Surprise! I am pregnant…. with a 10yr old!! ❤️
This week I have gotten some amazing news. I have the final papers from immigration for my future son’s adoption from Colombia. I got to know my future son Yonatan last summer as a host/foster parent for a program called Kidsave. Kidsave advocates for older child adoption around the world. I participated as a host parent in the Summer Miracles Program. I was blessed to have my beautiful ten year old future son Yonatan in my home with me for the summer. Myself and my family knew right away we needed to bring him home permanently and adopt him. It has been a grueling process of blood, sweat, and tears, and literally a good part of my life daily since Yonatan left at the end of the summer. With some crazy twists and turns especially when dealing with adoption agencies and US Immigration. So many people have come on board to help me bring my son home. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate it. I will have not seen him in seven months now. He just turned eleven and it saddens me that he had to be away from me for this amount of time. I have been spending hours learning Spanish, reading parenting books, and taking classes to prepare myself to be the best mom I can be for my little guy. He is such a resilient, compassionate, brave little man that has been through so much in his short life. It's all worth it knowing that this little man will be joining us forever and will have a future filled with safety, love, and opportunity like he deserves! ❤️ Thank you for being my village as I pursue the final leg of this adoption of this incredible young man to get him back home where he belongs. ❤️ I will likely be traveling to Colombia at the end of April, and need to be there for an entire month. This has been a grueling process for myself (and an entire LONG lifetime in child protection for him) but I am so humbled and honored to be able to welcome this little man and his culture into my family and my self’s hearts and home forever.
The costs involved in adopting a child internationally are astronomical, I have to be in Colombia for at least three weeks, and I will lose pay from work because my work doesn't have paid maternity leave. All proceeds from this will go towards my adoption and travel expenses. Also, all donations are tax deductible.
Hi, Yonatan and I arrived back in Chicago on May 13th. So far we are just chilling around the house. He loves swimming. Thank you again for all of your support. He is so happy to finally have a forever family and to be reunited with me and his grandparents, aunt and uncle, and cousins.
Wednesday, we had Encuentro the reuniting ceremony and I officially became Yonatan's mom. So, far he is doing really well. Enjoying the hotel pool and we are just having fun together.
Thanks for the support. I leave for Colombia tomorrow to get Yonatan and officially become a mom. It's been an emotional last couple of days. I told Yonatan on the phone last week and he was so happy he had tears in his eyes. I want to thank you again for all of your support and I hope my next update will be when I actually am reunited with Yonatan.
I finally got my Encuentro Date its April 20: Encuentro is the ceremony in Colombia when the child either meets their adoptive family or in my case reunites with their adoptive family. I have been waiting seven months for this and I miss Yonatan so much. This process has literally caused me many sleepless nights. I didn't know if this day was going to come after I had so many issues with my agency and immigration. My mom told me to say an extra prayer that my prayer to bring Yonatan home permanently has finally been granted. I want to thank my friend Sonya Morgan for contacting Dick Durbin who was able to get things moving with Yonatan's immigration papers. So, many people have come together to make this happen. I really appreciate it.
