So how did we get here anyway?

Hola Everyone! So, I thought I'd start our blog out with how we got here, and how we came to adopt from Guatemala.

I started thinking seriously about adoption in the summer of 2005. I didn't really even consider domestic adoption, for a variety of reasons. I began by researching different countries that we could adopt from. It wasn't long before I had chosen Guatemala. At the time, most people were bringing their babies home at 4 - 5 months. That's not the case anymore, but I would still choose Guatemala in a heartbeat.

I wasn't sure how Neal was going to react to this. It really wasn't something that we had talked about. I guess it was always assumed that we would have biological children. I remember the day I seriously started doing my research. I felt like I was being called to adopt, and to adopt from Guatemala. People ask me all the time how I (we) chose Guatemala. Well, first of all, we wanted to adopt an infant. Also, honestly, I have no desire to travel to Russia...or China. Or anywhere in Eastern Europe. It's just not my thing. I would much rather travel to a warm, Latin American country that we can take our kids back to visit one day. I also felt like I was being called by God to do this. Not everyone gets that, but that's OK. Anyway, back to Neal. I was pretty nervous about bringing this up. Well, I finally got my nerve up with a little help from the Captain. Neal was on board. Whew! I just felt so strongly about this...that was a huge relief to me.

At the time, we weren't ready to actually start the process. We were living in the condo, and knew we'd be moving soon, we just didn't know exactly when. Moving during an adoption process is NEVER a good idea...it just creates way too many headaches as far as the paperwork is concerned. More about that later. I researched agencies for months, it seems like, and finally picked one. We bought our house, got moved in and got settled.

September 2006 - we were ready! We signed with our agency, began preparing for the home study and started gathering paperwork. Everyone that is adopting is required to have a home study done. We had to write auto-biographies, answer lots of questions and be visited by a social worker. The home study then had to be approved by SC DSS (an extra step for us South Carolinians) and then approved by U.S. Department of Homeland Security. US DHS is the government department that issues approval to adopt internationally. They review the home study and any FBI records (we had to be fingerprinted).

Now the thing about that approval - you have to mark how many children you want to adopt. I have always wanted twins...heck, I wanted to BE a twin! So when I saw that box on the form, I knew I was putting two. And yes, I did tell Neal what I was doing. I don't think he thought it would actually happen, though. I really didn't either, but a girl can dream, right? So there we are, approved to adopt two children from Guatemala.

Now we have to get our dossier ready. That is the package that includes every single little thing that anyone could POSSIBLY want to know about us - and then some. It includes our home study, police clearances, letters from our doctors, reference letters, pictures and more. Basically, a mountain of paperwork that has to be absolutely perfect - no smudges, no cross outs, nothing. I've never been more stressed about PAPER in my entire life. I think it took us about two months to get everything together. And then guess what? You have to stick it in the mail and pray that it comes back to you the way it's supposed to. All those documents have to be notarized, certified and authenticated. So that means that first they have to go the Secretary of State to get the notary signature certified and THEN off to the Guatemalan Consulate to be authenticated. Did I say I've never been more stressed about paper in my entire life??? Anyway, all that was done and good the first week of December 2006.

Now we wait for a referral. We were on the list for either a boy or a girl but I had also told our agency that we wanted twins. I could tell in talking to our case worker that she really didn't think that would happen. Well, I didn't either, really, but I was hoping. Guatemala pretty much shuts down the month of December. So they weren't expecting to have a referral for us before the first of the year. But she thought that we'd hear something very soon after. There are more boys available for adoption and at the time, our agency didn't have a waiting list so I really thought we'd have a referral within the first week or two of January. Well, we don't hear anything....keep not hearing anything....and then - we got the call. See, I knew that we were next on the list for a boy. I had all but given up hope of getting twins. It just wasn't going to happen.

My cell phone doesn't always ring at work - and then will beep at me when someone leaves me a message. I got a message from our case worker...she had a "financial" question. I thought "oh no, what's wrong with our dossier". Most of you know that Neal is self-employed so I thought there was a problem with something in our file related to income. So it took me a VERY long hour and a half before I could talk to her.

"We think we have twins available - a boy and a girl". Seriously, I was completely numb from that point on for the rest of the day. I called Neal and told him....I think he thought I was kidding! We both got home from work that night and he was just as, if not more, numb than I was - I'd never seen him like that before! Once the initial shock wore off, we were estatic! I couldn't believe it - I had prayed for twins (either gender, I didn't care) and we got them.

So that's our story. Please feel free to ask us any questions about our process or about adopting from Guatemala in general. I will be making updates to our timeline (top right) and in posts as well. Thanks for reading!