Wrapping Up Our First Year Together =)

It is hard to believe that it has been a whole year since God blessed us with Gloria Grace.

I think this is my most favorite picture ever! Seeing the excitement & smiles on my boys faces (Tim included) makes my heart happy.

July 19, 2010

Here we are a year later. Still smiling BIG!

July 4, 2010

June 1, 2011

One short year ago we saw the sweet face of our precious girl. You can read the whole referral call story from last year here. Oh how our lives have been blessed over this last year. It's a little crazy how fast this time has gone.

Gloria Grace is about to be 16 months old. She is so full of personality. She's smart, funny, sweet, loving, cuddly, sassy, spunky, adorable, beautiful...the list could go on & on & on.

The sweetest new thing she is doing is participating in prayer time. When she folds her tiny little hands together and says amen when we finish praying...it simply melts my heart.

So blessed to be her mommy =)

I Wish I Could Tell AGB Happy Mother's Day

As I rocked my sweet girl to sleep tonight, I prayed for her birth mother (AGB). I do this often, but tonight was one of those times I got teary eyed. How blessed I am to have the privledge of rocking sweet Gloria Grace, kissing her soft forehead & telling her how much I love her, and how much Jesus loves her.

Praying that AGB is able to have a wonderful Mother's Day Celebration with Gloria Grace's Colombian siblings.

ICBF Wait List

Here is the new ICBF waiting list for Colombia. This is for families adopting through ICBF, not Casa Privadas--as we did. When we began our paperwork w/Gladney, this was the only option we new about. No one told us that we could submit our dossier to a Casa Privada, until we were ready to send ours to Colombia. When we were ready to submit our dossier, the wait time for ICBF was between 30 & 40 months. We were accepted @ Chiquitines May 2009. Look at this list. We would be NO where near having Gloria Grace home. I love God's Timing, and His plan!!!


Age of Child ------- Date of Application Approval by ICBF

Child 0-12 months ------ Jul - 2007
Child 13 - 23 months ---- Jul - 2007
Child 2 years ----------- Aug - 2006
Child 2 - 3 years -------- Mar - 2007
Child 3 years ----------- Jul - 2006
Child 3 - 4 years -------- Nov - 2006
Child 4 years ----------- Dec - 2006
Child 4 -5 years -------- Aug - 2007
Child 5 years ----------- Aug - 2009
Child 5 - 6 years ------- Nov - 2008
Child 6 years ----------- NOT LISTED ON NEW FORM
Child 7 years ----------- Feb - 2011

2 Siblings 0 - 4 years --- Dec - 2007
2 Siblings 0 - 5 years --- Nov - 2007
2 Siblings 0 - 6 years --- Jan - 2009
2 Siblings 0 - 7 years --- Oct - 2009
2 Siblings 0 - 8 years --- Dec - 2010

The list applies to non-Colombian families adopting through ICBF only. It DOES NOT include special needs children. The definition of special needs are children with disabilities, children over 8 years of age, and sibling groups of 3 or more.

Praying for the waiting families & children.

Birthday Pancakes

I can hardly believe that tomorrow I will be making birthday pancakes for our beautiful, sweet, perfect for our family, little Colombian Princess' 1st Birthday!!

As I look back to my journal from this time last year, and see all the talking I did w/God about when I thought he should grow our family, I realize how perfect His timing is, and how He really does know what he is doing.

We will be celebrating BIG, with friends & family tomorrow evening at church. I'm excited to see what Gloria Grace does w/her very own birthday cake :) There will be lots of pictures to follow :)

While we are celebrating, I can't help to think about Gloria Grace's birth mom, "AGB." I wish I could talk to her, and say thank you for giving our daughter life. I can only imagine that the decisions she had to make were not easy. My prayer for her, is that she has no regret. That God has filled her heart with peace.

6 Month Post-Placement---Already?!?!

Seth turned 8 on January 17th, and had a total of 3 celebrations. This is a picture from the 3rd celebration. We went ice skating with friends:

January 27th, Tim celebrated his 41st birthday. His parents & my parents came over for fruit salad. Tim decided he'd had enough cake @ Seth's 3 celebrations :)

I've been so caught up in birthday business that 6 months came & went without me realizing it! I got an email from our social worker the other day reminding me it was time to do another post-placement visit....What? I thought, post-placement visit....we just did that. Well it seems like we just did it :) Then I realized that January 19th marked 6 months, since Gloria Grace was placed in my arms! Oh what a sweet day July 19, 2010 was for our family, and we are currently living "happily ever after."

