Hi all!
We finally made it home on Thursday night!
Our week in Bogota was busy but good. We went to the embassy Monday morning and applied for Gabriela's visa. We were told to pick it up Tuesday afternoon at 3:30. We were on the other side of Bogota on Tuesday afternoon having lunch with an aunt and uncle and left at 2:30 so we'd have "plenty of time." We should have known better! First, we got stuck in a traffic jam that didn't move for almost 30 minutes, which we found out on the evening news was caused by a bus that was hanging half-suspended over a canal. Then, just as we turned off to take a detour, we were informed by a passerby that we had a flat tire. Miraculously, we were literally feet from the entrance to a car repair shop, and they happened to have an empty bay, and they had us in and out of there in 15 minutes. While we were having the tire changed I called the embassy and was told that we had until 4:00 and then the gates would be closed. At a couple of minutes to 4:00 we were just a few blocks out so I called again and was told to hurry up and they would let me in. I literally had to sprint up to the embassy gate - it was just like the scene in the movie "The Saint." Except nobody was chasing me. And I wasn't screaming "I'm an American!" But otherwise, it was just like that scene! Anyway, when I got to the gate the guard initially refused to let me in because it was 4:02. I had to explain in broken spanish that I had just talked to Marcela and she said I could come in! He finally let me in and I left with Gabriela's visa in hand.
The trip home was long but Gabriela was a trooper. On the first leg of the trip (Bogota to Miami) she hammed it up for most of the trip and then slept for about an hour. We had grand plans to feed her, change her diaper, re-stock the diaper bag, eat lunch, and relax a bit during our layover of three hours. Instead, we spent most of it in a Homeland Security "inspection room." Daniel always raises flags when we travel, but this was absurd. When we asked them when we'd be able to leave we were told "not until we get the call back from Washington." No kidding! When they finally "released" him, we had less than an hour to make our connection and we still had to get our bags, go through customs, re-check our bags, go through security, and get to our gate. We were running through the airport with four large suitcases, four carry-ons, and one 9-month-old child. Gabby was literally tucked under my arm at one point as we RAN through the terminal to our gate. We made it just in time. When we explained to the gentleman seated in our row what had happened, and that Gabby hadn't eaten or had her diaper changed for several hours, he wisely chose to relocate to an empty seat in another row. Surprisingly, though, she settled right down, ate a bottle, and slept on me for almost the entire 4 hour flight.
Ah, home sweet home! We arrived home to balloons, a big "Welcome Home Rojas Family" sign, a stocked fridge, a frame of some of our favorite pictures of Gabby, and, best of all, my sister and her husband had hand-painted the walls of Gabby's room to match her bedding. I will post pictures of that soon - it looks awesome! Thanks to everyone!
And now, a few photos!
Love,
Leslie, Daniel, and Gabriela
Saturday, March 1, 2008
Friday, February 22, 2008
Hello from Bogota!
Hi all! Just another quick update... We are in Bogota! We were able to get Gabriela's birth certificate yesterday morning in Yolombó and make it back to Medellín in time to get her passport. We made it literally with only minutes left before the passport office closed! I don't know if it is because Gabby is cute or because Daniel is cute, but the lady at the passport office expedited everything for us and we were in and out in under an hour.
Today Gabriela took her first airplane trip. It was only 30 minutes long but it still counts! She did very well and didn't seem nearly as worried as her mother! We arrived in Bogota around 1:00 and Gabby saw the embassy doctor at 3:00. He was really nice and Gabby was very good. He said we will have our hands full when Gabby is two because she is a little busybody! He also said that everything looks great, and we have the document we needed from him in order to apply for her visa. We will do that Monday morning and hopefully have her visa by Wednesday at the latest. We'll keep you posted when we know what day we're coming home, but we think it will be either Thursday or Friday.
Sorry not to post photos... I'm not sure if we'll be able to before we head home, but we'll make up for it when we get there!
Love,
Leslie, Daniel, & Gabriela
Today Gabriela took her first airplane trip. It was only 30 minutes long but it still counts! She did very well and didn't seem nearly as worried as her mother! We arrived in Bogota around 1:00 and Gabby saw the embassy doctor at 3:00. He was really nice and Gabby was very good. He said we will have our hands full when Gabby is two because she is a little busybody! He also said that everything looks great, and we have the document we needed from him in order to apply for her visa. We will do that Monday morning and hopefully have her visa by Wednesday at the latest. We'll keep you posted when we know what day we're coming home, but we think it will be either Thursday or Friday.
