Thank you, Show Hope.

We were blessed to receive a generous grant for our adoption from the ministry Show Hope. http://www.showhope.org

Recently, we were invited by Steven Curtis Chapman and his team to come to a concert in Rochester, MN and help promote adoption. The boys and I attended the concert and worked at the Show Hope booth. David and the girls enjoyed staying at the hotel while we were gone. It was a nice family get-a-way.

May 5th, 2011 - Final Approval Granted!

Happy Birthday David! As an added bonus to his already fun birthday, we heard late last night that we have our final approval to travel. All the paperwork is waiting for us in Colombia and we should meet Gabriela on Monday! Our hearts are overflowing with thankfulness, joy and excitement! God has been too good to us! We can't tell you all how grateful we are for all the prayer and support that we have received. We have had so much help this past week as we were getting ready to travel. Thank you! We plan to spend the day finishing up on a few details and saying goodbye to our neighbors. Our last meal in the USA will be hamburgers on the grill!

Have a great day!

~Gerri

Tickets Purchased!

We counted the days that it will likely take for the final paperwork to reach Colombia and we booked our tickets this morning. Unless something crazy happens, we will leave Minneapolis on Saturday, May 7th. We will arrive that evening and then spend Mother's Day in Bogota. Hopefully, we will meet Gabriela for the first time on Monday. The final countdown begins!

~Gerri

Provisional Approval Granted!

We heard late yesterday that we received provisional approval from US immigration! This means we can start to consider ticket options and dates of travel! We need to have final approval from the Embassy in Bogota before we can leave, but we are almost there!

~Gerri

Waiting...waiting...and more waiting

We are ready to go (as much as we can be), just waiting for the word to get our tickets to leave. It feels just like waiting for that unexpected moment when your water breaks and the contractions for labor begins! I remember so well hearing different doctors say, "oh, you should have your baby anytime," and then it was another 2 weeks! It feels strangely similar to this waiting time right now. Just like our other children, God has the perfect "birth" day already planned. Oh, please let it be soon!

No word from Gabi this week. We hope she is well. We packed her dress for the presentation day this morning. So cute. We can't imagine what that moment will be like.

~Gerri

Love the Sojourner for You Were Sojourners

At church on Sunday I was able to share a good deal about this whole process, focusing particularly on what God has taught us during it. Somehow the audio got messed up, but you can read the text here.

Thanks, God, for your sanctifying work in our lives!

Last Application Sent - (I-800)

Good news! We got the rest of the needed paperwork from Colombia yesterday. We read Gabriela's official referral, in English! (that's what we were waiting for). It was emotional, but so great to read the words, "Dear Mr. and Mrs. VanAcker, We are happy to tell you there is a little girl for you, her name is Gabriela Liliana, she was born on February 07, 2008." Our last step/application was sent to US immigration this afternoon. Our officer is waiting for it and as soon as she is finished we will have provisional approval to travel!

Gabriela is doing much better. She hasn't needed extra oxygen for a few days now. We got to see her over Skype yesterday. We are counting the days until we can meet her in person. Thank you so much for praying.

~Gerri

FANA makes the news!

This is a video clip of KARE 11 news telling the story about some children from FANA (the orphanage that Gabriela is at). These children are in the U.S.A. staying with Patti Bertsch and her family as they visit doctors here. The Bertsch family helps the kids get here and hosts them while they visit doctors and try to meet families that might be interested in adopting them. At the end of the video clip you might catch a glimpse of Gabi (there is a picture of her). She was chosen to come to Minnesota the last time that a group came in September of 2010. Unfortunately we did not get to meet her then, but we were so thankful for the medical advise that we were able to get because of her time here.

Still Waiting

We got our Visas, but we are still waiting for the translated documents to come from Colombia so that we can send in our final application and get the go-ahead to leave. We have heard that Gabriela is doing better, so we are grateful for that. We saw her on Skype yesterday and she looked happy to see us. She spent about 5 minutes watching Anna play with a musical toy. We can't wait to see them interact face to face.

Minor Set-back

We went down to the adoption agency to sign papers and review Gabriela's official referral. Unfortunately, we can't send in our final application to immigration yet. There were a few pages in the middle of the documents that were not translated into English. Hopefully it will only be a few more days until everything is finished. In the meantime, we are set to get our Visas on Monday and we will try our best to be ready to leave as soon as we can.

Gabi update: She is still using oxygen regularly it seems. She had to be taken out of the orphanage over the weekend for further care (hospitalized). We pray that she will be able to gain strength quickly and that God would prepare her for all the excitement that is about to happen in her life.

Adoption Committee Acceptance - Please Pray

We heard today that our dossier was accepted by the adoption committee in Colombia! We are still on track to leave very soon!

Please pray for Gabriela's health. We heard this morning that she is unable to Skype because she is on oxygen again.

Dossier Arrived in Colombia

Our dossier was delivered via FedEx yesterday morning to Colombia. We are told that it will be approx. a week before we hear something back. In the meantime, we are getting the next set of paperwork ready, planning a trip to Chicago to get our Visas and beginning to pack! It could be less than 3 weeks before we can travel. Please pray for Gabi's health. She got a respiratory infection last week and had to be put on oxygen for a few days. We are told that she is doing well now and back at her regular activities.

I-800A Approved!

We just heard from our immigration officer today that our application has been approved! I drove all around town today gathering up the last of our documents and getting them signed by the Secretary of State (our dossier) so that they can be sent to Colombia tomorrow. We are on to the next step!

Where are we in the process?

12.3.2010	Agency Application
2.14.2011	Psychological Evaluation
Done	Training Hours
2.4.2011	Approved Homestudy
Approved!!	I-800A Application
3.17.11	Send Dossier to Colombia
3.29.11	Acceptance by Adoption Committee
4.01.11	Referral of Gabi
4.12.11	I-800 Application (this is the second part of US immigration)
4.01.11	Acceptance Letter to FANA (Orphanage)
4.01.11	Form DS230
4.04.11	Get Visa for travel from Chicago Consulate
4.20.11	Provisional Approval of I-800 Visa (from USCIS)
	Final Approval of the I-800 (From US Embassy in Bogota)
	Travel!!!!

Friday, March 11th

Final set of fingerprints were taken for our immigration application. (We had to do three sets. One for Minnesota clearance, one for the FBI, and one for this).

Monday, February 28th

We got to see Gabi again over skype. We also heard some important news. We had applied to expedite our case through immigration because of Gabi’s health. We had sent a request with a supporting letter from a doctor informing them of our need. A supervisor approved our request and therefore our application was pulled from the stack and set in motion! We were told by our officer that without this expedition our file might take up to 90 days for approval.

Saturday, February 26th

We attended our last adoption training. The class was adopting older children. It was another helpful session as we heard stories from a panel of adoptive parents.

Monday, February 21st

Gabi got to meet Grampa Dicko and Yaya over skype. Unfortunately we could not tape it anymore. (free trial membership ran out)

Psychologist appointment

February 10^th – We had our follow-up appointment with the Psychologist to find out the results from our testing. We passed! He said that he would be happy to write a report for us telling that we were of sound mind and healthy to have another daughter.

Happy Birthday Gabi!

Monday, February 7th - Gabi turned 3 years old! We were thrilled to get to “meet” Gabi over skype on this day. We sang her Happy Birthday and she clapped for us! We were able to record this time and you can watch the link if you like. We also sent in our application (I-800A) to the USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) to apply for determination of suitability to Adopt a Child from a Convention country on this day. This was the beginning of the immigration process.