Next Saturday is Gloria Grace's 1st birthday. We are going to celebrate with family & friends with pizza & cake @ our church.

Sunday after church we will have our second post-placement visit, and send pictures of our sweet daughter to our agency. I think there are 2 more visits after this one.

Here is Gloria Grace modeling her birthday outfit. This is one of the pictures I'll probably send in :)

9 Months Ago Today

9 months ago today "AGB" Gloria Grace's birthmother was in the hospital in Colombia delivering our daughter. Wondering if she is thinking about our sweet girl. Praying for Gloria Grace's birthmother. Praying God has blessed her with peace.

Thanking God for His beautiful gift!

90 Days!

Wow! Time sure flies, when you are having fun!! July 19th was the day we were able to look into the beautiful dark chocolate brown eyes of God's gift~~making our family of 5. I must say that it is very hard to explain...it seems like we were just there, but then it also feels like Gloria Grace has been in our family forever.

I still get chills & tears in my eyes every time I look at this picture. Seeing the pure joy on the faces of my boys (Tim included). If you could see Gloria Grace's face, she is smiling a sweet chubby cheek smile right back at us. This is a picture of God knowing & overflowing the desires of our hearts.

I have said it many times before; God has blessed us beyond measure. Here is the cutest, sweetest, most lovable 8 month old pumpkin in the patch :)
We are about to have our first post placement visit on Monday, and then we will be visited every 6 months until 21 months post placement. Tim & I were discussing our upcoming 90 day visit last week, when Coy piped up & asked "are we ever going to be done with paperwork." One day love :)

Blessed With One Less

I came across this song/story by Matthew West, on another adoptive families blog. Wow, does it hit home. He talks about how it makes you feel good, but also hits you in the gut. It's 4 minutes....I dare you to watch it :)

Have We Really Been Home 3 Weeks?

Sometimes it feels like we've been home "forever," & Gloria Grace has always been here. I keep thinking about how long the two year process seemed @ times. Really looking back, that two years wasn't really that long. It's hard to explain. There were bumps in the "paperwork" road over & over again. There were so many times when it was 1 step forward & 10 steps back!

I would love to say that I never got upset & that I knew God had it all under control the whole time, but I'm human--so many times I cried & got frustrated. Now, on the home side of this journey I hope that I can be an encouragement to those people in the process. Those of you reading this who are taking a step forward only to take 10 back. Truly, God knows what He is doing!!!! If only we were able to read the "end of our book," so the middle chapters didn't seem so hard.

God uses the middle chapters to build our faith & trust in Him. I truly found peace in the fact that well before we even knew we would adopt, God knew who our daughter was. In May 2009 we were told we could expect a referral & travel in 3-6 months....as we know now, that didn't happen. I was so disappointed, and allowed myself to be upset more than I should have. There was no way we could have travelled last year, because Gloria Grace wasn't born yet. I didn't know it then, but now it all makes perfect sense.
We are constantly trying to hurry life along, but in the end it is so sweet to wait on God.

The sweet little pink 147 million orphan T-shirts GG & Tim are wearing helps feed orphans in Uganda. Our dear friends the Oatsvalls were a huge support to us in our journey. They are co-founders of 147millionorphans.com. You can help feed orphans & help bring kids home by buying the gear. If you are adopting & need a fundraiser, check out their site.

What I Am Glad I Packed for Colombia

I have talked to a couple of other mom's that are about to journey with their families to Colombia. When I was getting ready to go, I also had a couple of mom's share helpful information with me. I thought I would try to post a some travel tips.

Before you go, when you first get your referral & you are putting together your child's care package, SEND A DISPOSABLE CAMERA. I am taking ours to be developed today...can't wait to see the shots the sweet caregivers took of GG.

