Too much information can be dangerous...

One of the many frustrations related to this adoption process is that we don't always have all of the information that we would like. One detail that we have been anxious to get is the date that our file was submitted to PGN. (PGN is the Guatemalan equivalent of our Secretary of State's office, and it is one of the last big hurdles before the adoption is finalized.) We know that our case was submitted sometime between December 1st (when we received our pre-approval from the US Embassy in Guatemala) and January 5th (when we received our "monthly" update). When I asked our agency for the date that our case was submitted, we were told that the attorney didn't have that information. I thought that was odd, because it seems like many adoptive parents on various message boards and websites know EXACTLY when their case is submitted and kicked out of PGN. Well, we don't. And that has to be okay, I guess. What we did find out when we asked was that our case had been kicked out, but was ready to be resubmitted. I am assuming that it has been resubmitted and that everything is going along swimmingly, because, well... I have to try to stay positive.

On one of the web-based forums that I read about Guatemalan adoptions, I learned today that cases submitted to PGN on December 22 were now being assigned to reviewers. I guess this means that our case must have been in prior to that date, since we've already been in and kicked out and we're hopefully back in! This is where the "too much information" becomes a problem -- because it's not "real" information that we have, just things I've managed to put together from several different websites... so I don't know if any of this is true, but sometimes I start to try to predict when this will be finished and we'll have Sebastian home. But since I don't really know anything at all about what's happening (or not happening) in PGN, it's nearly impossible.

Today is the last day of our semester. At the beginning of the school year, I told my students that I might not make it to the end of the semester because of the adoption. Well, here I am. It's hard to wait - some days, it's harder than others. I'd better not make it to the end of NEXT semester - I don't think I can wait that long!

Today's picture is one of the pictures that we received when we first got our referral -- the very first picture we saw of our little guy. Enjoy!