December 6, 2006
This post is long overdue and we apologize for not doing it sooner. We have been
very busy as you can imagine with the arrival of sweet Mia into our family,
lives and our home. The past 8 weeks have been amazing. Ty has welcomed his
sister home with open arms and for the most part they are getting along very
well. There is the typical brother/sister stuff that is to be expected. Sharing
mommy and daddy is something that is new to both of them. Ty really has taken
Mia under his wing and is an incredible big brother. Mia just squeals with joy
when he comes into the room.
We went on a road trip through Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio about a week
after we returned home with Mia. We made the rounds and visited relatives,
friends and the highlight..... we visited with Ty's birth family. We just cannot
put into words how wonderful that day was for us. Ty had a blast playing on the
"play land" and then swimming (yes an indoor pool) and then out to dinner. He
really is blessed to have this wonderful family be a part of his life. We give
God all the praise for the incredible gift of bringing our families together
through this special little boy.
The road trip was a wonderful opportunity for everyone to meet Mia and welcome
her into the family. I also made a trip to Nashville, TN with Mia (just Ali and
Mia on this one) to visit with my sister.
We are all back to work and Mia is attending the same preschool with Ty. Our
lives are settling into a very comfortable routine. We have been busy with
doctors appointments and all the things to get Mia settled in.
We received Mia's citizenship papers and even already had our re-adoption
hearing where Mia was officially given her American name, Mia Paige Wittman. Her
Florida birth certificates arrived this week.
We are so excited to celebrate this Christmas together as a complete family.
Watching Ty point out the lights to Mia and seeing the excitement in both of
their eyes makes us feel we are seeing the wonders of Christmas for the first
time.
Now check out the photos. They really do say it all for us.
From our family to you and yours, may this Christmas bring you joy, hope and
happiness as we celebrate the birth of our Savior and all of gifts he has given
so graciously.
Feliz Navidad!
Dean, Ali, Ty and Mia
October 12, 2006
We had our Embassy appointment yesterday morning bright and early at 7:15
a.m.. It was pretty painless. My, oh my there were a lot of babies there. We
couldn't believe it. It was so amazing to see all these children coming to
America. There were a bunch of babies around 4-6 months. A few toddlers like
Mia and some older children. They were all beautiful and several times I just
cried while standing there looking at all of them... thinking about the lives
they will have and seeing the smiles on each parent's face. The looks on all
the faces really showed what a special day today was. We will never forget
standing at a small window, raising our right hands, being sworn in and being
told they are approving our visa for Mia. We will get Mia's visa tomorrow
around 4:00 p.m. so we will be coming home on Friday in the afternoon. If we
make all the flights, (space available), we will fly on American in to Miami,
where Mia will become a US citizen, and then into Orlando arriving around 2:30
p.m.
We celebrated last night by enjoying an authentic Guatemalan dinner with our new friends, Joni, Laura and their baby Haley. The food was delicious and we really enjoyed spending more time with our new friends.
This morning, we had our last breakfast in the hotel restaurant, and all the waiters gave Mia lots of attention. One of our favorites, Mario, kept telling Mia, “Bye-bye Dora”. Mia smiled at him and scrunched her nose.
We will spend today getting packed and picking up few more souvenirs. We leave for the airport tomorrow morning at 5:00 a.m. On a very positive note, Mia is doing much better in the evenings. She has even slept in her crib a few times and seems to be very relaxed with us.
We probably will not post again until we arrive in Orlando on Friday. Thank you so much for all of your prayers and support. We are almost HOME!!!
October 8, 2006
We have really been enjoying our time here and feel so blessed to be able to
see the beautiful country of Guatemala.
On Saturday, we went to Antigua, the old capital of Guatemala. It was incredibly
beautiful. The landscape is so green with beautiful mountains and volcanoes.
