[meganicolson]

Just a quick update that after 7 weeks stuck in translation our dossier was submitted to ICBF on Monday - which was my husband's birthday. It will be interesting to see how the process goes from here as I'm sure it will be different from our other two Ayudame proceses. Here we go...

[Zuke]

Congratulations!!!!! That's so exciting...I can't wait to see your referral news since siblings have been coming so quickly lately!
Sorry about the 7 weeks...maybe your kids were just getting ready for you and needed that extra time.

[NashvilleGirl]

Awesome Megan! I'm sure it won't be long until your referral. How many children are you requesting and what age range?

[meganicolson]

All of our paperwork says that our preference is a sibling group of three children, age 0-10, either gender. However, it also says that while we would strongly prefer a sibling group of three we would also accept a sibling group of 2. (My husband really wants to fill up the van this round! We have always wanted a large family!) Our letter also says that we prefer and have most experience working with preschool and early elementary age children, but would accept a referral of children ages 0-10. I was a former kindergarten and elementary Spanish teacher and my husband was a former youth pastor. We love children.

I guess that this is somewhat odd and most people don't set out to adopt older sibling groups, but in both of our previous adoptions we requested sibling groups through Ayudame, each time increasing the age limit. Each time we were referred infants and we believe that God, in His sovereignty brought these specific children into our family. However, our hearts have always had a desire to adopt older children. Our social worker has known our desire and helped to prepare us for this. We really feel we are ready for the terrible (and great) possibilities and are trusting God to bring us through whatever needs/experiences these children will bring into our lives. We both speak Spanish and really want to help our children transition home in their first language.

Right now I am a little apprehensive that ICBF won't approve us, even though our homestudy and psych eval both strongly support our family parenting older children and adopting out of age order, since we have a 2 and 3 year old at home. We have not told many people about our adoption because we didn't know if ICBF would approve us and we didn't want to have to tell them we were not approved if that should happen.

So, while we wait we are praying for God's presence, peace, provision and preparation for our hearts and lives.

Sorry, that more than answered your question!

[entropy]

i can't wait for your response!!!

I was wondering about the question of birth order and your case specifically. But I imagine if its addressed in your home study and since you are wanting a sibling group, it shouldn't really be that big of a deal.
I've heard the bit about birth order before. but while I was in Cartagena, another family was adopting a son 6 months younger than thier daughter. so while, he WAS younger....6 months?