Hello Friends and Family! We have BIG news: Our family has decided to grow through adoption and we have started the process!
We are very excited to welcome additional children (and siblings) into our home so we're hoping to adopt one or two (a sibling group) from Colombia. As part of the preparation we are raising funds to help cover some of the costs. The adoption process typically costs upwards of $35k for a single child. We estimate we'll spend over $50k when it's all said and done.
We appreciate you reading our story, praying for our family, and if you are able, donating towards our effort to bring our kids home.
-Cesar, Aly, Oliver, Lucy and Tommy
God has continued his miraculous work in all the little details of this process. On Black Friday, we got the call that we have received the very last approval we needed to start in-country proceedings!!! We have flights booked, bags are getting packed, and in just a couple short weeks (or less!) we will be holding our sweet baby girl!!! We are so excited, and praise God from whom all blessings flow for this amazing Christmas gift!!
Hi friends!
We're very excited to share with you all that we have received a referral from Colombia. We'll be welcoming a sweet little baby girl into our home. We have started the process to go to Colombia to finalize the adoption. Our kids are thrilled that God has answered our prayers. We had been praying that at least one of the two kids we were hoping for would be a girl, and at least one of them a baby. God has answered by giving us both in our new baby girl. Lucy will have a baby sister, and we'll have 3 helpers to change diapers and give baby her bottle. Thank you all for your support. You all have made this possible. Unfortunately we cannot share pictures online at this time but as soon as the adoption is finalized we'll be sharing an update with a family picture. If you see us in person we'd be more than happy to show you our little angel.
Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!
Hello, friends! I realize it's been a very long time since I've updated on here. I started a private Facebook group as well, and posted there but forgot to add those updates here!
Here's the highlights of the past few months:
-March 31, we had our home study, and it was approved soon afterwards.
-April 15, we mailed off our next application step, the I-800A. This application is to US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), and examines and determines our suitability to adopt. Average processing time for that application is 2 months, and on June 20 (2 months + 5 days later!), we received our approval notice from USCIS.
-At the end of April, we held an epic, massive, humongous yard sale. We had so much help from friends and family, and so many generous donations poured in! We were humbled and awed at how much we raised--$9,000! Once again, we couldn't have done it without you, our village, walking alongside us. In the case of the yard sale that was even more clear, as Aly worked herself to the point of exhaustion and landed in urgent care. Thank you, thank you, to every person who helped make that event such an incredible success.
-Once we received our I-800A approval, we compiled all of our documentation, had everything notarized, and then sent it off to the WA Secretary of State's office to be apostilled. An apostille is like a notarization certificate, but occurs at the state level and tells a foreign government that the apostilled document is legal/official/certified. It took a few weeks for those to all go through, but at the end of July, the dossier (ie completed paperwork file with our whole life story and then some 🤪) was scanned, emailed, and then mailed to Colombia to begin the translation and in-country review process. Meanwhile, we also learned we needed to send a whole-house walkthrough video showing our clean and tidy home we'll be bringing the child(ren) home to. Frantic cleaning ensued, the video was completed, and we sent that off the first week of August.
At this point, I've been told our file now takes up a 5 inch binder, and is in the hands of the review committee at the orphanage we will be adopting from. We're solidly into the waiting phase ;)
Once we receive a referral, we will have two weeks to review it, pray over it, get an adoption medical specialist consultation regarding the details of it, and make a decision to accept or deny the referral. Once we've accepted a referral, we will send part two of our USCIS application in, this time to get the child-specific details approved. Then we'll get an Article 5 letter from Colombia's government, and once we receive that (4-6 weeks???) we make travel plans!
Continue to pray that we would be preparing well for this transition, that God's grace would cover every step of the process, and that our Colombian little one(s) would have His hand of protection and mercy covering them. We don't know who we're bringing home yet, but God does, and that brings us great peace as we sit in the waiting.
Psalm 139:13-18
13 For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
15 My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be.
17 How precious to me are your thoughts,[a] God!
How vast is the sum of them!
18 Were I to count them,
they would outnumber the grains of sand—
when I awake, I am still with you.
We have been blown away by how God has opened the floodgates of support with our holiday cookie fundraiser. As of today (Dec 7), we have received orders for 123 dozen cookies :) It has been so humbling to receive the support and encouragement we've been given so far; and what a testimony for our kids to witness the faithfulness of the Lord. Our total dollar amount to raise feels overwhelming at times, but this cookie caper has reminded me daily of how it is not by our own might that we will accomplish this; I pray that the kids can do nothing but wonder and worship at the goodness of our heavenly Father as they get to watch Him working!
