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GUATEMALA ADOPTION STORIES
From Benjamin & Jennifer Romero, AZ
Adoption is a miraculous experience that opens and tugs at every possible emotion.
My husband and I always knew one day we wanted to adopt. We saw an inspiring story on the news one night about adoption. We looked at each other and knew it was something we could do! We researched many agencies when we came across International Child foundation and after talking to Jackie we knew she would be the one to help us through the process. We attended two of her seminars before deciding Guatemala was the country for us.
We couldn’t believe how fast we received the referral of our son. I got the phone call from Jackie, when she told me the news my heart skipped 10 beats! After seeing his picture my family fell in love with him and decided to name him Jaden. Jaden means “God has heard.” It fit so well with what we were doing. We loved getting pictures of him. It was hard waiting, but we knew he was being very well taken care of by his foster family.
My husband and I visited when Jaden when he was almost 6 months old. Guatemala is very different then what we expected. It was very green with lots of trees and felt very much like being in a busy city in the U.S. The moment I held my son everything just felt right. He was happy, healthy and loved toys that made noise, we also found he loved books. Leaving him was hard but we knew we would be bringing him home soon. The wait once we got home was agonizing. I checked my email many times a day seeing if we got news. Finally, on Thanksgiving Day 2006, we brought Jaden home! He was 7 ½ months old. What a day to be thankful! He came home to a big sister whom he loves to follow around the house. It’s great to watch them play and laugh.

When we finally had Jaden home with us the frustrations, worries and stress of the process instantly vanished. It is really amazing how holding our new son made us forget about the agonizing wait. Jaden made us a forever family and we feel blessed every minute of every day that he is our son. Adoption is a wonderful thing!!!
Benji is a loan officer in Phoenix if you have any mortgage or re-financing needs, please contact him at www.shmaz.com or 480 219-4339.
From Kelly & Rachel McKinnon, AZ
Our journey to adopt a baby boy from Guatemala began with many questions and concerns. From the very beggining ICF was there to answer all our questions and to help with anything we needed in such a timely manner. It made us feel so comfortable knowing that there was always someone there when we needed them every step of the way.
Once we submitted our application, our home study was set up very quickly with the best social worker we could ask for, Peggy Bartel. She was so kind and easy to talk to that it made our home study enjoyable. Peggy completed our home study so quickly and before we knew it we were one step closer on our journey.
The day we received the phone call from Jackie that she had a referal for us was one we'll never forget. Once we heard those words that there was a baby boy waiting for us, we were filled with so much emotion, more than you can ever expect. We were sent his picture and information by email that same night and one look at that beautiful two day old little boy and that was all we needed to know he was our son. We needed no time to think about whether or not to accept the referal and we let Jackie know right away that we wanted to move forward to bringing our son home forever. We were so happy and excited that we started e-mailing and calling family and friends that same night.
We worked very quickly to complete our dossier so we could start moving things along in Guatemala. We received regular pictures of our son with his foster mom and we could see he was being well taken care of by her and that he was happy. We so much wanted to see him and hold him. At first we didn't think we would want to visit him because we were worried we would be too sad not being able to bring him back home.
Once we learned that Jackie was going for a visit to meet with the attorneys there we knew that this would be a great opportunity to visit. It was the greatest experience going to visit our son, seeing him happy and healthy, meeting our son's foster mom and her kids in person, meeting our attorney and his assistant who were the nicest people and so willing to go above and beyond for us while we were there. We are glad that we made that trip, even though it was the hardest thing to leave him. We knew he was in a happy home and had loving people around him.
When we got the news that our file was out of PGN and our son was soon to come home was one of the happiest days of our lives. I have never felt so anxious in my life and those final days were the hardest while waiting to hear of our Embassy appointment. It was so close to Christmas and our attorney worked so hard to get our paperwork together and submitted for our appointment so we could bring our son home for Christmas. When we got the news that we would be bringing our son home three days before Christmas.. we were so happy and excited! All the anxious feelings over the past months just melted away, once our son was placed in our arms forever in Guatemala. Everything went so smoothly and our translator was there every day to check on us to make sure everything was okay. Our attorney even came the last night we were there to say goodbye and sat down and had coffee with us.
My husband and I will never forget all the people involved with our journey to Riddik. We still keep in touch with our attorney and his assistant in Guatemala and send pictures of our son to give to his foster mom. She was very sad the day she left him with us and I knew she loved him very much. I can honestly say that we would do it all over again in a heartbeat because we know that everyone involved at ICF really care about these children and they have the best people working on their side in Guatemala who also truly care.
With all the ups and downs filled with emotion, there truly is an end, and at that end is a beautiful child to fill your heart with happiness.
There are older children and sibling groups available for adoption in every country. We invite you to consider an older child. Please email us for photos of children who are waiting for forever families!
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