Tag: dossier

Cody and I got to go on a wonderful vacation to Cancun, Mexico while Nonni and Pops took Easton to Colorado for an adventure. We had a wonderful time just being a couple and spending time together and with our former exchange student, Rasmus, his girlfriend Amelia, Cody’s mom, Judy, and stepdad, Michael.

While we were in Mexico we got our immigration approval letter from the US government (BIG YAY!), and the same day, we got a call from our agency telling us that Colombia needed some wording changed on our home study before they could review our file to match us with our baby (BIG BOO!). So, I contacted our social worker while we were in Mexico, she was awesome and changed the wording that day and sent it in to be approved by the agency. Once we get the new changed home study in the mail we have to reapply for another immigration approval letter and spend another $364.00 (Booooo!), get the home study apostilled and then send it and the new immigration approval letter all to Colombia again.

It is a struggle to not get frustrated with delays, setbacks and changes,  but another adoptive mama reminded me that maybe our baby girl isn’t paperwork ready yet and this delay is necessary so we are both ready at the same time and we will able to be matched.

We had to go over the special needs check list again this week. We knew that our Ellie will have some sort of “special need”, but we do not know what yet. Going through the list and saying which specials needs we are capable of caring for was very difficult. It isn’t something people get to do with their biological children and in a way it seems unfair to do with an adoptive child. It is part of the process and a requirement from Colombia and we have to be approved in our Home Study for the special needs we selected. It is kinda overwhelming.

Tonight we were watching the Olympic’s opening ceremony and when the Colombian athletes came our waving their flag I got tears in my eyes and said a prayer for our little girl. We will be cheering for Colombia and USA these next 17 days!

The prayer requests we have right now are: Immigration to send us our new approval letter asap, that God would help prepare us for whatever special needs Ellie will have, safety for Ellie and provision for her and peace for us during this process.

Thank you all for following our blog and our journey. If you would like to make a tax deductible donation towards our adoption Click Here

It is funny that we are now in the waiting time of the adoption process. We hurried up to wait! Our dossier is being translated now, We are hoping that it will be completed in the next couple of weeks. Two weeks ago, we did our biometric hand scans for Homeland Security to get immigration approval for bringing Ellie home. We are hoping to get our approval letter from immigration next month. Once we have the approval letter and the dossier is translated, everything will be submitted to the orphanage to be reviewed and hopefully we will be matched with our baby girl and get our referral soonish after that! It is an exciting time, knowing we are on the home stretch, but can be frustrating to wait and not have a real timeline.

Easton turned 2 last week and he is eagerly awaiting his sisters arrival! We have a world map in his playroom and everyday he points to Colombia and says “Sissy Ellie, here” We have been doing our best to prepare him to have a little sister. He now asks to pray for her every night before bed. It is very sweet. At his birthday party he saw a baby doll and called it “Sissy” and offered her a bottle. I love seeing his tender heart and I know he will be a wonderful brother.

We have had some wonderful small business owners and consultants for companies offer to do fundraisers for us and we have been so very blessed to be given money towards our adoption. We have some more fundraisers coming up, keep watching for them!

We appreciate all of the prayers and support we have received! If you want to make a tax deductible donation that goes directly to our agency,  CLICK HERE.

Thanks for following our journey!

When we first started the adoption process the whole dossier process seemed so daunting. I couldn’t even imagine having it all finished. Well, today we submitted our 300+ pages and our 42 page family book. The book turned out wonderful! Thank you to everyone who sent us pictures to add to it. We really think it accurately portrays our family, friends and our life.

Of course, it wouldn’t be authentically me, if I didn’t forget a thing or two. As I was packaging up the envelope and triple checking the check list, I realized I forgot to notarize and apostille one page. Thankfully I am able to send it to Austin to be apostilled and then  send it in with our immigration forms when they are approved.

So many people are asking “So what happens next” So here is the process. The dossier was sent to our agency, they will make sure it is all perfect and they will send it down to Colombia where it will be translated into Spanish. In the meantime we are waiting for immigration to be approved and we have to get another (our 3rd) set of fingerprinting done. Once we have all the immigration approval and fingerprinting done, it will all go to Colombia and then it is all submitted to the Orphanage where they will review it all and then match us with our precious little girl, then they will send us her file and photo!

In pregnancy terms, this is like the end of the first trimester. I didn’t have any morning sickness, but I got 3 paper cuts yesterday and a case of writers cramp. It has been a wonderful first trimester, we are ready for the 2nd one now.

Thank you all for following our journey, supporting us, praying for us and loving our little girl! If you want to make a tax deductible donation towards Ellie’s adoption, click CLICK HERE it goes straight to our agency.

We appreciate y’all!