Beyond Exhausted!!

We are experiencing a new level of exhaustion!! Whew, I sure wish we were still in our 30s!! :) I believe the trip here and the extreme emotions of yesterday caught up with everyone today. We all had our ups and downs - luckily not all at the same time!

We started the morning early again with a visit to the courthouse at 8:30. We have a wonderful lady named Señora Gloria who is driving and accompanying us to all of our legal appointments. We met our lawyer first and then waited in line for over an hour to submit our documents. The kids did not do so well standing still for that long. We were quite a site explaining everything in English and Spanish. I had taken snacks to distract everyone but we had to leave them in the car because we could not take a backpack in the courthouse. Next time I'll stuff them in my purse.

Our adoption case was entered into the court system and assigned a court. Now, we wait a week to 10 days before we have an interview with the child welfare system to see how we are progressing as a family. After that appointment, our case will be officially presented to the judge along with a letter saying that all of our paperwork is in order. At that point the judge has a prescribed number of days in which he can sign off on our adoption. When everything is finished here, we will travel to the capital city of Bogotá to complete the visa process for the children at the US embassy. The whole process is predicted to take about a month. Some families actually finish a few days earlier and others take a bit longer. According to our lawyer we were not assigned the "fast" court but not the slowest either. So, that's the process in a nutshell. I may not have all the details down exactly but things will be clearer as we move forward.

We were asked to go back to the orphanage tomorrow to meet with the director again. Evidently she presented the children to us before she completely reviewed their history with us. It could have been the extreme excitement from two girls and her inability to complete a sentence that helped her make that decision! We will gladly go back to Casa de María in the morning. We are anxious to learn everything we can about our children. We are piecing lots together as we talk with them and go about the day. We have talked at length about our visit tomorrow with the children because we do not want them to think we are taking them back to the orphanage.

Sweet Leandro had a pretty tough afternoon. Please pray for him especially. Angi Camila is asking lots of questions and trying her best to process everything. Leo doesn't ask as many questions but I can tell he is trying to figure out exactly what's going on. Both of them thought we were all going to live here in this apartment now. Tori even thought we have moved here! Oh my! Camila and Leandro also have been very interested that Victor and I are indeed married and live together. I don't think either of them have a true idea of what a family is. Please pray that Victor and I will be good examples for them.

Guess I better wind it down for tonight - one little curly headed girl is still awake and needs some assistance. She is beyond exhausted and having a hard time settling down. Please pray for sweet T. She is doing an amazing job of sharing and is by far the most bilingual of the kids. If she doesn't know a word, she just makes one up that sounds like Spanish. She is making everyone laugh - often. Camila keeps saying she wishes she could understand everything Tori says - she says A LOT!! She has learned "lo siento" (I'm sorry) well out of necessity and uses it for lots of other phrases too. Tori had a little trouble sharing Evie today as both of the other kids are very taken with her. She keeps gum in her purse and that has endeared her to Leandro.

Camila and Evie are getting along very well! I took them out shopping this afternoon to find a few items of clothes for tiny Camila. It was fun -- they held hands the whole time. We picked up a soccer ball and Tori and Leandro had a blast playing out on the court here in the apartments.

I'll close with a picture from this morning on our way to the courthouse when we looked fresh. I should have taken one from tonight to show the before and after.