Valledupar

We have been in Valledupar for almost a full week and it has already made quite an impression on us.  The environment is so rich.  Valledupar is an agricultural city which is a blend of three different cultures, the Amerindians, European settlers and Africans imported as slaves to the colonies.  The mixture of these cultures led to the musical style called vallenato that is is famous in this region. The vallenato music is representative of the Colombian culture and features an accordion, drums and the guacharaca (an Indican percussion instrument).  There is a large Vallenato Music Festival in the city every April that draws massive crowds. You can hear the music playing throughout the city at all times of the day. It is festive and distinctive.

The city is definitely poor.  But the people are proud and industrious.  Everyone does something to earn a living.  Some are food vendors, some lend their cell phone on the street corner for so many pesos a minute, some pick mangoes from the trees of the public plaza and sell them on the street, and an endless number drive small motorcycles as "taxis".  Yesterday I saw the motorcycle driver, a mother, her toddler and her sleeping baby (who was nursing at the time) all riding on ONE motorcycle.  No helmets laws or car seat laws here!  And no one yields to pedestrians.  You are on your own. The honking of the motorcycles and regular taxis is endless.  They honk if they approach an intersection or another vehicle or a person standing on the sidewalk.  They always honk. If the honking stopped today I think I couldn't sleep I have grown so accustomed to it!  One of our windows in the hotel does not shut all the way, so the honking is almost obnoxious in that room.  Not to mention the store across the street from us starts playing very loud music at 9:00 am along with a man who stays on the microphone announcing specials on the sidewalk all day long.  I think he and the music stop around 10 or 11:00 pm.  I barely notice it anymore, but it was overwhelming the first couple of days!

Street full of vendors

The overcrowded street

Every corner is full of parked motorcycles.  They even sell the motorcycles in the grocery store.

They even drive on the sidewalks.  No where is safe for the pedestrian :)

Amazing fruit.  All the time!!!

Besides motorcycles, the city is also overrun with stray dogs and shoe stores.  They are equally plentiful.  Gavin has already begged for us to take "un perro" home with us.  I'm sure you can guess the answer to that one.  The presence of all the dogs does not help with the cleanliness of the city streets.  The garbage collection system consists of the shop owners bagging up the trash and placing it on the sidewalk.  The dogs of course tear the bags open before they ever get picked up.  The pickup is not done by truck, but by a person pushing a large rolling trash can down the street.  I have no idea why there are so many shoe stores.  I do not exaggerate when I say there may be 15 shoes stores on one city block. It is almost every other store.  Unlike the dog, we may take some of the shoes home with us.

You can even shop for shoes outside!!!

Some people still use good old-fashioned horsepower

One of many shopping trips 

The food is wonderful.  Our breakfast is typically cantaloupe, watermelon, orange juice, eggs, many different delicious breads, meats that vary daily and arepas.  The children have learned the Spanish names for all the foods we typically eat and order for themselves in Spanish.  The past two days, Reese has begun talking gibberish.  We thought at first he was trying to get attention since Jude has started "speaking" more, but yesterday I noticed some Spanglish in there.  I asked him if he was speaking Spanish and he said yes :)  He is singing to us in his "Spanish" too.

We grocery shop every day across the street from the hotel.  We purchase our daily 5 liters of bottled water since the water here is not safe for us to drink or even brush our teeth with.  We also pick up whatever fruit or bread we might want for the day.  Those are both very inexpensive and so delicious.  Cereal is ridiculous although we purchase a box every few days just as easy dry snacks for the kids.  A box of Fruit Loops is over $5.  All the milk is either boxed and not refrigerated or sold cold in bags with no spout.  We finally figured out we could keep one of our empty 5 liter water containers and pour the bagged milk into it for easier pouring.  The eggs are also stored at room temperature.  Diapers and wipes are more expensive as are clothing and household items.  I'm sure there are better deals to be had, but my Spanish is not good enough yet to haggle much in the markets or on the streets.  Even in the actual stores, sales people follow us around showing me items and asking me questions.  There is no such thing as browsing.  I always feel bad not purchasing something so I just don't go in much!  Plus every time someone talks to Brant and he doesn't understand them, he sends them to me so I can tell them that I don't understand either :)

The hotel has begun decorating for Christmas.  Yes, it is in the 90s here.

Feliz Navidad! 

