"Oh My Goodness"

We had a very full day today, and for the most part things are going very well.  Part of the training in preparation for adoption teaches you about the grieving process that children go through during adoption, no matter how good or bad the situation was that they are leaving.  There are times that Alia has shown some of the grieving process of sadness and anger.  We have had a few meltdowns, but we lovingly and patiently work through them.  The language barrier makes it difficult to talk with her through these times, but we are learning how to simply love her through these meltdowns.  She is very intelligent and is learning quickly.  She is following in here Mami's footsteps.  At one time today, she said, "Oh my goodness", then she started repeating everything Alicia said and did.  One of her games is to mimic Alicia, the other is for me to toss her into the air - "mas alto" (very high).

We went to court this morning and submitted our paperwork.  After five and a half years of submitting paperwork and redoing paperwork, and paying for more and more documentation.  It was good to see a packet of documentation more than three inches thick pulled together by our lawyer.  We signed a document with our intent, and authorizing our lawyer to act on our behalf, then we marked our signature with our fingerprints.  The review process with our lawyer was longer than actually submitting the paperwork.  It took only a few minutes and verifying our identity and intent, then we walked out of the court.  This was our last official act on this trip, so the rest of our week is simply time to be with Ashton and Alia.

We left the court and went to lunch with our driver and translator, Carlos, who the children have begun calling Tio Carlos (Uncle Carlos), and our lawyers and the son of one of our lawyers. After lunch, we went to see the statue of Jesus Christ.  This was a good trip for the children to have time to play in the park near the statue and run.  They were exhausted as you can see from the picture below with Alia asleep in the backseat of the van.  We have also learned that Alia loves to take showers, brush her teeth, and wash her hands, which leaves the bathroom quite a mess.  It is great to have young children again.

Our connection is slow tonight and I am having difficulty uploading pictures.  I will try later to share some pictures from today.