We're Coming Home

Day 79 – Friday, June 29^th

We celebrated another birthday today at a Spanish restaurant near the Andino mall in Bogota. I had lunch with family and friends and it was a chance to start our goodbyes. I can already tell the next few days are going to be tough. I have connected with my family here and it’s always hard to say goodbye. I have to keep thinking that we will be back in a few years as I am planning to have a family reunion in Santa Marta, Colombia in June of 2014.

The next few days will fly by as we prepare for our trip home. We will be leaving Colombia on July 1^st and getting into Minneapolis at 10:30am on Monday morning.  My total length of stay in Colombia was 81 days. Eighty-one! I will be leaving in July… and I’ve been here since mid-April… It’s time to go home!  I’m packing things up, saying our last good-byes during the next few days, then heading off to the airport. Good-bye Colombia. See you in 2014.

Adoption is a very beautiful thing, but the “process” of adoption has been very trying at times. It is much like the ups and downs of fertility treatment. Over the past two and a half years, my life has been taken over by this process. Every decision I made was based on the process of adoption. It has caused much stress – both positive and negative. Luckily, I have learned to deal with that stress (with some days better than others) and we are finally closing in on the end of the process.

As I reflect on this life experience, I realize how truly blessed I am in so many ways. I have been blessed with the opportunity to go through this challenging process. I have been blessed to have so much support from my family and friends – both in Colombia and in the U.S. And most importantly, I have been blessed with the most beautiful, precious, sweet baby girl – my little angel, Sofia Nicole.

Now it’s time to move forward; moving on as a complete and loving family of four. Perry, Evan and Sofia- I’m looking forward to spending the rest of my life with you. I love you all very much!

We will be arriving home on day 82 – Monday, July 2^nd

Day 78- Finally Able to Breathe

Week 12

Day 78 – Thursday, June 28^th

I’m into my 12^th week in Colombia and I finally have everything I need to be able to return home with Sofia.  Today we had the maid come to the house so we planned to have a lunch with all my mom’s sisters that are here in Bogota. Maria Teresa, Elvira, Rachel and Beatriz were all able to make it. We had a nice lunch, but I had to leave when my driver came to pick me up. All I had to do was run in to get Sofia’s Passport with Visa and a sealed packed to be given to the U.S. Customs agent at immigration in New York. So I decided to leave Sofia in excellent hands with my mom and all her “Tia Abuelas” (Aunt Grandmas).

The car picked me up just before 2:00 and oddly enough, there was no traffic all the way to the Embassy. We got there at 2:30, but it was too early to go in, so my driver waited with me for 15 minutes and dropped me off at 2:45. I presented my ticket (from the day before) at the window and she said that she would let me go in early. I went through security and went directly to window #1. The guy at the window asked me to check the cover page summary that was attached to the packet. It was all correct so I was able to take it with me. (HUGE sigh of relief) As I was walking toward the car, I noticed the beautiful view of the mountains with dark rain clouds above them, although it was very sunny where I was. As I looked towards Monserrate on top of the mountain, there was a huge Colombian flag that looked like it was lit up by the sun. It would’ve been a great picture, but I didn’t bring my camera since I knew I wouldn’t be able to bring it into the Embassy. (Oh well, missed photo op.) I felt great!

So my mom was watching Sofia for the afternoon, and I was completely done and had everything in hand that I need to be able to return home, and I was feeling great, so I decided to celebrate by taking one last Zumba class in Colombia. I found out that there was a class at 6:30, so I got dropped off at Hacienda Santa Barbara, had a celebratory cup of coffee and sat at a table for a while to relax and enjoy the moment.  I called Cecilia to see if she would like to join me in the class and I was surprised when she said she would. So after a while of walking around, I met Cecilia just in front of the Zumba studio and in we went. Let me just say, this class was much different than the morning classes that I have been attending. The room is small and there were 15-20 people all squished together in the studio. I was standing by the wall in the back and many times was not able to do the full movements because there was not a lot of room. But the class was AWESOME! Nelson was our instructor, and he has a ton of energy and moves fast. The class tonight definitely got my heart rate up and it was fun to be there with Cecilia. She did well – even though it was her first time. She mentioned that she will continue going to Zumba, but will start a little slower pace with the smaller classes in the mornings.  YEAH! Another person has been introduced to Zumba and liked it.