How Jude's face looks after every walk.  He is so hot!!  The ladies who work in the drugstores we pass keep trying to sell me sunscreen!  All the other people in town keep notifying me that he is hot (calor).  I guess they think I can't tell :)

More than anything, the people here are happy.  Joyous almost.  They greet you with exuberance, truly want to help you and love on our children.  They play peekaboo in the aisle, rub their heads and say lindo or hermosa to them.  Many of the people here have enjoyed trying out their very limited English on us.  Their English is just as bad as our Spanish.  But they want to learn.  Every day when we head to breakfast, the wait staff have different English phrases to try out on us.  Today was "my pleasure".  It is very sweet for them to try and make us feel more at home. I have enjoyed the challenge of navigating the unknowns here.  I am certain that when we leave I will miss our Little One's home.  I am already hoping to return here one day to show her around our old stomping grounds!!

I have some more pictures to post of some city shots, but I am having some uploading problems because of the wifi.  I will try to add them later.

Hospital Visitation

Wednesday we did not get to visit Little One in the hospital as we had hoped to.  For those of you who are not on Facebook, here is my update from Wednesday to catch you up:

"We are still waiting to hear more detailed news but we did find out this morning that Little One is stable.  She is still in the clinic but has not been admitted to the hospital.  She was described as being very somber, still and quiet.  I imagine because of the pain medication required to ease her crisis.  Still have no idea when we will get to see her.

Also, I failed to mention in my last blog post that Jude has a nasty case of hand, foot and mouth, which is causing him to scream most of the time.  That can be your second prayer request.

Your third can be for our $$ situation.  We are having zero success with our credit card and ATMs.  They are being rejected but Redstone says they don't show any attempts at cash withdrawals.  We are now locked out from attempts by the ATM machine.  Regular purchases are processing fine, just not cash withdrawals.  One bank here pushed through a manual transaction for us today after an hour visit with them but we cannot do that every time.  We don't need much cash but I want that option."

Our driver, Greys (pronounced Grace), picked us up Wednesday morning for a trip to the mall.  It ended up being more of a banking and cellphone reloading trip.  Greys who is also acting as our interpreter was able to talk to someone at Bancolombia about manually processing our transaction and helped Brant purchase additional minutes for our Colombian prepaid cellphone that the agency provided us.  Both of those processes took hours.  Apparently, few of the people in this city do any of their banking online, so the banks are overrun.  The lines are impossibly long.  Reese responded to the wait by throwing the biggest tantrum he has ever thrown in public.  Complete with  a full body embrace of the floor and a terrible battle getting him strapped in the stroller.  I was so embarrassed.  Reese was not.  He screamed for over 45 minutes in that mall while I tried to calmly push him around and wait on Brant and the eternally long bank line.  Finally, we at least had cash.  That and the lunch in the grocery store which is the flagship store of the mall were the only positive things about that trip!! 

We ended up not being able to see Little One on Wednesday either.  The doctor has diagnosed her with the flu or some sort of upper respiratory infection.  We don't feel like our terminology for some things like that are easily translatable.  Plus we have been told a different diagnosis from each person we have spoken to.  It makes it so confusing.  The good thing is her sickle cell crisis seems to have subsided and she is just dealing with the other infection now. 

Wednesday evening we just hung out around the room and ordered some Sandwich de Queso for the littles.  It was a taste of home for them. 

The view of the street from our hotel room.

Another view

The Littles watching one of the nightly rainstorms.  This is the rainy season here and we have quite a bit of rain every evening.  The days are clear and sunny though.

Thursday morning we found out we would be able to see Little One at the hospital/clinic!!  The children would not be able to go, but Brant and I could take turns seeing her while the other stayed in the hotel with the kids.  I began getting ready to see her around 10:00 am.  The driver called at 9:50 and said we would have to postpone until the afternoon.  AHH!!! 

At 2:45 pm we had another call saying we needed to get ready to leave immediately.  We would be going together to see Little One while the children stayed with our attorney in her office.  As we drove to the ICBF office we realized it is only 4 blocks from our hotel and we had walked right by it and the clinic where Little One is earlier that morning and did not even know at the time that she was in there!!!  We have been so close all this time to her.  We got the children all settled in the office with our lawyer (who does not speak English) and walked across the street to the clinic.

Waiting in the office with our lawyer, Dolly, and the ICBF's psychologist's daughter

The boys wandering the halls with the children of other people doing business with ICBF that day. 

