Happy Wednesday...

Oh, RENAP, please let us OUT!

Yes, we are still in RENAP- 5 weeks and going strong. It puts me in an anti-email, anti-blog, anti-skype mood because I am so tired of saying that we are still waiting and don't know when we'll be home. Plus life down here gets pretty routine, so I struggle to have anything interesting to share! Sorry for being a Debbie Downer :).

Yesterday I met my lawyer at the RENAP office. The place is a total zoo! It was very eye-opening for me, as I realized that there isn't much more my lawyer can be doing. They are unorganized, uncooperative and unhelpful. I stood in a room with probably 200 Guatemalans (it's the office where you get birth certificates and national IDs), sticking out more than ever, and was so frustrated! Because our paperwork was misplaced, it wasn't signed off last Friday like it should have been. They promised to release it early this week, but now won't. At this point, I'm just hoping that it will come out this Friday. Once it is out, we STILL won't really have our birth certificate. Our lawyer has to take the paperwork to Jalapa, where Samuel was born, and there they issue the certificate. I'm praying that they will issue it the same day.

Then we will be able to do the passport, final medical visit and second DNA test. At that point, things should move quickly, but it just seems like we'll never get there. At this point, we will not be home at the end of this month. I'm still holding out for the first week of November, but we'll see. If we don't get good news this week, I'm going to start scoping out places that serve Thanksgiving dinner!

Now that I've gotten over not being home by the end of the month, I'm trying to just treasure this time with Samuel. We've had some funny moments- he likes to "draw" now and laughs when I give him a pen and paper. Last night I almost knocked myself out in our room. It was dark and I randomly leave the armoir doors open (have to keep them aired out because of the mold!). I went in to go to bed and bent over to take off my shoes and whacked my nose on the door. I look like I've been in a fight- some nice bruises!

Today Lee Anne gifted me one of her hours with the babysitter. One sweet hour of unexpected freedom!! I am amazed at what I can accomplish without Samuel attached to me. I hit the gym and grocery store. All was going well until I headed home and got caught in a downpour. I arrived home dripping wet with mascara under my eyes. Not sure what I'll do when I can just hop in the car and run errands like this again!

That's all from here- thanks again for the encouraging words and prayers. We'll be home eventually!