We're Going HOME!!!

It's official! Ted picked up the VISA this afternoon and we are heading to Minnesota! We have her passport all ready to go with her visa attached inside. We also have a very official envelope that we are not allowed to open.

It is a very bittersweet day that we say goodbye to Kayella's birthland and she gets to say hello to her new home. We are excited to bring her home but we have to remember that it will be an adjustment for her as well. We have many people wanting to come and meet her and we are excited to have her get to know everyone that has patiently waited for her. We know we are her parents but sometimes I still get the "pinch me is this really real" feeling. I suppose it'll really sink in once we are home.

Her appointments on Friday went very smooth. First we went and got her passport done (took all of 1 hour from start to passport in hand) and then we went to the visa doctor. He told us (after Kayella peed on his scale) that she is fine, go home. Then we were off to ICBF to fill out a survey on the process and to pick up a Conformity letter to give to the people at the US Embassy. Then we went off to our visa appointment. They used to process adoption visas in the morning but switched them to the afternoon. Helena said that the afternoon process is much smoother, we were in and out within 45 minutes. I suppose when you have 31 windows and process 700+ visas a day there it can back up, she said you would wait 3-4 hours before. The security there is tight though, you put your bag through an x-ray machine, walk through a body scanner and they take your phones/cameras because you are not allowed to take photos in there. It is nice knowing that in Colombia there is a place for US Citizens to have a "safe haven" if something ever goes wrong. It was nice also that the people there all spoke english and were US Citizens themselves. We practiced with a cute smile for Kayella's passport and visa photos but she decided to look at the camera with a "are you kidding me look." When we get home I will scan some of the visa photos so you can see what we are talking about. This is the cute smile we practiced so hard on though.

So now, we are enjoying our last few hours in our daughter's birth land. We are excited to show her a new way of life but also embrace her heritage. She is already one very loved child and cannot wait to show her how many more people love her! Someone said to us the other day, you have half the state of Minnesota waiting to see her! I think we are right!

Congratulations to our friends from Texas that received their Sentencia today! We couldn't more more excited for them to get their family home :)

We already have our American food places that we want to eat, shop and do! We are going to BWW on Wednesday, maybe some IHOP, going to see Santa and shop at Target! The bank is probably thinking, usually they run at least 2-3 trips at Target per week...what is wrong! Oh, we are both excited to drive again. Ted thinks he can try driving like they do in Colombia, anybody want some whiplash?!