Immigration Approval...kinda:)

We found out late Friday evening that our I-800 application is going to be approved. This is the form that classifies Laura as an orphan and gives her permission to immigrate into the US. There is a potential problem with the wording of a letter our adoption agency wrote to accompany the application. This might have to be re-written on Monday, but after that we are approved!! At one point, we thought this was the last step before we are able to travel. We now know that there are still a couple more steps:

-This approval is sent to the US Embassy in Colombia
-They approve Laura's visa application and send notification to ICBF (like Colombian Social Services).
-ICBF writes a letter approving us and sends it to the orphanage.
-Then we think we are able to travel and get custody of Laura.

Worst case scenario, this takes about a month. We are really hoping with lots of phone calls and prayer that we can speed this process up a bit. If we are able to get to Colombia by November 15th, they think the adoption can be processed before Christmas. Please join us in praying for this to happen. We will travel to Colombia regardless of whether or not we will be done before Christmas, but it would be great to spend Laura's first Christmas with our extended family. Thanks for all your prayers and support and we look forward to blogging about more good news in the coming days!!

Disappointing News

We need your prayers. Stephanie and I just found out from another couple who are adopting from Colombia that it took them three weeks after receiving I-800 approval to navigate through the rest of the steps before they were able to travel. The I-800 approval is what we're still waiting on (but expect this week). Naturally, this is extremely disappointing to Stephanie and I as we were hoping to travel this weekend. We don't know for sure that it will take that long, but it could, and the thought of waiting that long seems almost unbearable. Plus, that would almost definitely keep us in Colombia through Christmas. Please be in prayer for both of us as we patiently work through all of this. We have a conference call with our agency tomorrow and will post an update with any news we receive during this call.

New Picture!

We had requested a new picture of Laura a few weeks ago and we just received it!! She looks a little chubby, but we are pretty sure the outfit she is wearing is too big and is making her look bigger than she is...but I always love a chubby baby!! And I love to see her so happy!!

Also, I just found out our immigration paperwork has been logged in and a case worker has been assigned to our case. These are all important steps in getting our approval! Pray things move smoothly and quickly so we are there by the end of the month!!

Update...

We received official conformation on Friday from our agency that the judicial strike is over!! Praise the Lord!! We also mailed in our immigration forms on Wednesday. We are missing the translation of one document, but our agency thought it would be better to go ahead and submit it and then send in the translation when we receive it. This way maybe the case worker can start reviewing what she has while we wait on the other document. We have been told this approval takes about a week or two...so we are still really hoping we are about 2 weeks away from going to Colombia to meet our daughter! Though, if it were at all possible, we would love to be there by next Saturday to spend her 5 month birthday with her:)