We were informed by our adoption agency that the ICBF has set up an appointment for us to meet Claudia. As I was typing this post for the first time, we were to meet her on the 17th but we were able to get that date to changed so now we will get to her country on January 9th or 10th and meet Claudia on the 11th! That is less than one month away! We will meet her along with her psychologist and social worker that have been working with her. They will let us know all they can about her. We may even be blessed enough to get a book from her foster family describing her likes and dislikes. There is s tiny chance that we may be able to speak to her foster mother as well. We will get to ask any questions we might have and then Claudia is to stay with us at our hotel for the "bonding period." Our agency has tried to prepare us for Claudia's mourning of her foster family. I do not think that anything will prepare me for that. I pray it is not terrible, that we are able to comfort her and that she will bond quickly with us. We have been warned that she may be inconsolable for the first few days, that is going to be heartbreaking for us, not to mention Claudia. We pray that her transition into a forever family is smooth.
We have to send out a big check today to our agency to pay for her Visa, courier fees and additional fees for our documents to be translated as our first set of documents sent to her country have now expired. Could you please keep our financial situation in your prayers. Our agency is unsure of how long Jason will have to remain in-country due to the recent strike of the judicial system. The courts open back up on January 15th and our agency says we should be prepared to have to stay in country longer. The longer we are in country, the more expensive it will be. As of right now we are about $8000 short as we have had several of additional expenses since documents have expired. We would appreciate your prayers and help spreading the word about our financial aid. We hate to be a burden on others but we cannot do this on our own. Thank you all so much for your support. It is truly paying off, we are almost there! Thank you all!
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Thursday, December 13, 2012
Waiting for our travel date
We are still waiting to know the date that ICBF has set for us to first meet Claudia. It seems that things are finally coming together. We have a conference call with our agency on Sunday afternoon to go over all of the specifics of what happens from here on out. We did get a letter from the facilitator in Claudia's country describing what the process will be like once we get there. I will give you all a run down:
We got our Article 5 which states that a visa will be granted for Claudia to come to the US. That is step one of the adoption process (What!? I feel like we have been through a hundred steps already...!)
Next, we travel to her country to start the legal adoption process. One of us (Jason) will have to stay in the country for 5-7 weeks while everything is completed. Once we get there, we get to meet Claudia in her region and have a 5-7 business day bonding/integration period which will be under the supervision of the ICBF (I have no idea how this works since we will have Claudia with us living in our hotel...)
After the bonding period is over, ICBF will issue a certificate to file with our adoption petition in court. We will then have to sign a power of attorney and I will have to sign a permission form for Claudia to leave the country with Jason. Our adoption petition will be filed in court by our attorney.
The the judge will then issue an adoption decree stating that we are Claudia's legal parents, this could take 3-4 weeks. During this waiting time we have to take Claudia across her country to get her TB testing done and then return back to her region.
After the adoption decree is obtained, we have to apply for her new birth certificate with us listed as her parents! We will also have to get pictures for Claudia's Passport and US visa. We can then get her passport which will allow her to travel to the US. Along with the passport, we must get her visa. In order to get this, she must have a medical appointment with a specific doctor. We then need to pick up our conformity letter and go to the US consulate to apply for her visa. This is the LAST STEP! Once we get her visa, we can come home!
Wow, that seems like a lot, but we are nearing the end of the adoption. Please pray that everything proceeds smoothly and that we will be the proud parents of Claudia soon!
We got our Article 5 which states that a visa will be granted for Claudia to come to the US. That is step one of the adoption process (What!? I feel like we have been through a hundred steps already...!)
Next, we travel to her country to start the legal adoption process. One of us (Jason) will have to stay in the country for 5-7 weeks while everything is completed. Once we get there, we get to meet Claudia in her region and have a 5-7 business day bonding/integration period which will be under the supervision of the ICBF (I have no idea how this works since we will have Claudia with us living in our hotel...)
After the bonding period is over, ICBF will issue a certificate to file with our adoption petition in court. We will then have to sign a power of attorney and I will have to sign a permission form for Claudia to leave the country with Jason. Our adoption petition will be filed in court by our attorney.
The the judge will then issue an adoption decree stating that we are Claudia's legal parents, this could take 3-4 weeks. During this waiting time we have to take Claudia across her country to get her TB testing done and then return back to her region.
After the adoption decree is obtained, we have to apply for her new birth certificate with us listed as her parents! We will also have to get pictures for Claudia's Passport and US visa. We can then get her passport which will allow her to travel to the US. Along with the passport, we must get her visa. In order to get this, she must have a medical appointment with a specific doctor. We then need to pick up our conformity letter and go to the US consulate to apply for her visa. This is the LAST STEP! Once we get her visa, we can come home!
Wow, that seems like a lot, but we are nearing the end of the adoption. Please pray that everything proceeds smoothly and that we will be the proud parents of Claudia soon!
Thursday, December 6, 2012
We've got news, and it's good!
After a few weeks of hearing nothing from our agency we were finally told today that our Article 5 was received by our agency yesterday. The Article 5 comes from the US Embassy in Claudia's country. Now that our agency has it, they will send it to the ICBF so that they can set up a day for us to meet Claudia! Can you believe it, after all of this time of waiting, we are FINALLY getting a date for when we will see our beautiful girl! Words cannot express how excited we are. Our agency is expecting the date to be in January still, that is NEXT month! Can you tell I am excited? On that day, we will take custody of her for our 5 business day bonding period and as long as the ICBF thinks we have all bonded appropriately, they will refer us to court to begin the completion of the adoption.
The other good news we got today came from the Consulate of Claudia's country in NYC. I called them to find out if we had to travel to NYC in order to get our Visa's. They told me that there were exceptions (I think for adopting families), and that we could do it through the mail. This means we will not have to miss work, pay the toll booths or gas. It saves us time and money, yay! Unfortunately the Visa's will cost $250 more than we were originally told plus the express delivery to the Consulate and back to us. We will be able to get our Visa's after we purchase of flights. Flights to see our girl!
The other good news we got today came from the Consulate of Claudia's country in NYC. I called them to find out if we had to travel to NYC in order to get our Visa's. They told me that there were exceptions (I think for adopting families), and that we could do it through the mail. This means we will not have to miss work, pay the toll booths or gas. It saves us time and money, yay! Unfortunately the Visa's will cost $250 more than we were originally told plus the express delivery to the Consulate and back to us. We will be able to get our Visa's after we purchase of flights. Flights to see our girl!
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| Baby girl, you have grown so much since we first fell in love with you. Soon, you will no longer have to grow up without a family of your own. We love you and we look forward to seeing you soon! Mommy and Daddy are coming sweet girl! |
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