Outside the ICBF building

I would like to tell you that I think Little One is getting the best care.  But all I can say is, it is the only care that is available to her here.  We waited to be admitted by the security guard who is at the entrance to the clinic.  We were heavily scrutinized before he allowed us inside. The clinic is what I would expect to see in a Third World country.  There are people lining the halls and lobbies in beds and on the floors and out on the sidewalk.  They did not know where Little One was located when we entered and had to search for her for a few minutes.  We found her in a room about 8'x9' with two other patients, their beds and their visitors.  Nothing looks sterile.  It was a bit of a shock to my American expectations. She was asleep when we arrived.  She looked so helpless, beautiful and tender in her little bed.  We were overwhelmed by the emotions that had been building up and had a good cry.  Our guide, the psychologist and the foster mother added their tears to the mix as well.   It was a bit strange being there and the foster mother comforting her.  But is was the right thing.  She needs to be comforted right now by a familiar hand.  She is on oxygen and has an IV.  She is in her regular clothes since they do not provide hospital gowns. She never woke up during our visit, but we had the opportunity to take some photos (which I cannot share, so sorry!!) and to pray over her. We also were able to ask the foster mother some questions.  This is highly unusual.  Our agency has never had this come up where the adoptive parents and foster parents ever met.  We have found that everything about our situation so far is a special case with many exceptions being made. 

The normal timeline should have been this past Tuesday - Encuentro date, this coming Tuesday - Integration meeting to check on our bonding, Wednesday - release to travel throughout Colombia until we are required back in Bogota.  Our timeline will now be different.   The doctors believe Little One will need to remain hospitalized until Monday at least.  We were afraid ICBF would make us start the week long Integration period after her release, which would put us over a week behind in our process.  They have indicated instead that these days we are visiting her in the hospital will be counted toward that time period.  There is a possibility we could leave Valledupar only 2 or 3 days later than we originally planned. That would be a miracle!  It has not happened before and would be a very HUGE exception for them to make for us.  So please pray for that!

The doors of the clinic from ICBF's offices.  Our guide, Greys is holding Jude.

The clinic where Little One is staying

Today (Friday) Brant and I took turns going in to see her while the other stayed in the room with the children.  I went first and she was awake when I arrived!  It was a strange moment.  I was so excited to see her.  I don't think I can say the same for her :)  She sat very still and quiet.  She never said a word. Her foster mother was there caring for her so I can not expect her to choose to come to me when she is sick and being comforted by a familiar hand.  About 2 minutes after I arrived, the nurse came in to adjust her IV.  She had a meltdown and the foster mother helped her calm down and go to sleep.  I think we would all like to see a video of Brant and I meeting Little One and her smiling or running into our arms, but that is not always realistic.  Our journey will be different. Different joys.  Different challenges.  But it is the journey perfect for our family and we are so grateful.

Please continue to pray for Little One and her health.  Also pray for our sanity.  It is easy to become stressed and on edge with such close quarters and lots of down time.  The babies are having difficulties adjusting to the schedule and are not napping or sleeping well.  This is not good people. Not good.  Can't wait to share more of the blessings and adventures from our trip!!!  Brant is on his way right now for a 2nd visit and I hope I get to do the same in a little while.

We made it! The Highs and the Lows of our journey so far!

Saturday we left Huntsville, Alabama for Bogota, Colombia.  The week leading up to our departure was brutal with packing, organizing the house, getting all bills and paperwork taken care of for the next several months and travel planning. 

This is what 7 people's luggage for 2-3 months looks like.  Actually missing 1 suitcase from the picture plus backpacks.

Our flight left at 1:00 pm so we arrived at the airport before 11:00 to make sure we had time to get us and all the luggage through the checkpoints before the airport became busy.  My parents and some amazing lifelong friends came to see us off.  We have felt so loved and supported by all of you so far and this was another example of people taking from their time to show they are behind us.

At the gate before we said our goodbyes.

Reese was so excited about his first plane ride.  We talked for weeks about sitting in the seat very quietly :)

Jude was equally as excited.

Ready for the journey

Visiting the cockpit

The Huntsville to Atlanta leg of the flight was fairly uneventful.  The kids were well behaved (quiet) and it was a very short flight.  When we landed in Atlanta, Brant and the man seated behind him began talking about where each of us were flying to.  As soon as we said Colombia, he told us he was a former missionary to Colombia in the town of Sincelejo.  Before we went to our separate gates, this man prayed for our family and for Little One.  We felt God's presence and confirmation once again.  It was a gift of peace in that moment. 

