Integración Meeting Yesterday

Sorry for the late posting on this - our Internet has been out since early yesterday evening. The TV was out for a while today too. No TV and no Internet in a hotel in Colombia is a recipe for super boredom. Trust me.

We had our Integración last night with the representative from the ICBF (social services). We've jokingly referred to this meeting as the "sure you want to keep him?" meeting! Really it's just to make sure Elkin is adjusting to us well and that we're adjusting to him well. We passed with flying colors, of course :)

Just like every other official meeting, it didn't get around to starting for about an hour and a half or more from when it was supposed to. If you missed our previous post about some of the things we like and dislike about Colombia, a big one is that no one is in any hurry at all. Being late is apparently perfectly acceptable in any situation. I know some people in the States that would love that :)

Our interpreter was there too and she and the ICBF rep asked if we would be interested in taking a day trip to the Caribbean coast. Uhh... yea! So we're doing that on Sunday. Our interpreter will go with us and we'll eat lunch (where exactly we don't know) and do all that beach stuff. Full day adventure it sounded like.

Tomorrow, if things go as planned, we'll be heading to a photo place to get Elkin's passport photos taken. We'll need those when we head to the town he was born in (hopefully early next week) to get his Colombian passport made.

The ICBF also reassured us that as far as she can see, the judicial strike shouldn't affect us at all and that we should be on our way to Bogotá soon. We may actually be able to leave as we planned - earlier if things go very well.

Before we came to Colombia, we decided "for sure" that we'd hop a plane to Cartagena (touristy coastal town) to eat up some of this wait time but we've decided not to because we've been told twice now that our process should move along very quickly.

We'll see.

Elkin has been going to sleep and waking up so much better than when we first got him. The only time he's getting upset anymore is when we tell him no. I say that's better than when he wakes up or goes to sleep.

Hope to catch you all up again soon... we'll see how the Internet cooperates.

Couldn't help myself...

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A Week in Colombia... Upgrade / Downgrade

We've been here for about a week now and have had a taste of several areas of this experience so we thought we'd share our feelings about several parts in an upgrade/downgrade style.

The housekeeper on our floor - UPGRADE

We have the most wonderful housekeeper ever. Stacy has to fight back the urge to hug her on a daily basis! She's very grandmotherly. She watches for when we go to breakfast or head to the pool so she can come in and clean up while we're gone. She's always engaging Elkin and she has the biggest smile we've ever seen aside from our little boy. I wish she could come home with us.

The sounds outside - UPGRADE

We might not have always said this, but the honks and the music and all the talking outside nearly all day long is actually quite soothing. It's like a state fair meets interstate traffic. Sounds horrible but it's actually quite nice to listen to.

When it gets dark - DOWNGRADE

Maybe someone can explain this to us, but it gets dark really early here. We're in about the same time zone and looking at a map, Colombia is directly below the middle of the States but it gets dark by 6:00pm. Really dark. So we have to be in early.

Café con leche, fruit and arepas - UPGRADE

The café con leche (coffee and milk) is very good. Colombian coffee is generally more mild than what we have in the States. Café con leche is that great coffee mixed with very hot milk. No sweeteners. It might not sound that great but it's very, very good. Trust us. The fruit is amazing too. Lots of choices, some we've never seen before and it's all available in juice form too. The pineapple and mango here is especially good. Arepas are white, fried, cornbread type things that are really, really good.

The wildlife - UPGRADE

There's iguanas and monkeys everywhere in the park. Iguanas and monkeys!

Our hotel restaurant waiter - UPGRADE

One of the waiters at the hotel restaurant has kind of become our personal waiter. He's learning English so he likes to talk to us as much as he can in English (which isn't much). It's actually quite funny - we'll talk to him in Spanish and he'll talk to us in English. Needless to say, the conversations are short and to the point, lacking any sentence structure. He's awesome though - he knows exactly how we like our coffee, always runs over with a high chair when we show up, and has even started bringing a plastic cup full of orange juice (Elkin's favorite - there are lots of crazy juices available here).

Two English-language TV channels - UPGRADE

They're Spanish subtitled, but we do have a WB channel and E! that are mostly non-dubbed. It's very nice. We brought some TV-on-DVD shows on our laptop to watch which has been a lifesaver but the TV is great too.

Several Spanish-dubbed US TV kid's channels - DOWNGRADE

Don't get us wrong, we love that there's stuff for Elkin to watch but we're really getting tired of hearing Barney and the Backyardigans and [name any popular kids show] in way-off-the-mark Spanish dubbing.

