6 years, 1 month and 6 days...Gotcha!

When we began the process of adoption, and started blogging, we put a timer on the right side of the blog that counted the days until we finished the process.  Today was 6 years, 1 month and 6 days since we officially began the journey to adopt. This morning began around 4:45, when Alia needed to go to the bathroom.  Ashton woke up to help her to the bathroom...we were awake enough to say, "Buenos Dias".  He hugged Alicia, and climbed into bed next to me to sleep for the next 30 minutes.  It was great to have my son cuddle in next to me for the morning.  Eventually, he made his way back to his bed.  We all woke up early and were picked up by "Tio Carlos".  Carlos was our driver and translator every day on our first trip last July and the children called him Uncle (Tio) Carlos.  We drove into Tegucigalpa and met up with David and Carlos' family at Dunkin Donuts for breakfast.  Here is a picture of Alia with David in the background.

 After breakfast, Carlos drove us to DINAF to meet up with our lawyer, Jenny, and officials from DINAF and the Family Court for the signing of the Escritura.  We reviewed the document with Carlos, and then the entire 10 page document was read aloud and reviewed by all who were present.  Once it was read and reviewed, we each signed numerous documents and put our fingerprint next to our signature on each page.  After an hour or so, it was all done, the children officially became members of the Crossgrove family.

After we were all done with the signing, we ran to the store for some groceries and sneakers for the kids, and then we returned to our apartment in Santa Lucia.  We enjoyed lunch, some soccer in the back yard and resting.  The next step in the process is working with the US Embassy and the process of immigration to bring them back to the US.  Our lawyer told us that she will continue working on the process, but we have nothing to do for the next week or so.  We had originally thought that our lawyer had to travel to La Cieba right after we signed the Escritura, and we figured we would travel with her to the coast and enjoy some time at the beach.  Today, we learned that she will be traveling to La Cieba at the end of the week or two that it takes for new birth certificates to be created, so our original plan will not work.  We might try to get plane tickets to go up to the coast for a few days next week, but not sure what our plans are yet.  For now, we get to hang out and get to know the children better.  Thank you for all of the prayers, and words of congratulations!