Panama Journey

Nikko's is one of our favorite places to eat while in Panama. I am glad you were able to go. Have you tried any traditional Panamanian restaurants? The canal is awesome. I am always amazed at how big those ships really are and how they can go so close to each other. The last time we were there they had bleachers and a loud speaker that explained the process in both English and Spanish. Maybe it was the time of day we were there. The more I understand how it all works to get those ships through the more I am amazed. What a great time you must be having! We are getting so excited about going again. Thanks for taking the time to post. We all enjoy hearing from you. jane

Can't really chat much now........ but will reply more later tonight or tomorrow..... Just wanted to say a very important thing to Laurie..... PLEASE avoid the area around the Presidential Palace. The only "safe" area to eat near or around the Palace is at the ocean wall, where there is a WONDERFUL restaurant there (w/Jazz... awesome food, sounds of the ocean, etc)...... someone from Panama please jump in with the name! Suddenly, it's slipped my mind.... ugh..... But other than THAT particular area (the long white ocean wall), DO WHATEVER YOU CAN TO AVOID THE ENTIRE AREA - 2-4 MILE CIRCLE - AROUND THE PALACE. IT IS NOT NOT NOT SAFE.............. Can't really go into it all now. But there is a BEAUTIFUL church with the golden altar (all names have now slipped my mind! ugh!!!)......... when we visited there, we had POLICE ESCORTS. Anyway.... just AVOID that area......... unless you're on an organized tour. Also...... GREAT place to eat: GOUCHOS!!!! YUMMMMMMMM! Mangos is just down the block from it (heading toward the water) and next to the Harley Davidson shop (if it's still there). MANGOS WAS MY FAVORITE FOR CEVICHE....... yummmmmmmmmmmmmm........... As for the Panamanian court "muchos problemos" that you're stumbling upon......... THAT'S NORMAL FOR PANAMA, I'm sorry to say. It happened to each one of us (who were all stationed there w/the Army) who were adopting..... AND.... the EXACT SAME THING HAPPENED TO MY FRIEND ADOPTING VIA THE U.S. who had come to stay with me. Same cancellations...... same "blah blah blah excuses"......... but.......... 2 months later, they had their darling girl, and all was well............... There IS light at the end of the tunnel. So far, your "journals" have been very positive, despite the road blocks you've endured!!!! HEY..... if you go across the bridge again...... keep going until you get to Arraijan........ you will come to a large "compound" on your left with organized buildings.... and there should be a sign... "HOGAR SAN JOSE DE MALAMBO"........ This is the orphanage I volunteered at. If you're curious, and would like to visit......... go to the office, and ask Sor Lourdes (the head nun) if it would be o.k. to visit the children...... tell her that someone you met..... Kim Petersen...... suggested you visit. Give her my "Salud" and blessings........ and tell her that Juliana is doing GREAT! Will write more later.......... trying to get through your posts, too....... Hang in there...... ~Kim :)

Lauri, , I just wanted to let you know that I've been updating my family (who live in Panama) and friends about your trials. You're in many peoples' prayers that you don't even know. :-) EVERYONE is rooting for you, girl! Also, if you get brave, hit the highway and head to the beach. Coronado beach is beautiful and there are some wonderfully coloforful homes to view in that area. Hot pink and green...totally wild!! Much of the sand at the beaches is black and has crystals that glisten like diamonds. Breathtaking. Also, the restaurant near the end of the Causeway, called Ranchita, I believe, has pretty good food. The fileta is awesome. Service was extremely slow, but that's just how laid back they are. The Smithsonian Institute on the Causeway is pretty neat, too. Your daughter might enjoy that, though I don't know how old she is. Enjoy Summit Gardens (zoo), but don't step in any big piles of leaves. My husband played there a lot, as a child, and was bitten by a Fir de Lance, Panama's most venomous snake...nearly lost his leg. Gosh, I can't tell you what your updates mean to us, both on the adoption front and remembering Panama. I've traveled the world over, but no place is as magical as Panama. If you're looking for a really cheap convenient store, hit the 24Hr in Diablo. Napoli's Pizza downtown is awesome, too!

