Our adoption process didn't start overnight. It has been growing in our hearts for many, many years. We always hoped and prayed for semi-large family and after two (fun!) pregnancies and raising these two beautiful personalities and loves of our lives, it made sense to start our dream of growing our family through adoption. We always knew it would be international adoption and felt called to Latin America, primarily from our love of the culture. We started our research for a country and chose Colombia for many reasons, primarily its stable program and reputation for excellent care of its children. Next, we chose our agency, Gladney Center for Adoption. Not once have we looked back and wondered if we should have chosen a different country or agency. There have definitely been some "bumps in the journey" but we are very much at peace about both choices.
The scavenger hunt began and our dossier (compilation of adoption paperwork) was completed in December 2010. The "plan" (for those of you familiar with the adoption process, you will understand the quotes) was for our dossier to be presented directly to one of three private orphanages (IAPAs) Gladney worked with. Turns out the orphanages wanted to finish some referrals before accepting a new family, so we made the decision to submit our dossier to ICBF (child governing agency in Colombia) so we could be assigned a number and be in the system. We were quickly approved by ICBF with no additional questions asked. For many months after that, we hoped to transfer into a IAPA. Finally, at the end of 2011, our dossier was transferred to Chiquitines, in beautiful, Cali, Colombia. We were (are) THRILLED! This is a well respected, established home and we still only know a small piece of how well they love the children at their facility and we sleep at night not knowing our child yet, but knowing that they are being taken care of and receiving love already. Chiquitines had a few questions for us and after getting the information they needed, we were approved February 9, 2012 for 1 child, 0-35 months, either gender, any race and are now deep into the dreaded wait.
Waiting for a referral is filled with wonder but it is also very, very hard. At Chiquitines, our wait is not based on chronological order, so they choose the family and child that are the best match based on the criteria we selected. So, we could have been matched the day after we were approved (would have loved that!!) or up to 24 months. Average wait is currently 6-12 months. So....based on that average we could be in Colombia before the end of this year. This is our hope and prayer!! We are beyond ready to starting spending every minute with our child and having him or her join our family and hear one more laugh around our house. Our future child has a big sister and brother who absolutely cannot wait a minute longer to share love with their new sibling. The "new baby" is talked about many times a day by them.
For those of you stopping by and reading down to this part of our story, we are so thankful for your support and will need it for months/years to come. We have met, some just on-line, so many wonderful families going through the same process and have been inspired by you all. Thanks be to God that none of us will ever be the same again!
