Life at home

Life at home has been wonderful. Elijah has really settled in great. It was as if he has been with us forever. Its still crazy to hear this little voice yelling Mommy through the house or even seeing sippy cups and toys all over the house. He is such a loving child! I dont know what else to write to express my happiness so I will just post some pictures!

going home

Well our time here is finally comming to and end and I couldnt be happier! We finally got Elijah's visa 2 days ago and to my surprise it went pretty well. We were only in the US Embassy for about an hour. But im sure to Elijah it felt like a day.

Elijah has been adjusting very good. He has learned his new name already which was one of my biggest worries. ICBF did a great job of preparing him for his new family and his new name. So he no longer responds to his old name. It was as if he was born with the name Elijah. We still have some work to go with his speach but he is catching on. We found out today that he has an ear infection and it seemed to be a problem he has had for a long time which explains the reason for him not being able to speak yet. I couldnt be happier. its crazy how you can fall in love with a child in only a months time. Well that is all for now. The next post will be home!!!!!

video of the meeting!!!!!!

It has been 3 days since the metting and its all still not real. I never knew I could love someone so much!!

I800 Approval

So yesterday we received our I800 approval and that was followed by a call from our agency giving us our travel date! So the count down begins! In 2 1/2 weeks we will finally meet our little one!!!! Next step on this CRAZY journey is for me to get my Colombian visa which will be done on Friday. I'm still in shock its almost here and now I'm starting to get nervous about how the meeting will go. Well nothing else exciting for now so I guess my next update will be a day or so before we leave!

I800 on its way

So on the the 20th of April I sent off our I800 forms which is probably one of the most important documents in this process. This is the form that sets the date for the meeting of our little munchkin. Once this is approved and we receive the approval letter the representative in Colombia will then give us a travel date! To my surprise yesterday we received the receipt form that the USCIS office has recieved all documents and the I800 is being processed.  So we are getting much closer to that wonderful meeting date! In the mean time we have started to set up his room. Its not done yet but I just wanted to share what is done so far.

Its crazy because just a few months ago I had a room picked out for a baby girl. I forget that Gods plans are not always the same as ours. But he knows best and even though I have not met our son yet I wouldn't change any of it for the world. Anyway I still have these really amazing wall decals that I found on a website called ETSY.com that still need to go up on the wall and then the room should be complete!

Our Son

So on Wednesday The 20th we receievd the information we had been waiting for! All medical test came back ok, and he is ours!!! We still have a little more paper work to get done but one of the hardest part is over! I mean the whole process is hard but when you have a face to put to that precious little voice that you imagine calling you Mommy its even harder to wait. So now the other HORRIBLE waiting begins......... waiting for a  travel date to actually meet the little person that the voice belongs to. So here is our son that we have been blessed with........

Yes I know he is AMAZING!!! He will be 2 years old next month!

Referral!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok so now I know my "woman’s intuition" is on point! In my last post I said I felt a referral was coming, well it did on March 28th! So the call came through at work because I missed the call on my cell phone. I seriously think I almost passed out! I have never experienced so much joy as I did in that moment. Since then it’s been a world wind of questions and confusion. Unfortunately our little one has to get a few medical test before we can proceed so now we are waiting again. I think God is really teaching us patience and how to wait. I have faith that everything will turn on out ok and when it does I will post our little one's picture!

Nursery Ideas

So for some reason I have that excitement again about researching and blogging like there is no tomorrow. I have to admit I have been a little down the last few weeks because I was invited to a baby shower. Now usually I dont EVER attend any baby showers or anything that has to do with a baby, but I had to this time because it was a close friend. Not only did I agree to attend but I even decorated!!! For me that was a HUGE step. Needless to say I didnt attend the actual shower but I had the satisfaction of decorating. I was pretty proud of myself.

 So anyway today for some reason im motivated again! I can only hope it means that my God given "womans intuition" is kicking in and we will be recieving a phone call very very soon that we have been matched! Anyway in all this excitement it has led me to begin thinking about nursery ideas. So I think I have found the one! I hope to start hitting up all the local thrift and antique stores for the furniture that I can transform by the weekend. I am excited to see how this all goes since im not the most creative person.

