Not much happening yet

We got some bad news today. About a month before they gave us the referral, we were told we needed to update our FBI background checks because they are only valid for 6 months. So Kerry and I made ANOTHER fingerprint appointment at the Rochester police station and got our fingerprints taken for the 5th time in 2 years. Anyway, I got those sent off to the FBI on April 16 and were told they were taking 8-10 weeks to get back because they used to prioritize adoption background checks but now they are just put in line with the rest of them. Of course, we all know what happened 3 weeks later. Well we found out that we will not be able to travel to Colombia until the background checks are back, we have them notarized, apostiled (for those of you who don't know what this is, you send a notarized form to the secretary of state where they put another form on top stating they have verified that the notary is a true and current notary. Talk about redundant), then we can send it to Colombia to be translated. Only after all that happens can we travel. I called the FBI today to see where they are because it has been almost 7 weeks but I was told our fingerprint cards aren't even in the system yet so the background checks haven't started. He told me they get about 10,000 per week! He also told me they are averaging 9-10 weeks. I called Lutheran Social Services and told them the news. She still thought that would only postpone our travel by about a week, maybe 2 so it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be but I doubt we will be traveling before July 15th now. Sucky!!!

At least we can continue to get the US government and Colombian government approvals, ask for our visas etc. while the background checks are happening. If those things take a little longer than expected, then the background checks might not slow us down any more than anything else.

I also talked to the LSS worker who just got back from Colombia but she wasn't able to get any new pictures because Kariana is in a foster home and not at the orphanage. I can't decide how I feel about that. I think its good for Kariana because I bet she is getting better care than at the orphanage but transition might be a little harder because she will have had one caregiver. Bettina told me the orphanage has a goal of having all children under 1 in foster families because the one-on-one care the babies receive is better for them. We will still meet Kariana at the orphanage so we won't be able to see where she has spent her life so far but we will get to meet the foster mom and learn her schedule, etc.

On a positive note, I found a crib set that I fell in love with. Its red, white, and pale green with dragonflys and lady bugs on it. Its adorable so I ordered the wallpaper boarder to match and now I'm trying to decide if we want to paint or wallpaper the bottom half of the room under the boarder. Kerry and I ordered her crib last week from Babies R Us and its white so the room could really use some color since the walls are white too. I am trying to stay busy with these decisions since otherwise I am sitting around twittling my thumbs waiting for something to happen! I am happy the crib is ordered so that only leaves us with a couple of gates for the top and bottom of the stairs to get. I still don't know what we were thinking getting rid of those. Uhh!!