Tuesday, August 14, 2007

We have a DNA match!

We received a letter from the lab yesterday stating that the DNA was a match. Madison and her birthmother had a DNA match of 99.991%; I would say that is pretty close. We also received a copy of Madison’s First Identity Certificate. This is a little certificate made up with a copy of what her DNA looks like. I hear having your DNA printed out in color and then framed is a new rage in the art world, but we won't be doing that.

From this letter we also learned that Madison was born in Nueva Concepcion, Escuintla, Guatemala at 7:30pm. In researching this on the internet I learned that Guatemala is divided into 22 departments (which I believe is like States) Escuintla is a department and Nueva Concepcion is a district within that department (I believe that districts are like our cities). This department is located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean. It has a population of about 686,764 and the languages are Spanish,Cackchiquel, and Poqo’mam.

We also received a Polaroid picture of Madison with her birthmother. In the picture her birthmother looks so sad, in fact if you look closely at the picture you can see a tear stain under one of her eyes. Seeing this it broke my heart. I have no idea what the circumstances were for her and why she put Madison up for adoption but I can tell from the picture that it must have been one of the hardest decisions she ever made. I am very thankful for her decision and pray that she knows what a good home we will provide for Madison and that she will be loved by so many people. I never thought about how hard the reunion for the DNA test might have been for her and ask that you all keep her in your prayers. As many of you may be wondering, yes she still could change her mind and decide not to let Madison be adopted. If I think about her possibly changing her mind I end up making myself crazy. Wayne and I have to hold onto our faith in God and trust that he is in control of this adoption. I truly believe that God would not have allowed us to get this far into the process only to have it fall apart. Again I remind myself of the verse Jeremiah 29:11
" For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."

We are currently waiting to hear back from our agency as to what steps are next. We are still in for a pretty long wait before we get to bring her home but each day is one day closer. As soon as we know more we will post it to let everyone else know.
Again please continue to pray for us, Madison, and the process as well as everyone involved.

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