We Need HOW Much CASH?!?!

We had a very stressful morning today.  We had a meeting with our representative, Margarita, and our attorney, Nora, and found out that almost all of our expenses in Medellin, not including our hotel, and totaling about $4000USD are payable only in CASH, Colombian Pesos only.  We had been told by our agency that we could use a personal check for our attorney's fees, and credit cards for the other fees, hence we brought a limited amount of cash with us.  We could go to a bank and do a cash advance on any of our credit cards, but the fees and interest are very high for that kind of transaction.  The ATM's here have daily withdrawal limits of $200.  Thank goodness we will be staying here for several weeks, and we will just have to make the maximum withdrawals every day until we have enough money to cover all of our fees.  Another really good thing is that we brought 2 different bank ATM cards, and 2 different credit cards, so we have many options, if needed.

The part that was the most frustrating to us though, was that this all could have been avoided with better communication.  Margarita and Nora were very upset that we hadn't been given the proper information from the start, and we were very upset, period.  Well, we contacted our agency and Margarita did as well, and things finally started to happen.  The agency was extremely apologetic and owned full responsibility for the misinformation.   They even offered to wire us the money, if necessary.  We are really glad that we have their support, and hopefully this will all work itself out.

So, on to the fun parts of the day...

We met another American family that is staying at our hotel.  It was really fun...Jason and I were walking through the hotel lobby, and a lady stopped us and asked us if we were Americans.  When we said "yes", she said that she has been reading our blog!  How cool is that?!  Here is a link to their family's blog http://www.theperfectsummerforamiracle.blogspot.com/  Amanda is here in Medellin spending a week with Jhonatan, who their family is in the process of adopting.  We ended up spending some time together at the pool.  Jason and Jhonatan played ball in the pool and Amanda and I had some great conversation.  We had a great time with them hearing about their journey as a family!  Jason and I both got a little bit of a sunburn...this pasty white Minnesota skin is just not used to the sun this time of year!

We had an early dinner, and here we are, resting up for our big day tomorrow.  I am extremely nervous about tomorrow.  Before we left for Colombia, my mom asked me what exactly I was nervous about.  Oh, let's see...will the kids reject us?  Will I be a good mom?  How will the kids handle the transition?  Will this all be OK?  I need to just try to calm myself, or my mind kind of spins from it all.  We are trying to just remain very flexible and be ready for the kids tomorrow. 

Margarita will pick us up at the hotel at 10:30, and then we go to the ICBF office to meet first with the social worker, and then with the children.  I keep telling Jason that I hope I don't faint, or throw up, or any other embarassing things like that.  I am sure that it will be an overwhelming day to say the least...and then the real transitions begin. 

Wish us luck, thank you for your continued prayers, and the next time we blog...it will be as Mami and Papi!