Tuesday, March 9, 2004 Today, we had no appointments. The smog is pretty bad here, so we were not sure that we were going to leave the hotel. After 9 days in this room, it is difficult to spend an entire day here. We decided to try to find an open market on Amador Avenue that we had heard about. We found it. It is an open market behind the YMCA on Amador Avenue. It was rather large and had lots of souvenirs. We found the prices comparable to the ones in the shops on Amador Causeway (the shops on the Causeway are air conditioned). However, the open market did have more selection and they want to bargain. We bought too much, considering that we will be back in a month or so. They also carry many dresses for little girls that are authentic to Panama. We are still trying to find the Mola shirts for our children. They do not have many things in small boys sizes. We will be back to do some more shopping. We had fun and then went to the Causeway to have lunch. The Causeway has some great places to eat, but they have also been the most expensive places to eat for Panama(comparable to US prices). Then we did some shopping at the El Dorado mall to get the boys some shorts ($1.99 each). We went to KFC for dinner and let our 2 year old play in their indoor playground. Many restaurants here have indoor play lands for children. We are trying to keep our spirits up as Friday gets closer. We are suppose to find out more information tomorrow on a future court date, but tomorrow means something different hear. We have appointments tomorrow for our psychological evaluation and then to the US Embassy on Thursday to ask all of our questions. That is all we did today. Thanks for all the positive posts. It really is helping us. Yes, we already discovered that the area around the Presidential palace should be avoided. Of course, we discovered that while driving through the area. It is not the greatest area, but it was daylight and there were plenty of people around. We did get a picture of the Cathedral. We are going to go back down there, but stay on the water side to take picture of the palace and the renovation that is occuring. We will go with our Agency to ensure we stay in the right area this time. :) We are also going to try to visit a zoo that we saw on our way to Gamboa, but that might have to wait until the next trip. There is really so much to see and do here.

Lauri, I so look forward to your daily updates, you have us all spoiled! Did your agency set up your psych evaluation? Do you have to do the personality test and everything? I didn't enjoy that the first time I won't be looking forward to having to do that again, but whatever it takes! Enjoy your last few days. Julie

Hi Lauri I've been keeping up with your journey to my wonderful country Panama. I am glad to hear that you are managing your way around town. Panamanians are very friendly and in spite that a few may still hold a grudge most of them are forgiven. There is a famous saying "Panamanians are lovers not fighters". Wow you have visited a ton of places that I can't think of anything to tell you. Your spirits inspires a lot of us and well me "I am a newby!". I would love to be in your shoes right now. Stay positive, enjoy and God bless you, hubby and your babies. :D

Wednesday, March 10, 2004 Today we had our psychological evaluation from the Director of National Adoptions Department. Our agency staff picked up the psychologist and brought her to our hotel. She felt the children would be more comfortable as the testing would take about 2 hours. They were actually early which was very unexpected for Panama. The Psychologist was very nice. We had to answer a lot of the same questions that were covered in our home study and ask by the social workers from the same department. They are all just doing their job. Then we had to take some test. She showed up pictures and we had to draw the pictures. Then we had to draw some pictures on things that she described and write stories about what we drew. It was a little strange, but we laughed our way through it. As she did not speak English and our Spanish is simple at best, our agency staff translated all the questions and instructions. The psychologist really was very nice and tried to speak as much English as possible to help us understand. They also offer you advice on telling your child they are adopted, how they will fit into your family, etc. She said the evaluation will be complete by Friday of this week. Our psychological test that we submitted with the dossier was a series of questions that we answered yes or no to. I believe it was an MMPI test. Well this one was very different. But at least we will know our results before we leave. After the evaluation we were drained from everything that has been going on since we arrived, so we did not do any sightseeing. We did go to Amador and have lunch at a place called Crepes and Waffles. It was great! We have really enjoyed the restaurants and causeway on Amador. It is about 15-20 minutes from our hotel, but it is well worth the drive. It is very clean and has at least a dozen restaurants and kind of mall environment. We have not found out any other information on our court date yet. Tomorrow we go to the Embassy to ask questions and find out their process. I have to remember to take a lot of notes. I must agree that everyone here has been great. They have gone out of their way to assist us. We ask the hotel to use the laundry facility and were informed they no longer have any for use of the guests. They called a number of places to find out where we could do laundry. After unsuccessful calls, they sent someone from their staff up and did all our laundry for us. They even folded all our clothes. It is amazing the type of service that you get. The Director of National Adoption staff is also outstanding. They are very caring and want to ensure their children are going to good parents. They are also willing to go out of their way to help. We know that everyone is trying to make our stay better and doing everything to make the process faster. It is a nice feeling.

