Today marks week 4

I can’t believe we have been here for a month. In some ways it seems like a short 4 weeks, but in some ways it feels like forever. It’s very exciting to finally know we are going home next week and will start a new journey in Ohio.

Emilee woke up this morning and couldn’t wait to start packing. She was almost completely packed before breakfast. She and Nate can hardly wait to get on the plane tomorrow.

We spent part of the morning packing up Jeanie, Nate and Emi. We got the call that both birth certificates were in and David would be over to pick us up to take us to the passport office. When David came we all piled in his car and off we went with David and Andres. Andres drove and parked the car, while David worked his magic and interpreted for us. First of all wherever I got the info from that the passport office was closed on Fridays, it was wrong. The place was packed out. We went in and David went straight to the front of the line at the first desk and filled out the papers we needed to proceed. Then he sent us to a short line off to the side to pay. After that he marched us right to the front of the line in front of about 80 people and whispered, “I’m about to tick off about 70 or 80 people, but don’t worry.” He is so funny, but boy do they have connections. So instead of waiting for hours, we were in and out in a half hour. He went to the front of the line and then told the people behind us that “I” needed to go next, then he marched right to an open window and motioned for me to come with him. I was cracking up inside, he is a hoot. I’m sure the people who had been waiting forever were not too happy, but no one was going to questions David, he knew just what he was doing.

Jessica and Joaquin were very proud of their Colombian Passports!

On the way back to the house, David confirmed with Lucia a time to take us to the Embassy Doctor. He said Andres would pick us up at 2:30 and our appt would be at 3. Note to those of you getting ready to travel. Andres is always on time and David is always about 15 minutes late, but both are awesome!! So I got our paperwork together so we would be ready to go when Andres arrived. Emi and Nate stayed at Zuetana while we went to the doctor. We had to go in a taxi with Andres, and they wouldn’t take all of us. We were told it could take hours at the doctor but we were in and out in an hour. When we got there Andres checked us in and they called our name in less than 5 minutes. The doctor was a very nice gentleman, but the physical check took about 2 min per kid. It took him a lot longer to type all the info in the system and print our out paperwork. Jessica and Joaquin are not shy at all and the doc was getting a kick out of them. He told us we had our hands full. Jessica was interrogating him, our favorite question she asked him was “who is your boss?” He started laughing and said “Uncle Sam, but I probably shouldn’t say that.” It is so funny to watch Jessica and Joaquin, they are so inquisitive about everything. Every place we go is a new experience to them. The grocery store has been their biggest awe yet. I don’t think they had ever seen a scanner and cash register in person. So I digress…anyway, the doc was getting all the paperwork together and then asked me for a passport size photo. I totally missed that in our travel guide and left them in the safe at the house. CRAP! He was so very nice and said to just bring them back and he would finish everything for us. So we left, told Andres, who was also very kind. I apologized for him having to run us home and then back to the doc, but he was so sweet about it. Once we took the photos back, the doc finished the paperwork in less than 5 min and put it all in a sealed envelope that we have to give to the visa office, still sealed. I then paid him. The funny part about this was that when I paid him, he pulled out his wallet and put it right in. I wanted to laugh, but obviously I didn’t.

We made two trips to the doc and were still back home by 4:45, so not so shabby. I was really glad to have both the passport and the doctor visit complete in one day and while Jeanie was with me. It’s not that I couldn’t do it by myself, but it was very nice to have her with me. Just less stress over all.

So now on Monday I will go the VISA office to apply for the visas. They say you will be at the visa office 2 to 4 hours. So I will be packing a backpack for each of the kids to keep them busy. But, you can no longer get them the same day, you have to pick them up the following day. I will pick up the visas on Tuesday. So we will be returning to the states on Wed evening. If we make all our flights we will be in at 6:45 on Wed evening.

Jeanie and I wanted to make one more trip to Maku, so off we all went before dinner. This may have been the fastest day I’ve had here yet. We also stopped at Juan Valdez to see if they had gift cards. We wanted to get Lucrecia one. It was funny when Jeanie asked the workers at Juan Valdez about gift cards, they looked at her like she had 2 heads. As common as gift cards are in the US, it was odd they had never heard of such a thing.

After dinner Lucrecia came in our room to give Emi and Nate a hug and a kiss on the forehead, she started crying and was quite surprised at herself. She hugged Jeanie and had us all crying. She brought Jeanie and the kids some apples and bananas for the flight and long day ahead of them for their carry on luggage.

We finalized all the packing and Jeanie insisted she leave me with only two suitcases. Everything we have left here will fit pretty easily in 2 suitcases, but that leaves Jeanie with 6. She is worried about me with too much luggage and trying to hang onto 2 little latinos, who are not at all shy or afraid of strangers in the airports. We ended up being able to put one suitcase in another for her, and Emi and Nate will be a big help with luggage, but I still feel awful sending her with so much.

Joaquin and Jessica are really excited to be coming home and it’s nice to be able to finally tell them what day they will be flying. We can actually start counting down. They have been good but at times a little trying. I know they understand but yet there is so much unknown for them that you have to expect they will act up a little. But over all they are doing great!

Okay, well it’s late and we will be getting up early. Andres will be here at 6 to pick up part of the gang here. Thanks again for everyone’s love and prayers.

Oh and dad, you are going to love watching Jess and Joaquin eating hot wings (they probably will not want them hot…but). We have had chicken legs here a few times and that’s what we had tonight. I wish I had my camera on. They eat everything down to the bone. Tonight Jessica even started to eat the bone, I had to make her stop and hand it to me.

I didn’t have my camera on today at all, so these are the only pics we got, which we took this evening.