Celebration

We had several reasons to celebrate yesterday. Not only did both our family and our friends from Boston officially add a member to our families, but their son Jacob celebrated his 5th birthday. Jacob was adopted from Guatamala a few years ago, and is a real neat kid. I traveled into new and uncharted territory for me to find the nearest Exitos department store to find a gift. Exitos is about 4-5 blocks away from our hotel, however, it feels like swimming a mile in uncharted water. The store didn't have much to choose from, but I knew that Jacob liked super hero's so I found this figurine. He seemed to be pretty happy.


Mario our new college interpreter from Monteria joined all of us for dinner at, you guessed it Italio Piccolos restaraunt. We were all in great spirits, as a light at the end of the tunnel is starting to shine through (I just hope it is not a train...) Now both of our families wait until Thursday, when our respective attorneys travel to the birth towns of Ruben and Sam to get birth certificates. Then we can fly to Bogota and leave the heat and humidity behind. Other than the heat and crazy traffic, we have made quite a few friends here and for that it will be hard to leave.



Today both Jaime (boston dad) and myself took the kids in the strollers and headed for the park. Jaime has been wearing shorts the entire time, and today I joined him, as I needed a break from the long pants. Actually, i have seen a handful of people wearing shorts. In general, the people here do not wear shorts, but we have not had any stern looks or constructive criticism of how we dress or how we care for our kids in any way.


I guess every families adoption experience is different and unique in it's own way. You can prepare all you want for this, but when the time comes, you just make the best of every situation and whatever comes your way. Neither the boston family or ourselves have once felt unsafe or in a bad situation. That is except when we are in traffic at rush hour. That experience tends to get my blood pressure up, and make me slide down in my seat. Well, not much else for now, still can't get over the feeling that Ruben is now a member of our family. Watch out girls, the little tornado is coming home soon...