The devil went down to Georgia!

Today is another hot day in Georgia. :-\ It's crazy how there have been horrible, damaging floods across the midwest and yet here we sit in Georgia, desperately in need of rainfall. So while your praying for rain to STOP in the midwest and praying for those poor people in the path of hurricane Dean, maybe send up a prayer for rain in the South too. :)

I have a few updates for you. First of all, I met up with some Guate Mommies** on Saturday night to see the laser show at Stone Mountain. ("...the devil went down to Georgia...he was lookin for a soul to steal...") It was a lot of fun to hang out, talk about adoption, watch the show, talk about adoption more, eat our picnic lunches, oh, and talk about adoption. :) I think Mike appreciated that I had an outlet other than him. :) My friend Becky drove us and she has a mega-cool Nissan minivan. Who knew that all 8 passengers needed their own individual sun roofs? Who knew how much fun it would be to tease Becky about all the lights and gadgets and knobs while she's driving?....yea, guess I need to get out more. ;-)

**A Guate Mommy is defined as a female who is in the process of adopting or has already adopted a precious little one from Guatemala.

Secondly, my friend who is going through the nightmare with that orphanage that was raided in Guatemala (she is adopting twins) was interviewed by the BBC. If you have 15 minutes, please listen to the interview and the Guatemalan reporter afterwards. The only point I differ on is the "transactional" perception of adoptions down there. I know there are unethical lawyers down there trying to make lots of money, but I have a lot of faith in the adoption agencies most adoptive parents are going through. My point is although that may be the perception, it is NOT the reality in most cases. Most parents and agencies go through painstaking steps and processes to insure the legality of the whole adoption. As you listen you may be surprised at the mis-perceptions of some Guatemalans about the whole process and the resulting actions they take. Please continue to pray for this orphanage and these little ones.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/programmes/outlook.shtml#Mon

On a lighter note, I saw some funny posts the other day about adoption and adoption agencies. My and Mike's eyes have truly been opened to the realities of adoption procedures, interacting with people who consider you just another number, etc... I don't think you have to go through what we've been through to enjoy these, however. If you've ever dealt with any bureacracy, surely you'll appreciate these. :)

• You don't have to be crazy to adopt - but you will be before it's over!
• Bringing Families Together......Eventually...
• International Adoption....bringing children and their families together before either draws social security...And that is our commitment to you.
• When it absolutely, positively has to happen in this century.
• Adoption: Not for the faint of heart, or the sound of mind.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Mike is working on chapter 5! (woohoo!!!) of his thesis. Also, we got our first 'maters from the garden! They are a bit smaller than we anticipated but quite tasty! I plan to cook up our green beans once we harvest just a few more from the vine.

And for those who skimmed down this whole blog just to see if there were any pictures, here you go. :)

Mike and I with our nephew Scott and one of their cocker spaniels --Rusty, this past spring.

We have lots of wonderful nephews and nieces so I'll try to find more pictures to post!

We're still in PGN, (the Guatemala Attorney General's office), as far as we know....I'm hoping/praying we'll get out around August 30th, so please mark your calendars and lift up the prayers! We want out boy home!! And speaking of the cute little chunk..... :)

Lastly, we would like to mention our friends Josh and Jessica who are bringing their Guate baby home for good tomorrow!! Congratulations to the new parents and ,Jadon, we can't wait to meet you!! :)

Kaden is 8 months old!

Greetings friends and family. I have several updates for you but first lets look at some pictures of the sweetest little Guate baby!



We received these pictures last week. Kaden turned 8 months old on August 8th and he's close to 20 lbs now! I guess I better get crackin' with those pushups and arm curls! :)

Kaden is doing great. He's very healthy, and continues to receive great care. For that we are VERY thankful.

On the agenda for today are:

• 8 + 3 = 6 ???
• The parallel Wiener section
• Our Ultrasound

8 + 3 = 6 ???
Today marks week 6 in PGN. What's that you say?? Week 8 was 3 weeks go so how can we be at week 6 now? Very simple, my dear Watson....we were kicked out back in June and were resubmitted to PGN on 07/05/07. We only found this out in the last week or so. When your docs are submitted to PGN, (the Guatemalan Attorney General for those who don't recall ) , they are reviewed by 2-3 reviewers over several weeks. If any of the reviewers find something they don't like, then your docs will be kicked out. We had been told for the past several weeks that we were "still in PGN" but that was not the case. Apparently there was some miscommunication with the "powers that be" in Guatemala. It was disappointing and depressing to find this out, but we were also relieved to have an answer as to why it was taking so long.

So, it is what it is....(or as my Uncle Rick says "things are more like they are today than they ever were before!"). Now we're looking ahead and hoping for the best. Today marks week 6 since being resubmitted. So we're praying and hoping that we'll be out in about 2 weeks. We would appreciate your prayers for the same. After that, are we done? Of course not!! More details to come...