Our new friend

After a 2 1/2 hour layover in Atlanta, we were off for the next leg of our flight.  Our arrival time was to be 9:30 pm in Bogota. We instead landed around 12:30 am.  About two hours into the flight, the pilot announced there was some sort of instrumentation problem with the plane and we would be turning back to Orlando for repairs.  No.  Please no.  The kids could have made it, I was confident, until 9:30.  They apparently could NOT make it with any semblance of calm until 12:30 am.  Brant and I spent quite a bit of time in the spacious airplane bathroom with a certain short member of the family trying to spare our fellow passengers a few decibels of the screams. Reese and Jude finally fell asleep about an hour before we landed.  

Jude's makeshift bed

It gets even better in Bogota!  We planned on spending the night in the airport since our next flight left early Sunday morning.  What we did not know was that the Bogota airport is under MAJOR construction.  We assumed we could find a nice, quiet corner to tuck everyone into for the night.  What we found out is that all the construction work is done during the middle of the night.  Hammers, nail guns, saws, endless people marching back and forth with equipment and supplies.  It was terrible.  Brant and I did not sleep at all.  Dakota and Gavin probably got about two hours of sleep and Reese and Jude fought sleep off until about 4:00 am.  That's right.  We were CRAZY at that point.  

Our home for the night

Finally.

The flight early Sunday morning was easy and fast compared to the night before.  We arrived in Valledupar in the Cesar region around 9:45 am.  This is the city Little One lives in.  We were met by our drivers (yes two to hold us all) and traveled to the hotel.  In the rush to get loaded, somehow Dakota and I ended up with the Littles while Brant and Gavin went in the other car.  I sat in the front seat with our driver, Grace.  This was a mistake.  Dakota did her best to contain the boys.  But there was only one of her and two of them and no car seats or window locks.  You can only imagine.  

Our guide got us set up in our hotel rooms at Hotel Vajamar. We were able to get two adjoining rooms.  They moved beds in and out to accommodate our sleeping needs.  One room has 3 twin beds.  The other a king size bed and a crib.  It is clean but small.  We have 6 people in about 600 square feet of space.  It is tight. 

We have already established a bit of a ritual in our days.  We eat breakfast,which is included in our stay, each morning out by the pool before the heat becomes unbearable.  Then we visit the fish tank in the lobby before going to sit out on the sidewalk in front of the hotel to watch the people starting their day and to hear the motorcycles and taxis honk at each other.  The kids love it.  

Lunch is PB&J, fruit, nuts, yogurt or whatever else we could find at the grocery store just across the street from the hotel called Exito.  It is so convenient.  Our rooms have mini-fridges which help with being able to keep snacks on hand. We swim mid-day and the Littles nap after their swim.  The pool is a beautiful and much needed reprieve from the hot days.  Dinner is either at the hotel or the deli at Exito.  

Our amazing hotel breakfast.  Fresh fruit, fresh juice, hot chocolate for the kids and so many other delicious items.

Our stoop outside

Dakota's pool buddy.  They are so cute teaching each other words from their own language.

We of course do not have a washing machine in our hotel room.  Nor do most hotels in Colombia have a bathtub.  Showers only here.  So I purchased an inflatable baby bathtub to bring along on the trip to serve both as a bathtub for Jude and a washtub for our laundry.  I do the laundry every morning after our sidewalk sitting session so it will be dry by the next morning.  

We are definitely the talk of this small town.  This is not a tourist destination.  Americans are not common visitors to this city. And very few people speak even a tiny bit of English.  So we receive curious stares.  Many comments about the children being lindo or precioso.  Everyone also thinks the boys are twins (gemelos).  They get a lot of attention. It is rare for us to pass by anyone without them speaking kind things about the children to each other or to us.  They are affectionate with the kids and pat their heads or just pick them up and hold them without permission :)  You can tell the people here have a true love for all children.  It is touching.  

This sweet elderly man today at the plaza took Jude's hand as he was passing by our family and decided to walk around with him to show him the pigeons.  He brought him back in a couple of minutes, called us gringos and smiled :)

The policemen here are so helpful and friendly.  We had several approach us just to strike up a conversation. This is Davie.  We managed with lots of hand motions and Spanglish.  Brant's is terrible.  Just throwing that out there.

The plaza we visited today.  Plaza Alfonso Lopez.

