This is from a good friend of mine that I wanted to share. Its a conversation between her and her 4 year old son.

 While we were driving in the car this morning Felix said to me “some kids don’t have moms and dads.” I said “yes, Brian & Haley are adopting some kids who don’t have parents to take care of them.” I continued saying “maybe you can get their new kids a gift.” He replied saying “yeah, I could get them a compass.” “A compass?!” I said. He explained saying “that way they can find their way to their new parents.” – He’s so thoughtful.

Today I received an early Birthday present from my parents!

A beautiful La Chamba Clay Colombian Dish from Williams Sonoma!

Williams Sonoma carries an entire line of the La Chamba Colombian dishes. These dishes are made by Colombian artisans in La Chamba, Colombia!

You can find the link here: http://www.williams-sonoma.com/search/results.html?activeTab=products&words=la+chamba+cookware&cm_sp=OnsiteSearch-_-GlobalNav-_-Button&type-ahead-viewset=ecom

The Secrets of Colombian Cooking book we bought on Amazon a while ago. We have yet to try any of the recipes, but look forward to creating some Colombian cuisine in the near future.

Another great place for Colombian recipes that I have found online is My Colombian Recipes Blog

 http://www.mycolombianrecipes.com/

Alot of the recipes posted on this site are actually very simple recipes that look great.

Time to get cooking!

On Wednesday, a woman who I have only been in contact with through our Adoption blogs walked into my sisters Starbucks and overheard my sister Jill telling another customer about my Colombian adoption. Then this (bloggy friend) woman talked to Jill, told her she had 4 adopted daughters from Colombia and gave Jill her info for me to contact her. Well as soon as Jill texted me her name and info, I knew exactly who it was! Crazy! I completely believe that for some reason God set up this meeting to happen. I emailed her and we both laughed about the chances of this happening. I think she was as shocked as I was about it!  Brian and I are looking forward to meeting up with this family sometime in the near future. Its always fun meeting new families who have adopted from Colombia.

My bloggy friends blog is: http://martinrivera349.blogspot.com/

What’s been on my mind lately is the concept of preparation.

Haley and I have been slowly preparing ourselves mentally, spiritually and physically for having kids. I want to note that we do realize that how we picture things to be may not necessarily the way things turn out.  It’s been an interesting journey so far and I’ve been enjoying the ride.

As a father I want to be able to provide the best for my kids.  As part of the preparation, I’ve been slowly giving up certain habits that I have had in the past.  An example of that would be buying / playing video games.  While I haven’t given this habit up completely, it’s one that has diminished over the past year.  I was really gung-ho about playing Halo and playing games online.  However it’s been a while since I’ve played Halo (and we’ll see how I do this winter) and only recently played a video game this past Sunday.

Why do I talk about video games? Well video games do two things (1) cause me to spend $ and (2) cause me to spend time. It’s important to realize that the $60.00 I used to spend on a game will be better spent on care for my kids.  And then the time playing the game itself will be better spent on interacting with my kids, being there for them etc.

Maybe this post would be better titled “priorities”.  As I go through the adoption process, I am learning about the changed priorities in life.

For me I am striving to have my priorities be God, Haley, Family (including kids), Friends then myself.

So what are your priorities?

-brian

The most recent Wait List was published by ICBF on October 21, 2011.There has been a lot of movement, but our category is still behind where we would like it to be. Our official approval date is Nov. 5th, 2010 and for our catagory they are currently processing dossiers from Feb 2008 (this means we are still 9 months behind with our 3 yr wait.) I put the age category we are currently approved for in red.

Age of Child ——- Date of Application Approval by ICBF

Child 0-12 months —— Dec – 2007

Child 13 – 23 months —- Dec – 2007

Child 2 years ———– Jun – 2007

Child 2 – 3 years ——– May – 2007

Child 3 years ———– Dec – 2007

Child 3 – 4 years ——– Dec – 2007

Child 4 years ———– NOT LISTED ON NEW FORM

Child 4 -5 years ——– Jan – 2009

Child 5 years ———– Oct – 2009

Child 5 – 6 years ——- Oct – 2009

Child 6 years ———– NOT LISTED ON FORM

Child 7 years ———– Jul – 2011

—————————————————————————

2 Siblings 0 – 4 years — Apr – 2008

2 Siblings 0 – 5 years — Feb – 2008

2 Siblings 0 – 6 years — Sep – 2009

2 Siblings 0 – 7 years — Feb – 2010

2 Siblings 0 – 8 years — Feb – 2011

Last night Brian and I, along with Brian’s parents headed down to Chicago to eat at Las Tablas Colombian Steakhouse http://www.lastablas.com/#!home . We had a wonderful time trying all kinds of different Colombian foods like empanadas, arepas, entrana skirt steak, chicken, calamari, shrimp, pork loin, sweet plantain, yuca, potatos, rice, salad, and soup. We also enjoyed listening to the live music. People generally think that Colombian food is similar to Mexican, but its actually nothing like Mexican food. The food was excellent, and the experience was alot of fun. Brian and I look forward to going back someday with our kids

Beef, Chicken & Cheese Empanadas                   Combinaciones platter                                   Pollo Relleno                       

Brian’s Brevas con Arequipe – Figs w/ dulce de leche caramel                          Flan de Coco – custard w/ hint of coconut

 Two years ago today, Brian and I mailed off our adoption application form to Children’s Hope International and patiently waited to be accepted into the Colombian program! I have to say the past 2 years have flown by, yet some days it feels like we have been in this adoption process forever. Hopefully *fingers crossed* we are half way through this process. 2 more years left of waiting for our children.

I’ve been fighting with the whole idea of how I initially thought everything had to be perfect (In Haley’s world) before the kids come. Let me tell you a little about myself.

I love to dream

 I am a thinker

 I am very organized

 I  love to plan

 I thrive on making lists and having deadlines, knowing what needs to get done, I will get it done!

 My moto is just DO – IT. Im a Doer which isnt always the best thing to be honest, but yet it has its advantages.

 With that being said I have had this 3 year plan in my head since we started this crazy process. I am coming to the realization that I need to let my pre conceived ideas go. So many times you hear people say well we want to wait to get pregnant until after__________ or we cannot adopt because we dont have that kind of money, or there are people who just dont want to give up their lifestyle to have kids in the first place.  I realize there is no perfect time for kids with this thinking, whether it being biological or adopted. There is always more money to be saved, or debt to be paid off, vehicles running down, houses needing repairs, wants and desires no matter where we are in life.  We as Americans have become so accustomed to instant gratification, we just want more, bigger and better things, and we want them now. But where is God in that concept? The timing for when our kids come may not be perfect in our eyes, but Gods timing is perfect. We must set our desire and delight in God himself!

Ive been so wrapped up in my perfect little plan. Im realizing more and more that nothing with this adoption has or is going the way I would have planned. And even when we go to Colombia and bring our kids home its going to be far from my perfect little plan and how I dreamed things will go. I can dream all I want of the perfect children, but its never going to happen. Kids are kids, things will happen and even if I plan to the best of my ability I am setting myself up for failure and disappointment.

I want what God has in store for Brian and I, not what I think would be best for me. God has really been showing me to let down my plans and give them to him. I cannot control this situation, its completely out of my hands. The kids will come in Gods timing, and our plans may change for bigger and better things because I am open to letting down my guard and opening myself up for something completely out of my comfort zone.