Bigs, Littles and More Littles: We'll Be Home for Christmas!!!!

Friday, 12/20

Today had a very early start with Brant, Julieta and I leaving the hotel around 7:30. Dakota and Gavin stayed at the hotel with the boys since we expected to be gone for a few hours. There is another family here, the Martins, from Louisiana who are adopting a brother and sister ages 7 and 4. They are cute, outgoing children who our kids have had a blast playing with. Brant helped out with their children yesterday while they made their final paperwork push and they returned the favor for us today. Our first stop was the Immigration department (called Migracion here). These are the people who determine the amount of fine we will pay for not registering our visa.  We sat waiting in the office from about 8:00 until 9:15. After sitting for that long we told them we would be back after going to the passport office to try again for the Colombian passport for Julieta.

We walked several blocks to the passport office. Last night our attorney in Valledupar emailed our guide a copy of the corrected birth certificate. The passport office said they would accept a copy to get the process started. When we checked in, Diego asked the administrator of the front office if it would be possible to receive the passport the same day. We previously were told "no" by many, many people. He explained to her that we already have a flight scheduled for Sunday. She wanted to see copies of the tickets. Which I of course did not have with me. I did have an emailed copy but I needed an internet connection to access it. Listen to this....Yesterday I spent a lot of time in the passport office. I tried multiple times (as did other families in Hotel Paris) to connect to the wi-fi without success. But today I decided to just check and see if I could get to the email. I immediately pulled it up (wi-fi worked great!!) and emailed it to Diego. He stepped out of the passport office to go next door to a little place where he could print out the tickets I emailed him. We presented him to the administrator and she said there should be no problem getting it the same day!!! Miracle! Just as a side note, later in the day when I came back to the passport office, Brant and I both tried for over an hour to connect to the wi-fi with no luck. I received one free minute of God wi-fi today!

We went upstairs in the passport office to begin the process. It went smoothly. The head of the passport office who we had spoken with yesterday came into the cubicle again. Yesterday she said no way on same day processing. Today she said of course. You can pick it up after 3:00 pm!!! Miracle!!! I paid the fee of 135,000 pesos for the passport and we walked the several blocks back to Migracion. We waiting in the waiting room for over another hour before they processed our paperwork. Then we went downstairs to pay the fines. 300,000 pesos each. But hopefully that will keep immigration from stopping us at the airport and imposing any additional fines.

On the walk from the passport office back to Migracion, Diego dialed the private number of the Consul of the U.S. Embassy for me. His name is Jeff Allen. I had spoken with him last night when we were having problems with the birth certificate but the conversation was brief. Today I explained our situation. That the passport office had agreed to get us the passport today! I told him where we were in process with the other paperwork as well. He said that he did not see any way it could be accomplished today. There just wasn't time to get it all done. I pleaded my case some more without completely resorting to begging or crying. He said I will call Diego back in a little bit but it does not look good for Sunday. I took the potential callback as hope!!

After the Migracion office, Diego took us back to the hotel where we were able to spend 1 1/2 hours eating some lunch, doing laundry, putting out a plea for prayers for softened hearts and getting the Littles settled in for naps before we hit the road again. We still had not received a call from Jeff Allen, but we had prayers, our amazing agency rep, Beth, Diego and Raul all advocating for us! We did hear by email from him requesting that we email him the scanned copy of the revised birth certificate. I took this as a good sign!  We arrived at the passport office at about 2:45. We were told the passport would be ready at 3:00. Wrong. At 3:45, Diego called Jeff and explained we were still waiting. Jeff said he wanted us to call when we received the passport and then he would make a final determination about processing it today. I prayed. I read the Bible on my phone. I prayed some more. 3:50 we received the passport. Next step, picking up the medical examination results!!

Diego ran next door to scan and email a copy of the passport to Jeff Allen while I headed to the car with Gina (Diego's wife), Brant and Julieta. Diego called Jeff when we got to the car to tell him we were on the way to get the medicals. Jeff wanted the phone number to the doctor's office to confirm they were ready to present us with the documents. Traffic was bad. It had been raining all day. Not good for Bogota. When we got about 4 of 5 blocks from the doctor's office, Diego decided we could move on foot faster than the cars were moving. When Diego asked me how long it had been since I had a good run, I realized I should have written Brant's name down as the person to pick up the medicals. We VERY quickly exited the vehicle in the middle of the road in heavy Bogota traffic and darted between the other cars to the sidewalk. We then sprinted. The whole way. Then ran up the stairs instead of waiting on the elevator.   Side note: Diego is a retired professional soccer player who now heads up a very successful youth club in Bogota. He is in better shape than I am and he was winded. I was thankful we were entering a medical facility just in case I needed care!!! The receptionist at the doctor's office was supposed to already have the documents ready. Of course she did not. We spent about 10 minutes waiting on that. We ran back down the stairs while Diego was on the phone with Gina trying to figure out where they parked the car! We about died crossing through traffic and jumped in the car so we could take off!

Diego calls Jeff who wants us to send him a copy of the Article 23 we received from ICBF. There is no time to find a place to scan documents so we just take a picture of the document and send it. And at this point (around 4:45 pm) we hear Jeff Allen speak the words, "You can come to the embassy!!!" Miracle!! We arrive at the embassy at 5:40. I later found out they had officially closed for business today at 12:00. He waited for us for almost 6 HOURS!!!! We had to enter through the secured rear entrance and were not allowed to actually enter the facility. Instead we stayed in a security building while we showed Jeff our documents. I was frazzled and could not even comprehend what documents he was asking for when he requested them. Finally he took my mangled, disheveled, mess of papers and kindly informed me he would just take the whole pile and sort them out in his office.  I think he could tell I just could not process one more piece of paper. We waited while he entered the main building. About 15 minutes later we saw him exit the building with a large box which he took over to a mini van with a woman inside. It was at that moment that I realized his wife had been waiting in the parking lot for him while he waited for us! He walked the visa out to us and explained all the steps that we needed to take at the airport to leave. He was simply amazing. After he walked us out, we headed to the car. He and his wife passed by and I couldn't help shouting out a big "Merry Christmas" as they drove by :)

We started the long drive to the hotel. Gina spoke up in the car and said it is always amazing when you are able to be that close to miracles. It was a day of many miracles!! Our day on the road and in offices totaled over 10 hours. Julieta was such a trooper. She napped when she could, ate when she could and was content to just be there. Dakota, Gavin and the Martins were our heroes back at the hotel with the boys!!! They had already been fed dinner when we arrived so they were content to play while we ate ours. The babies went to bed and Brant and I went out for about an hour to get some postres y café (dessert and coffee) at our favorite place El Corral Gourmet.

The day has been exhausting and exciting all at the same time. A true day of miracles. I mentioned earlier in this post about reading the Bible while I was waiting in the passport office. The following is the scripture I read:

I love you, Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I called to the Lord, who is worthy of praise, and I have been saved from my enemies. The cords of death entangled me; the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me. The cords of the grave coiled around me; the snares of death confronted me. In my distress I called to the Lord; I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears. The earth trembled and quaked, and the foundations of the mountains shook. Psalm 18:1-7

Exactly what I needed to read. To know that God was hearing my cry and your cries and that the very foundations of the mountains in Bogota were shaking!!! I prayed that it all be for His Glory!!! Glory be to God!!!

Our feet will be on the ground in Huntsville on Sunday evening! Thank you again!!!

Outside the U.S. Embassy!! See the mess of papers in my hands. We were immediately scolded after
this by the guards for taking pictures in from of the Embassy. Who knew??