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Who’s checking us out?
***bumps, delays, then family…. OUR Princessa now sleeps February 9, 2010
It has been a rollercoaster of a day. In the end know that it all worked out and we have our sweet baby girl that I am watching as she sleeps and snores like a little purring kitten right now. We are overjoyed.
It is a VERY long story…. but I will try to make it shorter. Anyone who has spent 5 minutes reading any of my posts knows I’m long winded. Sorry in advance. 
We had been advised late last night that we should go to breakfast at 8am all dressed and ready to pick up our daughter afterward (around 9:30am). We got up early all excited and were ready to get our baby girl as we walked to the door at exactly 8am to go to breakfast when the phone rang.
Jason answered it and it was the director of our orphanage apologizing profusely but saying that they found out a new regulation had just gone into effect on Friday afternoon which required our lawyer to be present for all first meetings and our lawyer wasn’t available so our presentation date would have to be delayed until sometime on Wednesday…. Jason relayed this to me on the phone and as you can imagine I was beyond upset. Granted it would have only been two more days but when you think you are finally going to meet the child you have wanted since you were a child yourself and you are just an hour or so away from meeting her… being told 2 more days feels like a lifetime. To say I cried would be putting it mildly. I’m not normally a crier, either. We were told someone would contact us in the next day or so about a court appointment we could do before we got our daughter and we should wait by the phone as they would give us 2-3 hours notice…
I wrote out a couple emails to our local agency reps in MN. We weren’t very happy at the time.
We collected ourselves and with red swollen eyes we went downstairs to breakfast… Feeling like idiots for being so excited for the few hours beforehand.
We had a very sad breakfast and I tried very hard not to break into tears every time we saw another family with children walk by. We kept reminding each other that it was only 2 more days, it wasn’t like it wasn’t going to happen. We just had to be patient. Emotions were running high. We tried to stay positive.
Finally breakfast was over and we slowly started walking out of the hotel’s breakfast room. There was a server at the door on the phone with someone and he stopped us.
He said ”You couple?”
I said “Si” (We only know a few spanish words)
“Baby?” he asked
Jason and I looked at each other confused…
“Adopcion” he said, or something similar to that.
“Si” Jason and I both repeated…
He handed the phone to me. It was the director at our orphanage. Somehow they fixed the problem and had set us up with an appointment at 2:30pm for today. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing… Was I misunderstanding? “So we get to meet her today?” Jason looked really confused. She said yes that they were still working on some of the paperwork so we may have to go back but yes. We would get to meet her at 2:30 and take her back to the hotel with us. Everything that was set for this morning ended up just getting pushed back until the afternoon instead of cancelled the way we were initially told… I was shocked and had to confirm with her 2 or 3 times… I kept thinking I wasn’t understanding her correctly. But she confirmed over and over.. that yes, we would get our daughter today. I nodded to Jason and he heard me confirm… He looked just as confused as I was, but he beamed with this huge smile. I wanted to start just sobbing in the middle of the breakfast area – I was so happy. What is it about having a child that makes you want to cry? Not sure, but as long as she is happy I am okay with it.
We hung up and the server was standing behind us with inquiring eyes.. I gave him a thumbs up and smiled big…he nodded and smiled too, understanding that we had just received good news.
We practically skipped upstairs to kill five hours before we would meet our daughter. I almost finished reading a book and Jason tried to get some work done… It was hard to concentrate, but finally 2pm came around and we ran downstairs.
We met our guide in the lobby and she took us to our orphanage, Casa de Maria, it is in the middle of a city but like most of Colombia that we have seen it is full of exotic-looking trees and feels very tropical.
We waited around while they copied our passports and everyone walked by and congratulated us.
We met with the director who was very friendly and we reviewed all our daughter’s information and received some additional information that we hadn’t heard prior to that visit. She is very healthy. and they claim she crawls so fast it’s almost like she is running. (We haven’t seen this yet) She is also almost walking.
They give you a very strict schedule to follow full of food, bottles, naps, bath schedule, how much of what and when… Plus that she sleeps with light baby style music on.. which I am guessing all the babies in her age group do the same.
Then finally, we got to meet her. They brought her in and the first thing I saw was her cute head of hair done up all pretty, then she looked up at us with those dark beautiful eyes I had been staring at in her referral photo for almost 2 months. Wow had she grown since then… I didn’t realize how big she would be.
