We Got Sentencia!!!!!

Well today started out like any other day. We woke up and it was a sunny day, so we decided to head to the mall to do some....yep, you guessed it... shopping! After the mall, it started to rain a little so we took a cab back home. As we were getting out of the cab and getting ready to walk into the hotel....the hotel owner came runnig out and had a huge smile on her face. She held her arms out (like for a hug) but I still didn't know what she was doing. Finally I just said, "Sentencia?" and she screamed "Yes!". Everyone started screaming and before you knew it, we were running full speed!!

After lunch, our favorite driver, Mario, came to get me to go sign our sentencia. The weather was nice by then, and we were soon on our way to downtown Bogota. We went into the courthouse and we finished up all of the paperwork there and then we were ready to go. But while we had been in the courthouse, it began pouring rain. And no, we did not have an umbrella, raincoat, pancho or really anything! :) So, we sat there waiting for the rain to die down, and finally we were able to make a break for it. It was still raining, but it was not a downpour like before. So, picture this, Mario and I are running through downtown Bogota, in the rain, carrying very important documents. Thankfully, one of the stores nearby gave us a plastic bag to put the papers in so that we could keep them covered as we ran to the car-- which was down the street and around the corner. Needless to say, it was a memorable trip to the courthouse. Mario and I had fun, and you can be sure I won't forget that trip!

After the courthouse, we had to go to the notary office to get Isabella's birth certificate changed (to have our names put on there). We got there around 4:30 p.m., and thankfully we were able to get in. Technically, they had stopped working at 4:00 p.m., but we had a very nice lady at the window that did the work for us. This was huge, because if we had not gotten that done today, we would have had to add that to our "to do" list for tomorrow. So now, tomorrow, we will take Isabella to get her passport photos done, and then she will have her doctor's appointment at the U.S. Embassy.

During the weekend, we won't be able to do any paperwork, but things will start up again next week. The plan is to go to the U.S. Embassy on Monday to apply for Isabella's Visa, and then we can pick it up on Tuesday afternoon. If all goes well, then we should be able to fly home Wednesday or Thursday!!!!!

So, I think I will sign of for the day, as it has been a busy one, and tomorrow will be too. But I wanted to make sure to thank all of you for your prayers, good thoughts, support, emails and comments to our blog. All of them mean so much, and we are so thankful to have all of you as our family and friends.

Lots of love to all of you.

Buenas Noches from Colombia.

P.S. I took some pictures of our hotel room. I thought you might like to see some shots of our "home away from home".