Pre approval!!

This afternoon we received PA (pre-approval) from China for our son! This is a preliminary approval.   The official approval will come after our dossier is in China. He is 1 year old and his birthday is in November. Most likely we will travel before his 2nd birthday.

And here is his picture:

I mean. Don't you just want to squeeze his cheeks!!!! We are in love. Thank you Lord for your blessings.

 Ways you can help:

-  pray for our precious boy. Pray for his health and his caretakers.

-  pray for our next referral to be just what it should be.

-  continue using the Amazon link to the right when you place orders  and we will get a portion of your purchase donated to us.

-  consider donating to our adoption fundraiser yard sale.

-  we will be having a Boston butt fundraiser for Fourth of July. Keep that in mind as you make your plans.

-  if you feel led to contribute with a monetary donation you can click here to do that.  Donations are tax-deductible!

We love you all!!!!

Homestudy here we come!!!

If I've seemed like I have been MIA for a bit, it is because I am DROWNING in PAPERS.  You know how as a woman you tend to forget how awful your last pregnancy and delivery were and actually decide to do it again???  Adoption = Same.  Except China wants 1,236 things notarized for every 3 Colombia wanted.  I even needed a letter to prove that my outdoor cats were up to date on their vaccinations.  Le sigh.

A quick update on our process:

- We are about to start home study with our agency, Villa Hope.  I'm hoping it flies by.
- We changed placing agencies.  We were originally with CCAI and now we are going with AAC out of Colorado.  Nothing wrong with CCAI.  It was just going to be a longer wait with that larger agency  than we should experience with AAC.
- The sweet little girl, whose file we were reviewing, was matched with a family who viewed her file before us.  Bittersweet.  But SO happy she has a family on their way!!!
- We are currently viewing another file of a little girl that just turned 2.  We have a couple of phone calls out to different specialists who should be familiar with her medical condition to see what that would look like day to day in terms of care.
- We should have a short match with our boy after our dossier is approved in China.  Over 70% of children in China orphanages are male.  This is why we are viewing girl files first since they are often harder to find at the younger ages without an extended wait.
- We could be look at travel as soon as the end of the year.
- We are about to start a couple of fundraisers if you would like to support us in that way.  Posts coming soon.
- We are still earning money when you click over to your right before putting items in your Amazon basket!  Easy way to help out.

So, short of drowning in papers, we have just been doing life over here. Enjoyed a brief reprieve with a FREE reward trip for all of Brant's tireless work, trying to catch up on homeschool (insert eyeroll), getting the house ready to sell (want to buy our house??), and trying to start building a new one (because 7 kids). As with our other adoption, the minute we started praying about it and pursuing it, all H*LL broke loose.  I mean a vehicle needing a $4,000 repair, health issues requiring extra doctor appointments for the kids, discipline issues above and beyond any we have dealt with before in our home, crazy psycho mommy moments, etc.  One thing I have learned in the past few years is this:  Satan hates families.  He hates yours and he hates mine.  He detests the thought of two precious, little children from China finding theirs.  And he will fight it.

But here is the Good News: My God is a good, good Father.  I have been dwelling on that song lately.  Then it popped up as a new song we would be singing as a worship team this week.  The Lord loves to give me those little drops of confirmation in my journey.  I envision them as tiny paint drops on a canvas that eventually become a beautiful, undeniable work of the Hand of God.  It's just who He is.

How to Make a Tax-Deductible Donation:

Click here to donate either by check or credit card.  We are praying for provision.  Please pray for us to have that financially, spiritually, and physically.  We love you all!!!

What's a little more crazy??

It has been just a few days shy of 2 years since my last blog post.  In case you were wondering, I did not miss it one bit.  But since I do feel compelled to journal this process, I am starting the blog back up.  Before I get to the juicy details, let's review the ground rules for my blog.

1.  I loathe writing.  It is not something that comes easy for me.  I'll do what I can, when I can.  But there are no promises you will find it entertaining or interesting.  It will, however, be authentic.  The good and the bad.

