Happy November! At the urging of my friend Kim (or 'the voice of my blog'....ha!), I am going to attempt to do a much better job updating things. It has indeed been far too long.
It seems unbelievable, but it has been a little over a year since we started this journey. We began our first phone calls last September, and we finished our home study last October. Time has flown by, and I am still a little baffled by the fact that Thanksgiving and Christmas are just around the corner. People tell you this happens as you get older, but you really don't believe them...until you are older and it happens.
So what's new? Well, our dossier is technically complete! All we are waiting on is the final approval of our fingerprints which should have arrived at the good ol' government office at the end of last week. If you are unaccustomed to adoption-speak, you may now be wondering what the heck a dossier is. By simple definition, "a dossier is a compilation of paper work said to demonstrate some elements of your 'fitness' to adopt." It consists of items such as photos, medical forms, background checks, psychological evaluations, etc. Everything short of your DNA. They want it all! And we are nearly ready to send ours to the powers-that-be.
As soon as they give us the green light on the fingerprints, our caseworker can send EVERYTHING off!!!! Oh happy day!!! From the time the dossier is sent until the time we are approved by an orphanage in Colombia, the wait should be approximately 60 days. This includes time for translation, acceptance by their government, etc. After that, the wait for a phone call begins!
One exciting thing about this is that we will soon know the city where we will be traveling. We can begin researching, looking into places we can stay while we are there, etc. This will certainly make the entire experience seem more real--especially for the kids. Oh, and if anyone knows a really great Spanish tutor please send them our way!!
Several people have asked if we already have a specific child we are seeking to adopt. The answer is no. Once we are (hopefully) accepted by one of three private orphanges there, we will be 'matched' with a child. Other than the 60 days, we do not really have a concrete time frame for the wait but we are praying it will be sooner rather than later. However, I am confident and am continually reminded that everything will be in God's timing. After all, He knows exactly where our little girl is and when she will be with us. That knowledge has been a great comfort.
More to come soon, but for now that is all I can think of at 4am. Thanks for continuing to keep up with us!
