Dominic's Homecoming Countdown

12/23/05

Dear Dominic,

Merry Christmas! Your future mommy, daddy, and kitty wish that we could be with you this year. You look so very healthy and happy in the new pictures we have. We can tell that your foster mom is taking great care of you. She told us that you are a cheerful baby and that you are eating very well. You get up about twice a night for more food and you love to be propped up in your cradle. We can't believe how big you are getting and how strong you look!

Your room is almost ready for you! It looks bright and happy. Uncle Mike helped us paint it. You have lots of gifts waiting here for you. We can't wait until you can see them! We will be spending Christmas with all the people who already love you . . . your future grandparents, greatgrandparents, aunts, uncles, great-aunts, great-uncles, second cousins and friends. Everyone is so excited to meet you . . . especially us!

This Christmas, we'd give anything to be with you. We pray for you all the time and count down the days until we will meet you. Our visit will be here very soon!

Here is our 2005 Christmas ornament picture. The ornament has a great story behind it. After we moved into our house and adopted Princess, the most wonderful cat in the world, Frank decided to start a cute tradition. We took a picture of the three of us by the tree. He went out and bought a Christmas ornament for the picture. He wanted to surprise me with the ornament for Christmas. When he went to put the picture in the ornament, he realized that instead of "OUR FAMLIY" it said "NUESTRA FAMLIA." Frank and I do not speak any Spanish; I taught German for three years and he took Italian in high school. Well, it's the thought that counts and it was a really good idea on Frank's part! He decided that it would be cute just to give me the Spanish ornament. And that's where the tradition began. Little did we know a few years ago that those ornaments would represent the language of Dominic's homeland . . . what irony :) This year, I should receive my "Nuestra Familia 2005" ornament. For now, the fourth part of nuestra familia will only be home in our hearts.

Our lawyer just came back from her vacation and we received an update. Our dossier is ready to be picked up from family court on Monday. From there we will be entering PGN . . . the final stage. I have NO IDEA how long it will take us to get out of PGN. Once we are out of PGN, Dominic will legally be ours. We'll just need to wait for the final paperwork to be done, his birth certificate, and his birth mother's final sign-off. Then we get a pink slip that tells us we are cleared to travel to Guatemala, have our Embassy appointment, and bring him home. I am very happy that we have made it this far and I hope that the final part of this journey goes smoothly. I am expecting some delays with the holidays. Everyone is on vacation; I know I can't wait for mine! Regardless, we will get to meet Dominic in a month and we can't wait! For now, we need to get his room done and get our house organized. We have a pediatrician appointment tonight so that we can determine what we will need to do when he comes homes (vaccinations, routine exams). I am very busy with school and we begin musical auditions tomorrow. Being busy makes time fly, but I have a little hole in my heart that won't be filled until this special little baby come home with us! Be safe and continue enjoying this wonderful season!

We have jumped through another hoop! This afternoon, I received a BEAUTIFUL e-mail message from the US Embassy in Guatemala. It informed us that our case officially had preapproval. I was shocked; I actually cried a little bit! I was hoping and hoping and hoping that we would receive preapproval by Christmas. It has been taking most people around 45 business days because of embassy back-ups. Well, we received our preapproval in a RECORD time of 19 business days! Honestly, I'm shocked!
You are probably wondering what this means. You might even think that may have given us a more definite answer regarding the date of Dominic's homecoming. Well, sad to say . . . we don't really know much more about that. I think I have become a Guatemalan-Adoption-Guru over the past several months and the process makes sense to me. It doesn't make much sense to anyone else. Frank doesn't even really get it, but I try to keep him up-to-date.
For those of you who WANT to make some sense out of this, check out http://www.guatefam.org/process.htm. Go to the RELINQUISHMENT: THE BASIC STEPS section. I would say we are probably around Step 13. We still need to get out of Family Court and into PGN.
Please continue to keep us in your thoughts . . . today's news was big but we still need some more big things to happen :)

After a cold and snowy start to the morning, we received some new pictures of our little guy from his warm and sunny country! Dominic is now 11 lbs. and his pediatrician says he is in good health. We're finally seeing some expressions . . . maybe even a hint of a smile! We were sent 5 really great pictures. He's getting big and strong. We really REALLY can't wait until he can come live with us. Only about a month and a half until we get to meet him, and then hopefully it will just be a short time until he comes home. Enjoy the pictures and stay warm :) Keep us in your thoughts; thanks for all of the kind words and prayers.

Just wanted to update everyone with the latest . . . which is nothing! We are in a not-so-exciting holding pattern right now. Not much is happening and I don't think too much will in the next few weeks. This isn't a bad thing, just part of the process. Of course, there is nothing we can do on our end here but wait. We are waiting for our embassy pre-approval which will probably take a few more weeks. We also need to get out of Family Court and then we are on to the final phase, PGN. I know that all that info is probably just plain old confusing to all of you, so thanks for bearing with me! Hopefully we'll have some new pictures soon.

Right now, Frank and I are just trying to get things organized around the house and get ready for the holiday season. My brother-in-law Michael has been helping us get Dominic's room ready. I'll put some pictures of his room up when it is done. We are going with an airplane theme . . . it's really cute! Other than that, we are plain old busy and just waiting and waiting and waiting for some news. As my close friends and family know, I don't DO well with waiting . . . but I'm hanging in there!

I don't think I mentioned that we received the actual hard copy of the DNA results right before Thanksgiving. In the results were 2 pictures of Dominic and his birth mother. Those pictures were hard for Frank and I to see because his birth mother must feel so sad. Dominic, on the other hand, looks like he is oblivious to it all (and I am sure he is!). Anyway, she looks like she is trying to smile in both the pictures. We will tuck them away and share them with him when he is ready. I'm not sure that we will ever show them to anyone else.

Our package made it to Guatemala. Yes, I still have an extreme fear of things getting lost in the mail, but this shouldn't surprise you!

Happy December! Enjoy the beginning of the holiday season :)