Welcome!

Hi all!

Well, this seems like as good a place as any to start... we found out today that our application to adopt from Colombia has been approved by ICBF (Instituto Colombiano de Bienestar Familiar, or Colombian Institute of Family Welfare). Yes, they are going to let US have a child!

Though we're just starting this blog, we are actually several months into the adoption process. We made the decision to adopt in June and first met with our home study agency in early July. We came to the decision to adopt rather quickly and jumped headfirst into the process. For those of you that don't know me very well, I have been known to anguish over even the smallest decisions (my best friend Kelley likes to tell people that it takes me 15 minutes to pick out band-aids at the grocery store - or maybe it's 30...). However, I seem to be blessed with clarity when it comes to the really BIG decisions. Daniel and I did, after all, get married after knowing each other for less than 5 months, and I can happily say that that was the best decision I've ever made.

We moved through the process as quickly as possible (we almost set an agency speed record) and now it is out of our hands. Our file has been sent from the national office in Bogotá to the regional office in Medellín, and we will simply wait until they assign us a child. For those of you that don't know this, Daniel was born in Medellín and lived there until he was 16 years old. We are very excited that he will share a birthplace with our little one, and that we will get to spend roughly a month in Medellín when we travel to complete the adoption.

From this point forward, the process looks something like this: We will get an e-mail or phone call from our attorney letting us know that we have been assigned a child. A few days later we will get a file that contains photos, medical information, and possibly additional information from the foster mother or orphanage. We will probably choose to have an independent medical evaluation done, and then will accept the referral. The mad dash to pack, get my adoption visa, buy plane tickets, make reservations, etc. will begin, and we will travel approximately two weeks later. We will spend about a month in Colombia.

Anyway, I'm going on and on... welcome to our blog! We will keep you posted with any developments. We also plan to blog as often as possible while we're in Colombia because that seems to be the easiest way to keep everyone up to speed.

Take care,

Leslie and Daniel