summer time fun

Summer is here and we are in the middle of family and friends visiting. Over the 4th of July, we had our friend Connie and her kiddos up from Boise to spend some time with us. the weather started turning hot. We enjoyed our local Laurel parade and fireworks with family. Still no word from Colombia on our dossier. We were told the ICBF (Colombia board) has 45 days to review our update. We are going on 4 months now. Nichole, our social worker from CHI has told us we are the next family on their list waiting to hear a board decision. Hopefully, this will be the week.

Well, we are not letting this delay get the best of us. Yesterday, grandpa, myself, and the girls went on a hike up into the mountains to a waterfall. We happened to see a brown bear during our 5 mile hike back into the wilderness. The kids did great. the last 1 1/2 miles coming out were tough on Bree (5yrs) and dad carried her on his shoulders. Can't expect the kids to do a 10 mile hike and not be just a bit weary and tired. All in all, we had a great time and celebrated with fresh watermelon back at the pickup.

Summer Camp

Well ten months since originally submitting our dossier to Colombia, still no approval yet, but we have not lost faith and keeping very busy this summer. I had the privlege of being the camp nurse at Tenley's (8yrs) summer church camp this year. Alex (13) was able to be my assistant and we had a great time in the mountains getting closer to each other, and our relationship with our heavenly father. A few kiddos with homesick tummies and a few bumps and bruises, but otherwise nothing major. Tenley and Alex loved all the great activities offered including the zip line and rock wall. Dad even went down the zipline upside down and backwards(I forget i'm not 18 anymore).

ADOPTION JOURNEY

April 2009

After two years of contemplation and life event changes, we jumped in with two feet and started the application process with Children's Hope International. Initially, we were not sure which program to pursue. A co-worker had adopted a sibling set of 3 from Colombia. The kids have adjusted great, and we decided to go in this direction.

September 2009

Almost 6 months into the process, our dossier is finally complete and sent off to Colombia for ICBF approval.

February 2010

I guess any news is good at this point, even if it is the ICBF wanting more information and an update to our file before approval.

July 2010

The past several months have seemed like an eternity waiting to hear something or should I say anything from Colombia. Today (7/21,2010) we heard from our social worker that the ICBF board has made a decision and sending a letter, but no word as to what the letter mentions. Hopefully, we will get a phone call from our social worker Nichole telling us we are approved. More waiting to go.

August 2010

Finally, Today August 4th, we received a phone call from our social worker that she has received the letter from Colombia stating we were approved for "dos ninos" siblings 0-5. Our official approval date is 7/8/2010. One month down, and roughly 30 to go.