Neither of us had ever seen anything like it. Guatemala is mostly Catholic and
has many Catholic churches. We were able to see several of them dating back into
the 1500’s. They were all just breathtaking. We bought a quilt in Antigua that
has symbols of all of the things that make Guatemala so special. We will keep
this quilt as a keepsake for Mia and hope that she will treasure it too. When
she is older, we will tell her how this quilt came home with us to the United
States when we brought her home into our lives and our family.
On Sunday, we were very fortunate to have Johnnie take us to Coban, Mia’s
birthplace. We left at just after 6:00 a.m. and returned home around 8:00 p.m.
What a day this was!! Going to Coban was really neat because it took us out of
the city and away from all of the tourism. On the way up, Johnnie stopped at a
place were we had authentic Guatemalan food and coffee. The coffee, for you
coffee lovers, was the best. Once we arrived in the city of Coban, we went to
the town square and bought some additional keepsakes. The of course are extra
special since they are from Mia’s birthplace. We were able to go to the hospital
where Mia was born. The security officer (actually armed police officer) granted
us permission to go in and take pictures. This day was so special and we will
never forget it. We have many pictures and video and as Mia grows, we will show
her how much we feel in love with her birth country.
October 6, 2006
I am typing this entry with Mia on my lap. Oh what joy! We arrived in
Guatemala at 1:00 p.m. yesterday and were able to get everything ready for Gaby
(Mia's foster Mom) and her arrival with Mia at 6:00 p.m. Gaby’s mom, Sonia also
came as did a very nice lady, Lorena, from the attorney’s office to serve as a
translator. The time together was bittersweet… just as I knew it would be. Lots
of tears and smiles and much laughter. Gaby was very grateful for the Santa
Biblia. She just smiled the sweetest smile at us when we handed it to her.
Another highlight was a box of chocolate we gave Sonia. She opened it right up
and shared it with Mia. Check out the picture of Mia with the chocolate. She
wanted to enjoy every minute of it.
Also, our friend Nancy from New Jersey was here and left this morning to take
her baby Josephine home.
Mia did cry quite a bit last night. I am sure she misses Gaby. I was able to
console her and promised her we would love her through it.
She loves her Dora the Explorer pjs. She keeps pointing to Dora on her legs and
smiling. God is so good. We are so blessed and just thrilled to be bringing her
home soon!
Well, we are off to the best breakfast buffet in the world. It doesn’t get any
better than this. Keep watching for more pictures every day.
October 4, 2006
Our hearts are full of joy and we are blessed beyond words as we take off
tomorrow morning, for Guatemala to pick-up our sweet baby girl Mia. We will
arrive around 2:00 p.m. and Gaby will bring Mia to us about 6:00 p.m. We return
to Orlando on Friday, October 13th.
The time with Gaby, Mia’s foster mom, is going to be bittersweet. She has raised
Mia for the past 10 months and has truly loved and cared for her as if she were
her own. I know Gaby is happy for us to begin our life with Mia, but it will be
an adjustment for both Gaby and Mia. We have gifts for Gaby and her family to
show our appreciation.
The most special of these gifts is a Santa Biblia (Bible written in Spanish).
Our Sunday School teacher, Sherry Mosher, casually mentioned this past Sunday
that she had a Santa Biblia on a shelf if anyone knew of someone who could use
it. We had intended to purchase a Bible for Gaby, but had not purchased one yet.
We were beginning to worry if we would even be able to find one so quickly.
After class, we asked Sherry what she thought of sending the Bible to Guatemala.
With tears in all of our eyes and smiles on all our faces realizing how God had
a hand in this, Sherry agreed that this bible was meant to travel with us to
Guatemala. We believe God had a plan for that Bible all along. That is why it
had stayed with Sherry for all those years. God used Sherry to give this special
Bible to us so that we could hand-carry it to a very special young lady in
Guatemala that has cared for our daughter. We had the bible engraved with Gaby’s
name thanks to another special lady in our church, Cherryl McCully. The story of
the Santa Biblia as told above is just an example of how God has worked through
this adoption.
