Merry Christmas!

Okay, we are terrible bloggers! There is no excuse for going over six weeks between posts, especially with everything that has happened! This will be a long post as I will attempt to get you up to speed, and then we PROMISE to post more often!

On the morning of Saturday, December 8th I went out to run some errands. While I was driving home I talked to my sister Jen on the phone. She said that she had had a very vivid dream the night before that we had gotten our referral and that she thought it would happen really soon. At that point we had been waiting 5 weeks, which is about average for Colombian families, but felt like nothing would probably happen until after the new year because things really slow down around the holidays.

No more than an hour later, Daniel got an email from our attorney in Colombia. It was a LONG message and appeared to be in response to some questions we had sent to her via e-mail. Daniel told me to go ahead and read it because he was putting up Christmas lights. A few minutes later I ran outside and yelled "I think you'd better get in here - I'm pretty sure we just got our referral!" I was only "pretty sure" because the e-mail was in Spanish. I comprehend a lot of what I read in Spanish, but I've found that it only takes one slip-up to completely alter the meaning of an entire paragraph.

Anyway, Daniel came in and we read through this insanely long e-mail from the beginning (naturally). At the VERY end was the news that we had been assigned a 7-month-0ld girl! This was the moment we had been waiting for, but it was strangely anti-climactic. We just kind of looked at each other and said, "Did we really just get our referral? That was it?" It didn't really sink in right away, especially because we didn't have a photo or any other information beyond her date and city of birth.

We got our referral package on the following Tuesday (thanks, Kelley, for your part in that!). Daniel was out of town so his first glimpse of Gabriela was on his cell phone - thank goodness for the iPhone, without which he would have had to wait two more days to see a decent picture of her! Needless to say, she is absolutely adorable and we cannot wait to meet her. We will travel to Colombia on January 21st and meet Gabriela at 10:30 a.m. on January 23rd!

The last two weeks have been a whirlwind, to say the least! We pored over the packet of information that came with our referral, sent our acceptance letter, called and e-mailed everyone we could think of with the news, found a new attorney (long story), decided on a middle name (Sofia), booked our airfare, made a completely embarrassing video of ourselves to familiarize Gabriela with our faces and voices, arranged for a place to stay in Medellín, sent a package to Colombia (which got held up in customs, requiring several phone calls), and decorated Gabriela's room (which looks GREAT - photos to follow). All of this on top of getting ready for Christmas! We are tired but excited and happy.

So, I think that summarizes everything pretty well. Again, we promise to be better about posting updates!

Merry Christmas and may 2008 be happy and healthy!