Paperwork in Colombia

Our Dossier was sent on Monday, September 10th from Oregon to Colombia. The first stop will be for translation which will take 1 to 2 weeks. Then it will be off to the ICBF to look over and approve. Once in the ICBF office it will be 1 to 1 ½ months before we hear that the ICBF has officially approved us. So we are looking at the end of October or very first part of November before we hear of our approval. We will be approved, that is not an issue. CHI made sure we fit all of the criteria in Colombia before accepting us in the program. On paper the wait time from the point ICBF approves us until the time we receive a referral is 6 – 12 months. That is the time line on paper. Who knows what the time line looks like from Heaven? We have had November on our hearts since we started this process, but didn’t know why. Looks like official approval will be early Nov. At least that’s what I am now telling myself. My secret desire is that our paperwork ends up on the top of the stack and is approved earlier than anticipated and a referral comes early November…hee hee. I just can’t imagine what it would be like to have them home for Christmas this year. What a holiday that would be. You just never know.

I find myself pacing back and forth from room to room but accomplishing nothing. The weight of the world is off our shoulders, adoption paid in full, paperwork complete! ...so what in the world do we do now??? Ha, like we don’t have enough on our plates as it is!

With all of my spare time now (those of you who know me well are laughing at the “spare time” comment), I plan to focus more on my Spanish. I am anxious for our Travel Guide to come, that will help me to focus this nervous energy. Plus the next month will be pretty busy. Emi has a cheer exhibition and two cheer competitions (3 weekends in a row), not to mention football games every Saturday.

The kids and I are still checking blogs daily from two families who are in Colombia now. It has been the highlight of our morning to check the progress and events of the prior day for these two families. I am hoping when these families come home that other families take their place and blog daily.

I went to the grocery store over the weekend and couldn’t help but buy some bubbles, Uno cards, Phase Ten cards, and 4 packs of crayons. We are going to need to take some items with us to keep the kids busy. We put them in a gift bag, which is on the china hutch. We will buy a few things here and there for the trip and put them in our Colombia bag. Also, for Mother’s Day, just after my family found out we were adopting, my mom bought me a Willow Tree Angel, The Angel of Miracles. We have placed our Angel by our bag, as a reminder of the miracles God has given to us.

More later…