Update on Bella

We received an email today from our Agency and from the way it sounds our case has been through the investigation phase twice in PGN and has not yet been signed off on or previo (which means corrections needed to be made in the paperwork and resubmitted). So as of now we are still waiting for it to come out of PGN.

We did ask our agency if she could get some questions answered from the foster mother so that we know a little about Bella and we found out the following:

• She is crawling
• She likes to play with toys that make sounds, with forms or animals and balls
• She likes to go for rides out in the garden in the stroller and look at all the different colors (which is great since we didn't think that she would experience a stroller before she got here)
• She doesn't like to be alone, when you clean her ears or nose
• She also gets mad if she isn't fed on time (which is just like us Seanger girls if were hungry watch out) and when she does eat she like a lot of food and don't take it away or she gets mad
• She is eating blended chicken, sukini, and vegtables of any kind
• She is also still drinking formula (Similac Advanced) and drinks juices of orange, carrot, pear and apple.
• Her bed time is 7:00 and she wakes up at 10:00 to drink her last bottle or formula and then sleeps until 5:30 or 6:00 (Both Mike and I are very excited about this since we like our sleep)
• She can say mom and dad, Nina (which means girl) and talks baby language and also loves to laugh
• She is wearing size 12 month clothing
• She likes to be around kids and loves to play
• She already has 4 teeth, two on the top and two on the bottom.
• The foster mother says she is a happy baby all the time.

Although it was bitter sweet to here how she is progressing since we wish it was us seeing her experience and teaching her new things we are very happy to hear that her foster mother is doing a wonderful job of taking care of her until we get her. After receiving the information we are even more anxouis (if that is possible) for her to come home.

Beth, Mike & Buddy

8 Months Old

We have not received a medical update but we did get new photos of our baby girl. We did have a little scare yesterday when I opened my email and there was an email from Friday saying that the president of Guatemala was stopping all adoptions in Guatemala. We have recieved a number of email since then from our agency and I have included below the final email that we received which may help explain why things have been taking longer than expected.

September 29, 2006
THE EXECUTIVE ORDERS ARE NO LONGER A THREAT
(Posted on behalf of Susana Laurca, Asociacion Defensores de la Adopcion)

President Oscar Berger withdraw the excutive orders that he planned to approve this weekend "to celebrate the Children's Day", October 1st. The abuse of power that he intended to do by-passing the Congress to pass the Protocol of Good Practices, which is the same UNICEF law of adoptions, and reinstate the Hague Convention, was halted by the same Congress, who warned him of the consequences of usurping the legislative power.

That Berger denied to the DOS that his intentions were to suspend adoptions and take them over by his wife who directs the Secretary of Social Welfare, was expected. he also lied when he said to the press, that Kofi Annan, General Secretary of the United Nations "told him that if Venezuela gets a seat in the Security Council, there will be trouble". Annan denies said that to Berger.

The positive part of this experience is to see that the legal system works and that we are working under the protection of the law. The rights granted by the Constitution to the mothers to relinguish thier children, to the children to be adopted and to the lawyers to work on adoptions cannot be taken away, by any law or international treaty, not even by the President of Guatemala.

The next step will be to set the record straight with the people at the PGN (This is where Bella's case is and has been for a long time). We have waited too long to hold them accountable for all their delays, their rejections without legal grounds and their abuse of power. The thorough review of the adoption files is their duty, to verify the legality of the process. But when the files are rejected for no reason or when the review takes not the three days that they should take, but more than a month if they are rejected and much more if they are approved, it is time to make use of the legal actions that the law supplies for cases like these and file criminal charges against them. The worst enemy of an abandoned child is time. The time that a child spends without the love of a family, hurts the child in more ways that we can think of. If the PGN does not care for the children, we have to make them care. If we don't do it, we be as guilty as them.

Best Regards
Susana Luarca
Asociacion Defensores de la Adopcions

Hopefully that with people like this in Guatemala who are fighting for us and our children this will help speed up the process and get our baby girl with her forever family sooner.

Beth, Mike & Buddy