Well the paperwork update expands........

I spoke with Tara at the new home study agency and she gave me a much longer list of things to update......... F U N! Tara's list is about 4 times as many things as Julie's.....my dear child you are well worth the wait and paperwork---I am sure =)

Immaculate Conception..........12-08-09

Matt and I are part of an adoption blog/forum in which one of the members was in Colombia last year at this time and stated that Colombians celebrate this holy day of obligation, The Immaculate Conception. She said that Colombians light candles for loved ones affected by the guerrilla warfare. So last night Matt and I lite a candle and prayed for those families affected by FARC in Colombia.

Working on updating the paperwork.......

Today, I spoke with Julie (Director of Colombia adoption program)about exactly what we need updated and she gave me our list.

1. FBI Fingerprint updated. - COMPLETED
2. Medical clearance and update stating we are in good mental and physical health.
3. Send letter to Immigration updating our fingerprints there which expire in 02-09. COMPLETED
4. Call home study agency and try to expedite the paperwork. COMPLETED

We went to get fingerprinted for FBI and now I just need to send them to the FBI (these are only good for 6 months)---so can you imagine, we done these lots of times already-------HOPEFULLY this will be the last time (keeping our fingers and toes crossed)!!!!!!!!

Christmas tree up.......

We finally got the Christmas tree up and decorated......hopefully, this will be last year we will be putting it up without help from our "little helper" our babino!!!!!!!!! However, Bella did give us a hand and she has for the last couple of years..........we are very lucky to have such great nieces and nephews.

Bella helping Uncle Poppy(Matt)

Bella helping Auntie Aimee hang the ornaments

Cody trying to help with the ornaments...NOT

Cody looking handsome...where's my baby brother or sister??????? LOL

December is here and so is the snow........

We really need to buckle down and get our paperwork updated, including updated medical clearances, FBI fingerprints, and a new home study!!! With the holidays coming my focus needs to be getting this work done and less shopping! We also really need to practice our Spanish and Colombian cooking-----Matt !!!!!!!! I found a great Colombian chef on Food Network, Simply Delicioso by Ingrid Hoffman, Matt already made a couple of the recipes and they were yummo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rent A Kid.......November 08

Waterworks indoor water park...... we were enjoying time with our nieces and nephew, since we do not have a child yet why not rent them LOL!!!!!

Aurora, Bella, and Baby Michael

Samantha (Aimee's sister), Bella and Eddie

Matt, Aimee, Bella, Michael, and Aurora

Michael Phelps watch out Michael Green is coming your way.....LOL

Fun pictures from Thanksgiving 08

Luis learning to carve next years turkey...maybe??????

Matea and Jade enjoying their good eats!!!!!!!!

Matea, Jade, and Baby Christopher enjoying time with their cousin CODY

Thanksgiving 2008

We definitely have a lot to be thankful for.....both of our families are wonderful and supportive, our faith continues to be revived with inspiration and dedication, in these very tough economical times we are fortunate to have employment, and most of all we are fortunate to have each other!!!


Matt and Aimee
Codys' 1st Thanksgiving
La Familia de Mateo

The Green Family (Aimee's brothers family)

Things are moving in Colombia

We received an email from the director of CHI ( our adoption agency), Julie on November 13Th---which stated that we are the next family for regional assignment YIPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!! We do not have it yet but what great news!!!!!!! She also stated that the paperwork needs to be updated and will only be good for 6 months but that we SHOULD bring our baby home within that time frame. We continue to pray and request prayers for the movement to continue so OUR baby can come home...there is a big family waiting for him/her.

La Familia.......

The Family in 2005

Matt and I with our god-children 2005

Matt and his dad

Bella, me, and Maya summer 2008

Aurora, Michael III, and Bella June 2008

Mike, Denise, Michael as power ranger, Aurora as Ariel and Moe Oct. 08

Samantha, Bella and Eddie Oct. 08

Granny Googles B-Day,Aurora, Michael III,and Bella Nov.08

Bella and Great Aunt Dee


Maya as Minnie, Amber, Cristopher as Venom, Luis as?, Jade as Tweety, Isaac as a mobster, Matea as angel/devilish Miranda as referee, Manny as?,and Nat. as monkey Oct 08

Bella and Christopher 10-08

The puppy......

