Dozens of hours and hundreds of dollars in paperwork later, our Dossier is off to Colombia. Well, it’s actually on it’s way to Florida where our government application will be translated. So it should arrive in Bogota in a week or so. These pictures are in front of the Utah Capitol Building. We went down on Friday morning to get some documents authenticated. We were planning on turning the documents in and getting them in the mail next week since we’re still waiting for immigration approval. Instead, we found out in the car on our way there that if we expedited the process, our caseworker, Raul, would send our dossier to Colombia w/o the approval. Normally, they would wait and send it all together because the wait is so far off for families. Ours is a ’special’ case though so we’re off and running. Needless to say, Friday turned out to be a little more hectic, and a lot more expensive, than we were planning. But it was worth it…and now we’re officially back in the waiting phase. It’s actually kind of a relief as we gear up to meet the little ones.

Keep your fingers and crossed that we will get our travel appointment within the month. The fastest we would get approval is three weeks…so we’re hoping for four. That should give us enough time to secure our travel visas and plane reservation to leave directly after Memorial Day! This is our hope and our prayer. :) Thanks for reading!

Yeah, this was pretty much me all day. Our adoption shower was the most amazing thing that has happened so far on this journey. It was a culmination of so many things for me…the shower I always thought would be for a newborn, a celebration of life with friends and family, and the support and love of so many people in one place at one time. It really was brilliant! Not only was I overwhelmed by the outpouring of gifts and well-wishes, but also by the genuine support, love and excitement of so many people. Since it was more of a party for everyone than a girly shower…we were able to celebrate with all of our friends (even the boys). All of our Las Vegas friends were there–staying the whole time and creating a truly joyful experience for us. Adam’s dearest friends from his work came and showed their amazing support of our decision. Many people from church also gave generously to our little ones. And last, but not least, our families were there. My sister, Jaimee, and her husband flew down along with my mom. That meant so very much to us. We plan to have a party in Washington when we get the kids, so it meant even more that they came down.

A huge Thank You to Adam’s mom, Debbi, and his sisters for putting their hearts, time, and pocket books into the event. The house was decorated in Colombian colors, w/ delicious food and huge cake. One dish was even a Colombian chicken dish that Debbi made–yummo! We know how much work this party was to pull off, and we appreciate it so very much. We also must thank Jacque Martell–she opened her home for our party…she helped plan and let us invade her space all day Saturday. Thanks, Martells.

I’m not sure what else to say other than we are so appreciative. We hope for the opportunity to repay the kindess, generosity, and love that has been shown to us and our children. And, it was a total blast. I never knew a shower could be so much fun, seriously!

Here they are! We sent the albums off to the children last Thursday. We are guessing they will receive them and learn about us in the next couple of days. Can you believe it? They are going to know about us!!! We are completely ecstatic, and well, a little nervous. It is real and it is happening. The albums themselves were a huge hit at the adoption agency. Apparently, they are some of the best albums that have ever been sent. Our Spanish translations were pretty good too. You can see all the pages of each album here. But I thought it would be fun to post a few pics of Adam working his tushi off so that we could get the albums scrapped and in the mail in three days. It was crazy, but soooo worth it. The children will treasure the albums while they wait for us. It also aids in them identifying with us and our extended family. The best part of this experience is that my husband informed me that we need more scrap supplies. Well, I cannot afford to replenish my supply until he goes back to work full-time. However, I will be reminding him of it in a few months. :)

This Friday we have our very last assignment, we think! We get fingerprinted, once again, in Salt Lake City. From that point we only have to wait about two weeks for our I-171 (immigration approval). At that point we send our completed dossier to Colombia and WAIT. Our caseworker, Raul, walked us through the timeline yesterday. We are completely overwhelmed. If everything stays on schedule, we could have travel authorization by the beginning of May. What that means for us is that we could be on a plane as early as Memorial Weekend. It really depends on how quickly we can get our travel visas from San Franscisco. Regardless, we will be in Colombia very shortly.

We also got an update on the children this past weekend. Esmeralda broke her arm while playing~poor thing. Maria Daniela is really shy, but after about two weeks or so she warms up and is the sweetest little girl. Both Daniel and Juan Pablo are very anxious to be placed with a family. They have all four been in the institution for over a year now. Other children are going to families and they are left wondering, ‘why not us?’

Because of this, the children’s caretakers called to see if we could send our photo albums ASAP. WHAT??? I thought we didn’t have to have those done for a couple of months. Adam and I have scrapped our hearts out the past few days getting their albums ready. Tomorrow we will overnight them to FLorida, and our caseworker will forward them on to the orphanage.

My heart sings when I think of the children finding out about a family who wants to take care of them. Hopefully, the albums will give them a little relief and something to look forward too. We are in the process of taking pictures of the albums. I’ll post our scrap session as soon as we get it together. Yes, you will see Adam scrapping…that also makes my heart sing!!!