2.  Don't judge my grammar.  If I am able to get a post up, it is strictly because Littles are sleeping or otherwise occupied.  Those moments are brief so I will have to knock out posts quickly and probably won't proofread for run on sentences or comma splices.  Complain about it on your Facebook page. #grammarnazis

3. I covet your prayers.  That is one of the main reasons that I put up the blog.  I truly believe that it takes a village to accomplish adoption.  You are my village.  If however you found yourself on my page and you have something negative to say or you are an internet troll, do us all a favor and leave now.  Love you, mean it, bye.

HERE IS WHAT YOU CAME FOR

Many months ago, I began feeling a nudge (once again) toward adoption.  I mentioned it to Brant and we agreed to pray about it.  While that was going on in the back of our minds, we also began clearing our property to begin construction on a new home.  And we started the search for a house plan.  And began packing up our current house to prepare to list it.  So the "back of our minds" is pretty much where it stayed.  Plus Christmas and its presents, and Christmas card photos, and decking of the halls and such.  :/ We had SO many big decisions going on at the same time.  Fast forward to now.  The land has been cleared, the preliminary house plan chosen and the Christmas gifts opened.  I love closure.  With some of the mental burden lifted, we were able to focus more on adoption.  We are looking at international adoption again.  This time China.  We loved our experience with Colombia.  The culture and the people are simply extraordinary.  I do not, however, relish the idea of another 7-8 week in-country stay with an even larger brood.  China will require a trip of approximately 10-14 days.  Much more doable.  We also appreciate that China has a very established adoption program.  All adoption has uncertainty, but a tried and true program leaves less room for hiccups.

Where we are at the moment:

- We have mailed our application to CCAI.  They are our adoption agency.  Since they are located out of state, we must use a different in-state agency for our home study.  That will be Villa Hope.  We have also mailed our application off to them.  We hope to hear from both agencies within the next 7 days.

- We are applying to adopt 2 unrelated children.  You heard me right.  See blog post title above.  That does not mean we will be approved for 2 or that we will end up adopting more than one.  But it makes it a real possibility.

-We have requested either gender and children whose ages are between 12 and 48 months at time of referral.  They will most likely have special needs of some sort.  We had to fill out a form stating needs we thought we were capable of handling both financially and time wise.

-Yes, we will fund raise again.   Yard sale......not even sure about that.

- The process will take approximately one year.  Please, please add us to your daily prayer list.

I told a friend earlier today that I'm not sure I am ready to commit to blogging again.  I think I have already conveyed my disdain.  But I am truly SO excited about this adoption and I cannot wait to share all our news with you!!!  We love and appreciate each and every one of you.

Our Video

All along I knew I wanted to do a little slideshow of some sort after the adoption to celebrate our experience.  So here it is.  Thank you for following us on our journey.  You are all my heart!

http://youtu.be/A7KZMnF8b_8

Home at Last!!!

Saturday was a flurry of packing to come home!  We did make a little time to run by our favorite El Corral for some milkshakes and fries.  We also went to pick up a few small gifts for some of the people involved in speeding up our process.  It was the least we could do.  The kids were really getting excited about the reality of being in our house again.  Julieta ran around all day saying, "Mi casa manana." (My house tomorrow)  It was really cute :) 

Sunday was a crazy day as so many in Colombia were.  We left for the airport at 7:00 am.  The flight did not leave until 10:30 but we had about a 45 minute drive and we wanted to be there early.  Good thing we did.  First we had to stand in line to get all of our passports stamped as being tax exempt so we would not be required to pay the extra fees involved with international airfare.  Then we headed over to the Delta counter to check our bags.  When we got there they could not find Julieta's ticket.  I had purchased us all adoption fare tickets so we could change the return date if we needed to.  But they do not allow you to actually pay for the adopted child's fare ahead of time.  It has to be done at the airport.  Unfortunately that cannot happen in the line we were in.  So....I head over to a special ticketing window where they inform me they can not honor the fare I was quoted or give me the $200 voucher toward the ticket that I was promised.  I said, "I don't care. I will pay whatever.  Just give me the ticket."  She politely ignored me and spent the next HOUR on the phone with different departments to get me the original rate.  Finally, she finished up the ticket and we were on our way to finish checking the luggage. 

