2013

We are welcoming a new year with the hope that we will spend eleven of the twelve months in 2013 with our daughter. Currently we are anxiously awaiting our court date. The hope is that it falls in February! That means we are down to a one-month wait. One month sounds manageable. Her room is ready, and we are more than ready. I love peeking in her room at different times of the day to imagine her in there playing, sleeping in a warm bed, reading, smiling, and laughing. The granny blanket on her bed is perhaps my favorite item in her room so far.

I will try to do a better job of documenting our journey over the next month. It seems more productive to stare at the gorgeous smile on our little one’s face than to write about how painful this wait is. We will see what unfolds in the next few weeks!

So much can happen in five weeks!

I promise our hiatus from blogging is for good reason. October brought change, loss, and a huge reminder that so many aspects of life are out of my control. Our adoption journey took a little turn down a new road, but we are still moving forward. The future looks bright for our family!

We hosted a silent auction to continue our fundraising efforts. It proved to be a success, and we appreciate the generosity of so many people. Today we took time to fill out postcards we made to send to the homes of the individuals who helped with our silent auction.

We also designed shirts we are selling to raise money. Monico’s aunt and uncle graciously printed the shirts and donated them to our cause. The design represents the bridge between New Mexico and Uganda we are building via our adoption, and our journey becoming a mother and father to a little girl. The colors are not symbolic, just a throwback to the 80s!

Our hearts are full of appreciation.

We are still here.

Lately we have been working on a grant application while keeping someone special (in Uganda!) in our hearts. We may have some incredible news in the next couple of weeks– please keep us in your thoughts as we continue down the road of international adoption. We have two adoption classes coming up, and we are doing all that we can to continue to raise funds! Stay tuned for more soon. 

Persevere

My horoscope on August 19th could not have been phrased better. I was reminded to stay focused on goals despite feeling like things are moving slowly and that positive results will soon come. The very next day we received a favorable determination from Homeland Security. This made the process feel even more real to us. I suppose it is comparable to a woman taking a pregnancy test and getting confirmation in writing from a doctor that she is pregnant. It is official- we can bring our daughter home! Well, now we can wait a little bit more for a referral and then bring her home. There is no sense in complaining about the wait at this point. We know the timing will be just right and we will soon know the precious girl across the world who is meant to be our daughter. We are content and grateful.

Biometrics

We are completely amazed and thankful for the events that unfolded today. We received our appointment for our biometrics appointment with United States Citizenship and Immigration Services in the mail today. It is difficult to describe just how excited we were, until we opened the envelopes and saw the date. The date fell on the first day of school! There is no way I would get a sub for the first day of school, so we immediately called our social worker to get her advice about rescheduling our appointment. She told us some families have gone in person to reschedule and they end up getting fingerprinted on the spot. We took our chances and drove to the office. I kept my fingers crossed our whole way there. We walked in and talked to the “receptionist” sitting at the front of the room. He was wearing an intimidating uniform and had a rigid look on his face when he told us we needed to send in a request to reschedule. My heart sank. He then got up and talked with the fingerprint technician across the room. He came back and asked us if we wanted to be printed right away. Of course we said yes and filled out the necessary paperwork. We no longer need to wait almost three weeks to get fingerprinted with USCIS. We are done! Now we wait patiently for our referral. Yes!

Blessed

First photo: Our receipt from Homeland Security. This means we will find out our fingerprint appointment in the next 10-14 days. It is nice to have a timeframe to hang on to- I feel it is easier to remain patient with a tangible piece of paper I can look at and count down days.

Second photo: Jake and Karin are undoubtedly two of the most kindhearted individuals we know! We are blessed with supportive friends and family, but we wanted to share what Jake and Karin did with the poster they bought from us. They came out to support us for the bike ride we did in June, and they have been holding on to their wristbands from the event since then. That alone suggests how thoughtful they are in supporting our cause. They called the other day to see if they could purchase one of our posters, and we were thrilled! Their enthusiasm did not stop there. A few days after they purchased the poster, Jake posted the photo above on Instagram. They framed the poster with the wristbands from the bike ride. It is difficult to explain in words how this touched our hearts. This was our intent with the poster. We wanted to create a piece of art that represents our journey, so supporters could hang it in their homes and be forever reminded of how they changed the lives of three individuals. We would not be able to bring our daughter home without the support of others. Thank you to the selfless people we are fortunate to have on our side!

I600A

It is official! Our I600A form is currently traveling on a FedEx truck to US Citizenship and Immigration Services. We now wait (patiently!) for our paperwork to be processed, and then we will be given a date/time in which we get fingerprinted. This will surely be an exercise in patience.

Second Home Visit

We had our second visit with our social worker today. She is so great to work with, and we are appreciative of her knowledge regarding the Uganda program. The visit went well, and we now have our next round of tasks to accomplish. It feels amazing to check items off the list, and I know each move brings us closer to our daughter. Our next move is in the hands of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services, so we need to put our faith in bureaucracy at the moment. Please do the same for us!

Bike Ride

The bike ride today was a huge success! It was a beautiful morning, and we could not have asked for a more supportive group of people to be part of this event. Friends arrived at 6:45am to reserve the covered picnic tables, and the riders arrived shortly after that. After the ride, everyone enjoyed lunches packed by my mother and shared funny stories. It was a day full of sun, laughter, food, bikes, and friends. It is encouraging to have such incredible people in our lives to help us throughout our journey. We look forward to introducing our daughter to everyone involved in helping us bring her home! Monico and I could not do this without all of you.

Ride Location Update

***UPDATE***

Due to the Bosque fire, we are moving the ride to Little Cloud Park off of San Bernadino and Tramway. Registration still starts at 8am. Please meet us at Little Cloud Park on Sunday to ride bikes and eat lunch together. We are providing lunches for all riders! If you have questions, please send an email to idreamsail@aol.com. See you there!

With the help of some amazing friends and my mother, we are putting together a bike ride to defray some of the upcoming expenses we are anticipating. Please consider getting friends together to ride bikes by the Bosque on June 24th. It is not a race, but there will be some goodies for riders to take home. Lunch and snacks will also be provided. Please share this with friends, family, and coworkers!