Number Five

Wow, 5 posts in one day. You'd think we were actually busy! :)

I called our interpreter at about 6:05pm (she was supposed to be here with the lawyer at 6:00pm) and she told us that herself and the lawyer and the ICBF representative would all meet us here at the hotel at 6:30 to 6:45. To my surprise, they were all here promptly at 6:30. Little things like that make us very happy at this stage in the game!

Everyone came up to the room to talk over all the last minute details before we head to Bogotá tomorrow. We even got our agency's representative in Bogotá (the woman we're told "is in charge of everything down here" and who I so far think really does have a grip on this whole process) on the phone to make sure we had all the paperwork needed for the US Embassy.

We're told we do and we're set to go! This was a big point of worry because we didn't want to get all the way there just to find out we'd have to fly back to Montería to do some other official business.

The only roadblock to everything working out here in Montería is that one hour we have to 1) Get the passport (long, long lines and the possibility for the office being closed without notice), 2) Pick up Stacy and Elkin at the hotel and 3) Check in at the airport and get on our plane. It's going to be very close.

Worst case scenario if we miss our flight (well, within reason I guess) is that we'll have to take the later-in-the-day flight to Bogotá which may or may not have a drastic affect on when we come home. It could (it's complicated - we'll explain later if it happens) but we just don't know for sure yet.

So as far as we can tell right now, the very best and most unlikely day we'll be home is this Sunday. The earliest day after that would be next Wednesday - not due to flight availability but instead to days that certain things can be completed. Then of course if anything goes wrong that we're not aware of right now (very likely), our return dates move further out from there. Our originally scheduled return flight is a week from this Saturday so at very least we'd love to not have to stay longer than that.

Although stepping back for a minute, we fully understand that we're very, very lucky to be able to come home at all. Many families whose adopted child(ren) are from larger towns where the judges are striking have been here for months and have no end in sight. We're in infinitely better shape than that and can't imagine being in that situation. We really feel for all of them.

We'll try to update everyone tomorrow night. Our Internet access may or may not be as easily accessible when we're in Bogotá. We won't know until we're there.

Wish us luck!!