We said our goodbyes to Diego and proceeded to our gate. By then everyone was starving and needed a bathroom break.  I found some snacks in the gift shop while Brant started herding groups to the bathrooms.  We only had a few minutes until boarding began so we all sat down on the floor at the gate to eat our chips.  During our trip to Colombia, Jude has decided he no longer likes to eat from containers of any sort.  He pours his food out and eats off the table.  No table here.  So he just pours his chips on the carpet right there in the airport.  And I do not care.  He then steps in the pile of chips.  Still I do not care.  That is your only snack until the lovely stewardess brings something by.  Eat up! 

We get everyone on the plane and we are on our way!!!!  The kids were decent on the plane.  Jude and Reese only melted down a couple of times each which isn't terrible for a 5 hour flight.  When we arrive in Atlanta we make a mad dash toward immigration.  We stand in the line for US Citizens until a man working there notices Julieta's yellow packet of papers I am holding.  He moves us to another line that handles cases like ours.  Much shorter line.  We may make our flight after all!!!  The man we are assigned to mentions that we were supposed to stand in line where we were first to process all of us except Julieta and then move to his line.  But he will let us stay since we were directed to come there by an officer.  Yay!!!  That saved us a ton of time.  Next we have to claim our luggage and then recheck it.   I have no idea why they make us do this step but all international flights are like that.  Time waster.  The bigs scurry off to find us a couple of luggage carts.  We begin loading it all up and I notice we are missing our two carry on suitcases.  When we finished up at the immigration desk, Brant had asked Gavin to pull those two bags down to baggage claim so he could carry two Littles since they are such slow walkers.  Gavin didn't hear him.  So, Brant has to go back up the elevator to the immigration desk to find the suitcases.  Thankfully, they were right where we left them! 

While Brant was gone to find the lost bags, a dog began sniffing around the kids backpacks.   He was particularly interested in Reese's.  The customs officer asked me if we had any fruit in the bag.  "Fruit Loops," I replied.  Because any idiot knows you don't bring fruit across international borders.  Unless you forget that you packed two pears for the kids to eat at the airport in Bogota until you got distracted by more time delays and crushed chips on the airport floor!!!!!!  AHH!!!  He flags my customs slip with the word PEAR.  The officer later hears me groaning to the children about how we are certain to miss our flight now.  He comes back over and questions me on our flight time and then crosses out pear on our slip, takes the pears and throws them away.  Thank you!  Brant gets back with the missing luggage and we head out with the luggage to clear customs.  The man checking the slip does not care if "PEAR" has been crossed out.  He sends us through the agricultural inspection room.  I'm annoyed. Brant says, "I didn't even know we HAD pears."  I imagine he is mad but I do not dare look at his face :)  Thankfully, the man with the dog and the marker was in the inspection room when we arrived and flagged us on without anyone tearing through all our bags!

Next stop, security scan.  Getting all the backpacks of the children on the belt along with removing jackets and shoes and belts and everything from their pockets was interesting to say the least.  Only once did anyone have to say, "Um, whose children are these?"  I pointed to Brant of course like any good wife would do.  We all take our turns walking through the scanner and head back to the conveyor belt to reclaim our items.  On the 5 hour flight to Atlanta, the kids got thirsty so the flight attendants offered us water to fill up their Nalgene bottles.  Did not even think about needing to empty those back out before reentering security.  So, litmus tests must be performed on 3 water cups.  All the while Reese is in hysterics about putting his shoes back on.  "MY FEET ARE HOT!!! NO!!!!!"  During all the ruckus, a safety person with TSA comes over to us and wants to know if Reese has fallen and gotten hurt.  The last thing we need is someone wanting to hold us up to file an accident report!!!  "No, he is just very, very angry."  She looks uncertain about the possibility that the reaction she is witnessing could seriously just come from putting back on shoes.  But she lets us go.  We run to the tram to get to our next terminal.  I might be sweaty by now.  And we make it! Amazing Race - Toddler Edition is almost over. BTW, we would totally win that version of the show should they ever decide to do it. 

