[jlinberger]

My comments come from a woman (me) who also had a very long, horrendous process with our first son. To start, we were initially dealing with infertility. From start to finish, I did not have a child home and into my life for 8 long years. So after 7 years of "trying" we decided that we wanted to adopt. BEST decision ever, as a side note. Anyway, we received our referral at 3 weeks, brought him home at 10 months. In the midst of all of that wait- he received some sort of "head trauma" that resulted in brain surgery to remove a blood clot from his brain. He now has a scar from ear to ear. Pure agony for us, I can assure you (and for him, too). And this surgery was at the begining of the 147 day PGN wait. Did I believe I would never, ever bring him home? You bet. Was I shocked when I finally got "out"? You bet. But did it happen? Yes. And he has now been home a full year? He was my first child- and I didn't even miss not having the "newborn" phase. He came home right at the "fun time" of development. I never thought it would take this long, but it did and we survived, by God's grace. And now I am in my second adoption, kind of quaking, knowing the potential for hardship. All this to say that I am a woman of experience, too.

Here is my opinion, since you asked. But please realize that none of us know you and it might be best to also ask those that love you and are close to you, knowing you personally. My opinion is to either stick with this referral, or not do Guatemala adoption at all. You have absolutely NO NO NO guarantee that things would go smoother. And in fact, getting another referral would set you back because you have to wait for the referral, do the acceptance docs, authentication, legalization, translation, etc. etc. All of this taking another month or two anyway. And then...who knows. So, hang in there! Seek support and love! Or look into other options to expand your family.

But please find encouragement from all of us who made it to the other side. Blessings.