Today is Gavin's 9th birthday!  We celebrated the day with a cake (from Exito like everything else) and just hanging out at the hotel. 

Fort-making birthday fun

As many of you know, today was supposed to be our Encuentro date.  That is the date we meet and take custody of Little One. Our driver and lawyer were scheduled to pick us up at 2:45 to head to our appointment. About 1:45 we received a call from our agency and one from the driver telling us that the Encuentro was off for today because Little One was sick and at the Emergency Room.  The lawyer and our guide went to ICBF to meet with the team there to get more information.  We waited.  Late this afternoon our guide called and asked if we could meet at the hotel for an update. She arrived at our room along with our lawyer, the psychologist from ICBF and someone in administration from ICBF.  We all packed in tightly sitting on beds and squeezed in chairs for our "official visit".  They notified us that Little One was still in the ER under observation and for testing.  The results of those tests will determine if she will be admitted or not.  She is having extreme pain in her elbows and knees and her normal pain medication is not giving her any relief.  If she is admitted, it could be a very lengthy stay.  Her last hospitalization lasted 21 days.  We are hoping she is not looking at that type stay again.  The psychologist and administrator were so kind and helpful.  They told us we were free to go to the ER or to the hospital if she is admitted.  We can visit whenever we would like to.  Brant and I made the difficult decision to not go meet her tonight.  She is in serious pain.  It is more important for her to get stabilized without us adding anything to an already stressful situation. Right now is about her and not our excitement or plans. As of 9:30 pm, there is still no news so we will wait to hear more tomorrow.  

So I sit here, concerned and sad that I'm not with her.  But I am also encouraged at the number of people praying for her and us.  I feel the comfort of the Holy Spirit.  I can tangibly feel your prayers.  During our meeting, our guide asked if we are Christians.  We told her YES!  All four people in our meeting told us they too are Christians and were praying for Little One and our family. Every one of them has an immediate family member who is a pastor locally.  God did that.  He gave us those ladies today to show us we are not alone.  Please continue praying and do not stop.  Little One needs a direct healing from God.  We love you all.

Amazon Link

For those of you who shop Amazon, here is a way to help us with our fundraising with NO cost to you.  Just visit our blog each time before you access the Amazon site.  Click either hereor in the right margin.  It will take you directly to the Amazon site and we will receive a percentage of your purchase toward our adoption costs!  An easy way to help.  Thank you!!

Encuentro date!!!

Seriously, you guys must have a direct line to God!!!  I asked you all in my post on Saturday found here, to be praying for some very specific things.  The first request was for additional funds.  Since Saturday, we have received $1,600 in donations, clothing for Little One and a few other donations of needed items !

Our second request was to hear from ICBF quickly for an Encuentro date.  This is the date we will actually meet our precious daughter.  Four days later, we received a call from the agency with a date.  We had a couple of changes in dates that day, but have settled in on November 5th as our Encuentro!! This also happens to be Gavin's birthday.  He is thrilled about his "birthday present".

Our third request was that the remainder of our paperwork would process quickly.  Our visas were approved and we received the electronic copies of them yesterday. We should receive the hard copies by Fedex in the next few days.  All that is remaining is the receipt of our Article 5 and the processing of our DS-230.  Things are moving along perfectly!!  I am confident the Lord is answering our prayers for Little One's health as well.

All that being said, I have spent many hours the last couple of days on the phone with many people including the airlines.  Yesterday, I was able to book us adoption fares with Delta.  This will allow us to make any changes or cancellations we might need to make to our flights without any penalty.  That is huge since we do not really know our return date.  We will fly to Bogota on November 2nd.  Our flight will arrive at 9:30 pm.  There are no flights going to Valledupar, where she lives, until the next morning around 9:00 am.  We will just bed down in the airport for the night.  We are not at all interested in traveling to a hotel after clearing customs with all of us and our luggage only to turn around and get back early in the morning for the next flight.  So, the airport floor it will be :)  I am so excited about this adventure.  I cannot wait to document and photograph all our little moments (good and bad) that we will create along the way!!

Thank you all so much for being part of our adventure and our lives.  We love you all madly!!

Tax deductible donations may be made at Adopt Together by check, credit card or PayPal.

So close!!

Obviously time has escaped me as it has been almost two months since I have updated the blog.  So there will be a lot of info to take in during the post.  It will not be eloquent or grammatically correct.  Don't judge. Grab some coffee and catch up!

