Hiccup #1

When we tried to buy our plane tickets, we found out that Delta only offers their "adoption fare" on certain flights. We will therefore be traveling on July 5 to Bogota. That is two less days to prepare, but a blessing in disguise as it will give us the opportunity to spend a couple of days in Colombia together before we pick up the boys. This will be our last official getaway as a family of two! What a great gift from God!

What you've all been waiting for!

We are beyond proud to introduce our incredibly handsome sons.



Luis Angel (4), Daniel (4) and Carlos Samuel (6)

We will be flying to Bogota on July 7, then on to Pereira on July 8. We will at long last realize our dream of parenthood on July 9. Thank you to everyone who has been praying for us, has given us financial gifts and/or has been a source of support and encouragement for us. We are beside ourselves with excitement (mixed with a bit of disbelief and tinge of terror).

Please pray that all of the remaining pieces will fall into place. We have much to accomplish in the next two and one half weeks. Life is going to be insane with work and home. We still do not have a sitter for Baxter and will need to take Sylvia at least half way to Virginia Beach to stay with my very gracious sister (please note that my very gracious mother would be the one meeting us halfway). Pray for peace in our hearts and in our house. Things are about to get really crazy around here!

Happy Father's Day......to me!

The posts may come quickly over the next few days...so I wanted to get this one out. Just like our 171-H, I really didn't this want to become outdated (adoption humor...hah hah).

In light of paperwork, pictures, and the knowledge that things are 99% certain, I celebrated my first unofficial father's day on Wednesday.

Here's where I reviewed our paperwork, my commerative glass filled with this, while Andrea had to work. Remember, as long as there is a waitress, you aren't drinking alone.

Lately so many things have happened that we had always hoped for....our first shower - Thanks so much to all the awesome people I work with!... painting our boys' room (no Doug...we are just painting over purple....not a tribute to Clemson), and the knowledge that this is REALLY happening.


Anyways....stay tuned kids for pictures, travel dates, airplane ticket drama, and more. The next 3 weeks will be crazy. Adoption has taken over...the breaks over.

What is up with this heat?

I have been reluctant to post for two main reasons: 1) we don't really have much to tell you and 2) I cannot put into words the ball of emotions I (Andrea) have been lately.

The Spanish version of the paperwork arrived on our doorstep this morning after much begging, pleading and insisting on my part to our agency. After three weeks of looking at the boys' pictures I couldn't take the not knowing anything else about them any more. Although we don't understand every word in the packet that came to us, it does help to have some idea of who they are. We will receive the translation later this week. After that, we hope to make our acceptance official and get our travel plans solidified as quickly as possible. In order to beat the clock, so to speak, and not have to update our homestudy, we really need to be in Colombia by mid-July at the very latest. The clock is really ticking since our I-171H expires August 25, 2008. Can we beat it? We shall see...

In other household news, our AC is broken in the middle of a heat wave. This is a very interesting study in temperaments. Want to know how well you love your spouse? Turn off your AC in the middle of 100 degree weather. It really isn't pretty! :)

And if all goes as planned "Auntie Camp" starts in one week, which is where our niece Liana comes down for a week and hangs out with us. She goes to Day Camp at my Y during the day and then we play all evening long, pass out around 9 PM and then get up and do it again for 5 days straight! It is pretty much the most awesome week of the year!

Hopefully our next post will be the official "acceptance" post complete with pictures of our handsome young hijos! We will keep you posted!

What we do know...

I feel like we have left our friends, family and fellow "stalkers" just hanging, and for that I apologize. As of right now, the boys' information is in translation (it arrived at our agency last week from Pereira). The translator is very backed up so it is taking a little longer than expected. After four years of waiting for parenthood, a few more days won't hurt us, so we aren't too bothered by this. Until we get the info and accept the referral though, we cannot post their picture. Trust me when I say that they will be heartbreakers one day...we are going to have girls calling our house at all hours of the day!

Here is what we do know: Carlos Samuel is 6 years old. Luis Angel and Daniel (just Daniel) are 4 year old twins. That is all we've got, but for now it is enough. Oh, for those that don't believe in the power of prayer, I have to tell you that when we were going through infertility treatments, I prayed for twins EVERYDAY, and now, we have twins. God answers prayer, maybe not in our timing, but he does answer prayer.

My mom came to visit this weekend and we got to go shopping for clothes for them. It was so much fun to share this excitement with her. Picking out t-shirts and shorts is more fun than I ever thought possible.

Wow! Boys...all boys! This is just too amazing for words.

Oh My Goodness...

OK, I was going to wait to post until we had a little more information, but I am bursting at the seams and I just can't keep it in. We got THE CALL today. The long awaited call. The one in which our case worker let me know that parenthood will not allude us for much longer. We don't have many details. We do know that we are the proud parents-to-be of 3 boys! We will post more information as it becomes available (which could be a few days).

Happy Birthday Preston!

Today is our goldfish Preston's 8th birhtday. I (Andrea) won him at a carnival 8 years ago today! Can you believe it?