Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Long Day, Small World

I would like to see more of Bogotá, I really would.  However, I have reached a certain state of doneness that I can't quite describe.  I can compare it to going past your due date when you are expecting a baby.  I know about that... my first three kids were 12, 11, and 10 days late respectively.  When my sister-in-law (love you Claira!) would talk about being done with here pregnancies at about 32 weeks (as far as I know, none of hers were late and most of them were early) I would think, "Honey, you don't know what done feels like until you are a week past your due date."  Yeah.  That's where I am now.  Done.  I wanna go home and we have so much to do before we can.  I'm thinking about how to make it through each day, not about sightseeing.

Anyway, the day started with Helena picking up Ken and Diana this morning to go get her ID card.  She's 7 and in Colombia, at that age, you have to have an ID card.  They waited a really, really long time just to be seen.  When they were seen, they were told that she was already in the system and had a card.  They would have to pay a fee to change the info on the card.  They have to go to the bank to pay the fee and bring the receipt back.  They have to wait again.  By the time they returned, the rest of us had eaten lunch and I had just gotten John down for a nap.

Helena ate with Ken and Diana while we talked and worked out a game plan.  It was decided (partly because Ken wasn't feeling great and partly because John seems to prefer me now-yay!) that I would be a better choice for the afternoon errands.  As soon as Diana was finished eating, all three new kids (had to wake John-practically against my religion), Helena and I set out for the passport office.  We squeaked in about 10 minutes before they locked the doors.  We didn't have to wait long for help but doing the application wasn't fast and Yuli and John were done before we got there.  Diana was fantastic all day.  She was just really patient and well behaved.

After we left the passport office, we headed over to the medical building for the kids' TB tests and Dr.'s appointments.  This was not fun.  Diana complains a lot about doing stuff, but I think the complaining is mostly for attention.  When it's time, she puts her big girl panties on does what needs to be done.  I was counting on that when I made her go first for the test.  In the US (at least the last time I had it done), they just poked you with something that looks like a thumbtack.  That's what I had told the kids it would be.  I was wrong.  It was a subcutaneous injection that bubbles up the skin like an allergy test.  Oops.  Diana did great but it was lost on Yuli.  From the instant I wheeled the stroller in and she was face to face eye level with the three syringes laying on the table, it was over for her.  Let's put it this way...  when Diana was done, the nurse looked at me and said, "Let's do John next."  Yeah.  It's a good thing I've had a lot of practice holding the girl down this past month.  Even the nurse told me to wrap my legs around hers and hold her tight.  It was bad.  She's no bigger than a minute but her eyes can pierce right through you.  Today, they were telling me that I had betrayed her.  I did not tell her that we have to go back Thursday and she needs two vaccines... I'm just going to act surprised when we get there.

By the time we saw the Doctor (they are all healthy, by the way) it was very late.  We had missed dinner at the hotel but I had asked Ken to request they save food for us.  As we started to drive home, we passed a restaurant and we all started talking about what might be for dinner and dessert.  The girls were talking so fast about what they hoped it would be and then John started yelling, "Pan, pan, pan, pan!" (bread)  Helena listened for a few minutes and then whipped out her cell and called the hotel.  She told them we were on our way and we'd be home soon and the kids were all starving.  They had it waiting for us when we got back.  It was really nice.  I, however, acted like a first time mom today, rather than the usually prepared experienced mom I am.  I took no snacks or water.  They were starving.  And somehow in my packing for Bogotá carry on and then repacking my around town purse, I forgot to put the diapers and wipes back in.  Fail.  I had nothing and had to present my two year old to the doctor with a diaper so full it had seeped through his clothes.  I don't know what's wrong with me, neither one of those are things that I forget.  Lose my car keys, cell phone, or my sunglasses, yep.  Forgetting snacks or being caught without diapers or wipes, never ever.  I'm just so thankful that he didn't do a job.  I don't even want to think about that.

The highlight of my day was sitting in the doctor's office.  I started chatting with an obviously American couple who were also there adopting three kiddos.  Their kiddos were 14, 13, and 10, if I remember correctly.  As it turns out, they are from Bel Air, Maryland.  I looked at her and asked, "You didn't by any chance get your kids through KidSave, did you?"  "Yes, we did."  I proceeded to tell her how much we love KidSave and how we had tried to host several times but that it never worked out.  I then told her about the two KidSave kids that we dropped everything for and drove to NYC to meet.  I told her the whole story about how we decided to adopt them and then the host family decided they wanted to adopt as well.  Of course, the host family got first preference and we were disappointed, but how could we be sad?  We had seen them together.  They obviously belonged together as a family.  She was asking about the kids and I told her more.  She said, "They are staying in the same hotel as us.  They left here about 10 minutes before you came in."  Wow.  Seriously small world.  They arrived in Colombia 5 days after we did and their sentencia was the day after ours.

By the way, KidSave is an awesome organization.  We loved them... it just didn't work out for us.  Maybe in the future.  If you really, really want to help kids find a home but adoption isn't right for you, click on the link above to check out KidSave.  They are near and dear to my heart and they have really helped a whole lot of kids.

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