The Amazing 2 Pairs of Dockers

Wow! What an amazing shopping trek today! I figured I had less than an hour to waste so why not go to Sears and do a little looking around. I wasn't looking for anything in particular, just passing the time. Nothing really gathered my interest and there weren't really any good sales in the womens or the kids departments, but I couldn't help but notice that Men's Dockers dress slacks were on sale in many sizes and colors for only $9.99, and anyone who knows me, knows I can't pass up a bargain like that! So I thought I'd spring for 2 pairs for Rick since he's just lately finding he doesn't mind dressing up nice after all. (That revelation was long overdue!!!) With his new openness to wearing Dockers instead of his usual jeans style, I couldn't pass this bargain by. So off to the checkout I went. The checker seemed to be having problems getting the tags to ring into her computerized register, and fiddled and fiddled with it, all the time with this confused gaze on her face. She finally got one of the pairs of pants to ring in, and couldn't get the other one to process in. After many tries both of them finally rang in and I was about ready to swipe one of my cards. She bagged the garments up nicely and as I was just about to swipe the card through but noticed my screen wasn't lighting up to show me the price (as it normally does). When I asked about it, she said, that's because there's nothing to show. Then she handed me the bag and wished me a good day! I said, "But I need to pay for these!" She giggled a little as she was handing me my sales slip showing the item pricings were both zeroed out, which meant FREE. Immediately I gave a little thanks out to God, and she was obviously was a christian believer, because she remarked, "Yes, God can do awesome things, can't He? Now you have a wonderful day!" I almost felt completely embarrassed to leave without paying -- I'd never done that before! I was waiting for the "Candid Camera" people to come around the corner, but they didn't. No tricks being played.

Now Rick had better get some wear out of these pants specifically for some of the dressier occasions while in Colombia. When he wears them I'll forever be reminded of how God worked His amazement through 2 bargain-priced pairs of Dockers!

No word yet from the adoption referral. We've guessed all combos of what the children will be; whether they'll be all boys, all girls, or more girls, or more boys. Sure wish we'd hear something more definite. Keep our family in your prayers, even for our 3 children-to-be. Pray that God brings us together soon.

Moving Right Along... to a Regional office!!! YES!!

Alright, first PRAISE GOD!! This has been by far the most remarkable week in such a long time! Thank you Dear Savior!

Okay, I'm sure you're saying....hmmm???? Why is that map of Colombia marked with only one town, Cucuta? Well that's our regional assignment! CUCUTA -- YEAH!!!

On Monday we learned our dossier was approved by the ICBF, and by Wednesday we learned our dossier was sent to a regional ICBF office to the town of Cucuta in the Norte de Santander district. There in Cucuta, a border town next to Venezuela, the ICBF committee will make their recommendations on our dossier and match us with children. This is so exciting to know how close we truly are to meeting the children God has pre-destined to join our family! It is our understanding that our paperwork was sent with 3 specific children in mind for our family, but until official approval is granted, my agency won't part with any knowledge or information they may have. It would seem that our documents were sent to Cucuta because they had a sibling set in mind for us there. They hinted at a note put on the front of the paperwork asking to be matched to a certain set, but that's all the info they would give out. Nothing else. Not sure if it's girls, if it's boys, or if there's a mix. The agency's been super tight-lipped and won't answer any of my specific questions. Maybe they're afraid we won't be able to handle disppointment? HAAAA! They really should know better with all the ups and downs we've encountered throughout this process!

So for now we must be happy in knowing and trusting that God has a plan for our family. Heck we're just happy that if this is approved, we'll be spending most of our duration in Colombia in a super warm environment! Temperatures are in the 90s and might drop down into the 70s -- How nice!!! I'm told it's HOT & HUMID there -- but that just spells vacation weather to me!

I'll try to better explain what more our process entails so please bear with me. Within the next 3 weeks the ICBF will meet to make their recommendations of children they deem suitable to join our family. If we are approved and a match of a sibling set is agreed upon by the ICBF committee, we will be issued an official "referral" where our agency will release the pictures, the medical information, and all sorts of information about the 3 children they've selected for our family. We review it and are given 2 weeks to decide if they are to be our children, at which time we send an acceptance letter petitioning to adopt those selected children. After that, the in-country representative schedules for a presentation day (sometimes it's called "Gotcha" Day) which is the day when we'll meet with the social workers and review the children's history and case information, then (the most important part) we get to MEET the Children!! YIPPEE!!!! We just cannot wait!!

Travel to Colombia usually follows within 3 to 4 weeks of the referral date. It almost takes that time in order to process all the remaining paperwork like petitioning for Visas, re-doing fingerprint cards and other paperwork, and all the last minute stuff to get things in order for being out-of-country for the next month or two. Colombia uses this 3 to 4 weeks time before the family travels to Colombia to counsel and prepare the children by familiarizing and counseling them on their upcoming adoption. I must say that from the Colombia really does such a remarkable job in helping equip the children with knowledge & providing support throughout the entire adoption process.

From that moment we meet the children on Gotcha Day, they are ours and will remain in our custody from that point! Exciting huh? We sure think so! Usually one week after the initial meeting another meeting is scheduled as a follow-up on progress, on bonding, and to see if we're all blending as a family & are a good match. If so, the court process begins which might take another week, or 2, or maybe 3 (this is the phase that isn't easy to accurately pinpoint a timeframe because it can vary depending on location and which court you're assigned). After the court business is completed, a flight back over to Bogota (the capital city of Colombia) to finalize business with the U.S. Embassy, then we're cleared to come home.

