We need help picking a name - please vote

Kinkade caught a butterfly! Keagan playing baseball.

Hi Everyone,
No news yet. Last Saturday marked our 9th week of waiting for a referral. We are still a ways down on the waiting list. It could happen anytime but I predict it won't be for at least 2-3 more weeks. I am getting so excited. It feels like the last trimester of being pregnant when you are so excited to meet this new baby. I can't wait to see pictures of what she looks like and hold her! We have been discussing names a lot around here. We need some help, so please leave a comment and weigh in. We would love to hear your favorites. And check back as we'll be adding more as we keep discussing.

Here is our list:

Lucia, Gemma, Piper, Pilar, Elsa, Engracia, Eva, Flora, Lucita, Lucilla, Amora, Mirabelle, Mirabella, Pearl, Lola, Kesara, Kennedy

So here our family favorites - vote for one on the list or add your one.

Mom's favorites - Piper, Lucita, Flora, Mirabella, Lucilla, Amora, Lola
Dad's favorites - Pilar, Piper, Flora, Kesara
Keagan's favorites - Lucia, Paulita, Kennedy, Elsa, Flora, Kiara , Enyo
Kinkade's - Maria, Flora, Mirabelle
Grampy's favorites - Pearl, Piper, Gemma, Lucia, Angel
Grammy's favorites - Margarita (Maggie) , Lucinda, Lucita

Please leave a comment - Carla this is a good one to leave a comment it is really straight forward and very non-threatening, stop lurking and give a little to this adoption:) Please leave a comment I love you:)

Week 8 waiting for referral

Please Pray for our baby girl!

Why Guatemala

Darcy in Guatemala as a college student!

WHY . . .WHY. . . WHY Guatemala?? We have been asked this question frequently. God planted a seed of adoption in me from a very young age. I had vivid dreams when I was a little girl that my parents were adopting internationally and I would wake up and beg them to make it real! I so badly wanted an adopted baby in our family.

When I attended Whitworth College I had the opportunity to do my multi-cultural experience in Guatemala. I was there a month and stayed with a wonderful Guatemalan family in Antigua. We took Spanish classes in the morning and spent our afternoons working in an orphanage. The experience made my desire to adopt even stronger. Next, I met this amazing man at Whitworth and on our second date we talked about how international adoption was something he had always wanted to do. We got married and after a few years of infertility we had two energetic, fun, work intensive, twin boys! We kept praying for margin financially and physically to adopt. We decided that when we were victorious at the end of the day we would start pursuing adoption. Well, everyday we ended with our butts kicked by these two sweet gifts from God.

Finally, we committed to praying everyday for a year about the adoption. It was very clear at the end that God was calling us to adopt. I knew in my heart that it would be Guatemala. I had fallen in love with the children and culture when I was there. As we started to research there were many reasons why we made the decision to adopt from Guatemala. Here are just a few

1. We can get there easily from the US (6 hour flight and relatively affordable)

2. US Standards in Formula and medical care

3. Foster Care vs. orphanage

4. Our agency let's you visit or foster as many times as you can

5. We can take the boys at some point so they have a more worldly view

6. There is a Spanish pre-school / kinder / after school program right up the hill

7. I have a minor in Spanish and Aaron speaks it pretty well

Our agency has been amazing they only specialize in adoptions from Guatemala. They are involved in every stage of the process. I added a link to the top of our blog so you can check out the agency if you are interested.

So, that's how we ended up here!

I finally gave in. . . Baby Gap

Yes, that was a bikini you just viewed. . . Daddy was not as excited about it as I was. Mmmm. . he is always encouraging me to wear a bikini. I guess this is different with his daughter.

OK, I officially gave in to my lifetime desire to buy baby girl clothes for my own daughter from the BABY GAP! It was so much fun! I have been dreaming of dressing a baby girl since I was seven. I had held off . . . but the GAP sucked me in last time I was downtown and it was all over! Here are some pics of the merchandise - I had to share. We will bring down the 0-3 months clothing when Aaron and I fly down to meet her as a newborn and sign the power of attorney papers to get the process legally started. Then we will give the clothing to her foster mom and she will then donate it to families in need in Guatemala. We are officially on week 6 and half waiting to hear our baby has been born. I will post pictures as soon as we get that call!
Our case manager said it will be between 8-12 weeks so we are getting closer to getting that referral.
Keagan asked the other day why we had to look at our baby on the computer when other families just went to the hospital and really saw their baby. These boys are really thinking about this whole process.

