UPDATE FROM AHH

Philip thought we would have to wait for the DNA paperwork to be completed before we could get pre-approval from the American Embassy. However, since we now have pre-approval we will go to PGN as soon as the DNA paperwork is completed and arrives in Guatemala. We have no idea of how long PGN will take. We are still praying to have Nora home before Christmas.

AMERICAN EMBASSY PRE-APPROVAL NOTICE

We received an e-mail notice from the American Embassy in Guatemala that our paperwork has been pre-approved. We were told that once everything was pre-approved by the American Embassy, our case would go directly to PGN. We are unsure what happens now since we are waiting on the DNA paperwork to be corrected by the Consulate in Houston.

DNA UPDATE

We received a call from Philip at the adoption agency who informed us that there had been a mistake on our DNA papers. It seems the Guatemalan Consulate in Houston misspelled the Attorney General's name on our papers. The papers would have to go back to the Consulate in Houston for correction and re-authentication. Philip thought it would take two weeks for the papers to be corrected and sent back to the US Embassy in Guatemala.

VISITING NORA DAY 8

Here are the final pictures and video's we took of Nora on Wednesday morning just before we gave her back to America her foster mother. It was hard to give Nora back but knowing how much America loved and cared for her made it a lot easier to do. Our flight from Guatemala to Houston was perfect but, the flight from Houston to Dallas was pretty bad. We had a 3 hour weather delay in Houston which was a mad house in the terminal and when we finally landed in Dallas our luggage never came with us. The airline delivered it this morning to our house. I want to thank everyone for your prayers and messages of support. Pam and I really appreciated them.


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This is a picture of America and her grandson with all of us;

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VISITING NORA DAY 7

WOW, were did the week go!!!

We had another great night and a great day. Nora is laughing, cooing, and squealing even louder. She loves taking walks, going outside, she loves to look at trees, and being around people. She is going to love Gammer and Gaffer place more than ours in Rockwall.......she loves trees. She is a very happy baby. Pam and I are very fortunate to be given this precious gift from God. She has really gotten very comfortable with Pam and I. Unfortunately we leave tomorrow and I pray that our time away from her is very short. We heard from the adoption agency that our official DNA paperwork for Nora and her birth Mom will be submitted to the US Embassy for verification which should take about two weeks. Then it will be sent to the Guatemala government for the final approval process. Since we have been down here, we have heard anywhere from 3 days to 6 weeks from the adoptive parents who are here for this process. But, the adoption agency keeps saying 1 - 4 months. Pam and I meet the adoption agency and the foster mother in the hotel lobby at 9:00 a.m.. Our flight leaves Guatemala at 12:30 p.m.. I have included some pictures from today. This will probably be our last blog posting until we get home.

This is a picture of Maria who is an attendant in the main lounge area. We got to know her very well. She has a brother who lives in Plano (Dallas area);

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More pictures of the hotel;

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Interesting shot of the big volcano;

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Other pictures of our girl;

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UNCLE BRAD'S SPECIAL VIDEO REQUEST

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VISITING NORA DAY 6 MORE VIDEO

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VISITING NORA DAY 6 UPDATE VIDEO

HEY BRAD, HOW BOUT THEM SAINTS!


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VISITING NORA DAY 6 UPDATE MORE PICS

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McDonald's is hiring delivery drivers Eve and Hannah;

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Here is a small craft mall that we are allowed to visit next to the hotel;

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I thought this was a funny picture but Pam didn't;

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Nora and I were wore out after today's adventures;

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VISITING WITH NORA DAY 6

We had the longest night of sleep last night since our arrival. The weather, Nora, Pam, and Del are doing great but the internet is having problems. I have not been able to post any video clips since last night and I cannot get anymore pictures to post. I guess the earthquake in Hawaii has bogged down all of the blog sites. I will keep trying to post later in the day. I did get pictures of the volcano's this morning and I did find Eve and Hannah a job..... picture later.

MORE DAY 5 PHOTO'S

VISITING NORA DAY 5 UPDATE "MORE PHOTO'S"

VISITING NORA DAY 5

We had a very good sleep last night so Nora and her parents are getting into a good rountine. Yesterday, we ventured out for the first time to one of the restaurants in the hotel for dinner. Miss Nora couldn't stand all the excitement and fell asleep as soon as the menus were handed out but Pam and I continued on with a great dinner. This morning Dad joined the "dad's group" who walk the hotel lobby with their kids each morning. The weather is good with a nice breeze blowing. Thanks April for doing the research on the active volcano outside our hotel window. I am glad to hear that it's last eruption was in 2000......I'll sleep better at night. I have included videos of our hotel room in this posting for those who asked about the room. We had our first accident of the trip. We ordered black bean soup from room service for lunch today. Dad extended one of the table extensions from the portable serving table the hotel brought so everyone could eat from the table. We had taken a few bites of soup when the table extension collapsed sending soup "every where". I am glad we brought extra clothes.

