We have more good news! On Wednesday we heard from our agency that our Dos. has been sent out to region in Cali Colombia! We don't know how long it will take for a referral, what genders, or ages they have, but it is our understanding that there are kids in Cali they intend to refer to us.
Thank you all again for your love and support.
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
APPROVAL!!!!
It is official! I just received an e-mail from our agency, we have an official approval for a sibling group of 3! Now, we continue to wait on our referral, but at least this is news, at least this is movement! Thank you Jesus, and to all of you who continue to stand with us!
Sunday, November 1, 2009
STILL WAITING….
Yes, here we sit, still waiting to hear anything, something from Colombia. At this point we still have not even heard anything on an official approval, let alone a referral. We have no answers or explanations about what is taking so long or why we have not heard anything. Our agency keeps asking for information for us, but still nothing.
We are quickly approaching our 2 year mark since we started this process to bring our children home from Colombia. We had really believed that we would have our children home by now. And it is now looking more and more like it will not even happen this year! So, here we sit, still waiting, still no word, still no way to make long term (or even short term) plans. Feeling a bit stuck in a very uncomfortable place between being ready to move forward and having our children home, and not having any control over what happens next, and also feeling anxious and even scared about what will happen once we are able to go get our children and bring them home. So, here we sit still waiting.
So, that is all the news that isn’t, regarding our adoption process!
BTW, if anyone feels led to help support our adoption financially, please make and send checks to Tri Lakes Community Church. The information is in the side Bar.
Thanks to everyone for your prayers and support throughout this process
We are quickly approaching our 2 year mark since we started this process to bring our children home from Colombia. We had really believed that we would have our children home by now. And it is now looking more and more like it will not even happen this year! So, here we sit, still waiting, still no word, still no way to make long term (or even short term) plans. Feeling a bit stuck in a very uncomfortable place between being ready to move forward and having our children home, and not having any control over what happens next, and also feeling anxious and even scared about what will happen once we are able to go get our children and bring them home. So, here we sit still waiting.
So, that is all the news that isn’t, regarding our adoption process!
BTW, if anyone feels led to help support our adoption financially, please make and send checks to Tri Lakes Community Church. The information is in the side Bar.
Thanks to everyone for your prayers and support throughout this process
Monday, August 17, 2009
An over due update
Ok, I’m sure there are many of you out there wondering what is going on with our adoption process and what the status of our paperwork is. I guess truthfully so would we! It has been several weeks, so I guess I will tell you everything we don’t know.
Several weeks ago I received a call from our agency stating that ICBF (Colombia) had asked if the “Mullett” family would be willing to go a bit older. We had been on the 3 sibs. 0 – 6list. They didn’t say why or how much older, only that they had to know that afternoon. We processed it a bit and talked with the social worker and decided to go up to 8. We thought we’d hear back shortly regarding more details and more specifics on reason for such a request. Well weeks past and still no word from Colombia. It was the impression of the agency that they may have a set of siblings in mind for us, but no one was saying anything. We did finally hear that ICBF wanted us to provide an addendum with the new ages, but now it seemed that there must not be siblings attached to the request, but that it still could mean that the process could go a bit quicker since families are now waiting up to a year for 3 siblings ages 0 – 6. Needless to say we were a bit let down. We don’t know if there ever were a set of siblings they had in mind, or exactly what was up with the hurried request, and then NOTHING.
Now, after thinking about it for a bit, and realizing that, at least at this time, there does not seem to be a set of sibling attached to the request, we have decided to only raise the age to 7. This still means that we have to have the addendum completed, notarized, apostilled, sent to our agency and then sent to Colombia. Seems a bit silly to us to go through all the just increase the ages by one year, but hey, we can jump through hoops.
From what we understand we will receive our approval after the new addendum is received by ICBF.
So there is everything we don’t know. Hopefully there will be more information before long. Thanks again to everyone for all your support.
(This may not be worded as nicely as if Carmen had written, but thought it was time to get something out there again.)
