Nervous anticipation

So, our paperwork is almost finished. Today, most of our documents will be delivered (I hope) to the Guatemala Embassy in Washington, DC. I hope they will quickly "authenticate" them and send them back. In the past, they have been very quick to process them and send them back, and I hope this batch of documents goes smoothly, too.

Once we get them, we will immediately FedEx them to our agency, and I will hold my breath while they go through them, deciding whether they pass muster. Each notary seal must be perfect, each signature must be legible, each Secretary of State seal correct. If the agency rejects any, we will have to re-do that document, and I think my heart will break, for that will delay us from getting the referrals for our children.

I think once we have the pictures of our kids, I will be able to relax for a while, but then the anticipation will build again, as we go through each step of the Guatemala process. Here are the steps:

• Power of Attorney. We will sign a power of attorney to allow the Guatemalan attorney to start our court cases, and act on our behalf.
• DNA - The US Embassy in Guatemala requires the birth mother to take the child to have DNA tests, to prove that she is the biological mother, willingly relinquishing her child.
• Family Court - birth mother is interviewed and our "dossier" is reviewed.
• PGN - A second government agency reviews the files, and hopefully concurs with the Family Court decision to allow the adoption.
• New Birth Certificate and Passport for the tots.
• Translation and submission of documents to U.S. Embassy for pink slip (“Final Document Approval”)
• Medical Exam from U.S. Embassy Doctor
• Embassy Interview with Family and Travel Home

So. Lots of things can happen to delay us along the way. Let's hope it's a relatively smooth ride! While we wait, let's contemplate the beauty of the city of Antigua, Guatemala (pictures are from my agency's website, I hope they won't mind me posting them here).

If I haven't said so before, thanks for reading, and commenting!