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Two weekends ago my parents came down to help us paint the kids room and do some updates around our home.

My mom is a great painter and did a wonderful job in the kids room! Thanks Mom for all your hard work! 

We have new white cordless shades ordered for the windows,

and obvioulsy we have more things to add to the room,

but for now I feel like its a great start!

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/

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.