Major Adoption Update !!!! We have a court date to finalize the adoption. October 13th at 9AM!!!! this is so much closer than we had hoped. We honestly were planning for a court date in November and trying to figure out what to do to try to make sure he was home by Christmas so you can imagine our excitement when we got an October Date. This means we could be traveling as early as the first week in November provided everything goes well in court (Knock on wood!).

We have a lot to do to try to finish getting the house ready for our newest family member but could not be any more happy with the progress we have made on this outstanding journey.

Keep your fingers crossed that everything goes well!.

Well as some of you may have already heard, Lynn and I were extremely lucky last Friday and finally received our official referral and permission to travel for Trip 1!

A whirl wind of activity this weekend trying to align schedules and search for flights and hotels. Let me tell you what, I have never watched and seen flight costs go up by the hour! But I guess that is the price you pay for traveling in peak vacation season but this little guy is all worth it.

Looks like we will be traveling the second week in August to finally meet our little guy. So very excited.

A lot to still do between now and then and of course still a lot of fundraising to do. We are so close to being fully funded and are trying now to cover all the travel costs for trip 1 and 2. If you have not already or have been thinking about it, please consider making a donation to our fundraiser to help us bring our new son home to meet the rest of his new family!

http://www.reecesrainbow.org/sponsorspence

Guess we struck out again today. No word from our agency to say we got verbal approval from IAC so guessing we didn't make it onto this week's agenda. Oh well guess we hold on and wait till next week. Keeping our fingers crossed.

Still working on fundraising as well. Still several thousand short of being fully funded so if anyone wants to help out our cause we would greatly appreciate it. Check out link at

Http://www.reecesrainbow.org/sponsorspence

Feeling very anxious today. Just no fun sitting here waiting for your official referral when you have no control and can't speed things up. The MOJ is meeting today as usual so fingers crossed that ours is one of the many dossiers they review and a prove today. Wish us luck!

Well it's been a while since I have posted anything on our blog but unfortunately we just don't have any real updates at this time. Our dossier has been submitted to the MOJ so we are now in line with several other families just sitting here playing the "waiting game". Now not being a very patient person, I have to say this has been driving us crazy! But out of our control I guess, all we can do is sit here, wait patiently, and work on our fundraising.

The boys continue to ask questions about their soon to be little brother and we already feel like he is part of the family who has just not made it home yet. Here's hoping our wait is short and we get to meet our little man very soon. Thanks so much for the support everyone, stay tuned!

Well today, our little guy turns 4. Sure wish we could be there to be part of the celebration but at least we're getting closer to trip 1 and meeting him face to face. Our attorney there was nice enough to offer to pick up and deliver a birthday present for him so at least we feel a bit closer.

Please consider helping us celebrate his birthday by making a contribution to our FSP. Every dollar helps us get that much closer to bringing him home.

Happy birthday Joaquin

Http://reecesrainbow.org/sponsorspence

Well, got some good news but being cautiously optomistic and trying to not get too excited just yet. Found out today our completed dossier has been translated and submitted to the MOJ for signature. Now I'm hoping that since they have already reviewed some of our documents when we expressed our intent to adopt a special child on their waiting child list, that our wait for signature now is not too bad. But again, trying to not get too excited so won't be disappointed if it continues to move slow.

You have to wonder though how hard this has to be on the kids who are waiting. They probably don't even know yet that someone is trying and working so hard to help them right now. They could be just sitting there wondering if someone will ever want them. I wish was a way to  let them know we're trying and someone cares. Give them some hope though this long process. No child should have to go through life alone.

Well, here's hoping for a quick process and travel dates for trip 1 very soon so at least we can tell him he is wanted and loved already.