Have Visas! Must Travel!

We have our Colombian Adoption visas thanks to our wonderful friend the Colombian Consul!

Typically it takes 2-3 days to obtain a visa. I was hoping we could drop our stack of information off at the Colombian Consulate located in downtown Houston and then pick up the completed adoption visas the first week of January before we travel. We each needed a visa to enter the country because we are traveling to bring our son home to the USA so it is also a way of tracking our family. The Consul was traveling the first week of January so he needed to do our visas the same day! Not a problem! We were so happy he could do everything in one day! He even asked if we had new pictures of Benjamin to share with him. We were so excited to leave the Colombian Consulate with Colombian Adoption Visas! Now we are on our way to Colombia!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to all our friends and family. This is our first Christmas in Texas and alone. Usually we are visiting family in Minnesota while enjoying the bitter cold and white snow. It is weird wearing shorts and a t-shirt on Christmas. At least the temperatures are dropping into the 50s in the evening. The reason we are home this year is because we have received a wonderful gift. We will be receiving Benjamin on January 6th in Bogota, Colombia.


We are getting very excited to leave and meet our baby boy for the first time. We have just received two new pictures of Benjamin. He is happy and healthy. We carry his pictures everywhere and show anyone that is willing to look. We are so blessed to have received this wonderful gift. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers. They are working. Please continue to pray for us, Benjamin, and everyone involved in the adoption process as there are still some challenges to overcome. God bless all of you. Merry Christmas!

The Preparation Continues

We bought our tickets! Hope that is ok since we kind of skipped over a few steps. We will leave January 5 and arrive the next morning in Bogota, Colombia. We will get Benjamin when we arrive that morning. I know there sure won't be a whole lot of sleep during the flight! The anticipation is growing each day. My mom started a countdown chart on her calendar! I thought I better do that too! We are at 16 days and counting! I like to say days instead of weeks...it seems so much closer.

As we prepare to meet Benjamin for the first time, my dreams are filled with images of our new family. I imagine what his little voice will sound like, or how he will grip my shoulders as I hold him, I imagine him riding his little tractor Grandpa Kuseske has already bought him. I find myself staring at every single little baby or toddler I see. I notice babies and toddlers everywhere. We are preparing as much as we are able to prepare. The nursery is ready to go even though I have clothes strewn all over the floor due to packing! I must wrap the packing up - I know I will shuffle the clothes from suitcase to suitcase - good thing it is a direct flight. They won't lose our luggage then, right? The car seat? Check. The diapers? Check. The high chair? Check. Cute little outfit to dress him in the first day we meet him? Check.

We have also found the perfect bed and breakfast to stay in once we arrive in Bogota. We can't wait to stay there. Our meals are included in the cost of bed and breakfast. We have access to a washer and dryer at the B & B which will be great for the clothing (although they don't use the dryer much). They will take us on tours of Bogota. Matt thinks the best part is that they have unlimited coffee and fruit.

The Preparation Timeline

We are preparing to leave for Bogota, Colombia! We are busy buying clothes, bottles, nuks, blankets, socks, diapers, formula and books! We still are pinching ourselves when we realize what we are doing.

Is this really happening? It seems like we have been patiently waiting (and I not too patiently) for him to come into our lives. We are thankful this Thanksgiving for family. We are thankful God has chosen us to have a family. We are thankful for friends. We are thankful for the great love of others who have already given us baby clothes and toys. We are thankful for God's love.
We still have some paperwork to go through before we meet Benjamin.
Before travel happens we still have to wait for approval from the US government.

1. We complete a form called the DS 0230. The US tells the embassy in Colombia our paperwork on the US side is ready.

2. The embassy in Colombia tells the adoption committee in Colombia we have approval to travel into Colombia for the adoption.

3. The adoption committee in Colombia tells FANA, our Colombian orphanage, we have approval.

4. The Colombian orphanage calls our adoption agency in Washington DC.

5. The adoption agency tells us the date we travel to Colombia - which is now January 6!

6. We buy our tickets - already bought!

7. We go to the Colombia Consulate in Houston - where we will travel to get our Colombian visas. The Colombian Consul knows me well :) I spent half a day crying in his office begging him to help me get a Colombian Passport. The good news is he wants to adopt from Colombia now. Guess who will be helping him with the adoption paperwork :)

8. We travel to our good old friend the Colombian Consul to get our visas, which takes three days. Then we leave!!!!!!!

9. Then we spend time with Benjamin.

10. Then the Colombian courts open January 12.

11. We have an interview with the Colombian Adoption committee and FANA.

12. We go to Colombian court to finalize the adoption with the lawyer.

13. We get a visa from the US Embassy for Benjamin and we come home to Houston!!!

I know what you are thinking...you gotta do what? We have grown and will continue to grow through this process. Looking at his picture the very first time, I didn't even remember the mounds of paperwork or the many paper cuts. I just said, "That is our son. When can we leave?"

Feeling the Hand of God

My story is unique but I believe anyone's family's story is unique. I was one of the first children adopted from FANA in 1975. My parents saw an ad in a Minnesota adoption newsletter to adopt children from Bogota, Colombia. They completed the short application for adoption and wrote a letter of interest. A few weeks later they received a letter from Mercedes Martinez, Director and Founder of FANA, that FANA would indeed work with them for an adoption. Four months later they received a phone call from Mercedes Martinez, stating I had been born and they would need to travel to Bogota to get me. While they prepared for me, they received one little black and white wallet sized picture that they carried around and proudly showed everyone and anyone who would look. "Look, this is our baby!" At the time, my parents didn't know anything about FANA. No one in Minnesota had ever worked with FANA before my parents. My parents bravely traveled to Bogota, Colombia, praying the entire way that there was indeed an orphanage called FANA and they would be able to find FANA and take me home. Well, they did find FANA and Mercedes Martinez. They were real! Their stay in Bogota, Colombia, was short - only three days, however; they returned to Bogota and to FANA two additional times for my two brothers.