The park - UPGRADE

The park is great. Lots of food stands, lots of sidewalks, iguanas, monkeys, sloths (we're told), a big river to watch and a huge playground. We really don't know what we'd do without that park.

The language barrier - DOWNGRADE

This part is way harder that we thought it would be. Yes, pointing works but only if there's something to point to. Most people are nice about it but many are annoyed. NO ONE speaks English here. Montería isn't an international city like Bogotá. English speaking people don't vacation here (According to many locals on the Internet, Montería is kind of a joke of a town even to other Colombians). Little to any international business goes on here so there's no incentive for any English at all. Not that we think anyone should speak English here, it's just really hard for us.

Living in a hotel - DOWNGRADE

Imagine vacationing alone in a foreign country with your three year old nephew that you've never met. That's best how we can relate to friends and family back home. The kid doesn't know you at all and you're stuck in a hotel room. Especially here - we're literally stuck in a hotel room. Like we've said above, it's a huge challenge just to go out to eat or visit the grocery store. It's too dangerous to go out at night. It's so hot outside the room - yes, outside the room. The entire hotel is "open" to the elements so it's hot and humid even in the hallway. Our room is the only public place in the hotel that is air conditioned.

The weather - DOWNGRADE

It's very hot and very humid. Very hot. Very humid.

Having a 3 year old boy - UPGRADE

We have the greatest little boy ever. He's so cute, so lovable, and has the best smile and laugh ever!

Having a 3 year old boy - DOWNGRADE

I'm guessing anyone who's ever had a three year old can ad lib this one.

Being the only gringo y gringa in town - DOWNGRADE

We didn't stand out so much in Bogota - at least we didn't feel like we did. We sometimes feel like we're in a zoo here. We're the only gringos we've seen in the entire town and it's not that small of a town. There's always a minority somewhere so anyone who's ever been in that situation can surely relate.

Changing Internet passwords - DOWNGRADE

It's hard to say "What's today's password to the wireless internet?" in Spanish when the Internet doesn't work and you can't use Google Translate. (We have it written down now)

Machine guns on street corners - DOWNGRADE

Guards sometimes stand on the street corners with machine guns. I don't think I need to expand on this to stress the need for downgrade status. And before anyone asks, no, I will not take a picture. I'm assuming that's a no-no.

Machine guns on street corners - UPGRADE

They are Colombian military and not terrorist (we think) so they are here for our protection. Leading us to wonder... protection from what? I mean, we know about the terrorist groups but why are they only here on some days and not others?

Our interpreter - UPGRADE

Our interpreter is awesome. She even went to Exito with us one day. She's available 24x7, knows everyone in town, and is always super helpful.

Dreams of Bogota - UPGRADE

Wow do we wish we could go back to Bogota. If all the information we have is correct, the strike won't effect us so much or not at all because we are where we are so that's awesome but the weather and the people and the ease of moving around is being missed terribly.

The judicial strike - DOWNGRADE

We still aren't 100% certain that this won't affect us and at very least it's a downer to hear horror stories from other adoptive families here right now and stress about what that might be like for us. We really hope it ends soon.

Some Colombian tendencies - DOWNGRADE

In Colombia, showing up on time is not important. It's a culture thing. Colombians also think it's best to know things only when necessary so as not to worry about them in the meantime. We're control freaks so this is really, really tough for us.

We're sure there's lots of others but hopefully this gives you all a good idea about how things are going.

Last Night, Monkeys in the Park, Yummy Helado

Elkin went to bed a lot easier last night. It was still a two hour process winding down but he did finally sit on the bed, then lay on it, and then dozed off while smiling at Stacy. It was nice. We think he fell in love a little bit last night.

This afternoon we went to the park and we finally saw some monkeys! They were way up in one tree so we didn't get any fantastic shots but you can see them in this video we took.



We stopped by the playground as well. Elkin LOVES sliding down any of the several slides. He's so cute. He needs help getting up the stairs and wants to make sure his papi is completely prepared to catch him but he always loves it.



There are a couple of ice cream stands in the park that we've been meaning to stop at since we've been here and finally did today. There were lots of different flavors to choose from. Papi had pineapple (very good) while Mami had lime (excellent) and strawberry. Elkin had vanilla chip with rainbow sprinkles. We thought it tasted more like coconut and bubble gum ice cream than vanilla. Here's a picture of him enjoying it.

