On Friday we got our tree and rearranged the living room furniture yet again! (I think that's the 3rd time in a month, but who's keeping track?!) The tree is trimmed, the Christmas village is out, the outdoor lights are strung, and Bing Crosby is singing away in the background.
On Sunday, Jason's family hosted our first shower to welcome the boys. It was a great day of visiting with family, delicious food, and a fun time. Thank you so much to Debbie, Grandma and Katie for making the day so nice. It was wonderful to see relatives that we haven't gotten to see in a long time. And it was great to get to talk with our cousin whose family is also completing an international adoption. They are adopting from Jamaica, so all of the country-specific "stuff" is different, but a lot of the process on the US-side remains similar, and of course the emotional ups and downs of a waiting, worrying family are shared. Their family still waits for a referral, and we keep them in our prayers that everything will proceed smoothly.
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| Jason and Grandma Mickey |
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| The whole gang (except Debbie, who's taking the picture!) |
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| ME! |
Our FBI fingerprint background clearances came in the mail this week. We have a growing stack of papers to be sent down to Colombia as an update to our dossier, and this was the final thing we were waiting for. While we were waiting for these documents to arrive in the mail, imagine our horror a couple of weeks ago when we received this letter in the mail instead:
ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!? The mail carrier's car BURNED DOWN?!? The first thing we did was check with the FBI to make sure that our clearance letters hadn't been sent out and burned to ashes in the fire ball that used to be our mailman's car. This may be the only time I was happy that the FBI is slow at processing background checks, but luckily ours were still in the processing que and hadn't been completed yet. Whew! So now we have them safely in hand, and just have to get them safely to Colombia.
We will have a meeting this Friday with our social worker, B, and we have a growing list of questions as we get closer to traveling. Lots to think about, but we are still trying to keep our heads together.
That's all for now. Looking forward to seeing many of you in the upcoming weeks!
Hello,
ReplyDeleteI just came across your blog and had to say Congratulations on the referral of your boys! How fun! We are just about 2 weeks behind you, we are waiting on our I800 approval (for our daughter) as well. Can't wait to follow your story. Where will you be Colombia? We will probably be there at around the same time! We will be in Bucaramanga for the first part of the process then of course finish up in Bogota.
Blessings to you,
Stacy
Stacy,
ReplyDeleteThank you so much! I was able to read some of your family's story, and was so moved by your faith, and your love for each other. What an inspiring story, and we are so excited for you to welcome your daughter!
We will be in Medellin for the majority of the trip, but I wonder if we may be in Bogota at the same time as you? We are still waiting on travel dates, but we had heard that travel in early January is very expensive (due to the holiday prices), and we may have to postpone our travel by a week or two until the airfare comes back down. Wouldn't it be fun if we were all there at the same time and could meet? We will keep you posted as we know more!