Approved!

We found out today that our dossier has been approved and accepted by Casa de Maria in Medellin. I wasn't sure we would get an "official" approval from the Casa so it was a nice surprise. I am hoping this means they have a child in mind and we will be receiving a referral soon!!!!!

September Update

We recently found out that Casa de Maria in Medellin has asked for our dossier. We've been told that this is a good sign because the casas do not typically take new dossiers unless they feel they can match the parents with a child within a "reasonable" amount of time (usually no more than a year). We are really happy that our dossier is in Medellin because the in-country stay is typically only 2-3 weeks compared to 4-6 weeks in some of the other regions. Although we are looking forward to spending some time exploring our future child's birth country, we also know that it will be hard on Joey (and the rest of us) to be away from home for so long.

August Update

I talked with Beth on Friday and she gave me the following update:

• Our dossier has been translated and is currently at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs being legalized. This process should only take 2-3 days.


• Our home study has been given to three different casas: Chiquitines in Cali, Casa de Maria in Medellin and Los Pisingos in Bogota.


• Once our dossier is legalized, a member of Gladney's in-country team will reach out to each of the three casas to see if one of them will accept us. This part is kind of tricky because the casas do not keep a waiting list so they only accept a limited number of families.


• Assuming one of the casas accepts us, our dossier will be sent to that particular casa. We will know whether we've been accepted within a few weeks.


• Then we wait to be matched with a child which we've been told could take up to 2 years.

Although the waiting will be difficult, we just need to keep reminding ourselves that God's timing is perfect and he will bless us with another child when the time is right. It's funny because I remember people telling us this all the time when we were waiting for Joey... and it would drive me crazy. But looking back on everything that happened, every small delay or bump in the road eventually led us to Joey and there's really no way to describe the joy he brings to our lives... he was definitely worth the wait!! That said, I am still allowed to become impatient and complain about the wait every once in awhile, right?

Our dossier is headed to Colombia...

Good news... Beth emailed today to let us know she mailed our dossier to the Gladney office in Colombia! I also received an email from USCIS saying our I-800A has been approved. It's been an exciting day! Once Beth receives the hard copy of the USCIS approval, she will send it to Colombia and our file will be complete. Then the documents will be translated and legalized, which could take up to 3 weeks so I'm hoping we will be submitted to the other two casas by the first or second week in September. It's such a huge relief to finally be done with the paperwork (for now).

Ps. If you get a chance, you should check out the blog called "Our Colombian Tortoise Adventure" (I posted a link under "Colombian Blog List"). This family is using the same agency as us and they are currently in Colombia adopting 2 siblings.

July Update

Each month we have a conference call with our case worker, Beth. We look forward to these calls because it gives us a chance to ask questions (and trust me, we like to ask alot of questions). Right now we are waiting for our immigration approval which should hopefully come within the next couple of weeks. Once we get that our dossier will be complete and our case worker will send it to the Gladney office in Colombia where it will be translated and legalized. Gladney works with 3 casa privadas (private orphanages) in 3 different regions... Cali, Medellin and Bogota. Our home study has already been submitted to Chiquitines, which is a casa in Cali but our home study will also be submitted to the other 2 casas. If any of the 3 casas has a child that matches what we are approved for (a boy or girl between the ages of 0-2), they will ask for our dossier and decide whether or not to refer the child to us. The matching process is rather complicated so I'm still not 100% sure how it works. Our agency has told us we will be their first family requesting an infant this year so we're not quite sure what to expect for a wait... it could be a couple weeks or it could take a year. I know it will be hard to wait but it's also exciting to know that some day (maybe soon), we will get "the" call that will (once again) change our lives forever!

What is a dossier?

A dossier is a term used in international adoption meaning the set of required adoption papers and it includes the following documents:

• Copies of each spouse's passport
• At least 10 photographs including pictures of our family, home and extended family members
• Certified birth certificates
• Certified copy of marriage certificate
• Statements of good health from our physician
• FBI criminal clearances
• Name change verification
• Home study
• Psychological evaluation
• Pre-approval document issued by USCIS (Immigration Form I-179C)

The majority of the documents need to be notarized and apostilled. The purpose of the apostille is to authenticate the documents for international use and it is obtained by sending the notarized/certified documents to the Secretary of State. Colombia's dossier requirements are very similar to Guatemala's (with the exception of the psychological evaluation) so it seemed a little less stressful this time around although I have to admit there were a few times when I wanted to pull my hair out...

Psychological Evaluation

One of Colombia's requirements is that we have a psychological evaluation. During our first meeting with the psychologist, we took a test called the MMPI (Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory). It's basically a personality test consisting of about 575 true/ false questions. Some of the questions were a little strange. For example, "I sometimes hear voices in my head" or "I would like to be a librarian" or "I'm afraid of snakes." Hmm... I don't hear voices, I like books and hate snakes... what does this all mean? Then during our second visit the psychologist went over the results of the test and I have to admit they were pretty accurate.