Mia is coming home … finally coming home and we cannot wait for you all to meet
this sweet baby girl who was born in Coban, Guatemala to a birth mom who did not
speak Spanish or English. A translator had to translate from Q’eqchi (Indian
language) into Spanish so that she could communicate her wants and desires for
Mia (Maria). She brought Mia to the big city of Guatemala City to find parents
for her that could give her all she needed. She wanted her to have a home, a
mom, a dad and an education. Mia’s roots are very deep with rich Mayan Indian
culture. We will raise her to know where she comes from and who she is. Much
sacrifice has been made to bring her to Orlando, Florida by the people who loved
her so in Guatemala. We will not let them down. We love this little girl with
all of our heart and soul. We will show her the love of Jesus and teach her the
sacrifice He made for us.
Thank you all for being part of this love story. We cannot wait for you to meet
MIA!
Dean, Ali, Ty and Mia Wittman
September 11, 2006
On September 11, 2006 we received the news we have been waiting on (drum
roll)….. We are finally out of PGN and have received the final approval from the
Guatemalan court. Our new time frame now is to travel to bring in her home in
3-4 weeks.
The date of September 11, 2006, is one that forever will be a date that all Americans will hold as the day for our generation that changed our lives. We started this day very somber and reflecting on the events that happened on this date 5 years ago. Quite honestly, we were not focused as much today as we have been everyday on receiving the call from our agency.
Dean received the call from Joanne, our agent, while working on a computer system in an office. Joanne simply screamed and Dean new what that meant. He hurried over to my law firm and stood in my office with this smile on his face. For those of you that know Dean, he almost always has a smile on his face, so I just looked at him wondering what was going on. Again, never even thinking it was the call from Joanne. Dean simply showed me the log on his cell phone that showed the call coming in. I asked “Did she call?” Dean simply nodded his head. No words, just this huge smile. It took Dean exactly 12 minutes to deliver the good news to me in person.
We continued to reflect on our country and so many who have suffered such great loss on that date. In this world that holds so much uncertainty, there is something that is certain…. Our God is in control. He is so awesome and we give thanks that he holds our family, our friends, and our nation and yes the whole world in His hands.
We thank all of you for your support as we near the homestretch in bringing sweet Mia home. She is a ray of light and will bring so much joy into the lives of those she touches.
We will end this by telling you that Tyler has already set up a little bed in his room for Mia. He has spent the last few days since we told him she is coming home soon letting us know how he is going to protect her and keep her safe. Mia is so blessed to have Tyler for her big brother. The fun is just beginning!
Much Love,
Dean, Ali, Ty and
Mia
August 6, 2006
Hola from Guatemala. What a trip this has been. Miss Mia
is walking all over the place. She is so much fun. She tries to say words and
we laugh because they all sound like English. She says water, ladybug, duck and
of course mommy and daddy. Her favorite word is “da” for daddy. (That one is
really clear) We also taught her to play “how big is Mia?” She puts her hands
over her head and we say “So big” or “Que grande”. She responds to both.
Dean made a trip over to the PGN on Friday to see if we could find out the status of our case. They took the case number, went away to check, came back and said to check back next Friday. Our agent said that is the standard response… “Check back next Friday”.
We know that prayers are being sent each day for Mia and the adoption. We can feel them. We do have a peace in knowing that Mia will come home in God’s time. Please continue to pray. We believe in the power of prayer and trust that she will be home with us SOON. Our friends and family will have a lifetime of knowing and loving our precious little girl, Mia. We are just ready to get started with our family of 4 living happily in Orlando.
God bless and thank you all for all of your love and support.
Ali, Dean, Ty and Mia
June 23, 2006
Hola from Guatemala. We are here celebrating Mia’s first birthday. Her
birthday is June 23rd and she shares the special day with her Grandpa
(Papi) Wittman. Quite a contrast turning 1 and turning 70. This trip, we
brought Ty, Lala and Papi Wittman with us.
