Waiting for a Referral

Our paperwork is finally complete! Everything will be hand carried by my mom and dad down to Guatemala on Feb. 1. In the meantime, we will wait for a referral from the children's home, knowing that the right baby will find his way into our hearts, arms and lives. We will let y'all know immediately when that happens. Until then, think good thoughts!

Baby Stuff

So, we decided to go ahead and register for baby stuff. It took a lot of persuasion on the part of several of my friends for me to go ahead and do it. I'm not sure why I was resistant...nonetheless, we registered at USA Baby for some items yesterday. We'll do more later at Babies R Us or Target, but for now we have some of the most important decisions made. I still haven't researched car seats or strollers...one step at a time. Soon, our empty green room will look like a nursery!

Swiftly to the Consulate

All of our North Carolina documents came back certified with no problems, which means I can send them all to the Guatemalan consulate in Miami today. I'm going to pay for the quick turn around, as I may have to make a trip back to California next week. Unfortunately amidst this good news, my grammy Herfindahl is dying. I am sad she'll never meet our son. Please keep her and my father and uncle in your thoughts!

Commenting on this blog

Thanks to my friend visitors can now comment on our blog without having to sign in. Comment away! Thanks Kimberly!

Merry Christmas from the children at Semillas de Amor! 

Lauren turns 31 in Park City, Utah! 

Paper Trail Madness

The process to gather documents for our dossier (fancy word...not sure why it's called that) to send to Guatemala before a referral can be made is more difficult and challenging than anything I've ever attempted to do. I may not be Einstein, but I really thought I could navigate my way through this document collection, notarization, certification, authentication maze without too many problems. Instead, I've made more mistakes and taken so many wrong turns, it feels like I may never get this paperwork completed! I'm sending out a round of documents to the NC Secretary of State today. If those are certified (no promises) and I get them back (no promises) then I send them all to the Guatemalan consulate in Miami, FL next week. One document from California that I've had since July needs to be redone completely - three more steps. If I survive this part of the adoption, the parenting thing should be a snap!