What a Day!

So today started off as most of our days here do.  We finished breakfast, and were going to take our daily walk, followed by playing in the park.  Juan Manuel wanted to run ahead of us.  He has been doing this lately...running way way ahead and hiding so we can't find him.  Well, I didn't want to let go of his hand today, because I didn't want to have to go through all of that drama - AGAIN.  He was very unhappy and proceeded to melt down.  All-out crying, screaming melt down on the path just a little ways from the hotel.  I sat down on the ground with him while he cried and yelled, held him in a big hug, and eventually he calmed down enough to proceed - together.

We all played at the park for about an hour.  Juan Manuel got another time out for pushing Santi off of the equipment, but after that, we were all playing happily.  Jason was on the playground equipment with Santi and Juan, and I was a little further away, walking behind Christian as he pushed his stroller.  I could see Margarita coming down the path and talking very animatedly to Jason.  Jason started waving for me to come over, so I grabbed Christian, and off we ran.

Jason and Margarita both were saying "It's Sentencia!  Hurry, hurry!  We have to get to the court as soon as possible!!"  We were so shocked, we could hardly believe it.  We flew up to our room, all the while explaining to the kids that today is a wonderful day for our family.  That today is the birthday of our family, and we are going to have a party (more to come on that!).  So we got the kids and ourselves changed into nicer clothes, and raced back to the lobby.

We had to stop at the grocery store to pick up cake to celebrate, and some Coke.  A quick taxi ride to the court building, and then we sat and waited for the judge.  Jason and I had to sign a bunch of papers, and we ended up waiting about 30 minutes.  Towards the end of that, the kids were starting to get really squirmy, but Margarita ran to a vending machine for Cheetos, which settled them right back down.  (The Cheetos are more like cheesy puffs, but don't really taste like cheese, more like salty corn.  Not our favorite, but the kids gobble them up like they are the best thing ever.)

We finally got called back to the Judge's office, and it was a small, plain office with lots of breakable knick-knacks.  Um, hello...have you met our kids?  They can't even play with curtains and safety-glass without major catastrophe!!  Anyways, we sat in the office, she asked us a few questions (Why did you choose to adopt a sibling group?  Why did you choose to adopt from Colombia?  How has it been going with the kids? etc.) and then we ate cake and drank Coke.  Did I mention that it was full-tilt Coke?  The kids were throwing it back as if they had been parched in the desert for days, even Christian, and even the judge was surprised!

After that, Jason went with Edwin, the legal assistant, to get some documents notarized.  The kids and I headed back to the hotel.  On the way back to the hotel, I was talking more with the kids about what happened today.  Juan Manuel doesn't miss a beat, and he started saying that today is such a happy day, our lucky day, and that means that we can do anything we want and eat anything we want all day long.  Well...we'll have to see about that.  He was also planning ahead for his and his brothers' birthdays this year, and how he wants a cake and a surprise party for each.  But he wants to help plan the "surprise" party too.  Then he was asking if Papa Noel will know how to bring presents to the Estados Unidos for them at Christmas.  He cracks us up sometimes!

Jason's trip to the Notary was interesting.  The office was in a really rough part of Medellin, and the building was like something out of the past.  There were 2 ladies there typing on old fashioned typewriters, and stacks and stacks of bound ledger books all over the place.  Luckily the process went fairly quickly there.  Jason said that he never thought he would hear the "ding" and "clickety-clack" of an old typewriter again in his lifetime!

Jason got back, we all ate some lunch, and then it was off to the pool.  The kids were really hamming it up for the camera at the pool today, with lots of pictures of their "musculos".  We took a little break in the room, then headed back out to the park to play.  The kids needed to burn off some of their sugar, and had a great time getting dirty (with permission from Mom and encouragement from Dad, of course!).




Did we mention the kids' dirty pants?


When we got back to the room, the hotel delivered 2 trays of cookies to help the celebration (and sugar enduced craziness) keep on going.  It was bath time for the kids, and Jason had to head out to the store to buy more luggage for our trip to Bogota and our return trip home.  Both Juan Manuel and Santiago wanted Choco Krispies for dinner, and both boys ended up spilling their cereal and milk all over their blankets.  Those blankets are FILTHY!!!  Then Christian decided to color all over the chair with his blue crayon.  Good grief!  But, we were still so thrilled about today's turn of events, that it all kind of just rolled off.




Cookies!


A movie before bed, and the kids went down without any fussing.  Jason and I celebrated with a Budweiser for him and a glass of bubbly for me.  What a great day, and so unexpected by both of us.  We were thinking that maybe, possibly, we would hear of admission by the end of the week.  (Admission is where the court accepts you paperwork and starts the 10 day approval process)  We think that the judge must have taken pity on us, as we had Admission and Sentencia both in the same day.  Thank you, Court #5, thank you, God!!  Oh happy day!

Tomorrow we will start on the passports for the kids, and if we can get that done tomorrow, we may be able to fly to Bogota as soon as Wednesday, or at the very latest, Thursday.  Just yesterday, Jason was saying how much he misses home and the good old USA, and now we will be headed there so much sooner than we thought.  We try to keep these feelings in mind, however, as our boys say goodbye to their birth country and the life and culture that they have always known.  We will do our best to help them with the transitions, and know that it won't be easy for them.  It is a good thing that we can get Coco-Krispies at home though, as it seems to be one of their favorite foods!


Santi and his musculos





Happy baby, Christian



Brothers!



The 3 Musketeers





We LOVE bath time!