We were greeted in Huntsville by so many friends and family.  It was wonderful to see the tangible love and support we have felt from so far away.  I wish I had time to spend with each and every one of you who came by.  It was such a whirlwind, we just did our best.  Our families headed to the house with us to get some dinner and visit a bit.  When we arrived, Brant noticed some Christmas decorations in our yard and then he could see the lights of the tree inside.  I think he was more surprised and excited than the children were.  He just loves Christmas. Many of our friends got together and decorated our house for us.  I couldn't have asked for more.  My family and some friends also brought by groceries, snacks, and meals. 

Julieta was so excited and kept running from room to room asking if that was her bed.  She was completely thrilled with the toys and new things surrounding her.   The longer she wandered around and played, the more comfortable she became.  Our families left and we settled in for bathtime and bedtime.  She laid down nicely in her new bed and drifted quickly off to sleep.  Like she had slept there all of her life. 

The next few days were a flurry of activity.  Laundry, Christmas with family and at home, a few visitors with meals and gifts, mail sorting, etc.  Monday, Julieta had a hard time when she woke up from her nap and cried for a while.  But other than that, she has adjusted amazingly well!  She is eating better than she had been, although fruits and vegetables are still a struggle for her.  Her comfort level is increasing with our parents and her cousins.  The language barrier will continue to be a struggle for her for a while.  She understands some basic instructions, but some of these we still give in Spanish.  A lot of hand motions are used to convey our thoughts.  Unfortunately, she is speaking less and less Spanish.  She knows that we do not speak Spanish fluently and is starting to already lose her ability to.  She is in that weird place of understanding Spanish and a little English but not speaking either one.  I know that in 6 months time she will have made great strides.  She is very bright and has learned so much already. 

It has been so wonderful to introduce her to what we can only assume are many firsts.  First time in cold weather, in a car seat, at a movie theatre, on a four wheeler, getting a ton of presents from grandparents, etc.  I wish I could know the thoughts going through her mind.  I have been surprised at how well she has adapted so far.  I know there will be harder times to come.  Periods of adjustment for everyone.  But right now, life is so beautiful.  Reese is particularly loving to her.  He wants her to be served first for snack or dinner.  He tries to comfort her if she is upset.  He SHARES with her.  What?  I am so grateful she has found a soft place in his heart.  Jude is another story.  He does not discriminate when it comes to toy-stealing, food or drink stealing, biting or hitting.  This too shall pass.  So they say. 

All the Littles currently have colds so I would appreciate some prayers for them.  Especially for Julieta, as a cold can quickly turn to something much worse for her.  Next week, we are hoping to begin our initial rounds of doctor's visits and blood work with Julieta.  It should be busy! I will try and keep you all updated as best I can.  We are back to real life.  Work schedules, school, extra-curricular activities, church, family and friends will fill our time.  Blogging will become less frequent.  But I will still post.  Keep an eye out.  In the next few days I am hoping to put together a video of our adoption journey.  You will be the first to know! 

Love you all.  Keep on praying for us.  We cannot wait for you all to meet Ms. Julieta!!!

No one can run away

Our arrival complete with a Reese tantrum :)

First picture all together on American soil!!

Reality!

Car ride to the house

Our yard decorations lovingly placed by friends!!

Our friends even decorated the kid's rooms

And bought Julieta a stocking and had it monogrammed!!!!

A greeting from our dear elf, Peabody. 

She was a little happy about her "casa"

First night in her new bed

My dear friend and neighbor had the Bigs over to make cookies and a real gingerbread house with her children.

And a gingerbread train!

Dakota revealed the Barbie house :)

 

Christmas at Nannie's and Hap's

Story time with Nannie

 

Favorite toys from Christmas at Nana's and Papa's house

Princesa Sophia as she calls herself

Colombian soccer jerseys for Christmas

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??

Diego, myself and the Famous Jeff Allen!!!!

3rd nap of the day

I am always amazed at how large this wall of bottles is when we go to El Corral.  It is beautiful!

No es bueno

Thursday, 12/19

I really hate for this to be a negative post.  Really.  But sadly, there is not a lot of positive news to relay.  Julieta and I left around 7:30 am this morning to apply for her Colombian passport.  Our driver arrived to take us and another family to the office.  Before we left the hotel, we waited for a taxi to arrive carrying our precious adoption decree and birth certificate.  Diego's sweet wife had gone to the airport to pick the documents up this morning but could not bring them to the hotel due to restrictions on the time of the day certain license plate numbers can drive.  So she sent the documents in the taxi to the hotel!  I was so glad they arrived in time to make our appointment. 

