WE ARE OUT OF PGN!!! PRAISE THE LORD!!!

We are finally out of PGN!!! I called on Monday to check on the status of our case and spoke with Laura, the English speaking girl we get for status checks and she said we had been approved that I needed to call my agency. I called them and they said they would check with the attorney and get back with me to confirm if we were indeed out or not. I didn't hear back from them so, I assumed our file wasn't picked up yet. The social worker from our agency called me yesterday at work to confirm the attorney did pick up my file on Monday and she had it in hand with my approval. We were out as of Friday, January 18th. The social worker from the agency said the attorney had called the birth mom to come in and do her final sign off. after she does it's official... Levi is our son legally. Pleas pray that she gets in there and gets signed off so the attorney can get us registered with the civil registry where we get the birth certificate from and then we wait for that. Here is where the mayor is holding the new birth certificates because apparently he doesn't like Americans or adoptions or something because he's causing unnecessary delays with releasing them. Nancy has been researching this and talked to several couples who have waited and waited and are having to actually fly to Guatemala and meet with him just to get it released. He's held some up to like 8-12 weeks. We won't wait that long before we go get ours but, we pray that it doesn't have to come to that. We'll make it our prayer that he will just release them and let us come get ours boys soon. Nancy and Eric will have been waiting for Isaac's new bc 3 weeks this coming Friday and she will be talking to our agency to see what their game plan is from there about getting it for them. She is not willing to wait much longer though because she can try and get it herself a lot sooner. It's crazy to waste even more time waiting and waiting if you truly can walk in, wait for an appt with the mayor and walk out with it. Rumor has it he likes bribes and he's out to get some money from this but, he can expect no money from us for it we have to stay legal here and need no trouble with the case at this point. We've come too far to mess things up now. I don't know what they could do if anything since he's legally already your son at that point but, basically I guess I'll see what comes about with Nancy's and go from there since she is 3 weeks ahead of us on this issue.
Once they get the birth certificate they can submit you for orange, which is the authorization for the second required DNA test. They will just take him in and swab his mouth I think. It just has to match the first one he had done with his birth mom and we aren't worried about him being the same baby we took as our referral, etc.. for those of us who get monthly pictures and updates and have been to visit this is a useless but required step by the US to ensure they are issuing a visa for the same baby that the case started with. Luckily, this has been a pretty steady part of the process. It goes to Labcorp from Burlington, NC so we'll be able to track that somewhat too and know when the results make it back to the US Embassy. Once they get the results we'll wait for an appointment... which is your pink slip to travel. The appointment or "pink" is for you to go in and pay for his visa so he can leave the country. Adoptive parents getting travel dates right now are running like the first few weeks of February. I know we're ready to have this behind us and get him home and start our family. We've waited as long as it takes to have a baby and it shouldn't take longer than that to get this done.
All in all we praise the Lord for this wonderful news and know that I will be posting when and if I hear when the birth mom comes and signs off. The attorney feels like this isn't a big step (the birth mom's signing) so, generally they don't call our agency when this takes place unless they just happen to think to mention it's been done according to the agency social worker. I on the other hand think it's major since that is what makes everything final and him legally our son. Of course, part of our hearts have been in Guatemala since we first saw his pictures and we accepted the referral and especially after meeting him for the first time back in September. In our eyes he's been our son since May but, legally speaking. Praying for a speedy sign off and for the birth mom to have peace and closure with the decision she has made to allow us to become Levi's parents. We'll always take that responsibility very serious and be proud to be his mommy and daddy. We could never thank her enough for the ultimate sacrifice she made to allow him to have a better life full of opportunities. Once she is done with her part with the sign off, I pray that the attorney would allow me to write her a letter and have it translated. I don't know if it'll ever even make it to her or not but, I feel like I owe it to her to at least try to let her know how blessed we are that Levi will make our family complete. Continue to pray that these last few steps are behind us quickly so we can get our boy home!! Thanks for all your prayers and support so far. We know without God none of this would have been possible! Will keep you posted with updates as I know more. Love and Blessings- Tracy (aka Levi's mommy)