Several weeks ago I received a call from our agency stating that ICBF (Colombia) had asked if the “Mullett” family would be willing to go a bit older. We had been on the 3 sibs. 0 – 6list. They didn’t say why or how much older, only that they had to know that afternoon. We processed it a bit and talked with the social worker and decided to go up to 8. We thought we’d hear back shortly regarding more details and more specifics on reason for such a request. Well weeks past and still no word from Colombia. It was the impression of the agency that they may have a set of siblings in mind for us, but no one was saying anything. We did finally hear that ICBF wanted us to provide an addendum with the new ages, but now it seemed that there must not be siblings attached to the request, but that it still could mean that the process could go a bit quicker since families are now waiting up to a year for 3 siblings ages 0 – 6. Needless to say we were a bit let down. We don’t know if there ever were a set of siblings they had in mind, or exactly what was up with the hurried request, and then NOTHING.
Now, after thinking about it for a bit, and realizing that, at least at this time, there does not seem to be a set of sibling attached to the request, we have decided to only raise the age to 7. This still means that we have to have the addendum completed, notarized, apostilled, sent to our agency and then sent to Colombia. Seems a bit silly to us to go through all the just increase the ages by one year, but hey, we can jump through hoops.
From what we understand we will receive our approval after the new addendum is received by ICBF.
So there is everything we don’t know. Hopefully there will be more information before long. Thanks again to everyone for all your support.
(This may not be worded as nicely as if Carmen had written, but thought it was time to get something out there again.)
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Adoption Update
The latest news on the adoption is that there is no real news to report. Our dossier has made it to Colombia, and has presumably been translated. It may be October before we hear anything but of course we hope it won’t be that long. That’s the news that isn’t.
So we’ve been working on our house. We know that once the children come all updating projects will cease and there are some issues that need addressing. Our vintage 1975 home is such a fun place to live, the quiet woodsy location and all the space are our two favorite features – and the back deck overlooking the golf course. So we gave the main bathroom a facelift and are now working on the small bathroom as well. There is plenty more to go when those rooms are finished. We also hope to tackle a new fence for the back yard, but we aren’t quite ready for that.
Shane had surgery on June 20th for a belly button hernia. He’s not supposed to be doing any lifting so the fence will need to wait. He’s recovering nicely and his stitches are out and all is well. I’m grateful that he’s recovered so quickly. We do hope he can get that finished before the children come so that they can be safely corralled when needed and we believe it will be good for the dogs as well.
Shane has worked especially hard at applying for a number of grants to raise the money needed for the remainder of the adoption costs. We have four grant applications out and hope to hear from them soon. We were awarded one grant from CHI of $550 and we’re grateful for that. Some of the others could potentially be more but it could also be October before we hear back on those.
In the mean time we’re working at some more fundraiser event ideas. I’d like to do a benefit concert since I know so many talented people. I’ll do some sort of open studio event come November here at Studio B. We’ve got a list of other ideas so stay tuned, more information coming.
We’ll continue to post any news here as can, please keep us in your prayers.
So we’ve been working on our house. We know that once the children come all updating projects will cease and there are some issues that need addressing. Our vintage 1975 home is such a fun place to live, the quiet woodsy location and all the space are our two favorite features – and the back deck overlooking the golf course. So we gave the main bathroom a facelift and are now working on the small bathroom as well. There is plenty more to go when those rooms are finished. We also hope to tackle a new fence for the back yard, but we aren’t quite ready for that.
Shane had surgery on June 20th for a belly button hernia. He’s not supposed to be doing any lifting so the fence will need to wait. He’s recovering nicely and his stitches are out and all is well. I’m grateful that he’s recovered so quickly. We do hope he can get that finished before the children come so that they can be safely corralled when needed and we believe it will be good for the dogs as well.
Shane has worked especially hard at applying for a number of grants to raise the money needed for the remainder of the adoption costs. We have four grant applications out and hope to hear from them soon. We were awarded one grant from CHI of $550 and we’re grateful for that. Some of the others could potentially be more but it could also be October before we hear back on those.
In the mean time we’re working at some more fundraiser event ideas. I’d like to do a benefit concert since I know so many talented people. I’ll do some sort of open studio event come November here at Studio B. We’ve got a list of other ideas so stay tuned, more information coming.
We’ll continue to post any news here as can, please keep us in your prayers.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Adoption Provision
Today Shane and I sat down to do some planning. We’re looking at the amount of money we need to raise before traveling to Colombia, and the possible time line. Which would mean raising about the amount we paid for our car between now and… oh… I don’t know… November? That is a little overwhelming!
