this seems to happen some of the time). It then takes a day or two to get that straightened out. However, after Tuesday the Guatemala portion is DONE!!!!! All the attorney has to do is take the papers to the Embassy. Let's see if he can get that done expeditiously. Maybe I am hoping for too much her. He hasn't done anything very expeditiously so far but I will maintain the hope.

J sent 3 new pictures of my dear daughter. Her email said that Evvy does NOT like to be standing. Does not like to be in her walker. Her aunt brought over a jumper and she liked it for a few minutes until she was left alone and then she just started crying to be picked up. J's mom said that maybe Evvy senses that she is about to leave and is feeling insecure. Maybe subconsiously she knows something is different and is becoming more clingy. Or maybe she is teething and just wants to be held more. I hope the transitition isn't too difficult for my little girl.

I took a couple of pictures with my tripod to send to J to show Evvy. I also made two short video clips with my digital camera. One of them is Erica and I with Erica saying hi to baby Evvy and to introduce herself to her. I am helping Erica say everything in Spanish. She is a pretty good mimicker. It is pretty cute. Then I did another short one of me holding my baby cat Bella and just talking to Evvy and telling her that I love her. Maybe if they can show her the pictures and video clips she will remember me and won't be as scared to come with me if I sound familiar.

Anyway, here are the newest Evvy pictures.

Susan

Gotta love email....Happy Baby Girl!

About everytime I feel I am about to lose it with this wait, I seem to receive an email from J. I was at my breaking point last night not knowing what is going on with my case. The secondary agency that I am working with leaves a lot to be desired as far as communication is concerned. I have asked for an update on my case and all I get is "we don't know yet, the communication with the attorney is not optimal." Now what is that supposed to mean? I just have to maintain the hope that he is still working on the finishing up the case--just being his normal slow self. Very frustrating but again, not much I can do about it except keep bugging the agency for answers. It is frustrating to see other people that got out of PGN after me getting their appointment dates to go pickup their children.

Anyway, enough complaining. Evvy is with a wonderful foster family who thankfully have let me watch her grow up in many pictures and have sent me so many precious details about her young life. I received an email last night from J as I was shutting down the computer. She told me all about the foods that Evvy is eating. She LOVES the veggies and not so much the fruits. Maybe she will have a good influence on her mommy to eat more veggies. Her foster mother's birthday was this past weekend so they dressed her up for the party. Very cute pictures. They also tell me that she really wants to be held all the time now. Anytime someone walks past her she cries to be picked up. Hmmm.....it is no wonder she isn't crawling.

Anyway, tonight I received another email from J with the pictures that she didn't have time to send last night. She was also able to tell me that they haven't taken Evvy for her passport fotos yet so I know what hasn't been done on her case...I asked if she would please let me know when they take her for her final medical exam (required by the embassy) and to get her passport/visa pictures taken. Hopefully I will hear something soon.

Meanwhile, here are some more beatiful pictures of my angel. She is getting so big and her hair continues to come in!

Susan

Still waiting.....

Well, I would have thought I would have some good news by now but alas as my luck would have it, there seems to be another bump in the road. It seems that the US Embassy is not issuing appointments very expeditiously in March. Usually when a family receives the notification that they have an appointment, they travel withing a week. Families this past week that received appointment notifications, do not actually have their appointments until the last week of March. This is a 4 week turnaround. We all knew that the Embassy wasn't issuing appointments for the third week but now it appears that there aren't any appointments the 2nd week either. The the first week in April is the week before Easter which is Semana Santa (Holy Week) in Guatemala. Supposedly the Embassy should be open Mon-Wed for appointments but who knows. It just seems that the delays continue.

On the bright side, if I don't go to pickup Evvy until the middle of April, I will just take off until after our family reunion and Evvy's 1st birthday (June 6) which means I will actually have 2 weeks instead of 1 week paid time off during my FMLA. I had planned to save a week so I could take off for the family reunion since I expected my FMLA to be over before the family reunion. That is my silver lining I guess. I know it will just all work out and be wonderful no matter when she comes home but the roller coaster of emotions is really getting to me. I was so high after getting out of PGN until this past Thursday when I saw the huge delays in Embassy appointments.

Keep us in your thoughts and prayers please so that Evvy can be home soon. I just worry that as more time passes that her adjustment will be more difficult. She is so loved and attached to her foster family. They say that if a child has a strong attachment that it is often easier for them to transfer that attachment to their new parents. I hope this is true for my baby girl.

Hopefully I will have good news soon!
Susan