Hopefully you get a better picture of what we are in store for. Like I said, we expect to have a referral any day now and could get "the call" we've been patiently waiting for at anytime! Oh it's so hard to concentrate nowadays!!! Wondering who might be waiting for us in Cucuta absorbs my every thought throughout the day. But the Lord is our strength and He carrys us through and Rick and I trust Him completely and follow His lead. God will lead us to the chosen ones He's selected for our family and we know to trust in Him with all our hearts! Just knowing there are 3 that patiently waiting in Cucuta, just as we 3 are patiently waiting here -- half a sky away, is such a pleasant daydream that may soon reveal itself in true life form! Hallelujah! Praise God!

Please pray for our family to be together soon!

Thank you, and may God bless you in the most wonderful of ways!

We're APPROVED for 3 children!!!

Okay, great news of an approval came today and upon hearing that, we all did the HAPPY DANCE, and that was so much fun. What a blast! What a special memory! Marissa is so funny with her rendition of her very own "happy dance". I don't have all the info but news came through a late afternoon email that we received our approval from the ICBF for 3 children under 10 years of age. I'll know more when the actual document is translated and sent to us, but this is what I learned today. We're excited to hear this news and it puts us one step closer! It was also said in the email that the normal timeline for an adoption of older children or sibling groups is averaging 2-8 months, however our program manager believes that the match will be made much sooner. How encouraging! FINALLY some optimism coming from my agency! I hope to find out much more tomorrow as I'm going to bombard them with my many questions.

We wanted to share the exciting news with you. Thanks for looking in on us! As always, keep those prayers a rolling!

Thanking our heavenly Father for His Faithfulness!
---genece & rick---

Quick Update

Yesterday we learned Rick's dad, Dave, was admitted to the hospital with a possible heart attack, and until the doctor's could monitor his situation and determine more of what had happened, it was a largely-stressful afternoon. By the evening we had learned he was stablized and still undergoing tests, etc., but Rick and Marissa were both able to talk to him over the phone.

This morning we learned he had a blockage which would require a stint. They seem to believe he'll be cleared to travel home to Oregon sometime in the next few days.

I'm purely amazed at how God knits us all together -- how He often places those individuals so skilled in helping out in our times of trouble and pairs us up to soften each others' hurts or problems. This is a classic example of how God chose the right timing for Dave's medical condition to happen, and placed an individual near him that was both skilled and courageous enough to step up and offer assistance and get him help before it led to worse conditions. Thanks Randy (and Cathe)! There's not a lot of people out there in the world that Dave would even let step in like that, which is another example of how God works. (If you're reading between the lines, yes, my father-in-law does have a little of a stubborn side and probably never would have gone to a hospital without some big-time coaxing.)

The great news is that they've diagnosed the problem areas and are well on their way to fixing them. Thank you Lord for watching over Dave as you have! Thank you everyone for your prayers, also! Still no word back from the adoption agency but we're still hoping for great news to come real soon!

~~genece~~

God's Amazing Displays

With the adoption paperwork all turned in and now we're back into the waiting phase, I'm hoping to use some of this time to catch you up on a few happenings in the past few weeks. Here's a beautiful picture that Rick took while he was on his way home from work one day a few weeks back. Not too sure if you can tell from the picture (because all he had charged up and available to use was his PALM), but it is a photo of a double rainbow. They're magnificent to view if you've ever seen one! We live in Alaska and are very grateful for God's amazing displays of beauty all around us. We've been witness to several double rainbows this year and I'm hoping there's great footage on our movie recorder from the one I filmed while we were leaving the Alaska State Fair last month. It'd be neat to send that in the footage with our movie introduction of our family.

Gotta run an errand real quick but there's lots to share so please stay tuned.... There's much more to come.



Real quick, we could definitely use your prayers and have a specific prayer request for Rick's father, whom we learned earlier today suffered a heart attack. We're still awaiting more detailed information but we know that he is in the hospital and doctors are monitoring him and working to stablize his condition. This news came to us only 3 hours ago. Rick's parents are over in Colorado now and for the past month have been trekking with their RV across country. Luckily they were in Colorado visiting family when it happened. Apparently Rick talked to his dad this morning and he was complaining of hurting, and was explaining just a few of the symptoms, but nobody thought "heart attack" symptoms just then. An hour later when he complained his pain had increasingly become worse, Rick's cousin became worried it might be a heart attack (his cousin had suffered a heart attack only 3 years ago or so and remembered how his symptoms came on.) We ask that you please keep Rick's father, Dave, in your prayers. From our hearts we sincerely thank you and will post more information as it becomes available.

WAITING again...

With our documents back in Colombia now, again we wait! To wait is such a hard thing to do. I find myself drifting off wondering when we'll get our referral, wondering which area of Colombia we'll travel to, what the children will be like, and whether or not this will even happen this year! For some time now my favorite pastime has been to check blogs of other adopting families to track their progress. It's really therapeutic and very addicting! I'm also on a few Colombian adoption lists and regularly check their discussion forums. I also participate in a chat room praying specifically for Colombian adoptions and through that group have grown such awesome relationships with those others who regularly participate in the prayer group.

I know I need to do so many things in order to prepare for the joy that is to come, and I hope that next week will bring much more productive energy my way. I pray that God will again put me on the right track and keep me focused and able to do other things that are needing done! In the meantime I just wanted to update you that we are WAITING again...

Thanks for your prayers! We feel them and we're mighty grateful for them!

Many Blessings!
---genece---