Now, on to packing for your trip. Souvenirs & food are reasonably priced in Colombia, but baby stuff is not. I paid about $15.00 for 6 baby spoons! We also needed a dark shirt for GG's visa picture & had to pay about $12.00 for 1, yes just 1, plan (ugly) onesie. This was not from a designer store, either. It was a department store much like walmart. So, all that being said, take as much of you baby/child's stuff as you can. The orphanage will tell you what formula your baby is eating, and it is priced about the same as in the US. Our orphanage only bottle feeds the babies, until they are 6 months, so GG was not eating baby foods. I did see baby food jars, but mostly fruit. Not vegetables. If your baby is older & may be eating baby foods, you might want to bring some. Here is a list of what I brought.

Stuff I would for sure buy in the US & bring:

• Baby bottles (you will buy formula in Colombia)
• There are really not as many bottles here, as it looks. There is a mirror behind them :) I brought 2 different kind, not knowing what kind she'd be used to. Chiquitines uses the older type, like the ones on the right in these pictures. GG doesn't like the fancy NUK kind at all.
• Baby Spoons
• Diapers/wipes--these are only a little more expensive in Colombia, so if you are running out of room, you could wait & get them there.
• Clothes (I had about 10 warm weather outfits & 4 cooler/fall outfits for Bogota)

• Don't forget your dark shirt for your Visa picture
• Burp clothes/bibs
• Light weight blankets
• nail clippers
• infant carrier- we used a "hip hammock" You can bring a stroller, but the streets are not as stroller friendly & the carrier lets you bond with your baby even more.
• a few small toys
• I brought GG some shoes, but none of them fit her.
  

I also packed a little "medicine cabinet:"
For the baby:

• saline nasal spray
• infant tylenol
• infant motrin
• diaper cream
• orajel
• vicks vapor rub

For Us/older kids:

• tylenol
• motrin
• cold meds
• allergy meds
• bug spray
• beandryl/itch cream
• bandaids
• neosporin

We also brought our laptop computer & a magic jack w/a telephone. We used skype to video chat computer to computer with grandparents & friends. Skype is free to sign up & use computer to computer. We also purchased the magic jack @ Walgreens, before we went to Colombia. It was $39.95, and is good for a year. The magic jack plugs into a USB port in your computer, and allows you to call anywhere in the US for free. It's like you are making a call from home, but you are calling from Colombia. You must have a decent internet connection to use either of these. Both of our hotels (Cali & Bogota) had good internet service. The trip would not have been the same, if we couldn't have talked to family & friends back home so freely.

We Are Home

What a warm welcome home we received last night. Just 3 weeks to the day that we arrived in Colombia. Travel was pretty easy, being that it was just me & GG. We got a little bit of special treatment, since she's so cute ;) Just kidding, but seriously--we did get to go to the front of many of the lines, because she is an infant :)

I will post more details about our travel home, but I wanted to thank everyone for your prayers. They were always felt. God has been so good to our family.

Last Night in Colombia

I have been very emotional today. It is Coy's birthday, and I am sad that I am not with him. I've talked to him twice on the phone, and he's fine--Me well, @least I haven't cried while I'm talking to him :~/

GG & I had a very leisurely morning. Sylvia came to get me just after lunch @ 1:30. I went with the other Gladney mom that is here to take her daughter for her Embassy doctor visit. The other mom's that have been here for a few weeks told me that the hotel ladies will babysit. I debated letting GG stay behind, so she could get a good nap, instead of a "car" nap. I was feeding her a bottle right before I was to leave & she started falling asleep. That helped me decide, and I left her w/Juanita. She is one of the ladies here, that mostly helps cook & in general takes care of the families. While I was gone, GG got her nap. The other mom's told me this evening, that when she woke up all the ladies were just loving on her. She is nothing but loveable!!! I am really glad I let her stay. We were an hour @ the doctor & the rest of the time running around in the car. It's not much fun. Traffic here is terrible.

After we went to the Menefee's doctor appointment, we headed to the Embassy to get GG's packet & Visa. You have a window of 3:30pm to 4:00pm. We got there @ 3:50pm. When we got to the gate it was closed....my heart sunk, until Sylvia started yelling to the workers through the opening in the bottom of the window. She was telling them I had to come in to get the visa, because I was leaving tomorrow for home. It was all I could do not to break down & cry. They opened to door & rushed us through the security scanner & on in to the Embassy. The windows are on the outside of the building, but the area is covered. When we got up to the windows, there was no one @ any of them. Again, I began to get a little anxious. After a few minutes, a worker came to the window. I picked up the phone & told her I was there to pick up my daughter's visa. She had the packet there beside her & gave it to me. I didn't have to sign anything, or even show my passport. When I started to offer her my passport, she said I believe you are who you are. And that was it....In my hand's I had everything I needed to take my daughter home with me!

