Out of PGN At Last !!!

THE GOOD NEWS...
Last night we received the long-awaited call from our adoption agency, telling us that at last we had cleared PGN!

We were sure that since the week had come to a close, we would not hear any news until the beginning of the next business week, at the very least. So you can imagine our excitement (not to mention shock) when Carol (from our adoption agency) called us at 8:00 on a Friday evening to tell us that we had cleared PGN.

We were more than relieved to finally get the call, which came following one of the toughest days we've had since entering PGN. Friday marked the 12th week since we had cleared the U.S. Embassy, and we were reaching the point of beginning to wonder if we would be able to bring Noah home by mid-summer.


SO WHEN IS HE COMING HOME?
Within the next week, Noah's birth mother will sign his adoption decree, granting us legal guardianship and making him legally our son. It will take about two weeks to receive Noah's new birth certificate, at which point our lawyer will apply for his passport. Once this is done, our exit interview with the U.S. Embassy (also known as our "pink slip") will be scheduled.

Once we've received our pink slip, we can officially make our travel arrangements and hopefully leave for Guatemala within the next week.

April pictures have arrived.

Our little man is getting to a point that he is not so little anymore! He now weighs in at a healthy 16lbs, 8 oz. Dad is currently considering Football Scholarships as a college funding option, and we are still waiting (ever so patiently) to clear PGN. The call could come at any time and we are ready (oh, so ready) whenever they call. Once the call comes we should have about 10 days to get to Guatemala, and about 4-5 days “in-country” to bring him back home!

New Pictures, March 2006

It has been four weeks since we cleared Embassy and we were hoping we would have cleared PGN by now. We did find out that our lawyer did not turn our case in to PGN when we expected she would have. This puts us about three weeks behind where we thought we were. We are, however, very excited to get new pictures. Noah's medical records say that he has found his fingers (and his pictures are proof positive). He is changing so much...we can't wait till we get to bring our little guy home.

Exciting News!

We were very excited to get pictures on Thursday (March 2nd). We were not expecting any more news until we cleared Embassy or until our next set of pictures. Today, Friday March 3rd (which happens to be our 13th wedding anniversary), we received a call from our adoption agency that we have cleared the U.S. Embassy! This took two weeks as opposed to the six weeks it was supposed to take. We go to PGN on Monday. This is the final stage of the adoption. This process can take two to twelve weeks. We are hoping for two weeks. We'll keep everyone posted!

NEW PICTURES!!!

Noah will be three months Sunday March 5^th. He is 12 lbs 4 oz and 22 in long.

After what seemed like an eternity we finally received the newest pictures of our little Noah (who is not so little any more). The pictures were only about four days late, but when this is the only connection that you have you rely on it a great deal.

While we were anxiously awaiting the pictures and medical records Dad, Mom, and big sister Kayla decided to guess Noah’s weight. Kayla guessed 13lbs 2 oz, Dad guessed 11 lbs 9 oz, and Mom nailed it on the head at 12lbs 4 oz. I called it mother’s intuition they called it pure luck.

The medical reports say that he received his latest shots and that he is healthy. He is eating well, smiles when you smile at him, and is responding to playfulness. We were excited to hear the positive reports but this makes us all the more anxious for him to come home!!!

We received notice that the DNA was a match and that his biological mom signed away her parental rights for the last time. Our case is now in family court and going through the Embassy for pre approval. They expect this to take 5 to 6 weeks. Next it will go to PGN where it could take 2 to 12 weeks to process. Please pray for accuracy in family court and that the Embassy process would happen quickly. Also please begin to pray that God would place our case with the right person in PGN and that there would be no mistakes in our dossier (and if there are that God will cover them).

Our last prayer request is also a praise. God has supplied all of the financing needed to complete Noah’s adoption. We are so grateful for God’s provision and give him all the glory for bringing this part to completion. The only financial hurdle that we have left is our travel expenses. We have about $1,800.00 left to raise for travel. This cost is an estimate by our agency since we are not sure when we will travel and can not book flights in advance. Please pray that God will show us what we need to do and that we will continue to trust him to meet this need.

The church baby shower is going to be held at the Pinnacle Country Club on March 11^th. We are very excited about this event as it adds some normalcy. We’ll add pictures to the blog after the Shower.

NEW Photos at Last

Some of these are a little fuzzier than last time, but they do show that he seems to be doing just fine! 9lbs. 6oz. of big-ol-baby-boy! And he's in the outfit we sent to the foster family to boot!
I'm afraid we may be seeing a lot more of that look in the third picture as time goes on. Enjoy!

The Ecstasy and the Agony

We finally received our paperwork back from the Guatemalan consulate (Hooray!) only to find (to our horror) that the dates on the Notary section were incorrect!! That means these documents have to start over again! (Ohhhh!) This took quite a bit of wind out of our sails, but we recovered.
James went to little Rock at 4:00am this morning to get that leg of the process over a little faster and still salvage some time at work. By the end of the day the documents should once again be on their way to the consulate in Huston via FedEx. We think the consulate must be getting used to seeing letters from us every few days and the receptionist will probably have my number memorized on the Caller ID after tomorrow.
We're hopeful that we'll have everything going to Guatemala Monday if everything goes right.

Update

Well, the Secretary of State's office was a little behind and was not able to turn around our documents as quicly as we would have liked (Grrrrr..), but we recieved them back from thier office today, and we have sent them on to the Conuslate in Huston. We're hoping for a quick turnaround there and to have the completed forms back by Monday. This only leaves us a couple of days behind I guess, but since we've seen him, time is of the essence, and even the little dealys cause large ammounts of grief to waiting parents.

Paperwork Continues!

One more picture to show evereryone. It may be redundant but "Look at those Fingers!". They're soo... Long! I'm thinking basketball scholarships! I've put in a call to the University recruters, but they are busy guys and haven't had time to get back to me quite yet. I'm sure it's just an oversight. ;-)
Friday we received, checked, corrected, signed, and notarized our “Special Power of Attorney” document and got it sent to the Arkansas Sec. of State office for Seals. FedEx-ed both ways, we hope to get them back Tuesday or Wednesday so that we can FedEx them to the Consulate in Texas and get them back by the end of the week. If all goes well, we’ll be able to send the “Fully Complete” dossier to Guatemala Monday so that it arrives at the Lawyer’s office by the 15th, when she is scheduled to return from vacation. Everything is in a hurry now, but I understand from those who have been there before that the “rush, rush” will soon turn into “sit and wait”.
We painted the nursery blue this weekend, and we plan to get a mural put on the wall over the next couple of weeks (or a month perhaps). We’re going with an “airplane” theme in the room, so a nice blue-sky background will definitely be help.

Now the Waiting

Well, we've got the pictures, and some background information. Now we finish jumping through the last of the hoops! Noah's grandparents are at the Guatemallan Consulate today getiing the seals we need for most of the Documents to be sent to the Emabssy. Here at home, we are trying to finish the Power of Attorney documents. These will (as always) need seals too, but these are what we think are the last of a LONG, LONG, LONG list of documents to be sent.
Now, all we have to do is wait.... Not one of our strong points!

Here are a few pictures of our new little guy. It has been a very long wait but well worth it.

Welcome Baby Noah!

Noah Scott Milner
Date of Birth: December 5, 2005
Time and Place of Birth: 7:00 p.m., Guatemala City, Guatemala
Weight and Length: 6 lbs. 10 oz.; approx. 20 inches