We had a “Dora the Explorer” or “ExploraDora” as they say here in Guatemala. We included Mia’s foster family in the festivities, which included the traditional “Happy Birthday” song in English and in Spanish. We have lots of great video and pictures for Mia’s baby book. What a great memory for us to be able to celebrate her first birthday together in her homeland. We have many happy memories we have built together as a family in this beautiful country.
We have now been in the PGN courts for almost 8 weeks. The PGN courts are moving very slowly with the new head boss taking office in April. We have been advised there is no real time frame and it is not even processed in the order in which the cases are entered. So right now we just have to accept that no matter how long we will be in PGN, each day that passes is one day closer to bringing our sweet baby girl home.
We must take this opportunity to say a HUGE thank you to Gabby, Mia’s foster mom, and her entire family for not only the excellent care, but all of the love they are giving Mia. We knew it was there, but at the party yesterday, just watching them all together was such a blessing to us.
Much love to all!
Ali, Dean, Ty and
Mia
June 9, 2006
Each week that passes we are coming closer to the time of bringing baby Mia
home. Although the exact time frame is unknown, we do know that each day we are
getting closer.
Here is our update. We were advised that we received a
previo (kickout) from the PGN court on Wednesday, June 7, 2006, for a small typo
in the paperwork. The attorney corrected the document the same day and we were
entered back into PGN on Thursday, June 8, 2006. As crazy as this sounds, it is
actually a good thing that we got kicked out and entered back in. It is very
unusual to get through the PGN court without any kickouts so it appears that the
sooner you receive the kickout and enter back in the better. Many people
receive their approval after the document is fixed. Our agency told us she
anticipates our approval coming anywhere around 3-5 weeks. It could be earlier
or could be later. We are really making this a matter of trust. We trust that
God has a plan for Mia…. a perfect plan. She will come home to us at that
time. As with anything in life, realizing that you do not hold the power or the
control is not an easy thing to do. We have a real peace about the timing and
are just very excited about getting her home this summer.
Again, much love to all of our friends and family for your support and encouragement. We are so blessed and God is good…. all the time.
Much love,
Dean, Ali, Ty and
Mia
April 29, 2006
Hola from beautiful Guatemala. We arrived yesterday around 1:00 p.m. Ty came
with us on this trip and is having a blast. It is amazing to watch him with Mia.
He has taken on the role of “big brother” very naturally. He makes sure she has
everything she needs and is constantly kissing her arms. I must admit that her
arms are very kissable. They are having fun together getting to know each other
and so far we haven’t had any mishaps.
We received great news this past Monday, Aril 24, 2006, in the form of an email
from the US Department of Homeland Security advising us and our agency that we
had received our “Pre-Approval” from the Embassy for the adoption of baby Mia.
This means we will be entering PGN (the final court process – see our steps to
adoption). Our agent said that we should be going into PGN on Monday, May 1,
2006. This is great news for us as it another big milestone in the process and
we have just crossed it.
We want to thank everyone again for all of the prayers and support you are
showing to us. It is just difficult to use words to express the feelings of
gratitude we feel. You are all a huge part of this process with us. It won’t be
long now until all of you will be able to see for yourselves just how precious
this little gift from God is.
Ty’s birth mom made a beautiful canvas picture for him for his birthday this
year. It has an incredible sunset on the front (funny how Ty now associates a
sunset with Guatemala), and on the back she has written a very special
inscription to him. Her words cannot be said better… “You are special and set
apart”. We are a family through the gift, the incredible gift, of adoption. Our
hearts are full of joy and our eyes full of happy tears while we are having the
time of our lives. Again, thank you all for being a part of it with us.
Much Love,
Dean, Ali, Ty and Mia
April 2, 2006
Words cannot describe the incredible weekend we have spent with Mia.