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DAY 4 UPDATE ENJOYING THE COMPUTER

Nora loves the computer especially the pinball game.



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DAY 4 WITH NORA UPDATE

Here are some pictures outside our hotel window. We have met with several other adopting couples who are picking up their children to take home. They have gone through the PGN process very quickly most within days or weeks instead of months. Hopefully we can bring Nora back home to Texas very soon.

DAY 4 WITH NORA

Day 4 has been a great day. Everyone slept pretty well last night. We are getting a lot of spitting, cooing, smiling, laughing, and talking from Nora. She seems to be as crazy about us as we are about her. Mom is now her "big bud" while Dad is running a distance second. Nora only likes Dad to hold her in front of the big picture window to look at the city and volcanoes, taking walks through the hotel, and playing pinball on the computer...she definitely likes watching pinball on the computer. This morning we found out that one of the volcanoes is active. Fortunately it is the small one. A picture is included in todays post. The big one is hard to see because of the clouds. Hopefully we will get a clear day to get a picture of it. I was asked about what type of fruit we've been eating. We have had pineapple, papaya, watermelon, cantaloupe and apples. When you order a sandwich they ask if you want french fries or fruit. We have access to two lounges. One is full of fresh fruit, cookies, water, coffee, all kinds of tea, pastries, nuts, dried fruit and computers. We have access to this longue all day long. The other has toys for the kids and computers.

VISITING NORA DAY 3

Day 3 has gone very well so far except for the weather. We woke up today with very humid conditions. It is raining right now but the heat and humidity is still with us. Wednesday and Thursday had great weather with cooler days and some rain at night. The adoption agency asked us not to use the air conditioner in our room so Nora would not catch a cold or the flu but today we had to turn it on low for several minute to make it bearable in the room. We decided to venture out today from the hotel. We went across the street to a small craft mall. The most interesting site was seeing the armed parking lot attendants...yes they were in uniform and armed with automatic weapons or sawed off shotguns. I guess they are serious down here about paying for parking space. Everyone we have met from here has been very nice and friendly. The hotel staff has been great. There is "a lot" of traffic down here.......I thought Dallas was bad but this place has it beat. I am very surprised by the amount of cars on the streets. The airport is within site of the hotel so we hear the big jets coming in now and then but it does not scare Nora. Apparently she is use to city noises. Guatemala City is situated in a valley with mountains on both sides and we can see two volcanoes (hopefully inactive) from our hotel room. It is very lush, green, and tropical. I would definitely come back for several more visits. I hate to keep saying this but the fruit down here is out of this world.

GOD IS GOOD!

We had 9 hours of sleep last night with 7 hours uninterrupted. Nora already has her bath so she is ready for the day. We are doing morning baths because the foster mom requested we keep Nora on her regular rountine. I erased the previous days videos and pictures off the site by mistake last night but I have them back on...........new father jitters! I noticed on the previous days videos that you have to click the arrow button twice at the bottom left of the video screen to activiate the video. For some reason the picture is not staying on the screen when you first get on to the site. If anyone has problems accessing the previous days videos then please send me a note back.

THINGS ARE GETTING BETTER WITH NORA!

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THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY

Well, it was an interesting night with Miss Nora. She was missing the foster Mom so much she decided to take it out on Pam and I. She refused to eat and take naps. We finally got her to eat about midnight and she appears to be on her eating schedule right now. Sleeping was a very interesting ordeal. We finally got her to sleep after the midnight feeding and she decided to wake up around 1:45 a.m. ready to play hard. We had off and on periods of sleeping the rest of the night. She got a bath at 7:00 a.m. this morning and decided it was time to sleep for the night as you will see in the picture of her sleeping on the bed in the bath towel. We missed a great video opportunity during the night, around 4:00 a.m. she decided to get into a pretty intense "conversation" with Pam and I. I hope we get another opportunity because the girl can talk. She also has one of cousin Eve's habits which she does very well but I will leave this subject alone for right now. These new pictures and videos are from last night and this morning. One other thing, the fruit and soup has been out of this world down here. I ate the best bowl of chicken & rice and black bean soup that I ever had.







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Meeting Nora

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We have Nora but she isn't very happy about it. She is quiet right now but she screamed for about 45 minutes. Then she fell asleep for about 20 minutes. She woke up crying but didn't cry for long. She is more content at the moment but who knows for how long. If I were her I would scream too. It could be a long night. She has good very good set of lungs.

Travel Time

We will be leaving on October 11 to go to Guatemala for one week. We will keep Nora with us at our hotel and then we have to give her back to the foster mother and come home on October 18.

New Pictures and Medical Update

Nora weighs 13 pounds and 4 ounces, she is 22.75 inches long and has a head circumference of 15.43 inches.

THE DNA MATCHES

The DNA is a match. That means we can go and visit Nora. We now need approval from the US Embassy in Guatemala before everything goes to PGN. Philip said we should have approval within three weeks.