Tears began to flow! This was only like the 15th time I have cried today. These were tears of JOY, PURE JOY!!!

Tomorrow, 3 weeks from the day we landed in Cali, I will be boarding the plane & bringing Gloria Grace Gabriela Watson HOME!!!!

God is Good, and He has blessed our family beyond measure!

A few last detailed prayers to ask for:

Tomorrow is the inauguration of Colombia's president. I have been told that many people may not be happy about the president & there is a chance of violence. ---I will be staying in the hotel until it is time to go to the airport, but please pray for a safe ride there. Also, pray there is no flight delay because of the ceremony.

In Miami we only have a 3 hour layover, and I have to go to immigration with Gloria Grace. They search all of our luggage & go over every document. The envelope is THICK. Please pray for favor during this time, so we will make our flight to Nashville.

Here is our flight information:
American Airlines Flight # 916 Bogota to Miami (1:55pm to 6:50pm)
Flight # 410 Miami to Nashville (9:45pm to 11:00pm)

I just realized as I was typing this flight info that I have 3, (not 2 hours as I thought) in Miami, God is so good to take some worry off of me tonight :)

Happy 6 months Gloria Grace

Gloria Grace is 6 months old today. While she has only been with us for 18 days now, it seems like she has always been a part of our family. She fits in perfectly! Truly God has blessed us beyond what any words can express.


We slept well last night. I choose to let her sleep in the bed w/me, because the crib is an older style. The wooden slats are about 6 inches apart. Her whole head will fit through, and she is a squirmy sleeper. I would not have been able to sleep w/her in that crib. We slept just fine in the full sized bed. She did stir/squirm a little around 3am, but went right back to sleep when I patted her bottom. She woke & ate a bottle around 6:30, but went back to sleep. I got up & got ready for our day. This is a picture of her asleep in the bed in our room. I had to wake her, so I could get breakfast before we were leaving to go to ICBF & The US Embassy. Sylvia came about 8:30 & took us 1st to ICBF. We had our first, and hopefully only little paperwork scare. I was checking the document & saw that they put the wrong birthday for GG. Her birthday is Feb. 5th & they had typed dia 02, mes 02---I said they typed the wrong date, and thought they would just look @ her passport or birth certificate (which I had with me) & fix it. Nope! They had to contact Chiquitines. Sylvia called Magnolia, while the man at ICBF was emailing Chiquitines. Magnolia talked to me & asked me what the problem was I told her, and like the angel she is she called Chiquitines & within just a few minutes we had the paper with the right date----I dearly love Magnolia. She is yet another gift God has given us during this journey.


We left the ICBF office went to the US Embassy. We got to skip the very long line outside, because I am a US citizen. It made me feel a little bad for all those people waiting, but I was happy not to have to wait. Sylvia presented all the paperwork, and a few minutes later I was called to the window. You talk to the lady on the other side by phone. She went over all the papers one by one. She asked me if I was aware of GG's heart murmur, and then had me sign the last page. She told me to go to the 1st window & pay, and then have a seat & wait to be called. You can pay the fee in US dollars, but must have bills less than $100.00. You can also use a debit/credit card. The fee is $404.00. I paid the fee by card, because I did not want to carry that much cash with us. The wait was probably about 30 or 45 minutes. They called GG's name & told us to go to window #5. I picked up the phone. The lady told me how beautiful GG was & congratulated me. She asked me to sign one more paper & said you can come back tomorrow @ 3:30 & get your daughters visa. She said when she is on US soil she automatically becomes a US citizen, and gave me information on applying for a passport in the US, for her :)

This is us on the way out of the Embassy. It's a little hard to see, but the US flag is flying behind us :) We went back to the hotel & decided we needed to celebrate. We will have the visa tomorrow & be ready to go home on Saturday, and today GG is 6 months. The hotel owner took me to Unicentro & we had GG's ears pierced. Isn't she just adorable!!!!

