One small step in the process... One giant step for us!!

Along the road of Guatemalan adoption, there are several milestones. For those who are not familiar, the major ones are:

1. Paperwork complete
2. Referral
3. Family Court
4. DNA
5. Preapproval
6. PGN
7. New Birth Certificate
8. Pink Slip issued by US Embassy in Guatemala
9. Bring your baby home forever

While all of these steps are crucial, some seem more important than others because other processes can't move forward until that step is complete. Obviously getting your referral is huge!! Then Family Court and DNA processing can go forward simultaneously. However, once the DNA results are complete, the US Embassy in Guatemala evaluates the entire case and issues Preapproval to finalize the adoption once the Guatemalan process is complete. The reason this step is so critical is that essentially the adoption stops until this step is complete.

Well after a lot of waiting and, let's be honest, frustration and anxiety, we finally received word that we had been issued Preapproval!! The good news was made even better in that we actually received the preapproval over a week ago (November 29). However, the Embassy had the wrong email address for us AND our agency. So we didn't get the notification. The only email address that was correct was the only one that really counted - our attorney in Guatemala. So, fortunately, he had been working on our case with Preapproval since that day.

We are litterally only a couple of steps away. Each step makes this whole process seem more real. It is really beginning to look like our dream is about to come to a happy conclusion.

While we are getting really close, the remaining steps could go either very quickly or linger for long periods of time. We know people who are getting through PGN in 8 days and some that have been in PGN for over a year. Then when it comes to getting the new birth certificate, what seems like such a simple process can litterally take days or months.

Well, for now we will celebrate. Our case is moving remarkably fast. We pray that the pace continues. There is a small chance that everything could complete in December and our son could be home this year. Most likely, we will be able to go in early January. Although we dread this possibility, it could be even February or later.

For the record, Hannah