Spanish went smoothly last night. We had a major vocabulary quiz and both of us did pretty well. We were sent home with quite a bit of homework this week!
It took a really long time to look through our health insurance options last night. Important but time-consuming! We will keep the same health insurance provider but had the new option this year to pick a dental & vision plan.
The dental plans were very pricey so we opted against that as our regular insurance takes care of cleanings & exams & even sealants for kids' teeth.
We did however decide to go with vision insurance as we calculated we would definitely get our $'s worth from that plan and all five of us can have high-quality eye exams each year and excellent benefits for K & I for glasses and for the children if they need them too. Yeah! That's really great that we have this option this year!
Our Agency Representative called a little while ago and reported that Colombia (ICBF) has been given our original & translated documents. Now we will await hearing official approval.
In the meantime, we have been instructed to go ahead and have our FBI fingerprints redone as well as our medical letters. The reason is that those documents must be "fresh," under 6 months old at the time of travel. So, we have some more paperwork to do. The FBI fingerprints have to be done and sent to the FBI to be processed. Those fingerprints with their FBI letter and the medical letter must be notarized and apostilled (AGAIN.)
There is still a very slim chance that we could travel this year but it is looking like we probably will not travel until January. The next week will tell.
I asked what will happen next. Like I mentioned we are awaiting to hear of our official approval by ICBF, then to receive an assignment/referral/match for our children and then a travel assignment.
Our Agency Rep told me that she thought referrals will continue to be assigned despite having to possibly wait until January to travel because of all of the holidays. Hey, January works good for us!!! And some extra time to plan wouldn't be too shabby either!!! January is still quickly approaching and traveling after the holidays seems to alleviate a lot of complications and concerns so it is kind of a relief! We have plenty to do over here, that's for sure! Mami & Papi will put the (projected) additional time to good use! :)
So that is the "we really don't have that much actual new information" update!
Other than that, our shower tile is being worked on right now! It is looking fabulous! I think our friend will finish all the tile today and then will just come back one more time to grout. Wow! What a mammoth praise! I can almost hear the water running out of the shower head now, can't you? Very exciting! This house is going to be back in shape, better than ever & ready to meet the needs of 2 parents & 3 kiddos very soon! Yippee!
One last thing: I did post the promised information about our Matching Grant Challenge Status! See the top of the blue sidebar on the lower right for the update!
It took a really long time to look through our health insurance options last night. Important but time-consuming! We will keep the same health insurance provider but had the new option this year to pick a dental & vision plan.
The dental plans were very pricey so we opted against that as our regular insurance takes care of cleanings & exams & even sealants for kids' teeth.
We did however decide to go with vision insurance as we calculated we would definitely get our $'s worth from that plan and all five of us can have high-quality eye exams each year and excellent benefits for K & I for glasses and for the children if they need them too. Yeah! That's really great that we have this option this year!
Our Agency Representative called a little while ago and reported that Colombia (ICBF) has been given our original & translated documents. Now we will await hearing official approval.
In the meantime, we have been instructed to go ahead and have our FBI fingerprints redone as well as our medical letters. The reason is that those documents must be "fresh," under 6 months old at the time of travel. So, we have some more paperwork to do. The FBI fingerprints have to be done and sent to the FBI to be processed. Those fingerprints with their FBI letter and the medical letter must be notarized and apostilled (AGAIN.)
There is still a very slim chance that we could travel this year but it is looking like we probably will not travel until January. The next week will tell.
I asked what will happen next. Like I mentioned we are awaiting to hear of our official approval by ICBF, then to receive an assignment/referral/match for our children and then a travel assignment.
Our Agency Rep told me that she thought referrals will continue to be assigned despite having to possibly wait until January to travel because of all of the holidays. Hey, January works good for us!!! And some extra time to plan wouldn't be too shabby either!!! January is still quickly approaching and traveling after the holidays seems to alleviate a lot of complications and concerns so it is kind of a relief! We have plenty to do over here, that's for sure! Mami & Papi will put the (projected) additional time to good use! :)
So that is the "we really don't have that much actual new information" update!
Other than that, our shower tile is being worked on right now! It is looking fabulous! I think our friend will finish all the tile today and then will just come back one more time to grout. Wow! What a mammoth praise! I can almost hear the water running out of the shower head now, can't you? Very exciting! This house is going to be back in shape, better than ever & ready to meet the needs of 2 parents & 3 kiddos very soon! Yippee!
One last thing: I did post the promised information about our Matching Grant Challenge Status! See the top of the blue sidebar on the lower right for the update!
6 comments:
Woohoo! It may be sooner than later!!! Get ready! "Babies from Heaven in 2007"--hopefully, you be assigned and sent pics of your children and there will be "No wait in 2008!" What a great way to start the new year!
Wendi
Yes, I need time to get my modos (monkeys) finished! It will give me something to do while I am waiting.... :-D
**speaking of monkeys, I really love the one who is excited (see below, right hand strip of blue)!
Love, Momma G
Wish we could all stay occupied, like little Beeker! He doesn't fret about anything! And his singing/chirping really mellows a person out! (plus he's adorable!)
Love, Momma G
When we emailed Julie (at CHI) a couple of weeks ago she also told us early next year. I'm thinking we may end up meeting in Colombia! We will keep sending good thoughts your way! We also have to get our FBI clearance redone (early December Julie said) and I need to get my medical clearance redone as well.
Debi
Oh, isn't insurance just so much fun to figure out?? But it is such a blessing to have!
It's so exciting to know that they have all your documents now and so you are just waiting for final approval!! I can't wait to hear about your assignment. There has been so much suspense over the past months!
Is your mom making the kids sock monkeys?? I LOVED those when I was a kid!
Thats great news. I think at this point you are right about traveling next year. You are pretty close to a month before the courts close and realistically between the 5 days for integration and then the court time it would be hard to travel and get through before the 12/14 cut off. It would be really hard to get stuck here for an extra month if you picked them up later this month.
Good luck. Hope you hear some good news soon!
Laura (and Andres)
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