Holiday surprise

Eddie had a long conversation on yesterday with the cousin's wife that the five older children live with. She said they haven't gotten our letter yet! So he had to tell her about our trip next month for the first time. Luckily, they seem to be prepared to spend the whole week with us to get all of the paperwork completed. So, we have a tentative plan worked out for getting from Quito to Santo Domingo de los Colorados to Guayaquil and back again. Now we need to pin down hotel reservations for us and the children in Guayaquil. She also gave us all of their shoe sizes, but I'm not sure if they are in "European" or "Continental" sizing in order to convert to U.S. Now we are just waiting to hear from our lawyer about a final date to get the guardianship papers signed (the courts have been closed for the holidays down there too). Oh, did we mention that she also told us that one of the girls is pregnant!!!

Our "Hello there, we're the weird Americans who are kidnapping you" package

I'm so thrilled to see how many members we have on our Facebook Cause!!!

Yesterday we send a package to the Granda kids with a letter of introduction (since we aren't really sure what they have been told yet), photos of all of their family members here and a book about Utah. We wanted to send clothes and shoes, but shipping is so expensive (the cost to send a 10lb. package costs about $100) and Ecuadorian customs doesn't allow the shipping of "leather or rubber shoes"...odd huh? (Not as strange as not allowing unrefined salt). But, we will be bringing it all with us in January.

Guardianship in Ecuador going well

OK, the two relatives that the kids live with both went into court on friday to give their statements for the guardianship proceedings. Our lawyer, the fabulous Priscila Sanchez, said that Eddie's guardianship could be official as early as two weeks from now!!!

Possible change in schedule: We had originally been planning to bring them here in May thinking that their school year ended at the same time as ours. We've learned that the kids' school year ends in January. So, we can bring them here earlier and get them right into school. It would be a repeat of the same school year for a couple of months, but it would give them a chance to adjust to the language without the pressure of being graded (we'd make sure the school district let them "audit" the classes). This way they would have close to 6 months before the next school year to improve their english. We have three school districts in the valley that we can choose from to find the best fit for each of them. Luckily, open enrollment applications aren't due until after our trip to meet the kids, so we'll know more about what their grade levels and interest are.

Plane tickets, trip #1

The plane tickets have been bought!!! We'll be flying into Quito on Jan. 16th (via Los Angeles and Panama) and leaving on January 24th.

Citizenship:

Our caseworker at the U.S. Consulate in Guayaquil emailed on friday to say she's received all of the final DNA documents and wants to know when we can come in! Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure Eddie has to have guardianship of the kids before we can apply for their U.S. Passports, which we plan on doing at the same time as the Consular Reports of Birth (which no guardian is required for). So, we have to wait for the guardianship. But, we're going to double check just in case.

Guardianship:
Eddie heard from our lawyer today, she has all of the documents we've sent to her and is going into the court on wed. to file the petition for guardianship. So, we should know then about how long it will be until it will be finalized. We are so excited to be getting closer to having all of the paperwork out of the way. Unfortunately, since I last looked at plane tickets a month ago, the prices have gone up $200 each, even on Copa Airlines (out of Panama) and Delta has the most confusing new system for using skymiles that will rule that option out! Ugh, we just want to get there and be able to finally meet all of the kids!!!!

Guardianship:

Here is an email Eddie received from our lawyer in Ecuador this morning:

"Yes Mr. Granda, the money was transferred to my account and I just received all your documents. The only thing left is the birth certificates. When I receive them I will present the request at the court in El Oro. I will update you with any new information and when I receive the other documentation. I will have everything ready and I will update you next week. I am starting everything and the court request is almost ready to file next week."

We wired $300 down to Eddie's cousin on monday so that he could close his shop for the day and travel to three different cities to gather the children's birth certificates and their parent's death certificates (again). Two months ago, those were the only original documents we had in our possession that our lawyer needed, and we were working on getting all the other documents from U.S. sources. But, since they were stolen with everything else, we have to get them again. One step forward, two steps back!

