The Granda Cause

THE BEACON APRIL 2009

Article from South Valley Unitarian Universalist Society's Monthly Newsletter:

THE GROWING GRANDAS

It all began with a conversation on Mother's day last year. Eddie Granda and Robyn Taylor-Granda, members of our family here at South Valley, were talking with Eddie's mom, and mentioned that they were considering adopting. And, they were thinking about adopting from Ecuador, where Eddie's family was from. It was then that Eddie's mom mentioned his half siblings. They had no idea at the time, but that conversation would lead them on a roller coaster adventure! An adventure with up and downs, frustrations and triumphs, and certainly change their lives, and the lives of a few others, forever.

Eddie's parents had divorced when he was a teenager and his father had gone back Ecuador. About four years after his father's death, Eddie learned that he left numerous young children behind. Since he'd had no contact with his father's side of the family for years, that was the extent of the information he had about the kids. So Robyn and Eddie decided to investigate the situation to see if there was anything Eddie's aunt Nancy (who kept tabs on the kids) might need some help with. The news wasn't good. As it turned out, not only were there many children (aging from eight to eighteen), but their mother had died only six months before their father! The kids had been passed between the mother's relatives for the first five years. They were living in such terrible conditions that Eddie's aunt finally went down there and took them to live with her nephew, where they have been for the last three years. As they spoke to relatives to learn more and searched for legal ways to help them, it became clear that the kids needed to have legal guardians who could take them permanently. So Eddie and Robyn made a decision. They decided to legally adopt the five older children and gain guardianship of the youngest. In order to do that they first had to work for a year to become their legal guardians in Ecuador. This would enable them to: document their U.S. Citizenship (by getting Consular Reports of Birth), get their passports and to bring them to the U.S. Instead of adopting them from Ecuador, they chose to bring them here to the United States first, which was made possible because their father had been a U.S. citizen and they met all of the conditions to pass on the right to citizenship. But there were more hurdles to come! The government of Ecuador required DNA tests to prove Eddie's relation to the children. And after more red tape and gathering of legal documents, all their documents were stolen, and they had to replace them. With all the set backs, Eddie and Robyn just pushed on, even attending to the responsibilities of their regular lives, including responsibilities here at South Valley. Robyn was working through governmental red tape by day and planning

REGAL events by night! So, now, after hiring a lawyer, doing DNA tests, getting all of their official documents stolen, gaining guardianship, learning that the 17 year old is expecting a baby, making a trip to Ecuador, getting their reports of birth and passports, making a second trip to get the kids, being denied exit from Ecuador and having to get all new tickets after the five day delay...they are finally here !!! By the time you read this, the Grandas will have the following new members: Nancy-18, Diana-17, Miguel-15, Marlon-13, Jefferson-11 (with Steven-8 hopefully coming next summer). And maybe one more; Diana is due to have her baby any day!

Now with the kids finally in the United States, the adventure is just beginning! And Robyn and Eddie can use your help. As of this writing they could use the following donations:

Bassinet

Playpen

Car seat/carrier

Diapers (lots!)

Baby formula

Gift cards to Babies R Us or coupons for diapers and

formula

Ongoing:

Boys shoes and winter boots (for boys the size of 9, 11

and 13 year olds)

Boys snow pants (sizes 8-12)

Boys clothing sizes 8-12

Girls clothes sizes 12-14 girls and women's/teens small

and x-small

Gift cards for Old Navy (for the girls)

Daily use products like: Shampoo, conditioner, lotion,

body wash, toilet paper, razors and

deodorant.

Gift cards or coupons for entertainment activities

Gift cards or coupons for places that we usually shop at

like Smith's grocery, Costco, Old

Navy, Target, etc.

Services we'll need each month like haircuts!

Household:

Any food donations of cereal, rice, lunch snacks, canned

tuna, etc.

Paper goods (plates, cups, paper towels)

Laundry detergent (liquid)

Gift cards to Home Depot or Lowes

Small vacuum for hard surface floors

DVDs with Spanish dubbing or subtitles

Soccer balls and small nets

Gift cards for bookstores, toy stores, craft stores, or even

Amazon.com.

For the latest details, please go to www.causes.com/

GrandaCause. Go there to read the full story, see

pictures, and even donate cash through South Valley's

Social Action Council program, Family-Caring-for-Family.

by Drew Carrillo

Friday, October 30, 2009

Awesome kids!

