We just talked to Daniel and Leslie in Colombia. They asked us to post a message for them. Today was the big day and allwent well. They are officially Mom and Dad. Gabriela is happy, healthy and , according to her parents, BEAUTIFUL. They are settled into the apartment and lots of help from Daniel's family. They promised that they would post news and pictures as soon as they can get to a computer. We are so happy for them we could bust.
Grandpa Squires
I just spoke to my precious granddaughter on the phone. Leslie said she shrieked and laughed! Leslie and Daniel are so excited to finally have their baby girl. I can hardly wait now until I get to meet Gabby in person.
Grandma Squires
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Saludes desde Medellín!
Hola! We arrived safely in Medellín yesterday after a very uneventful but long day of traveling. Things could not have gone more smoothly - both of our flights were on time, all of our luggage arrived in Medellín, and our ride was waiting when we got through customs! We were taken immediately to a restaurant for empanadas and aguardiente (very important) and then to our apartment. By ¨our apartment¨ I mean Felipe and Sandra´s apartment, which they are letting us use while we are here. They are SO generous and we are more grateful than we can ever express to them. As if it weren´t enough that they are letting us stay there, the apartment was cleaned and stocked with breakfast fixings when we arrived.
This morning we met with our attorney and we are all set for tomorrow. We can´t believe we´re going to be parents in less than 24 hours! We are preparing by spending some time today with Felipe´s 6-month old daughter, who is absolutely beautiful. We will shop this afternoon for some last-minute items, including formula, and spend the rest of the day just hanging out with family.
We will try to post often, but we do not have a computer in the apartment, so it might not be as often as we´d like. The next time we post, we will be parents!
Love,
Leslie and Daniel
This morning we met with our attorney and we are all set for tomorrow. We can´t believe we´re going to be parents in less than 24 hours! We are preparing by spending some time today with Felipe´s 6-month old daughter, who is absolutely beautiful. We will shop this afternoon for some last-minute items, including formula, and spend the rest of the day just hanging out with family.
We will try to post often, but we do not have a computer in the apartment, so it might not be as often as we´d like. The next time we post, we will be parents!
Love,
Leslie and Daniel
Sunday, January 20, 2008
And... we're off!
We will be on a plane to Colombia in just about 10 hours and we are SO excited - we can't believe the day is finally here! Please keep us in your thoughts, as we have a BIG couple of days ahead of us! Stay tuned...
Leslie and Daniel
Leslie and Daniel
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
5 days (and counting!)...
Well, five days from this very moment we will be heading to bed so we can wake up at the ungodly hour of 4:00 a.m. to head to the airport! And one week from this very moment we will be heading to bed for our last night of uninterrupted sleep, at least for a while! The last couple of weeks have flown by. We've been working, working, and... working! Daniel is trying to finish up with a number of his students since we'll be gone for 5 weeks, and I'm trying to get about six weeks of work done in two. That has definitely helped the time pass more quickly.
On Saturday night our friends Kelley, Shannon, and Julie threw us an awesome co-ed baby shower. Everyone was so generous, and Gabriela is pretty much set, at least until she outgrows 12-month clothing! We received so many fun and useful gifts and are so appreciative of everyone's generosity. We have such wonderful friends and family and are so grateful for the love, support, and well wishes we've received.
At this point, all of the big things are in order, or at least we think they are! We have our airfare, my visa (Daniel doesn't need one since he's Colombian), Gabriela's ticket for the flight home, accomodations during our time in Colombia, Daniel's international driver's license (there is NO WAY I'm getting behind the wheel in Colombia - they would chew me up and spit me out), and copies of all of our documents. We also have Gabriela's things in order - clothes, shoes, socks, bibs, diapers, pjs, bottles, toys, blankets, diaper bag, baby meds - you name it, I think we have it. Now we just need to find a way to fit it all, plus our stuff for five weeks, in our alotted 2 suitcases, 1 carry-on and 1 personal item each!
The next few days will be VERY busy! We have LOTS of little things left to do, and every time I cross one thing off the list I add two more. But, I am confident we will get it all done! We'll try to post before we leave, but if we don't, please keep your fingers crossed that we find the time to get everything done and we make it through with our sanity intact!
On Saturday night our friends Kelley, Shannon, and Julie threw us an awesome co-ed baby shower. Everyone was so generous, and Gabriela is pretty much set, at least until she outgrows 12-month clothing! We received so many fun and useful gifts and are so appreciative of everyone's generosity. We have such wonderful friends and family and are so grateful for the love, support, and well wishes we've received.