Let's Take a Walk

We were hoping to get a chance to do this at some point after the success of our taxi ride video in Bogotá (we'll try to do a taxi ride one here too if we can) so here's a first-person look at what it's like walking downtown in Montería, Colombia.



We did not add a sound track - what you hear is what it sounds like. Stacy was just saying how it's becoming more and more familiar and enjoyable to hear all the sounds all the time. Home is so much quieter.

Elkin LOVES all the noise. Usually he's so enthralled with all of it that he kind of zones out looking at everything. Overstimulated I guess. But when there's a big bus honk or something like that, he gets really excited as you can see.

Last Night, El Porton for Dinner, Another Park Visit

The bed's a bad place for Elkin. He's always gotten upset when we start moving that way at night time. Plus he's very afraid of the dark so the whole going-to-bed thing is rough. But last night we did get him to sit on the bed with us and do some things like watch TV and eat some snacks.

He doesn't look very happy in this one (like I said, he hates the bed) but he was having fun making snacks for us - he wasn't too into peanut butter and crackers but had a blast spreading it on for us.



He only woke up once or twice but all in all it wasn't any worse than the night before.

This morning we went to breakfast at the hotel again and then went to the grocery store for the all important water and a few other things.

When we got back to our room, he does what he does almost every time he gets tired - he gets his shoes and socks and makes us help him put them on, puts all his things in his bag, and starts crying profusely for mommy and points to the door. It's very very sad and it's hard on all of us. Eventually he can't cry anymore and gets distracted and goes to sleep.

Later this afternoon we went out and decided to go to a little restaurant about a block away called El Porton (literally "The Gate"). The food was amazing. I took a picture but unfortunately it didn't turn out at all. We weren't totally sure what we were ordering but we each got a plate with half a large avocado, a big piece of what looked to me like pork flank steak, a big bowl of beans in sauce, some starchy rice with a big egg-over-easy on it, and two arripas (fried corn meal round).

This was authentic Colombian food, at least compared to everything else we've had to eat here so far. It was big and satisfying and I'm sure we'll go again. It was a little expensive for food down here (about $20 total) but it really was an awesome meal. Ordering was a challenge and is always intimidating but I'm glad we went in and gave it a shot.

After dinner we went to the park again. This time we walked the other way than we normally do (it's a very, very big park) and found the playground. He had a LOT of fun riding the slide over and over and over (and over).



We walked around a little more and got closer to the river where Elkin promptly yelled "Agua! Agua!" (the kid LOVES water) and started taking his pants off! He figured that much water must be the greatest swimming pool he's ever seen.



We're back "home" trying to get a very tired little boy to stop scream-crying "mommy vamos" which in 3 year old Spanish means "I want to go to mommy NOW". Some of this is getting easier and some of it harder. We're both hoping our lawyer is right when she said we have about a week and a half before we can head to Bogotá to wrap things up.

Iguana Adventure

We went to lunch in the park today and had hamburguesas y papas fritas francés - very good. Same toppings and general flavor as your ball park burgers.

The unfamiliarity came with the little creatures that are obviously used to being fed scraps!





Elkin was a little scared... Stacy was really scared! Elkin put his legs up on my chair as they got close. He was afraid they'd bite him. No one else was feeding them so we certainly didn't. First it was just one and then it got closer and then it got even closer. I think he signaled to his buddies at that point that we might be suckers for hungry lizards so one by one they kept coming. At one time there were five or six surrounding our table!

A park ranger just walked by and they all scattered. They must regularly chase them off.

It was very cool though. We're still on the lookout for the monkeys (though we think we saw one a few days ago) and a sloth. Personally, I'm looking very forward to seeing a sloth. Weird animals.

We had another post today too about our swimming trip so if you didn't see it just scroll down.

Lawyer Stuff Yesterday, Swimming Trip Today

Yesterday was yet another adventure (seeing a pattern here?). Our interpreter showed up around 3 and we went to Exito and picked up some groceries and two pairs of pants. Most of the food was very inexpensive but the shorts were around $20USD each. Nothing special, just shorts. The clothing at Exito in Bogotá wasn't nearly that expensive. In fact, we thought the prices on the non-food stuff in Bogotá was close to the stuff in the States.