Bogota Day 1

GG & I started our day saying our goodbyes to Tim & the boys & my mom @ the hotel in Cali. As we were driving off, I was trying to hold back the tears. Magnolia said "I think your huband looks like he is about to cry." I said, so am I. I couldn't hold them back anymore. I thankfully didn't break out into the ugly cry, but I needed a tissue.

We left the hotel around 9:00am, and went to the records office to meet our lawyer Judit. We got the last few documents we needed to take to the passport office. We walked to the passport office with the papers & were taken right away, no waiting. Magnolia said it is usually very busy, with so many people you can hardly breathe. I told her we have been praying for things to go smoothly & God had answered our prayers :) About an hour or so later & $163,000 pesos we had GG's passport in hand.

Magnolia took us on to the airport. We had enough time for a diet coke & a bathroom break for me, before I was to be on my own. She walked me up as far as she could go to security, and we hugged & said our goodbyes. After I went through security, I was walking down the long corridor with GG & I was beggining to get very emotional. I did my best not to break out into the ugly cry, because I knew if I started I wouldn't be able to stop! It has been so surreal this week--things have suddenly started moving so quickly--when I have a moment to really think about itI am just so overjoyed it makes me teary.

GG did well on her first plane ride. She was a little fussy when I was trying to get settled into our seat. I poured her a bottle of just water, because it wasn't really time for her to eat. That settled her. During take off I guess the cabin pressure got to her & she had a poopie diaper :~P The poor girl sitting next to me did not look like she had any children :) I told her I was sorry. She said it was ok, but I really felt bad for her. I took her to the bathroom as soon as we were given the ok to move about the cabin :) This was an intersting accomplishment. Changing a poopie diaper in an airplane bathroom is something I can cross off my to do list, and hope to never have to do again :)

The flight was short, a little less than an hour. I got my luggage & headed out the door. We stood outside just a few minutes, before Jamie & Sylvia walked up & asked if I was Kelly. We went to their van & I immediately noticed the car seat! The only strapped seat I have tried to put GG in was a highchair @ the hotel resteraunt. She did not care for it @ all. In fact she had screamed like a cat that got it's tail stepped on :~P I waited until Jamie had all our stuff in & was ready to go & put her in it. To my surprise she never fussed @ all. She ended up falling asleep on the way to see the Embassy doctor. :)

The Embassy doctor was very nice. He did a physical & okayed us waiting to do her 6 month shots until we return home. She turns 6 months tomorrow, and they are sometimes picky about having them done before you can get the Visa, so all shots are up to date upon entering the US. He reviewed her medical records, and did a physical exam. She weighs 16.5 lbs & is 24.5 inches long. I totally needed to have been working out my arm muscles before I got here :) We left the doctors office & came straight to the Hotel Paris.

It's not exactly Paris, but it's nice. It's an older hotel, but has several families here right now. GG & I got in our room & took a quick power nap before supper---that was her 4th nap of the day, after she slept all night long. I only let her sleep about 30 minutes, because I want her to sleep tonight. We went to dinner, which was yummy & a wonderful atmosphere. There were 2 other American families @ our table. Another table had 2 french families, and one other had a family from Spain.

Supper was grilled fish, with a creamy cheese sauce, white rice & boiled veggies---yummy. One of the french families got their son yesterday & today was his 1st birthday, so the workers came out with a delicious chocolate cake & sang happy birthday. I feel like I am spending the night @ a friends house....I really like it :)

It's a little after 9:00 & I need to get GG settled for bed. We will be going to ICBF @ 9:00am & then on to apply for the visa. Please pray all that goes as smoothly as everything else :)

Also, please pray for Tim & the boys & my mom. They will be getting a 4am wake up call, and ride to the airport @ 5am. Plane leaves Cali @ 8am, arrives in Miami @ 11:45. They will have just a couple hour layover & be in Nashville @ 5:15pm. Pray for travel mercy & patience for them.

Gracias y Buenas Noches :)

Gloria Grace Gabriela Watson Wright

Such a big name for such a bundle of joy :)

We had our Sentencia today. The sentencia is the court appearance to sign our adoption papers. It was surreal. The "court" is in the very busy downtown area of Cali, so Magnolia suggested only one of us go. I went & it was not at all what I was expecting. The court rooms are numbered. We were assigned to court #1. The room does not look like a "court room" in the US. It is just a small room w/several desks, more like an office type setting.

