Possibly good news from Guate

Take it all with a grain of salt. If we have learned anything through our never-ending Guatemalan adoption it is not to fully believe anything anyone says about any part of the process. So we are taking today's news with a grain of salt. Or a cup of it maybe.

The news is that Ali's birthmother was evaluated for the who-the-heck-knows-anymore-th time today. The doctor who saw her today was supposedly angry that the case wasn't treated as an open and shut case, and that Ali should have been home with us long ago. He says he will turn in his report to our attorney by Thursday or Friday. That is all good to hear, but we have heard all that before. Years ago. The only thing that is better about hearing it this time is that this doctor is the end of the line. He is the highest doctor on the totem pole. He is the doctor that all adoption cases now have to go through thanks to the mess of reforms Guate has been trying to implement over the last several months. He is what our agency has referred to as the "forensic institute" doctor.

It is too difficult to get my hopes up at this point b/c we've heard it all before. Someone has always found a problem with something. Maybe Ali's birth-grandmother was there interpreting again which caused all the problems in the very beginning. Maybe the doctor won't write up his report to make it as definitive as his verbal summary to the agency's contact was which happened after the very first evaluation over a year and a half ago. Maybe the attorney won't like something in the report and he'll pull it to "fix" it before turning it into the judge which happened in April and possibly caused this whole extra step with the forensic institute. Or maybe the judge just won't look at our case again for another six months which has also happened before.

Or maybe this is really it. And maybe the judge will actually make her decision in the next few weeks based on this favorable report. Maybe I should think about buying a new bureau for Sparky & Ali's room so they can share the room. Maybe I should start sewing her X-mas stocking to match the other kids'. Don't worry, I know well enough by now to wait for a few more steps of confirmed information from Guatemala before I get going on any of that fun stuff.

But I did tell Cupcake for the first time today that she really might have another big sister soon.