So I came home tonight, more tired than I was the day before. Tonight I’m guaranteed to be able to sleep well and I can finally breathe knowing that I have done what I needed to do and I have what I need to have to be able to come home.

What an EXCEPTIONAL day!

Day 77 – Wednesday, June 27^th

Today was the most productive day I’ve had in Colombia since I got here. (I seem to function better when there are lots of things that need to get done in a short amount of time. I actually like the rush of it all. So today I was more in my comfort zone… and it helps that thing went right for a change!)

Both Sofia and I woke up early and were picked up at 7:00am by our hired driver.

·       We first went to pick up Cecilia from her house.

·       Then to the passport agency to pick up Sofia’s passport. They told us it would be there and ready by 8:30. We got there at 8:00. A very helpful assistant took our receipt and went in back to look for the passport. 10 minutes later, we were called to the window to pick up her passport. I checked everything to make sure it was correct and we were off to our next appointment.  (By the way… her passport picture that she took a few days earlier is SOOOO cute!)

·       Cecilia went to make photocopies of the new passport and scanned one to her office to send to the Embassy to let them know that we would be coming later in the day. We got an appointment at 1:30 at the Embassy.

·       The driver swung by to pick us up again to drive us to the Medical Clinic where Sofia has to get checked out by a doctor that specializes in international adoptions.

·       We got to the clinic and the doctor was not there yet. He typically doesn’t see patients in the mornings, but made an exception for Sofia so we could get to the Embassy and be able to leave this weekend. Once he arrived, he called us into his office. She checked out well with a clean bill of health. I was very happy to hear that there was no trauma to her lungs from having bronchitis before we got here to pick her up. The 10 days of hospitalization and additional month of inhaler medication helped. She is right in the middle of all the chart curves and is growing so fast. She is a very happy and healthy baby! The doctor gave me an envelope that I was not to open and I was to give it to the U.S. Embassy along with the other paperwork.

·       We then called the driver to pick us up again and then we were off to go to the government adoption agency (Bienestar Familiar).  Cecilia and I went in and Sofia was napping, so she stayed with our driver, Bibiana.  We rushed through the building and went upstairs to a small office. I had to sign a confirmation of the adoption and fill out a survey pertaining to my agency in the U.S., my adoption agency here in Colombia, and the Government Agency.  Hopefully my responses (along with the responses from other families) will help to make the process a little more efficient. I could’ve written a book, but I was able to get most of what I wanted to say on one sheet of paper.  It was just after 11:00am at this time and we didn’t have to be at the Embassy until 1:30 so we had a chance to take a little break from it all.

·       We drove Cecilia back to her house so she could jump onto a conference call, while Sofia and I hung out at the Hacienda Santa Barbara mall (where I take my Zumba classes). It is very close to Cecilia’s house, and I wouldn’t have enough time to go home. So in the mall I was able to get lunch, feed and change Sofia, and walk around the mall a bit until our driver came back to pick me up at 12:30.