The passport office is really large and the applicants flow quickly through the process.  They also have maids dressed in actual maid dresses, I guess you would say, who bring glasses of water and coffee to the people in the cubicles processing the passports.  Unimportant to our situation, but interesting nonetheless.  We began the processing of the passport for Julieta.  The woman entered all her information as well as mine and Brant's into the computer.  I checked over everything.  She took Julieta's picture for the passport.  We were in the final steps when the head of the processing center stepped into the cubicle.  The agent processing the paperwork asked her boss what seemed to be an offhand question about something in our documents.  Before I knew it I was being told that the new birth certificate that Valledupar had just sent us was wrong.  No. 

In Colombia, most people have two surnames.  Your first surname is your father's first surname and your second surname is your mother's first surname.  So, Julieta's newly issued birth certificate has her first name, middle name and Maynard Duckworth.  The problem is that on the line for her mother's name, it lists me as Elesha Michelle Maynard. No Duckworth typed in there.  The adoption decree has all the information just as we need it.  Just not the birth certificate.  Diego practically begged and pleaded for the office to just process us out but they adamantly refused.  They said the notary who notarized the birth certificate needed to hand write in at the bottom of the certificate that my maiden name is Duckworth and then email the new copy.  They close for the day at 3:00 so we were hoping to get it done before the cutoff for the day. 

I went back to the hotel so Julieta could get a nap while Diego contacted our lawyer in Valledupar and she called the notary.  The notary refused to make the addition to the bottom of the document.  Refused!!!  Our only hope was to go to another processing center in town.  So around 1:00 pm I head out yet again with Diego's wife in a taxi to a much further away passport office.  Diego met me there so he could once again interpret.  We got back to another cubicle and they started typing in Julieta's id number and my passport number and the screen began populating with our information.  The first processing center still had all of our information in the system and had put a lock on the file.  We spent about an hour and a half there pleading our case.  They said there is nothing they can do. 

We then start out for ICBF to see if they can advocate for us.  We spend another couple of hours there camped out while Diego and many other ICBF officers called officials and consulates and the embassy all trying to get this resolved.  I spoke with the embassy on the phone and they promised something would be done about it, but it was too late for anything to happen today.  We were able to go ahead an obtain our Article 23 from ICBF which we must have for the Visa.  I was glad to have that off our plates.

Here is where we stand.  We still do not have the modified birth certificate.  We only need an electronic copy.  They say that we will have it by the morning.  I will believe it when I see it.  First thing at 7:00 am, Brant and Julieta and I will go to the Immigration office to sign some forms and pay at least a $300 fine for not registering our visa within 15 days of our arrival in country.  Which we were not told we needed to do.  Then we will go to the passport office to try again for the passport.  Only of course if we have received the new birth certificate.  Another problem is we have to present the passport to the doctor who performed the medical exam before he will sign it.  Tomorrow he leaves for vacation so how does he sign????  We must present the medical exam and Julieta's passport to get her Visa.  The soonest this can happen is Monday.  If we can indeed apply for her passport tomorrow, we cannot pick it up until Monday morning.  So it looks like Sunday is out for us.  I have begun checking into some other potential flights but we will not make any real decisions until we see how tomorrow goes. It has to be better than today!

I must give a shout out to Brant who stayed at the hotel all day with the kids minus Julieta. Plus he had two other children from 7:30 am until 12:30 pm while their family ran around jumping through paperwork hoops!!! 

After the babies went to bed tonight, Brant and I walked to the grocery store to pick up some fruit and snacks for the room.  We realized as we left the hotel that this was the very first time in 7 weeks that we had been completely alone.  We should have walked slower! 

Please continue to pray.  Things have not gone exactly like I wanted them to but we still have some small sliver of hope for Christmas!   Also pray for our health.  Several of the children are suffering from upset stomachs and myself and two of the kids have a bad cold and cough.  Sickness is not what we need right now.  Can't wait to see you all!!!

The passport office

Julieta and her temporary friend in the hallway of ICBF

Jude is ready to go home too

One of the hotel pets