Home manana!!!

Everything went well at the Embassy & everyone is heading home to LA tomorrow.
:)

Visas!

Today's goal was to get final papers from ICBF and then get the girls' visas completed for pickup tomorrow. Everything went off without a hitch at ICBF - Yay!

When they went to the US Embassy for the visas, there was some type of protest going on and police were firing tear gas at people so the air was very bad, making Evan & the girls cough and have burning eyes as well as dry throats. The Embassy has you do your business outside at a window so the air was really affecting them. The guy at the Embassy rushed through their paperwork to get them out of there. He did say that he was outstanding 1 paper concerning Evan but told him he should be able to pick up the visas tomorrow at 3. We are really hoping they didn't have to evacuate the Embassy because that would mean the visas wont get done. We will know tomorrow at 3 if they have everything they need to travel on Thursday!

Camelot!

Evan & the girls went to another amusement park type place called Camelot today. He said there was a haunted house that none of them made it through because it was so scary - Ha! The video of the girls trying to walk in the balls on water had me cracking up!

Also, the other video is what Leidy says is how I dance....hilarious!

Tomorrow they have to go to ICBF to pick up some paperwork then go to apply for the girls' visas. If everything goes OK they will pick up the visas tomorrow at 3 and then fly on Thursday!!
Send good thoughts
:)

                                                                         House of Terror

Divercity!

Today the gang went to a place called Divercity in a big and apparently very nice mall. Divercity is basically a city for kids. They do things like go to the bank, have an occupation, do activities with their earnings, etc. Evan said it was really cute and they had a good time although he said it was more for a little bit younger of an age. Tomorrow is a holiday and they may go to the science museum but they are playing it by ear.

Tuesday is the big day at the US Embassy and we are hoping everything goes off without a hitch, they can pick up visas Wednesday and leave Thursday! Wahoooooo

Airline tickets

It's been one of those typical crazy days of dealing with the airline and it is all in who you talk to!!  I called Delta earlier and was told that even though we had the adoption fare which was to waive all change fees & difference in fare, the discount tickets weren't available on Thursday. The woman at Delta said the change fee was $670 per ticket (x3) and so I opted to think about it and call back. I checked other airlines and it was pretty much across the board over $1000 to book a new ticket since it is only 6 days away.

I knew what I was up against as the initial booking of our special international adoption fare tickets took 7 hours on the phone and changing my ticket out of Bogota took hours. I prepared myself tonight with a little bit of alcohol!  ;)

I called Delta and was told by the customer service rep that it would be $900 per ticket to change their tickets from tomorrow to Thursday ($2700 total). I argued that a one way ticket is $913 so how could it be $900? Don't they apply the ticket we already purchased towards that amount? What about the rules of our fare which are no change fees? No difference in fare fees? What about the fact that when we had to change my return flight they figured it out and didn't charge me? I was put on hold for about 20 minutes and then she came back with "I am sorry but what I told you seems to be correct after consulting with out global fare department". I asked to speak to a supervisor who came on the phone after about a 5-8 minute hold. I talked for what felt like at least 10 minutes, then apologized for making my plea so lengthy. He asked "what date did you need?" and I replied with "Thursday". He simply said "OK, you are good for Thursday". I think I thanked him 3 times but he couldn't possibly have any idea how much that actually meant to me after a week of feeling so defeated and so unsuccessful. I wish I could send him a thank you card!!!

Passports - Check

They got through the passport office with NO issues!!!! I am so excited I don't even know what to do.   ;)

Right now they are getting the girls ID cards laminated and then later they will be going to apply for the visas for the girls and then the appointments at the doctor.

I am so nervous to change their flight from tomorrow to Thursday.....I don't want to jinx anything.

Next.....

The registrar signed the birth certificates this morning! Everyone is now at the passport office so I am hoping that for once, something goes smoothly and they get out of there with success.

Passport office -


More later.....

Next....

A little more of what I learned today was the issue comes into play because of the way the judge wrote the girls new names to be. She wrote their names to be fist, middle, our last and then my maiden last. My passport only has my married last name which doesn't match what the judge wrote for their last name. There is also the issue of Evan's middle name (see earlier post).

Tomorrow morning a driver is going early to see if they are completing the birth records or not. If so, he will take the birth records get the girls & Eavn and take them to the office where they will apply for emergency passports for the girls. After that they will go to the US Embassy to apply for visas and have their doctor appointments at 5pm. If they do not complete the birth records, I am not sure what happens next and am trying not to wonder or worry about that until I wake up tomorrow and hope for a great text!

Now - to watch some AI and forget about this for an hour!

Birth Certificate update

I haven't yet been able to speak with Evan but from his texts, here is what I gather happened.....

*My maiden / married name was an issue
*His name was an issue because his full middle is on his birth cert but only middle initial on his passport
*There is an issue with the way the judge wrote the girls' names on the Sentencia

The person who signs off on the birth certs & IDs for the girls was out of the office today

I am not sure what this means in the grand scheme of things and this is just partial info as of now. They went to get photos of the girls for their new passports but other than that I think they are at a stand still until tomorrow.

The other issue they are having is that an appt at the doctor's office at the US Embassy has not been made yet but I am not sure why that is.

I do believe this means they are not going to be able to fly home Wednesday.

More to follow later......

Birth Certificate Office - Issues

They all made it to the birth certificate office but they had issues with the way our names are on different things like on Evan's birth certificate it has his full middle name but his passport only has the initial. With me they had some confusion about my maiden / married last names. He said after awhile they seemed to get that all worked out but now he just said there is another issue.....

I am pretty sure if anything else goes wrong, Evan is going to flip.

Sentencia - check

They got through Sentencia! They were picked up at 7am to be to court by 8am and the line was quite long (see photo). They are now in the car on the way to the birth certificate office so keep sending those good vibes!!!!
:)

Sentencia tomorrow!

Whatever you do for good luck or making wishes or asking your higher power, PLEASE do it tonight! Evan and the girls go back to court tomorrow for Sentencia which is where we got held up last week. If everything goes well, they will leave there and go to the birth certificate office and then the passport office. If all of that goes well, they go to the US Embassy Friday for the girls' doctor appointments and then apply for their visas. If all of that goes well, they can pick up their passports & visas Tuesday (Monday is a holiday) and fly home Wednesday morning! I am not changing their flights yet until I hear everything goes smoothly tomorrow. GOOD THOUGHTS!!!

Evan has been sick so they haven't been doing a whole lot. Today they went to the park to play basketball and the cutest dog stole their ball and started playing soccer with them. The dog looks like a boy version of our Lily but with white socks on his feet. He followed them home so they gave him some chicken & water but Leidy was crying because she wanted to keep him. They can't have dogs in the condo so they weren't able to take him in.  :(

I have been doing a little decorating of their room in anticipation for their arrival next week (see photos). Also, I have been trying to find a doctor, dentist, tutor and also went to see a different psychologist to see if I liked her for the girls. The paperwork for my leave off of work is a little overwhelming right now but I need to concentrate and do it over the next couple of days!

OK.....I will keep everyone posted tomorrow about their progress.
:)

Everyone is safe

In case you read about a bomb going off in Bogota today, they were no where near it and everyone is safe. It was a very targeted attack on a former minister
http://www.ajc.com/news/nation-world/2-dead-in-bogota-1437985.html

Let's just all hope this doesn't for some bizarre reason put us any further behind somehow.

City pics

I have a ton of pics that Evan put up but unfortunately I don't really know what or where any of them are! I know that this past weekend they went to several museums, a soccer game (previous post) and rented bikes to ride around the city. So....enjoy the views of Bogota
;)