Many friends and family out there don’t really understand why we can’t come home tomorrow since we are out of PGN.  There are several more steps that must be completed (thanks to Ashley and Hadyn for posting these – I combined the lists a little – any errors are mine).  We probably won’t be home for 4-5 weeks and this is what is happening during that time:

+ Attorney arranges birthmother’s 4th and final sign-off
+ Final adoption decree drafted
+ Final adoption decree registered in general archives
+ Final adoption decree ready 48 hours later
+ New birth certificate is requested from civil registry where Sabrina was born (her civil registry tends to be fast thankfully)
+ New birth certificate is ready
+ Lawyer takes new birth certificate and applies for a Guatemalan passport (she will not become an American citizen until we step off the plane on American soil).
+ Passport/Visa pictures taken
+ Entire adoption file translated from Spanish back to English (with 200+ documents to translate, this step takes the longest)
+ After translation, file is submitted to US Embassy for pink slip/embassy appointment
+ Child gets an exit physical by an Embassy-approved doctor (to make sure the child doesn’t have unrecognized handicapping conditions or infectious diseases).
+ Within a few days, pink slip is issued with appointment date and time.
+ Steve joins us in Guatemala for US Embassy interview appointment
+ Next day, unless our appointment was on a Friday, Sabrina’s orphan visa to enter the US is picked at 3pm and delivered to us.
+ The day after we receive her visa, we are homeward bound!

Now for a few photos from today.  We had brunch at the lovely Hotel Antigua with a couple of friends from our agency.

Abuela and Sabrina

Three generations

The pretty birdies that live in the court yard of the hotel

The food at Sunday brunch is frankly not all that great but the surroundings and atmosphere are phenomenal