Happy Milestone and a Close Call

Hi Everyone,

Chad here. Today we had our interview with ICBF. As it turns out we had our interview AT ICBF, which was about 30 minutes away. This is a major milestone for us. Maria entrusted us as guardians of Josh when they placed him with us. ICBF, or the Child Welfare division of the government, recognized us as his legal guardians today.

Isabel called us about 8am to inform us that our appointment had been moved and that she would pick us up earlier than previously arranged. We had a pretty rough morning with Josh. We were very excited for this appointment and wanted Josh to look his best. We bathed him, which he just loved. We dressed him in his special outfit that Grandma T bought for him. We changed him... and then changed him again. Isabel mentioned that his nails were quite long when we received him last Tuesday, so we trimmed those while feeding. That's when problems arose. We accidentally nipped him, while he was squirming around. We both felt painfully awful as he was bleeding and wailing. Nothing would comfort him. We quickly washed it up, and then did our best to pacify him. The whole hotel knew something had happened. When I walked downstairs later, everyone asked if he was alright. We put on our dress clothes, and went downstairs to eat lunch with John, Kim, Yesica, and Zoraya (who also had their ICBF appointment today). Josh was still was a bit upset so Dad didn't get to eat much. I held him with what little arm strength I had left after two days of walking the halls with him. Then it was time to leave.

Isabel and Johny picked us up at 1:15pm for our 2:00pm appointment at ICBF. We climbed in and took off right away. The ride there had some pretty scenery on the left, as it followed the mountains off in the distance. We arrived at ICBF, which was not at all what I had thought it would be. It was a little waiting area in the front of a cement building. We walked in and sat down. Kristin held Joshua, who was fast asleep. About 10 minutes later our attorney, Antonio, walked in. He is good looking guy in his 50's, who is apparently VERY good. Isabel introduced us both. Then we sat down. I offered him my seat, but he insisted that I stay, and sat down on the table separating the two seats. I felt very awkward. We waited....and waited....and waited. Isabel and Antonio began to talk. I understood a litte of what they were saying. Antonio seemed annoyed that we had waited so long. He got up several times and pushed himself back to a room to see what was going on. Each time, he came back shaking his head. Then a car pulled up and out stepped a familiar face. It was another family from Minnesota that is also adopting an infant. We have been reading their blog( http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/springmans) daily and corresponding via email. It turns out we both have the same lawyer! It was a wonderful treat to see them. 45 minutes passed and we were all beginning to wonder. Josh was still asleep, but sweating. In fact we were all roasting, which made the wait uncomfortable. Finally there was some cheering, and people began to file out of a room in the back.
One employee ran into her office grabbed a file and then came back out and motioned for us. I, Chad, was extremely nervous. It was called an interview, so I was preparing to answer the grilling questions about Josh, parenthood, Colombia, and anything else they threw our way. The lady was extremely nice, and much to our surprise, she began to tell us about Josh's birth mother and social history. We had the ability to ask any questions that we could think of. This dialog took about 15 minutes. At one point in the conversation she read a statement made by Josh's birth mother that brought tears to my eyes and Kristin's as well. The lady's face mirrored our response as she saw how it hit us. The statement read something like, "I am giving up this child, because I want him to have two loving parents, be provided for and get a good education". We mean no disrespect, but the details of the rest of this conversation are going to remain private information for Josh only to share. We know that everyone is curious, but please do not ask. Josh may share it when he is old enough to understand. Then she asked us 2 questions, "How was your first week with Josh?" and "Why did you decide to adopt from Colombia?". I did my best to answer the questions. Then she beckoned for our lawyer to come back. They conversed back and forth about something which we didn't understand. It turned out there was a paperwork discrepancy that our lawyer worked out. When all was said and done, she asked us to sign a paper. She then explained that this paper made us Josh's legal guardians while in Colombia. She said it was important for us to keep it with us. Somewhere in the conversation she talked with Isabel and we knew it was an important conversation because Isabel didn't translate it. It turns out that ICBF went on strike! They graciously agreed to meet with us because Isabel had already scheduled the appointment. Without this paperwork we would be stuck. Since we did have our meeting, we have all we need from ICBF so the strike should not affect us.
With that, we thanked her and and left.

Kristin talked with Isabel about various things on the ride back. About 3 blocks from our residence, Isabel said she was thirsty. So we all went out for a drink. The following photo is of Kristin,Josh, Johnny(our driver), and Isabel at a swanky cafe down the street from us. We made small talk on the way back to the hotel and then headed up to our room to get out of the sweaty clothes. This was our last "formal" appointment. Josh has been appointed a lawyer. Our lawyer, Antonio, will now take the paperwork through the courts which will make us Josh's legal parents. There are 4 major court steps that need to happen. Antonio will notify us when they have occurred. We will then get a call for "Sentencia", in which we go to the court and sign the completed legal documents making Josh our legal son. Then it's off to the Embassy to get clearance back to the US. I know you all want to know when we'll return but we don't know. At least several more weeks...