Day 3

What a day and where to start. 

First, Annalise started her first day of Kindergarten here.  She was so excited, she ate a huge breakfast without protest, which in this house is a big deal.  Our representative's husband picked us up this morning while she was on official business elsewhere.  We went to Annie's school which took us through some lovely areas of the city.  She was revving to go as soon as we arrived, but had to sit for the official paperwork to be completed.  It's a beautiful private school.  Everyone was welcoming and most importantly, she loved it.  When we picked her up, we could see her through the fence, before she saw us.  She was walking hand-in-hand with two other girls who were showing her around.  Great.  Now we can relax about that.  She'll be well there.

We ran some errands and had what felt like an eternal wait until the afternoon when we could go meet Alejandro.  We picked up Annie from school (we take cabs everywhere when we are not with our reps) and went back home, to wait, and wait, and wait.

A representative from the central authority was supposed to meet with us.  Forty minutes after what would have been our appt time, our rep called her and she wasn't going to be able to make it due to poor scheduling...she had something important going on at her office, and had not known about our appt until last Friday.  We had been unscheduled.  He was able to convince her to come, and when she finally arrived we were ready to go. 

We had a few polite exchanges.  She asked us a few questions in regard to our expectation to the process and our son.  Finally, she handed us a marvelous baby photo book of Alejandro.  It had been put together by his caregivers, called Tias (tee-as) or aunts.  They're not really his aunts, that's just what they are called here.  We were very surprised and joyfully delighted to receive it. 

His first picture brought tears to our eyes.  I, personally, could hardly catch my breath between sobs...it was a picture of him at 4 months old.  I saw Jim wipe away a few tears too.  Alejandro will be two years old this coming Thursday.  We sat and gazed at his album and all the comments the tias had added to the pictures.  They had obviously worked hard on the book, and the love they have for him poured off of every page.

After having been handed this treasure, and  having waited already approximately 15 months, 9 days, 15.5 hours (but who's counting), she proceeds to tell us that since this was a last minute appt for her, and was unexpected, that we would not be able to see him today.  SERIOUSLY LADY, ARE YOU FRIKIN' KIDDING ME? 

She then asked us if we had any questions or concerns about the upcoming process.  Hmmmmm.  Well, a few come to mind.  What could the first possibly be?

I took a deep breath and politely told her that we were very disappointed because we had every expectation to meet him today.  She tried to convince us it was a bad idea to meet with him given the late hour (3:30).  Once again I told her of our expectation and disappointment, and furthermore, how devastating this was going to be to Annalise (she was outside playing at the time) who has been counting down the days until she met her brother since we first told her on Christmas morning. 

She didn't seem phased by the fact that this would break Annie's heart.  After all it was just going to be one more day.  One day, an eternity, what's the difference?  The woman asked us if the wait would be ok, and I politely told her that it really wasn't.  However, if that is the only option she was giving us, we would have no choice but to follow.  She left abrubptly.  Our rep called his wife, and she made some phone calls to see what, if anything could be done. 

We were afraid that going to see him against the woman's recommendations would be unwise, as we do not want to offend anyone during the process.  After all, our family's future depends on these type of people.  We were given the go-ahead by her superiors, through our rep to go see Alejandro.  Really?!?!  Oh my gosh!  We were really going to finally meet him.

We told Annalise, and she jumped for joy.  Off we were.  The children's home he resides in, Pequenitos de OSSO is a beautiful facility.  They had been called ahead to tell of the afternoon's happenings.  It was obvious that they had been waiting on us as well.  We were greeted with warm smiles, and hugs.  The facility's coordinator and social worker said they had been awaiting us with nervous anxiety, and were so happy we had finally made it.  We got to know eachother for a short while, and they told us that Alejandro carries around the family photo album we had sent to him.  They said when asked, he points out Mama, Papa, and Sissy.  He has a special name for her but it doesn't make sense to write it until I download the Spanish keyboard. 

After the social workers talked to us for a short while, we were taken to Alejandro's house.  He lives with 6 other children, his "brothers and sisters".  They were all about the same age, and so remarkably adorable!  I just wanted to take them all home with me.  Alejandro was very shy at first, but warmed up to us after a while.  Annalise tried to play with him as much as he would allow.  He carried around the family photo album and the tias helped him compare the pictures to us.  He indeed did know us, and boy, pity the fool who would try to get the book  away from him.  He had a steel grip on it.  So awesome!

All the kids were dressed up beautifully, and the girls had little pretties and ribbons in their hair.  They were all very playful and certainly joyful.  The tias were busy working away at baking a cake for his birthday.  The birthday isn't until Thursday, but they want to have an extra special birthday party for him tomorrow, because they think he might be with us full-time by then.  How sweet, and back up...what was that?!?  Really!  YAY!!! and what, OMG!!! 

After a while, he let Jim pick him up.  Mind you, he wanted to be lifted higher to see his cake, and Jim was the means to the end, but hey, we'll take it!  After, Jim played airplane with him and boy did the giggles come out then.  He has the best dimples ever!  He was pretty tied to Papi and eventually let me pick him up.  Once again, a means to an end, he wanted to go outside. Hey, we'll take it!

After a couple of hours, it was time for his dinner, and the place keeps a tight schedule.  I guess you have to in order to keep up with all the little one's needs.  We hated to go, but knew it was a good time.  He didn't want Jim to put him down.  They eventually were able to distract him and we left.

Annalise moped all the way home.  "I want my little brother!"  It's all good. 

What a blessed day!
Love, Lisandra