Where we are as of now..

When I was in Guatemala I realized I had to have the two KBI Background checks that Doug & I did for our homestudy, authenticated & then translated & legalized in Guatemala City. So on Monday I mailed off the two KBI background checks ( I got them certified here in KS & then authenticated in Houston last week), & then our marriage license which was also authenticated, to Roberto. I wired my last payment, for now... to him as well as extra money for the translation fee of these three documents & then the money for the fees for them to be legalized in Guatemala.

I just mailed off a letter to the USCIS office to schedule an appointment for DOug & I to update our fingerprints. They give you a one time free extension, although since this has taken so long we have already used it. So I mailed the letter with a $160 check to them, and a copy of our current I 171H form. They will them send me a letter telling me that we can come in to get that done. They dont let you call to make an appointment . This takes about a week or so for them to send it back to me, then it takes a few weeks or so to get an new updated version of our I171H form with the updated fingerprints & when these will expire, as well as our date of when the offical I600 form would expire.... Things take so long so you are constantly having o update things!! Its ridculous! Anyway, once we get that we have to have a cover sheet with DOug & I notarizing it that it is a true and valid document...and then we have to have it certified in KS again, and then overnight it to Houston, and then get it back to have it then sent to Guatemala to be translated & legalized. I am hoping that we can submit everything but this for now, since techinally the one that we have on file with my attorney to give CNA is technically still current, until May 20th...the fingerprints anyway. It is just not certified & authenticated....or translated, ect...so I dont know what they will do? So it could be mid april before all of this is done and back to them in CNA, and if they dont look through our file before that it will then be 6 weeks after that. I feel like they are constantly giving us some kind of a stall tactic. Although, I am praying that what Roberto has now he can present & have them start reviewing our file... he wont get the documents I sent him on Monday until next week, and then he has to have those translated and then legalized...so at the minimum our paperwork wont go into the CNA until the last week of March.

So far only one other family has made it through CNA enough to be able to take their child home. I know that because this is a new process and they are still fine tuning things, there will be some delays..but seriously!! Uuugghhh.

It is hard not being in Guatemala and staying on top of everyone the whole time making sure they do their job. I am hoping that we can go in May for our empathy study, although it seems that many are waiting to get this scheduled. Everyone's cases are different, so they require different things from each file depending on the situation...if they need to look further into something or need further proof of something. We just recently found out that our I171H form has to be notarized, certified, translated, and legalized....through my yahoo group I am apart of. Almost everyone in that group has a case that will potentially be a transition case with the CNA.

I wish I could trust someone 100% to have our best interest at heart!!

As far as I know, and I will call Roberto to confirm today, we are still waiting for th judge to sign off on our resolution; apparently it has been on her desk since the week I was in Guatemala..waiting for her to sign it. Then when we met with Mr Tecu he said we needed to fill out an offical application for the CNA....which he sent us downstairs to get, although..they had no idea what he was talking about. Roberto said he was waiting to get the application from Mr Tecu's assistant, we will see...

I had my nephews stay the night last night, one woke up at 5:45AM this morning and wanted to have his diaper changed, his "milkie" refilled and some cheerio's in a baggie and watch Sponge Bob Square Pants. IT is moments like that, that I realize that I am losing out on precious momements with Mateo. My girls went to preschool at 3 & 4, and I dont know if I can handle sending him to preschool..when I never even got to experince his "baby" stage. To me, he is still a baby. I was dreaming about Mateo when Doug woke me up saying that someone was up walking around this morning. I miss him so much! I am calling the orphanage today to see if the girls and I can talk with Mateo through the webcam.

Today I am spending the day scrapebooking all of my pictures of Mateo. I am tryng to get an entire album done for each visit trip...as of now, I have the one I did in March of last year, but still have to do July of last year and the one this month.

Please continue to keep us in your thoughts and prayers. I never imagined another summer would go by. I pray that we dont have to miss another Halloween, Thanksgiving, & Christmas! We have missed so much already. I assumed my paperwork would already be at the CNA, and now it looks like it may be end of the month before it is submitted on a good note, or April..if it takes longer. With the way things go in Guatemala...you want to figure longer than shorter, so you dont get your hopes up to high.

I wonder how much I have to pray & be a servant to God for him to help speed this process up. I know we have had many GodWinks along the way, although not without a price, that price is time away from my son.

Val