PS

Jimmy is worried that people won't see the post that he worked so hard on because of my long post. Please comment on his post and make him feel good. He is proud of his post and so am I :).

Prayers Please :)

It is so hard for me to wrap my brain around the way the Guatemalan government works. Ultimately, I am reminded of the blessings of living in the USA where we have the right to due process and, although we have our share of corruption, it is nothing like what we see here! I am constantly amazed by the amount of corruption and the complete disregard for what is best for the children of Guatemala. It just blows me away and makes my heart hurt.

PGN, the Guatemalan court system, has said they are potentially going to freeze all adoption cases for "at least" one month. I've said before that they have had a change in leadership (new president, new head of PGN and new people working in the adoption area of PGN). Now PGN is saying they will be taking one month to audit all of the in-progress cases. Legally, they should not be able to do this because all of the in-progress cases were "grandfathered in" under the old laws. They are planning to do an additional birth mother interview. There is already one birth mother interview required before cases are submitted to PGN, now they are asking for another.

Here is a link to an article about what is going on: http://www.adaguatemala.org/English/news/ The woman who wrote it can be a bit dramatic, but she is aggressive and a huge advocate for adoptive parents and the Guatemalan children.

Here is the email we received from our agency today:

Hello families,
We have been attentive to the current situation and though we were going to wait to give a weekly update until tomorrow, we feel as though time is of the essence and need you to keep contacting everyone you can to lend us a hand. One of our attorneys specifically requested that families contact their representatives because he went to the PGN yesterday and had a detailed report of what is going on behind the closed doors at the PGN. Another attorney went to PGN today and his report was even worse. What is going on is a complete violation of human rights and birthmothers' dignities. It is illegal, and the ADA has a new post (see it here: http://www.adaguatemala.org/English/news/) on their plan to challenge the PGN in Court.
Dialogue with the PGN has yielded no results and they were hoping it would so they would avoid the time delays associated with court processes but at this point, they really have run out of options. The attorneys report that the birthmothers are being TOLD to take the children back. They will take the birthmother to a separate room and question the notary on different room. When they "interview" (too mild a word for what they are doing), the PGN authorities will begin to tell the birthmom: "It is YOUR child, why did you give it up?" They will accuse them of selling their children and tell them to take them back. Many of these birthmothers are in tears and terror, as there are reporters INSIDE the PGN taking pictures of them, violating their right to privacy and being treated as criminals. Many attorneys are planning to boycott these citations but there are of course legal implications for them as well. One of the attorneys said if he had to go with the birthmothers he would make sure they wear a head covering and eye glasses because some of the women's families do not know they have placed children for adoption and would be burned alive if the families found out through the press.
Families, you can share this information with anyone who will listen. The US pressed Guatemala to pass this legislation; it is time our elected officials pay attention to your pleas.
We urge you to call, email, fax, whatever you can do to get you noticed. Call your Congressmen, Senators and send your stories to the press. Guatemala is violating the law, the birthmother's and children's rights. This cannot go on any longer. PLEASE get those urgent calls for action out today! We wish we could rely on balanced reporters who could get an accurate view of what is going on in there, but only skewed and even false reports make it out. That is why we are writing today; tomorrow is Friday and we cannot afford time to keep passing as the CNA and PGN together work to disrupt all pending processes, instead of honoring the grandfather clause.
Thank you,
The TOWA staff

With all of this said, I have much to be thankful for!

1) I am thankful that God is in control of this situation and we are ultimately waiting on Him and not any person in the Guatemalan government. I am confident that God clearly led us to adopt, to adopt in Guatemala, to adopt Samuel and for me to be in Guatemala with Samuel now.

2) I am thankful that Jimmy is here with us as we get this frustrating news. I am thankful for his mom who generously gave him the frequent flyer miles to get here.

3) I am thankful for my housemates who make this adoption journey more fun!

4) I am also thankful for Samuel's new haircut :). Here is a before and after picture.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

We would greatly appreciate your prayers for us, for the rest of the Guatemalan orphans, for the Guatemalan government to reconcile things quickly and also for the US government to be willing to be a strong advocate to help get us all home!

Thanks and have a great weekend :)

Jimmy's Turn to Post

Jimmy Husband Lesson #107:

Do NOT go on a long van ride in a foreign country or boat ride without a easily accessible plastic bag for Emily.