I almost hate to jinx this by writing it down, but all of the kids grades have come in for the first quarter of school. No one has less than a B, with the majority being in the A's !!!!

Nancy has wow'ed us by getting only A and A+ 's and she's jumped in as an 11th grader at the same science and technology charter school that our 8th grader attends!!!

Diana has just advanced to the next level (after only 8 weeks) in her full-time ESL program and has B's in her other classes that are taught in english - gym, childcare and typing!

Miguel is getting all A's and a couple B's in his full-time 9th grade program at our neighborhood middle school, his classes include two Language Arts, Geography, Earth Sciences, and Math!

Marlon too is getting all A's and B's in his 7th grade full-time classes, even though Language Arts just about makes him crazy!

Jefferson is up to his 4th grade level on ready ability now (in Spanish) and is ready to tackle reading in English!

All of their teachers have the same thing to say about our kids "he/she is the best student in my class, works harder than anyone else, I can hardly believe he/she has only been studying English for 6 months!"

They are all really hard working and amazing young people and we are so glad that they are finally getting the chance to be recognized for it!

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Adoption Finalized Today!!!

Hello All,

I know you haven't heard from us in a while. Things are really busy at our house all of the time! But, today was a really big day for us all. After holding our breath for the six month waiting period, Judge Medley of the Utah 3rd District Court signed the adoption petition! It's a huge relief to have that taken care, so we can focus on moving ahead now. I've posted a photo of us all with Judge Medley this morning.

Thanks for all of your support!

Robyn, Eddie and the gang

Friday, June 12, 2009

Flickr photos...OMG, I have no clue how to make anything on here work!

Since I cannot seem to get anything to work, here is the link to my Flickr page:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/grandacause/

Friday, May 8, 2009

Paypal buttons temporarily off-line

For anyone who wants to donate!

We've had a snaffoo with our paypal account and need to close it. The way we set it up originally will not work, so we have to create a shopping cart option on SVUUS's account. This has not been done yet, but please see our other options for donating (our Facebook cause has a donation option) or just email me that you are interested and I'll contact you when they are up and running again.

Thank you for your generosity!!!

Grande Granda

Hello all,

For those of you who know our family, I wanted to let you know that Diana gave birth to her son this morning! His name is Joshua and he weighed a whopping 8 lb. 3. oz (which is huge for an Ecuadorian baby), is 21 inches long and has a full head of black hair. The labor was long and difficult because she had to be induced right away after visiting the midwife yesterday, she had a syndrome called H.E.L.P.P.S. (a complication of preclampsia and eclampsia) which put both her and the baby at risk for seizures and a lowered ability to clot. After a painful 18 hours, she was not able to delivery the baby herself and had to have an emergency c-section. Luckily, she and Joshua are doing well and are sleeping off all of the medications at the IMC Women's and Newborns Center in Murray.

They should be coming home on tuesday of next week!

Thursday, April 2, 2009

A little early

Well, this morning was quite interesting. I took Diana to the U of U hospital to have a routine ultrasound this morning, while Eddie took Marlon and Jefferson to school. During the ultrasound the technician noticed that Diana seemed to be having contractions. In order to confirm that she was actually having contractions and not cramps, they hooked her up to a monitor for an hour. It turns out they were contractions and they hooked her up to an IV with meds to stop them. Three hours later, she was able to leave. She's not on bed rest, yet, but she's not supposed to be up and around for more than 30 minutes a day! So, now we're thinking that she won't make it until May 20th. So, we'll need to get ready a little faster...

Dentists, school and ESL, oh my!

I wrote a long posting yesterday with the latest updates and it's missing! I'll try to remember what I wrote down, but things are moving so fast that it's tough.

Miguel started taking classes at Butler Middle on tuesday, just an ESL class and two regular classes. He says it's not so bad!

Nancy and Diana did the placement testing for their ESL program at Horizonte Center. We told the testing center that they should just start them at beginning, and we were right. They won't start until April 20th, after spring break.

Diana had her first appointment with her spanish speaking midwife and everything looks good. She confirmed the May 20th due date and we go back again next tuesday.

Everyone has been to the dentist now, with a grand total of 35 fillings, two wisdom teeth removals and one root canal!