The wait begins. . . or does it?

It has been an exciting past two months as we have been filling out paperwork and fulfilling our parent education requirements. I have heard so many negative things about what a pain the paperwork is and how extensive it can be. However, I have found this whole ride quite enjoyable. (I'm sure that having the summer off and being given time to do these things helped!) We've learned where many interesting places are around our area--U.S. Homeland Security, courthouses, police stations, etc. I've even learned a little bit more about the confusing geography of downtown Kansas City. When we finished with all of our Kansas documents, Luke and I took a trip up to Topeka to get them all apostilled (a fancy word for a certificate of verification that our notaries from the state of Kansas were all valid). We had a great time and he was quite impressed with the Capitol building. It's been fun to hear his questions about our state government. On the way home, we made a stop in Lawrence (yes, I've trained him right!)and walked around campus, looked at Memorial Stadium, watched the baseball players practice and purchased some new, KU attire. The most wonderful part of the day was taking him into Allen Field House and watching his shadow stand in awe of the newly polished floor exclaiming, "Wow! This is so cool!" Although he's been to a basketball game there, for the first time he felt the mystique of The Phog. : ) If ever the Jayhawks sign a 5'9" guard from Olathe, Kansas, I will always remember that day! So truly, this has been a wonderful summer!

We submitted all of our paperwork--called a dossier--last Friday. It was a relief to know everything looked great. We were asked to include one more, precautionary thing which I had to round up, drive up to Topeka once again, and return by Tuesday. (The trip by myself to the Capitol wasn't nearly as fun.) We were told that our dossier was on its way to Colombia on Wednesday. A definite celebration!

Yesterday (Thursday), we had no idea that we receive a phone call that blew both of us out of the water. Our agency called to let us know that there was a sibling group of three ready for adoption. Yes, you heard correctly. . . three. Even though we requested two, the agency always clears you for one more than you ask for. And since the children were all 7 or under, they essentially matched our criteria. You have to understand that everyone's criteria can look very different (three girls under 5, a boy and two girls under 11, 2 children of any gender under 7) which is why there could be someone else who has been waiting longer than we have and they still haven't had an offer. It's a complicated deal!

Long story short, we talked about it off and on for the rest of the day and into the evening. Our decision, though an especially hard one for me, was that we wanted to stick with our original plan of adopting two. It was a very emotional day yesterday. I found it hard to turn away three children who have been in foster care for a year and badly need a home. It's just not in my nature to do that. But Matt did a wonderful job of helping me to re-focus on the goals of our family, and once I did that, I knew this was the right decision. So. . . the wait, albeit short up to this point in time, continues.

We have been told that our dossier will take approximately 3-5 months to process and translate. If I understand correctly, once that is finished, it will be sent to the ICBF (the Colombian government) where we will seek approval and officially be placed on the waiting list. Currently, the wait for two, 7 and under siblings is 12months. (The wait for sibling groups of 3 or more is basically non-existent. Yesterday proved that.) That means Jan. 2009--give or take a few months--is the approximate time this will happen. What an exciting time we have ahead of us!

If more information comes available, we will let you know. Until then, say your prayers for our "someday" children that they will find the strength to persevere through their difficult times. There is no doubt that they will finally be loved and taken care of when they reach our arms.

Traci