Gotcha Day 6-24-09

We leave Bogota Wednesday morning to drive to the birthplace of our son. We will get to meet him for the first time in an event called "Encuentro" (Spanish for encounter) at the ICBF Regional Office. The encounter will last maybe up to an hour then we'll turn around and head back to Bogota. We will have to go back to this office in about a week to visit with the ICBF official to check on how things are going; an event called "Integracion" (Spanish for integration) to make sure we are a fit as a family. This is when we will sign a document to be submitted to the local judicial court by our attorney accepting full custody of our son. One familiy staying with us just went to their encuentro this afternoon to get their 4 month old daughter while another went to their integracion to start the court process with their 5 year old son this morining. A third family finalized their adoption process today and will be heading home in a day or two. It is nice to have so many others around us going through different stages of the process so that we know what is in store for us. We are getting the town figured out, at least what we can get to by foot and are having fun trying to communicate with the locals. Lots of hand signals and smiles gets us a long way.