·       We picked up Cecilia and went straight to the Embassy with all our paperwork in hand. Once we got to the Embassy, we took the stroller out to stroll Sofia around (rather than carrying her in her carrier). We walked to the entrance window. Cecilia was able to come in with us. We went through security. (Cecilia had to leave her phone with the guard since no cameras are allowed.) Once we were in, we went to window #1. We gave them our paperwork and Sofia’s passport. They said that we would have to wait a day after the passport is issued for us to apply for the Visa. Cecilia (whom has been VERY helpful lately pleading my case and getting exceptions) said that I have been here going on 12 weeks now, that there was a problem with the passport printer and that’s the only reason we had to wait until this morning to pick it up, and that when they faxed over the passport this morning, they said that we just got the passport and still scheduled our appointment for 1:30 today. After all that pleading, the lady at the window said she would see what she could do. She told us to wait for our name to be called.  We sat close by, hung out with Sofia, and just as I was changing Sofia’s diaper in the restroom, they had called our name. I was just finishing up and washing my hands when Cecilia came running into the bathroom saying, “hurry up, hurry up. They called your name and we have to go there now!” I took Sofia to the window with me and Cecilia grabbed the stroller. The guy at the window asked me how long I had been in Colombia. I told him tomorrow will be going on 12 weeks. He asked how long I was told I would be in country. I told him 6-8 weeks. He asked if I was given a reason for the delay. I told him that it had to do with the television program related to illegally adopted children from Colombia and the investigations that were going on.  He shook his head and said, “That’s just part of it. It’s way bigger than that.”  His response made me think that although I have been here 12 weeks, at least I am finishing the process and I will be able to go home soon. It seems like there is something else going on that I don’t know about. There aren’t any other families here from LSS or any that have come after we did. There’s definitely something big that’s going on and I’m glad I was on the front end of all these problems as opposed to being at home waiting to meet my child for the first time.  I feel for all the families that are waiting to be united with their children and I feel for all of the children that are waiting to be united with their new and forever families. After a few other questions, he said that her passport with the Visa would be ready to be picked up tomorrow after 3:00pm. He gave me a slip to present when I arrive tomorrow and then we were done.

·       The traffic coming home was rough, but we dropped of Cecilia and then went home. Sofia and I were home by 4:00 with a load off my shoulders and a throbbing headache. 

With all the exceptions that were made for us throughout the day, we came home victorious. This is not typical to be able to do this many steps in one day. I could tell that the stress is very hard on Cecilia as well. But only one more step to finish the in-country portion of the adoption and that’s to pick up the Visa on Thursday. We scheduled a driver to pick us up and we were done for the day. Sofia seemed to be just as wiped out as I was. Needless to say, we went to sleep very early.

Day 76 - Another TRYING Day

Day 76 – Tuesday, June 26^th

I woke up today, got ready, got Sofia ready, and off we went. We took a taxi to go pick up Cecilia, and we went to the passport agency to see if we could pick up her passport. Unfortunately, the lady we were supposed to ask for had just left the building. We talked with another lady that said sometimes the passports are ready by 9am and to go downstairs to check. As we went downstairs, another guy that was working there offered to help us to check if Sofia's passport was ready to be picked up. Unfortunately, it wasn't, but he said he could put a rush on it and we could come back after 3:00pm today to pick it up.

So I refilled Sofia’s diaper bag, put Sofia in her carrier, hailed a cab, and went to pick up Cecilia AGAIN, to head to the passport agency again. I was hoping her passport would be ready for us to pick up because we have an appointment with the doctor at 4:30 and we can't go without having her passport first. My thought at this point was that if all goes well today, there's a slight possibility that we will be DONE with the process by tomorrow afternoon. We planned to go directly to the doctor for her check up since he only sees patients in the afternoons.  We got to the passport agency and Cecilia waited in the taxi while I went in to get her passport, I found the guy that we were talking to earlier that told us to come back after 3:00. He brought my receipt in the back and came out a few minutes later empty handed. He said that it was not there yet because the passport printer was broken. What luck I have, huh???? Not one step of this process has gone smoothly. I have run into problems throughout this entire process from the very beginning. I feel like I am being tested to see how much stress I can take. Apparently there's no EASY button here either!  So the guy offered to talk to Cecilia over the phone (she was in the taxi with Sofia) and told her that it will be there tomorrow morning by 8:00am. (I'll believe it when I see it, 'cuz he was also the one that said it would be ready by 3:00 today.) So... Cecilia called the doctor to cancel our appointment for today because he won't see her without having a passport number assigned to her. Cecilia was very helpful today as she pleaded with the doctor to make an exception to see Sofia tomorrow in the morning. Our plan is to go and get her passport (which will be there! - positive thinking), go directly to the doctor for her check up, and then go to the Embassy at 1:30p. If all goes well, we will have everything completed by tomorrow afternoon or Thursday morning. We're cutting it pretty close since I bought the tickets for us to return on Sunday night. We WILL be home by Monday. 

