Please Please Pray!

For a long time, there has been rumor that the government of Guatemala was going to cease adoptions with the U.S. However, a few days ago the U.S. Department of State published a document saying that is exactly what is going to happen. Apparently, certain government
officials in Guatemala have made known that currently all adoptions with the U.S. are to cease by January 1, 2008. The way things are going right now, there is not even a chance to begin adoptions again possibly until April of 2008.

The U.S. DOS and some adoption organizations are trying to convince Guatemala to include "Grandfather clauses" in the legislation they are passing. This would allow families already in the adoption process in Guatemala to continue. There is also a chance that the Jan. 1 date could be pushed back.


I'm not sure that either of these changes will help us, as we have not begun any of the official processes in Guatemala yet. However, there are hundreds of families in the adoption process right now who may not be able to bring their children home. There are thousands of children
in Guatemala who will not have the chance to be part of a family, and there are no social services to be able to provide for them.


PLEASE PRAY
1. For the families and children who are in this process...they are going through tremendous stress and heartache right now. (We have several friends who are much further along in the process and have already been waiting so long to bring their little ones home.)


2. That the leaders in both countries will focus on the children who are involved, rather than their pocketbooks or reputations.


3. God will use one of these possible changes or one of His own miraculous design to allow these children to join the forever families who are waiting for them.


4. God will make it abundantly clear to us what His path is for us. Right now, until we are forced to change, we are planning to move ahead as much as possible.

Long Wait!

We received notice that all of our paperwork has been sent to Guatemala! YEAH...the paper chase is done! Now comes the LONG wait.

New Photos

We got some new photos of Joshua Jose today, and posted some pictures of Elizabeth at Little Gym. We decided to start using online photo albums to share pictures rather than adding them to the pages on here. So, here are links to go to the photo albums.

Joshua
http://picasaweb.google.com/dnbaber/JoshuaJose?authkey=FOtB3gYACI0


Elizabeth
http://picasaweb.google.com/dnbaber/ElizabethAtLittleGym?authkey=TXSM...

Immigration Clearance

Yeah! We got our I-171H in the mail today. That means U.S. Immigration has pre-approved us to adopt a child from Guatemala. It doesn't seem like much, but it's another necessary step in the process.

Next Step

FYI...

We received the official referral (child) acceptance documentation for Jose, so we begin the next phase of the adoption process. Bethany Christian Services has also placed our dossier in the mail, and sent it on its way to Guatamala. We are still waiting for our USCIS clearance, but it should be coming very soon...so they say. As soon as we finish the acceptance documentation, we'll be in full waiting mode on Guatamala and the U.S. Government to complete their processes.


With Love,
David, Demarie, & Elizabeth

Our Son's Name

The little guy, we are going to persue in adoption, current name is: Jose Amilcar Abrigo Gomez


We are currently planning to make his first name "Joshua", and will most likely keep part of his original name. Tentatively we plan on calling him: Joshua "Jose" Baber. But we'll see what God ultimately puts in our hearts.