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Kristina returned to Guatemala with a new determination and resolve to finish this process well and with strength. The difficulty was intense but this wasn’t about her, me, or anybody else except Mia. When she walked into our friend’s home and made eye contact with Mia, both let out a squeal of glee! What joy they brought to each other.
Just days after returning, it seemed as though November would be yet another month filled with frustrating news. In our first communication with our lawyer since Kristina’s return he said that we were now getting to the point where the adoption could officially begin. He made many of the statements he had made about a month ago after they had returned home with the Birth Certificate. I shared with him my frustrations at his lack of communication and his apparent lack of work on our case in almost a month. He assured me he had been working on it. However, Kristina and I made a decision to be on top of things daily from this point forward.
November 18th was a day that we look back to as a day of joy and a pivotal point in the process. As Kristina and Mia were playing in the house that morning, Mia decided to leave the safety of the couches, railings, and chairs and take her first steps by herself. Kristina called almost shouting through the phone the joy she was feeling! I told her to take a picture of them together to commemorate the day.
A few days after Mia took her steps, I talked with our lawyer about the progress made and sure enough, he gave me the steps he had taken since our last communication. Mia had to get an HIV test in order to be presented to the US Embassy for Pre-Approval. That test returned negative which made things ready to go! Though we were aware that we had quite a road to travel yet, at least we knew the general direction we were traveling from this point. It felt as though the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel was beginning to glow.
We were honored to begin meeting families who had read our story on the Internet as the traveled to Guatemala for their own adoptions. Kristina was able to spend time with parents as they came to Guatemala for the first time. Her experience in the city was helpful to those looking for places to go, to eat, and to see. It was also during this time that Kristina experienced her first “tremor.” In a country where you are surrounded by active volcanoes, tremors are inevitable. Kristina said it shook her in her bed quite a bit but only for a moment.
As December arrived, we focused our sights on the US Embassy as we prepared to wait for Pre-Approval!
The Mummau Series
1. Choosing To Adopt
2. Why International? Why Guatemala?
3. The Call From Guatemala
4. The Process Begins
5. A Prelude To Mia
6. How Can You “Choose” A Child – Leaving Others Behind?
7. Peer Into The Heart – Journal Entries
8. Meeting Maria – Finding Mia
9. Leaving Our Daughter…is that…no way!
10. Rivers of Waiting
11. Mistakes, Intentions, and Naivety – How Hope Began To Die
12. Alone in Guatemala and Waiting
13. Time Marches On – Goodbye Mia for Now
14. Joyful Gringos in Quetzaltenango
15. Mia Mia
16. Abuela Comes To The Rescue
17. Doctors, Couriers, and Delays
18. Even So, You Won’t Believe This
19. The Summer of Frustration Ends
20. Fall Approaches with Broken Hearts…Teeth
21. 1600 Miles from Tecpan (pt.1)
22. 1600 Miles from Tecpan (pt.2)
23. Kristina Comes Home
24. Mia’s First Steps
25. December’s Momentum
26. An Angel In The Embassy? I
27. An Angel in the Embassy? II
28. A Christmas to Remember…and Forget
29. Daddy’s 2nd Visit
30. Clash at The Embassy
31. We’re In The PGN! OK Let Us Out!
32. Accomodations
33. The Pencil – Never Give Up
34. Exiting the PGN…sort of
35. Exiting the PGN…yet again
36. Daddy Has Enough
37. The Countdown Begins
38. Easter Brings Hope
39. Sit With Me in San Cristobal
40. T-Minus a few things and counting
41. My New Favorite Color
42. Hope Becomes Reality-The Embassy Interview
43. Mia Mummau Goes Home
More blogs about Guatemala Adoption.