I think everything from here on out will go well. It has to! One can only be tested so much - and this process has proved to be very trying and stressful. But no matter what happens at this point, we already have the decree and Sofia is already ours. Nothing can take her away from us so I continue to focus on that and I am truly thankful for her. She is so sweet and lovable, and continues to woo strangers on a daily basis. (We'll have to keep a close eye on her when she's a teen - if she's as flirty then as she is now... we could be in trouble!)

Anyway... I was super stressed and mad about an hour ago, but writing this blog is somewhat therapeutic. That and my cold can of Coca-Cola are helping me to feel better. The good news is that Cecilia worked it out so we can "possibly" do all 3 things tomorrow. It's guaranteed to be another race of a day. I'm wiped out. 

Day 75 -TRYING to get a birth certificate & passport

Day 75 – Monday, June 25^th

Every part of this process has been difficult... but the end is in sight.

Monday morning we were supposed to go to pick up Sofia's new birth certificate at the registrar's office and if we were done before noon we could go to apply for Sofia's passport.  We got to the office at around 11:00am to pick up the 8 copies of her birth certificate. We read through them to make sure everything was correct. Everything looked good so then our driver picked us up and drove us to the "Ministerio" to apply for her passport. There were hundreds of people waiting in the lobby and all the seats were taken. Luckily, as we were walking in to get a ticket number, Sofia was smiling at one of the guys that works there (she is definitely a coqueta/flirt) and he asked if we were getting a passport for the baby. We said yes and he told us to follow him. He took us upstairs, past all the people that were waiting, and brought us to someone that was open to help us right away. We were so lucky! As she was looking through our paperwork, she told us she would be right back because she had to ask a question about something. When she came back, she said that she was not able to process Sofia's passport, because the Sentencia has my Colombian ID listed as my identification and the birth certificate had my Colombian passport as my identification. (The numbers are the same but the passport is listed as PP and the Cedula/Colombian ID is listed as CC.) Since they are different, they could not process Sofia's passport. So we got the name of the lady that was helping us and she told us to go back to the registrar's office and ask them to change the PP to a CC, and when we return, we can go directly to her to continue processing Sofia's passport. So we quickly took a taxi back to the registrar's office, got in line, pleaded our case to have the PP changed to CC. The lady told us that she told me on Friday that my Cedula wasn't registered. I thought that meant that the photocopy of my Cedula wasn't notarized so I gave her a notarized copy of my Cedula and passport. (So it was my mis-understanding.)  What she did say (which I found out on Monday) was that my Cedula, which I applied for almost 2 years ago by driving to Chicago 3 times, has not yet been registered into the Colombian system - so it was not recognized.  We asked what we could do, and pleaded with the lady working at the desk. She told us we would have to go to the main registrar of Bogota (?) to authenticate my Cedula to get it put into the system. Cecilia asked if there was any way we could do it from this office since I have been here over 11 weeks and we needed to process the passport today. The office wasn't as busy at that point, so the lady offered to call to see if they could get the Cedula put into the system. They were able to do so. When she came back, she said that the reason it wasn't authenticated was that I have dual citizenship, and "Colombamericana" didn't fit in the space provided on the form, so they listed me as Colombian (without the American). This caused some problem at the Colombian Consulate of Chicago so it was never entered into the system, yet this was the first I had heard of it. Luckily, after about an hour, we were able to fix the issue and she changed the PP to CC. So then she had asked an intern to go get the form notarized upstairs and make 8 copies of it. After another long wait, the intern came back with the forms. As the lady at the front desk was putting the authentication stickers on, she noticed that only the first copy was Sofia's and the rest were for someone else. She had no idea who the other person was. (No wonder there are so many errors.) So the intern had to go upstairs again and make 8 copies of Sofia's form. (How long does it take to make 8 photocopies at a notary in Colombia? Ages, it seems, especially since we were in a hurry.) We needed to get to the Passport agency before they close at 4:00pm. We finally got Sofia's authenticated birth certificates at 3:45pm. Cecilia didn't think we would make it to get the passport, but we decided to try anyway. And we made it! We were able to go in right away and go upstairs to wait for the lady that was helping us earlier. We were able to process the passport, but she said we would not be able to pick it up until Wednesday morning. Again, that puts us another day or two behind - passport Wednesday, doctor Wednesday evening, and Embassy Thursday, pick up Visa on Friday.  Getting a ticket for this weekend is pushing it in case something doesn't go as planned. So Cecilia asked if there was anything we could do to get the passport on Tuesday instead. The lady helping us said that we could come back in the morning and talk to one person that might be able to get it for us - but no guarantees. So we ended the day dropping off Cecilia, driving to Los Pisingos to drop off one copy of Sofia's birth certificate and our Sentencia, and then we were dropped off at home. We finally arrived at 6pm, and I came with a huge headache. What a day! Sofia took a nap when we got home and I checked my email. My travel agent had responded to an email stating that the flights are getting booked up because this coming week is ANOTHER Colombian holiday and we have the 4th of July holiday coming up next week as well. The earliest flight we can get is leaving Colombia on Sunday night and getting into Minneapolis on Monday morning and there are only 2 more available seats on that flight - otherwise we would have to wait until Tuesday. So I spent the next half hour procuring our tickets for Sunday night - in hopes that nothing else goes wrong that can delay this EXTREMELY LONG process. 

