Next Steps

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As a follow-up to this post, here is a brief run-down as to where we are in JS's adoption, and what comes next:

Just to be clear, we still have a looong ways to go.  Technically, our dossier is missing one document - immigration approval from the U.S. government.  In fact, because we needed a completed home study to see that approval, we didn't even send the forms in until a week or so ago!  Since it can take several months :( we don't have our approval yet. Fortunately, our agency is allowing our dossier to get a "head start" on translation. Yay! This is huge and I"m so thankful. Once we get our approval (form 171h), we'll send that along to Colombia as well. Oh, and before we can get our approval, we'll have to be fingerprinted (again). Fun fun.

HOPEFULLY, shortly thereafter our dossier will be finished and submitted to the ICBF (the Colombian government agency that handles adoption approvals).  Once approved by ICBF we can (hopefully!) formally accept JS's referral and talk about travel to bring.him.home.  If everything goes perfectly (ha) we are still hopeful this may occur in early fall.  Knowing that things never do seem to go perfectly, I am hanging my hopes on traveling before the end of the year.  

In the meantime, we are focused on readying the house (Mark is building another set of bunk beds and an armoire for the boys), learning/refreshing our Spanish (Mark has been enjoying the monthly subscription to Rosetta Stone) and applying for grants and fundraising.  This last part is a tad stressful and, frankly, a blow to my pride, but it's all about getting JS home as soon as possible.  :)  

So, that's where we are in a nutshell!  So, so nice to be moving on to the next step.  Hopefully our documents will make it to Colombia sooooon!