We are in the final stages of paperwork now! It is hard to believe we are almost to travel time. Some days I feel like I don't even have enough time to prepare, other days I feel like time is moving so slowly. Someone compared it to their last month of pregnancy!
We submitted our acceptance letter for our referral, and our I800 just over a week ago. The I800 is the next important document that we need. It clears Brielle to become a legal citizen, and clears us to take financial responsibility for her. So now we wait again...we received a 'receipt' for the I800 last Thursday, June 26th. That basically told us they had received it, and it is now being processed. It can take 3-4 weeks, but we have heard that people are getting them back as quickly as two weeks. Please pray that we get ours quickly! This momma is tired of waiting on papers!
Our next step will be submitting our DS-260, which has to do with getting our visas. This should only take about three days to get cleared. Then we wait for our meeting date in Colombia, book our plane tickets, and get our final visas! Still a few steps, but we have heard this part of the process is moving quickly. We are praying we could meet our girl in early August!!!
My type A personality has already started a packing list, and my task this week is to do some major shopping! It is hard to know what to bring when you're leaving the country for two months. Luckily I am part of a Facebook and Yahoo Colombian adoption group, which has been a great help.
So for now please be in prayer that our I800 approval comes quickly!
Our Family
Monday, June 30, 2014
Thursday, June 19, 2014
It's here!
We have finally received our referral!!! We were hoping that it would come this week, and I received it Tuesday (I was actually in class). Needless to say I didn't absorb all of what the professor said that day. :)
This is an important document for lots of reasons, but the most exciting to us is that Brielle is now legally our child in Colombia!
Now that we have the referral we can move forward with the last few steps before we travel. It is so nice to finally make forward progress again. Now we send in our acceptance letter for the referral, and send our final documents into the USCIS. They will clear Brielle to immigrate, and then we can apply for our visas. The last step will be booking our flights!!!!
We are still hoping to travel mid-August, so please be praying that we get approval quickly front he USCIS. You're prayers have been so helpful throughout the process, and we are forever grateful to everyone that has supported us. What a great journey it has been! We are truly looking forward to the journey of parenthood.
This is an important document for lots of reasons, but the most exciting to us is that Brielle is now legally our child in Colombia!
Now that we have the referral we can move forward with the last few steps before we travel. It is so nice to finally make forward progress again. Now we send in our acceptance letter for the referral, and send our final documents into the USCIS. They will clear Brielle to immigrate, and then we can apply for our visas. The last step will be booking our flights!!!!
We are still hoping to travel mid-August, so please be praying that we get approval quickly front he USCIS. You're prayers have been so helpful throughout the process, and we are forever grateful to everyone that has supported us. What a great journey it has been! We are truly looking forward to the journey of parenthood.
Saturday, June 14, 2014
The waiting...
The time that every adoptive family dreads...the time when all you can do is wait. Your baby is waiting for you, and you would literally leave tomorrow to go get her, but government approval stands in your way. Ugh. There is nothing fun or easy about it, but it is part of the journey. I like to keep the blog positive, but I want to keep it real too. And the waiting is very real, and I am really over it.
We are hoping that the process should begin moving again next week, but I'll save that update for then. For now I want to document what the past few months have been like. There are times when it has been very hard. Mother's day. Every time someone asks for an update and I say nothing. When I realize a month has gone by since I got the last picture of her.
But there are times that are good. Scott and I have been cherishing our moments together as a couple before we are a family. Dinners with friends. Walks in the evenings. Weekends at the lake. Most days go by without me compulsively checking my email every 20 minutes for an update.
What it really comes down to is that God is faithful through it all. He is the same today as he was yesterday, and He will be the same when we finally get to meet our girl. And He has to be enough for me. I cannot be a good wife or mother until I bury that truth deep in my heart. God is the only one who can fulfill me, not motherhood. In order to be the best mother I can be I have to be a servant of Christ. That is what He has been teaching me. And most days I still fail pretty bad, but I trust that God is working in me everyday.
So as our waiting season is (hopefully) coming to a close I want to put this lesson into writing. I must be filled with Christ to serve my husband and my daughter. That must be the priority.
We are hoping that the process should begin moving again next week, but I'll save that update for then. For now I want to document what the past few months have been like. There are times when it has been very hard. Mother's day. Every time someone asks for an update and I say nothing. When I realize a month has gone by since I got the last picture of her.
But there are times that are good. Scott and I have been cherishing our moments together as a couple before we are a family. Dinners with friends. Walks in the evenings. Weekends at the lake. Most days go by without me compulsively checking my email every 20 minutes for an update.
What it really comes down to is that God is faithful through it all. He is the same today as he was yesterday, and He will be the same when we finally get to meet our girl. And He has to be enough for me. I cannot be a good wife or mother until I bury that truth deep in my heart. God is the only one who can fulfill me, not motherhood. In order to be the best mother I can be I have to be a servant of Christ. That is what He has been teaching me. And most days I still fail pretty bad, but I trust that God is working in me everyday.
So as our waiting season is (hopefully) coming to a close I want to put this lesson into writing. I must be filled with Christ to serve my husband and my daughter. That must be the priority.
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