While working on securing our tickets, I was also getting ready for a party at my cousin, Freddy's house. His son, Daniel, just graduated and is going to study in China for a year. So everyone got all dressed up and I put Sofia in her PJs and off we went. It was fun to have so many family members all together again. It was a very nice party. Sofia was so excited with all the noise and all the talking and all the family members that she didn't fall asleep until after 10:00pm. She slept very well for the rest of the night. I on the other hand, had such a bad headache that when I got home, I couldn't sleep at all.

Getting Sofia's Birth Certificate

Day 72 – Friday, June 22^nd

Sofia and I were supposed to be picked up at 8:30am to go to the registrar where her original birth certificate is located. We will be changing her name on her birth certificate and getting it updated with our information. [For those of you that don’t know about her name change… When we decided to adopt from Colombia, we had lots of time to think of names. We were thinking about Gabriella or Sofia if we were blessed with a baby girl. If we were matched with an older child, we would’ve kept his/her given name. Once we got the referral, we were told that her birth mother gave her the name Nicolle Sofia. –amazing coincidence, huh?- So we decided to keep both names but just switch them around. Usually Sofia is spelled with a –ph- (Sophia), but we chose to keep the spelling with an –f-. So our new addition to our family is Sofia Nicole Swanson. (Actually, in Colombia it’s Sofia Nicole Swanson Nuspl, since they always add the mother’s maiden name as the second last name.)]

While getting Sofia ready, Cecilia called to say that the car would come to pick us up at 10:00 instead. We first picked up Cecilia, then went to the bank to pay for 6 copies of the birth certificate and then went to the registrar. I didn't have a copy of Perry’s passport (because nobody told me I would need one for this visit - so I didn't have it with me.) Cecilia had to go back to her house to get it and run across the street to make copies. We waited in line again and they processed the birth certificate. Usually (in  most other cases) people get the birth certificates the same day, but in this case (of course) it was very busy and they said the certificates won’t be ready to be picked up until Monday at 1:00. So we can't do anything else until we have her new birth certificate. So we were planning to go today to apply for Sofia’s passport, but that didn't happen. We won't be able to do it Monday either, because you have to be there before 11:00 to get an appointment, and we won't have the birth certificate until 1:00. UGG! That puts us back another day or two. So, best case scenario... we pick up the birth cert on Monday, Passport & doctor visit on Tuesday, (Cecilia is checking with the US Embassy to see if they will take us on Wednesday - even though they are usually closed for appointments on Wednesdays). My guess is that we won't be able to get to the Embassy until Thursday of next week. If they are able to process everything the same day, we can leave on Friday, and if not, we will pick up the paperwork on Friday and be able to leave by Saturday. I just hope nothing else gets in the way. Although I love my family here, and I’ve had such great experiences (and improved my Spanish), I am ready to go home to be with Perry and Evan. I miss them so much but I know we will be reunited soon. I can’t wait to introduce Sofia to all of our family and friends in Minnesota.

