Monday, December 11, 2006

Our Journey

Let me start by saying we are so happy to be able to share our experience with other adopting families. Adoption is such a blessing to families who are not able to have children of their own and families who just want to share their love and life with a child less fortunate.

My husband and I found out that we could not physically have children of our own in the Spring of 2005 after several surgeries and lots of trips to different doctors. We then decided to try invitro-fertilization. Nothing seemed to be working for us and quit frankly the physical and emotional frustrations were getting us both down.

What would be our next step - we both wanted children so badly. We had so much love to give a child. Adoption was always in the backs of our minds. There are so many children in this world that need good, loving homes. In a way we always knew adoption was the right choice for us. We just needed a little help realizing that.

I have a co-worker that had adopted two children from Gladney Center for Adoption and we sat down and talked to him. His story was much like ours and gave us all the answers we needed. We realized that God had lead us to adopt. It was like our life was just beginning from that moment on. We were so excited and positive we were making the right decision. In November 2005 we called Gladney and started our journey.

There were so many countries to adopt from - all with beautiful children. We made our decision rather quickly to go with Colombia. It is hard to say exactly why we picked Colombia - only that we feel that we were meant to adopt from Colombia. That may sound corny, but I really feel that way.

Gladney sent us all our paperwork and instructions on how to get started in late November 2005. We immediately started gathering up everything we needed to start the long process of completing our dossier. We finished up our dossier in April 2006. We were so excited!! Gladney sent our dossier to Colombia in late April 2006. We ran into a couple of document problems along the way. In May 2006 we had to send Colombia a "name declaration" form. In June 2006 we sent a "Power of Attorney". By this time we had hopefully fulfilled all documentation requirements for Colombia. Now we were to wait patiently to hear any news from Gladney.

I would check our email every day just wanting to hear some kind of news from Gladney. In late August 2006 we heard from our case worker that Colombia needed us to elaborate on our psychological evaluation. So we made another appointment with our psychologist in September 2006. We received the finished evaluation toward the end of September and mailed it immediately to Gladney. They received it the first part of October and mailed it to Colombia. On November 28, 2006 we received word that our dossier was approved by Colombia and that we had been placed on the chronological waiting list for a baby. WE WERE SO EXCITED THAT WORDS JUST CANNOT DECRIBE IT!!!! All we had to wait for now is our referral!! Which we understand can be a very long process.

So once again we were patiently waiting. Going through a process like this you have to have a lot of faith in God and a lot of patience. Along with support from family and friends. We do a lot of praying. We know without God we would not have this opportunity. Although once and a while we still do get a little down-in-the-dumps, but that is totally normal. We go about our daily lives and try not to dwell on the waiting but look forward to that wonderful day when we receive word that we have a baby!!

Until next time - God Bless.

Friday, December 01, 2006

Holiday Gifts for Children

During this holiday season, you can make a difference in a child's life by donating funds that will provide a special holiday gift to a child. Through generous gifts given by families from Christ Chapel Bible Church in Fort Worth, Texas, Christmas gift boxes were distributed to several Ethiopian orphanages. Your gift will bring smiles to children residing in the other Gladney supported orphanages in China, Colombia, Guatemala, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Russia, and Vietnam.


When making your donation through The Gladney Fund's "Gift of Family Campaign," please designate Humanitarian Aid and your country of interest. Help Gladney bring joy to a child's life this holiday season.


Make your Holiday Gift Donation online or by calling 817-922-6033.

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Colombian Nationals:

The Gladney Center is happy to announce an adoption program for Colombian citizens living in the United States. If you are a Colombian citizen and your spouse is an American citizen, you qualify for a "fast track" adoption. The Gladney Center, as an accredited agency in Colombia, will:

  • approve you as an adoptive family (you must qualify according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and Colombian laws)
  • perform a home study
  • give you advice on constructing your dossier
  • provide you a letter stating that Gladney will perform your post placement reports

You will be responsible for submitting your dossier to the Adoption Board of Review. The cost for this program is $3,200. This fee does not include a translator/guide but that can be provided at an additional cost.

If you are interested in this program please call Carrie Greil at 817-922-6082 or email her at carrie.greil@gladney.org.

Friday, November 03, 2006

November is National Adoption Month

Can you believe it? National Adoption Month is fast approaching and that means-- it's time to outreach!! The Outreach department has some very fun and exciting ways to get you involved in spreading the loving message of adoption. Below are some fun facts to get you started.

  • Personal contact is the # 1 referral source for outreach. That means every time you share your adoption story, send an outreach e-mail or wear a Gladney t-shirt, you're outreaching. Remember- Each Voice Counts
  • Outreaching and spreading the news to others means you are insuring a child will know the love of security a forever family can provide.
  • By outreaching to others, you are insuring that other families will know the love and joy of growing their family through adoption.

We understand outreaching can seem overwhelming and it can be hard to get started. This year we have created a National Adoption Month Calendar. This calendar can assist you with providing ideas or serve as a motivational tool. Just pick 2 or 3 ideas and get started. It's that easy.

View the calendar: http://pub22.bravenet.com/calendar/show.php?usernum=1810791782

Friday, October 20, 2006

Welcome to Gladney Center for Adoption's Colombia Adoption Program blog! Please check back frequently to get the latest information about Colombia adoption.