Well, after about two and a half months of work and waiting, our new home study is getting it’s final proof this week. Hopefully by the end of the week we should be able to file the paperwork for the next step in the new adoption process, the I-800a approval.
The I-800a is the initial approval that we have to get from our government to bring a new baby into the country. Once we have received this approval, which could take anywhere from 30 to 90 days, we can send our information packet to the ICBF in Colombia. Once they receive our information, we hope to get the official referral for Cameron’s brother within a few weeks.
Once we receive the official referral, we can file the I-800 application that will approve Cameron’s brother as a candidate for citizenship in the United States. This approval also has a 30 to 90 wait time, so you can see a little of why this process takes so long. Though there are a lot of little details mixed into the process, these are the major milestones that we use to measure the time until we can be united with our new son.
Meanwhile, we will continue to focus on the fund raising portion of the adoption. The holiday kiosk has been a great help in moving us toward our financial goal. We have been able to secure about half of the money needed to cover the remainder of the expenses, at least that we can anticipate. We are planning a few more endeavors over the next couple of months including a garage sale and possibly a few more adventures with the Kindred Hearts products. We will be sure to keep you posted as to when these events will be taking place.
We are extremely grateful to the Buchholz family and Kindred Hearts for giving us the opportunity to run the kiosk over the holidays. It has been a tremendous experience and has helped us greatly. If you didn’t get a chance to purchase anything, please take a look at the Kindred Hearts website. They have some great products with incredible messages to decorate your home or office. Not to mention, the products make great gifts.
We had a great Christmas! We have all enjoyed getting to spend time with Grandma, uncle Jonathan, and uncle Josiah. We will never be able to thank them enough for their sacrifice and help with the kiosk. Cameron is not going to know what to do when they go home! Guess we will have to get him a baby brother to play with. =)
A special thanks goes to Cameron’s Papa & Nana, as well as Uncle Dana for their help at the kiosk as well. Many hands truly made light work and we aren’t sure if we could have done it without them.
And we want to give a special thanks to Mrs. McDowell for all of her support of the kiosk.
The kiosk will be closing today, Sunday, January 8th. It has been a fun experience, but I think that everyone is ready for a break. Please continue to pray for us as we discover God’s plan for this adoption adventure!
Awaiting His Coming,
Patrick, Mary Ann, and Cameron
