Our Adoption Story

I have hesitated about writing specifically about our adoption because our little man is computer savvy and I know he has visited this blog. However, I decided to share our blog at www.kellyskornerblog.com and now that Jhonatan knows we are adopting him, here it is....

I guess it all started three years ago when I first discovered Kidsave, an amazing organization that advocates tirelessly for older children without families throughout the world. I happened to stumble upon their website and read about Summer Miracles. Kidsave works together with ICBF in Colombia to bring older children over for a summer vacation of 5 weeks, during which time the children stay with host families who welcome them into their homes and advocate for their adoption. I had just spent 7 weeks in a cast with a broken ankle so I thought 5 weeks with an extra child...no problem! I mentioned it to Greg and he didn't even blink an eye when he said, "Absolutely, let's do this". A few days later, I was talking with my sister-in-law and she had just sent an email to the same organization about being a host family. How weird is that? So, the summer of 2008, we were lucky enough to host the most amazing girl, Paula.



We had the most wonderful experience hosting Paula and it was definitely eye-opening to meet these amazing older kids who were growing up without permanent families. While Paula was with us, her forever family found her! She came home in September of 2009. It has been a joy to be able to watch her blossom with her family.

Not long after she came home, our daughters started asking to host again. We contacted Kidsave in February of 2010 and told them we wanted to participate in Summer Miracles again but only if we could host a girl because we have four girls and logistically it would to be much easier. Because we were planning to only advocate not adopt (we had no intentions of adopting), we were matched last. Our social worker, who I adore, called us to let us know that there were no more girls approved to travel that summer and asked me if we would consider hosting a boy. I said probably not, but I would talk to the rest of the family. When the girls heard that a boy was the only option for us to host that summer, they all thought we should do it. Our social worker made a visit to our home and brought this picture...



Those of you who have met Jhonatan will be as baffled by this picture as I am. Who is this boy? Seriously, this is Jhonatan but looks nothing like him and does not even give a hint about his fun-loving, engaging and all-round enjoyable personality! However, his description did and also included that he loves soccer, is very smart and enjoys art. With picture and description in hand, we anxiously awaited our summer visitor. Just to give you an idea about that baffling picture, here is the boy who greeted us at the airport with an enthusiastic, "Vamos a casa" or "Let's go to the house"!





My posts from this past summer give a glimpse of how much we loved having Jhonatan in our home for the 5 week visit. He was a joy! When the end of the summer came and Jhonatan did not have a family who was totally committed to adopting him, we began to worry that we would have to send him back to Colombia without a forever family. It was then that we realized... we were his forever family! We all adore him and he completes our family perfectly. He is all we could ever imagined for a son and more and we couldn't have picked a more perfect brother for our girls. Thank goodness we didn't say no to hosting a boy!

We began the adoption process 2 weeks after Jhonatan left. Right now, our dossier is with ICBF in Colombia and we are waiting to hear if we are approved. If we do receive approval, our paperwork will be sent to Medellin so that we can be issued our official referral. After that, more paperwork and waiting until we can finally travel as a family to Medellin, Colombia and bring home our boy!

Right now, Kidsave is already planning for Summer Miracles 2011. If you have ever thought about adopting an older child or you just would like to open your home to one of these amazing kids, please visit the Kidsave website or leave me a comment and I will make sure you get the contact information you need, "because every child needs a family"!

Dance Party!

Jhonatan's last night here all of the kids worked together and created a dance routine. Ginny and Cassie directed while Jhonatan, Tess and Eva performed. The dancing was awesome but I especially love the pre-dance pictures!


We miss that sweet boy! He fits into our family so perfectly!


We are keeping our fingers crossed for a fast and problem-free process now that our dossier is with ICBF in Colombia. Our dance parties just aren't the same without Jhonatan!

It's out of our hands

Our dossier is officially out of our hands! I emailed our social worker, who has been on family leave just to touch base and get a rough estimate as to when our dossier (the collection of documents required by Colombia for adoption) would be filed with ICBF in Bogota. You can imagine our surprise when she replied that it was filed yesterday!! I wasn't expecting this step until at least the end of next week, at the earliest. She said we should hear in the next 2-4 weeks whether we were approved or if Colombia has any questions about our documents. Obviously, we are hoping for a quick approval with no questions! Then, our dossier will be sent on to Medellin where they will meet to decide if we are a good match for Jhonatan. If so, they will issue us the official referral to adopt Jhonatan. Even though it will probably be 3 months before we can go get him, I am so happy that our dossier is officially out of our hands!

Sometimes the World Doesn't Deserve Poetry

I copied this post from a blog I like to follow. The woman who writes it is a very talented poet and I love to read her blog entries. She hosted and adopted a boy through Kidsave and just hosted a girl for a holiday visit. I was going to introduce it with an explanation but it definitely speaks for itself...


An emotional week. F leaves today to return to Colombia. She did not want to leave. She cried.

At least she can still cry. She and Michael have experienced more difficulties in their young lives than many will experience in their entire lives. For Michael, this means he refuses to cry ... and so never does (actually, he cried with me once -- it was when I told him that no matter what happens, he's my "forever" son. But he's clearly blocked out the incident of crying from his memory). At least F can still cry.