Tori....in puppy heaven

CodyCody as a pup

Dizzy and AleHanna ..in puppy heaven
Cody loves waterMichael III,Luis,Cody,and Matt CodySo smallAfter losing our 2 dogs Hanna and Tori last year, months apart of one another....the house felt empty. Yes we still have the two cats but we still missed something........so a high school friend was looking for a home for some puppies, so I went to check them out! Here came Cody, a rottweiler/black lab mix yep!

The nursery

Since we do not know if it is going to be a boy or a girl, we chose to go with a more natural color scheme. Well we went with 7 different colored blocks 13"x13" ---we got the idea from Disney's Pooh paint collection....bet you, Matt wished he went to Home Depot by himself--LOL. It was allot of work but Matt did a GREAT job, it was time consuming and tenacious but hey our baby is worth it and we have the time--LOL!

The Approval....

September 2005-------The country of Colombia accepted us to adopt from their country!!!!!! We are approved for an infant from 0-24months, either gender and healthy. Now, we need to wait for regional assignment and then our babies referral.

Our third homestudy.....

We had to update our expired immigration paperwork which was only good for 18 months and update our home study once again, this time with our third social worker, Pam. Boy, this wait has gone through several social workers, wow. All is well and she updated us.

Our second homestudy update.....

Well we moved into our new house and the paperwork had to also be updated with our second social worker,Diana. Diana came and checked out our new digs and redid the home study......well we still need to child proof this house as well!

Our gains........

Just weeks after losing my dad a princess was born, Aurora--(Mike and Denise's). Boy what a character RoRo is...another strong "Green" woman. Then a couple weeks later Samantha and Eddie married! 10 months later another princess was born Bella to Samantha and Eddie. Lets see Samantha is my younger sister by 10 years---yes she had a child before us!!!!! But that's okay because we are still waiting for our special one. 7 months later another princess was born, Maya (Ashley, Matt's adult niece), yep another baby born into this large family!!!!!!! So we keep hoping and praying that our turn is coming ,,,,,we are still waiting

Major loses...

Several families members passed away within a year and half period......my dad----already an excited grandfather to Michael III, gave his blessing for our adoption and I am sure is watching over us and our child to be, lost his battle to leukemia and heart disease! He may be gone but definitely not forgotten. Matt's nephew, Robert---such a young soul is also watching over his family. My grandmother, struggling with her illness and lost of her child is watching over all her family including all those grandchildren, great and great great grandchildren. Our guardian angels, will you continue to watch over all of us and continue to flourish us with your love. Matt's mom passed away several years ago and I can guarantee that she is overseeing our process and will guard and protect our so to be child---that was just her way!!!!!!! With loses there are always gains!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Homestudy.....

Well, our initial home study was done by Megan (social worker)....boy we were nervous because we were unsure of how it went, but Megan was great. Mainly, they make sure all the documents are in order and your home is equipped for children. Child proofing began!

The Paperwork......

Well once CHI accepted us into their Colombian Adoption Program the paperwork began.... they know more about us then our families do, LOL. Bank information, birth and marriage certificates, pet info., information about our immediate families, religious affiliation and fingerprint and more fingerprints and more paperwork. So we gathered all the paperwork and apostilled it and sent it off to Julie (director of the Colombian program) and then to Colombia it went----
where Matt had a "sign" there was a couple waiting in front of him getting their documents apostilled with an envelope from CHI....so Matt asked, Are u with CHI too????? They replied, Yes, why do you ask? Matt replied, I am adopting a baby from Colombia, they relied so are we....funny the woman was also a Chicago Police Officer----Confirming our decision to adopt was right!!!!

2005 The journey began.....

After several failed attempts at in-vitro fertilization a spark was ignited to explore the option of ADOPTION! All of a sudden I had daily signs that this option was a perfect one for us. Here are just a few examples of what I mean, I opened a magazine in the middle and the article was all about adoption, the neighbors across the street from our old house (which at the time we never really spoke with), asked Matt to keep an eye on their house cuz they would be gone for several weeks adopting their daughter, I stayed later to clean an adopted child's teeth( for those of you that know me well---know I do not care to stay later than I need to ever and when I agreed to do so---DID NOT know this child was adopted =)) and then my aunt and grandfather also were touched with adoption. There are definitely many more signs however we just felt in our hearts that this was the right choice, so we started our research of different agencies, countries, and information. After visiting several different agencies we chose CHI ( Children's Hope international)--it just felt right again. Then we chose a Latin/South American country======Colombia. Hey did I mention one of my aunts was born and raised in Bogota, Colombia.