Lauri Thank you so much for keeping us up to date!! We recieved word that our referral of our daughter-- there is home visit of a grandmother in about a week- then the investigation is over and it goes to the judge. I am so sorry the parental rights have not been officially terminated- but thank you so much for sharing this. We are working independently with an attorney after having to seperate from our agency due to legal and ethical issues, so hearing form you first hand means everything!!!! I will pray for you along with every prayer I hold up for our own process. The last few weeks I have heard a true concern for her and the children of that orphange and it is very comforting. God bless you family!! yh

We are back at home from our Panama trip. Sorry I did not post anything on Thursday or Friday, but they were very busy and emotionally exhausting days. On Thursday, we attempted to go to the US Embassy to find out the documentation required. The US Embassy was in the process of moving to Clayton, so it was closed except for emergencies. They would be open on Friday from 9-11am to perform dry runs only (did not know exactly what that meant). We then took both our children to the doctor for follow-ups. Our 2 year old had gotten the same thing as the baby. The medicine was great and they were both better, but the doctor wanted to see them again. We also were trying to hire a nanny for our son in the orphanage. Our agency staff offered to take our son into their home; however, they had already done this for another family and the ministry still had that on file and would not let them take another child. I don't pretend to understand that. The result was that our son would go back to the orphanage. Since our agency supports this orphanage, it was not an issue. The orphanage even agreed to allow us to hire a Nanny to take care of our son. The cost was $300 a month ($150 for the Nanny and the remainder would be for food, diapers, doctors appointments, vaccinations, food for the Nanny, etc). It is worth the money for the piece of mind to know he is getting one-on-one attention. On Friday, we called the Embassy and found out they were not seeing anyone in the Immigration area. Our agency got the necessary information, only one of us needs to go back to present the I-600. We need to bring the proof of approval of the I-600A (I-171H), complete copy of the dossier and copy of its Spanish translation, Court documents, Form G-28, Completed I-600. I understand that they make the passport photos at the Embassy now. The section has an e-mail address that you can attempt to get answers: Panama-visa@state.gov Friday afternoon, we had to take our son back to the orphanage. I sent clothes, his toys, food, diapers, etc. We wanted him to have everything he would need for at least a month and the agency will provide for the second month with the money we gave them, if the court has not completed everything. It was difficult to leave him; however, he was smiling and laughing at the women when we left. He has been there his entire life and is familiar with the place. (If it sounds like I am rationalizing, I am.) Our two year old had a difficult time understanding why he was not going home with us, so that was hard. It is difficult to understand the Panama process until you see it first hand. There are a number of children in orphanages, and it takes alot of work to terminate parental rights and get these children eligible for adoption. The Ministry has limited resources and limited funding, so they cannot perform investigations on all the children. For many of these children it is taking years to complete investigations. I don't know if the process should be faster because I don't know all that is involved. I know that there are a number of people in the Ministry, with Adoption Agencys and attorneys that are trying to move the processes forward and trying to make it better. They are doing everything they can. These people are working many hours for the children, so be patient with them as you move through the process. Our current status: We are back in the US and waiting for our final court date. We will not attend the court date as long as the judge agrees. We will wait until all the paperwork is processed and translated. Then we will go back to Panama and present the documents to the Embassy and wait for them to complete their process. We will keep you posted.

