Diving In Again: Day 23

Alot has happened in the past few days. We left last Friday and flew to Bogota to finish the last details. Everything is actually complete as far as the adoption goes, we just come to Bogota because this is where the US Embassy is located in Colombia and we have to get Owen's VISA for his entry into the US. In order to do this you must see a specific doctor contracted by the US Embassy who examined the child and all his vaccination records and prepares a report for the Embassy. Our appt with the Doctor was Friday at 4pm. Patricia is our driver and translator who picked us up at the airport and took us to this appt. We were a little late because traffic was HORRIBLE! Bogota is a city of 10-12million people so around 5 it gets crazy. We arrived about 15 minutes late but that didn't matter because the Dr was stuck in traffic for almost 3 hrs! Yes...that means we waited with an infant and 6 yr old in a dr's office..talk about being flexible. He was very apologetic but that didn't really help Owen or any of else feel better. He took his all his measurements, looked in his eyes and filled out the papers...total of 25 minutes. Owen screamed when we layed him on the table so I think the Dr hurried because we had waited so long. Another American family was waiting as their appt was after ours. They weren't happy either.

Sat we didn't do much just moved into this new bed and breakfast which specializes in housing adoption families. It's been great and there is an American family here so that has been nice. We didn't have hot water the first night and then last night the water heater broke and it was quite an adventure. Chuck enjoyed being the one who had to stop the leak and work on it....he was right in his element. They repaired it this morning and all is good now!

I must admit I was very worried about coming to Bogota because it is such a large city and obvious safety concerns. I actually find myself very comfortabe and relaxed where we are staying. It is an extremely nice community, very safe, with two nice parks for children and walking. It's easy to walk everywhere we need and we have felt very safe.

So...today was Embassy day. We left for ICBF to get a finalzation document and complete a survey of our experiene in Colombia. Then we headed to the Embassy around 11:30 for a 1:30 appt. It was just Owen and I with our Atty and driver. It was quit easy, they ask me some questions behind a window over a phone and went through all our paperwork and said come back tomorrow to pick up the VISA for Owen. We left around a little after two so our acutal appt time was an hour or less. Lucy explained we were the 1st family they Embassy has processed under these new procedures and normally it takes 3-4 hrs of waiting with a baby so we got very lucky. I just thank God for a smooth process today. Owen was fabulous! Everyone kept asking where he was from and telling us how adorable he was. He just kept smiling for them!

Here are some pics of the past few days.