As we were walking in I asked Magnolia if it was ok to take pictures. She said don't ask, just take them :) I love Magnolia.

It was just me, Magnolia, & our lawyer Juliet. Juliet went over to one of the desks & got our paperwork. We checked & rechecked to make sure all names were spelled correctly & our passport numbers were all correct. It was not easy to hold back the tears. Even as I sit here typing this, I am getting a little teary. As my boys would say~~ "mom, you are such a girl." All I could think about as we checked all the paperwork, was that Gloria Grace was officially about to become ours!!!

They took me over to the desk to sign the paper. Magnolia took my camera & captured the moment :) Did I mention, I love Magnolia? :) I signed my name to 1 piece of paper & shabang Gabriela B, was now Gloria Grace Gabriela Watson Wright.

They use mother's maiden names here, and required us to use my maiden name in her name. I don't use my maiden name for anything, and we plan to drop Wright from her name, too. When we got done hugging (Magnolia, Juliet & I), we went to make copies of our passports to put with the documents. Our lawyer took everything to get GG's birth certificate changed & Magnolia & I went to her house to print a permission letter for Tim to sign stating that I can take GG out of Colombia without him. (since he will already be home, when I leave Colombia) We then headed back to Chiquitines for a copy of a paper I will need to give to the Embassy in Bogota. Last on our to do list, was to get the permission slips notarized. (I also signed one for Tim to leave w/Coy & Seth w/o me, they will be home on Thursday.

Tomorrow, GG & I will say our goodbyes to Tim & the boys & my mom @ the hotel. We will be leaving aroung 9:00am for the passport office to apply & receive GG's passport~~~yes same day :)

We will then go straight to the airport for our flight to Bogota, which leaves @ 2:00pm. It is an hour flight. We will be taken from the airport to the US Embassy doctor, for medical clearance. I will then take everything to the Embassy & apply for her visa. We should have this Thursday, or Friday.

The Saturday morning flight to Miami was already sold out. :( We will leave Bogota Saturday @ 1:55pm & arrive in Nashville @ 11:00PM. I am not loving having to take the later flight, but I am super excited to be getting home a whole week sooner than we expected. There is a very slight chance that we could have her visa on Thursday & make the Friday morning flight to Miami, but I would have to pay the fair difference + a $200.00 change fee. Friday is Coy's 11th birthday....I am really sad to miss being with him on his birthday, but he said as long as I was at his party (which I have yet to plan) he would be fine :) He's such a sweet kid!

Thank you all for your prayers. They mean a lot to our family~~~our family of 5 :)
Our Family Picture w/Magnolia:

2 Weeks In Colombia

We arrived in Colombia 2 weeks ago today. After waiting 2 years, we were finally getting to meet our Gloria Grace. Here is a very short recap of our two weeks :)

This is a few moments before they brought Gloria Grace to us. We were seriously giddy w/excitement & anticipation. It was only a few minutes, but it felt like forever.As the doctor was handing her to me, she was happily chewing on the little blankie we had sent in her care package.

Here we are on one of our outings. The mountains of Cali behind us. Gloria Grace's birthparents live in the mountains. I don't know which mountain area, but I think about them each time I see the mountains. I pray that they have peace about the decision they made, and that they would know how loved Gloria Grace is.

These are a couple of Gloria Grace's friends, from Chiquitines. They are also being adopted to families in the US. I thought that Gloria Grace was a "big" girl, but she's actually petite next to these boys :)

Coy & Seth have loved their sister for a long time. Over this 2 year journey, God has tugged @ my heart each time I have listened to the boys prayers for her. Seeing the looks in their eyes with her now is truly priceless. God is going to do big things with these kids.

Abuelita (Grandma) arrived last night. It is such a blessing that she is able to share in this journey in Colombia with us.

I really thought I would do a better job of posting during our stay here, but writing is just not one of my gifts. I hope that my lack of posting doesn't take away from how very special this journey has been to us, and how truly blessed we are. In all of this, I want to make sure it is known that we are here for God' Glory. It is because of His Grace that we are even able to be here, and it is truly for his Glory that we follow His plan for us.