Sorry not to post photos... I'm not sure if we'll be able to before we head home, but we'll make up for it when we get there!
Love,
Leslie, Daniel, & Gabriela
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
An update...
Hi all!
This morning we received our updated sentencia - yay! It is officially official - Gabby is stuck with us for life - and we have the document to prove it! It came sooner than we expected and we were pleasantly suprised. As soon as we found out we began making plans to drive to Yolombo to get Gabriela's new birth certificate. It is a 2 1/2 hour drive each way but her new birth certificate has to be issued there since that is where her birth was originally registered. We started dreaming of possibly getting to Bogota and getting everything done by the end of the week. Until, that is, we learned that the notary in Yolombo is closed today... and tomorrow. So, Thursday we will head to Yolombo for the birth certificate and Friday we will get Gabby's passport, after which we can head to Bogota. We are hoping we can head home next Thursday or Friday.
Gabriela is doing really well. We thought she was coming down with a cold and then a couple of days ago I noticed two new teeth coming in! We kept thinking she was due for a few more, but we hadn't seen any sign of them. Then, this morning, I noticed a THIRD one coming in! Three at once! They are not all in a row so she is going to look like a little pirate. Needless to say, she has NOT been an especially happy camper, but she's doing better today.
Anyway, we are heading in to the home stretch. Thanks for the thoughts, comments, e-mails, and phone calls.
Love,
Leslie, Daniel, and Gabriela
This morning we received our updated sentencia - yay! It is officially official - Gabby is stuck with us for life - and we have the document to prove it! It came sooner than we expected and we were pleasantly suprised. As soon as we found out we began making plans to drive to Yolombo to get Gabriela's new birth certificate. It is a 2 1/2 hour drive each way but her new birth certificate has to be issued there since that is where her birth was originally registered. We started dreaming of possibly getting to Bogota and getting everything done by the end of the week. Until, that is, we learned that the notary in Yolombo is closed today... and tomorrow. So, Thursday we will head to Yolombo for the birth certificate and Friday we will get Gabby's passport, after which we can head to Bogota. We are hoping we can head home next Thursday or Friday.
Gabriela is doing really well. We thought she was coming down with a cold and then a couple of days ago I noticed two new teeth coming in! We kept thinking she was due for a few more, but we hadn't seen any sign of them. Then, this morning, I noticed a THIRD one coming in! Three at once! They are not all in a row so she is going to look like a little pirate. Needless to say, she has NOT been an especially happy camper, but she's doing better today.
Anyway, we are heading in to the home stretch. Thanks for the thoughts, comments, e-mails, and phone calls.
Love,
Leslie, Daniel, and Gabriela
Monday, February 18, 2008
We hit a snag...
Well, our sentencia did not go as planned on Friday afternoon. My passport number was off by ONE digit in the court document, clearly a typo, and even though I was there and had my passport with me, we could not proceed. The court has to fix the document, which could take up to a week. We are hoping it will be done sooner, but the only thing they could say for sure was that it should be ready sometime this week. We are obviously very frustrated, but it really is just a minor hiccup in the grand scheme. As I understand it, our sentencia has been signed, it just needs to be amended before we can proceed. Because it has been signed, Gabby is officially stuck with us, which is the most important part and the reason we are here! Please keep your fingers crossed that things will move quickly and we will update when we know more.
Leslie, Daniel, and Gabriela
Leslie, Daniel, and Gabriela
Friday, February 15, 2008
GREAT NEWS!
We just found out that our sentencia has been scheduled... for 2:30 TODAY! Please keep your fingers crossed that it goes smoothly and that we don't have any snags. If things go well, it looks like we may be home on the 25th after all!
Dining out with a 9-month-old...
I just thought I'd share what we've learned about peacefully dining out with a 9-month-old: it's not possible.
