Our Journey to Adoption: Museo de Los Ninos and US Embassy!

Thursday we got up earlier and caught a taxi to Museo de Los Ninos. It is a children's museum here in the city that some friends had recommended. Traffic was horrible as we went in the morning and when we arrived we were about 15 minutes late to enter. They have sessions at 9 and 1. They told us we would need to come back at 1pm. It is different in the fact that they have tour guides that lead you through the museum and they had a lot of school groups visiting. We asked if we could enter as we had just travelled so long and we had appointments in the afternoon. The security guard decided to give us a personal tour himself. It was SO much fun!! We were able to see the entire museum. He wanted to take pictures of all of us!! They have a full size airplane outside so we took some pics with Isaac as our pilot. We also made chocolate, learned about the environment, learned about the food groups and healthy eating, learned about transportation and about science...depth perception, echoes, etc. It was a lot of fun. Isaac had a great time! We asked the cost of the museum at the end and they told us it was free being we did not have a guide. We felt our security guide was a lot of fun and better than a guide. So, needless to say we gave him a good tip! :-)

We headed back to the hotel where Amelia took a nap and we went to lunch at the local Carulla. They have a great salad bar, fruit bar and rotisserie chicken. The girls said Amelia could sleep while we went to eat. We have had to do this a few times this week. I admit it feels a bit strange just walking to lunch with no bag, no stroller, no toys or blankets, or no baby! She was able to sleep for about 2.5 hours before Jeff headed back to the medical clinic for her final reports. Once he was back Pilar came to pick us up to head to the private casa to say goodbye and to sign some final papers. We will have to send them a few updates on her health and progress over the next 2 years. We took more donations of clothes that both she and Isaac have grown out of! Need to make room in my suitcases for all of our treasures!! :-) I am so thankful for Maria and the staff at the casa. They have taken wonderful care of our girl!! We stopped off at the fruit and vegetable market before heading back to the hotel. We said goodbye to Pilar and gave her a few small gifts from Minnesota. She has been such a great resource and help to us while we have been here and while our rep Cecilia has been in Hong Kong. She is working with another family from Sweeden that has been here a week less than us but has not heard anything about their process. They have an 8 month old little girl also. Please pray for them as she said they are getting anxious!!

Friday am we were up early to get picked up by Cecilia to go to the Embassy to apply for Amelia's visa. Cecilia flew in from Hong Kong on Thursday afternoon so she was a bit jet lagged but wanted to help us complete the last step of our process. We arrived for our appt at 10am and there was a line about 400 people long. She said that we don't have to wait in that line that we are going to a different area! Whew!!! I could not bring my camera in to this area so I don't have a lot of pictures of the Embassy due to security reasons. The building is quite large but there are several windows on the outside. We checked in at window #3 and had a seat in a covered area outdoors. The line was for Colombian people applying for visas to travel to the US. We are applying for a visa to immigrate to the US for Amelia thus we walked right up. The man at the window spoke English and was very friendly. He took all of our paperwork and told us it would be about 2 hours to process her visa. UGH! We asked if there was anything he could do to speed up the process and he said he would do his best!! Muchas Gracias!! :-) 35 minutes later they called our name and it was ready!!! Whooo Hoo!! This is the final piece we need to board a plane! We were given a large packet that we will have to turn in to customs once we reach Atlanta. We were told DO NOT OPEN IT!! OK!! :-) And we were off. We stopped for one last lunch at Crepes and Waffles and had a low key afternoon with the girls at the hotel.

Cecilia and Pilar have really recommended that we visit a place called Villa De Leyva while we are here. She said it is beautiful and lots of great things to see. We originally had planned for Freddy to take us to La Calara and Guativita this weekend and maybe to Hacienda Margarita restaurant. They both strongly recommended that we see Villa De Leyva. It does not sound like there is going to be a strike either so we could go without difficulty. We quickly emailed Freddy and he said he was free to take us and he would plan to stay over night also so he could show us around. He arranged a hotel for us there and will pick us up at 9 on Saturday am. YAY!! Should be a lot of fun and we plan to make a lot of stops on the way there!!

And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful. (Colossians 3:15 NLT)

As always more pictures for you!! :-)