Week 4 waiting for referral

Spring Break in Salem!

We are still waiting for our sweet baby to be born. It is has been 4 weeks, but whose counting.
The waiting is exciting and a little hard at times. Our case manager warned us it might look more like 8-12 weeks before we get the call that she has been born. We are praying for her and her birth mom. What a courageous decision her birth mom will make. I can't even begin to imagine the pain of giving up my baby. We pray for our daughter's birth mother often.

We have had a very busy May. . . the biggest news being Aaron leaving Young Life after 12 years. We may have officially left YL staff but YL has a way of making anyone who comes in contact with the ministry "lifers." We will always be involved in some capacity. He started his new job at DAA Northest last Tuesday. He has loved the challenge and loves the people, and hates the commute. Saturdays have been filled with T-ball games and soccer games. The boys have loved both sports. I can't wait for Basketball in the Fall! Every afternoon we pick a new park to visit with our scooters, big wheels and bag of many balls in tow. Oh, the life of boys! Soooooooo much energy! They exhaust me daily. The sun has finally showed up in Spokane. I am trying to savior my time with the boys and not focus on waiting for our baby girl. Life will drastically change with a new baby in the home. Here are a few fun recent Spring time pics. The first is an Easter picture with cousin Lauren in Salem. The second picture is the boys wearing Uncle Damian's retro Mead Panther basketball shirts and hats from when he was in gradeschool. They love wearing Uncle Damian's old sports t-shirts and baseball hat collection.

As I am sitting here writing Kinkade just came down with an important question.
"Mommy, what if our baby has a birthday before us than she will be older than us?"
A little hard to explain . . . yet he is so sweet always asking questions about the baby, or creatively thinking of another way to put off bedtime.

Guatemalan Adoption process

Here are a couple pics from Uncle Damian's wedding in the Fall. We love our new Auntie Grace!

Yesterday marks 2 weeks waiting for a referral. Our baby could be born any day now.

We have had tons of questions regarding the process of adoption so here it goes. . . if you have a couple of hours. We will update this particular link often to let people know exactly which step we are on. To find out read on and look for the bold "WE ARE RIGHT HERE IN THE PROCESS!"

Guatemalan adoption is basically a two part process...the U.S. portion of the adoption process and the adoption process in Guatemala. The U.S. portion of the process takes approximately 1 - 3 months. The Guatemalan portion of the process is currently taking approximately 6 - 8 months.
First, families contact a home study agency and the agency conducts the home study and they usually approve the family. A home study report is written up. The family is fingerprinted and is approved by Homeland Security. The adopting family must also put together a "dossier"...an extensive amount of paper work required to adopt from Guatemala. The home study, dossier creation and Homeland Security process (the U.S. portion of the adoption process) takes approximately 1 - 3 months.

Below is a very general description of the Guatemalan portion of the adoption process
Guatemalan adoption process steps:

1. Dossier is sent to Guatemala to be translated. At this point you are put on a waiting list for a baby. -

2. Child is born.

3. Birth is registered at Civil Registry and a birth certificate is issued.

4. Birth mother signs over custody to a lawyer and authorizes the lawyer to pursue adoption plans for the child; child enters foster care.

5. Child is taken to a pediatrician for basic physical and (for newborns) usually for first immunizations, if these steps were not done prior to relinquishment.
Birth mother also sees a doctor to make sure she is fine and may have blood tests done at this time, if they haven't been done prior to the birth of the child.

6. You receive a referral with child's and birth mother's names, basic physical information, and usually a photo and results of screening blood tests for syphilis, hepatitis and HIV. Our agency does even more testing. Keep checking our blog we will post all the pictures at this point to announce our new baby girl.

7. You accept the referral and sign a Power of Attorney (POA) to authorize the lawyer in Guatemala to act on your behalf during the adoption process. Under Guatemalan law the same lawyer may represent the birth mother's and child's interests and your interests during the adoption. Some agencies use separate lawyers for adoptive parents, most don't. We will try to travel to Guatemala to meet our baby at this time and sign the POA papers.

8. Your POA is registered in Guatemala.

9. The lawyer submits all the documents in the case to Family Court, and petitions the Family Court to assign a social worker to investigate the case.

10. The lawyer requests authorization from the US Embassy to have DNA testing performed on the birth mother and child to confirm that they are indeed biologically mother and child. DNA testing is done with supervision and a photo of the birth mother with the child is taken at the testing site to ascertain their identities.

