Lucky Number 7!!

I am delighted to report that we are now (legally) the proud parents of the 7th McKinley grandson!!! We just received word that the birth certificate was issued!!!! His legal last name is now MCKINLEY!!! Woohoo!!!!

This calls for some pictures of the cutest little Guate boy you've ever seen! (Unfortunately we haven't received any recent pics so some older ones will have to suffice).

Mike and I are heading to FL for some much needed R and R tomorrow. Yes, we have our sunscreen packed and no, I'll try not to blind anyone on the beach with my pasty white skin. :-D

The birth certificate and other docs are now in translation (from spanish back to english) and will be submitted to the Embassy next. (Pray it happens next week!!!)

Until then.....audios and have a great weekend!

Love,

Susan, Mike and Kaden

Our son is dancing??

Just a quick update today. We received word that yesterday the final Adoption Public Deed was signed by the birth mother. That is great news for US. That means she has fully relinquished her rights. He's our boy! However, I would like you to pray for his birth mother. I don't know what her life is like, but I imagine that it couldn't have been easy to give up this sweet little boy. God bless her.

We also received a medical update. Kaden is the same length as last month (72 cm) but he's gained over a pound!! Now he's 19 lbs 12 0z! :-O I better get going on those push ups! My back hurts already!! :-D We were also told that he can stand with help and he dances when he hears music! Which side of the family did he get that from?? ;-D

In other news, I think Fezzi is starting to prepare for our new arrival. I figured I better post another picture of him since before long he will no longer be the center of attention. You can already see how neglected and sad he looks. Good thing he still has his blue moose to comfort him. :)

And continuing my theme of "nieces and nephews", here is a picture of my niece Rachel with my favorite brother :-D Jim. Don't worry, I was assured that the bottle in front of Rachel is only root beer. :) But wait! There's more!! I'll post a picture of my nephews on their first day of school next.

TTFN...

OUT! OUT! OUT!!

I still can't believe its true. Our agency sent us an email yesterday afternoon saying "still in PGN", which totally depressed me. Then this morning at 9:45 AM we got the call! We're out! We're really truly OUT!!!

Praise the Lord! Thank you, God!!! :D :D :D It's peanut butter jelly time!!!!

http://emuse.ebaumsworld.com/flash/play/733/

So what does this mean, really? It means that the Guatemalan government has FINALLY approved our adoption of Kaden. What remains is some paperwork that the U.S. Embassy requires. We were told to expect to travel for final pickup in 6-8 weeks. However, I am guessing it will be more like 8 - 10 weeks (given a new step that the embassy recently added).

Wow, what a week, Mike gets a great job offer, Kaden is out, we have a new A/C (okay, well that wasn't so exciting but it's really cool in the condo now! ;-) )

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! for your prayers and support. I'm still in shock so I'm not jumping up and down yet, but I'm sure it will come soon.

Our son is coming home! Our son is really, truly, finally coming home!!! Hallelujah!!!

Mr. PGN, please let us out!!!

Would you pray for us this weekend and next week? We are, (well, okay I am), getting very weary in the wait. We're so happy for other adoptive friends who are already out and bringing their kiddies home, but we want ours too!! Today marks day 92 since we first entered PGN. :(

There's a joke on one of the forums that says after you've been in PGN for 100 days, you get to join the Copa Cobana club. Although I'm a huge Barry fan, I really thought I'd never have to consider joining. :-\ I don't even like Pina Colada's....coconut, ick!!

Specifically you can pray for:
1.) The PGN reviewers , that they are diligent and honest,
2.) "Mr. PGN"---not going to reveal his name here but he's the one that does the final signature. We are hoping/praying our document is at least on his desk by now, if not already approved.
3.) For our paperwork, that God would protect it, allow it all to be approved, no fault to be found and that we would get out today or some time very soon!
4.) For our attorney, I'll call him Mr. U. --that he would be diligent and honest and find out from PGN as soon as we're out and promptly notify our agency. (Sometimes it takes a few days for them to let the agency know, then for the agency to let the adoptive family know).

In other news, Mike is kicking into high gear on Chapter 5 of his dissertation. He hopes to plow through this weekend and get a lot done. He also received word that his company will give him a formal job offer some time in the next few days!! Our hope is that Mike can start full time with them October 1st! Praise God for providing this job!!!

Oh, and most importantly, we received a video of Kaden last Friday, for which we were very excited, that is until we tried to play it and found that it was broken. The good news is that our agency promised us that they are mailing a new video out. So hopefully we'll have some new video of our cutie pie next Tuesday or Wednesday!!

Again, please pray that we will get out of PGN soon, and while you're at it, pray for the post-PGN process. Unfortunately, new/additional steps are being added...so it's possible that instead of getting Kaden home 5-6 weeks after he gets out of PGN, we could be looking at another 8 - 10 weeks. :-\

Have a great, safe Labor Day weekend everyone! We are very thankful for you all! :-)

-Susan, Mike, Kaden and Fezzi :)