Ayudame Orphanage

Ayudame, the orphanage our kids are supported by, is located in the capital city of Bogota.  We have learned that Ayudame has just purchased a farm house, out in the country, for the older children to live in, while they are waiting to be adopted.  Renovation on the house should begin soon.  We are so excited for the opportunity these kids will have to live in a place where they can run and play and have more room than their current location in the city.  You will see from the pictures that Colombia is a beautiful country!

Orphan Sunday At Our Church

Our church started an Orphan Ministry this year called Project James 1:27.  It is based on God's command in the bible that calls us to take care of the widows and the orphans.  A video was made to present to our church on Sunday and raise awareness of this mission.

As far as our adoption goes, we are still waiting for the documents from Colombia in order to move onto the next step, but our agency said they should be getting them from Colombia this week.  It has taken a lot longer than we expected, and it is getting harder to wait since we are so excited to meet our kids.  We are keeping very busy with lots of projects, though, that we want to get done before we go.

We Are Working on the Next Step!

We are still waiting on the rest of our referral documents but are working on our next step in our paperwork so we are set when we get the information.  Our next step is to fill out an application called the I800.  This application goes back to US Homeland Security (USCIS) for approval.  The first time we applied to USCIS, it was a request for approval for us to adopt from Colombia.  Now, we are requesting approval to adopt these specific kids!  So, here are our next steps.  According to our agency, we will probably travel near the end of March or first part of April!

- Receive the referral documents we are currently waiting for and submit the I800 to USCIS
- It is estimated that we will receive approval within 10-20 days.
- Upon approval, we will submit a form called DS230 to the Colombian Embassy.
- It is estimated that we will receive approval within 1-2 weeks.
- Upon approval, we will receive a document called Article 15.
- Article 15 allows us to ask for travel dates and then wait to receive them.
- When our travel dates are set and we book our flights, then we have to get a Special Visitor Visa since we are adopting internationally.  The Colombian Consulate for our region is in Los Angeles.  We have to request this in person so we will be off to CA!
- Then we travel!!
- The second day we are in Colombia, on either a Monday or Tuesday, we will meet our kids!!  This is
called Presentation Day!  The kids will be with us from then on in the hotel, while we work on the adoption proceedings.  This will take 6 to 10 weeks.

International adoption is a crazy journey, but we are so excited we are getting to this point and everything has gone so smoothly!

New Fingerprints

We headed off to the Phoenix Police Department downtown this morning to get our 5th set of fingerprints since we started this adoption journey!  Our fingerprints that went to the FBI expire every 6 months.  However, it takes 3 months to process them.  So, in order to keep them current, we have to to take and overnight the prints to the FBI every 3 months!  Our fingerprints have to be good throughout our entire process and we know we won't be done and home by May 15th.  So, hopefully this will be last time!

The Kids' Orphanage

Although our kids are living in a foster home, they are associated with an orphanage named Ayudame.  Ayudame means "Help Me"  We received word that our presents, photo books, and the DVD of our house have been delivered to the orphanage!  It is now up to the social worker to start working with the kids to prepare them for their adoption and transition into our family.  We may not know when the kids are told they are being adopted, but we hope soon!.  We are waiting to hear from the Colombian government in order to move on to the next step.  God has opened so many doors for us, and we are so excited to keep going.  Thanks to everyone for their prayers, support, and enthusiam.  We will let you know as soon as we receive more information.