hey

Hello TanyaB!! I am a jeweler so I'm busy but well. I wish we had more to report but no news on our end. Our paperwork is in Panama. We have no idea when to expect any word. So we just go about our life keeping busy and don't think about. At least as much as possible. I wish you a great holiday season. If we hear anything I'll write. Roger

Maybe we could do a little roll call, like what agency people are adopting with, and where they are in the process, and whatever they would like to add:) I am not as good as some of you at remembering all the details:) Happy Holidays TanyaB

Hello everyone! I'm with you TanyaB. I check this forum every day when I check my e-mail, hoping there will be some news, any news! Of course, we were warned that nothing would happen during the holidays, and they were right! I'm just glad that there is so much to do right now getting ready for Christmas. It helps to keep my mind off of it. By the way, you mentioned doing a roll call. Something else I used to see all the time on the Guatemala forum is that a lot of people personalize their signature. (I have "adopted" this practice myself.) You can add info after your name such as date your dossier was submitted, date of referral, etc. That way it's easier to know about who wrote the post, and after you see it a few times, you remember the person more easily. If anyone wants to do this and doesn't know how.... Go to the top of the forum page and click on the Options tab. Then click on Edit Profile and enter whatever info you want in the signature box. I hope everyone has a great holiday season! Joan

Nothing new to report. We did our fingerprints 2 weeks ago and we are just waiting for those to get processed. The only thing left for our dossier is the I-171H. We are hoping to have our paperwork to Panama in January. Happy Holidays! Julie

We are still working on completing our dossier. I really like adding the information to our signatures. I think it would be great if people would include what agency, if any, they are working with. jane

We have completed all our paperwork and had it in Panama by Oct. We had a referral at the end of Oct. for our 28 month old little boy. This adoption was "disrupted" so to speak and we are now waiting for a referral again. This of course has been the adoption nightmare, but as a very wise person once said, the child we are destined to have is the child we will be with. If you don't have the faith that God has a bigger plan than you are left with nothing. We are taking faith it has helped us so much more than nothing ever could. Hang in there everyone, our forever children are waiting for us:) TanyaB

.... that is EXACTLY right....... I was cooking rice over the stove.... the phone rang.. and it was my "first" attorney calling, advising me to "give up on Juli - because she didn't see it every happening...." I began crying (not out loud.... just quietly to myself)..... I listened to what she had to say...... I checked on the rice... and, out of nowhere, it was like being struck by lightning.... this OVERWHELMING FEELING CAME THROUGH ME... AND OUT OF MY MOUTH FELL: "Melissa - I'm sorry, I disagree. Something is telling me RIGHT NOW not to give up - that this IS GOING TO HAPPEN - I KNOW JULIANA WILL BE OUR DAUGHTER...." She believed me 100%, and was extremely respectful of my decision to carry on, and we both agreed that, because it was so time consuming for her, and that she had 2 other jobs in the balance, I would move on and hire another attorney.... and within minutes of hanging up with her, I hired this wonderful woman that I had always wished I had used from day one. Melissa and my new attorney got along GREAT, exchanged files, all fees were adjusted accordingly..... and we saw it through... ups, downs and all.... to the end. The odds were COMPLETELY stacked against us..... 1. Birth mom had to wait until she was 18 (she was 16 at the time this happened) to sign paperwork relinquishing her child.. her father refused to co-sign (he beat the crud out of her, and had been imprisioned for the abuse - and was punishing the birth mom by refusing to help). 2 sisters supported the adoption, and 2 sisters convinced the ailing father NOT to sign ANYTHING (because of their hatred for their younger sister, the birth mom). 2. Election year - anything deemed to look pro-american was a "no-no"... so our paperwork was continuously stalled..... 3. birth mom could change her mind with so much time to wait before her 18th birthday..... (understandably)..... 4. I was given XX amount of time to get out of Panama, as I was the last remaining family member --- on the entire post, I was the ONLY LIGHT ON at night.... just me, and Juliana.... alone. Imagine your entire neighborhood abandoned, except you....... The army could only be SO NICE before I was going to be FORCED to leave.... No car. No family there. A politically changing environment. And there were other issues.......... ugh..... But we did it. :) 3 years of freaking out.... LOL......... but in the end, it COULDN'T have been any other way.... this is EXACTLY how it was meant to be. :) Nothing worth having is going to come easy.... ~k.

Thanks Joan for telling how to use the signature box. I'm also checking this forum often. I usually don't post much because I'm in the early stages but I'm still here. God bless each of you!

Our current status: We received our referral in September and are still awaiting travel. We are expecting everything to be complete in the next 2 weeks and hopefully - travel in January. (For those looking at timelines - Our referral was for a 6 week old baby, so we expected quite a wait to travel) We just requested and received updated pictures this week of him (almost 5 months old). He is so adorable. Lauri Referral Received and Accepted Awaiting final court approval for travel