Ephesians 1:5-6 He predestined us to be adopted through Jesus Christ for Himself, according to His favor and will, to the praise of His glorious grace that He favored us with in the Beloved.

Integration √

Today we went to ICBF. This is the Colombian department of childrens services. The Integration meeting was not as formal as I expected, which was nice. The whole thing took less than 30 minutes. The meeting included Magnolia, our lawyer, the ICBF worker, and us. The ICBF worker asked us if the information Chiquitines gave us matched what we see in Gloria Grace. They asked if she was happy & eating well, and how the boys liked her. We basically said everything is more perfect than we could have ever imagined. :) We all signed the paper that we were there...including the boys :) They didn't mak GG sign her name, though :)

We now move on to court. We are told this part takes anywhere from 2-3 weeks. We are hoping for 2, so that we don't havve to change my flight on August 7th. If we get done with in the next 2 weeks, then I can fly to Bogota on the same day that Tim, the boys & my mom will fly home (August 7th)

There is a new process in obtaining Gloria Graces passport, which has already begun in Bogota. It begins on August 1st in Cali. It is taking much longer for passports. Before this new process, you could get a passport in 1 day. Now, it can take up to 2 additional weeks. Magnolia says they are looking in to ways to make this go faster for adoptive families. She said she will be spending some time tomorrow making some phone calls about this.

Prayers appreciated for quick court, and passport :)

We Had a Nice Weekend

I started this post w/the title "We're Having a Nice Weekend," but had to change it to "had" because it took me 2 days to write this :~P

This weekend has been nice. Friday was a turning/breaking point. The boys have done fabulous w/their sister. They love her so very much. They are not at all jealeous. Truly, they love her to pieces. They really have loved her for so long. Long before we even saw her picture & knew who she was. For this I am thankful. I have been praying about our trip for a long time, even before we knew when we would come. I prayed that it would work out that the boys could come, and not miss school. They will be home 2 days before school starts. God has truly prepared the way.

The boys, however; began to get a little (well lets be honest) a lot stir crazy. They are used to running off energy. Here they are in a 2 room hotel room, where they are told to be quiet a bazillion times a day. There is a pool, but one can only swim so much. We have been walking to everywhere we want to eat, but there isn't much else in walking distance. We don't speak enough Spanish to feel we can safely navigate our way somewhere in a taxi, so we haven't gone anywhere else. Until today, we were blessed to meet w/a family I met through this blog. They are staying at a place, where the owner takes families on outings. Today we were able to join them, and got to El Rio Pance. (The Pance River)

This was a wonderful place for the boys. They were able to climb all over the rocks in the river, and swim. There was a pool there, and they could swim in the river as well. We ate lunch there also. We had what Henry, the hotel owner, called a traditional Colombian lunch. There was "salad," soup & chicken w/white rice.

I put salad in quotations, because as soon as they put the salad on the table Seth said "there is no lettuce." The salad was made with onion, tomato, & avacado. There was a sweet italian dressing, which I really enjoyed. The soup was good. It was made w/plantain & potato, and seasoned w/cilantro. Then they served us a piece of chicken w/white rice on the side. It was all very good & tasty :)

We stayed there for most of the day & then came "home" to the hotel & tried to relax. Gloria Grace continues to be a wonderful addition to our family. She is so happy go lucky & laid back. She is sleeping all night now that we have gotten her routine adjusted just a bit. Chiquitines was feeding her just about every 3-4 hours around the clock. I started giving her a little more in her bed time bottle & she'll sleep for a good 10 hours @ night. :) :) Not that I didn't enjoy cuddling with her for a couple of night time feedings, I'd just prefer to let her sleep at night & cuddle in the day light hours :)

Post in Progress

I have a post in progress, I promise. Everytime I get on here to post, I am interupted. I was able to manage to get pictures up on Facebook, but that took multiple sittings, too. :) We had a really nice weekend, and I will post about it as soon as I can. I just keep saving in the middle of whatever I'm writing, so we'll see what ramblings I end up with :)

In the mean time, here are a couple of pictures of what keeps me so busy :)

Boys @ El Rio Pance:

Sweetest Baby Girl EVER!!