Home Study Complete! What's next....

It's been about a month since our last post and things are really moving along!  Our home study is complete, and the next step is a psych evaluation and then we are ready to file our I-800 form with the USCIS, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services.  The I-800 form, once approved, will give us clearance to adopt from Colombia and bring our baby home to the United States.  I've heard that approval can take up to two months!  That's just brutal....there's not much we can do to prepare our dossier during that time because most documents expire after 6 months.  If the dossier is in Colombia when a documents validity expires, our case is put on hold while we prepare and send another document.  I definitely don't want to deal with that.  I actually got good news from one of the mom's at the gym who also adopted from another country, and she said her I-800 form only took a few weeks....so I'll keep my fingers and toes crosses for that :) !

After we get our I-800 approval, we'll gather all our documents and send them to Colombia!  After that it's just a waiting game....probably 2-6 months.

As for us....Alonzo and I are doing great!  We're so unbelievably excited.  I think I'm in nesting mode, though....I've heard this happens to moms that are pregnant.  My "paper pregnancy" is definitely making me feel the need to clean, organize, paint, etc.  I'm not ready to do the nursery yet.  I don't want to walk by an empty, finished nursery for months.  So, I think I'll wait to start that project.  BUT, I can't wait to do it....I already have it designed in my head!  I think this worries my hubby a bit...

Finally, I just feel really grateful today for all the blessings in my life.  I'm so thankful that the most wonderful man in the world is all mine....that I have a job that will give me the flexibility to travel to Colombia for a month when it's time to finalize the adoption, we have our health and so do our families, AND our tax refund came today!  Just in time for our upcoming adoption expenses!! Hooray!!!

It's like someone is looking out for us....