Day 73 – Saturday, June 23^rd

Today we are going to a Fiesta at my Tia Rachel’s finca in Subachoque (spelling???)  to celebrate my cousin’s cousin that is moving to Lima, Peru for a few years. The day was cold at the finca, but the sun was out. We had a great time. We ate very typical Colombian foods, visited with our family, we enjoyed a few drinks, and lots of dancing! (Sofia was dancing with everyone and had a great time!!!!)  We drove back later in the evening while the fiesta continued.

Day 74 – Sunday, June 24^th

Today was a lazy Sunday. We woke up late and decided to walk down the street to have lunch. We invited Efrain to join us and he chose to go to a Mexican restaurant.  After lunch, Efrain went home to watch the big soccer game, while my mom, Sofia and I walked quite a ways down 140^th to a place that sells typical Colombian things to pick up some last minute gifts.  I spent the rest of the day online, Skyping Perry, checking e-mail, checking flight availability, and packing. I’m ready to move into our last week in Colombia (for this trip anyway). We hope to return to Colombia for a real vacation/family reunion in June of 2014 – San Andres. 

Day of Sentencia

We start week 11 on a good note...

Day 71 – Thursday, June 21^{st –}

WE DID IT!!!! As of 3:00 this afternoon, Sofia is officially our daughter. My contact, Cecilia, called me just before noon to let me know that she would not be able to come with me, but my lawyer would be with me the entire time. I was picked up by a driver at 1:00 and we picked up my lawyer at 1:20. We were downtown in the center of Bogota at 1:50 and were dropped off at the courthouse – which is an old building with 22 courts spread out on many floors. Our case was in court 10 which is on the 4^th floor. When we entered the building, there was a HUGE line to enter the building. We were at the end of the long line, but at 2:00 the doors opened and the line went very fast. We took the stairs to the 4^th floor and got in line at the Court 10 window. Our papers were ready for us to sign. We had to read through the Sentencia to make sure everything was correct and then we signed. As we were going through the papers, my lawyer noticed that the signature of the Defender of Minors was missing. She went to the window and asked if she could talk to the Judge’s secretary. She explained the missing signature and he was able to sign instead of the Defender which made our paperwork official. At that point we needed to run down the 4 flights of stairs to get 8 photocopies of the Sentencia. We double checked to make sure every packet was complete and had to run up the 4 flights of stairs again to have the 8 sets of documents authenticated. He told us it would take about a ½ hour so again we went down the 4 flights of stairs and went to a coffee shop to wait. I had a nice time talking with my lawyer. Just after 3:00 we went back up the 4 flights of stairs and went back to talk to the Secretary. He had authenticated each page and we had to double check to make sure every page was stamped. At that point everything was complete. We got picked up again by our driver, Nancy, and I was home by 4:30 and very happy with the progress of the day.

The tentative plan is that tomorrow Cecilia and I will go to the registrar to change Sofia's name and get a new birth certificate. If that goes quickly, I think we are going to go to get her passport. If all is good, we will go to the doctor on Monday and the U.S. Embassy on Tuesday. The Embassy is closed for appointments on Wednesdays, so if we have to go back to pick up the papers (if they are not available the same day) then we will go back on Thursday to pick up the papers and be able to come home Friday. If we do get the papers done the same day, there's a chance we might be able to come home Wednesday or Thursday. We just have to go with the flow for the next few weekdays and we will have a better idea of when we will be returning home by Tuesday of next week. It will be very hard to say goodbye to all of my tias, tios, primas & primos here in Colombia, but we are ready to return to home base. 

June 21^st will always be a very special day for the Swanson family.  We are so lucky that Sofia is officially part of our family. We love her so much!