Yesterday, we were driving around on various errands. I ran into a local Walmart to get some brown rice for the dogs. While there, we passed a clothing rack of 50%-off holiday dresses. Mom told F to pick one and that we'd get it for her. Mom and I were mindful of how F had so loved the pink dress we'd gotten for her earlier, and at least the thing with holiday dresses is how their fancy designs address a repressed girly-girl nature. Here she is in the dressing room.



Despite being worn over her purple leggings, Gorgeous, right?

Well, a few hours later as we were packing, she said not to include that dress and stockings I'd brought for it (as well as many of the other items we'd bought for her stay). She said that she'd never have a chance to wear it back at her orphanage. She said dresses like that are set aside for special occasions but ... there aren't usually that many "special occasions."

So off she departs, crying, because she wants a family so badly. And here I am stuck with an unworn dress hanging from a spare bedroom closet.

There's many things I can't say about F publicly. But I will express the hope that ... May your life not end with a memory of a favorite dress being that of something tried in a Walmart dressing room during a stray grocery run, and then never worn again. There is something wrong in the world when even such a ridiculous hope may be too ... ambitious

The Red Thread

"An invisible red thread connects those destined to meet, regardless of time, place, or circumstances. The thread may stretch or tangle, but never break." - Ancient Chinese Proverb



This proverb has been used widely by families adopting from China and I just love the visual image it creates to help explain the bonds within an adoptive family. Jhonatan came to us on this visit knowing that we are in the process of adopting him. It was wonderful to be able to talk openly and answer his questions. One night while tucking him in, the subject came up and I remembered the Red Thread Proverb. I explained to him that when he was born God must have connected one of those red threads from him to me and our family. Jhonatan agreed and added that the threads were tied to our hearts (so sweet!). Now he is back in Colombia and our little red thread is stretched and tangled but it will never break and soon enough he will be back here with our family where he was meant to be.

Let it Snow

Thank goodness it snowed while Jhonatan was here. Ever since the summer, he had been talking about how much he wanted to see snow. While in our minds it was not much snow, Jhonatan couldn't wait to get out there and all of the kids had a ball playing in the little bit of snow we got. Jhonatan and Tess in the snow.

Seriously, it doesn't get much cuter than this...

Jhonatan picked up snowboarding right away and LOVED it!

Sebas, who is also a Kidsave Summer Miracles 2010 kid, came over for the day. Jhonatan, Tess and Sebas played all day together. I love how kids don't need to speak the same language to be great friends.

Los Tres Amigos!

I can't believe they could make a snowman out of the tiny bit of snow that was left. He turned out pretty cute but Cowgirl ate his blueberry eye and thus he became, Mr. One-eye.

El Mejor Regalo del Mundo

Having Jhonatan here with us for Christmas was the best present ever! As a mom, it was awesome to watch our girls spend time with Jhonatan again. While they can drive me crazy sometimes, they are incredibly loving, accepting and giving. We all loved sharing our Christmas traditions with Jhonatan. Here are all of the kids with "the perfect tree".

Making Christmas cookies...

Taking a break from decorating the tree. The adorable blue star ornament in the background was a gift from Jhonatan. He made it for us while he was in Bogota preparing for the visit.

We had my family over to celebrate Christmas Eve. My parents gave all of the grandkids ukeleles, so the kids immediately had a ukelele dance party!

Love, love, love this picture. My two handsome boys! :)

I had to include this picture of my grandmother holding my niece. I hope I got those genes...

All of the grandkids on Greg's side of the family draw names before Christmas and get a gift for that one person. Jhonatan picked our 14-year-old niece. I wasn't sure how that would go but he picked out the perfect gift for her. Look at how excited he is for her to open it.

Playing Hedbandz with cousins...this game was a huge hit this Christmas!

I was worried that Christmas would be overwhelming for Jhonatan. Greg and I both have large close families, and when we get together it is quite a scene. Jhonatan fit right in and actually enjoyed all of the extended family activities. It was such a gift to spend this special time with him!

Sugarloaf, Science Center, and Strikes...

We were able to fit in some fun outings while the girls were off from school for Winter break. Here is Jhonatan on Sugarloaf Mountain...

Jhonatan and Cassie had a great time hiking with Greg and some neighbors.

I took all of the kids to the Maryland Science Center. We had been wanting to go to see the traveling exhibit...Shipwreck. Add in Uncle Tom and cousins and you get a super fun afternoon. Here is a picture of Jhonatan and Eva in the hurricane simulator.

Jhonatan on the bed of nails. He was pretty psyched about that picture.

Greg and I took the kids and some of their friends bowling.

It was Jhonatan's first time bowling but check out that form :)

While the outings were fun, we spent most of our time with Jhonatan hanging out as a family, soaking up every moment with him!

Airport Arrival

Jhonatan finally arrived for the holiday visit on December 10th! All four of our girls were participating in the Kris Kringle procession in downtown Frederick that evening so Greg went by himself to meet Jhonatan at arrival. Here is the picture he sent to my phone....

There were several other families meeting their children at the airport. Some are also in the process of adopting, some had only met the children briefly and for one child, this was her visit trip to the United States.

We are so grateful that Jhonatan could come through Kidsave to visit us again. It definitely helped with the waiting.