The hardest wait yet.

So we are just waiting to hear from Colombia about the date set to meet our girl! It has only been a week and a half since we filed our DS260, but this wait has felt like an eternity. Normally we expect to wait a month or more in between paperwork, but this two weeks has felt like the longest two weeks of my life. We are so close to finally meeting our girl, and we are just so ready to finalize our plans! Please pray that we hear something soon, and that God will grant us patience and peace in the meantime.

I know He is using this time to prepare us to be parents. We had a wonderful time at CIY Move two weeks ago. God convicted us, moved us, and prepared our hearts. We went to serve the teens in our youth group, but God taught us so much during the week. I know it was part of His plan that we attend CIY before our trip to Colombia.

After we receive our official date we can book our plane tickets, and get our visas. The visa center is back up and running this morning, so thank you to everyone who prayed for that. And then try to pack for two months....

Last minute nesting...a new pillow for her bed!

DS260 done!

One step closer…next we will get our encuentro (meeting) date with Brielle! 

The official letter

One step closer! The official I800 letter!

The Power of Prayer

On Monday I petitioned everyone to pray that we would hear quickly about our I800 approval. We had been told she had just received our file, and would possibly review it by Thursday. Well God is bigger than men's timelines because we got an email Wednesday saying that our officer had approved the I800, and the letter was on its way to us!! Now we are one step closer. Here are the next couple steps in more detail. I am learning more about each step as we get there.

1. Our I800 approval is sent to the National Visa Center for processing.
2. I can call NVC on Wednesday to get our case number. Then I use the case number to file the DS-260, which is approved immediately.
3. A letter called an Article 5 gets sent to the ICBF in Colombia, and they will schedule our encuentro  date! (The official date that we will meet Brielle).
4. We will book round trip plane tickets because you must have a return ticket to get a visa.
5. Go to Atlanta and apply for our visas.
6. PACK, PACK, PACK!
7. Go to Colombia!

So our timeline is definitely getting shorter, and our agency has said this part moves pretty quickly. At this point weeks are feelings long to us because we are just ready to get our girl! Please be praying that all of these steps are completed quickly. This part that could take longer is the Article 5 getting sent to Colombia, and the meeting date set, so you can pray specifically about step 3. Your prayers are working, so thank you, thank you!

In the mean time it has been so fun for me to get ready for our little girl!

More waiting...

Ahhh...I think this waiting is the worst yet! We are so close, but there is nothing I can do to speed up to process.

So we have filed our I800, the last big paperwork, and I found out today that we have been assigned an officer. They estimate that the officer will begin to review our file on Thursday.

Please pray that everything goes smoothly with the review, and that no additional paperwork is requested. That would just slow down our travel plans. The power of prayer has made our adoption journey so successful, so help us see it to the end!!

Thank you for all your support!

We did get to send her a care package! God definitely sent some reassurance while shopping for items to send her. I was starting to stress over sending the 'right' blanket. The idea is that she will attach to the blanket, and have it as a momento from the orphanage. So I wanted it to be perfect. :) Then at Target I just felt overwhelmed trying to choose just the right one. We happened to be in line behind a sweet lady from Momentum, so we updated her on how things we going. Then while she was checking out she reached over and paid for the blanket for Brielle! What a blessing, and a confirmation from God!

Moving forward...

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!

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.