Mission Accomplished!

This afternoon I finally finished with all of our official paperwork in Colombia - everything was completed when I picked up Mateo's visa from the U.S. Embassy. Now all we have to do is make it through U.S. customs in Houston! Mateo needs a visa since he is a Colombian citizen until he touches U.S. "soil" - in other words, once we land in Houston, Texas, Mateo will automatically have dual citizenship in Colombia and the U.S. It feels good to be done with all of the paperwork. This finalizes the adoption process here in Colombia, and I can now return with Mateo at any time. However, since my parents are here, we are traveling about - vacation for them really - discovering Colombia. I think Mateo is very fortunate to have this week in Colombia with BOTH sets of grandparents.

Yesterday was a bit stressful because when we were at the Embassy confirming all the paperwork needed for Mateo's visa, I was told that we were missing our fingerprints from Citizenship and Immigration Services; these are fingerprints that Jose and I took in June and were supposedly sent from CIS in Omaha to the Embassy in Bogota. I have the official letter that proves it thankfully, otherwise, I am not sure what would have happened. Most likely the embassy misplaced that piece of our file. Of course, the one day I didn't bring all of our paperwork with me was the one day that I needed it. We had to leave the embassy yesterday morning and return in the afternoon with the letter. Our representative told me that some couples send home their paperwork with the husband and something happens and they are stuck without necessary documents; that doesn't seem like a very logical decision to me, but thankfully I had all of our paperwork with me in Bogota.

We have had a representative from Children's Home Society with us, either Isabel Romero or Carmen. Both are very sweet and patient ladies and it has been nice to work with them. There is a lot within the adoption process that can be complicated, and it has been very good to have someone who can guide us through the process here. Tonight Carmen called to make sure we had gotten the visa and that everything looked alright and to say goodbye. It made me sad to think that we'll be leaving soon, and at the same time I am looking forward to getting back to "real life" in Omaha with Mateo. Mostly, I miss Jose Fernando and Mateo misses his Daddy!