Process Overview

We have loved how involved so many have wanted to be in our process- even to the point of remembering which form is which. You probably never knew you would be asking "Did you get your I171H in the mail today?" or "Has the DNA charge hit your credit card yet?".

Of course one of the most popular questions is "When will Samuel be home?"

With that all important question in mind, here is a general summary of the whole Guatemalan adoption process:
(Note: I have written the process first, followed by our specific case progress in italics)

1. Homestudy- this is a series of writing autobiographies, discussing our future parenting styles, filling out forms, having references and home visits by a state licensed adoption agency. At the end of this, a family is "approved" by the agency to be fit to adopt.
This part of the process for us was approx Nov and Dec 2006.

2. After the homestudy is completed and written up, it is submitted along with form I600A ("advance petition for an orphan" form) to US Immigrations.
This was the drive we took to Yakima WA on 1/17/07. (And it was also Liza's bday!)

3. Once I600A is submitted, wait for fingerprint appt to be scheduled. After fingerprints are complete, wait for I171H approval.
We had our fingerprints taken on the same day that we drove to Yakima- thanks for praying about that. I171H approval typically takes 1-3 months. Ours came in a little over 2 weeks on 2/5/07.

4. Dossier is prepared. This is the huge stack of paperwork- from reference forms, to medical letters, to name affidavits of every possible way our name could be spelled, to certified birth certificates, to employment forms and so much more. "Typically" this is gathered while you would wait for your I171H to come.
Since our I171H came more quickly than we anticipated, we scrambled to pull all the dossier together. That was the time of searching for notaries to come to our doctors office with us, and drives to Olympia for state seals. Feb 6th- 15th was consumed by this!

5. Dossier along with I171H is submitted to our agency.
Our dossier was mailed on 2/16 and received by our agency's main office on 2/19.

6. Agency reviews dossier and forwards to the Guatemalan consulate in the US for authentication and then is sent to Guatemala. Typically 1-3 weeks at consulate.
Up until this point, things were moving really fast for us. Our dossier spent quite a while at the consulate- approximately seven weeks. The month of March mainly consisted of our documents being at the Guatemalan consulate for authentication.

7. Wait for a referral. This time varies....(the referral can come once dossier above is submitted and often comes once the dossier is already in Guatemala)
Our referral came quickly- on 2/20/07, the day after our dossier was received by our agency. Samuel was born on 2/7/07- so he was only 13 days old when we had our referral.

8. Acceptance of referral and sending acceptance documents- Power of Attorney (POA) and character references and a few other forms.
Thanks Nathan and Julia for saying we "are people of good habits"...and to Mom for being our Minnesota Sec of State contact. Our acceptance docs and POA were submitted to our agency on 2/27/07.

9. Acceptance docs and POA are submitted to Guatemalan consulate in the US for authentication and then sent to Guatemala.
Since our referral was so close to the date we handed in our dossier, these docs were sent only a week after our dossier and actually ended up passing our dossier- ie they got through the consulate faster. So our acceptance papers were to Guatemala before our dossier.

10. Documents are translated, legalized and protocolized in Guatemala. (Time frame 3-5 weeks once in Guatemala)
Our acceptance documents are completed, we believe this is still where our dossier documents are.

11. DNA testing is authorized. This is a US requirement to ensure the mother who place the child for adoption is indeed the birth mother.
Our DNA test was authorized on 4/18/07. The famous DNA charge hit our credit card on 4/23/07. (It's one of the few credit card charges in life that you are excited to see!)

12. DNA is completed- and wait for confirmation of a match.
This is where we are currently in the process as of 5/3/07. Also, once we have a DNA match, our agency allows us to travel to meet Samuel!! We are hoping to do that end of May or beginning of June.

13. Parallel to the DNA process our case enters Family Court where a social worker is assigned our case.

14. Exit Family Court.

15. Wait for PreApproval (PA). (PA is currently taking about 45 days)

16. Enter Procuraduría General de la Nación (PGN)-equivalent to the attorney generals office. This is the part that really varies. Many families are kicked out of PGN 3-5 times. Often what needs correcting can be done on the Guatemalan end. Sometimes we may be required to make the change (ie an invalid notary, missing document, etc). I have heard of a few families who have gone through with no kickouts in about 6 weeks. The average time is 2-3 months (including the kick outs and resubmits)

17. Get the exciting phone call that we are OUT of PGN!

18. Wait for birth certificate to be issued and some other final documentation.

19. Wait for issuance of PINK. (I can't remember what that stands for). But with this comes our embassy appt day and time. ie Be at the US Embassy in Guatemala City on 10/15/07 at 7:45am.

20. Travel to Guatemala to bring Samuel home!!

I will have all of you know that I typed that from memory, I didn't even look at my Bethany time frame or process!!
Which means I have spent a lot of time thinking about all of this...and that I may have left something out (especially after the exiting of PGN). But is definitely a feel for the overall process.

So to answer the question when will we bring Samuel home- we don't know for sure! As you can see there is much variance in the process and places where some things happen quickly and others more slowly.

The earliest I would guess would be end of August. More realistically, Oct or Nov. We both picture him spending his first Christmas with us as the outside realm of having him home by. There are days I think, what if he is here by the end of the summer and days I prepare myself for not celebrating his first birthday with him. Of course we are praying it will be as fast as possible and hoping for that to be...

We have known what it is like to have bumps along the road- here is to praying that we don't get stuck in the bumps, but that our vision can arise beyond the road and see what lies ahead.

Thank you for praying that we don't give up- that we don't give up hope, that we don't give up persevering, that we don't give up kissing Samuel good night each night and saying he will be home soon.

I don't know what day he will arrive here, but I do know that today we are one day closer to it.