This should be interesting . . .

Okay. So, as of the end of the day Thursday I still have not heard from the US Embassy. That makes it a week that I've been e-mailing trying to get a new visa appointment date. Kathy, our coordinator even sent one on our behalf.
Well, my friend Misty gave me the phone number for the Embassy and enouraged me to give them a call and try that route. And, of course, neither my home or cell phone would allow me to dial internationally. So, Misty - being the wonderful friend she is - knew she would be able to get through with her phone so she called them for me. It was 4:30 our time and the Embassy said they were closed for the day and that they will only accept phone calls for appointment changes on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I cannot wait until Tuesday! Will not!!
So, I talked to Kathy and she and Amanda suggested that we go ahead and fly down to Guatemala and demand an appointment! Well, sort of. They suggested we print off the tons of e-mails I've sent and send them with Andrea (the in-country coordinator) on Monday when she goes to the Embassy. Then we work on getting them to work us in in the following couple of days.
To do this we probably need to fly out on Sunday and stay until Friday. I have to work out all of the details tomorrow. I also talked to someone at Senator Lugar's office today (the woman who helped me get Ken's passport quickly - which we got today!) and she is going to try calling the Embassy tomorrow herself to see if it gets us anywhere. What the heck, right?
Velocity Tours is standing by for my word on the details of the plan. And poor Alfredo (who will hopefully be translating for us and taking us on a tour) has to change plans again because of all of this crazy mess. Hopefully he'll still be willing to work with us - I hear good things about him and his wife.
So, wish me luck. Tomorrow will probably be a long day!

Now Beyond Antsy!

It's almost 11 at night on Wednesday and I still have not heard from the US Embassy! I know they don't do visa appointments on Thursdays, so I don't know if there is even a chance I will hear from them tomorrow.

So, not quite yet . . .

We were due to fly out to Guatemala last Saturday morning. However, on Thursday night I discovered Ken's passport was missing. The only place I took it was Staples to make copies for the trip (the Sunday before) and I am sure I put both of them back in the envelope I had them in. Anyway, Friday morning I called Staples and they didn't have it, then I went to Staples to look for myself - didn't find it. Ken and I tore the house apart and my car looking for it - no sign of his passport (mine was in the envelope). So, we had to go to the post office to apply for an emergency re-issue of his passport ($200 total). And I had to move our flights and hotel ($300). And have been working on getting the US Embassy to move our visa appointment to next Monday. I've e-mailed twice and have heard nothing so far. I can't finalize the flights and hotel until I get a new appointment. I'm starting to get a little antsy.
The only bright side to this is that we were able to go to our family baby shower and I've had more time to get the nursery and house ready.

Less than 72 hours!

Well, looks like we will be flying out at 6:00 Saturday morning now. We had to make sure that if anything went wrong we would not get there too late for our appoitment. We will be arriving in Guatemala around noon. We will be staying in Guat. until Friday and will be back late that night. While there we will meet up with my friend Michelle and her family who have the same appointment time/date that we do. I hope to take a tour to Antigua while we're there as well.
I still can't beleive that in less than four full days I will be holding our daughter!

WE HAVE PINK!!!

We got our e-mail this evening from the Embassy with our appointment date. It is set for Monday, July 28 at 7:15 am. We will probably be flying out early Sunday morning and getting back late Friday night. I cannot believe we will actually be holding our baby girl in less than a week! I already have Olivia packed and I have myself about half-way packed.
I am not going to be able to sleep or think all week!

Baby Shower #1

2nd DNA test is on its way

I was just informed that the results of Olivia's second DNA test is being sent out today to the US Embassy. That means we will get our appointment date next week and should be out of here the week after!

The Last Stages

I was told today that on 7-10 Olivia had her last DNA test done as well as her final medical exam. They said it usually takes 7-10 business days to get the results and then just a couple more before the US Embassy issues a visa date.

Embassy

Our cordinator told me today that we were submitted to Embassy today. She said we should be traveling in 3 weeks! It still all seems so unreal.
I don't know if we will still be in the states for our baby showers, but that's okay - I'll need stuff when we get home! :)
I'm still freaking out about making the travel arrangements and stuff. I hope it all goes smoother than I think it will.

Unbelievable News!!!

I just found out that Olivia's new birth certificate is complete! It was expected to not be done for a few more weeks, but I saw it - it has our names on it and everything! Our cordinator said she expects to hear about Olivia's passport next week. Looks like we will be traveling this month!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have so much to do, I'm kind of freaking out. Paperwork, her room, baby showers, travel arrangements, clean the house, Rachel's birthday, work, etc., etc. . . .