practicing my signature

Today is a big day. Today we go to court and the kids officially become our kids. It is very exciting, very good news, and it has happened very quickly. We are very happy. We learned this yesterday, as Emmanelle picked us up to go for our afternoon errands, and she was practically ecstatic. So today we will get picked up at about 9:15 to head to our court appointment at 10. There we will stand before a judge...and I don't know what, but at the end of it, our kids will be our kids. I am not sure how long this will take or what will be involved, but I know that it is a big deal and we have been told to dress as such. This is great.

We most likely will be leaving B-manga on Sunday, wrapping up a couple of things more here, and then hopefully relaxing a little bit before we head back to Bogota to take care of more things. After days of seemingly nothing, now things are moving quickly and it seems like our days are now going to be busy with items of business that we need to care for to get things done. All I know is that it has all been a whirlwind, from the time Janine called me at work to tell me we got the information and pictures of the kids up to now, and my head is spinning.

Yesterday afternoon was quite an adventure, though, as we went to the bank, to exchange Shirley's shoes, and to get passport photos taken. We first started an hour later than we were supposed to (Emmanuelle was working with another family whose appointment started late earlier in the day), so we left at 3 to go the bank. We arrived a little before 3:30, and Emmanuelle got in line for us as we waited until she got to the front. The line moved excruciatingly slow, but eventually she made it and the Shinns rushed to the front with her. There we realized that travelers checks and B-manga do not mix. We had to present out passports (nothing out of the ordinary) and sign some papers. As soon as we signed our papers the teller told us that our signatures needed to be more like the ones on the travelers checks. I couldn't believe it. Apparently, they have much trouble with counterfeits and forgery, so I was made to practice my signature before signing my checks. Janine's turned out good, as she has much better handwriting and is much more consistent than I am, but my signature is always different, and I pointed this out to the teller on my passport, my drivers license, the different travelers checks...she didn't care: the signatures had to match. Anyhow, they also had to call AMEX to make sure that we actually did have these, that they could actually cash them. We were approved, and finally the signatures matched well enough to exchange, but this literally took two hours in an overcrowded and stuffy bank with our three kids. They were actually very good, with a little fussing, but not much considering the boys ages and the circumstance. I was not having a good time, though, and have trouble hiding that on my face. I am pretty sure that everyone in the bank saw that I was not happy with the process. IF YOU ARE EVER IN BUCARAMANGA...DON'T TRY TO USE/EXCHANGE TRAVELER'S CHECKS!!! That's the lesson for the day.

The shoe exchange didn't happen either, as we have to wait for the manager to be in today. We were told that Bata shoes were guaranteed, though, so if they don't exchange them I think Yovany (our driver) and Emmanuelle will raise some cane. We will go back today to find out. The passport photos went fairly well, with only Juan fussing/crying. I can't really blame him, though, as they had short naps yesterday and we were out for quite a while in the afternoon. I am sure he was tired, hungry, wet and thirsty...and he wanted to sit on a rocking horse that we took him off to get his picture. It all turned out okay.

So today we will get up, get breakfast, and put on our nice clothes. I know that the kids are all goint to look so wonderful, so cute. Andres will have a little bump on his forehead from his swan dive off the bathroom counter last night. Apparently, he thought it would be like jumping in the pool. The poor guy bumped his forehead pretty hard, but was okay five minutes later, making his little squeak noises and showing his very, very odd sense of humor. So anyway, after court, after it is all done, we will probably run a couple of errands and then try to find some way to celebrate. Like I said before, we are very excited.

And for anyone who was worried about my eating experience (tongue in cheek), I ate the Suprema Parissienne again last night and had the best dining experience since our first night here. They redeemed themselves last night. They still don't have good beer here, though.

So there you go. Oh, and I finished "What is the What" by Dave Eggers the other day. Janine couldn't believe it, and frankly, neither could I. It was such a good book, though, so good, in fact, that it made my hands numb at times. I knew it would end sometime, but I really didn't want it to. I wanted to hear more stories, to know more of what happened, it was so well written and is such a gripping story. Tragic, though. Heartbreaking. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS BOOK, so at least check it out online or something. JO: you would love this book.

The song for the day is: "Measure 2" by Matt Pond PA

I hope all is well.