Thank you guys so much for all of the encouragement and congratulations! I am going to print them out and save them for Shiloh to read some day.
Getting out of PGN is the most amazing feeling! I really can't describe it. When you have been doing this so long it starts to just feel like a part of your life and who you are, not something temporary that you are going through. It is nice to be in a place where it feels like a process again instead of a miserable lifestyle! After having this huge weight and stress on our back for the last 2 years, we really feel so euphoric now! Before we got out of PGN, Filipe would say that we would probably be really happy and excited for a couple of days and then the anxiousness of wanting to get her home would kick in. Now that we are out, while we are anxious to get her home, I don't think the excitement or happiness of being on the home stretch is going to wear off any time soon!!! Every so often we will look at each other with a huge grin and say, "We're out of PGN!!! Our baby is coming home!!!"
I was instantly put in full blown nesting mode. Friday night I started making a list of things I wanted to do around the house or things we needed to get done before Shiloh comes home. It is already a page long, and I keep thinking of more things every day. I am so thankful that I'm only working a couple of days a week right now so that I have plenty of time to do it all!
As for the rest of the process... Here are the thing that we have left to do: 1) They need to record the final decree at the Civil Registry and get her new birth certificate with our last name on it, 2) They get her a passport, 3) It all gets translated and sent to the US Embassy who issues "orange" which is a DNA authorization, 4) They take the DNA and sent it to the lab, 5) Once the lab processes it, the results are sent back to the US Embassy where they issue "pink", which is our Embassy appointment (usually 1-2 weeks after they issue pink) 6) We go get our girl!!!!
This usually takes 6-8 weeks. For our agency it is typically 8 weeks. Mentally I'm telling myself it will be 8 weeks, but I am really praying that God will be moving and it will be closer to 6. May 21st is my birthday and I would love to get to spend it with her. Six weeks from getting out of PGN is the 22nd, so it is possible. Please keep praying for us! Thanks so much!
AAAHHHHH!!!!!!! WE'RE OUT!!!!! WE'RE OUT!!!!! WE'RE OUT!!!!! Oh my gosh, I am so excited right now!!!! I knew it would happen eventually, but it was still hard to imagine, with how long a difficult this whole thing has been. We are having a garage sale for my brother and sister-in-law or their adoption, and I was there helping out when my phone rang. It was a number I didn't recognize. When I answered and it was our agency, I got nervous because I know another family who, when they got out of PGN, the agency emailed them, so the fact they were calling made me nervous. She said, "I just wanted to let you know, there was a fax waiting for us when we got in this morning saying you guys are out of PGN." I instantly started bawling. She was like, "Are you ok?" and I said (in choking sobs), "Yes. I'm just really happy." I am still shaking from it! I can't believe it!!! I thought it we were almost 8 weeks into PGN, but this morning I added it up and realized it was actually only almost 7 (evidently I can't add), so I was gearing myself up to wait a little longer than I thought. I am so relieved and thankful and happy, I can't even tell you!!! WooooHOOOOO!!!!!
We finally got new pictures from the agency, and they were worth the wait because they are SO cute! Every time Filipe and I look at her sweet little face, it brings a huge smile to ours!
We have now been in PGN a little over 7 weeks now, and I am getting super anxious! I just feel so tense with a mixture of fear that we will get kicked out again, excitment thinking that this time we are going to make it, hope that it will be soon and uncertainty because it is hard to imagine it actually happening. These are a lot of emotions for one person to have, and the result is this constant hypercativity running through my veins. Not that I am running around a mile a minute, it just feels like my insides are. I am so ready for some good news! Please be praying we will get it soon!
UPDATE: Called PGN today. Still with the second reviewer.
We survived the first birthday without Shiloh being home. It was actually really good. Even though she wasn't here, we still wanted to celebrate her birth and her life, so we had our family over and had a little birthday party. We went to see Horton Hears A Who and then came back to our house for a barbeque. Shiloh got lots of great presents. Cute dresses, an adorable bathing suit and great toys to play with when she is home!