After that, we sat and waited with our interpreter for the lawyer to call... nothing after an hour. So we all took a walk toward her office and through the park. Elkin fell asleep on me as he did on our last park visit (must be exhausting for him). We finally met up with her about three hours after our scheduled time! Colombians are never in a hurry we're told... and are seeing!

At this "meeting" with the lawyer, we gave her power to represent us legally through our adoption here in Colombia. The office was right next to the courthouse (it was part of it I think) so we walked right by the judicial system strikers and their big banner. It was really surreal doing that - all the reading about it in these "foreign" newspapers and here we were, 12 inches from it. Bizarre.

The office that we needed that power-of-attorney document made up was locked and showing participation with the strike. However, our lawyer said they were willing to do this for us. Believe it or not, the whole thing was done through a window open about 6 inches. In went our passports, out came our completed document and our passports. It was crazy. Not the normal way this goes but they had to show they were supporting the strike even though they were willing to do this for us.

We asked our lawyer about how the strike would effect the rest of this process since a judge is involved in the rest. She said (with the help of our interpreter of course) that it would not effect us AT ALL because our legal proceedings will be in the nearby very small town that Elkin was born in. We thought that our judicial stuff would be done in the capitol of the region (Montería) where the strike was taking place an arm-length away. So that was the best news we could possibly hear. We're told that we have about 12 to 15 more days (give or take) before we're done here and can finish up our few days in Bogotá.

Last night was SO much better than the night before. He slept almost the entire night through. He only woke up once or twice. We all felt much better this morning than yesterday. He's still very much on a bottle and we got exactly what he's been used to while we were at Exito yesterday so he's eating and feeling better. His cold is only bothering him a lot at night and when he wakes up from his naps but other than that it's OK.

We went swimming this morning - what a blast!!! He had SOOOO much fun.



He likes to jump in and he thinks he can swim but he's not real good at it - it's more of a sink-and-ask-for-help move. He'll jump in, get water in his nose, laugh super-hard and then choke, cough it out, laugh some more, and repeat. Over and over and over. Apparently it's all worth it to him. We did that a thousand times. He wouldn't pee in the pool either (?? that's the best place!) - like I've said a bunch already, the kid is very, very clean. Pee goes in toilets I guess.

He took a nap as soon as we got back for a good hour or so. He's so cute when he's sleeping... we'll try to take a picture for everyone soon. He often puts both his hands under his head before finally falling asleep!

We're going to try to grab some lunch, hit the park and the grocery store again.

We're not publicly uploading pictures to Flickr that have us all in it until we get home but we are going to upload several (and some video) that family and friends can see but you'll need to sign up for a Flickr account first. After you sign up or if you already have one, email me at fishertimj [at] gmail.com with the email you signed up with and I'll add you as a friend/family user and you can see the other stuff too.

Our 40lb Baby

Last night was an adventure. I got four hours sleep max and Stacy got about half that. Elkin woke up several times during the night very, very upset. He just kept screaming for "mamá" and Stacy would just keep repeating "Yo soy tu mamá! Yo soy tu mamá!" (ENG: "I am your mommy") He wasn't very happy with that. :( I'm sure he wants to go back to everything familiar to him (hey, we understand that completely).

As the night went on, he regressed quite a bit. All he wanted was for me to hold and rock him while he drank his bottle. Not the big-boy Elkin we saw yesterday or this morning after the sun came up. This happens a lot and is actually a good thing. He's being a baby all over again for us - part of his attachment. Even when he was screaming for mamá, he let me hold and rock him. He seems to be taking a bit more to me than Stacy - very, very normal we're told. The only problem is that he's 40lbs! My back is a bit sore this morning :)

Elkin is SO HAPPY otherwise. All he does is run around and laugh. It's hillarious! He'll come up to me and put his finger up to his mouth and go "shhhh" and then sneak up behind Stacy and touch her or shut the light off when she's in the bathroom. Such a prankster!

He also says vamos a lot - litterally "come on". He puts all his things in his back pack and heads for the door. I think sometimes he just wants to go ride in a carro but other times we think he's wanting to back to his mamá that he remembers. It's tough for the poor little guy but we're sure he'll get more comfortable soon.

Breakfast was better today, even though we had Elkin. We had some problems ordering yesterday because the hotel restaurant staff knows less English than we do Español. This morning was buffet style so that was easier and they already knew how we liked our café. The first-time things are really difficult because of the language. Yesterday we went to a burger place, ordered a soda at stand in the park, and had to pick up eye drops for Elkin. Difficult things to do when no one knows English. Pointing and our excellent Spanglish get us by, it's just a little intimidating.

