Thank you for all your prayers and support throughout our journey to adopt! Many of you have heard us share the typical process for adoption from Colombia as: Program Acceptance, Home Study Approval, US Immigration approval, Dossier Approval, Matching, Travel/Adoption Finalization. However, our process is shaping up to look a little different. SO MUCH has happened these last few months. We hope that you’re as encouraged by God’s provision, kindness, and grace toward us as we have been. Here’s what’s happened…
January: We began compiling documents for our Dossier, which is basically a collection of documents and information about our
... Read moreentire family in much greater detail. They really want to know everything, which of course has taken some time.
March: We received US Immigration Approval. Our adoption agency also reached out and asked us to review a file for a little boy, L**m, who is 4 years old and has Down Syndrome. For several weeks we asked a lot of questions, prayed, and sought counsel from our church family! Lifeline attached pictures and videos of their recent trip to Colombia where they met the little boy in February. In the videos, he was dancing, playing soccer, and wore bright blue glasses! He is so cute and sweet and our hearts have only grown as we have continued in our process. Our children are so excited and often ask about him, pray for him, and include him in our conversations at home. Later in March, we submitted a “Letter of Intent” (LOI) for this little boy. This means that we’re informing Colombia of our desire to adopt L**m, asking ICBF to pre-approve us as his adoptive parents, although they can’t finalize the match until Dossier approval. It was an exciting step forward!
June: Our Dossier was sent off to begin translation and our Letter of Intent was approved by the ICBF! We celebrated and shared with our children who received the news with joy. Then In mid-June, when we received a $10,000 Grant from a non-profit called Show Hope. It was so overwhelming that Eric read the letter and Breanna immediately burst into happy tears. Of course our children were asking, “What’s wrong Mommy?” to which we replied, “Nothing at all, these are tears of joy and thankfulness!” In late June, our friend Jonathan, with the support of our church family and other generous donors, raised over $2,700 at a Basketball Tournament Fundraiser in one day! We have been so encouraged by our church family in this process and are extremely grateful for them!
Late July/early August: We became aware that Colombia has added another requirement for the Dosser so even though ours was translated and ready to be sent off for approval, we’ve had to do a lot of back and forth to have this “character study” added into our Psych Eval. Two weekends ago, we had the opportunity to travel to Birmingham, AL to the Lifeline Children Services headquarters for a conference called “Rooted in Love.” It was extremely helpful in centering us back on the aim of adoption as an imitation of the heart of God toward us while also teaching us a lot of information and practical tools to work through the brokenness (trauma, sensory issues, grief) that comes as a result of there even being a need for adoption. We also got to meet and hug our amazing Case Worker, Morgan (pictured above). Finally this past weekend, Matt and Liz, Bre’s brother and future sister-in-law, held a Colombian-themed tapas and wine fundraiser in California. With the help and generosity of so many people who will likely never meet us, they raised $1,745.
Looking forward: This dossier delay has pushed us back a bit, but since our LOI has been accepted, we will be eligible to be officially “matched” with L**m as soon as our dossier is approved. At this point, we expect to travel to finalize our adoption of L**m in roughly 5-7 months. We’re also only $2,083 away from our fundraising goal, praise the Lord! We’re anticipating this Fall to be a season of mostly waiting (while likely updating any forms that will expire) and preparing our children, our home, and our hearts to welcome another precious son into our family!
Ways to pray for us…
-Thank the Lord for how he's used so many people to provide for our adoption!
-That this new document would be completed and translated quickly so our Dossier can be submitted in August, allowing us to enter the “matching” phase before our LOI expires in November.
-God would continue to prepare our hearts and our children to love and receive L**m into our home.
God would provide the rest of our financial support for the adoption and we would practically prepare well for traveling in the soonish future.
-God would save our children and L** from their sins and show them the glory and beauty of Jesus Christ.
