An Update

I've been meaning to post an update to all of the questions that I had for our case worker last week, but I was waiting to see if we'd have more info this week to share.  Sorry for the delay!  We don't have any new info on Maria, but the day after I asked our case worker my myriad of questions, this is what she said: 

"I will ask LP for an update on Maria and a new picture. You might
get new information and pic when you get the official referral but
we can ask now too.  The dossier usually takes 2-3 weeks so when I
ask for the pictures I will check the status of the translation.
When we do get the official referral, it will have the documents we
need for you to file the I-800 with CIS. I hope that we get this
before Christmas but not sure about that. Once you file the I-800
with CIS, then it takes 2 weeks for approval, 2 weeks for approval
to arrive in Colombia, another week to get the Article 5 ready and
then they have you travel. I think travel by February is very
possible.  Hope this answered your questions. I will let you know
what I hear!"

So that was very encouraging, and set my heart and mind a bit at ease!  (For those who don't know what CIS stands for, it's short for USCIS, United States Citizenship & Immigration Services.)

On Wednesday of this week I still hadn't heard anything, so I emailed our case worker again.  She said that she asked for an update on Tuesday and is waiting to hear back.

Meanwhile, our friends the Vander Maas's received their new daughters on Thursday of last week!  It's been such an incredible, beautiful, intense time for their family.  God is doing amazing things in them all, and it's a beautiful gift to watch their family transition from a family of four to a family of six, and to see their journey unfold through their blog.  Having them there and reading their posts is like having a lifeline to Maria.  It's very comforting, and emotional too!  On Wednesday of this week they went back to Los Pisingos (LP) for their tour as well as for an appointment that will officially start the adoption proceedings in the court system.  Their appointment got rescheduled for Monday at LP, but they still went on their tour.  We were wondering all day if they would happen to see Maria while they were there.  At the end of their blog about their day, they wrote this:

"Kammeraads - Hang in there with your paperwork. Once your dossier get's translated I think we can request to take a picture of Maria. We will definitely keep our eyes open for her on our tour. I showed Caroline her picture, and she got very excited and said "Mi Amiga! Mi Amiga!" Hang in there!!"

Tears welled up in my eyes when I read that!  Their Caroline is one of the precious little girls that they are adopting right now.  She'll be four this month.  Kristi and I were hoping and thinking that our girls knew each other, and this confirms it!   That's so exciting, and so amazing of God to do that for the girls.  They live in Zeeland, MI, just half an hour from us so once we are all back in the States, we'll be able to get the girls together.  How great is that?!

So even though they didn't see Maria that day, they might be able to see her on Monday!

Well just a little while ago we received good news from our case worker:

"Your dossier was delivered today to LP. Our rep will get a picture for you as they don't want other families taking pictures. As soon as I have it I will send it to you! The next steps is receiving the official referral from LP."

Such great news about our dossier!  That's what I've been praying for all week.  God is so good to us!   So now we just wait for them to review it and send us the official referral.  Our prayer is that they would do this next week so that we can send in our I800 to immigration (CIS) the week after that so that they have it before Christmas.  We would love your prayers for this!  We know that God has it all worked out already, but we are still praying the desires of our hearts.  We want to be with our little girl as soon as possible!