Last night he took his prostesis out by himself which we were told he would do. They told us he needed help putting it in though. His eye lashes in that eye were all gunked up from crying all night and the natural stuff that comes out all day so we cleaned him up and popped it in. Easy as pie. It's way too small for him now so the first thing we'll be doing when we get home is getting a new, larger prostesis for him.

He wore his first clothes we brought for him this morning - he's a 2T. We convinced ourselves before we left that he was big for his age so most of what we brought is 3T but he was swimming in the 3T shorts we tried on today. We might get by with what we have but we can always go to the store and pick some stuff up.

We're off to see the lawyer this afteroon to get some paperwork rolling. That usually happens at the same time as the meeting yesterday but she couldn't make it for some reason.

We'll try to get some more pictures up today if we can. Everytime we try snap one of those super big smiles he puts on a fake one - he's obviously had his picture taken a lot and knows the drill.

Introducing Elkin!

Here he is! Just took this a few minutes ago in our hotel!!!



Wow, that was quite the experience! It was pretty fast, in and out, but everyone was great. Thank goodness for our interpreter! We went to the ICBF office in Montería with our interpreter, met the director of the agency, and then in came Elkin with the psychologist.

They introduced him to us as mami y papi and he was very, very shy. Not upset, just shy. We brought him one of those cars that you push a bit and then it takes off - that was a hit. Elkin LOVES cars, they even told us that today as part of his personality description. So he's had a blast with that on the concrete floor here in the hotel.

The whole process was only 1/2 hour or so and then we were back in a taxi to our hotel.

He started crying when we got to the hotel. We finally got in the elevator and to our room but the maid was cleaning!!! Bad timing!! We took a stroll around the hotel and finally got him laughing when we started driving the car all over our body! He loved that :)

Since we've been here, we got him to drink and eat some, went to the bathroom for the first time, and he even insisted on a shower! We found out he showers three times a day! We're told he's very, very, very clean. He wants clean clothes and will not tollerate being dirty or having food on him. Who knew you could be obsessive compuslive at 3? - he must have gotten this from his new parents ;)

Lots and lots of stuff just in the last few hours - we're exauhsted!! He's quite the handful. And a smile that'll break a lot of hearts, we're sure. We'll try to post some more tonight.

There are a few more pics of Elkin - just click on the Elkin link under the photo of him on the right.

We're Not in Kansas Anymore

As we said in our last post, we landed in Bogotá last night and stayed at a really nice B&B called El Refugio. It's a B&B that many adoptive families stay at from all over the world. While we where there last night/this morning, there was also an American family there and two French families. And some darn cute kids!

Here's some shots of the B&B:





After breakfast this morning, we took a walk to the Unicentro Mall in Bogotá. It was as nice or nicer than any mall we'd ever been to in the States. It's amazing to see what stores are international and some of the crazy places we've never heard of. We would have gone every day had we been staying in Bogotá. We absolutely loved this city - the weather was amazing, the people were the friendliest we've ever encountered anywhere. Everything was beautiful! We could probably move here and be very happy.

Here's some pictures we took around and in the mall. If you click on them as they show up, you'll go to Flickr where you can see some more detailed info on them.



After the mall trip, our driver came and picked us up and took us to the airport to fly to Monteria. Driving is an adventure in and of itself in Colombia so we took a little video of our taxi ride. We're just glad we're still alive! The drivers are crazy!! I just stuck the camera out the cab window so you can see a lot of downtown Bogotá in this:



So we're finally in Montería late on Sunday night. It was too dark when we got situated to take any pictures but we promise you'll see some tomorrow or the next day. Oh yea, and pictures of Elkin! ;) That's tomorrow for anyone who's keeping track!!!!

Talk to you all soon!

We´re Here!

We arrived in Bogota really late last night and are staying at a B&B today. We have a flight that leaves later this afternoon for Monteria.

Then tomorrow we meet Elkin!

I´m sure we´ll be posting tons of pictures tonight and definately tomorrow.

Packed and Out the Door!

It's been a crazy few days but we've finally got everything together and we're off to the airport!

We got up really, really, really early today. I think we got a combined 6 hours sleep last night but planes are for sleeping on (I think).

Poor little Abby wanted to go really, really bad :( We're going to miss our three little girls while we're gone!

