The Referral
Once all the paperwork was finished, all we could do was wait for the referral. Our agency told us it would take from 1-4 months for our referral. What an agonizing wait! However, we were lucky. We got our paperwork in on July 24th and received our referral on August 28th.
Jack was at work when the phone rang. I could tell from the caller ID that it was our caseworker, S, from our agency.
"I have good news from Guatemala!" She said.
She told us that Kit had been born on July 30th (which is exactly 6 months from my birthday!), that he was healthy and living in an Hogar (orphanage). She said she was Fed Ex-ing us the medical information and a picture. I called up Jack and said "It's a boy!" It was the most exciting moment of my life so far. Then I called my parents.
The next day Jack didn't have to work so we waited all day for the Fed Ex truck. Every time a truck drove by we ran to look out the window. The truck finally arrived at about 1:30. I gotta say seeing that picture of my son was incredible. It was hard for me to realize that he was actually a real person, alive and in this world, but I didn't know him yet. Along with two photos, the referral included some brief medical information, height and weight, and Kit's birth certificate. The birth certificate listed Kit's mother, but had no information on his father.
Although this was an incredibly wonderful, joyful time for us, I thought of Kit's first mother and how she must be feeling so sad. He was only a month old when we found out about him and I thought that his mother was probably not even fully recovered physically, and I'm sure the emotional scars will last forever.
I would like to meet her someday, but I don't know if that will be possible. Adoptions in Guatemala are essentially closed right now. However, I think about the fact that US adoptions were closed 30 years ago but people have been able to search and find each other and heal themselves that way. Maybe when Kit is older things will have changed enough that he will be able to meet and have a relationship with his first mother.
Well Jack talked about the DNA which was the next step, so that brings us up to the present. Right now we are waiting for Family Court in Guatemala and then the PGN (Attorney General's Office). We hope to visit Kit in November and go to pick him up somewhere between February and April. I can't wait to hold him in my arms!
Jack was at work when the phone rang. I could tell from the caller ID that it was our caseworker, S, from our agency.
"I have good news from Guatemala!" She said.
She told us that Kit had been born on July 30th (which is exactly 6 months from my birthday!), that he was healthy and living in an Hogar (orphanage). She said she was Fed Ex-ing us the medical information and a picture. I called up Jack and said "It's a boy!" It was the most exciting moment of my life so far. Then I called my parents.
The next day Jack didn't have to work so we waited all day for the Fed Ex truck. Every time a truck drove by we ran to look out the window. The truck finally arrived at about 1:30. I gotta say seeing that picture of my son was incredible. It was hard for me to realize that he was actually a real person, alive and in this world, but I didn't know him yet. Along with two photos, the referral included some brief medical information, height and weight, and Kit's birth certificate. The birth certificate listed Kit's mother, but had no information on his father.
Although this was an incredibly wonderful, joyful time for us, I thought of Kit's first mother and how she must be feeling so sad. He was only a month old when we found out about him and I thought that his mother was probably not even fully recovered physically, and I'm sure the emotional scars will last forever.
I would like to meet her someday, but I don't know if that will be possible. Adoptions in Guatemala are essentially closed right now. However, I think about the fact that US adoptions were closed 30 years ago but people have been able to search and find each other and heal themselves that way. Maybe when Kit is older things will have changed enough that he will be able to meet and have a relationship with his first mother.
Well Jack talked about the DNA which was the next step, so that brings us up to the present. Right now we are waiting for Family Court in Guatemala and then the PGN (Attorney General's Office). We hope to visit Kit in November and go to pick him up somewhere between February and April. I can't wait to hold him in my arms!
posted by Jill @ 6:11 PM
1 Comments:
At 10/03/2006 1:06 AM,
Anonymous said…
Great story so far! It will be fun to read about the progress in your adoption. I don't know much about adoption from Guatemala. Congratulations to your whole family on the referral of your son!
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