Wednesday

We woke up early this morning to say goodbye to our Minnesota friends. I cried like a baby when they left. We just met them a week ago, but I got really attached to their girls. I got a big hug from V. They were excited to get on the airplane, and to get home to their dad who had left a few days earlier. They promised to keep in touch, and I really hope they do.

After that, we fed the boy and started to get ready for our Bienestar interview. I completely lost track of time, and realized too late that I had no time to give him a bath or to iron my pants. So the boy got a quick once over with some wipes, dressed him up cute and off we went with our orphanage contact, me with wrinkled pants. It was a long ride to the Bienestar office because of all the rush hour traffic. But it was very interesting to see the city from the car. The boy loves the car, and is completely mesmerized by the world whizzing by outside. Finally we arrived and had to wait a few minutes before we could go upstairs. I had my first stupid comment, and who'da thunk it would be here. A woman sitting next to me looks at the boy all dressed up in head to toe blue, and asks Nino or Nina? Nino dummy! Then we went up the stairs to a little waiting room. We saw the couple who we met on the day we got the boy, they were there for interview too. The building we were in was a very typical, old grungy government building, just like home. We briefly met our lawyer, who doesn't speak english. Eventually, when the woman we were supposed to meet actually got to work, we were called in to speak to her. She was a very teeny woman, no more than 4 foot 10 inches. Through our orphanage contact she asked us a few questions: How is the baby doing? Is this your first adoption? How did you come to adopt in Colombia? Do you think you have bonded with the baby? She seemed satisfied with our answers, and at the end she gave us Congratulations, and said that she hoped we show him lots of love and meet all of his needs. "Si, Claro!" Of course! After that, she reviewed our paperwork, and had to re-do one paper because it didn't have my middle name on it. They are very particular that all of your paperwork is consistent with all the names. After that was redone, we were free to go. We took a cab back to the hotel (our contact had to finish up with the other couple). We took a walk around our area to get out into the sunshine for a bit. We forgot the camera again, I need to take more pictures of the city.

We came back and sat outside until lunch. It was a beautiful day today, a nice breeze was blowing. A new couple arrived, they are from Spain and adopted a little boy in addition to the girl they already have. They are pretty shy and don't talk much. Their new boy is a screamer. After lunch we watched tv (Seinfeld, Frasier and (yes!) Will & Grace). I took a nap. We were pretty bored this afternoon. We were going to go to the mall with the American couple, but they snagged the only stroller so we couldn't go. We are getting punchy with the boredom. Every time the phone rings here (which is like every 5 minutes) Jim says out loud "I'm not here!". I crack up because no one even knows what he is saying. Oh, and you'll be happy to know that I got back at the maid today. After she starting rattling on again, making fun of me that I couldn't speak good spanish, I said to her (in perfect spanish!) "I understand everything but I don't speak well. What about you? Let me hear you practice your english!" Well she turned red and said "YES!" and ran away. HA! Not so easy is it?!

Oh I forgot to tell you a funny story yesterday. When we were in the mall, a couple walks up to us with their little boy in a stroller. They were saying how cute the baby was, and they asked me (in spanish of course) what his name was, and how old he was. After I answered, she looks at me and asks me where I'm from. Oh great I think, how am I going to explain? So I started to say the United States and then she said "Me too!" in perfect english! Guess where they were from? The Bronx. How funny is that? Her and her husband were on vacation visiting family. When we told them we had just adopted him they went nuts over him. And guess what, she said my spanish was very good (stupid maid is giving me a complex!)

Two of the french families signed their Sentencia today - that is the final adoption decree and it means that they can now get their visas and get ready to go home. They bought wine and snacks and we had a toast congratulating them on this big step. That is what we are waiting for now...to be called and told we can go and sign the Sentencia. Please keep your fingers crossed that we get the call Monday or Tuesday. This Friday is a holy day here, so it will not happen this week. So we just finished dinner, and the dining room was so loud Jim and I have a head ache. Kids crying and banging dishes, adults screaming in french. We just looked at each other and started cracking up. I am going to finish this post and we are going to retire to the quiet of our room. Good thing the boy is not bothered by all of the commotion. It's good preparation for our crazy family. The poor kid has no idea what's in store for him!