We'll be posting pictures later today I'm sure.

I can't believe we'll be in Colombia TODAY and we'll see our little Elkin on Monday!!!!!

It's Official - We're Leaving on Saturday!

We just talked to our adoption coordinator and everyone involved thinks it would be best if we continued on with our plans for leaving on Saturday!!!!!!

We found out that the region that we're adopting from isn't quite as on strike as many of the other regions. The court system in that region is certainly not shut down though it is running slower. However, the whole thing should be over tomorrow or soon next week, plus we're not due in court until the very end of September.

Our agency has several full time folks in Colombia that work very closely with the ICBF, the Colombian governmental agency that we're working directly with to facilitate Elkin's adoption.

So enough of that...

WE'RE GOING! WE'RE GOING! WE'RE GOING!

Strike Update

The judge's strike in Colombia is still going on. Good news is that they met for some negotiations yesterday and decided on some terms. From what I understand from the article in El Tiempo (Bogota newspaper) the judicial union is going to have some meetings and then accept or not accept the agreement from the government. I'm assumming that if they don't accept it they will enter into more negogiations. The union will give their answer at the earliest tomorrow and the latest on Friday morning. Here is the translated article for anyone who is super interested in the details.

So how does this affect us? Well, our adoption agency yesterday told us that at this point we are still a go to leave on Saturday. This can change if negotiations break down or things just aren't looking good. Even though we meet Elkin on Monday, our case won't enter the court until a week after that. So that gives a week for everything to get up and running if negogiations are accepted this week.

Some Recent Montería Pics

I found quite a few Montería photos online but here are several from a pro photographer that took some around town in April of this year.



Here are some great shots of Bogotá as well.

Enjoy!

Travel Meeting

We had our travel meeting with our adoption coordinator this afternoon and discussed pretty much everything from flying down there to flying back and everything in between. LOTS of details but it sounds like everything should go well.

We did chat a bit about the court system strike in Colombia but for the time being, we're not going to change our travel plans. Our adoption coordinator will be talking to her contacts in Colombia and we'll be making a decision about that later next week.

We also received some updated information on Elkin! Everything we knew about him previously was from February and what we have now is from July! So that was really neat to have some more information. We learned some more about his biological family, his weight and height, and some updates on his personality and how he's progressing.

The most exciting thing we saw was that he's now potty trained!!! :) :) Of course who knows to what degree so we're still planning on packing some diapers.

It was a really great meeting and now we're REALLY excited to go!!

(And since you all will ask, in July he was 34lbs and 2ft 11in)

Better Than Good News!

My fingerprints arrived in our hands from the FBI about 10 minutes ago with that much anticipated NO RECORD FOUND stamp!! We're back on schedule!

We were pretty down all weekend about my fingerprints because we knew the FBI wouldn't even receive them until Monday morning. Well they did show up there on Monday and I called that afternoon asking for a status.

The woman on the phone at the FBI asked when FedEx showed that they were received there in West Virginia and I said "10:30 this morning". She laughed (I'm not kidding) and proceeded to tell me to call back in about three days because "it takes three to five days just get through security and in the pile to get processed. Then it'll be another few days to process even with your adoption priority."

That was not what we wanted to hear.

Stacy talked to our adoption coordinator and we decided not to make any plan changes until Thursday, just to give it a few more days.

[Good news begins here!]

Also on Monday, after reading a comment from Nicole about what she did when they had some fingerprint issues, we took the advice in the link she sent and we sent an email to the FBI.

So here it is Tuesday morning, and I get an email at about 6am from a Gary at the FBI. He says he found our envelope [in security] and would do everything he could to expedite the request. And boy did he. Over the next hour and forty minutes, Gary got our package through security, up to processing, got it processed, and had it in a FedEx overnight envelope.

Gary needs a raise.

A supposedly 2 week process was done in under two hours because someone took the time to understand our situation. He's getting quite the Christmas gift from Elkin, Stacy and I this year! :)

So now we have to get some things notarized, apostilled, and mailed off to our agency and the paperwork should be done. We'll have our travel meeting tomorrow with our adoption coordinator that will spell out the details of our trip.

Then it's packing, lots of odds and ends, and we're off - IN A SHORT 10 DAYS!!!

More Bad News

Apparently we got some incorrect information from the FBI when we called yesterday because according to FedEx this morning, the FBI does not accept packages on Saturday.