The last time I posted, we had received our official referral for "Little One" and were awaiting the translation of her referral file so we could submit our immigration paperwork.  Translations of files typically take 1-2 weeks.  Typical we are not!!  We had a slew of things go wrong during this step.  First the file was a much larger file than they anticipated due to the quantity of medical reports.  When they finally finished the translation and attempted to email it, the file was corrupted.  When the translation was completed a second time, we had issues getting a legible copy of her birth certificate from ICBF.  What should have been a 1-2 week process in the end took over 5 weeks.  Huge setback that was completely out of my control.  And I might have been a bit frustrated.  

During our wait, we did get a few medical questions answered and best of all....a new picture!!!!!  The last picture we had was taken when Little One was 14 months old. She will be 3 years old in January so I have been yearning for a new photo.  I've have once again scrambled her face for identity protection.  Seriously, I wish you could see those cheeks.

Don't you just love her little pose??

We received updated measurements for her so we can take her some clothes. She probably will not bring any of her clothing with her besides what she is wearing.  I'm thinking she will be able to wear 18 months - 2T but I'm taking a sewing kit to alter if need be.  

We also had the opportunity to compile a care package to send!  Included was a little backpack, water bottle, bracelet, brush, sunglasses, stuffed animal, handmade cards from the Bigs and a photo album with Spanish captions showing her the family, the house, her bed and other people and places in our lives. I also sent a very long handwritten letter to her foster mother expressing my gratitude and thankfulness for her care during these years.  I put in a couple of disposable cameras that I hope she will use to document some of Little One's days in her foster home. 

Her little backpack

Cards from Big Sister and Big Brother

Family album

During the wait, we have kept busy with other requirements.  The region Little One is in requested updated medicals on Brant and I as well as updated background checks.  We completed the medicals to the tune of $1100.  Eek.  Not budgeted for since they typically do not make you repeat these tests.  We are still working on the background checks.  We submitted the requests for updated ABI/FBI reports on 8/23.  On 9/27, we found out they had been lost.  They immediately expedited Brant's and we received his updates last week.  But they requested that I be reprinted.  Still waiting on my official update although I did call and found out they had at  least been processed.  

We also began getting everyone's immunizations done.  I had to get a tetanus, Hep A and Hep B.  The kids and Brant had those already.  We all received the flu shot/mist, typhoid and yellow fever shots.  This plus the malaria medicine for all of us set us back another $1,300.  Double Eek.

13 weeks of malaria meds for the kids

Thankfully, during this wait we have received $1,100 in donations plus another $324 in bracelet sales.  I cannot express to you enough how much that helps.  We are still about $8,000 short of being fully funded.  I know the Lord will provide our needs.  And if you have been waiting for crunch time to give.  This is it!!!!!!!  Any little bit will help.  

We finally received the translation and birth certificate on 9/24.  Our I-800 application (Petition to Classify an Adoptee as an Immediate Relative) was overnighted to USCIS on 9/25.  We lost so much time on the translation.  On Facebook, I posted that we needed some timeline miracles and we got them!!!  The first was that none of the government shutdown affected the departments approving these applications.  The second came in the way of quick answers!  The estimated processing time for the I-800 is 30 days. We were emailed our provisional approval (from one of the most difficult adjudicators) in just 13 days!!   Praise God!!!  Our pediatrician provided us with a medical advocacy letter for Little One.  The adjudicator mentioned the letter in her email.  I am so glad we thought to ask for one.  She said she will include it with our other paperwork for faster processing.

We had passport photos made, again, and I picked up $510 in money orders so on Monday I can overnight our Visa applications to the Orlando consulate.

Because of the delays we have experienced and the time of year we are coming upon, we had to sit down as a family and make some hard choices.  We were hoping to be out of the country in time to return home before Christmas.  The adoption process in Colombia for Little One's region is averaging about 8 weeks.  Even if we fly through these next steps, it will take several miracles for us to get back here by then.  While I have no problem not being in our home for the Christmas holiday, the dilemma lies in the fact that Colombia closes down for a month for the holidays.  If we cannot get processed and home before their shutdown, we will spend an additional "dead" month in Colombia.  The trip will move from 8 weeks to probably around 12.  That is a big difference both in time and money.  And Brant would probably come home for the last few weeks for work while I stay with all or most of the children.  This would be an appropriate time for you to cry in sympathy for me :)

So.....here is a big, fat prayer list for you.

