We are officially matched! I received the translated referral on Friday and have reviewed her file over the weekend and decided to say yes! She is 4 years old but about the size of  2 year old. She has some health issues and some developmental delays but has been making good progress over the last year. I am not allowed to share her name or photo just yet so for now we're calling her Mirlo which means "blackbird" in Spanish. This is a song my dad used to sing to my sisters and I at bedtime and anyone familiar with the song (by the Beatles) will understand why it is also very fitting for an adoption- adoption isn't about perfection; all adoptions stem from a place of brokenness but with hope for better things to come ("Blackbird singing in the dead of night, take these broken wings and learn to fly"). I hope Mirlo, and our whole family, can "learn to fly" once she is home and settled.

Next step is filling out more paperwork and paying the next set of adoption fees. This includes a $5400 fee to Colombia to cover the cost of legal proceedings while we are there to finalize the adoption as well as the cost of prepping the child for adoption (necessary doctors visits and evaluations and the time of social workers etc.) as well as our final agency fee to our agency here in WA of $1500 (this goes towards covering the hours that local staff are putting in to support our adoption moving forward). This combined fee of $6900 is due in two weeks and I don't have that much sitting in my bank account right now. I thought we'd have time to save up the rest of our adoption fee but with Ramona having over $15,000 in out of pocket medical and therapeutic expenses last year beyond what her insurance covers, and me being unexpectedly out of work for over a month this summer (when the preschool where I worked closed without warning) my savings have just been much smaller than expected. I could really use some help in raising these fund by the deadline. Donations of any size are appreciated and if you donate through this site it is tax deductible and eligible for employer match. We really appreciate the support of our community in bringing Mirlo home as soon as possible!