Today was our day at the US Embassy. We were up early and collected our things for a very important interview at the Embassy. Our appointment was scheduled for 8am, and we arrived at the Embassy at 7am and were shown to the eight o'clock line in the mass of people standing outside. The lines began moving, but it certainly looked like it was going to be a long morning. We were toward the front of the 8am line and around 7:30, we were led to the "gate-keeper" lady behind the thick glass. I assumed since it was the US Embassy that she would speak English, but that wasn't the case. She was unable to find our names in the computer system and told us to get back in line...I was beginning to think we were going back down another long and confusing path...then Alicia mentioned the name Melissa (who is the woman we have been working with through this process from the Embassy)...the gate-keeper smiled and pulled out a different list, found our name and pointed toward the door, which security promptly opened for us. We went through security, and entered another room with rows of chairs...and waited. It was only a few minutes before the call came over the loudspeaker for the Crossgrove family to go to window 5, which was actually a small room with a window and a nice lady behind it. She collected our documents and began processing everything, and sent me off to go pay the bill. I returned and we were sent back out to the chairs. A few minutes later, we were called back into the little room for a brief interview...and then it was all done. We were told that the visas would be done by early afternoon, and we left. Carlos was not allowed to go into the Embassy with us, and we were not allowed to take cell phones with us, so when we came out we were hoping to see him, but we were done earlier than we had expected, so he was nowhere to be found. Of course, there is a whole industry outside the Embassy of guys ready to take visa pictures and to let you use their phone. So for 20 lempira (a little less than a dollar), I was able call Carlos and he picked us up at the front of the Embassy. Carlos recommended that we use the morning to go to the zoo at Picacho, which he said was small but the kids would like it. It was actually bigger than he remembered, and there was a nice play area for the kids. We returned to the Embassy around 2pm and I went in and waited, then I left with the children's passports with correct visas. Another 20 lempira phone call, and then we were off to one more governmental building. We wanted more original copies of their birth certificates, so Carlos took us to the unmarked government building. We waited in another line to enter the building, then three benches of line inside the building until we went to another window. The woman looked at the passport, asked a few questions, and printed the birth certificates...it was all done...we could make plans to go home.
We returned to the apartment and I called the airline. Since we were technically changing two of our tickets from a previously purchased ticket and adding two more tickets, it was a bit confusing. The woman on the other end of the phone was a huge help in getting things pulled together, so our flight is set. We will fly out tomorrow from Tegucigalpa to Miami. We plan to stay overnight in Miami and fly home to Philadelphia on Thursday arriving around 12:30pm. We are looking forward to getting home and the kids are so excited to meet their sisters and see their new home. Some people have asked about coming to the airport or meeting us at our home when we first get there to welcome us home. We would love to see our friends and family, and welcome you to come. If you plan on either of these, contact our daughter Ariana, or send us a message and we'll forward it to her. Thanks again for all of your prayers, love and support.
Ashton had stared down the goat, and eventually the goat gave up and returned to his food.
The peacocks were all strutting their stuff, so we got a great picture of one behind Alia
In the play area, they had a huge slide, which the kids enjoyed. They even convince Carlos to go down and take his son, Noah with him.
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