Day 70 & We Got the Call !!!!

Day 70  -   Wednesday, June 20^th-  I can’t believe it has been 70 days in country waiting to complete the adoption process. (I was told 6-8 weeks, and also told that it would probably be faster since I have Colombian heritage. With all the hurdles I’ve run into, that’s not my case!) I spoke with Perry last night and I have decided to take his advice; To ask my mom to watch Sofia and do something that will take my mind off of “the call”.  So yes. I woke up and decided that I wasn't going to sit around and wait for the phone. I asked my mom to watch Sofia and I looked online to find a Zumba class. There was one that is not too far from here and decided to walk to class. The email said class was at 9 a 10:30 (from 9-10:30) - but I read it as 9:00 and 10:30. I left at 9:30 thinking that it would take me a while to walk there and find it. I got there at a little before 10:00 and the lady at the desk told me it started at 9:30 and goes until 10:30. There is no class at 10:30. She let me go into the last 30 minutes of the class. As I was in the building, I got a call from my contact so I had to step out to take the call. She said she is sorry that I am still here and can't believe it. She said that she is waiting for her secretary to come to update her on everything and is going to call the lawyer herself to see what's going on. She also mentioned that the government adoption agency Bienestar Familiar is going to be at Los Pisingos today and she won't have any news until after 2:00 and she will call me back later.

After class I walked further to an Exito and grabbed a few essential. I also got yarn and a crochet' needle to start making something. I decided that there is no reason to be bored. I just have to look for things to do to keep my mind off the waiting.

I walked back to Efrain’s house and got there at about 12:30. My mom and I decided to make lunch at home and just while we were eating, my cousin Maria Claudia called to ask if I wanted to go to a movie. We decided to go to a movie that is a ways away. We got there just before the movie started. We chose to see “A Boy on his Bicycle” which won awards at the Cannes Festival. We sat down and as soon as the movie started, we looked at each other and laughed. The movie happened to be in French with Spanish subtitles. (Just like the other movie we chose to go to a few weeks back.) It was a good movie, but really harsh. After the movie we walked down the street and stopped at Crepes & Waffles to get an ice cream. (I usually don’t care much for ice cream, but they have awesome ice cream there!)

While we were sitting at the table, my phone rang. It was Cecilia. She called stating that she had great news. She said, “I guess they were just waiting for me to return”. I didn’t know if she was joking or not. If she was joking, it was a joke in poor taste (since I have been agonizing over the expected call), and if she was not joking, that’s not very nice of them knowing a family has been here this long and without consideration of the need to be home.  So our appointment is at 2:00. She will send for a driver to come pick me up at 1:00.  I am to bring my passport, photos of Sofia (for passport & Visa), any and all paperwork (just in case we need it), and me. Sofia will need to stay with my mom as she is not allowed in the courthouse. Believe it or not, I’ve had all that ready to go for the past several weeks. It’s all ready to grab and go.

Can’t wait until tomorrow. J

Day 69

Day 69  -   Tuesday, June 19^th-

Today is a nice, sunny day in Bogota. I went for a walk at lunchtime, but other than that, I spent the rest of the day in the house with Sofia, waiting for my phone to ring. (Sounds desperate, huh???!!! … getting there!)  All of today I felt like a teenage girl waiting for someone to call, checking my phone every so often to make sure it was working.  UGG! Makes for a long day!

Weekend in Paradise

Day 68  -   Monday, June 18^th- Just like last Monday, today is another Colombian Holiday where most everything is closed. After a bit of fun in the sun followed by a nice lunch, we headed back to Bogota.  Thank you mom, (baby) Sofia, Beatriz, Maria Claudia, Juaquin, Pablo & Sofia (Maria Claudia’s Sofia)… I had a wonderful time hanging out with you in paradise over the long Holiday weekend.  Thank you Claudia (the finca owner and my mom’s relative) for the use of your beautiful finca. It truly was God’s way of telling us to relax and enjoy life and the beauty of Colombia.  It was much appreciated!!! 

AHHHHH.......... PARADISE!

Enjoying the Good Life

Day 66  -  Saturday,  June 16^th-  Our vacation starts…NOW! J Yahoo… we’re heading to Anapoima. Maria Claudia picked us up early so we could get to the finca before lunch. The trip is not too far, but the climate is totally different from Bogota. It’s warm and sunny all day. (Exactly what we need.) If you looked on a map, you would see that Anapoima is not that far from Bogota. It looks like it would be about 45 minutes away or so, but with the mountainside roads, it takes more like 2 hours or more to get here. We also stopped a few times on the way, but we got here in good time. The weather is perfect and the finca is gorgeous!!! There are seven of us here. My mom, Sofia and I are sharing the big bedroom on the second level. It has its own bathroom and a rooftop deck that overlooks the mountains and the beautiful pool in the back.  The 3 other rooms on the main level all have adjoining bathrooms as well, so everyone is comfortable in their rooms. The caretakers live in a smaller house on the property and have been taking good care of us. (Angela is a great cook!) At times I feel uncomfortable having them do things for me that I am capable of doing myself, but I have been told to let go of that feeling. So I name today’s entry as “Enjoying the Good Life!” (‘cuz once I get back, I know it won’t be like this. Although it would be nice to have a house cleaner/maid every once in a while in Minnesota – yea, I know… but a girl can dream. J )

