ICBF & the Notary

Well, today the process has officially started. We had our interview with ICBF this afternoon, and from there we went to the notary to have our intentions to adopt Will notarized. Our wonderful representative Tia Isabel went with us. We haven't seen her yet since she's been so incredibly busy helping other families out, so it was great to finally get to spend time with the person who has played such a huge part in putting our family together. She was also our rep with Ally, so it's like she's family- and not just to us, but to SO many families across the US, and especially in West Michigan. She has a heart of gold, no doubt about it. She even has a great sense of humor- when we were at the notary signing papers, Beck was holding Will, and so she was just signing the paperwork as Isabel put it in front of her (and it was also all in Spanish, so it's not like she would've been able to read it anyway). After signing the 3 required documents, Tia Isabel says, "Rebecca, would you like to know what you just signed?" And to which Beck replies (with a somewhat confused look on her face, as if to say, "I hope it was the right papers! You gave them to me to sign!") "Sure!" And Tia says, "Those were divorce papers. You are now divorced" with a little grin on her face. So we had a great day catching up with Tia Isabel and getting the process moving.

Tomorrow morning we are moving. We have really enjoyed Las Palmas, and it is a nicely renovated hotel (I would recommend it if you ever come to Bogota!) but we miss Hotel Paris, and we will be able to get a larger room there. There is a large room here, but we didn't want to take that away from our friends the Lieberts who will need it much more than we do. So tomorrow morning we're heading back to the place where we were with Ally, and are looking forward to it (plus we'll be closer to Uni Centro, which means many posts about Crepes and Waffles and cheap ice cream. I can't believe I've been here a week already and haven't been to Crepes and Waffles! But we did promise Ally ice cream on Wednesday, so look for a mention of it in the post that day!).

Due to the running around of the ICBF and the notary, we didn't take too many pictures today. But we did have a great day yesterday with the Tanners who returned home to Michigan today with their new son Sebastian. We took a long walk from Las Palmas to La Carulla (a grocery store) where we met and walked to the Santa Barbera markets.

After that we had the privilege of meeting Adriana's parents for lunch at a local restaurant. We had a wonderful time (next time I think we'll make it adults only though- Will had the biggest blowout of his life- and I'm not talking about a torn ACL, and Ally was super tired from walking so much) getting to meet them and hear about their children and life living in Bogota. They're the kind of people you would like to sit and talk to for hours- their kindness was incredible, and their love for their children and grandchildren was so evident. After lunch we headed back home and spent the rest of the day recovering from pushing the world's largest side by side stroller and walking 136 miles (OK, maybe not quite that long, but sure felt like it!).

So here are 2 videos of Will, or "Squirmy", as Ally has nicknamed him (appropriately so. Have you ever seen a cowboy ride a bull for 10 seconds? That's nothing compared to trying to hold Will down and change his diaper). The first was bath time last night- someone learned how to splash:

The second is of Mom and Will playing upside down "Hola":

Tomorrow we don't have a lot planned other than moving and getting settled in. We look forward to seeing our friends at Paris again, and look forward to having a larger room where Ally and "Squirmy" can move around. In a way, it's kinda like going home.

Love to all-

Scott, Becky, Ally, and Will (aka Squirmy)