Visa!

On Sunday we made the 7.5 hour trek to Coral Gables to prepare for our Monday morning appointment at the Colombian Consulate. We hoped that we were well prepared for our visit by our Social Worker and another adoptive mom who went a couple of months ago and shared some valuable information with us.

We stayed near the Miami airport, which was also about 2 miles from the Consulate. The above is the view from our hotel room of the airport--we'll be back in about 3 weeks on our way to Medellin!

In the morning we headed to a place, DocuRapid, to have our police report translated and apostilled. At first we couldn't find the business--it was tucked into the third floor of an office building. The workers there were very nice and helpful and in a very short time we were on our way with our translated, notarized and apostilled documents!

When we got to the consulate (picture is at the top), we were a little confused as to what to do. When we got to the correct waiting area, there were no signs (English or Spanish) that gave any instructions. There was nowhere to check in. So, we just went and sat down in the waiting area with the others. We hoped that we would be called at some point because we had registered on-line for an appointment. Eventually we did get called, and the worker was great! She was so helpful and encouraging. When she printed our visas, I became emotional (o.k., I cried). Todd said that the worker, M, even teared up. It is very exciting to be one step closer!!

And, by the way, as M leafed through our documents, she kept saying "excellent" so all of the help made the process smooth and painless.

Then, we got back in the car for the return trip of 7.5 hours. Well, at least that gave us extra time to listen to our Spanish CDs!