She is changing so much and growing at record speed. She sits up and plays
and has started crawling.... all over the place. She is eating a lot and
can really go to town on a dinner roll. She loves fresh fruit, mostly
watermelon and cantaloupe. We are gazing at her sleeping right now and
will enjoy one more night with her this trip. Her foster mom, Gabby, will
be picking her up at 8:00 a.m. tomorrow and we will say adios until we meet
again hopefully in a month or so. We are thrilled with the progress of the
adoption over the past week and pray we will continue moving on right into the
PGN court and have her home to celebrate her first birthday which is June 23rd..
Here is an incredible quote that really says it all for us right now. The
quote is from our 3 year old son, Tyler. While taking our evening walk
through the neighborhood last week, out of the blue he looks at this most
amazing sunset and says with excitement "Guatemala!! Look Guatemala!".
We are not sure if he saw a sunset while visiting with us on the last trip or
just associates the beauty of the country. All we know is that he is
right.... when ever we see a sunset we will exclaim "Guatemala!!". Love to
you all.
Ali, Dean, Ty and Baby Mia
March 31, 2006
Greetings from Guatemala City! We arrived yesterday afternoon and have
not stopped smiling since we landed. Mia is just incredible. She
recognized us both and seemed so happy to see us. She looks about the
same, except the two top teeth have come out completely and it is just too cute!
She now has her two top and two lower teeth. Ready for a big "Tuesday
Night Pizza" with Lala, Papi and Ty (of course mommy and daddy too).
After we arrived, we received a wonderful email from our agency that the DNA was a match (yeah) and that the results were submitted to the US Embassy on 3/28/06. Now we are waiting on the Embassy Consent and will then enter PGN, our last court system in the process. We are praying this will speed through. It is very common to get kicked-out at least once or twice (for documents that need fixed), so we will have to see. We feel very good about the progress and know that Mia will be home with us in God's time.
Continue to pray for her. She is a special little girl and we know He has tremendous plans for her life. Keep watching the website for pictures this weekend. The pix say it all!!
March 29, 2006
We are
sorry for not posting an update sooner…. But here it is. After we received our
I-171, it took weeks to receive our DNA authorization. In the past, this part
of the process has taken only days. As we understand it, there have been quite
a few changes in the way the U.S. Embassy issues the authorizations and this is
causing the delays. We did receive our DNA authorization on March 15, 2006 and
the test was done last week on March 21, 2006. They administer the test by
doing a swab in the mouth of Mia and her birthmother. The test is done on both
at the same time and a picture is taken of the two of them together to accompany
the swab which is sent to Labcorp here in the U.S. We are now waiting on the
results which we should receive any day. The other great news is that all other
matters in Family Court are complete. This included the birthmother interview,
foster mother interview, and a complete comprehensive report prepared by our
social worker. The report is completely finished, signed and sealed. We are
now waiting on the Embassy consent so that we can move into PGN. PGN is like
our attorney general and is the final step in the adoption process other than at
the very end where we are issued a “pink slip” which is basically a document
from the Embassy that says she is ours and the new birth certificate is issued.
We will travel at this time to pick her up and bring her home. The timeline for
PGN is anybody’s guess. One family flew through in 9 days and others have taken
months. You can get “kicked out” for anything and many times they want
documents re-done. Please continue to pray that we will zip through PGN and
that God will continue to protect little Mia. Mia’s foster mom Gabby is just
incredible. She provides excellent care for her and we are so grateful. We
also want to let everyone know what a wonderful birthmother Mia has. She lives
over 4 hours away from Guatemala City and has stayed in the city during this
process so that she can be ready and available for all of the appointments she
has to attend for the adoption. This is a real blessing as there have been
situations where birth moms have left the city and are difficult to find or do
not show up for appointments. From what we understand, it is important to Mia’s
birth mom that she is able to do what she needs to for the adoption. This has
given us a peace with much love and respect for her. Please also keep her in
your prayers as birth mom’s are often a forgotten part of the adoption process.
We believe that both Ty’s birth mom and Mia’s birth mom are extended parts of
our family. THEY ARE THE REASON WE ARE A MOM AND DAD. They both live right in
the middle of our hearts and are with us through the children they so lovingly
and freely placed with us.