Meanwhile we are continuing to progress with the nursery. We've made quite a few trips to goodwill to get rid of clutter and my kind brother has offered to store some stuff we don't have room for (uh oh...does he realize what he's done??). And the BEST news is that the fall season consignment sales have started ! I'm hitting the Cobb Civic Center Saturday and will definitely cruise 3-4 other baby consigment sales over the next month. (Who says shopping isn't therapeutic??) :)

The parallel Wiener section
This, of course, refers to part of Mike's dissertation work. He is now working day and night when he's not at his part time job. I'm amazed at how he keeps up the perserverance...meanwhile listening to my rants and ravings about the slow adoption process and still having time to walk the dog! We thank GOD that he finished chapter 2 Monday night. Now he is working on the LAST chapter. Please pray he will continue to be motivated and have good, clear thinking as he finishes this last chapter.

I told Mike on Wednesday that when he finishes this last chapter, we're taking a mental health break! We have some friends in north Florida who have offered up their sofa bed and we can even bring the dog! So we're going to take a long weekend (hopefully late next month) to go veg a bit, breathe some sea air, take a walk...and not worry about the thesis or adoption details or Atlanta traffic for a few days. :-0

Our Ultrasound
I saw this on another site and thought it was great. This is the latest ultrasound of our son and how he's progressing. :-) I know that being truly physically pregnant is a very different thing, but I tell ya, I've definitely felt a lot of labor pains over the last few months!

We hope you are all doing well and would love to hear from you.

Last but not least, keep your calendars marked for December 14th. Mike IS graduating from Georgia Tech at 7:00 PM on this day! :)

Week 8 has started...

Today we start week 8 of waiting to hear from PGN (Guatemalan Attorney General's office). The good news is that we have not been kicked out....although that could still happen. We received word earlier this week that we are "still in PGN"...so that's good, I think. :)

In other news, Mike's garden has been growing well. And considering that we live on the third floor of a condominium and have no yard, that's quite a feat! We have already enjoyed a good bit of salad and saw that our first bean came up this week! I also saw our first little tomato this morning (planted a little late). We're excited to enjoy some fresh veggies before too long!


This picture was taken a few weeks ago, before Mike's haircut. (If you think he looks cute here, you should see him now! )


The second picture was taken a few days ago. Is this an engineering marvel or what?? :)














I do have some good news. I am seeing a good number of people get out of PGN, so that encourages us that *maybe* we'll get out soon too. Once out of PGN, then they say it can take another 4-8 weeks before you can pick your child up. The past few weeks have been tough, but we are very thankful that we are finally looking at that light at the end of the tunnel. And as I mentioned in a previous email, we will praise God on the good days and on the bad. We know He is in control and He is mighty and faithful. :)

The nursery is getting closer and closer to being ready every day as is Mike's thesis. He's made great progress in the past few weeks and is hoping to have his rough draft done by end of August.

As always, please pray for our son Kaden, his paperwork to make it through and out soon, and for Mike's thesis to get finished. We can almost taste it!!

Blessings and best wishes to all of you.
Love,
Mike and Susan

Zee black hole de PGN

Sorry it's been a while since our last update....but my excuses are:

1. My mom fell and broke her hip (not recommended by the way....VERY painful!)


2. We got into PGN but haven't really had any updates.

But alas, my public beckons and I comply... as it happens, I do have a few quick updates:

1. PGN - the latest


2. More cute pictures of the sweetest, cutest little enchilada you've ever seen


3. Paris Hilton is finally out!

PGN - the latest
We received an update yesterday that said "Still in PGN...since 05/31/07" If you don't remember what PGN is, its the Guatemalan attorney general's office and our last big step of the process. It's known as the "black hole" however because some people get in and out in a couple months, for others it can take 6 months or more. :( And there ain't a dad-blamed thang you can do about it...just pray and wait and pray and wait.

We have some other friends who were submitted to PGN around the same date we were. Some have already had a "KO"--kick out. That means some PGN reviewer found something they didn't like in the docs and so kicked the docs out. Now the adoptive parents' attorney has to address any issues or mistakes that need to be corrected. So it's a good thing that we haven't been kicked out yet....but it can get a little nerve racking to ponder that we might get kicked out at 8 weeks or 12 weeks and then have to wait an additional 8 -10 weeks where as others have gotten kicked out much sooner, and have been resubmitted much sooner. Anyway, it doesn't help to fret over this....we have control...may not get any kick outs, who knows?

Cute pictures of our enchilada
Here are more pictures for those of you who just couldn't stand not seeing Kaden for another month. They sent us a few more pictures recently along with a very short video. But before I show you that, I wanted to share the bible verse I have been praying for Kaden.

"The Lord your God is with you, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, He wil quiet you with his love. He will rejoice over you with singing." Zephaniah 3:17 (KJV)

At the last update our sweet little boy was a whopping 16.5 lbs! I'm trying to do more arm curls in preparation but I'm only up to 10 lbs thus far...not sure I can keep up!

Also some dear friends had a shower for me last weekend (my first ever!) Kaden is getting some great loot. Now we just need to get him home so he can start using it !

On the top left are Lisa, Me, Penny and Lesley. :) On the right are diapers that have uh, encouragements? and advice written on them. :)

Paris Hilton is finally out!
If you zoomed down to this section for an update, you really need to get a life! Kaden is SOOOOOO much more important than this! :) And so are all of you!

Mom didn't want her picture on my blog this time, but I am thankful to report she is doing well. It's been a tough month but she is a fighter and has worked hard at her physical therapy. Please pray for her continued healing and strength.

Have a great week.
Susan