Great News!

We received a call from our representative, Cecilia, yesterday afternoon.  She told us that the orphanage, Los Pisingos, has been working with ICBF (Colombia's child welfare Office) to see if there is anything that can be done to help their families who have not been entered into the court system because of the strike.  Almost the entire country of Colombia has been on strike for almost 40 days now, but there were some small towns that did not participate in the strike. 

Our lawyer from Los Pisingos found a judge in a small town about two hours from Bogota who will be taking on adoption cases starting Tuesday (Oct. 14th) The families who would go through this judge would be required to travel to this small town on Tuesday, and stay for three days.  After three days, the families would return to Bogota, and wait for the final decree of adoption, called Sentencia.  Cecilia mentioned that this judge would give the families Sentencia no longer than two weeks from Tuesday!  

Our other option would be to stay in Bogota and get assigned to a court here.  We have heard that the Notaries here in Bogota will be taking on the adoption cases, in place of the judges while on strike, but we will not know for sure until Tuesday, because Monday is Colombus Day and everything will be closed for the National Holiday.  We only had a half hour to decide what we wanted to do, so we told Cecilia that we would like to travel to the small town to enter their court.  It will actually be kind of nice to get a new change in scenery.  The name of the town we will be going to is Ubate, Cundinmarca Colombia, which is a very small town in the country, so it will be quiet and the air will be cleaner.  

We talked to Katya, the owner of Hotel Paris, and she said we won't have to check out of our room, during our short trip.  So, we will only have to pack enough for three days.  That's a relief, because we have enough stuff to fill 5 large suitcases! 

So, looking at the Calendar, we figure, we will have Sentencia by October 28th at the latest.  We will then have to visit the Embassy and apply for Manny's passport and get clearance to travel back home.  That usually takes a few days, so we could be home by the first week in November!  We haven't decided yet, if Johnny will still leave on the 2oth.  He will have to check with work and those helping us out at home, to see if he can stay. 

Manny had a round of vaccinations on Thursday.  They did five vaccinations, but only in one shot.  Thank goodness, because the way he cried, there is not way they would have gotten another needle in his poor little leg.  We had a bet with The Haydens on who would cry the most, Emma or Manny, and Manny lost!  He cried for a good 10 minutes, while Emma only cried for about a minute.  She's a tough little cookie! 

Here is a video of Manny getting his shot. Poor little bugger.  

Love, Dulcie Johnny and Manny

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