So… I know I have not written for awhile. I actually had a blog post titled “Still Waiting” in queue for over a month now. It can basically be summed up in that we had to resubmit some paperwork with immigration before it expired (the I800A for those of you familiar) so we rushed around doing that at the end of January but still no word on whether or not we have been renewed.
HOWEVER, Monday night was a big night! I came downstairs after working on a couple of things and noticed I had a missed call from our adoption agency and I immediately knew something was up because they never call (they try to reserve that for the big moment)!
We called her back – Matthew and I stood in the kitchen anxiously waiting for her to pick up. She said “Hey guys I have some news for you but I know you are going to be shocked…so prepare yourself ;)” Matthew and I did the classic, eyes meet and get a little bigger. “You have been matched with a precious little girl!” – Matthew and my eyes met again, “Oh, ok, wow, ok tell me about it…” Was all I could get out.
For those of you who may not know, Matthew and I asked for a little boy aged roughly 3 years old. In Colombia, you are asked what your preference is and you must give one because it helps them be more efficient in categorizing and assigning families. It is extremely rare that they would ever give you what you have not referenced because your file would not be available for them to look at (hence the categorizing aspect). Our adoption coordinator was so gracious with our shock and asked how we were feeling and about our initial responses. Don’t get me wrong, we didn’t adopt because we had to have a boy but it would be similar to be pregnant, knowing it was a boy for two years, and then being handed a girl in the delivery room. Utter shock but then literally, with each minute that passed, we got more excited and more excited! I would be lying if I said I don’t sometimes have a moment of grieving what I thought would be that mother-son relationship but then the ideas about my little girl come rushing in! And that is not the end of the surprises!!!
I will provide another update soon as I get more clarification on information I can share. Maybe soon I can even share a picture! All I can say is the Lord is so so gracious and so so good. He knew what we needed and his plan is so much greater than our own. We have been running around like mad people this week and he has made himself evident in small and big details!
What happens now??? So remember that paperwork I said was about to expire… well we are still waiting for that to get approved (don’t worry we are calling on Tuesday to check in on it). We are resubmitting our medical exams, employment records, and FBI background checks (all have to be valid within 6 months of travel and of course they all expire this month). Once our current paperwork is renewed we will have to send immigration the I800 which is permission to bring this specific child to the U.S. as an immediate relative (because our daughter is an immigrant this all gets processed through immigration). Once that is approved, which takes weeks, we have a few more steps with the Colombian government court dates etc. Basically, we are looking at travelling in the next 4 months… hopefully.
How can you help/bless our family?
Please be praying for our paperwork to move quickly. As you can imagine we are dying to travel…
Also, please pray for our finances and if you feel led to give it would be a blessing. We have accepted the child assignment therefore we owe $20,000 (not including travel expenses or lost wages during and after we travel.) On the page labeled Prayer and Giving there are specific prayer requests as well as a break down of what we owe (provided by our agencies website) and a link for donating toward these expenses. This link was set up by our church and by selecting “Bixler Adoption Fund” on the drop down menu we will receive every penny that you choose to bless us with. I have added the link to the page as well as the link to our fund.
Prayer and Giving Page https://bixleradoption.family.blog/prayer-and-giving/
Website to Give https://gracewaco.churchcenter.com/giving
Bixler Adoption Journey 