We are off to Guatemala this weekend to visit Mia for a couple of days. Ty will stay home this trip with his Lala and Papi and our niece Erin. There will be more great pictures this weekend so make sure to check the website often.
Sorry for the length of this update, but there was much to say! Thank you to our friends and family for all of your love and support. A special thanks to our Sunday School class for having a fund raiser that included a garage sale and car wash. They raised a SUPER amount and are definitely a huge part of bringing Mia home. Much love to all!
January 26, 2006
I contacted the local Orlando
US Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) office and she checked on the
status of our i600a approval. After a little bit of waiting she came back to
the phone and said they had everything they needed from us. Then she said she
got Finger print approval from the FBI yesterday and she would be mailing out
our 171 form today and we should get it tomorrow. This process can take up to
several months to complete and it only took us 5 weeks. This is what we mailing
the night we left the Sunday School Christmas party early. This is a huge
answer to prayer as that was our current holdup on getting things rolling. Now
we send the 171 to
January 19, 2006
Well we are back in the good ole’ USA and very happy to be home. Actually it
is bittersweet. We could not wait to see Ty and our family but missed baby Mia
from the minute we said Adios’. We just have to keep telling ourselves that we
will be back with her soon. The next trip will most likely be the end of
February or early March. We are planning and saving for it now.
We made many good friends on the trip all in the same boat with us… waiting on
bringing home their sweet baby girls. First we met Johanna from Tampa, FL and
her sweet baby Grace. Johanna lives with her husband, Brian and her two boys,
Cameron and Conner. We were able to spend a few meals with Johanna and Grace and
time together with our babies. Johanna is a registered nurse and we had her give
baby Mia a good “check over”. Baby Grace gave Mia an adorable pair of little
Guatemalan booties that are adorable!
We also met a wonderful mom named Bonnie, or as we are already referring to her,
Aunt Bonnie. She lives in Live Oak, FL, with her husband David, an attorney, and
their 4 children. We went shopping, out to eat, and spent a lot of time together
with Bonnie and her precious baby Arianna. We are certain that both of these new
friendships with these families and the babies will continue to grow. So much to
be thankful for that through this process, God is blessing us with such
wonderful new relationships!
Please pray that our INS clearance comes soon. We were fingerprinted on January
7, 2006. Receiving the INS clearance is the most critical step in moving along
our case in Guatemala. In talking from those adoptive families from Florida, it
looks like it is taking between 4-6 weeks. Please pray that ours makes it way to
us in record time.
Enjoy the pictures of us with Mia. I wish you all could see the video. As
beautiful as the pictures are, you should see her in action. Her whole face and
eyes come to life when she looks at us. We are definitely in love. Big brother
Ty seems so proud already of his baby sister. He has told us that she will sleep
with La La (that is what Ty calls Dean’s mom). We guess he feels she will be
comfortable and safe there.
We also want to thank all of you for your support, both financially and with
prayer. The blessings are overflowing. Please keep us in your prayers and we
will continue to keep everyone posted with the progress.
We looked up the meaning of Mia today in a name search. Here is what it said…
Mia – Meaning “Belonging to God”.
Verse: But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall
mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall
walk, and not faint. Isaiah 40:31
January 13, 2005-January 14, 2005
Today we arrived in Guatemala City to meet baby Mia. The trip was wonderful
and very fast. Less than 4 hours. We were greeted by a shuttle, which took us to
the Clarion Hotel. Less than ½ hour after our getting checked in and settled in
our room, our adoption agent called us to let us know they would be coming up
shortly with the baby. In minutes, there she was right in our arms and has been
there since. She is just beautiful. She is everything we thought she would be
but so much more. Not only is she beautiful, she seems so content. She has such
a sweet temperament. We are amazed at how she keeps herself busy just playing
with her little toys and looking around. She keeps us in her sight at all times.
