Yesterday afternoon we received the best possible news short of actually receiving our referral (for those not familiar with the lingo yet, a referral is the assignment of children to a family). As I was preparing to leave work, I came across an email from our case worker Sarah. She was giving us the long-awaited update on our paperwork which has been hanging out in the city of Pereira since mid-November. Here is what the email said:
"Great news :) Just spoke with Raul [our agency's Colombian program director] and he thinks you will be getting a referral VERY soon (within the month) from Pereira. SO....he is asking you to look at your documents to see if any need to be redone."
This is not in any way an official promise of children, but it is cause for us to hope big. It may take longer than a month, but it sounds like the powers that be in Pereira may have children in mind for us. In the meantime, we are doing what they are asking of us and getting our paperwork updated. I had already sent off a request letter to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to get our fingerprints updated (they expire in May). Our next steps include updating our medical and employment letters, as well as our FBI clearances (yes we have to have two separate sets of fingerprints updated). Other than that, we just keep hoping and praying that our official referral will come anyday now!
Our Sons - Muy Guapo!
Samuel, 7 years old
Daniel, 5 years old
Luis, 5 years old
Other Adoption Journeys
Important Dates
- August 7, 2008: HOMECOMING!!! The boys are now officially U.S. citizens!
- August 4, 2008: Embassy visit to apply for the boys' visas. This was a lot of waiting, but pretty much straightforward.
- July 31, 2008: Fly to Bogotá. Meet with the embassy doctor.
- July 24, 2008: Sentencia! We are officially a family in the eyes of the Colombian government. The boys now have the last name Eisenberger-Woods!
- July 16, 2008: Integration Meeting at ICBF. This was a blur of meeting with a ton of questions that were answered. Now the legal process begins and we do nothing but enjoy the boys while we await Sentencia.
- July 11, 2008: Meeting with the psychologist from ICBF. She came by the hotel to check in and see if we have any initial questions that we need answers to (of course we do!) She also wanted to see how the boys were doing in their new environment.
- July 9, 2008: Presentation Day. What a beautiful, exhausting day it has been.
- July 8, 2008: Fly to Pereira. Get settled in to our hotel and pray for a good night's sleep.
- July 5, 2008: Travel to Bogota. Spend a couple of days sightseeing and then off to Pereira.
- June 20, 2008: Plane tickets purchased, but we couldn't get the exact dates we wanted, so we are traveling on July 5 instead.
- June 19, 2008: We got our official travel dates! July 7 we fly to Bogota, July 8 we fly to Pereira, and July 9 we meet our sons!
- June 11, 2008: The English version of the paperwork arrived in our inboxes! It is amazing to read about our hijos!
- June 9, 2008: The Spanish paperwork arrived on our doorstep at 8:11 AM. We are making our way through it. The translated version is due to arrive some time later this week.
- May 14, 2008: Sarah called to let us know that ICBF has 3 boys for us and that they will have more information for us in the next few days!
- March 8, 2008: Sarah, our caseworker, asked us to update some of our paperwork because they think we will be getting our referral within a month from Pereira.
- November 26, 2007: ICBF has sent our dossier to the city of Pereira to look for a match for us.
- November 15, 2007: Colombia has approved us to adopt 3 children under the age of 6!!!
- September 24, 2007: Approval received!!! It is dated August 16, so we have been on the list for about 5 weeks.
- May 11, 2007: Dossier translation complete and submitted to ICBF for approval
- April 23, 2007: Dossier shipped to Colombia
- Apri 18, 2007: Dossier sent to Commonwealth Adoptions International
7 comments:
That is great news. HOw exciting. I still remember when they told us we should update our paperwork. I was constantly checking e-mail and phone messages all the time hoping to hear something. We got our referral just 15 days after being told we were approved. Congratulations and we will pray for you to get a quick referral!
Great news...you are one step closer! It will be a relief to have all the updated paperwork behind you as you will have so many other things to do once you know for certain!
Andrea and Troy,
You are so close now! Excellent news! When CAI tells you to update all your documents because it could happen soon, they mean it! In our adoption they always predicted with a longer range that reality. They tended to give stretched out quotes on predictions of timelines, perhaps in hopes they would be surprised when it happened faster. In our case from the time we heard of our approval by ICBF, 2 days later we found out they'd sent our paperwork to a regional office, then 8 days later we got the actual referral of our 3 beautiful children.
We're keeping you in our prayers and hope for a quick referral.
Love,
Genece
Wow! That's great news! I hope you hear something very, very soon!
This is so exciting! I had read your blog awhile ago, forgot the address, and now found it again through the Boyacheks! It will be exciting to continue to follow your journey!
janine
Hello Troy and Andrea! A friend tipped us off to your blog this evening. She mentioned that you guys are expecting a possible referral through Pereira. That is wonderful! David and I received a referral through Pereira for a 18 month old boy on 3/31 and are looking to travel 4/26 to Bogota and then off to Pereira for our 'Gotcha Day' on 4/29. Perhaps we will run into you guys down there!
Andrea,
I do the same with yours! I am waiting for you to post "THE" news!! We still have to have a regional assignment but I know that is one step closer.
It's so close you can almost grab it! Hang in there...
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