Ups and Downs

Yesterday was a roller coaster day, full of ups and downs.  Diego was a sleepyhead and slept until nearly 10:00 a.m.  In the institution where he lived they woke him up at 5 every day to get him ready for school.  I think we wore him out really good the day before.  Ben and I were showered and ready to go for the day by the time he woke up.  We had breakfast and headed outside for some play time.  Diego loves to be outside and play.  We went for a walk and explored more of the area where we are staying.  We stopped and looked through a few stores.  We were trying to find a store called Exito.  It's very similar to Walmart.  We couldn't quite figure out where we should be going and then we received a phone call from Soraya.  She was in the area and wanted to meet us.  We headed back toward Carulla.  We met her in the park across the street.  That's when the first down hit.  When we had our Encuantro (meeting where we met Diego) Soraya was concerned because I didn't have a visa.  Before traveling we checked with our adoption agency and with the Colombian consular office in San Francisco.  Both said that I did not need a visa because I would not be staying very long.  Ben got his visa just before we traveled.  Soraya made some phone calls and while we were at the park she received a phone call from Lucy, our lawyer here.  Lucy had called the consular office in San Francisco.  We could tell by the tone in Soraya's voice that the news wasn't good.  I have to have a visa to complete the adoption.  It is necessary to get Diego's birth certificate with his new name and to get his passport and other such paperwork.  My heart sank, the solution was for me to leave the country and fly to Miami to get a visa.  I felt sick to my stomach and was feeling terrible.  We came back to our hotel and researched flights to Miami.  The other problem is that I can't leave the country until we have our integration meeting next week.  The plan was to book a flight to Miami which would be about a 4 hour flight, catch a taxi and then go to the Colombian consular office to get a visa.  Then I would take a taxi back to the airport and catch another flight back to Bogota.  Sounds easy right?  That's when I lost it.  I couldn't stop crying.  I felt really stupid and bad about the whole situation.  I tried to pull myself together so that we could Skype with the kids.  I'm really missing my kids at home.  While talking to our kids, my sister was there which I thought was kind of odd because I knew she had a conference at work that day.  Then she said check out grandma.  My mom came in view of the camera and I could see that she was in her house coat and then I noticed she had a sling on and her arm was all bandaged.  My mom has been staying at our house to take care of the kids.  She got up during the night and somehow fell down the stairs.  She broke her wrist and split her knee open.  She doesn't remember what happened which is probably a good thing. I'll spare the details, which I'm sure my mom is grateful for.  I'll just say that she had a bad morning. More tears came as I heard what was going on at home.  I'm grateful for my sister and my SIL Leanne who came to the rescue to help with my kids.  I feel terrible that my mom got hurt, especially while at my house.  I'm grateful she isn't in pain.  After our conversation, I felt even lower.  I knew my kids were being cared for, but I felt so helpless being here and not being able to do anything.  I said a quick prayer for my mom and family and tried to pull myself together.  Ben got on the internet and started reading on the Colombian consulate's website.  From what he found, it said that I could get a visa at the Bogota consulate.  We let Soraya know and within minutes she sent us an e-mail saying that she was on the phone with them that moment.  She called us and said that yes! they could do it for us here.  A huge wave of relief came over me.  I didn't have to leave the country to get a visa. I've always wanted to visit Florida, but now was not the time.  Crisis averted.  Ben filled out the application for me because he had filled it out for himself earlier.  All of my information and documents are in the hands of the consulate office now.  Hopefully in the next few days I will be able to go get my visa.  Diego was a sweet boy all day, he had a few tantrums, but he is fairly easy to redirect and calm down.  We had tamales for dinner and then he went to bed.  Ben and I watched a movie on TV that was in English with Spanish subtitles.  It was nice not to have to strain to try and understand the language.  It was a long, emotional day, but it ended on a good note.  I am so grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who is looking out for our family.  Diego is truly meant to be a part of our family and we are being blessed through this process.