Well we have had quite an adventure the last few days. The Armstrong family went to Lake Atitlan for 2+ days. This is the 2nd largest lake in Guatemala and the deepest in Central America. It is a popular tourist attraction and you can go on boat rides to various villages around the lake that are only accessible by boat. The trip started with a lovely 2.5 hour van ride from Antigua through the windy mountains down to the lake. This trip was easily the top 3 scariest car rides I have ever been in. At one point we were going around a 180 degree blind curve and our driver was on the wrong side of the road trying to pass going pretty fast...he did give 2 little honks as he was doing it though, as if that was going to change anything:) About 2 hours into it Emily got sick in a major way and needless to say we couldn't stop and there was no where for the lunch suprise to go besides down her shirt. Emily took 3 drammamine beforehand yet still got sick. Emily had to throw her shirt and jacket away - it was pretty bad. Now you would have thought we would have learned to be prepared with a plastic bag or something since Emily has had similiar experiences in the past.....nope.

Here is a pic from inside the van of terror...


This is a picture of the hotel we stayed at...as you can see we were right on the lake and there are also several inactive volcanos around the lake


We arrived late afternoon and quickly went to the pool. I got this crab at Walmart and have to admit I was pretty excited to see Samuel use it. I am happy to say it was a big hit. Here is a picture of Samuel in his new pool toy :


Here is a pretty embarrasing video with Samuel and I...Samuel loves the pool: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqU5ChHjwGk

The 2nd day we went on a boat tour around the lake and visited 3 different villages. The first one was pretty much a hippie colony. Lots of "foreigners" hanging out meditating in gardens filled with pymarid like things and smoking some locally grown goodies.

Here are some pics from our boat trip:

The 3rd place we stopped on the lake was the biggest village called San Pedro. This is the home of the Mayan god Maximon. This god is known for smoking, drinking, etc... Maximon stays at one house for a year and then gets moved yearly...so they can spread the goodness around the village I guess. So we visited Maximon's house and it was in this little hole in the wall house in the middle of the city...it was quite bizarre. It was in this dark room and next to him was a casket with a dummie that was supposed to look like Jesus. Apparently the Mayans are known for combining religions - in this case Jesus and Maximon were hanging out in the same little room.

Here is a picture of Maximon...smoking a cigar:)

Here is the figurine of Jesus in a casket right next to Maximon



It even got more interesting when we went to the local Catholic church. Our guide was talking about the altar in the front of the church...it has two men, 1 on each side, walking up a hill to God. On one side is a Catholic man, on the other is a Mayan with a picture of Maximon and a sign with a hand holding alcohol. Our guide said this was to symbolize how the Maximon/Mayan religion and the Catholic religion are both ways to God. It is very sad to see this taught at the local church even in something like the church altar. I am glad I know the truth and that it is taught clearly where I live.

Here is the altar in the Catholic Church:


Another interesting thing is just a little over 10 years ago there was a civil war in Guatemala. In San Pedro there was a priest from Oklahoma that came to serve and was very popular among the locals. A militia was basically "cleansing" Guatemala of the Mayan people. In San Pedro around 2000 people were killed by this militia - including this priest for his role in protecting these people. He was killed in his bedroom in 1996...seems unbelievable that something like that could have happened so recently in our lifetime.

Here is a picture in San Pedro...check out the taxi (aka "Tuk Tuk") named after Emily:)

The rest of the time we just hung out at the pool and shopped in the city. It was a very nice and relaxing place to visit and I think it was a nice change of pace for Emily.

Here is a picture of the main shopping street next to where we stayed...those Tuk Tuks are always about 6 inches from hitting you and I just think it is soo interesting how so many women carry large items on their heads

Finally, I am happy to report that daddy taught Samuel a new trick! I am not sure the right word for it...but he basically can make farting sounds now with his mouth/tongue. When I came he was doing it with his mouth without his tongue. Then I started mimicking him and did it with my tongue sticking out. Well now he is doing this pretty regularly too. It was really funny at first...until...he started doing it when we feed him:) As you can imagine...this makes his food fly everywhere. So Mommy Armstrong is not very happy about this...but I still think it is pretty funny :)

Here is Samuel in action with his new trick

Sorry for the long post - that is all for now.