If one of us has walked out of the room, she is looking with everything she can
to find where we are. It is so cute. We have really been enjoying the time in
the room with her. We are having such a great time of bonding and getting to
know each other. She also slept very well last night sleeping from 10:30 p.m.
until about 4:30 a.m., got up for a short bottle (she was in such a good mood),
and then back to sleep until 7:30 a.m. We have met another adoptive mother
who is here to visit her baby. Her name is Johanna and we have really hit it
off. She and her husband Brian live in Tampa with two boys ages 2 and 4. The
boys all stayed in Tampa for this trip, but will make the next one. They are
adopting a sweet baby girl, Gracie, who is now just 8 weeks old. We enjoyed
breakfast this morning with Johanna, Baby Gracie, and Joanne, our adoption
agent. We are mostly staying in the room with Mia, but were able to enjoy a
parade this morning right outside of the front of our hotel. Believe it or not,
it is actually very cool here today and very windy and rainy. It was in the 50’s
this morning and we were not able to stay out very long, as the wind was too
much for Mia. We will write more later, but wanted everyone to know how special
this time is with Mia and we are loving every minute of it. We miss Ty, but our
niece Erin, is keeping him busy with a party last night, a play date today and
church tomorrow. She is such a blessing to us, along with Joyce and Jack, in
making this trip possible for us. Much love to all!
December 30, 2005
What a
wonderful day. First of all, it is Ty’s 3rd birthday. We went to
the Capital One Bowl parade in downtown Orlando and had so much fun. Then we
went over to Ali’s office and received 2 overnight packages from both the
Guatemala Consulate in Miami and the Guatemala Consulate in Chicago. We had
forwarded to them our entire dossier documents for authentication. It is just
unbelievable that we would receive both sets of documents returned on the same
day. We overnighted all of the dossier documents to our agency and they will
have them translated and sent to Guatemala. Our fingerprint appointment with
the INS is next Saturday, January 7, 2006. We are so thankful that things are
moving along. The Lord is really helping us keep the strength and energy needed
to get it all done. Praise God!!
December 27, 2005
Dean received his birth certificate over the weekend and so we are sending
by overnight mail to the Guatemala Consulate in Chicago today. Since Dean was
born in Michigan, the document must be authenticated in Chicago. Once we
receive the document, it will go along with the documents we get back from Miami
as part of our Dossier.
We thank the Lord at this wonderful time of year for so many good things. Our son Ty will turn 3 years old on December 30th. He is just full of joy, smiles and all the things that little boys do that are so cute. He goes from thing to thing looking at everything and asking questions. He is so curious about the world and how everything works. He loved the lights this year and we so enjoyed watching his eyes light up. We went out Christmas evening with Dean’s mom and dad, Joyce and Jack, to look at all the lights. Ty took it all in we really enjoyed the relaxing time together. We pray each of our friends and family will have a very blessed Christmas and New Years. We trust that 2006 will see many dreams come true for each of you.
December 23, 2005
We received confirmation from the INS that our paperwork was received and all
documents needed were included. (They give a check list of any additional items
they require and ours were all included). They gave us an appointment for our
fingerprints which will be on January 7, 2006. We are so excited at each step
of this process.
December 21, 2005
We were able to finish all of our notarized forms for the dossier today
including Dean’s employment letter and our reference letters. This is great
news as this also includes the document needed to begin the court process in
Guatemala.
After taking Ty over to Aunt Karen and Uncle Jeff’s house to watch him for the evening, we finished up the overnight packages to forward to the Secretary of State for the State of Florida to certify the notary and then they send directly to the Guatemala Consulate in Miami for the authentication. We will then forward to our agency and they will have the dossier documents translated and sent to Guatemala. We are doing everything we can to work on getting this precious little girl home. We know the process can be long and so many things will be out of our control. Our goal is to always make sure the ball is in their court and control the things we can. It all lies in the Lord’s hands and He is in control!
December 17, 2005
Today we were able to complete
our INS I600A paperwork and overnight it to the local INS Office. We received a
certified copy of our home study in the mail the same day and were determined to
get everything together and sent out immediately. We even left our Sunday
School class party early so that we could get to the post office that evening.