Guardianship:
Eddie just returned from a day-trip over to Los Angeles. He was able to get the last of the documents that our lawyer needs to get things moving - the Power of Attorney. So, now we have everything she needs to give to the court for guardianship except for the kids original birth certificates and their parent's death certificates that were stolen.

Citizenship:
Our caseworker at the U.S. Consulate in Guayaquil got an answer back from the legal dept. in DC about exactly what they want from the DNA lab to finally certify the kid's paternity as accepted. I've forwarded the response to Affiliated Genetics, so within a week we will have that piece of the puzzle in place.

Yay, another productive week!

Good news for in both categories!

Guardianship:
We can pay our lawyer in Ecuador now!!!!! The money for our loan came through on friday, so we can finally pay our Saint of a lawyer (I know that word in front of "lawyer" seems crazy, but it's true), who has done a lot for us already.

Citizenship:
Since we have the money from our loan, we paid up on friday and got the results. All six children are 99.7% - 99.9% likely to be half-siblings of Eddie (that's how the tests results are worded). This is fabulous news, because that means that the children have that same percentage likelyhood of having the same father as Eddie, which is what the tests were done to prove in the first place. Since we are claiming their right to U.S. citizenship through their U.S. citizen father. We needed to prove that they were his and the consulate wouldn't accept just their birth certificates with his name and signature on them as full proof (because their mother wasn't married to their father. Now we just need the consulates legal office to officially accept the use of Eddie as the representative for the father's DNA and give us some sort of document stating that they accept, so we can proceed to trying up any more loose ends before we schedule a date to fly down there to Guayaquil.

Things are finally moving along again!
Guardianship:
After calling a dozen times in a row, Eddie finally got through to a real person at the Ecuadorian Consulate in Los Angeles. He was able to confirm that they received his paperwork (a month ago mind you) for the Power of Attorney, so our Lawyer in Ecuador can be his representative in the guardianship proceedings. He scheduled an appointment to go in a sign it all for Oct. 9th and bought a plane ticket.

Citizenship:
KC at Affiliated Genetics called to say that the DNA testing and comparisons are ready for us. She couldn't give us the final results, because we have to make our final payment ($1250), but hinted that everything looked good. We closed on our home refinance on Monday, but it the money won't be deposited into our bank account until friday. So, we have to wait patiently for a couple of days until we can pay to get the final results!

Brief History Summary

Eddie's father passed away 7 years ago, leaving 6 children in Ecuador to be raised by relatives there. The children's mother had already passed away less than six months earlier. We want to bring them here to Utah to live with our family. We are in the process of working with the U.S. Consulate in Ecuador to establish their citizenship and get them passports (we are applying for their 'Consular Report of Birth Abroad', which their father could have done easily any time before he died). We also have a lawyer there working to establish legal guardianship of the children for Eddie, since he is their half-brother and is over 18. Once the guardianship is secured, we can fly down there for a couple of weeks to apply for the CRBA's at the U.S. Consulate in Guayaquil. Depending on if we get those on the first try, we can then make plans to bring them all here.
All that is slowing us down is red tape, Fedex and enough money: $2000 for the lawyer, $1950 for the DNA testing, money for the (9) plane tickets at $900 ea., a mini-van, $2000 in Consulate fees, about $6000 for two trips down there and an addition to our 1100 sq.ft. house!

Citizenship Update:
All of the kids have had their DNA samples taken and the kits are on their way via Fedex (worry, worry) back to Affiliated Genetics here in Salt Lake!

Citizenship:
Whoo, hoo! Fedex called to confirm that the DNA testing kits were delivered to the U.S. Consulate in Guayaquil!!! The rep. wasn't able to tell me anything about it until today, when they got the information. Apparently the reason the package was delayed for over two weeks at the customs office in Ecuador was that it was CLOSED from Aug. 11-30th for repairs. How in the world could Fedex not get any info about something that vital, way to know your business Fedex.
Now we need to schedule an appointment for the kids to meet with the consulate approved Dr. to have the cheek swabs completed. They will have to travel the five or six hours down to Guayaquil from Santo Domingo de los Colorados with cousin that they live with and stay overnight.