Day 67  -  Sunday,  June 17^th- Father’s  Day-

Anapoima is awesome!!! It is a delight to be here. It truly feels like a 3-day vacation and that's exactly what it is. We are still here and plan to leave tomorrow afternoon to head back to Bogota. Yesterday and today Sofia had a lot of firsts; She went swimming for the first time, she hung out in a hammock, she drank sweet lemonade, ate a little saltine cracker, tried a mandarin orange, and has been "talking" all day. It's quite fitting that on Father's Day, what she keeps repeating sounds very much like "Hi dada". (Everyone here can attest to that and I have proof on video - unfortunately I don't have the cord to be able to upload it to Facebook.) We've had a great time so far and I'm looking forward to a little more sun tomorrow before we head back to the Bogota weather.

Day 65 - The good and the bad

Day 65  -  Friday,  June 15^th-

It was a nice day today. I woke up this morning and went to another Zumba class while my mom took care of Ms. Sofia. The Zumba instructor happens to be a master trainer for Zumba and she told me she was going to be in Chicago soon for a Zumba training. (Count me in!!!)  Afterwards, I walked around the mall to find a baby swimsuit (like the one that I just bought that came in the mail at home a few weeks ago – thinking we would be home before we had a chance to use a swimsuit. Oh well…so now she’ll have 2). We have been invited to stay at my mom's cousin's finca for the weekend. We are going with my cousin Maria Claudia's family (Juaquin, Pablo & Sofia) and my aunt Beatriz. It should be a good get-away and a little distraction from waiting for the call.

I called Maria Teresa to tell her that I was going to Anapoima for the weekend. She told me that the courthouse was closed today too so nothing happened. So get this... last Monday was a holiday- courthouse closed, Tuesday and Wednesday there was a protest in front of the courthouse - again closed. Thurday it was open (imagine that!) and today, not sure why, but she said it was closed again and they were not letting anyone in today. Wow! A one-day work week. (I wish I could work at the Colombian courthouse… not only for the limited  number of actual work days, but more so, I would like to go in and introduce them to a computer!) Hopefully I'll be able to come home by fall when people start working again for real. Someone told me today that they think the duration of my stay is a record for my agency.  It’s really not supposed to take this long. I just happened to run into a few more hurdles than normal.

My original contact, Cecilia, comes back from her long vacation this weekend, so hopefully things will move a little faster starting on Tuesday. So all I can do is, enjoy this weekend and wait for the call to come next week. If I don't get the call next week, I might just have to stand outside the courthouse and have my own little protest! 

Into Week 10

Week 10

Day 64  -  Thursday,  June 14^th-  We’re heading into week 10 in country and no Sentencia to date.

The weather here has been so dreary. We were offered to stay at one of my mom’s cousin’s fincas in Anapoima (a pueblo that is about 2 hours away in the mountains where the temperature and climate are a lot better than Bogota – with lots of sun and warmth.)  That’s exactly what we need! This weekend is another holiday weekend, so we planned to go up with Maria Claudia, Juaquin, Beatriz, my mom, Sofia and I. They will pick us up early on Saturday and we will come back early on Monday. Just a quick get-away, but I’m looking forward to a change in climate (and a bit of a distraction from waiting for the phone call stating that we have Sentencia). 

I haven’t given up… every day that passes, we are a bit closer to Sentencia. I just NEVER expected to be here this long.  Perhaps the call will come tomorrow.

Ms. Sofia is doing well. She is now eating cereal, baby food: apple, mango, banana, pear, and carrot (super messy).  She is still sleeping beautifully during the night, but her daytime naps have been getting shorter and shorter. A month ago I could say that she NEVER cries, but now, that’s not the case. She found her voice and now, not only does she cry when she’s hungry or tired, but she SCREAMS for no reason at all. When you look at her after she screams, she smiles. It’s a crazy game that she plays and she thinks it’s hilarious. I’m just hoping she doesn’t play that game when we’re on the airplane on our long international flight home (whenever that will be).

