In Colombia, they do a lot to prepare kids for their new families. We sent our new son, Tito, a video of our family, each of us saying a few words of greetings. Some with more Spanish-speaking abilities than others. We filmed the house and yard, Sam and Victor playing catch and Sam and Lidia playing trains on the floor, as well as footage of us walking to the beach near our house. We also prepared a short photo book which introduces each family member a bit which you can see in the pictures. The exciting thing is that we hope to meet our son very soon…..via skype. This is all getting very real.
We are hoping for/expecting to travel in August, but we still do not have travel dates. We are waiting for immigration approval by the USCIS, so we can bring him home. Our application was received on June 26. It should be another two weeks before they approve it. Once we get that, I’m told things move quickly…whatever that means. 
As you know, we are still fundraising our adoption. Well, for the most part the adoption is now paid for! There will be a few final incidentals such as passport photos and medical exams, but we have enough in our adoption accounts to cover those things. The final big expense, believe it or not will be our trip to Barranquilla. 
We are budgeting about $12,000 for this trip. It is a stab in the dark for the most part since we don’t know the expenses we will incur there, and we don’t even know how long we will be staying in Colombia. There is no way to plan this part. We will be most likely be staying in Bogota for at least two weeks and in Barranquilla another two weeks, and possibly longer in either place. There will be airfare from the US to Bogota, and airfare in country between Barranquilla and Bogota. There will be taxis, food, hotels, etc.
Here are some ways that God is already providing….
1. Our Adoption Fundraiser Yard Sale brought in $1100 for our family.
2. We were awarded a Showhope Grant of $6000 for travel expenses two years ago.
3. Air miles have been offered by two different friends…we have yet to find out if using them will be viable, but we are very hopeful that at least two of us will have free airfare. Alaska Airlines charges us per mile transferred, so we are holding off on purchasing them until we know they will work.
4. My parents have agreed to house-sit and house-parent our international students.
5. Victor and I both work part-time for Whatcom Community College as instructors. WCC has been incredibly supportive, and has offered to cover our time away with sick leave!
One thing we know, and have seen again and again is this…..God has a MILLION ways to provide for His work.
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