I am the oldest of six adopted children. Three of us are from FANA, three of us are from the US with domestic adoptions. My parents also worked with Barker to adopt my sister nearly 20 years ago. Today, my husband and I, are adopting our first child with the help of the Barker Foundation and FANA. The wait has not been easy. The paperwork is endless...the wait beyond words. We have a picture of Benjamin and we proudly show everyone and anyone who will look. We pray each night for hope. My hope lies in the fact that my parents have adopted infants six times. My hope lies in our family stories. Stories my parents have told us and pictures they have shared with all of us from the visits to the orphanage, the Colombian decorations they saved for us that hang in our home, to stories about the wild cab rides in the Andes mountains that I just can't wait to experience myself.

My husband and I actually now know what my mom and dad were feeling as they waited oh so patiently for "The Call". I now understand what my mom and dad meant when they said they wore my little picture out. Benjamin is my screen saver on my computer, our wall paper on our cell phones. Now I understand that feeling completely when they said they couldn't wait to hold me in their arms. They said the wait was unbearable. Soon Matt and I will feel what my parents felt 35 years ago, when, as my dad recently told me, he watched as Mercedes carried me to them. He kept telling my mom, "That is Alissa. That is her. I know it." Then Mercedes placed me in my mother’s arms for the very first time. We recently came across this amazing quote:

Natural Child: Any child who is not artificial.

Real Parent: Any parent who is not imaginary.

Your Own Child: Any child who is not someone else's child.

Adopted Child: A natural child, with a real parent, who is all my own.

"Rita Laws, PhD"

Matt and I want children. It is not important to us where they are from or their background or how they were made. We want children to love and call our own. I replay the stories of my family in my head over and over as I look at the pictures in my baby book or look through the box of beautiful mementos my parents and grandparents brought back from Bogota and I am in complete awe of how God has worked in the lives of my family. I ask myself, how can people not believe in God? He has had a tremendous impact on my family - how could I not believe in Him. He has had his hand on us since the very beginning. Adoption is kind of amazing isn’t it?

Benjamin Matthew Keil

On the afternoon of Friday, November 5th, we have received "The Phone Call" that we have been waiting for. We are having a boy! He was born on June 2, 2010 in Bogota, Colombia, South America, with a weight of 6 pounds 10 ounces and length of 19 inches. He is beautiful! We are now in the process of filing the appropriate paperwork needed at this stage in the process. After the paperwork is completed we will be heading to Bogota to pick up our son. We are hoping this all occurs with the next two weeks. We are expecting to be in Bogota for at least two weeks. If everything goes right we will have him home in time for Christmas. Please continue praying as there are many steps left in the process. We cannot stop staring at the photo we have received. He is at current weight of 13 pounds and 2 ounces and length of 23.6 inches. We are so blessed to have received this wonderful gift. We will keep everyone posted on the process as things develop. Please keep checking back for the latest news.

Please post comments below. We love hearing from you all! Click comment as "Anonymous" to add your post.

In the Meantime

The meantime is the period of time between two things; the period of time between now and when something is supposed to happen. Alissa and I currently find ourselves in the meantime. This period of time between two things is very difficult. It is a time when we must be patient and let God’s Will take control.

The two things we are between are huge events. The first thing is the completion of our adoption dossier. The dossier gets shipped to Colombia and includes eight months of paperwork. The second thing is when we receive our baby. We find ourselves waiting for the phone call. Yes, “the” phone call that will deliver the good news, the news that will change our lives forever. This meantime is very difficult. How long will it last? Will tomorrow be the day? How many times will we ask each other these questions? Everyone in life experiences the meantime. Everyone has learned valuable lessons during this time. This time is very difficult, but we must make the most of it. We must take advantage of the meantime. We must prepare for the future. Prepare for the second thing, or the next first thing, or the next meantime. We must reflect on this time when it exists no more.

How many of you are experiencing the meantime? How many meantimes are you experiencing at once? It may be the time between one paycheck and another. The time between an interview and job selection. A time between a test and test results. A time of uncertainty. A time of excitement. A time of testing your own individual patience. Maybe you booked a trip and now you must wait for the relaxation date to arrive. You will experience this time no matter how young or old.

I envy our dog’s (Yuri) life. Yuri lives a good life. He doesn’t have to work, pay bills, and stress over the many issues we deal with in this world. Yuri doesn’t have to stress over the meantime. Or does he? As I left the house this morning, to earn a paycheck, I looked back, patted Yuri on the head, and told him I love him. He looked back with sadness in his eyes, not knowing where I was going or if I would come back. Yuri’s “first thing” is Alissa and I leaving for work. His “second thing” is when we return home. The time between is his meantime. Yes, dogs experience meantime as well. This time of uncertainty. This time that tests their patience. Dogs need to be patient too.

So is there a time in our lives when we are not experiencing the meantime? Our high-tech world is filled with multitasking actions with many meantimes included. Even when we are relaxing, we are multitasking our meantimes. We multitask these meantimes mentally and physically. We are always referencing our memories with our future ambitions. We are in the meantime from the day we are born to the day we die. We are referencing this time between the two most important events in our lives.

This meantime that Alissa and I are experiencing is now not so bad. When you put this time in perspective to what has occurred and what is to come you realize that the meantime is not so stressful. I wonder if Yuri feels the same way.