In all the excitement I forgot to mention that I’ve been spouting “travel advice” about Bogota all week over at “Raising Colombian Kids” to see the photos that Elian and I wandered around snapping of his beautiful hometown click here. God-willing today we will be at the Embassy finishing up the last details for Elian’s visa. We are currently experiencing a ridiculous technical problem that might prevent us from getting his visa on time to leave tomorrow night. Please pray that this will get resolved for us. Arnold and Carmen have to leave tomorrow night regardless of what happens and just the idea of having to make the 13 hour trip back by myself with Elian makes me break out in hives.
Okay. I will now take a break from freaking out to share some pictures. Unlike today monday was a happy day. We’d like to share it with you. In order to be fancy I will call this a photo-documentary!
In the morning we got finally got the CALL!
Elian and I do a Happy Dance. Yay! Soon we'll legally be a family!
We got together with our top-notch legal team! At a cafe of course... please this is Bogota!
The courthouse was dissapointingly pedestrian. No bench! No gavel. No judge! Just a ton of people going to family court to get divorced. Boo!
If court was boring getting Elian's new birth certificate with our names ROCKED! Our lawyer is greeted like a movie star at every bureaucratic office in Bogota. He is the kinder-gentler Ari Gold of the adoption world. And the icing on the cake? The lady that processed us said "I remember that little boy! He was one month old when we did his original birth certificate. Say hi to him for me!"
Good News=Celebrating at Crepes and Waffles. Elian enjoyed the crayons. We enjoyed getting to eat without drama. I love you Crepes. Truely. Madly. Deeply.
YAY! We are a family!
ADORABLE! I send my congratulations to this wonderful family again (:
Good luck with the visa!!! Everything will be great
OMG, who is rocking a yellow belt?!
And not to forget the true purpose of the daily blog reading–congrats on everything Perez family related! And when times get tough, remember you have a yellow belt…superhero!
OH, Yeah. Betty. You know it’s YELLOW BELTS or no belts!
I’m sure it will all work out tomorrow but if it doesn’t then this is great bonding time for the two of you. He will be a little angel on the trip. Please don’t stress about it. It will be a very special adventure. Love Carole
Congratulations! I think we have the same picture with the NEW birth certificate. That is definitely a COOL day. You had a great lawyer Oscar is the BEST! He was our lawyer as well!
How is it possible that Elian has such a sweet smile in every picture? So does little Elian have his swim trunks, flip flops, and surfboard ready for California? Actually…it has been pretty cold lately. Very un-California like…
YAY!
Congrats! You have a very happy looking kid. Looks like it’s all good with you guys!
We are among the blessed.
Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!!! Great feeling!!!
While we were in Medellin we loved crepes & waffles too!!
Paula