Guardianship:
We've still not been able to get in contact with a live person at the Ecuadorian Consulate in Los Angeles.

Status Update:
Citizenship:
In order for the children's to obtain U.S. citizenship via their deceased
father, they have to be "legitimized". Since the parents were not married and father is not alive to legally claim the children, the Consulate is requiring that the kid's relationship to their citizen father be proven by DNA testing. Two months ago we were told that all we needed were their Ecuadorian birth certificates, since he had signed each of them, therefore claiming paternity. So, we need to prove that the kids have their father's DNA. Since we don't want to exhume the father's body in Ecuador, the testing company says we should be able to simply prove that they are Eddie's half-siblings. Though the legal department has not yet formally approved that route, we've gone ahead with testing. The only problem we think they would have with the plan is if they won't accept Eddie's birth certificate as enough proof that he too has the DNA of the father. But, since it is not his parentage that is required to be proven (because he is not applying for a Consular Report of Birth Abroad) for their citizenship, we really hope they will accept his parentage as fact.
Sooooo, last saturday Eddie, two of his full-siblings, and their Mother were all tested. The lab will map out their DNA, then subtract their Mother's contribution to create a "Reconstruction" (as they called it) of the Father's DNA. That will then be compared to the children's mapping. If the results aren't conclusive, we will test the children's mother's side of the family to be able to reconstruct her contribution and subtract it from their maps (like they'll do for Eddie's family). Right now all we're waiting on is FedEx to deliver the sample kits to the consulate in Ecuador to that the kid's can be brought down there (6 hours away) to have their cheek swabs done. The package was sent 14 days ago and has been stuck in customs awaiting "clearance" since the 13th! Customs will not tell FedEx how much longer it will be. So, we just have to wait. This testing put us behind schedule by a month with the best case scenario, now it looks like it will be two more months. With our 18th birthday deadline to have the citizenship secured for the oldest girl looming ahead (in Feb.), we are getting worried.
Guardianship:
Our lawyer in Ecuador is waiting for Eddie's Power of Attorney paperwork to be returned to her, along with his translated birth certificate and U.S. driver license with Apostilles. She can't begin to file anything without them. He's sent everything to the Ecuadorian consulate in LA that they need to create that document. They told him to call them the day after he sent it (a week ago) to schedule a day to fly out there to sign it, but he cannot get through to anyone there now!

How you can contribute

Starting on this adventure, to bring these children here, we had no idea how life changing the process would be. Unfortunately, we didn't anticipate all of the initial expenses either! We guessed that we would need to rely on the kindness of others when Eddie was laid-off this winter (after I'd been laid-off twice in the previous year). We've had lots of unexpected expenses along the way, but felt strongly that we needed to push ahead regardless. The amount of support and help that our friends, family and even strangers have shared with has been amazing and has boosted our spirits when we've felt overwhelmed by it all.

I have so many people wanting to know how they can help that my sister suggested I put all the ways to help in one place:

Our church has taken us on as part of one of their Social Action programs, Family-Caring-for-Family, and is accepting donations on our behalf.

• You can mail or drop off checks, gift certificates or gift cards to:

South Valley Unitarian Universalist Society
c/o Family-Caring-for-Family/Grandas
6876 S. Highland Drive (2000 E.)
Salt Lake City, Ut 84121
(Please include your name and address if you would like a donation receipt
mailed to you for your tax records)

• You can donate at our Facebook site: www.causes.com/GrandaCause

(The on-line receipt is also your donation receipt for tax purposes)

• You can also donate by using one of the Paypal links below.

(The on-line receipt is also your donation receipt for tax purposes, there are links to
donate each month for a year and links for one time donations)

(12) Monthly donations of $150

(12) Monthly donations of $100

(12) Monthly donations of $75

(12) Monthly donations of $50

(12) Monthly donations of $25

(12) Monthly donations of $10

(1) Donation of $100

(1) Donation of $75

(1) Donation of $50

(1) Donation of $25

(1) Donation of $20

(1) Donation of $15

(1) Donation of $10

Enter your own amount!

You can also mail us at grandacause@gmail.com