We waited in line with all of the people sending their Christmas gifts. We
reflected on how extra special our package was. The gift that is coming to us
through that package makes all of the hard work worth the effort. We feel so
blessed and have so much to be thankful for.
December 15, 2005
Today
we received confirmation from our adoption agency of a referral of a beautiful 6
month old girl. We are just so excited, thrilled and feel very blessed to have
the potential of bringing this baby home from Guatemala and welcoming her into
our family. We are told the process will take approximately 6 months, give or
take. Her birthday is June 23, 2005 (she shares a birthday with Dean's Dad). We will
be working very hard over the next few weeks to get all the paperwork in order
for the INS and dossier so that we can try to get her home by her 1 year old
birthday. By having a current approved homestudy, we were able to receive the
referral of this beautiful little girl very quickly. Over the last few days,
they have been busy getting all of her paperwork ready, getting her physical and
making sure everything is in order. We even received a copy of her doctor’s
report and she is very healthy and weighs almost 15 lbs.
God’s timing is always perfect timing. We are trusting in Him and know that he will hold us very close during this journey. There will be many more updates to come as we continue to receive more information during the process. God is so good!
December 13, 2005
We are busy putting together all of the formal paperwork to apply to the INS for
approval and also putting together the paperwork for our dossier for Guatemala.
Our friends and family are really pulling together in supporting us with getting
everything accomplished. These are such exciting days and we continue to thank
God as he is leading and directing us. We can feel his hand guiding us through
this journey. Our pastor just came back from a Work and Witness trip to
Guatemala just last month. He and his wife are just thrilled with the news of
our adopting from Guatemala as they hold the people of Guatemala very near and
dear to their heart.
December 9, 2005
Today we
had a lengthy conference call with the director for the agency that handles
Guatemala adoptions and went over many details. There are so many exciting
possibilities! We should receive their paperwork in the mail today. We feel
that Guatemala is where we should be adopting from and we are starting the
process today!!!! We also spoke with our social worker that completed our
recent domestic homestudy and have confirmed that with some minor adjustments,
she will be able to convert our domestic homestudy to work with the Guatemala
program. This is a big answer to prayer. We are very excited as we begin this
journey to bring home our 2nd little gift from God. We will keep you all
posted.
P.S. Dean is working extra hard as we begin the "crunch" to finance the adoption. He left for work this morning at 4:30 a.m. and will get off at 10:30 p.m. tonight. He has promised that Sunday will be a true day of rest and he will work harder than ever before on the other 6 days. Such a wonderful husband and father. (Dean will want me to take this out before we post it, but I must insist it stay in -- grin)
December 6, 2005
We contacted Adoption Partners an agency that handles Guatemala
adoptions. We have friends who have adopted two little girls through this
agency. Adoption Partners also had great information and we look forward to
receiving their paperwork in the next few days. Please continue to be in
prayer for us as we make some very important decisions in the upcoming weeks.
December 5, 2005
After much prayer and discussion, we feel led to begin looking into an
international adoption. As some of you know, we started out 3 years ago to
adopt from Guatemala. God definitely had other plans for us as we were
blessed with the most precious gift of our son, Ty, through a domestic adoption.
God's hand was in control of each step and we placed our trust in Him.
Once again, we place our complete trust in Him. The last few weeks have
been filled with prayer and much discussion as we have re-visited our desire to
adopt internationally. So on December 5, 2005, we contacted Great Wall
China Adoption agency. They had lots of great information and we feel we
have enough information from them to be an option for our journey to add to our
family. We have know two couples who have adopted from China and one
couple who is anxiously awaiting their referral. Very exciting!
November 16, 2005
This afternoon we learned that our birth mom had a change of heart in releasing
Jack for adoption. Please pray for this birth mom, Jack and our family during
this difficult time. We love our friends and family and appreciate your
support.