We have a region!!!!

So we were finally told where our little one is coming from, drum roll please........Putumayo, Cololmbia! We have known for about 3 weeks now so I have been doing research like crazy on this region and from what I have found it is a very indigenous and dangerous region.  A little scary but I have no question in my mind that the lord knows what he is doing. Anyway here is some info and pictures of this region.

The Putumayo department is located in south-western part of Colombia, in the Amazon region, sharing limits with Ecuador and Peru. Its capital is the city of Mocoa.

The topography in the department’s western most area, near NariNo and Cauca, is mountainous, with the Eastern Mountain Range crossing its territory and creating heights of up to 3800 mts. Here we can find all kinds of climate, from warm to “PARAMO”.

The most important peaks are the Patascoy and the Putumayo. The rest of the Putumayo territory though, is mostly flat with some hills, closer to the typical amazonic landscape, with warm weather and high precipitation rate.

Putumayo also has a rich river network, including the following rivers: Putumayo, Caqueta, Orito, San Miguel, San Juan, PiNuNa, Mecaya, Sencella, Mulato, Sabilla, Rumiyaco, Blanco, Caiman, Concepcion, Mocoa, and many smaller ones.

In the Putumayo department there is still some indigenous groups which have survived the Spanish conquer and the rubber boom exploitation.
In the Putumayo, lovers of ecotourism can find the the La Paya Natural National Park, with a great fauna and flora biodiversity.

Putumayo is divided in 13 municipalities, being the most known its capital Mocoa, as well as Puerto Asis, Puerto Leguizamo, San Francisco, Sibundoy and Orito.

The principal economic activities in the region are agriculture, cattle ranching and oil extraction.

New to this whole blogging thing

OK so I'm a little scared at this whole blogging thing but I figure it will ease some of the frustration through the dreaded waiting time. So i guess I'm going to start with how this all began.

Sometime in April 2010 I had reached my peak of frustration of seeing everyone around me getting pregnant from my mother-in-law having 5 year old twins running around, my sister-in-law announcing she was expecting, to EVERYONE that I went to high school with posting up sonogram pictures on facebook,hell I even started getting mad that my friends dog got pregnant and I was still barren, no bun in the oven, NOT eating for two! So after a few days and crying and getting angry with God it hit me, or I should say say God shook me a few good times and put some sense in to me. This was all in his plans!!! I was made this way for a very good reason.... for the sole purpose of welcoming a child into my life that needed love and a family to call their own and for me to understand my own journey of being adopted as a child. So my husband and I made that decision to adopt that day. To be honest we did little research on any agencies, we just knew we wanted to adopt from Colombia (where my husband is from).  And we thought it would be as easy as 1,2,3.

1. get on a plane to Colombia
2. find an orphanage
3. choose a baby,sign paper work, and walk out forever parents!

Now that I look back on all of this I feel so silly. Anyway we quickly found out with a few phone calls to Colombia that was definitely not the way it goes. We were then referred to an agency in Hollywood Florida call Adoption by Shepherds Care who did Colombian adoptions. So we called and made an appointment and about a week later we had began the paper chase! Fast forward to today February 19, 2011 all paper work, finger prints, background checks, psychologist reports , checks written, and dossier stamped for approval done! YEAH!!!!  and now the hard part "the wait" , I would have to say this is the hardest part of the adoption process.

Waiting to see what your child will look like, wondering if its going to be a boy or girl, wondering how your child will be, wondering how to decorate their new room, wondering when that phone call will come with the voice on the other end saying " We have your referral," wondering what that glorious day will be like when you are handed your child for the first time. Oh I could go on forever about the this but I would feel like I'm discouraging anyone else who will read this and thinking about adoption. But I will say after all that crazy wondering the reward will be well worth it all!

So I'm done for tonight I just wanted to introduce myself. I think I'm really going to love this whole blogging thing!