I held her and she was okay with it but her big eyes were scouting everything out in the room. She wasn’t so curious about us but kept pointing to the photos of all the other children on the walls, so we took a walk to the walls and looked at all the photos together. Everyone kept saying it’s Mami and Papi, but I don’t think she had any clue or really cared who we were. She was interested in all the excitement outside the room.
Eventually she started actually looking at us and started getting curious. She squirmed a lot! We could tell she was confused, which of course, two people you have never seen before are holding you and everyone you knows walks out of the room. These people don’t speak the same way you are used to hearing words or hold you the way the people left the room know you like to be held. Poor little baby girl, I can’t imagine how hard and scary that must be for a child. She didn’t really cry much, her eyes didn’t lie…she is a brave little girl. It took about 30 minutes or so before I think she started feeling comfortable with me. But once it began she bonded with me quickly. An hour or so later she only wanted me to hold her. and would whine and fuss when Jason would pick her up. They say that is common for the child to bond with one parent first and then the other. She is very curious about Jason and likes him not to be too far away. I think they will be bonded in the next few days.
Before we left they brought in two little boys and explained that they wanted to say goodbye because the younger of the two boys (the one who grabbed my hand really hard when I first got there) thought that we were there to adopt him instead. I think the other boy was just curious to see who had come to his orphanage. It was obvious that the younger boy had been crying, and it just broke our hearts to have to leave him behind like that. Hopefully someone comes by soon for him, someone who is open to adopting an older child around 5 years old.
There is so much more to tell and it’s getting later, so I will try to update more tomorrow.
Good night everyone
First day in Colombia February 7, 2010
The last 24/48 hours have been a blur. Probably since I slept about an hour after we got to our hotel and two hours last night…
We arrived at the airport about 2.5 hours before our flight which was about 3:15am cdt. There were two other groups ahead of us in line. The airport terminal was pretty much shut down. Security personnel eventually showed up and the airline representatives showed up at 4am to check everyone in. At 4am suddenly our short line of a handful of people was about 100 people long. So everyone but us must have known they didn’t open the airline desks until 4am. It is good we got there early so we were at the front of the line.
We have 3 large suitcases totalling about 140 lbs. Plus we each had a carry-on bag. The luggage scale I ended up buying was 100% correct and very helpful. Without it we could have easily been over the 50 lb weight limit on one of our bags. (We got it at Bed, Bath, and Beyond for $19.99)
Our flight to our layover in Miami was packed and somehow I didn’t have a seat number issued at the time the tickets were purchased. So Jason and I didn’t sit together, we each crammed in a center seat about 10 rows apart. I watched almost 4 episodes of Dead Like Me (love that show) on our portable DVD player and Jason chatted up a nice guy that sat next to him and walked up to say hi to me once or twice.
Our layover in Miami was technically only 45 minutes but the plane we were supposed to leave on came in about 30 minutes late so our flight was slightly delayed. Honestly, it was nice to have a break and be able to walk around. Jason grabbed us some mini pizza’s for lunch that were AWESOME. To our surprise they actually served us a light lunch on the flight (for free). It was an excellent taco type salad thing. Very surprising for free airline food. We got very luck and our flight from Miami to Medellin wasn’t booked so we were able to stretch since the seat next to us was empty. The flight to Medellin was VERY bumpy, but shortly before they announced we were starting our departure we crossed over the most beautiful mountains. I wish I could have taken photographs of them, but photo’s our airplane windows never turn out, so I didn’t try.
When you get off the plane they take everyone through the immigration desks. We were in line for about 30 minutes which I didn’t think was that bad. When the immigration rep looked at our passports and Visas he looked really confused. Everyone else breezed through in 30 seconds but we were at the desk for what felt like 20 minutes, but in reality was probably 5-7 minutes.
It is a lot harder not being able to speaking the language than I thought it would be. It’s very intimidating trying to figure out what to do in the immigration/baggage lines with no assistance and when you cannot read the signs. We found our way to our bags by just following everyone ahead of us, someone had actually pulled all our bags off the conveyor belt and put them together for us. We are guessing it was someone who worked there since we were the last ones to get our bags. Then we stood in line as we went through security and our bags were x-rayed again (another 20 minutes).