11. Family Court social worker reviews your dossier, interviews the birth mother, sees the child in foster care or orphanage, and (almost always) approves the adoption. The social worker writes a several page report summarizing the facts of the case and attesting to the reasons that the birth mother cannot care for the child. The birth mother signs consent for adoption for second time.

12. Meanwhile the DNA test should have been performed, cleared, and submitted to the US Embassy with your dossier for review and approval by the Embassy. The case cannot take the next step after Family Court until the Embassy DNA approval has been issued. This is a safeguard to prevent a situation in which a child is legally adopted under Guatemalan law, but not eligible for immigration under US law. A third consent by the birth mother is signed during the DNA process. 13. The lawyer then submits a petition for approval of the adoption case to a notarial officer of the Attorney General's office (Procuraduria General de la Nación or PGN). (A Notary in Guatemala is an attorney with additional powers, not simply someone who certifies signatures as in the US.)

14. Notary in PGN reviews all the documents (often requesting that some be re-done because of minor spelling errors, expired notary seals, etc.) and almost always approves the adoption. PGN may at their discretion investigate aspects of the case if they wish and as a result of that and other variations, time in this step (as in many steps) can vary widely.
15. PGN issues its approval for the adoption to proceed.

16. The lawyer then meets the birth mother for the 4th and final sign-off.
The adoption decree is then written and issued by the lawyer and the child is legally now the child of the adoptive family.

17. A new birth certificate is then issued by the Civil Registry with the child's first and middle names unchanged, but with the last name of the adoptive parent(s).
Lawyer takes new birth certificate and applies for a Guatemalan passport (although the child is adopted by US parents, he or she is still a Guatemalan citizen).

18. All documents are translated into English by certified translators, as required by US INS regulations.

The following steps discuss what happens before travel to the U.S.:
1. Passport is issued.

2. Child gets a visa photo done.

3. Lawyer takes all the paperwork back to the Embassy, including the passport, your dossier, the Family Court findings, the adoption decree, the DNA results, all translations, and the visa photos, and requests approval for an orphan visa to enter the US.

4. Embassy authorizes visa. This approval is on pink paper and is called the "pink slip". It is usually issued a day or two after submission of the documents.

5. Child gets an exit physical by an Embassy-approved doctor (to make sure the child doesn't have unrecognized handicapping conditions or infectious diseases). Note that this exam used to require prior embassy approval, but can now be done any time after the passport is issued, without prior approval of the embassy. We are right here but of course since this point they have added and extra step - the second DNA test. We are waiting on the results and our pink slip to be issued with our embassy appointment.

6. You are told your case is complete and you travel to Guatemala (many people travel sooner but this is the "official" time when travel is recommended).

7. The lawyer completes required INS and State Department forms for visa issuance and includes them in the document package along with the results from the exit physical.
The child will be with you no matter where you go from this time forward.

8. You -- often but not always accompanied by the lawyer or someone from their staff -- bring your child and all the papers back to the Embassy early one morning (Monday - Thursday only, no visas are issued on Fridays), pay the visa fees, present the I-600 and I-864 forms, show your tax returns for the past 3 years (including W-2s and 1099s, plus current letters of employment or recent pay stubs) to prove you can support the child, and come back later that afternoon for your visa and sealed packet of documents. Do not open the sealed packet!

9. Then you can go home. On arrival you must submit the sealed packet to INS at your first point of entry into the US.

10. If both parents have traveled to Guatemala to see their child before it is time for the child to go home with the adoptive parents, when the child comes to America, he/she will automatically be a U.S. citizen.

11. Yeah!!! Home at last!

Boy, McMurray children are a lot of work and really expensive - but well worth it!

Immigration approval letter arrived today

We received exciting news today. Our approval letter, which we have been anxiously awaiting, arrived this afternoon. We will fax it to our adoption coordinator and can officially receive a referral. Sometime during the month of May our baby should be born and we will get a phone call, birth photos, and her medical records. We then will have a week to accept the baby and take her medical records to our pediatrician. Aaron and I will then book a flight to Guatemala as soon as possible to meet her and sign the Power of Attorney papers. Once the papers are signed the legal process will start rolling in Guatemala. Our baby will stay with us in Guatemala City until we come home. I imagine it will be heart wrenching to leave her in Guatemala after meeting her. Please pray for this last month of pregnancy and that God has taken care of the timing perfectly, orchestrating which baby girl will be part of our family. We are so excited to finally be to this point. I can't wait to finally meet her!