Day 42 – Wednesday, May 23rd – Sofia is sitting up on her own and playing with her toys. Everything is going into her mouth. She’s such a happy baby. She hasn’t cried much in the first month (if at all), but now she’s cried 2 days in a row. My guess is that her teeth are bothering her. Her cries are very quiet (at least so far). Usually a quick walk around the house, looking at all the pictures and photos brings her smile back. (Get ready Papi, she’s ready to pace with you.)
Today we went to the local Kodak store to get passport and visa photos of Sofia. (No one told us what we need and it’s not listed in any of my paperwork, but one of the other families mentioned that they needed to get these photos, so I want to have them ready when we need them.) We went to the store and the owner said that we need to change her clothes because the photo has to be against a while background so she can’t be wearing white. So my mom and I went across the street to a little baby clothes store and bought a dark pink long sleeve shirt. We went back to the photo store and was told we also have to take her earrings off. I was scared to take them off and didn’t want to, but it’s a new U.S. rule that you can’t have earrings. (But come’on… for a baby???) But to be safe, we took them out and put them back in right away. The owner was having a hard time getting a good shot because the picture has to be with her mouth closed and Sofia kept smiling when she took the picture. We finally got one.
7th Week-
Day 43 – Thursday, May 24th – Today was a tough day for me. I’m in my seventh week in Colombia, and almost a month since Sofia and I were with Evan and Perry. We miss them so much!
Our contact is officially on vacation so I called our substitute contact to see if I could get a few answers.
1) She said there is no news about our case. They are still waiting for 1 signature. Our paperwork stated that the judge has up to 10 working days to sign, but in our case it has been MUCH longer than that. I asked her about the 10 day period that is mentioned in our paperwork, and she said that everything is done by hand and the judge is the only one to decide when to sign. She said it can take more than 10 days if the judge is busy with many cases. I also mentioned that we were right behind the other Minnesota family and they are leaving tomorrow, and she said that that is normal; that the papers can be on the judge’s desk and be signed at totally different times depending on what cases are in between. She said it should be soon.
2) I asked about the Embassy being closed on Friday and Monday due to our Memorial Day Holiday and she told me not to worry about that because we won't be at that point at that time. I asked if they are also closed on Wednesdays too (someone told me that the US Embassy does not usually take appointments on Wednesdays) and she said that they usually are open on Wednesdays during holiday weeks. She said we probably won’t be at that point by then either. (ARG!!!!)
3) There was also mention that our orphanage had an expired date on their adoption certificate. Our contact said that was already fixed and it did not affect our case as our papers are still waiting to be signed.
4) Our paperwork states that our contact will stay in contact to update or just check in every few days… well, that’s never happened. I asked our substitute contact to keep me updated on the progress... she said she will call the lawyer on Friday afternoon or Monday to see if there is any progress and she'll get back to me.
5) Well, our tickets are for the 31st. Our contact thinks I will need to change them for a later date because she doesn't think we'll be done by then. :(
The good news is that the other Minnesota family got everything done from Sentencia to travel in 7 days. They will be travelling home tomorrow.
So I'm not optimistic that I will be home by next week, but my aunts are saying prayers for me and there's still a small chance. Hopefully soon...
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