Mi Pequeña Princesa y Su Corona

No, My Little Princess didn't HAVE a Corona (even though this picture looks like she might have). She wore a corona (crown) YESTERDAY when I took this picture of her. Yes, you read that right. I took this picture of HG yesterday. I know. You're thinking "But, K. You aren't in Guatemala." You are right. I'm not--not now, but I was yesterday. Crazy? You bet. We returned home on Sunday, if you recall. Monday, I got an email from Embassy, saying that they had rescheduled the DNA appointment for HG and her mom, M, on Thursday/yesterday. Since I am HG's guardian, I had to be present. So, we did some quick planning. I worked Tuesday and Wednesday. After work on Wednesday, I drove to the airport and flew to Guatemala. I got up yesterday morning and was greeted rather early by this little princess of mine. I was, of course, rather nervous about M showing up for the DNA testing. I talked to my attorney, DG, on Wednesday night. I had emailed him previously on Wednesday, asking him to get up at 4:30 a.m. and calling the contact for HG's mom (the contact is N), making sure they were on the road. Whether or not he actually did it, I don't know but he agreed to do it. When we arrived at his office at 8:30 a.m., he said that N had called him at 8 a.m., letting him know that they were in the City and that they were going to grab a bite to eat before coming to his office. I was a bit panicked when they still had not arrived at 8:50 a.m. when the appointment was at 9 a.m. They arrived and we immediately left for the doctor's office for the DNA sample collection. We were about 5 minutes late, but they were all still there, waiting for us. The samples were collected and off via FedEx to the processing lab in the US. They should arrive at the lab on Tuesday. HG's mom was happy to see her and myself again. I had selected two pics of HG to give her--one of myself and HG and one of HG, HV, and HM. She was delighted. I was happy, of course, to see her again as well. Around 12 p.m., I headed back to the airport to fly back home. I connected through Miami and was expecting to wait a couple of hours before catching a flight back to DFW. Being that I only went for one night, I only had carry on bags. This meant going through Immigration and Customs in Miami was a complete breeze. As I headed to my gate for the Miami/DFW leg, I heard an announcement about a flight to DFW, departing out of a gate that was only 2 gates away from where I was standing. I quickly went over, asking the gate attendant if I could possibly get on that flight. Her response was a quick NO! I told her I was flying standby and had no bags. She still said no. I continued to stand at her counter and then she asked me for my boarding pass for the later flight. She printed a boarding pass for me and I was on the earlier flight! Yippee! I was completely worn out and so getting home in time to go to sleep at a regular sleep time was GREAT! It seems that it doesn't take much for me to miss my family and so I was happy to be home last night.

HG looks great. She was happy with her foster mom, A. When I walked out to the van, she didn't see me. I was on the side of her where the eye was patched and yesterday was a "bad eye" viewing day. I spoke, saying "Hi, HG" in the rather singing way that I always do and her head turned quickly in my direction. "Hi, Nee Nee!" was her immediately response with a BIG smile. She then came to the window of the van, leaned over, and gave me a kiss--on the lips! Her foster mom, A, and I did a delicate dance with each other all morning. I could tell that she didn't want to overstep her bounds with me since I am the Mommy and I didn't want to overstep my bounds with her since they are forming their relationship together. I love A and her whole family and so it was not a big deal at all. We work well together (and always have). A also helped me with translations and just being with HG's mom (and her sister, E, came along too). I guess it might have been weird for some people, but it was fine with me. When they dropped me off at the airport, I kept telling HG that I would return for her soon. A was "helping" HG to say that she would wait for me. I didn't even cry, Chick-A-Dee, when I left her! That's pretty major. She's happy with her preschool. She's happy with her foster family. She's learning a lot and the only way I could be happier is to have her home with us. We're one step closer, however, now.

So, what's next? Well, the results will be completed at the beginning of this next week. One copy of the results is sent to the US Embassy in Guatemala City so that they can issue the Embassy Consent (also referred to as the preapproval). This Consent is then added to the file that is in the PGN. Another copy of the results must be legalized (for those of you that know the adoption lingo, this is the certified and authenticated step). Once legalized, it too will be sent down to Guatemala to be added to the file in the PGN as well. We must have these two pieces in order for the PGN to issue their favorable opinion in our case. Then, there are some wrap up steps and HG CAN COME HOME TO US! How long will this take? I don't really know, but I do hope and pray that it will be done in the next 6 weeks.

Prayer Requests:

Praises:

1. Praise for the rescheduled DNA appointment being so quick and that everyone came.

2. Praise that HG is adjusting well to her new home and environment.

3. Praise that I was able to go back as needed for this appointment (thanks to our dear friend, C, for helping, once again, with the standby vouchers)

4. Praise that HG did not seem to be traumatized by me visiting her and leaving her. My friend, C, pointed out that this perhaps was a good teaching lesson for HG. It showed her that I WILL come back. He's right. I'm sure it did.

Petitions:

1. Pray that the results will be processed quickly and without problem. I do not worry about them not being a positive match. I simply mean that there are no problems with the samples collected (meaning they got enough cells--this is done with a cheek swab--and can calculate the results easily).

2. Pray that the Embassy Consent and the legalized copy will be processed quickly and submitted with the file.

3. HG's case is also part of a "criminal" case. It's not really criminal but I don't know how else to describe it here. Anyway, the judge issued her resolution on the whole matter (not HG's case specifically but these cases as a whole) a while back and the PGN appealed her resolution. From what I am told, their "beef" is not with HG's case but with the judge's resolution on some of the other cases. BUT because she is linked with this, her case is "frozen" in the PGN until this appeals process is over. Today/Friday was supposedly the last day for all paperwork/"evidence" to be submitted to the Appeals Court. We are told that the Appeals Court now has 3 days to issue their "verdict" on the future processing of the cases. Initially, we were told that this Appeals process would NOT impact our case. Now, however, we have learned that we are indeed stuck by this Appeal. I believe that there are like 14 children that are "stuck" with this process. Please pray for resolution in this and resolution quickly. These children all have families, like ours, waiting to bring their child home. Some of them have a long way to go before their child can come home but this is a big obstacle for them and us too. Now that we have the DNA done, this is our biggest obstacle to bringing HG home.



Thank you, friends, for your continued prayers and thoughts. We need them. We're tired. We're running out of money. We're ready for our pequeña princesa y su corona to come home. Here's a little video of our girlie, playing with her crown, her completely tired state!

Te quiero mucho, mi amor!