1.  The additional funds we need to raise to make this trip without accumulating any debt.

2.  For us to hear from Colombia and ICBF in the next couple of days to get our Encuentro date (date we can enter the country) for travel planning purposes.

3.  That our remaining paperwork will process quickly.

4.  For Little One's health.

5.  Peace for our home as I try to pack for 6 people for 12 weeks in 3 climates.  God help us all.

Tax deductible donations may be made at Adopt Together by check, credit card or PayPal.

My cup runneth over

So, I went to my barre workout class this morning. I turned my phone back on afterward and I had a missed call from the agency.  This is a dreaded moment for any adoptive parent.  What if I can't get back in touch with them today?  What if they are on the phone and I have to wait for 5 minutes for a return call?  What if the whole deal is RUINED because my phone was on silent for 55 minutes?  I did not even wait to exit the building before I was dialing the only number I have memorized since 1992.  I was directly connected to our Colombia social worker...........And we are approved for our Little One!  OUR Little One.

Tears, questions, whispered prayers and more tears immediately began flowing.  I called family.  I rushed to Brant's work to tell him the news before he got the email with our official referral.  We cried and smiled.  God has answered our prayers again.  He is so gracious.  I'll give you a look back at all that has transpired since my last post.

The best way to describe my feelings about recent weeks is anxious.  I am not by nature a worrier.  I tend to just let things happen as they may.  Never struggled much with that.  Until now.  Now, I have a little girl I'm trying to bring home from another continent.  A daughter who is sick and I cannot get updates on.  Overwhelmingly anxious.

I found out during these weeks that ICBF will not continue to cover Little One's medical costs once we obtain custody of her even though we are not "officially" her parents yet.  That means she would be without health insurance a large portion of our time in Colombia since we would not yet have an adoption decree.  This is not an issue for adoptions with shorter in-country stays.  But the insurance company says they can only back date 30 days from the date of the adoption decree (which we will receive in the 7th or 8th week of the stay).  With her health this could be financially detrimental for us. We prayed and I hounded called everyone I could think of to ask questions.  I finally spoke to an insurance coordinator who said they would research the special circumstances.  As a result, I was able to get in writing that we could also use the date of the permission to adopt that is granted to us by USCIS.  This is a HUGE relief.  She will be covered the entire time!

I was also notified by our agency that Little One's region had requested our dossier to begin their review process.  But further on in the conversation, I realized they were talking to me about a different region than she was living in previously.  That led to all kinds of scenarios in my mind.  Has her health changed?  Was she moved to another foster family's home?  Did something happen to her foster family?  I felt sick.  I prayed and prayed.  After three weeks of over-thinking and creating outlandish scenarios, I found out she has been in the same city and region the whole time.  There was just a communication error.

Communication is always difficult in international adoption.  We have asked so many questions about Little One and gotten not one answer.  That is hard.   I am just craving some sort of updated information.  The last medical updates I have for her were from October 2012.  I know that she spent 3 weeks in the hospital in September 2012.  After that, nothing.  Our agency and in-country representative have asked the questions.  We just aren't getting answers.  So, we continue to pray for her health.  The Lord created her tiny body and I know he can protect her while I cannot.

Here is what we are anticipating the timeline to be:

In the next 1-2 weeks we will receive her entire file in both Spanish and English.  I am hopeful we will receive updated medicals and pictures.  I know she has grown so much since our only picture of her at 14 months old.

In the meantime, I will begin filling out the immigration forms (I-800, I-800 supplement 1 and 864W) required by the US for our family to specifically adopt Little One.  After submittal, the USCIS approval typically takes 30 days.  From that point, it will take another 1-2 weeks to receive the final approval from the US Embassy in Colombia.  Once we receive that approval, we will schedule our travel!  Looks like a good estimate would be toward the end of October.  There is so much to do between now and then.  Please be praying for our family that we will be efficient in all we have to do as well as loving and patient with each other during the busyness.

As I have stated in another blog post, I am not allowed to share any identifying information with you about Little One.  So, I am scrambling the face of her picture to give you a "sneak-peek" without revealing too much.  She has captured our family's hearts and I cannot wait to smother her with a thousand kisses.

How abundant are the good things that you have stored up for those who fear you, that you
bestow in the sight of all, on those who take refuge in you. Psalm 31:19

Tax deductible donations may be made at Adopt Together by credit card, check or Paypal.