By the way right after you leave the immigration desk there is a stand that you can get a luggage cart for $2, no signs that say this but a woman was kind enough to tell us. We didn’t get one but almost everyone else did.
At the other end of security, without asking, a man put our bags on one of those charts and gestured for us to go with him. I had heard that people swarm you to offer to take your bags, but I had no idea they would just grab them and start walking telling you to come with. I have heard that you should tip them $1 a bag and we did at the end.
We walked out the main door and our driver was there and we were off to the hotel. The driving in Colombia is completely different than the U.S. Everyone drives really fast, crosses over the lines, passes cars and motorcycles within inches, yet it’s still a very smooth drive. I can’t imagine what driver’s education must be like for people here.
We checked into the hotel and we went to our room… I had heard before that people say the bed’s here are way to hard and they are not kidding. Previously people have told me you can tell them the bed is too hard and they will take duvet covers over the mattress and put a fitted sheet over it and that helps a lot.
Currently at 10:48pm we have called twice in the last hour asking someone to come up and do that to our bed, no one has shown up. Our TV also wasn’t working, but a repair guy came in and that is back up an running. Debating on just going to bed, as my eyes keep almost closing, but I am afraid they are going to come knocking at the door eventually. They initially said someone would be up in a couple minutes – that was an hour ago. We may have to deal with the hard mattress (imagine plywood with a sleeping bag on top of it) for tonight and see if we can get housekeeping to help us with it tomorrow, or maybe I will just request a bunch of extra blankets and figure it out tomorrow on my own.
We ventured out and found dinner at the great restaurant in our hotel called Fogon de Piedra. I have spoken to several people that have eaten there and they loved it. We ordered a hot stone meal. It was AMAZING! They give you seasoned raw meat, cooked vegetables, this sizzling hot stone in the center to cook the meat on. We loved it and decided we will have to go back several times in the weeks to come. Also for approx $14/person it was a great deal for what felt like not just a meal, but an adventure. We were very full when we left. It is true what everyone says that in Colombia everyone does everything at their own pace. (Like the TV and bed issue earlier) It is so unlike eating anywhere in the U.S. where they are worried about turning tables to make bigger profits. They seem more concerned that you really enjoyed your time relaxing and eating your meal. About 30 minutes after we were obviously long done eating (plates gone, drinks empty) we flagged someone down to get our bill… which they had in another 5 minutes, but gave it too us and stood at a distance and waited for us to flag them down again that we were ready to pay. It is such a more relaxing way to live, its hard to get use too… Of course, this is just day one for us.
You can tell I have to hold my head up as I am just way to tired.
Tomorrow we are supposed to get a call at some point letting us know when and what the plan will be on Monday to meet our daughter.
***We made it to Colombia** February 6, 2010
We just got to our hotel about 30 minutes ago. It has been a VERY long day. So far so good. I think we will try to take a nap for a couple hours than wander the hotel looking for the restaurant and hope our waiter speaks some english or has an english menu…
Colombia is really beautiful!
**Leaving… on a jet plane!** February 4, 2010
don’t know when I’ll be back again….
Those lines of that Peter Paul and Mary song keep going through my head. It’s so true right now. I couldn’t remember the other lyrics and looked them up and they don’t apply. As the song is about a guy saying goodbye to his girlfriend and being sad.
Our trip isn’t sad at all.
It’s OFFICIAL – tickets are booked. Our flight leaves at 6am on THIS SATURDAY 2/6/10. We have to leave our house at TWO in the MORNING to get to the airport on time. It’s going to feel more like leaving late Friday (TOMORROW) night instead of leaving on Saturday. This is the quickest flight I have seen to Medellin in all my searches.. about 7 hours. So again, we got very lucky to find it. I’m sure by the time we get to our hotel in Medellin we will be ready to sleep for hours. I don’t think I will be able to get ANY sleep on Friday and I have never been able to sleep on a plane.
Our presentation date (date we get to meet Alyssa and take responsiblity for her) will be Monday 2/8/10.