I can't tell you how many times I've rolled my eyes at the parents of a screaming child and said "they need to control their kid!" Well, the other day while dining at a relatively nice restaurant, somewhere between Gabriela shrieking, flailing her arms, grunting like a pig, banging her spoon on the table, blowing a "raspberry" with a mouth full of food, and spilling Daniel's glass of water in his lap, I turned to him and said "Okay, okay, I take it all back!"
Anyway, here is a photo of her looking perfectly angelic at some point during the mayhem that was our lunch.
I can't tell you how many times I've rolled my eyes at the parents of a screaming child and said "they need to control their kid!" Well, the other day while dining at a relatively nice restaurant, somewhere between Gabriela shrieking, flailing her arms, grunting like a pig, banging her spoon on the table, blowing a "raspberry" with a mouth full of food, and spilling Daniel's glass of water in his lap, I turned to him and said "Okay, okay, I take it all back!"
Anyway, here is a photo of her looking perfectly angelic at some point during the mayhem that was our lunch.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
A quick update...
Hi all!
We don´t have time to upload photos but just wanted to say a quick hello!
We are having a great time in Medellín but are ready to come home and get Gabriela settled in. Unfortunately, it doesn´t look like that will happen as soon as we had hoped. I guess the post of the Defender of the Family, who is appointed by ICBF to review everything that goes through the courts, just changed hands. It sounds like there was about a week where nothing got reviewed or signed. Our file got to his office on February 5th but he didn´t review it until the 12th. He has approved it but is waiting to sign it until our sentencia (court date) has been scheduled. As of today, our sentencia has not yet been scheduled. It will most likely be scheduled for sometime early next week (at least that is what we´re hoping). We were planning to fly home from Bogota next Sunday, thinking that 2 1/2 weeks in the courts would be enough and would allow us a full week in Bogota. Now it looks like we will not have sentencia until at least early next week, which I don´t think gives us enough time to get everything done in Bogota. That means we will most likely have to change our return flight, which will not be cheap! We are a little bit frustrated but there isn´t anything we can do, so we are just trying to enjoy our time here.
On a more positive note, Gabriela is doing great and continues to let more and more of her personality show. She is a little clown and she makes us laugh a hundred times a day. We think she may be fighting off a minor cold but it doesn´t seem like anything serious and she´s still eating and sleeping.
Today we visited Yolombó, which is the town Gabriela was born in. We both said after we left that we are glad she won´t grow up there - even though it´s likely that she would have had a very happy life there, there really isn´t much opportunity. We took some photos that we look forward to sharing with her someday.
We´ll try to post soon and will definitely let you know when we receive our sentencia and head to Bogota. Please cross your fingers that that will happen soon!
Love,
Leslie, Daniel, and Gabriela
We don´t have time to upload photos but just wanted to say a quick hello!
We are having a great time in Medellín but are ready to come home and get Gabriela settled in. Unfortunately, it doesn´t look like that will happen as soon as we had hoped. I guess the post of the Defender of the Family, who is appointed by ICBF to review everything that goes through the courts, just changed hands. It sounds like there was about a week where nothing got reviewed or signed. Our file got to his office on February 5th but he didn´t review it until the 12th. He has approved it but is waiting to sign it until our sentencia (court date) has been scheduled. As of today, our sentencia has not yet been scheduled. It will most likely be scheduled for sometime early next week (at least that is what we´re hoping). We were planning to fly home from Bogota next Sunday, thinking that 2 1/2 weeks in the courts would be enough and would allow us a full week in Bogota. Now it looks like we will not have sentencia until at least early next week, which I don´t think gives us enough time to get everything done in Bogota. That means we will most likely have to change our return flight, which will not be cheap! We are a little bit frustrated but there isn´t anything we can do, so we are just trying to enjoy our time here.
On a more positive note, Gabriela is doing great and continues to let more and more of her personality show. She is a little clown and she makes us laugh a hundred times a day. We think she may be fighting off a minor cold but it doesn´t seem like anything serious and she´s still eating and sleeping.
Today we visited Yolombó, which is the town Gabriela was born in. We both said after we left that we are glad she won´t grow up there - even though it´s likely that she would have had a very happy life there, there really isn´t much opportunity. We took some photos that we look forward to sharing with her someday.
We´ll try to post soon and will definitely let you know when we receive our sentencia and head to Bogota. Please cross your fingers that that will happen soon!
Love,
Leslie, Daniel, and Gabriela
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