Signed, Sealed, Delivered!!!

We can finally say that our Dossier is in Colombia! We received our last document (immigration approval) and Holt sent it to Colombia on Friday. It will take roughly a week to process/translate and then a couple of weeks to receive full approval. Needless to say, we are so excited to have reached this part of the process where all of the state side approval and paperwork is complete. Now starts the waiting game… it could take 2 weeks, a month, 6 months, or even a year before we receive a match by the Colombian government. During this time we will keep our documents updated (some expire every 6 months) and we will be in contact with our the team in Colombia and our organization. Both are both advocating for the kiddos there and for our family 🙂

Fun Fact about Colombia- Most of Colombia has the entire week  leading up to Easter off so they can celebrate Semana Santa. Many travel to different parts of Colombia to celebrate the resurrection with their families by attending festivals and concerts.

Here is where we need your help:

Prayer: Please pray for us as we are waiting. That we would be patient and have discernment if presented with a possible match. Also pray that the Lord would provide the finances for our family to adopt as we will have some large expenses coming up soon (details below).

Financing: 

When we receive a match we will immediately owe between $16,000-$20,000 per child. That is a shocking number for most (including us ;)) Some of you have asked why it is so expensive? So I have created a brief bullet list of some of the things that amount is covering

• Costs for personnel, administrative overhead, training and education both in the U.S. and Colombia

• Legal adoption services and communications, working with government and agency authorities (including fees related to these services)
• Assistance with agency’s representative and foreign service providers; document processing; interpreter and translator to meetings in-country with transportation included
• Child Welfare/Family restoration Projects  in Colombia
• Foreign Service Fees (roughly $6000) including vaccinations, child birth certificates, child passports, adoption decree etc
• IAPA agency fees

In addition, and not included in the $20,000/kid, we will have to pay for our plane tickets, accommodations for 3-8 weeks, as well as any lost wages in the U.S. during that time. If you feel led to give please click on the giving tab to see how to do that 🙂

While this is a huge number and can be overwhelming we know that the money of this world belongs to the Lord. None of our money is our own and he will provide to  glorify himself as we remain obedient to this command. 🙂