Adoption Update

We received a call today telling us that our court date has been set for next Monday afternoon at 2 pm. We are to go to La Casita in the morning for the girls' goodbyes and go to court in the afternoon. We have some info to gather about a final decision about when we are coming home but it is unlikely we will make any changes. Plane ticket changes cost at least $200 per ticket. Though we would like to come home earlier it is unlikely to happen at this point. An extra week here is unlikely to cost that much, not to mention the stress of trying to hurry everyone.
We have not told the girls yet. That will be later tonight.
We'll write more tonight.

We told the girls tonight so they were excited and a little confused. We have kept a calendar on the wall this whole time, just to make it more clear and concrete, but even with this at times it is very confusing to them. So, after telling them they were a little excited and were taking a little longer to go to sleep but after a while they were all in bed, when all of a sudden we heard a series of explosions. Fireworks! These explosions were so loud and intense, many car alarms were set off. We knew there were going to be celebrations this weekend, but we didn't think it would start until possibly tomorrow night but it started tonight! The girls all came out in a panic, especially the youngest one, she was crying and shaking.
You see, the girls have never seen fireworks, so they thought there were shots being fired or explosions in the buildings. We had to explain to them that there were fireworks and took them downstairs to see them. The girls loved the fireworks. Of course I (Mercedes) didn't. I hate loud noises, especially fireworks. I have always hated them. Sucena would have never been able to go to sleep if we had not taken them out to see fireworks. She has a very good imagination and was terrified. The girls grew up in a area that was not very safe, so their first reaction to these explosion was not fireworks. Alex joked with the girls that this was their way of celebrating our adoption.
Tomorrow we are going on another city trip, but we are also going to buy gifts for Casita staff and friends in preparation for our visit to La Casita on Monday.
Here is a picture of our family with Vicky Diez our Colombia guide. Vicky is a special person. She is more than a guide to the families, she is also an advocate for the kids and works closely with agencies to find families for as many kids as possible. She is very outgoing and I think she loves us, because the girls waited so long to have a family and they seem so happy. Also, I think she enjoys my company (Mercedes). I get the feeling that Vicky works very hard and does not have a lot of girlfriends. She and I chat away like old friends during our trips. I know that she will be a friend for a long time. She regularly visits the U.S. and we hope we can visit with her as well. She has made our experience more enjoyable.