Dominic's Homecoming Countdown

Exciting news! We are going to visit Dominic on January 17th. Frank's Aunt Linda gave us enough frequent flyer miles to travel to Guatemala for a visit! We can't begin to thank her. We had a hard time finding a flight that would be covered with miles, but we managed one that leaves very, very early (6 a.m) on January 17th and comes back late on January 19th. We can fly out of Philadelphia, too. So even though we don't know exactly when the little guy will be coming home, we know that on January 17th we will get to see him for the first time. We've booked a room at the Mariott in Guatemala City and it sounds like we will get to spend the majority of our time with Dominic. We should get some good practice in the airports and in the hotel for when we go back to bring him home. Hopefully, it won't be too much longer after our visit. That's the good news for now. Hope that everyone has a very safe and happy Thanksgiving! Enjoy your turkey :)

New pictures! A pleasant surprise for a Monday! We also received a picture of Dominic with his foster mother holding him. She looks very kind and caring;we can tell he is in good hands! Today's report was written in a paragraph. It says that he is a very cute child (but we knew that one!) and he is always alert, especially to sounds. He usually sleeps through the night, but if he doesn't he is only up for about half an hour and then he is back to sleep. He likes to lay on the bed and play with his hands or be held. He is eating well and he takes a bath every morning!

We sent a package for him today, too. It included two outfits (one being a Baby's First Christmas sleeper), a very, VERY soft green blanket, a disposable camera, a necklace for his foster mother, a letter of for his foster mom (in Spanish, thanks to Marcy!) and a picture of us. Hope it makes it there!

The DNA results came in today and the probability of maternity is 99% . . . in other words, we have a match! One more step down; just a few more long ones to go! Now we wait for three things: get out of family court, get US Embassy pre-approval, and get in and out of PGN. It sounds like the US Embassy pre-approval is going to take about 45 days. After that, we have no idea how long PGN will take. We were originally hoping that we may get to bring Dominic home between February and March . . . fortunately, we are still in the time frame. Of course we REALLY want to bring him home now, but he will be worth the wait in the end :)

We found out today that both the DNA test and the court hearing/social worker interview did indeed take place on Monday. That is good news and means that things are progressing as they should . . . Next big event should be the DNA test results. We should have them in the next week or two. If we have a match, the results will go to the US embassy in Guatemala. We then need to wait for pre-approval from the US embassy. Apparently, this could take up to 60 days. The Embassy is very behind right now and they are supposedly just processing cases where the DNA results were submitted around September 12th. The Embassy just hired 3 new employees to help speed up case processing. After that, we should enter PGN, where we wait to get approved or we are told we need to fix something. Once we get PGN approval (which could also take a few months)we will be very close to bringing Dominic home.
It is very, very hard to not know when this will all be done. I am sure that everyone can understand. There is nothing we can do but wait and hope that everything goes smoothly. It's really hard to explain to people why this process takes so long. Every case is different. Some move fast and some are very, very slow. I don't know where we will be. This process is frightening and thrilling at the same time. I won't lie . . . I am EXTREMELY afraid that something terrible will happen to our documents. I am EXTREMELY afraid that our case will get held up some where. I am EXTREMELY afraid that it will take a very, very long time to bring our baby home. The worst part is there is nothing we can do about it.
A long time ago, I asked my Nana to cross-stitch my favorite prayer for me. If you have never seen it, let me tell you that my Nana was an AMAZING cross-stitcher!It was the last handmade gift I received from her. It is the most beautiful thing that I own (next to my engagement ring, of course!). We have it hanging in our dining room, and I look at it every morning before I leave the house. The Serenity Prayer reminds me to let God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. So I am going to be wise and understand that there is not much that I can do right now but hope for the best, enjoy every day, and continue loving my life :) Thank you for all of your prayers and kind thoughts!