Waiting 'til Tuesday

OK, so we do not have much news for today. Basically, we drove into Guatemala City to have our meeting at PGN and were told that it would have to be rescheduled to Tuesday morning due to the Guatemalan Independence day celebrations that were starting up today and continuing through Monday. Ugh, ugh, ugh! I guess we shouldn't be too surprised as this is how our luck goes --- this is why Max is almost 2 and we have not kissed U.S. soil yet...

However, the good news is that theoretically having the meeting on Tuesday is not going to change a whole lot as not much work is going to get done at PGN between now and Tuesday morning. So we will try and stay positive about this one. Also we have someone that is really wonderful helping us right now. So we believe we are in very good hands and will see some real progress occur very soon.

We will keep you posted on the outcome of Tuesday's meeting.

Keep up the voodoo magic & whatever else you do!

XXOO Jen y Maxito

Will the 6th Time be the Charm?

Well we learned that as of yesterday, we are officially back in PGN!!

This time we are back in PGN with some good 'ol documentation from the Attorney General meeting that took place last week so we really hope that our 6th TIME back in will be the charm. This is all muy loco! We need to get ourselves home rapido. We do not need to set any more 'length of stay' PGN records nor 'length of stay' fostering in Guatemala records. Believe it or not, I think I finally feel like we will have enough stories to share with Max someday about our time living in Guatemala so we just need to get home and enjoy the Chicago life again... We can always travel here later for a VISIT!

So to help our cause, I am going to PGN this Friday with one of our contacts down here and we are going to meet with the Sub-Attorney General who is the one that actually approves adoption cases within Guatemala. We are hoping to plead our case and appeal to her heart so that we can get signed off pronto. We know that the Sub-Attorney General wants to meet adoptive families and also know of other families that have done the same thing with positive results. So we are going to give this a whirl and see what happens as we really have nothing to lose.

Please continue to send us those positive vibes and voodoo magic as they have been really helping! We will let you know how Friday goes and continue to hope that we can move forward to finally see ourselves coming home. By the way, Max is not talking a lot yet, but is managing to say a few key words -- woof woof (for any dog he sees), luz (Spanish for lights), bird, mama, boon (for balloon), and a very infrequent nigh nigh.

XXOO Jen y El Rey Max

We Like the Attorney General!!

Well folks, let's start off with the good news. The meeting occurred today with the Attorney General here in Guatemala and based on the limited information we have at this point, all went well and he agreed that we need help. Our file should be submitted back into the PGN very soon with his blessing. PROGRESS!!! We can only hope that this means a short stay in the PGN, but we will take what we can get. Getting back into the review process is what we needed. Enough stagnation! Thank you everyone for helping work the voodoo and sending those positive thoughts. Finally a little relief. Let's hope things go better from here.

Now for the bad news. Max pooped in the tub again.

Onto other things... Max is showing great signs of athleticism these days. I taught him to catch. He can now catch a wide variety of balls. No jokes Steve and Dave. He can catch a football, soccer ball and a variety of misshapen toys. He can also kick a soccer ball the length of the yard here and score goals. I'm hoping the soccer doesn't lead to rollerblading. I will be teaching him baseball fundamentals on the next trip.

Finally, I leave tomorrow, but yesterday Jen and I were able to celebrate our 7th anniversary at a Mayan spa. Jen got a manicure and pedicure while I went all out with the pedicure and massage. This was my first pedicure and suffice it to say that it was a daunting task for the young woman. Is it good when the woman has to stop multiple times so that she can consult with another person on how to best handle my feet? Also, I didn't exactly enjoy seeing a commercial for a new TV show when the quote from the detective was, "Clearly the victim was gay...How do you know he was gay?...He had a pedicure." My feet are the best they have ever looked and felt though! The massage was great too...until Jen had me lugging groceries on the long walk home. Oh, and it was just a massage.

I really hate to be leaving tomorrow as Max is becoming such an enjoyable kid, but at least I am leaving on a good note. And I'll be back soon!

Love to all,

XO - Mark, Jen and the one and only MAX

Who's Your Daddy?

All right folks, I don't want to belabor the point, but we don't have much news to report, BUT we do have a meeting scheduled with the Attorney General here on Tuesday AGAIN, so let's get those positive thoughts happening, do whatever voodoo you do, and let's get some good results!!! We have some people to get home, and a daddy who needs to see a world series happen.

