Feb 7- I800A approval

Today we got EXCITING news. We received the approval notice for the I800A. meaning..the US Immigration has approved us to adopt from Colombia. This is the one piece of BIG documentation we were waiting for. Now we just need a couple of forms apostilled..in the next week and we will be done with our dossier. All of the documents can go to MN..then off to Colombia.

Adoption Adventure Begins

We began our adoption adventure in April 2008 after 6 years of praying to expand our family. God made it clear that having a baby was not in His plans. After two losses, the last one rather extreme, we prayed to see if God wanted us to adopt. To start at the beginning of our journey....
In August 2001, we decided to move our family with four very small children to Mexico. All four children were under 7 yrs old. Mike took the job to help start a foundry. We committed to three months which would soon be extended and extended again. Our first few weeks, we were searching for why were in Mexico...aside from the work. We knew that there was another purpose. We found out that purpose October 12. We met some young missionaries with a family who were working with orphanages in the city. We felt immiediatley drawn. They invited us to come out to their campus to celebrate 3 birthday children of the month. We were so excited. We went to the store and bought 3 little flower bags and filled them with girlie items, perfume, candy and fingernail polish. We loaded up our four children and away we went. We met Todd at the orphanage which was a good walk from their campus. Our two oldest loaded into the back of a pick up truck with a load of "parentless" children. They waved out the back as they bounced over the rocky terrain of a road. We just laughed and knew...this was it! While in Mexico we spent alot of time with the children. We felt the desire to expand our family, but felt overwhlemed by the cost of adoption. We got pregnant, miscarried. Pregnant, lost midterm...hmm..the desire was still like a burning flame in our hearts...maybe adoption was the plan all along and we just weren't listening.
We took a step of faith and decided that we would at least get our homestudy done. After completing that process it became more and more clear that this was meant to be. Our children have been our biggest cheerleaders. They have been asking us to adopt since living in Mexico. Unfortunately, the children we spent so much time with in Mexico are un-adoptable. They have living ties of some form. Someone who wants to visit now and then, but cannot take them full time. So...after completing our homestudy, we really felt drawn to a LAtin American country. The only country that is available at this time is Colombia and we with open arms, are embracing Colombia and the children that will soon join our family. Many people have asked why we want more when we have four children. It is a calling. There are children who need a home and they were meant to be in our home. There are some children out there that are meant to be a part of our family, to have parents. These children were born in our hearts.