Welcome home Lauri! Friday must have been a very difficult day for you and your family. I hope you'll be back in Panama soon! I was wondering how you hired the nanny, did your agency help you set this up? Does the nanny come to the orphanage for a certain number of hours each day and take care of your child at the orphanage? I'm also wondering how you got access to the Internet? Did you have a laptop? Did the hotel have computers for guests to use? Did you go to a cyber cafe? Just curious. Again welcome home and thank you so much for your postings. Julie

Thank you for taking the time to write!! It is so exhausting after a long trip and then add the emotions - WOW!! I am so glad to hear about the nanny. That is HUGE for us. To know that if we have to leave our child, that hiring a nanny is an option. How nice it will be to keep him on the same feeding and sleeping schedule as well as having one on one care. Thank you for sharing that information. God Bless you and your family. jane

Because our agency supports the orphanage, they said we could hire a Nanny. At first they did not want to hire a Nanny in the orphanage and were going to try for the agency staff's house. That did not work out, so the orphanage agreed to let us have a nanny. The orphanage was going to take care of finding the Nanny and ensuring she understands his schedule. When we left on Friday, they had not yet hired someone. We only worked out the details on Thursday when we were given the amount. Our agency is going to continually check on him and the Nanny to see how she is doing. The Nanny will only be there from 6am to 7pm to care for him. After those hours, the orphanage staff will care for him. The staff there is good, so we are trying to stay positive. For Internet service, the hotel that we stayed at Country Inns & Suites has broadband Internet available in the rooms. The one that is near El Dorado did not charge for Internet in the rooms; however, the one at Amador charges a fee for Internet in the rooms. We took our laptop for access(we have broadband at home). However, most hotels have a business center that will allow you e-mail capability and sometimes Internet access. Many hotels have dial up capability in their rooms, but we don't have a dial up account (i.e. AOL, etc.), and we weren't sure how that would work. There are alot of Internet cafes through-out the city that we drove by. We did not go into any of them, so I don't know what they offer. Our agency also offered to let us use their office for Internet connections and e-mail service. We were in their office a couple of times a week, so we could have worked from there. However, it was nice to have the ability in our hotel room and work at night when the children were in bed or taking naps during the day.

Congrats! we have just started the process through panama. i'll be reading your posts throughout your trip. when you get a chance, or even when you get home, i'd like to talk to you about the adoption process as well, if you don't mind. My thought s and prayers are with you while youare away. amie bushnell

We are now home. I am not sure what additional information I can add to the postings above, but I can certainly attempt to answer any questions you have. As you can tell by all the posts, there is alot of information out there about Panama adoptions, some of the information is true, some of it is speculation. I only know what we have been through. Send me your questions or PM me and we can talk.

Well, what a trip you guys had, eh? It must have been hard to leave your son there, but what a relief you are confident in the orphanage staff AND you have hired a nanny (very smart! Good idea!)......... When you mentioned Crepes and Waffles... I had a MEMORY JOLT!!!! That was the last place I met my attorney before leaving the country. I bought her lunch there, and we said tearful goodbyes. The ice cream there was soooooooooooo good..... My kids loved that place, and we LOVE the "fat mona lisa painting" on the wall........ :o) Also funny hearing you mention the Embassy's move to Clayton. That was the last place I lived.......... ALONE..... the last person there with the ONLY light on at night...... :o) (just some security guards, me and our daughter). Originally, we lived at Corozal....... right on the canal.... the last building on the street of housing. We used to wave and talk to passengers on cruise ships as they went through.......... SUCH MEMORIES when you mentioned going to the Locks. Another fun thing to do in Panama if you can squeeze it in on your next trip is to go to Taboga island. Just a nice get-away if you have a day free to explore.. Did you get to eat at Gouchos, by chance? Just the name brings back memories of the most AWESOME Argentinian steaks.......... oh...... and the SANGRIA..... to die for (probably why I thought one of the waiters looked like Antonio Banderas.... LOL)...... Oh.. as for the Presidential Palace area......... That area was the "last stronghold" for Noriega's henchmen....... many pro Noriega people still reside in that area and the area itself is just plain crime ridden (lots of muggins). When stationed in Panama, we were given maps that indicated in red WHERE YOU WERE NOT TO VENTURE... and that was one of the areas. Other than that.... I felt safe just about everywhere...... never had a problem (other than a scolding for wearing a skort in a public building). Glad you're all safe and sound, and that you are inches away from having your son with you permanently....... ~Kim & family