More Hurdles; Days 62 & 63

Day 62  - Tuesday,  June 12^th-  Since yesterday was a holiday, today is the first day of the workweek. I received the name of a contact at the orphanage that I wanted to call to see if he knew where we are in the process and how much longer he thinks it might take. When I called, I pleaded my case and he gave me the name of another contact there that might be able to help me out. I then spoke with her, pleaded my case to her, and she gave me the same information that I already knew; (Hurdle #1) Unfortunately, we came at a time where there was an investigative show that uncovered some illegal adoptions out of Colombia many years ago. Because of that show, there were many spontaneous investigations at five of the major orphanages in Bogota, and unfortunately, Los Pisingos was one of those under investigation.  So now everything is being looked at with a fine tooth comb. That was the first to slow our process. (Hurdle #2) Our paperwork was in court and there was a certificate from our orphanage that had an expired date on it. The judge wouldn’t sign until the certificate was updated. The certificate was updated and the judge finally signed, but we are still waiting for one more signature from the Defender of Minors that has to review all of the paperwork and make sure everything is complete and legal. (On the upside: That’s a good thing so we don’t run into any problems later on.) The contact at the orphanage was able to get in touch with our lawyer and she said that we will probably get Sentencia this week as it is close to being done (apunto de salir). That’s great news that there is a light at the end of this very rainy, gray & dark weathered tunnel.

So I was hoping for a call today and I got just that. My contact called me later in the morning, but unfortunately it was with not so good news. She told me that there are protests in front of the courthouse today and tomorrow and the courthouse will be closed until Thursday. So (Hurdle #3) the protests have extended “The Process” another couple days. (What’s another couple days in the whole scheme of things??? It just gives me more time to be with my Colombian family.)

Later in the day, my mom’s cousin, Elena, invited many of my aunts and cousins over to her apartment for “onces” (like an afternoon brunch). Sofia was passed from arms to arms and they all enjoyed her presence. She is so good with everyone! She slept while we ate. We had a delicious quiche that tasted like Grandma Pat’s eggbake. We stayed until about 8:00 and got back to Efrain’s at about 8:30pm. When we got there, the door was locked and Efrain wasn’t hearing the doorbell (since he is usually in his room with the TV turned WAY up). We had to have the neighbor and my aunt call to get his attention to come down to open the door for us. Sofia was tired, had her te-te (bottle) and went right to sleep.

Day 63  -  Wednesday,  June 13^th- Today was my day to hang out at home with Sofia and do nothing important. My mom went with her sister to spend the day walking, having lunch and hanging out at the mall. Before she left, she went to open her door to her room and it was locked. We searched all over for the key. I finally found the key but it didn’t open. The portero (neighborhood guard) came over and noticed that the window was open. He asked me if I wanted him to grab a ladder and climb through the window to open the door from the inside. He tried, but the door latch was broken, so he couldn’t open it from the inside either.  Before my mom left, she had called a locksmith to come. The locksmith came over and said the lock was damaged (as if I didn’t know that). What I didn’t know or understand was what he was telling me about the inner-workings of the door knob (in Spanish). I called my mom and had him talk to her on the phone. He was asking for 65,000 pesos ($32) to take off the door knob. I talked him down to 50,000 pesos which I thought was worth his time to come out to the house.  For the rest of the day, we watched TV in Efrain’s room while he was gone, I did laundry, I read, did a little packing (again wishful thinking). When Efrain came home, I told him about the door knob. He was mad that the portero called a locksmith that is more than 10 blocks away when there is a locksmith just around the corner. He was mad that the portero came through the window – from what I understood it was because he could’ve stolen something (there’s no trust with the employees and porteros). Efrain asked how much I paid the guy that came out and he was furious. He said that the man was a crook and that he took advantage of us (as women and gringos). I had the card of the guy that came and gave it to Efrain. When Efrain was looking at the door, he noticed a pair of glasses and asked if they were mine. Nope. They were the locksmith’s glasses. So Efrain took them, went to talk to the portero, went to the locksmith just down the street to ask about replacing the knob, and in the meantime the guy that was here earlier came back to get his glasses.  In front of the portero, Efrain was yelling at the guy saying that he is a crook for taking advantage of the situation, that the job should only cost 20,000 pesos for his time to come over & to take the door knob off (which I could’ve done the same thing), and Efrain said that if he didn’t give back 30,000 pesos, he was going to put his glasses on the ground and step on them. The guy gave Efrain 30,000 pesos and Efrain returned his glasses. When the guy left, the porteros were laughing at how Efrain was able to recoup some of the money and asked him how he could do that. Efrain said that through his 87 years, he has learned not to get taken advantage of by crooks. (And through other stories, never to pay full price for things – there’s always a way to barter a lower price.)

This situation was a good interruption to help pass the day. Hopefully tomorrow will be the big day when Sofia officially becomes part of our family. I’m praying for Sentencia and a quick return home.

Sofia’s new scream/cry/laugh face.

Dedos (fingers) means “I’m getting tired”.

Happy girl doesn’t stop moving J Not even for a picture.