The travel agent we found was very friendly and got everything set for us. The prices were not any cheaper than what we found online, but it was nice to have someone else put it together for us. We got roundtrip tickets with our return flight on 3/6/10, but that is just a tentative date. Most likely will need to change it and may or may not have to pay the change fees for it. (I have heard from several people that the airlines in Colombia often offer to waive the change fee if it is for adoption. BUT it is not a guaranty). Hoping our good luck streak keeps going throughout our trip.
Alyssa’s bag is completely packed. It’s a HUGE red suitcase. I have clothes and a few items stacked together but will have to pack all my stuff tonight. I have no idea what to wear, I don’t think I have much for lightweight business casual clothing that doesn’t wrinkle… Everyone says to pack light, so I may be packing VERY light for our trip. I tried a couple times to go out and buy a few new things but most stores just have winter clothing, and only 1 or 2 summerish items. Oh well… I could try shopping in Colombia if I feel I need more clothing. I wonder how their sizes work? Hmmm…
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Tonight we have an appointment with the police station to get the car seats professionally installed. Getting this appointment was a HUGE challenge. Jason was in charge of it and they only install them from 8-4 on weekdays. He left several messages as they said they may be able to schedule an after hours appointment but no one ever called him back. He worked from home the other day so he just showed up at the police station at noon hoping to get the car seats installed, but the person that does them wasn’t there… So, they gave him a phone number and finally he got in contact with someone and now we have an appointment tonight to have both car seats installed/checked. They said it will take about 45 minutes, but when it was finished we should know EVERYTHING there is to know.
I read and reread the car seat instructions and my car’s owners manual about how to install a car seat and it didn’t necessarily look difficult… I think the main problem was getting the car seat at the right level and getting it secured in tight enough. I spent an hour and a half in the REALLY COLD garage the other night trying to figure it out, and nothing I could do would make the car seat not be able to wiggle…. Maybe my understanding is wrong but I thought once you installed them properly they didn’t move? Well, the one in my car does, so I am really glad we have having them checked out.
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Last weekend we visited the in home daycare that I mentioned in an earlier post. It was wonderful and we reserved Alyssa’s spot for when the opening arrives this summer sometime in June. I think we will probably put Alyssa in a Center (the one with the Web cams) if we need a childcare prior to June.
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Our agency is working on booking our pickup from the airport and hotel for us in Medellin and I am hoping to hear more about that later today.
Travel approval and delightful chaos February 3, 2010
We received travel approval late this afternoon. Our agency is just clarifying dates for us today, but we are looking into airfare to travel to Colombia between THIS Saturday and Monday. It’s amazing to think we will get to meet our daughter next week. It took 1 year, 11 months, and 1 day to get travel approval from the beginning of our adoption journey. It seems like so long ago but compared to how long many people have waited and been in process this isn’t long at all.
I emailed an adoption travel agent tonight with a long detailed list of all our estimated travel dates and who is traveling where and when. Hopefully I will hear back tomorrow so we can book our tickets.. and I am REALLY hoping they are not super CRAZY expensive.
I put the bags/stacks of items we are taking for Alyssa into this BIG red suitcase tonight. It’s hard to believe a small child could need so much. Maybe I could have left 1 or 2 outfits behind, but besides that I don’t THINK I over packed for her. It’s so hard to know what to pack when you don’t know clothing or shoe sizes. Is she teething yet? Does she have a pacifier? I don’t know so I brought a teething ring and one small box of 2 pacifiers just in case.
***Chicago Colombian Consulate/VISA** February 2, 2010
We were notified last Thursday by the Chicago Colombian Consulate that we were required to go to the Chicago Colombian Consulate in person for an interview to get our Visa’s to travel. This is a brand new requirement and as much as we tried there is no way around it or exceptions to the new rule.
So we frantically found inexpensive roundtrip tickets to Chicago on Friday and spent the day in Chicago yesterday. I had forgotten how much I liked Chicago, but wish it had been warmer yesterday so we would have had more fun wondering around after we got our Visas.
We did get our Visas!!! and we got home last night at 9pm. It was a very long day. We are still waiting for our Article 5 so we can book flights and make our travel plans. I am hoping it arrives today.
Below are some Travel notes for going to the Colombian Consulate in Chicago that I hope are helpful to anyone else that has to travel there soon. The Representative we worked with at the Consulate was VERY friendly, it was just a little confusing to figure out what to do and where to go.
