Only 2 More Weeks!!!!!

Oh My Word!!!! Chiquitines gave our caseworker the ok for us to come on July 19th for our presentation of Gloria Grace Gabriela!!! We will travel to Cali on the 17th. There are so many thoughts bouncing around in my head. I can hardly keep a straight thought. We are ready, but then still have so much to do. I booked flights today. We'll make hotel arrangements next week w/our agency's help. There are 2 "big" things that we still have left to do. 1)We'll have to go to the Colombian Consulate in Atlanta to get our visa. 2) I am also still waiting on my fingerprints to be processed. This is what would stress me if I didn't know that God's got it all figured out!

Just in case you didn't hear that the 1st time~~~In 2 weeks we will be lovin' on Ms. Gloria Grace Gabriela!!!!

I ♥ Tim Watson :)

15 Years ago I was standing in front of friends & family saying "I do." I truly had no idea what I was saying "I do" to, but I am so glad I did. :) I am thankful for the man God has given me. I love you Tim Watson.

Prayer Request for FBI Fingerprints

We have almost everything we need to travel. In fact tomorrow, we have a conference call with our case worker to discuss travel plans. Things have been moving right along. Except for one thing that now could be a delay.
:( We were in the process of updating much of our paperwork, when we got our referral. We have been fingerprinted twice @ the US CIS. This is for "permission slips" to bring Gloria Grace into the country. We have also been fingerprinted twice for FBI criminal background checks. These fingerprints are "ink," & done by our local police department. The US CIS prints are done w/a scanning machine on a computer. The first two sets were done @ the beginning of our adoption process, when we were getting our homestudy & dossier together. They both were expiring, so we had both sets re-done on June 3rd for our updates.

We have since received back the needed "permission slip" from the US CIS. Yesterday we received the package from the FBI. Tim's letter was in there. Mine was another card to be re-fingerprinted. They said the quality of my prints was too low. I am to say the least bummed out & frustrated. Here's what is most frustrating:

• Tim & I were fingerprinted by the same person & our cards both looked fine.
• The fingerprints were received by the FBI 6/6
• They took the fee out of the bank 6/18
• The letter is dated 6/23
• I didn't get the notice until 6/28
• They ask for your phone & email, WHY did they not give me a call or send an email & tell me they would need to be re-done sooner!!!!
• It took over 3 weeks to get this letter back.

We were on track to travel about 3 weeks from now. If we can travel 3 weeks from now, the boys will make the trip without missing any school. The boys will make the trip regardless, but it would be much better for them not to miss the whole first week of school. Besides that, I want Gloria Grace to be home w/us yesterday!

So, I am calling all prayer warriors. I will be getting my fingerprints re-done today (6/30). Please pray they are of perfect quality. I will overnight them w/a request explaining that we are trying to travel in less than 3 weeks. I will also request that they overnight them back to me, as soon as they get them done. We can not travel until we have this done. Pray they process them as soon as they receive them, and we have them back next week.

Thank you for journeying along with us to bring Gloria Grace home.

One BIG Step Closer :)

God is so good!!!! I am in awe of how He has been carrying us along on this journey. His timing is perfect. So many times I have tried to guess dates & make mock time lines. Then I stop & remind myself that God had all of this figured out way before I did. He is going to keep on taking care of our time line, and He is a much better planner than I am. :)

We received our US CIS I~797C Provisional Approval in the mail yesterday! This is one big step in the process of getting to Colombia. We should be able to start talking travel plans soon. We are so close to getting to Ms. Gloria Grace!!! Possibly just a few weeks away :)

The "Colombian Paparazzi" was in Cali Friday :) I heard they wanted to find the cutest, sweetest, happiest baby girl ever. Guess who they found.... tee hee :) :) :) :) :)

Quick Update

We are steadily moving along, while we just sit here & wait :) We have done all of the paperwork we can until we get our USCIS approval. We have received our "notice of action" from the USCIS. This just says they are working on our I-797C~~ we need this approval to make travel plans. Our case worker says that it's usually 7-10days after this notice that you receive the approval. Oh Yeah!! That would mean we might possibly get to make some travel plans very soon. We are still hoping to travel before July is over, so that the boys can make the trip w/o missing any school.

We are also waiting for our FBI clearance. I had heard that this was taking several weeks~~Up to 13 weeks. :( This would be a big problem. Apparently w/the U.S. census that has been going on all the workers that usually are processing fingerprints, have been working on census stuff. I spoke w/our caseworker about this on Friday. She said things were getting back to normal & recently it has only been taking about 2 weeks. I checked our bank statement on Friday & the $18.00 per background check has cleared the bank :) This means they are working on ours :) We are hoping to have everything in the next week or so & then have travel plans soon to follow.

I would love to go to the airport w/the team going to Mexico on July 17th :)

I have met several other moms waiting to travel. Treicy is in Cali, Colombia right now. She & her husband are going to Chiquitines on Monday to meet their little boy Esteban! :) We have decided that Gloria Grace & Esteban are probably roomies :) She is going to give GG a big hug for me. Check out Esteban's blog~~It's super cute. He's a very talented writer for 11 months old :)

Referral Day Pictures :)

Here are some pictures from referral day, June 1st. Tim & Coy were @ the movies when our case worker called to give us the good news. It took them an hour to get home. (I wrote about it here, if you want to go back & re-cap :) While I waited, I called my mom & dad, & my mom called my niece Amanda. I also called my best friend Darby. They all made it to the house before Tim & Coy! I used that longest hour of my life to set up the video camera & Darby took these pictures w/my digital camera. It is most certainly a day I will not ever forget!

Our first look:

Mommy & the boys listening to her story & staring @ her beautiful face:

Taking her picture w/my cell phone to share the good news:

Grandma Verry:

My niece, Amanda:

I really don't think I could ever smile any bigger:

Busy Busy Busy & Loving Every Minute of It!

Things have been moving full speed ahead here @ the Watson house. We have been up to our ears in paperwork, which is now on it's way to Gladney :0) Fed-ex says it will be there by 10:30am tomorrow morning. That gives Beth time to check it & let us know it's all "A.O.K" & ready to be sent on to the USCI S for final approval. Once that is done, it is my understanding we get to start making travel plans :) :) :) Beth says this approval takes about 3 weeks, so we just have to wait & pray that it goes quickly.

We also put together a little package for Gloria Grace. I must say, that I am going to be challenged in the area of self control when shopping for my sweet little girl :) Here is what we included in her care package:

• cuddly security blankie~super soft purple w/a butterfly in the middle, monogrammed~~ Gloria Grace Gabriela
• a sweet pink girl~ly outfit
• DVD of our family showing her our home & reading her a story
• The book we read in the video "What Makes A Rainbow?"
• Baby Photo Album w/our pictures in it.
• A disposable camera

I spent Saturday evening cleaning out her closet & organizing the clothes we have already been given for her. I had worked Friday night & ended up staying up all day Saturday. I was running on pure momma nesting energy!! I can not wait to hold & love on that chunky sweetness.

Praising God for this journey.