At this point, all of the big things are in order, or at least we think they are! We have our airfare, my visa (Daniel doesn't need one since he's Colombian), Gabriela's ticket for the flight home, accomodations during our time in Colombia, Daniel's international driver's license (there is NO WAY I'm getting behind the wheel in Colombia - they would chew me up and spit me out), and copies of all of our documents. We also have Gabriela's things in order - clothes, shoes, socks, bibs, diapers, pjs, bottles, toys, blankets, diaper bag, baby meds - you name it, I think we have it. Now we just need to find a way to fit it all, plus our stuff for five weeks, in our alotted 2 suitcases, 1 carry-on and 1 personal item each!
The next few days will be VERY busy! We have LOTS of little things left to do, and every time I cross one thing off the list I add two more. But, I am confident we will get it all done! We'll try to post before we leave, but if we don't, please keep your fingers crossed that we find the time to get everything done and we make it through with our sanity intact!
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Passing the time...
As you know from previous posts, we received our referral on December 8th and we meet Gabriela on January 23rd - that is 6 1/2 weeks that we will have to wait! It is SO hard to wait! Most families adopting from Colombia travel within 2-4 weeks of receiving their referral, but since the courts close from December 15th to January 15th, the timing of our referral was such that we had to wait a bit longer.
So what have we been doing to pass the time? Well, my dad's cousins Leann and Loree threw a really nice baby shower for me on December 16th, which was so much fun because they managed to get the word out that we had been assigned a little girl and we got lots of fun girl things! Also, we feel very lucky to have had the holidays to distract us - that helped a lot. Last week we prepared and sent my visa application to the consulate. This past weekend we shopped (having a baby is a great excuse to shop - I love it). We bought our crib mattress (we had it on our registry, but honestly, who's going to lug that to a baby shower?), mattress pad, diapers, a couple of adorable outfits, onesies, and luggage. This week I wrote thank-you notes, bought Gabriela's ticket for our return flight, organized papers that we need to take with us (a copy of our complete dossier, our immigration approval, and a handful of others), and packed Gabriela's suitcase, which is ridiculous because we still have 2 1/2 weeks to go, but I just couldn't help myself! This weekend I plan to take down our Christmas tree and spend several hours working from home. Next weekend our friends are having a co-ed happy hour baby shower for us on Saturday and then we will go shopping on Sunday to buy the remaining essentials. And then we'll only have a week to go! We'll be busy with all the last-minute stuff - laundry, packing, cleaning, etc.
Some nights I go to bed early just because I want it to be the next day, which will be one day closer to Gabriela. Plus, I figure I should get my beauty rest now, while I still can!
So what have we been doing to pass the time? Well, my dad's cousins Leann and Loree threw a really nice baby shower for me on December 16th, which was so much fun because they managed to get the word out that we had been assigned a little girl and we got lots of fun girl things! Also, we feel very lucky to have had the holidays to distract us - that helped a lot. Last week we prepared and sent my visa application to the consulate. This past weekend we shopped (having a baby is a great excuse to shop - I love it). We bought our crib mattress (we had it on our registry, but honestly, who's going to lug that to a baby shower?), mattress pad, diapers, a couple of adorable outfits, onesies, and luggage. This week I wrote thank-you notes, bought Gabriela's ticket for our return flight, organized papers that we need to take with us (a copy of our complete dossier, our immigration approval, and a handful of others), and packed Gabriela's suitcase, which is ridiculous because we still have 2 1/2 weeks to go, but I just couldn't help myself! This weekend I plan to take down our Christmas tree and spend several hours working from home. Next weekend our friends are having a co-ed happy hour baby shower for us on Saturday and then we will go shopping on Sunday to buy the remaining essentials. And then we'll only have a week to go! We'll be busy with all the last-minute stuff - laundry, packing, cleaning, etc.
Some nights I go to bed early just because I want it to be the next day, which will be one day closer to Gabriela. Plus, I figure I should get my beauty rest now, while I still can!
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Gabriela's Room
As promised, I am posting a before and after photo of Gabriela's room. It turned out GREAT! It seems that Daniel is quite the carpenter, as his first ever attempt at a chair rail came out perfectly!
Monday, December 24, 2007
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!
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!
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