We Are In Cucuta!!!!!!!

We are here people!!!!!! Finally, we weren't sure that this day would happen. Thank you Lord! We flew out from Miami this morning @ 7:30am to Bogota. We then caught a flight to Cucuta. This was not the plan; however, we have learned to GO WITH IT! We were happy to finish all of the travel in one day. We had no information of our connecting flights. Now, you know how that was killing us (not being in control). Our Agency has everything running very smoothe.

We do have some changes. Those of you waiting to get pictures of Mya on Monday will have to wait. Sorry Sarah:( I was hoping that would be your birthday present. We will travel to Pampolona (this is new also- GOING WITH IT:) and we will bring home our baby girl Tuesday.

We are staying at hotel Bolivar. It is very nice. We will share more later. We are hungry and tired. TTFN!

Travel Dates

We have tickets for June 6th. We have our travel meeting with Nichole tomorrow to go over the trip start to finish. It almost seems like it is not real. I have know this day was going to come for 4 years. So, why do I feel so unprepared? Wait, I know- I am the worlds WORST procrastinator. We are trying to fit everything into 2 bags and 2 carryons. Not easy! We will see how that works out. Justin may be buying some clothes in Colombia:) It is only fair that us girls get dibs on space. Don't you think?

Visa's Check

We went to Coral Gables yesterday to get our Visas. Everything went nice and smooth. It was like a different country down there. All of the signs were in Spanish. The workers at the Florida Consulate were wearing masks. The only problem is that we will have to pay a change of fair or $200 penalty for changing our plane tickets if we need to. We got them for June 6th. Hopefully we will be able to move that date up a week or so. With Avianca airlines, we do not have to pay for changes on our way home. This was the only straight flight we could find at a reasonable price. C*lombia has not given us the dates to travel yet. We needed our reservations for our Visas. I guess it is worth the $ to go ahead and have that step completed.

We are now waiting on C*lombia to finish up with the DS-230 (visa for Mya). Then hopefully we can travel within 2 weeks after that.

So what's left: vaccinations and pack for the trip

This feels so good to be sooooo close. We are so ready!

I-800A Approved

On Monday, our I-800A was approved! That's the good news. Bad news is that now there is another step we were unaware of that could take up to 30 days. This is something to do with the Visa in Col*mbia. They need to make sure the baby is adoptable. We are hoping it will NOT take 30 days. After that, they say we have to wait 3-4 weeks to get her paperwork ready in Colombia.

Everything is out of our hands now. We have an appointment on Monday with the Florida C*nsulate in Coral Gables. Because we don't have our travel dates, we will have to take another trip to pick the visa's up. They make it sooo easy for us, don't they? After that, I think we are mostly done. I think.

Hope to be getting some good news soon. Please keep praying that paperwork is moved quickly in Col*mbia.

Hold that Smile

I am going to attempt to be as positive as possible during this post. Today has been a trying day, and I am having a hard time finding the lesson that God wants to show me. Basically we were expecting to travel in the next 2 weeks. Now, it is looking like 2-3 months. With the new application I-800 also came more changes. We just found this out today which is adding to our frustration.

Once our I-800 is approved (application specifically for our child), we apply for a Visa for our little girl. Without you reading bla bla bla, basically C*lombia reviews everything again (takes around 30 days). They give us approval (again) and then we write ANOTHER acceptance letter with our travel dates. We then wait for C*lombia to finish paperwork (3-4 weeks).

We don't understand this. I have an easier time understanding the Visa part even though it stinks. I can't wrap my head around and additional 3-4 weeks to prepare for us to come. WE ARE COMING!!!! I just want to scream that "Get ready NOW." It's hard when you see other families going so quickly even with the I-800 process. Why are we getting held up.

Tomorrow will be a better day and we will have more understanding I'm sure. Until then we go to bed with our hearts aching.

Please pray for our understanding and every ones hands that touch our paperwork. I pray that they see more than papers, but a beautiful little girl that is desperate for a family.

Our Little Girl

Here is our baby girl. Her name is Mya Michelle, and she is 16 months old. She has the most precious smile. We can't wait to bring her home. Please pray for her.

I-800A Approved

We were approved last week with the I-800A. It took us a month, when we were quoted 90 days. Huge blessing!!!!! Thank you for praying for us. Last Friday, they received our I-800. This is specifically for our little girl. This process should only take 2 weeks, but we are praying for less. Then we need to buy plane tickets and apply for visas. This should be only a week. However, we are having problems contacting the Consulate in Florida for our Visas. We don't know if we have to go in person or if we can get them by mail. Has anyone else done this in Florida? This is so frustrating. I don't want this to hold us up next week.



I think now we are able to post her picture now! So excited! Here she is! Wait, not sure I know how to put her picture up. I will work on that. I just realized that I hadn't done that before.
YIKES!!!