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Colombian VISA
(please consult with your agency for exact procedure)
Form and directions are found here.
Pictures must be VERY close up – they wouldn’t use passport pictures we had done at Kinkos. (3cm x 3cm – they will crop pictures down to right size)
Address:
500 North Michigan Avenue
Suite 2040
Chicago, Illinois 60611
Suite 2040
Chicago, Illinois 60611
Hours 9am – 1pm
We flew into O’Hare airport then took the Metra (train) right from the airport. It was pretty easy. Give yourself at least 1.5 – 2 hours after your flight arrives to get to the Consulate. This will allow a little time to get lost and make it to the check in window at the Consulate.
The train maps, schedules, and everything can be found here. We printed this out and it was very helpful.
http://www.transitchicago.com/assets/1/maps/ctatrainmap_2010jan.pdf (Do not try to use their “Plan a Trip” – it doesn’t use transfers to other trains which makes it useless)
Ticket are currently $2.25 per person each way to buy a train card (2 people can use the same card – $9.00 – 2 people round trip total). You buy a ticket from a machine right as you enter the station using cash – the machine doesn’t give change FYI.
Trains (Metra) run about every 6-10 minutes during normal business hours.
Take the “BLUE LINE” towards Forest park (ride about 30 minutes) get off at Jackson (they give you little to no time to enter and exit so be by the door before the stop). Follow everyone and get on the “RED LINE” towards Howard (ride about 5-10 minutes) you only ride a few stops and get off on Grand. Follow to the street exit.
Advise everyone to go online and print out a street map that has the train stations and the Consulate on it before they go. This was VERY HELPFUL.
The Consulate is only 3-4 blocks away a quick 10 minute walk. Please advise people that they have to walk up some stairs to get on Michigan Ave. We walked around forever not able to find it until we asked and the Consulate was right above us and we had no idea.
The Consulate is on the 20th floor across from the Intercontinental Hotel. The security guards will tell you where to go.
The Consulate is a VERY small office and was so packed there wasn’t room to stand. Nothing is written in English and there wasn’t anyone there who could assist to tell you where to go. When you first walk in there is a window to your right and one of those take a number machines. You don’t need a number as you already have an appointment. There is a window on the far left of the room when you walk in. That is where you go… (It took us 25 minutes to walk into the room, before another customer took pity on us to tell us that was the window to get our Visas). Then it took another 20 minutes to make it the 10 feet to the window. It was THAT crowded. I thought they would call our name at our appointment time but they didn’t. We arrived at the Consulate’s office 10 minutes before out appointment but got to the window and were being waited on 35 minutes after our appointment time, but no one commented on us being late for our appointment. I think if we were early it would have been okay too.
They asked for our documents. The interview was: to see a picture of our child, asked how old she was, and how long we were in the process… That was our entire interview it lasted about 30 seconds. Then we were told it would take 30 minutes to process our Visa’s and to wait. 45 minutes later she arrived back at the window with our Visa’s, congratulated us then it took us 10 more minutes to make our way through the crowded 15×20 room to the door to leave.
We were in the Consulates office for about 1.5 hours.
Take the train back in reverse – consult the Train map, but it was very easy.
I would think you would need 5-7 hours in Chicago… 1.5 hours to get to the consulate, 2 hours in the consulates office, 1.5 hours hours to get back and 1 hour before the flight.
Almost to Alyssa! January 28, 2010
We are so close to traveling. I received notification yesterday from our social worker that our orphanage received our I800 approval. We should have our Article 5 by tomorrow, which will approve us to travel! I’m really wishing we had our Visa stuff together a week or so earlier so it was more likely that we would be traveling early next week, but … as I keep telling myself.. Everything takes longer in Adoption.
We are waiting for our Visa’s to arrive on our doorstep so we can schedule our travel. If they arrive early and are there tonight we may be able to travel early next week. I am REALLY hoping they arrive by early next week so we have some time (a few days) to scheduled flights for 2/7. (2/7 seems to be about the latest we will travel). Once we get everything our social worker will speak to our orphanage to figure out what day works best for us to meet our baby girl. Any which way it will be REALLY soon.
