We have some BIG news to share! We have decided to add another little Slominski to our household - we are adopting!! We are excited, overjoyed and nervous all at once. Once our next little Slominski is welcomed into our family, Shane and I will officially be outnumbered! While it's a scary thought, we are up to the challenge and look forward with great anticipation to the unknown date that will forever change our lives.
It's hard to believe that it's been nearly a year since we officially began our journey to Lil' Slom #3. Back in February 2011, I started researching different adoption programs. We really wanted to adopt from Colombia again, but we believed that we no longer qualified since we now had two children in the household. If we couldn't adopt from Colombia, then our next choice would be another Latin American country. Unfortunately, the only Latin American programs I found were all pilot programs (meaning they were new programs so the process and wait is unknown with a high potential of never even getting our child). This was not something we were willing to put ourselves through. We wanted a stable program and a reputable agency.
On a long car ride home from North Dakota, I was scouring the internet reading about various adoption programs when I came across Lutheran Social Service of Minnesota's Marshall Islands program. Wow, I thought. What an interesting program. Most of the children placed were under 1 year of age and the wait to bring your child home was 6 to 15 months after dossier submission (that's when all the papers you've been gathering for the past several months get sent to the country). And the most cool thing, it was an open adoption so we'd get to meet and spend time with the birth family. I quickly sent off an e-mail to Lutheran Social Service (LSS) asking for more information on their program. And then I waited, not so patiently, for a response to my e-mail that would never come. Luckily I was too impatient to wait and a couple days later, I picked up the phone for what would be a life changing conversation.
I was trying to reach the woman that I had e-mailed, but somehow Sue Rock answered the phone. On the opposite end of the phone speaking to this woman I had never met, I explained the journey we were on to find our next child. How we had adopted our oldest son from Colombia. How we had the most fabulous experience. How we would love to adopt from Colombia again but that we no longer qualify because we already have two kids. And at that point of the conversation, I remember her saying with enthusiasm in her voice, "We just had a family come back from Colombia with their third child. So already having two kids in the household is not a problem at all!" I think I responded something like, "Wow! Really? Are you sure??"
I would later find out that I would have gotten an entirely different and WRONG answer if I had actually been connected with the woman I was trying to reach. This woman had told a friend of mine when she had called inquiring about the Colombia program that she would NOT qualify due to having two children in the household.
What a turn of events! First I came across a program I had never heard of (LSS was the only agency at that time working with the Marshall Islands). And it just so happened that LSS also has a wonderful Colombian program, which I never even knew existed. And then I picked up the phone and somehow got connected with Sue Rock who knew personally of a family that just returned with their 3rd child from Colombia! All these little miracles totally switched the path that we were going down. It's times like that that make us realize God is working miracles in our lives to fulfill His plan for our family.
I was so excited after talking with Sue that I called Shane and blurted out, "We qualify for Colombia!!" After talking with the Colombian coordinator, I felt even better. We could definitely adopt from Colombia through LSS's program!
But I wouldn't be me if I didn't thoroughly do my homework. This is not a decision to make without knowing what all my options were. So I contacted two other agencies I knew of with Colombia programs. We also qualified to adopt from their Colombia programs!! But one agency had a 5 year wait to adopt from the government program so I quickly crossed them off the list. We are not that patient!
The other agency that was willing to work with us was a very large and well respected agency - one plus! They worked with a number of private orphanages in Colombia - another plus! They appeared to be less expensive - plus, plus! It was a very, very difficult decision. But in the end, I went with what felt right, and that was Lutheran Social Service.
With one very big decision made, we quickly went to work attending training sessions, completing our homestudy (this is when both prospective parents answer several pages of questions and then meet with a social worker at your home), and collecting a ton of documents (called our dossier) to send down to Colombia. On October 24, 2011, we drove up to Duluth to hand deliver our dossier to Bettina (the Colombian Program Coordinator for LSS). She reviewed our documents right then and there and sent them off to Colombia that day!
Our very important documents arrived in Bogota, Colombia on October 26, 2011. Then they are translated and submitted to the orphanage of our choice. So we had one more big decision to make...which orphanage should be choose?? LSS works with several wonderful orphanages, but certain ones are more accepting of larger families (which is what we are considered with 2 kids). There were two orphanages in particular that we wavered back and forth on. I had been researching them online and talking to anyone I knew (and some I didn't!) about their adoption experience. After all my e-mails, reading and conversations, we made a decision! We are adopting from a private orphanage in Bogota called Los Pisingos (which means 'Little Ducks'). We are thrilled with our decision and can't wait to welcome our little one into our family.
While we don't know much about our child, here's what we do know. We have been approved for either a boy or a girl under 36 months of age. However, it is most likely that our new child will be at least 12 months younger than Cole (who turned two in October.) There's also a chance, although a slim one, that we could be adopting two siblings at once!
The bigger question yet is when will we find out about our new arrival? We've been told to expect a 6 to 18 month wait after our dossier was submitted (which was December 3, 2011). So, if all goes as planned we could hear something as early as June 2012 and as late as June 2013. We're hoping for somewhere in between that range, but we know that it will happen whenever it is meant to be.
So for now, we wait and enjoy our time as a family of four.
1 comment:
Yay!!! Can't wait to follow your journey:)
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