Busy Day

Well we got things rolling today. I talked with our agency 3 times, made copies of our CIS aproval, birth certificates and marriage license, typed 2 letters, sent one by fax, went to the post office and sent our request for another fingerprint appointment and went to the doctors to pick up another medical letter, among other errands. I have been busy, but it feels sooooo good to be doing things that get us closer to our kids! Tonight Jim had a basketball game and while they were warming up I took the kids pictures out of my purse and just looked at them and prayed for them and started to tear up thinking how I could love these 3 so much that I am ready to go to the ends of the earth for them and I don't even know them yet. I have only had their pictures for 4 days. I think my heart has just grown 100 times bigger :) And to think that God loves us so much more than that!

God is so Good!

We have seen our kids!!!! We are going to be parents in less then 2 months. I can't believe it! We are so excited and I keep singing that song in my head "God is so good, He's so good to me".
The info about the kids arrived on Wednesday and we received a call on Thursday and they said they forgot to send the pictures and that they hope to have things translated by tomorrow. AAAHHH, I thought we couldn't wait anymore. We were going crazy. They did give us their names and birthdays so we at least had that to think and pray about. I was really praying that if these were our kids and that God would close the doors for the region that our paperwork was in. Well, He first answered that prayer when Friday came and we got another phone call telling us that they had already requested that our paperwork be sent back to Bogota and then that the photos were hopefully being picked up later in the evening and we should get them on MONDAY and the info latest by Tuesday.... More waiting :( Well, God is good! We discovered late friday night that somehow the director Julie got the photos and sent them to us around 8pm. It was such a blessing that we got to look at them together, b/c when we did we just about started to cry. We knew that these were OURS!!!! We were so excited. Then Saturday afternoon, we get another email from Julie with the translated info. We read it then immediatly emailed back to say that they were ours and we wanted to proceed with the adoption. OH, we are so excited! We can't stop looking at their pics. The oldest is an 8 yr old girl, 3 1/2 little boy and a 16month old girl:) They are so cute and can't wait to show pics but we can't until things become more offical. Since they aren't really a referral we have to request they be matched up with us then proceed forward which we are told could take 2-3 weeks then we would travel in about 3-4 weeks. So somewhere btw/ 5-8 weeks we will be on our way to Colombia!!!!! I knew this time would come eventually, but I can't believe it is happening. Thank you Julie for working hard to get us the info this week and Thank you for all of you who have been praying for us!!! Now, where in the world do we begin and what kind of things do these kids need??? Any ideas are welcomed :)

Speak LORD....

As I read Oswalds devotion for today I am encouraged to tell God to speak to me. He says, "Get into the habit of saying Speak Lord. Everytime circumstances press in on you say, Speak Lord and then make time to listen." We got a call from our agency about some kids they have back in Bogota and they will hopefully be getting some more info in the next week and would we be interestead. We said we would be but would like some more info. Meanwhile they are still trying to find out what is going on in the region where our paperwork has been for the last 4 months. We have so many emotions going on right now. We have been feeling that our kids are there in the region of Boyaca but we know nothing, and then this situation comes up and we are not sure what to do yet. We are desperate to know what God wants us to do and that He brings the right children for us into our family. We have so many thoughts about what WE want the kids to be, but want to know what GOD has for us and that we are open to His plans. We are praying that we hear something soon as we would love to be back from Colombia before May b/c Jim gets extremely busy in the months of May, June and July and would not be able to stay the whole month needed. (He works for a fireworks company). So I am asking and begging God to speak to us and let us know what we are to do. Thank you for your prayers and I have missed praying with my CHI girls on monday nights but for the last 3 weeks I haven't been able to get on for some reason. Anyways, I will continue to keep you updated when we have more news!

Just a Note

Today has just been a great day! God is so good. We went to a travel class on Saturday from our agency and it renewed our excitement. We can't wait to hear about our kids. Apparently the region of Boyaca likes us and has continued to hold on to our paperwork for over 3 months now. They have 3 kids, in the age range we requested, and are still waiting on the abandonment decree. Hopefully now that the courts are open again things will move fast! God has just filled us with such hope and joy that we will hear something soon! Oh, how I pray that we would! :)

Pictures from Israel and Jordan

Sorry it has taken so long to get these pictures up. These are just a few as we took over 1000. We had such a great time! There is no new news on the kiddos yet, we are still waiting...

Vacation!

Well I talked with our agency today and they still have not heard any news for us. The director Julie is going down to Colombia the last week in November for a conference, so maybe while she is there she can find out any information for us. :) In the mean time us and my in-laws (Jim's parents) are taking an exciting trip the day after thanksgiving. We will be in Paris for 3 days then onto Israel for a 10 day tour!! We are so excited. We had to use the 2 weeks of vacation that Jim had been saving and are blessed to be able to take a trip like this before the kids come. Thank you Lord for giving us this great opportunity! Waiting on God is not an easy thing sometimes, but He is so faithful to continue the work He started until completion!

Update #2

Well, we have been praying this week that we would have some kind of information about what is going on and today our agency called with and update! The region of Boyaca still has our paperwork and they have a group of kids in mind for us, but are waiting for the abandonment decree. We don't know how long that will take or anything about the kids, but at least we know they haven't forgotten about us. We are really praying that if these are the kids God has for us that He would make it happen. There is a small chance that we could still travel this year, but we are not expecting to. We know that it will happen all in Gods timing!
Thank you Lord for the update :)