And now we wait…
We officially submitted our completed dossier August 24! From there it went through our agency in Alabama, was translated to Spanish, then mailed to Colombia. We were told in mid-September that our dossier had been received by ICBF (the Colombian Family Welfare Institute) and to continue praying because it had been assigned to a “tough reviewer.” So far, we’ve had to make one adjustment to our home study (a 20+ page summary of our lives). About two weeks before we submitted the paperwork, Colombia started requiring that home studies must be done by a licensed social worker. We were able to schedule a quick appointment, have our home study co-signed by a licensed social worker from the agency we’re working with in our state, and they sent it back to Colombia. We will get an update within the next few weeks, hopefully a big stamp of approval!!
Meanwhile, we continue to pursue a specific little girl. The children’s hospital in town has an International Adoption Clinic. The clinic specializes in dealing with international adoption, and they are able to review her medical files, pictures, videos, any and all information we receive about her to determine her current medical status. They helped us come up with some follow up questions to give us a clear picture of her health and development, since some of her original files were somewhat contradictory and often incomplete by the hospital’s standards. What a sweet gift we received this week!! Her foster family answered every question and provided 15 videos for us to treasure and understand her development.
We are not approved for this little girl at this point, but we have submitted a letter indicating out intent to adopt her. Once our dossier (which includes the home study) is approved by the ICBF, they will then determine if we can adopt her specifically. Many things could still prevent her from becoming our daughter, but much like the entirety of this journey, we continue to pray and move forward with the information we have. Let me tell you, it’s hard! This little one who I love to pray for by name and imagine filling our generic kid room with pink everything and all things Frozen and giant hair bows, may be someone else’s daughter. I may never get to know how her story unfolds. We heard the quote recently from Corrie Ten Boom, and we remind each other of this regularly.
“Hold everything in your hands lightly, otherwise it hurts when God pries your fingers open.”
Looking forward, I can hope and pray we would be approved the first week of November, that we would have a travel date for sometime in the first couple months of 2019, that this sweet little one would be our daughter for us to love and cherish. I proceed with open hands knowing God’s plan are so much bigger than mine.
We’re waiting for you little one.
