ONE BIG STEP CLOSER

Dear friends and family,
We are overjoyed to announce that Tradd and Sophia have made it out of the PGN process. The PGN process, as we understand it, is where the Guatemalan government reviews every document in the adoption file. They also check all the information on the Guatemalan side for truthfulness and legalities. This process has proven a nightmare for many families trying to adopt from Guatemala. We want to thank each of you for your prayers. We believe that God worked a miracle and allowed Tradd and Sophia to be in this process for only a few days.

We have been notified to be ready to travel in the next four to six weeks. From this point, our lawyer in Guatemala will get the final signatures from the birth mothers and then apply for new birth certificates with our name as the new last name of both kids. The birth certificates will then be turned in to the U.S. Embassy and passport's and visa's will be issued. The U.S. Embassy will also have a blood test taken from each of the kids so that a final DNA test can be performed to match to the original DNA test taken when the adoptions began. This test proves that Tradd and Sophia are the same two children. When these test results are finalized, we will be issued an embassy date where we will take the kids to the U.S. Embassy in Guatemala and finalize the paperwork. We will then bring the kids to their forever home.

Needless to say things are picking up speed here in Virginia. We have purchased two cribs but that is it! We started going to yard sales this weekend. We have two very empty rooms so needless to say we will be spending some time at Babies R US.

We covet your prayers at this time. Our life is pretty crazy the next few weeks with our kids opening in "Fiddler on the Roof" on Friday and Davis also in rehearsal for "Peter Pan", which by the way, looks like it will be Tradd and Sophia's first live theatre show to see. It looks like Tradd and Sophia will come into a very busy home but a home that is ready to place everything on hold to make their forever home a wonderful place to be.