2025: The Year that Changed Our Lives

2025… oof. The year that kicked our butts. We experienced the best of times and the worst of times. We were quite literally all over the place, traveling for work, a little bit of fun, and visiting family. We spent a lot of time on the water. Jedd got promoted! We got to meet one of our new besties. And my brother got engaged! 🎉

We celebrated love and life. We lost three special grandparents last year, and said goodbye to a fourth grandparent just days into the new year. Our hearts hurt knowing they won’t get to meet our children. Our grandparents have always been some of our biggest fans.

My grampa always referred to our adoption process as our “project”. Not sure why or where that came from, but I’ll sure miss him asking about it…. So, here are some updates on "our project":

At the time of our last big update we had just received Home Study approval and submitted our i800-A immigration application to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Since then, things have moved very, very slow….. Until they didn’t.

After submitting the i800-A we waited a couple of months… We had to provide more fingerprints and biometric screening, did some more waiting… Then finally the U.S. government approved us to adopt 2-3 children from Colombia! Our dream of adopting siblings continues! This gave us the green light to submit our dossier to Colombia (a 200 page document almost 2 years in the making 🙌).

We waited through spring and waited through summer… While we waited, we buckled down on learning Spanish. We took classes at Kirkwood Community College (shoutout to Señor Hildago!). We’ve also been watching movies and shows in Spanish and reading Harry Potter in Spanish 😍 to practice :) Most recently we’ve been addicted to Duolingo! Join us! 👉

We also fell in love with a Colombian restaurant in Milwaukee – Fiesta Colombia!

We reviewed their files (and photos 😭) together and talked through whether we thought we would be a good fit for them… and decided, we think so! We submitted a 20+ page questionnaire detailing what we learned about the kids from their files, how we are prepared to care for them, and what resources we have in our area. Then we poured our hearts into a Letter of Intent (LOI) to the Colombian adoption committee to express {in over 17 pages} why we would love the opportunity and blessing to be their parents <3 

And then began the most excruciating wait to date…. We had seen their beautiful faces and read every detail of information that we had over and over…. Not only had we begun to picture what our little family could be, but we had been advised not to share this development, as nothing was for certain at this stage. So we quietly waited and prayed…

UNTIL about a month later, our LOI was ACCEPTED – meaning the Colombian adoption committee felt that our home would be a good fit for these kids!!

Although still nothing was official, our emotions shifted to pure excitement! Up to this point, we had not received a ton of info about the kids. Now, we were given the opportunity to access additional, albeit limited, information, like school and health records. We had to wait for all of the files to be translated into English -- however we were able to put our Spanish lessons to the test and began to translate on our own!

We reviewed all of the information together and talked about whether we still thought we would be a good fit for them… and decided, YES, we think so! 

We then had the opportunity for a doctor at the University of Minnesota Adoption Medicine Clinic to assess the kids’ health and make recommendations for care. Dr. Judith Eckerle is amazing! Her medical report addressed everything from the basics—like getting a pediatrician and pediatric dentist set up—to recommendations for specialists. Her assessment was also filled with encouragement and such positive remarks about the kids that had me in tears. With this information, we submitted our plans for childcare and school, which healthcare providers we have lined up, how we plan to take time off of work to travel to Colombia and stay home with the kids to help them settle in, how we’ll address the language barrier, and more.

Upon receiving this news, we we wrote a Letter of of Acceptance to formally say “YES, WE WANT THESE BABIES”.

And with that, we are overjoyed to share….

We’re adding 3 little Cheeseheads to our Pack 💚💛

Two sweet boys and their darling little sister will be becoming Spidells ♥️ We just submitted our ~500 page i-800 Application to USCIS (the form that follows the similarly named i-800A mentioned above 🙃) for their immigration. Upon approval, we begin planning our travel to Colombia to bring our three children home.

However, just five days after receiving the best news of our lives, the current administration dealt us a devastating blow. Last week, the State Department announced they would be suspending immigrant visas for 75 countries—including Colombia. The president has deemed immigrants from these countries are likely to require public assistance while living in the United States or are public safety concerns. However, there is no credible national security justification for restricting intercountry adoption. Every foreign adoptee and adopting family is subjected to extensive vetting {as shown above and in several of our other posts}. Historically, international adoptees have been excluded from travel restrictions, but that is not the case for the latest travel ban. 

You may have seen our pleas on social media to ask federal lawmakers to urge the president to exempt adoptees from this freeze. The National Council for Adoption has made it quick and easy for you to contact Congress to elevate this important issue. Thank you to everyone who has contacted your Congress members and shared our request.

A special thank you to our loved ones who’ve reached out to check on us during this difficult time. You help us feel seen, and it means the world to us ♥️

We try to remain positive, though this can be hard to do, given all that is happening around us in the world. {Minnesota, we see you, and we feel for you}. We know this won’t last forever, but the suspension of visa processing for Colombia is now the only thing standing between our children and coming home.

While we wait, we pray, we prepare, and we pay. (I know, I know, it is not the best alliteration...🫣)

Though the waiting can feel unbearably heavy, God has revealed how tightly we cling to timing. He has exposed our desire to be in control and shown us how much faith it takes to love without guarantees. The wait has humbled us, shifting our focus from wanting to be a mom and a dad to the children themselves—for their safety, care, and happiness.

While we wait we try to prepare. Yes, seasoned parents, I hear your headshaking and chuckles out there. We know we’ll never truly be prepared to be parents… but as we prepare our home and ourselves we feel productive — painting the kids’ bedrooms, thrifting furniture and clothes for them, reading up on parenting, practicing our Spanish, lining up healthcare providers, alerting our employers, purging, nesting, and saving money. Our mantra is "productivity = positivity".

With this BIG news of our match comes our biggest adoption expense yet. We’re preparing for a $25,000 payment to cover our adoption agency fees, U.S. immigration expenses, Colombian adoption expenses, and care for our children. We’ve been overwhelmed by the support from our family, friends, and even strangers through our fundraisers over the past few years. Thank you. We have been so excited to share our news more widely, with all of YOU. We love being asked about the adoption, and we can’t wait to share more about our kids!!

Countless folx have asking about the fan favorite “Super Bowl Squares” adoption fundraiser -- THANK YOU! We’re happy to share it’s back by popular demand. If you’re not familiar with the game, check it out and join the fun :) 

100 squares are up for grabs! Claim yours with a $20 donation:

🏈 Venmo @Jedd-Spidell

🏈 Venmo @Alissa-Spidell

🏈 Use your credit or debit card online (tax-deductible)

$10 from each square goes toward the pot – win up to $1,000! The remaining proceeds will be put toward our final adoption fees and travel expenses 💜

We love you, we appreciate you, and we absolutely could not have gotten this far in our process without your support. The best is yet to come.

📚 P.S. A few more book recs for you:

• You Should Be Grateful 👈 a must-read about adoption!

• The Waves Take You Home  👈 sweet novel about a Colombian family -- and a freebie on KindleUnlimited!

• In the Country We Love  👈 OITNB star Diane Guerrero's memoir

• One Hundred Years of Solitude  👈 world renowned Colombian novel, now a Netflix series