Next Steps in the Process and Delays...

I was planning to write more on our journey on Sunday but with everything happening with my grandpa, I have not been up to the task.  Grandpa is doing better tonight and may be on the slow road to recovery if he can fight the pneumonia.  We are still hoping and praying for him!

There are no pictures in this post.  Hopefully, we'll post more tomorrow.  Sorry for all of the words but I am trying to document as many details as I can so I can remember them later.

I can't believe that tomorrow, we will have had David a full week!  We will return to Casa de Maria y el Nino on Thursday afternoon for an interview with the Defender of Minors (Social Workers) and then will also submit all of our paperwork to the court.  The paperwork could have been submitted earlier but they were moving the location (?) so they didn't want it to get lost during the move.  There are 14 courts in Medellin and there is a lottery system in place to assign the cases to each courts.  There is one judge that is against adoptions so our attorney told us if we get assigned to that court, she can pull our documents back and resubmit the next day.  We are crossing our fingers that our case is assigned to a court that loves adoptions and things go smoothly for us.

We have been told 2 different scenarios which could extend our time in Colombia but are still confused if either, both or neither of the scenarios will happen.  The President of the Orphanage told us that there have been some recent changes in the laws in Colombia that will cause the judges to do their own research to ensure that there are no family members willing to take the child.  Even though all of this was already done before we were given David's referral, I guess people respond differently if a judge calls them directly.  On top of this, our attorney told us that now after getting Sentencia, (which is typically the last step in the court process and would be our last step in Medellin) that now there is an added 10 day waiting period and then someone else will sign off on our case.  It seems that we are the 1st ones hearing of either of these changes and our agency was never informed of either of these changes so there is a lot of confusion right now.

Originally, our agency told us the average time in Medellin would be ~3 weeks and then it would be less than 1 week in Bogota.  We are now planning to be here at least 6 weeks in Medellin so most likely won't be home until mid-May.  It's better to plan for the longer stay and get to go home sooner than the other way around.  Sohrab will still leave on April 2nd.  Before he leaves, we'll be looking for a cheaper apartment that is closer to one of the major malls.  Our apartment is great (will discuss more in another post) but it's $80/night and a ways from everything.  We did find a grocery store not too far away but with a baby and Gustavo and the crazy traffic, it would be difficult to get there on my own.

Our agency is in Bogota right now and will be coming to Medellin later this week.  We hope to meet with our US rep and our Colombian rep to clear up some of the confusion.

After we get Sentencia, we would get David's Colombian passport and birth certificate and then fly to Bogota.  In Bogota, we would have a visit with a US Doctor to ensure all of his vaccinations are up-to-date, then have a meeting at the US Embassy to apply for David's Visa.  I think there might be a waiting period before we can pick up the Visa.  After we have the Visa, we can fly home.

So, how have we been keeping busy?  Well, we've gone to a grocery store almost every day.  We now have a well-stocked refrigerator and the cupboards are pretty full.  We have a stovetop and microwave but no oven so Sohrab's been getting really good at pan frying chicken for us.  I've made a bunch of rice and beans from scratch.  I've also made a bunch of baby food.  Everything seems so expensive here, especially for me the somewhat extreme couponer.  I ended up buying the raw beans because a can of kidney beans was very expensive.  Any convenient or imported foods are very expensive.  We are eating a lot of fruits and veggies which is good for all of us.  With the impending longer stay hanging over our heads, we are trying not to spend so much money.

Last Thursday, we went to a large open-aired mall, Oviedo, and killed some time walking around.  David also had a cold that day so we were taking it easy.  On Friday, David's cold was much worse so after a quick trip to the Notary, we hung out at the apartment all day.  Friday night, David had a difficult time sleeping due to his cold.  On Saturday, David was feeling a lot better (just a few sniffles) so we decided to venture out.  We took a taxi to Exito (like an enormous Super Target) and then we walked to the Metro station.  We bought some tickets and hopped onto the train and headed to Plaza Botero (huge plaza with many sculptures).  The 1st train was so packed that we almost didn't get on.  As soon as we stepped on the train, I noticed all of the men around us frantically looking around.  I didn't realize at 1st but they were all trying to find me somewhere to sit.  One of the guys smacked a younger guy and made him move and then they all directed me to the seat.  I remember reading about this on someone else's blog but couldn't believe that almost all of the men in our vicinity put so much effort into getting us a seat.  On the way back the same thing happened.  We even noticed this when Sohrab was pushing the stroller and observed a street vendor smack another guy out of our way because of the stroller.  Babies are royalty here!!

We wandered through Exito and got a few things.  It's difficult to buy too much since we have to load both kiddos in the taxi as well as the stroller and the groceries.  The taxis are very small and most don't have a trunk to accommodate the stroller so the stroller ends up in the front seat and we all squeeze together in the back.

On Sunday, we took a taxi to the zoo (Parque Zoological Santa Fe).  The animals were too far away that they didn't catch David's interest and he napped through most of it.  Gustavo had a good time, though.  We had a huge iguana walk across our path.  There was also a huge tortoise walking around.  After the zoo, I took Gustavo swimming in the unheated pool.  There is a small area that is less than 2 feet deep that Gustavo played in.  He had a great time and told me if I was a boy, I wouldn't be so cold so I could swim with him :) After we left the pool, it started pouring.  After the rain died down, we walked to a restaurant that served typical Colombian food.  We did get caught in the rain on the way back but made it home before it poured.

On Monday, we went to the Santa Fe mall to kill some time and ended our trip at the grocery store.  At the mall, there is a fun kid's "park" called Divercity.  We didn't go this time because it was closed from 2-3 which of course was the time we were there.  We promised Gustavo we'll go back a different day as he would have a blast.  In the mall, there is a "pony stand" filled with stuffed ponies.  At first, I thought they were for the kid to ride on and be pulled by the parent but there is actually a way for the kids to bounce up and down on the ponies and make them go.  I'll post pictures tomorrow but what a great idea to contain the kids for a bit (15 minutes) and get some energy out!

Today, we were planning to venture out to the Botanical gardens but the rain kept us away.  Instead we went to another mall, El Tesoro.  There is a kiddie amusement park that looked like a lot of fun but it closed down before we could go there due to the rain.  We ate dinner at Crepes and Waffles which we have heard so many good things about.  YUM!!  Gustavo had a kids meal which consisted of a mini crepe with ham and cheese, a pop and ice-cream.  His mini crepe was the size we are used to having so pretty big.  He had 5 choices for his ice-cream and we just thought it was flavored ice-cream.  Boy, were we wrong.  The waitress showed him the menu of the pictures of the ice-cream concoctions he was able to choose from.  They were all huge.  He picked the snowman which was dulce de leche ice-cream, whipped cream, caramel, 2 waffle cones, a cookie on the bottom and chocolate pieces for the arms and eyes.  It was so good!  The 3 of us shared it and it was more than enough for us.  What a great deal!  His kids meal was only $5-6, too.  This was the best deal we've found so far.  The crepes Sohrab and I got were also very good.

I'll post more pics tomorrow and post more info on our apartment, weather and of course, the boys!

Good night!