Hanson Family: June 2010

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Willow is THREE!

Marc sold his house! He moved in with us 2 weeks ago. We're looking at a house, hoping to have a new place where we fit with all 5 kids as soon as possible. We'll set a wedding date after we have a closing date.

In this video clip, Willow is reading a book from Marc. She combines Polar Bear (what do you SEE) with Brown Bear (what do you HEAR) constantly! At the very beginning she hears Lily and I get home from shopping for her birthday gift and says "I hear my Lily best friend", which is how she always refers to Lily. Lily Best Friend.

Willow's birthday is Friday, June 4th. She is doing great!

My timeline

3/13/09: HOME
3/11/09 7:15am Embassy
2/26/09: 2nd DNA
2/5/09: Birth Certificate Complete
11/13/08: OUT of PGN
May 26, 2008: Resubmitted to PGN
April 18, 2008: Letter state sealed, apolstiled, and couriered to Guatemala City!
April 9, 22008: Kicked out
March 7, 2008: Enter PGN
March 5, 2008: Exit family court!! Major delay (of several months compared to other cases) was due to the social worker's broken computer.
February 29, 2008: First email from Sandra. Best part of the process since Willow's referral to me!
January 19, 2008: Pre-Approval Granted (day 47).
December 4, 2007: 99.9999% results received at the U.S. Embassy. My wait begins for Pre-Approval for Willow's Visa from the U.S. They allowed themselves up to 60 days to grant this Pre-Approval. My case can't move forward 'til I get it.
November 30, 2007: DNA sample collected from both Willow and her birth mother and interview completed with the birth mother. Again, this took much longer than it should have, due in part to the birth mother missing at least one appointment.
October 8, 2007: DNA authorization (permission to complete the DNA test). The sample is collected in Guatemala, and sent to an approved lab in the U.S. It is done to prevent corruption. Most families get this approval at the very beginning of the process. We'll never know why mine took so very long.
June 19th, 2007: Willow referred to me (I got her pics and medical information).
June 4th, 2007: Willow born as Amanda del Pilar Zabala.
March, 2007: Vietnam closed with that agency. Happily switched to Bethany in pursuit of a baby from Guatemala. Began the paperwork saga.
February, 2007: Began pursuit of baby from Vietnam with Children's and Family Serivces