Homeward Bound

We've safely and efficiently navigated through the paper chase with the amazing guidance of MTP and sheer will.  It's been a whirlwind of activity and we are still nailing down final travel arrangements as I write this.  It's been 8 weeks today that we arrived in Bogota.  We've gone through every emotion possible to (wo)man, met amazing people, reveled in the excitement of being new parents, struggled through crying fits, and nursed a few bumps and bruises, but mostly we were blessed to have spent every waking moment of the last 57 days molding ourselves into a little family. 

El Refugio has been serving adoptive families for 15 yrs.  Carmen and her staff have given their heart and soul in their occupation, literally being there for the infancy of so many adoptive families and gently guiding them through the process.  We, along with countless other families, will be forever grateful.  We have the honor of being the last family to stay at El Refugio as it closes at the end of this month.  It is a bittersweet day, as we are so excited to bring Emanuel home to MN, but are saddened that a long tradition of adoptive families being beautifully cared for by the people here at El Refugio has come to an end. 

We'll end the blog with a few photos of the staff and us on our last day here.  We also want to thank all those who have been following the blog and for all the wonderful comments, as these have enhanced our experience and made our journey that much more memorable.  To our family, friends, FANA family, neighbors and colleagues we are coming home and can't wait for you to meet Emanuel!

Top Row:  Maria Teresa, Carmen. Bottom:  Emanuel, Leah, Jeff, Myriam and her son Juan

Ofelia and Emanuel

Repeat picture with Diana at far left as she was not here for our final day.

We are due to arrive home tomorrow night close to midnight.  Wish us luck!!

Love,
Leah, Jeff & Emanuel

Breath of Fresh Air

It was a busy end to last week as the amazing race like task of completing paperwork ensued following "Sentencia".  I'm happy to say that we lost no days to unforeseen circumstances and remain on track to finish in a timely manner (no dates will be mentioned as I was told not to "jinx" anything).

Bubbles trumping futbol for the moment

Our wonderful matron (Carmen) and guide extraordinaire (Maria Teresa de Perez, aka MTP) took us on a much needed trip outside of the city today to Guatavita.  The town is located on a large reservoir that is part of Bogota's water supply.  It just so happened to be the town's 400 yr anniversary today as well, and so we were treated to a band, dancers and a lively scene.  We were ecstatic, as Emanuel was a perfect gentleman in the car the entire way to and from.  He also was having a blast tooling around town and watching the performers.  This was a grand slam in our book as he has not put together a complete outing with at least 1 meltdown in the past.  We all obviously needed a little time out in the fresh air!  The drive home was the nicest surprise as we took a back road back to Bogota and saw some amazing Colombian countryside.  We are looking forward to getting home, but are already dreaming about coming back and exploring Emanuel's birth country with him.

Tooling around

Emanuel found the perfect rock for Vicky

Our entertainment

It's a holiday tomorrow and so we sit idle.  Tuesday the race begins anew.  We hope and pray to wrap things up and schedule our return flight later this week.

Getting ready for the cold!

Love,
Leah, Jeff & Emanuel

Sentencia!

Hallelujah!  The start of week 7 brought good news, we received Sentencia on Wednesday!  Today Jeff made an all day trek, navigating the TransMilenio, to southern Bogota were he was successful in obtaining Emanuel's new birth certificate.  Tomorrow the passport.  We are extremely relieved and excited to be starting the process of returning home.  However, it is also bittersweet...we are officially the last family at El Refugio, which closes it's doors at the end of March.  For now we place our trust in Maria Teresa de Perez (FANA guide) as she navigates us through the last steps.

Prepping for summertime fun at the beach

 For the stretch in between weeks 6 and 7, we maintained some sense of normalcy by celebrating St. Patrick's Day and filling out NCAA brackets.

Emanuel's not so green beer on St. Patrick's Day

Jeff's not so green beer, but favorite Bogota Beer on St. Patrick's Day

Hopefully we'll know a return date soon.

Love,
Leah, Jeff & Emanuel

Hip Hip Hooray!

We're going home Mama!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sitting, Waiting, Wishing

For many adoptive families the road to family formation can often be long.  This week has been particularly difficult for our family, as we have seen week 6 come and go, along with a promised guarantee of sentencia from our judge.  Learning to accept unpredictability and surrender to total lack of control has been one of the most challenging lessons in our education as adoptive parents.  We are eager to sleep in our own bed, kiss our dog, spend time with family and friends, establish a routine for our toddler and replenish our savings!  Whatever our challenges are, it is always better when we are together!  Each day, Emanuel continues to give us pause for reflection and gratitude.

Counting down the days until summer, camping in El Refugio's backyard

In celebration of how far we have come, Emanuel teaches us to keep the faith...he leads us to the Virgin Mary each day on our daily walks.

Emanuel's version of El Camino de Santiago

Emanuel the Saint of Sentencia

Hail Mary full of grace please grant us Sentencia

Emanuel teaching us that the seeds of faith are always within us

 Love,
Leah, Jeff and Emanuel

Into Thin Air

We continue to wait for the judge to put his/her stamp on our paperwork, but in the meantime, have been able to get out and enjoy some of what Bogota has to offer.  This included a funicular ride up Cerro de Monserrate this past weekend. This is a popular pilgrimage and tourist site, home to a 17th century cathedral and magnificent views of the city.  It is said that pilgrims will sometimes climb up the path to the cathedral on their knees.  We chose the more conventional route as we are with toddler and did not wish to get our limited pairs of pants dirty (Emanuel did a few steps on his knees, but this was more out of necessity, as the steps weren't built to 21st century code).

Emanuel isn't sure this is a good idea.

And he's off...

Just a little further...

Piece of cake!

Once up top, we were greeted by wonderful views and beautifully tended gardens.  From one side you can see the enormity of the city of Bogota (almost 9 million people, spread out over 25 miles from north to south) and from the other side, forest.  It's quite a contrast and quite beautiful.

We continue to make good use of the parks and are finding Emanuel's smiles coming more easily.  We have our fingers crossed for good news this week (sentencia) and have already re-booked our flight for next week, hoping to not have to do it again.  Par for the course.  Here are a few more fun photos of Emanuel, showing us a thing or two about living the good life.

High fives

Staying within the lines...Amazing!!

Strike up the band!

Love,
Leah, Jeff & Emanuel

7th Inning Stretch

Things continue to move along slowly, but we can't say that this wasn't expected.  We have not yet received Sentencia. Additionally, congressional elections take place this Sunday and some official documents may be impossible to get until the middle of next week due to this event.  So, we stand, stretch, sing a little song and enjoy a little comfort food to ease the soul.  When else will we be able to lie around, have our meals prepared for us, take long, meandering walks through lovely parks and generally hang out with the pigeons?  We've explored different parks, reversed direction on some of our walks, bought croissants instead of donuts etc etc.  So you see, we have nothing too exciting to add.  Life continues to be good and we are trying to bask in our free time, as soon we'll likely have very little.  I've added some new pictures of Emanuel as he continues to grow and thrive.

Making shadow puppets

Shaken, not stirred

Put me in coach.

We did have our embassy doctor's appointment today and discovered Emanuel dislikes needles as much as Papa.

Park hopping.  Our pastime.

Love/hate relationship with balloons.  Loves batting them like crazy.  Hates when they pop.

Love,
Leah, Jeff & Emanuel