Maracas!

Tuesday morning I got a text that there was paperwork regarding Josie's referral would be received at our adoption agency that morning.  It was incredible seeing details of our little girl's routines, habits and personality.  My favorite part was what had been listed as her skills:  She is a girl who enjoys music, loves to dance, and plays the maracas.  I think that will look good on a resume someday.

I had the pleasure of calling FANA yesterday and talking details about Josie.  We will be pulling together a package to send her - picture book, stuffed animal, blanket, etc.  It is difficult not being able to travel as quickly as we were with Lucy (10 days), so this will be a small step we can take to making the transition easier.  Elena asked me what name we will call her so they can start using it with her - I cried.  I do that a lot, though, pretty standard.

Our conversation turned to practical things like clothes and shoes!  I was wondering if we should bring 18 month clothes or skip right to 24 month.  Without hesitation, Elena said 24 month.  In fact she said, "she's pretty fat, I think 2 years."  Fat is a new concept when it comes to kids.  Lucy is such a stick, we take in most bottoms to keep them from falling off.  

Today I received an email with an outline of Josie's feet to check the shoe size.  So cute to see her little toes!

Not to scale :)

Process Update

Things have changed since last time we went through this process.  These are the steps standing between us and traveling.

1. I-800 form submitted to Department of Homeland Security - they can take legally up to 180 days for provisional approval, but usually only takes 3 - 4 weeks.  This was sent on Tuesday, October 16th.
2. Once we receive provisional approval from DHS, 2 things happen in parallel.
1. Our provisional approval gets forwarded to the US Embassy in Bogota - this takes about 10 days
2. We hustle to the Colombian Embassy in Chicago for our Visas - these can be completed the day of the appointment
3. TRAVEL!