The Kids' Presents Arrived In Colombia

The next step in our adoption process is to start preparing the kids for their adoption journey into our family.  Colombia does an excellent job getting the kids ready, and they like to take about a month to work with older children.  So, we were asked to put together a photo book for each child and make a DVD of our house.  With some help, we were able to make a photo book for each child that had captions in both English and Spanish.  We wanted to give them gifts but it is very expensive to mail things there so our gifts had to be small.  We found a teddy bear that says "I Love You" when you press his heart and a watch for each child.  We enclosed a note that said "We are counting down the minutes until we can come and be with you".  We found this idea from another parent that had adopted older children from Colombia.  We hope that these gifts will be given to the kids soon and are very excited!  Then, before we travel, they hope to have a video conference with us and the children with an interpreter so we can meet each other ahead of time.

Our Acceptance Letter

After reviewing all of the kids'medical records, we sent in our official and final acceptance letters today!  It was sent via e-mail to our agency's representative in Colombia and the director of the orphanage.  Today marks Lori's 8th anniversary since her stroke.  It is hard to believe it has been that long!  Although it has been a very challenging eight years in many ways, we are so thankful for the recovery I have made.  Eight years ago, we were unsure if I would make it, let alone be a Mom.  We are so thankful that God has blessed us with the opportunity to be parents.

The Kids' Rooms

We have been busy decorating the kids' rooms and can't wait to have them here.  Colombia takes a lot of time and care with all of the kids.  Once you get matched with children, you send a photo album and DVD of your house to them so that a social worker can share it with the kids and prepare them for their adoption.  So we have been very busy making photo books and a DVD for them.  Here are some pictures of their rooms.  This is Juan's room:

 This is Angie and Ingrid's room:

Our USCIS Approval Is Here

We just received the approval letter, called an I-797, today.  This is the approval of the I-800A forms we sent to USCIS.  It was approved on Friday the 7th so we were getting a little worried that it got lost in the mail.  We were really happy the approval came through as soon as it did.  They say it could take up to 90 days to process and ours took 45 days.  It will be notarized at the bank, apostilled at the Secretary of State's office, and overnighted to Colombia tomorrow.  This is the last piece to our dossier and we hope the translation will be done soon.

We Got Our Referral!!!

God has continued to bless us on this adoption journey!  On Friday at noon, we received a call from our agency.  When we get a call and the caller ID says LSSMN (Lutheran Social Services of MN), you know they are calling with some news that is bigger than just an e-mail message!  We received our referral of the three kids and are SO excited!!!  Our paperwork is still being translated so we have to wait for the official referral letter in order to go to the next step but both the Colombian government (ICBF) and the orphanage that is working with the foster home the kids are at (Ayudame) all gave their approval for us to adopt.  We have the referral reference letter to fill out and send back to Colombia and are having all of the kids' current medical information looked at by their new pediatrician now before we send it.  Everything looks great though.  We need to wait until we receive our referal letter and travel dates to share their pictures with you.  The next steps will be: receive the referral letter, send in several new forms for approval to the US and Colombian government, receive our travel dates, book our flights, make a reservation at a hostel in Bogota, and then get our Special Visitor Visa.  We need to have this Visa in order to travel to Colombia to adopt.  Unfortunately, we will have to make a quick trip to CA to get it!  If everything continues to go smoothly, we should be traveling by the first of March!  We will be bringing home a six year old son named Juan David, an eight year old daughter named Ingrid Marcela, and a ten year old daughter named Angie Juliana.  Thank you for being on this adoption journey with us and sharing our joy!!

Busy, Busy!

We are all doing well and keeping very busy.  Since we received the news about the kids, we have been very busy buying furniture, buying clothes, and getting the girls' room all ready.  We are having a great time looking at dresses, dolls, and ways to decorate the girls' room.  Dainis has had a great time looking at all of the legos and cars.  These are pictures of Dainis and my Dad putting all of the furniture together.  We will include more pictures when the room is done.  One of the next steps for our adoption is to put together a photo album for each child, along with a DVD of our house so they can start getting to know us.  We are trying to get everything ready on the rooms for these albums and DVD.  The Colombian government closes from the middle of December to the middle of January for the holidays so we are excited that more activity should start happening soon.

We Are Approved by USCIS!!

Today was a great day, and we are so excited.  Our I-800A forms were approved by USCIS, which is a part of Homeland Security.  Because we are doing an international adoption, they look over all of our paper work and decide if we are suitable to adopt.  This is the last piece of paper work we needed to take care of on our end in order for Colombia's government to go through their approval process.  We are one step closer!  We are still waiting for the current information on the kids and hope it will come soon.

The New Home School and Play Room

 

When we get home, we will be homeschooling so we made a home school room and play area all where the family room was.  Our living room is now the family room.  We think this will all work great for our family. We are excited to home school and know there will be so many new things to learn about together.  We have already purchased a lot of educational materials, books, and activities and will now start learning about the different curriculms that would work for the kids.

Happy New Year!

We hope you each had a wonderful Christmas and are showered with many blessings during 2011.  We are so thankful for all God has blessed us with.  We are very excited for all that is ahead for us this year.  Dainis has been on vacation for Christmas, and it has been very busy.  In the past two weeks, we celebrated Christmas, bought all of the furniture for the girls' room and are now waiting for it to come in, started buying their clothes, and re-arranging the house.  We know the next few months will fly by and if everything continues to move smoothly, we could travel in March.  We will be there for up to eight weeks so we are excited to get started.  We hope to have more information on the kids soon!