Speaking of the Cubs, Max learned recently about wet paint, which resulted in a new white pattern on his Cubs shirt. Now it looks a little more like those disco Andre Dawson t-shirts of yore. Sorry to those of you who don't know how bad those shirts are, or how bad Dawson's jheri curl was. Frankly, I'm just glad Max is getting into the Cubs with Daddy. Yesterday he showed his displeasure with their loss by throwing strawberries at the screen. Just getting ready for the bleachers.

Not sure if Montezuma ever made it down to Guatemala, but someone has been getting revenge with Daddy. I recommend the cherry flavored pepto. Max today also threw in his own bit of revenge with a couple of loaded diapers that I got to change. I think we need to re-evaluate his diet. Should he be eating microwaved pork rinds? Should Mommy be leaving us alone long enough together where we spend those kinds of moments together? We both say "yes".

Watched a $2 Guatemalan bootleg special of "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" -- Not that good. Decided against purchasing Wall-E -- Very nice version of someone videotaping the movie screen. And to my dear friends, no, we did not purchase Speed Racer even though it is everywhere. We'll wait for the real thing.

That's it for now. Get the mojo going for Tuesday...PLEASE!!!!

xxooxxooxxxxxoooo

Mark, Jen and El Jefe MAX

Bombs Away!!!!!

Well, it's day 5 of Daddy's visit to Guatemala and once again the lessons continue to be learned. Did you know that just because a kid has his diaper off it doesn't mean that he will not go to the bathroom? I know! We're thinking that Max is looking to be a lumberjack based on the log rolling he ended up doing in the bathtub last night. It's either that or he was trying to feed the rubber ducks a little something extra. How is a kid supposed to get clean when he is up to this kind of dirty work?? Needless to say, Daddy ran away in horror. Say what you will about Daddy, no one is looking for that kind of surprise during tub time. Still not sure why Max cried when he had to get out of the tub. Lesson number two, as seen on video, kids can break glass with their screaming. Based upon some of the evil sounds he was making, I'm guessing we should have realized Max was going to drop some kids off at the pool.

A repetitive theme down here, no new news. We have been trying to meet with the Attorney General down here, but our meetings continue to be missed. Still hoping for something to happen tomorrow, but our faces are not turning purple. I did come up with a new idea. I'm thinking that we could possibly get one of these monster mosquitoes that have been sucking me dry to airlift Max out of the country. I'll be working on that. Unfortunately, the mosquitoes don't seem to understand my Spanglish. "Sancudos, tome Max del pelo y van a Chicago ahora!!" doesn't seem to click.

Currently taking bids on my Cubs world series tickets since it looks like we'll be stuck down here. Once every 100 years...

Wishing you all were here...or WE WERE THERE.

xxoopdq

Mark, Jen, and El Rey MAX

Two Short Movies and Some Photos

While my parents were here visiting, my friend and great support while being down here, Ana Maria, and her husband, Bau, took us all around the outskirts of Antigua through two smaller towns (pueblos) known as Ciudad Vieja and San Antonio. In San Antonio, we stopped at a wonderful textile store where yours truly was adorned (in a manner of minutes) in traditional Mayan dress representative of Coban (which is a town in the Northern part of Guatemala). Also we walked through an organic macadamia nut farm that was so nice and peaceful. Then during our visit in Ciudad Vieja, we ended up seeing a church procession topped off by some 'bombas' (aka fireworks). My dad captured a lot of photos as well as two short movies of the 'bombas' and Max and I dancing along to some music in the Central Park area of Antigua.

We hope you enjoy this peek at our afternoon travels! Also Mark is coming back for another visit next week so look for some more comedic posts very soon ;-)

XXOO Jen y Maxito

Living Life in Guatemala...

Well, we have been down here in Guatemala for about 9 months now. If someone told us that fact a year ago, we would have never believed them. But here we sit (living our lives) while we wait through this craziness known as our adoption. On the adoption front, we have no new news to report other than we are still not out of the realm of PGN and are now taking our case to higher levels to hopefully get it expedited and approved soon. Hopefully we will have more news on that front very soon.

Outside of all that, we have just been living life down here in Guatemala. Max and I have our daily routines; I work remotely from our apartment while Max hangs out with his nanny Ana Maria (who is wonderful to Max and is also an absolutely wonderful person); Mark visits any chance he can get; and right now Nana and Papa are back in town to see their little boy. Life is pretty typical here - we just wish it was back in Chicago.

Below are some recent pics to enjoy, soon we will also try to post some video...

We miss everyone and send our love.

XXOO Jen y Maxito