We’ve put some things on the calendar in the most general way possible – like having a benefit concert/variety show in September, a dinner in October and some Open Studio time here at Studio B plus the Holiday Market in November.
We’re also toying with another idea. You’ve heard of Tupperware and Pampered Chef and products that are sold via home parties, right? Well, I’m giving some thought to seeing if some friends would be interested in having parties in their homes where they host and provide refreshments and I bring a bunch of inventory to offer for sale. The Host/Hostess would gain a gift certificate toward anything in my inventory or maybe a gift basket, something of that nature. We could do games with product prizes and such, a wide variety of ways this could be done. So… it’s an idea I’m processing. We’ve already given friends, family and church people the opportunity to make donations. Someone made the comment about needing to expand the pool of people we’re raising money from, so if our friends were willing to host parties and invite people beyond our circle, that might help. I don’t know, it feels a little weird but raising money always feels a little weird I suppose.
We are also looking into a variety of adoption grants and have started filling out paperwork for those. It’s amazing to me that some of those organizations ask for information and references not already provided in the home study and piles of other paperwork we’ve already completed. Filling out adoption paperwork is like having a second job, one that involves living with little or no remaining privacy. This process is extensive and invasive but clearly any time money is involved, there will be red tape. And so we’ll be doing some research and trying to work our way through a variety of grant organizations and see what God does.
Clearly every dollar we can raise or are granted is a precious investment in our children. And while we’d rather spend our time and resources on getting the house ready for them, providing for their needs or investing in their future, this is what it takes just to bring them home. And that is ok. And so we work and trust that God will provide. Please pray for us, this is pretty overwhelming. We are at His mercy.
Again.
Still.
We’ve put some things on the calendar in the most general way possible – like having a benefit concert/variety show in September, a dinner in October and some Open Studio time here at Studio B plus the Holiday Market in November.
We’re also toying with another idea. You’ve heard of Tupperware and Pampered Chef and products that are sold via home parties, right? Well, I’m giving some thought to seeing if some friends would be interested in having parties in their homes where they host and provide refreshments and I bring a bunch of inventory to offer for sale. The Host/Hostess would gain a gift certificate toward anything in my inventory or maybe a gift basket, something of that nature. We could do games with product prizes and such, a wide variety of ways this could be done. So… it’s an idea I’m processing. We’ve already given friends, family and church people the opportunity to make donations. Someone made the comment about needing to expand the pool of people we’re raising money from, so if our friends were willing to host parties and invite people beyond our circle, that might help. I don’t know, it feels a little weird but raising money always feels a little weird I suppose.
We are also looking into a variety of adoption grants and have started filling out paperwork for those. It’s amazing to me that some of those organizations ask for information and references not already provided in the home study and piles of other paperwork we’ve already completed. Filling out adoption paperwork is like having a second job, one that involves living with little or no remaining privacy. This process is extensive and invasive but clearly any time money is involved, there will be red tape. And so we’ll be doing some research and trying to work our way through a variety of grant organizations and see what God does.
Clearly every dollar we can raise or are granted is a precious investment in our children. And while we’d rather spend our time and resources on getting the house ready for them, providing for their needs or investing in their future, this is what it takes just to bring them home. And that is ok. And so we work and trust that God will provide. Please pray for us, this is pretty overwhelming. We are at His mercy.
Again.
Still.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Paper Pregnant!
Yes! We are FINALLY “paper pregnant” Our Dossier has been mailed to Colombia! That should take about a week to get there, then it goes into translation. The next step will be seeing if they will approve us. Families adopting siblings have been experiencing extra scrutiny at this time, so it seems likely that they will ask us to clarify some information that we’ve already provided in a slightly different format. We’ll see. If they approve us, then another season of waiting could be followed by either of two scenarios: Children will become available on the waiting list and we can ask for them. Or we can wait and be offered a referral and would be offered the chance to confirm or decline the offered children. Declining these children would mean significant delays. Shane believes that about the earliest possible time we could travel would possibly be Christmas. November 2009 will be the two year mark for us. We have asked for three children, two boys and a girl. We believe that this is the direction God has led us, we are aware that this won’t be the easy choice but we do feel that it is the right choice. (Please pray for us.) We need to start another round of fund raising as we’ve just sent off one of the biggest checks yet and they only get bigger from here. Please continue to pray for us. Thank you so much.
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