Waiting the last couple days has been a lot harder as her room is all set and ready for her. I even stacked the diapers in the diaper stacker last night… SHOCKED that about 100 diapers fit in it. Diapers are so tiny. Still have a few items to do for babyproofing, but otherwise I am starting to get ready to pack. Purchased a luggage scale yesterday, and I figured out what clothes to bring for Alyssa on Sunday. Otherwise I still have everything else to pack. Bottles, a handful of diapers (everyone says to buy them in country to save on luggage space), wipes, meat baby food (sounds like there isn’t much available in Colombia), diaper bag, baby towel, blanket, a few small toys and board books… and Learning Friend Lily that I have in an older post. It’s a frog doll that speaks, counts, and sings in English and Spanish. I love it. I know there is a lot more to bring, just can’t think of it now.
Tonight I will either; finish the monkey painting above her crib, make her a couple bibs, install all those safety latches on the kitchen cabinets, or pull down the suitcases and start packing the items we don’t immediately need.
**Picture?** January 25, 2010
I’ve received a few requests to post her picture, but I’m sorry I cannot at this time. My understanding is in Colombia you are not allowed to post your child’s picture until they are legally yours. Which won’t happen until about 2-3 weeks after we are in Colombia.
Once we get the approval, I promise to post as many pictures as I can.
I think I described her looks in the post where I announced her referral but I will do so again, because her face is always on my mind.. So I love to share…
We received one photo. She is 10 months and 1 week now. She has dark brown curly hair, cute pouty lips, nice chubby baby cheeks, huge long lashes, and these dark brown deep beautiful eyes. She has a curious slightly nervous look in her eyes. Some people say she doesn’t look nervous but I think she does. They have her in a cute holiday dress.
Travel soon??? January 25, 2010
It sounds like we should have travel approval (Article 5) this week. Then we will just be waiting for our Visa’s to come back. Somewhere I thought I had heard they take 5-7 days but when I spoke with a rep from our agency her understanding was they took two weeks. I sent them via overnight mail and they received them on 1/22. If it’s a two week wait that would be 2/5! YIKES! I guess it’s only 3-5 days more than I was expecting…
I don’t know why by this point in this process I don’t expect things to take longer then I think they will… okay that sentence doesn’t make sense, but maybe you get the idea anyways?
So the general consensus is we will travel 2/7 and possibly finally meet our daughter 2/8 or 2/9. This is not official travel date as we do not have approval yet… but past experience with adoption has told me to expect this to take longer than I think it should… makes me wonder when we will really finally meet our little baby girl.
Nesting at super speed January 25, 2010
Alyssa’s room is nearing completion! It must have been one of the busiest weekends of my life. I got so much accomplished. Yet I still couldn’t sleep last night thinking about all I have left to do. Finally I pulled out all 8+pf the plastic totes that I was storing in her room (full of fabric for the blankets I make), rearranged the garage, and lugged them all downstairs and stacked them back up. WHAT a WORKOUT! 
Alyssa’s room finally looks like an actual kid’s room, not a kid’s room being used for storage. I love it! We rented a huge Rug Doctor carpet cleaner yesterday and I cleaned all the carpets! Luckily we have laminate flooring downstairs so there was only about 800 sq feet of carpet to clean upstairs. It was still a huge job. I look at the carpet now and almost have to squint at how shiny it is. Well, as shinny as a light tan Berber carpet can get. 
Now it’s perfectly clean for Alyssa to crawl around on. Next I’m going to wash all the walls! Woo hoo!
There are still a few small items that don’t belong in her room. Most of them have something to do with the mural we are painting. I’ve debated about getting a glider or rocking chair for her room. Some people have told me since she will be almost a year that she will be too old to need one in her room and/or they worry about her trying to pull herself up on it. Others think we should definitely have one. I like the idea of having one, but would hate to buy one and not use it as I don’t have room for one in my house if it’s not in her room. So, I’m thinking I will wait until we return as by then I should know what she likes. Will she want to be rocked to sleep every night? Our time in Colombia will allow me to know more about her so we can judge if a rocking chair or glider would be helpful.
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We had a huge adoption baby shower for Alyssa 1/17. It was a ton of fun and Alyssa now has so many wonderful new items. Everyone is so sweet and generous. I wish she was there to open up her gifts; but since she wasn’t I put her picture in the center of the table in the living room. So she was there in spirit.
