Today I received news that we will more than likely be leaving Medellin next Friday. I have to say that I have mixed feelings about moving on from Medellin to Bogota and home. I am so happy our process is moving quickly here in Colombia and I am ready to be home with our whole family but as always with adoption, there are amazing gains and big losses. On Friday, Jhonatan will leave behind his city, his language, his culture and life as he has known it for the past 11 years and I am sad for him. He is a Colombiano through and through. He loves his country, he is proud of his city and its food, music and unique beauty. He cheers passionately for his local soccer team and knows all the words to the Latin music playing on the radio. He is also a loyal friend and I know he will miss his "amigito" very much. Jhonatan is gaining a forever family but losing the people he has called mama, papa, hermanito y hermita for the past four years. We have been gathering a few mementos for him to take home part of Colombia with him and I hope we can keep his culture and language alive for Jhonatan as he transitions into our family.
So, that brings me to updating the blog. Our family has truly loved Medellin and all we have experienced here and I want to make sure I get it written down for others traveling here and for Jhonatan. This comes with a warning that this could be a very long post but I'll try to just hit the highlights!
OUR GUIDE
Okay, I knew we would have a guide/interpreter provided by our adoption agency. I thought she would just take us to meetings with ICBF, make sure our paperwork was in order, etc. I had no idea we would be completely taken care of by the lovely and wonderful Vicky! She has been phenomenal. Vicky takes care of anything and everything, with a smile on her face. She is professional but so fun and I'm going to miss her when I leave Medellin. She has a heart for adoptions and really loves her job and it shows!
THE TRAUTMAN FAMILY
I started trading emails with Tiffany after we discovered each other's blogs. Both of our families live in Maryland and were adopting children from Medellin. It was earlier in the process but it looked we were in about the same step. As time went on, we weren't sure if we would end up in Medellin at the same time. Their process would move a little faster and then we would but it ended up that we were given the date to receive Jhonatan exactly a week after they were to receive their 3 children. After we arrived in Medellin and were here for a few days, we ended up switching apartments. Unbelievably, we moved into the same apartment complex as the Trautman Family and how wonderful it has been to have them here! Greg (when he was still here) and I have really enjoyed sharing stories with Tiffany and Brent and our kids loved playing with their kids as the pool and on the soccer field. They leave for Bogota tomorrow morning to finish their journey home to Maryland. You can read about it here and she has been much better about updating her blog than I have.
ENTREGA
On Friday, May 13th Vicky picked us up at 7:50 to drive to the ICBF office for our Entrega meeting. Our meeting was at 8:30am and started right on time. Greg and I sat at a round table with Vicky (our guide), Maria Jose (our attorney), Jhonatan's psychologist, and 2 other ICBF workers, one being the director of adoptions for Medellin. They talked a little about the process and Jhonatan's history. They asked us some questions about our family, our motivations to adopt and our relationship with Jhonatan. I should mention that we were already nervous, the room was unbearably hot and Greg was sick! After we had signed some papers taking custody of Jhonatan while we are in Medellin, they announced that we were just waiting for him to arrive. The girls had been quietly sitting and coloring in a corner of the room (thank goodness!) and they noticed some activity outside the door. The older girls jumped up to try to get a look, Cassie turned to say she saw him and then in he walked! There were hugs all around and then Jhonatan had to sit down for a minute because his stomach hurt. Poor boy...I think it was all nerves. A few minutes went by and out we walked with our boy! We went straight back to the apartment and got Jhonatan unpacked and settled in. Then, Ana picked us up and took us to the country club for lunch and for the kids to swim in the pool. What a perfect afternoon! Everyone got along great and the only issues we had were the girls arguing over who would sit next to Jhonatan!
That's it for tonight.....more tomorrow! :)
4 comments:
Amanda,
We will arrive in Bogota early a.m. on Sunday, June 4. We'll be at Betty's Place, in case a meet is possible. (If not, no problem as I'm sure it's all hectic...)
best,
Eileen
Eileen,
We are also staying at Betty's Place! So excited to meet you and your lovely family.
Amanda
Hello. My name is Susana. I am very happy for The Mason Family. I am from Medellin as well, and I live in Orlando. My sister and her husband are adopting a child from Medellin. My brother-in-law told me about this page, which is their reference page. Every time they receive a letter from either immigration or ICBF, they run and read your blog to see what is next. Right now, they are in Bogota, and they have their child with them. They are coming back this Sunday the 25th, and my family and I are very excited.
I and my family thank you and really appreciate what you have done. God bless you........ I forgot!!! Where is part 2???
Thanks so much for the comment! I will try to get Part II up tonight (an abbreviated version with pictures). We arrived home safely with our new son on June 11th and now it's back to normal life! Tell your sister and brother-in-law congratulations on their new edition! I wonder if we were in Medellin at the same time. We left Medellin on June 7th.
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