Waiting on Colombia

We met with our social worker yesterday and it looks like we have to wait 2-3 months after our official match and for all the paperwork has gone through Colombia before we can travel.  Since there is no travel in December she thinks it will be January, possibly November at the earliest.  I'm praying for November because I would love to have him home with us this year!  His birthday is February 6th, so if we travel in January he may be 3 years old by the time we bring him home (we will be in Colombia for atleast 3-4 weeks).

Our next step is to update all the paperwork needed.  The fun part is I can start getting his room ready!  Also, I am working on a book that he will be able to look at in Colombia that shows pictures of our family, since I do have a picture of him I have added that as well.  I love seeing his picture next to Amelia and Dalton, he is going to be a perfect fit in our family.  I am not able to put his picture on the internet, but I can send it in an e-mail to friends and family.  We are so excited about Samuel!  His name is Samuel David, so they said it is possible he goes by his middle name, but we won't know until we get there!  We are hoping he goes by Samuel because it means "God has heard" and we have been praying for him since we started the process 2 1/2 years ago, just a few months before he was born:)

Baseball room

We have our spare room cleared out and ready to paint.  Dalton is so excited to be a big brother!  He will be so good to Samuel.  He wants the theme to be baseball, and since I love to decorate and paint I'm already thinking of ideas.  I found a really neat old Babe Ruth puzzle at a consignment shop.  Amelia and I finished the 500 piece puzzle in just a few days and I'm going to frame it and hang it in the room.  She is great at puzzles, I'm pretty sure she did more than I did and Dalton helped a little too. 

Our Colombian Adoption Story

We began the adoption process 2 1/2 years ago because it was something Jeff and I have always wanted to do and we believe God has placed it in our hearts.  We decided on Colombia, South America because my brother's family speaks fluent Spanish and my sister-in-law is from Xalapa, Mexico, so we thought a child from Colombia would be a good fit for our family.  We are learning to speak Spanish as well.  We initially had a 3 1/2 year wait, unless we would be able to adopt a waiting child before then (which is what I was hoping for).  When our May Colombia newsletter from CHI (Children's Hope International) came I was so excited to see an adorable 2 year old boy named Samuel.  I sent our social worker an e-mail saying Jeff and I were interested and then we had to wait two days to make sure no other families came forward.  I could not sleep because I was so excited about this little boy!  My dad was reading the book of Samuel at the time and I looked up the meaning of the name "Samuel" which means heard from God.  I prayed for Samuel to find a loving family and could not wait to hear from our social worker.  She called and gave us the good news we've been waiting for!  Our first step was to send a letter of request for Samuel to Colombia.  We still have to hear back from Colombia that we have been matched with him before it's "official".  We have seen pictures of him and I immediately feel in love with his smile!  We pray for everything to go smoothly so we can be matched with Samuel.  We will not get a travel date until then and all the paperwork is updated and sent to Colombia.  If all goes well we hope to travel early Fall.