The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face

We received an email 5 years ago today and when we opened it, this is what we saw. The face of our daughter. She was 17 months old, sad, scared and alone. We knew however, that this was the child God had chosen to be our daughter. We fell in love, right then and there. What we didn't know then, was how difficult and endless the journey to bring her home would be.

Our next Court hearing is scheduled for May 8th. 12 days from now. We won't be traveling to Guatemala this time. We're going to stay home and wait for the DNA results and the judge's decision. The main reason being that airfare is out of control! I have been checking the prices consistently since our last trip 9 weeks ago and they have been in the $545.- $550. per ticket range over the last month. That's actually pretty good. However, we had been waiting to book our flights until we heard from our folks in Guatemala that everything was still on, but the weeks passed and we just weren't getting any answers. One day last week, I checked the ticket prices in the morning and they were still at $545., then later that day, I checked again. The price per ticket had jumped to $822. a piece!!! Multiply that times 3! Really?! Oh, and today? Today, they're at $862. each. Need I say more?

We are waiting for a conference call with Senator Landrieu about her recent trip to Guatemala. As you can imagine, all the waiting families are anxiously anticipating what progress was made to get our kids home. No date on when that's supposed to happen though.

Anyway, I just wanted to mark yet another milestone of this process.

Boots On The Ground

This week, a delegation of U.S. Congressional representatives led by Senator Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, are in Guatemala meeting with the adoption entities there to once again advocate for our children.

Sen. Landrieu met with Guatemala's new president, President Otto Perez Molina yesterday to discuss the need to resolve these adoptions as soon as possible. Here is a press release regarding the meeting: 

Guatemala President to Proceed on 350 Adoptions for US Parents Stuck in Limbo After Ban

By Associated Press, Published: April 11

GUATEMALA CITY — Guatemala’s president says he’s willing to speed up 350 adoptions by U.S. couples that were in process before his Central American nation suspended adoptions by foreigners in 2007 following allegations of fraud and baby theft.

President Otto Perez Molina said Wednesday he hopes to resolve those cases after meeting with U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, who has been traveling to Guatemala to push for the adoptions to go through.

The government issued a decree last August approving adoptions that had been fully arranged before the ban, but it applied to only 44 cases.
Guatemala was once a top source of adopted children for U.S. couples, with more than 4,000 a year. The U.N.-created International Commission Against Impunity studied 3,000 adoptions and found irregularities such as falsified paperwork and fake birth certificates.

We are anxious to find out what this means and will remain cautiously optimistic that he means what he says.

We are T-minus 26 days until our next Court hearing on May 8th. Since we were in Guatemala in February, many, many negative and potentially damaging things have taken place there that could possibly affect our case. At this point, we have no way of knowing. Hopefully the meetings taking place this week with the U.S. delegation will negate all the negative activities and insure forward movement for all the cases.

We're asking for specific prayer for Sen. Landrieu, her delegation and all the Guatemalan adoption representatives. Please pray that this visit will make a definite impact that will insure a direct path to let our children come home. Soon.

                               Olivia is waiting.