Regional Assignment

We got some news today!! Julie (CHI Colombia program director) e-mailed us today to let us know we were assigned to Pereira Colombia! It was kind of weird and unexpected, in a way. She was e-mailing because she thought she had already told us what our regional assignment was, and that it was for a different region. She was actually e-mailing to correct herself and notify us that our region was Pereira instead. The problem was that she had never told us any of that until we received her e-mail today. So to say the least, we were quite confused. Good thing I didn't get the e-mail until the end of the day, because I didn't get much work done after that. So I (Paul) e-mailed Julie right away and Chris called her to try to confirm what the e-mail said. Julie e-mailed back to us quickly and talked to us about our assignment and confirmed that we are assigned to Pereira.
For those who don't understand what a regional assignment is, I will explain.
When you first start the adoption process you have to fill out tons of paperwork including, psychological evaluations, physicals, FBI background checks, child abuse and neglect, social worker interviews.........pokes....prods.......you name it they do it. After you are done filling out the mountain of paperwork, you send it all the Colombia to be approved. All the paperwork that you send to Colombia is referred to as your dossier (dos-eee-ay). Once you are approved by Colombia's social welfare program (ICBF) then you are put on a waiting list (Baby list, sibling list, older child list, etc.) Once you name reaches the top of the list, the next step is to be assigned to a specific region of the country. After you are assigned to a specific region, the only thing left is to be assigned to your children. In the past, rule of thumb has been, once you are assigned to a region, you usually get assigned to your children within a month (remember this is just a rule of thumb). Throw in the mix of the holidays (Not much happens in Colombia in December) and I'm guessing we will be assigned sometime in early January. Although I hope I am wrong, because we would love to have pictures of our children before Christmas. So...... just something to pray about.
I have no doubt that God has picked out a specific set a children for us, so I'm not too worried about it. I do not know their names yet, but Chris and I pray for their safety and comfort every night. God knows their names, God knows where they are, God will give them comfort, safety, and peace. So if anyone who reads this would like to pray for them too, I would encourage you to do so. One of these days, when it's not so late, I will put my testimony on here about how the Lord softened my heart towards adoption. It is a very cool testimony about how God can work in your life if you allow Him to do so. If anyone has questions about anything with our adoption, please feel free to ask. Just type it in the comments and we will respond.