I tried calling the FBI this morning about it and it turns out they don't accept phone calls on Saturday either. Both facts that we were told otherwise about yesterday.

So this means that they won't get my fingerprint retakes until Monday. Meaning, for us to be able to go to Colombia as scheduled, they'll have to process them in a few days or less and then mail them back to us immediately. Not likely.

So it's looking like we'll be changing flights and plans (not at all cheap and not at all a good feeling). I know it'll all work out because it has to but talk about discouraging. My fears now are that even a third submission of prints will get rejected and I don't know what would happen then. We can't just keep rescheduling this trip. It's not like this is a dentist appointment or something.

We'll be talking to our adoption coordinator on Monday. Hopefully she'll be able to make us feel better about this.

Thanks for all the well wishes everyone!

FBI Fingerprints Rejected

My [current] worst fear came true today - my set of FBI fingerprints was rejected. Stacy's was OK - mine were not quality enough to read.

So I left work in a panic and we went to a different police station than last time to get them done. I got two copies made just so they have more to look at and we sent them FedEx overnight w/ Saturday delivery. Yes, the FBI processes prints on Saturday - 24x7 actually - so that's good. They should get them tomorrow morning. We used a red sharpie and marked ADOPTION / URGENT all over it so hopefully it gets some quick attention.

We need to have both of our cleared fingerprint reports in hand, cover letter notarized (trip to the bank), and then apostilled (trip to the Secretary of State) before we leave. We leave in 15 days so this could very easily become a problem. We can not under any circumstance go down there without this.

We may have to reschedule the trip which means requesting a new date from the Monteria ICBF office and then changing our flight reservations. The worst part of that is that someone has to go tell poor little Elkin that his new mami and papi won't be here when they said. We don't like the thought of disapointing him before he meets us.

Anyway - we'll keep you updated. Hopefully we'll hear something Monday or Tuesday.

Where We'll Be in Colombia

Here's a quicky map of where we'll be in Colombia. We'll fly into Bogotá at first and then head to Montería where we'll get our little Elkin and spend the majority of our time.


View Larger Map

Scratch That Last Post (We Think)

Okay, I was looking at our visas again... :)

Ever notice how countries other than the US swap around the day and month? Yea... I think that's what happened.

Long story short - my head is spinning from paperwork and I freaked out. I think it's OK. I'm still going to check with the Colombian consulate tomorrow because it does look a bit funny but I'm guessing it's OK.

Deep breaths... deep breaths...

Bad News on the Visa!

The visas showed up today. And they're wrong :(

The expiration date printed on both of our visas says March of 2008. Yes, 2008. I'm guessing it should be 2009. Regardless, it appears to be expired already so that does us no good.

I'm just really, really, really glad I noticed it now. I can't imagine the panic that we might have felt as we hand our passports to the receptionist at the airport and he tells us that we can't fly because our Colombian visas are expired. That would have been a disaster.

I have no idea what we'll need to do to fix this. The consulate closes at 1:00 every day. I left a frantic message but we won't hear back until tomorrow sometime. More overnight shipping, who knows how much more paperwork...

We're still waiting on our fingerprints too. We leave in two weeks so there's still time to get everything (and get everything fixed) but the 20th is getting closer all the time.

Wish us luck!

Good News on the Visa!

We don't need to go to Chicago now!

The reason we had to drive to Chicago was to pick up our visa. The Colombian Consulate's website clearly says that you must have an in-person meeting either when dropping off your visa application or when picking up your completed visa. Since we mailed our visa app and documents, it was pretty obvious that we'd need to have a meeting at the consulate in Chicago when our visas were complete.

Well I called this afternoon to make sure they received them yesterday since FedEx showed that they left them at the door (our actual passports were in there - that was kinda scary). The voice mail system was all in Spanish but I worked my way through to the operator (dial zero is the universal operator button by the way).

Someone finally answered... in Spanish. So with my 2 years of high school Spanish I try to say something about speaking with the visa people. After a good little laugh by the woman on the other end she says "Would you like to talk in English?"... (geez...).

Long story short - our visa app was received this morning, they processed it today, everything was fine, and it was going back to us Fedex this afternoon. WOW! It was supposed to be a 3 day process plus that face-to-face meeting. Awesome!

No trip to Chicago required! (I'm sure Chicago is nice but we just don't have the time). We should have our passports with our Colombian visa stamps in them tomorrow. We couldn't have asked for a better outcome on this one.