Mañana

We started the day with breakfast here in our apartment. We spent a leisurely morning reading parenting books, making a grocery list, returning emails, and blogging. We warmed up our dinner leftovers for lunch around noon and decided to go back to the mall across the street and walk around for a bit. The weather here is cool and we had wanted to buy a jacket for Eli to bring here, but had trouble finding one in late May-early June in Buffalo. We did secure several sweatshirts and light sweaters, but not a coat. So, we spent an hour or so looking around the mall and found a perfect red jacket for Eli. It makes us both smile. It will be a little big, as the smallest available size was 1 year, but we figured we could use it well into November in Buffalo.

Éxito, the grocery store, is connected to the mall, so that was our next stop. We must have spent an hour and a half in there trying to find the ingredients on our list, some to no avail. Apparently, the following items do not exist in Bogotá, or at least not at Éxito: Bacon (Are you kidding me??? Two months without bacon? We are in BIG trouble!), cayenne pepper, chili powder, chicken sausage, black beans (canned or dry) and spinach. The grocery shopping and cooking here is definitely challenging and we were completely exhausted after that excursion, but we were also proud of ourselves! We are being flexible and making it work. Tonight, we had fresh organic scrambled eggs with some sort of cheese and fried pork bits that tasted nothing like bacon! But, it was hot, fresh food and we aren't going hungry. :) In any event, all complaints will cease tomorrow when we have our little Eli in our arms! Who cares about food?!!

After cleaning up dinner, we skyped with both of our families and now we are headed to bed. Our driver and translator, Maria Teresa de Perez, called us tonight to let us know that she would be calling again in the morning with a definite appointment time for Eli's "presentation." It will either be in the morning around 11am or later, around 2pm. Either way, we want to be rested and ready for the most important moment in our lives- meeting our son for the first time!

To be honest, we don't know, precisely, how tomorrow will play out. We have been told to bring Eli's visa payment, our passports, and a nice outfit for Eli to wear. We know that we will meet with the staff at FANA first and take care of any necessary business, and then we will go to the "green room," to wait for our son to be presented to us. All of the FANA families speak of the green room with such awe and reverence. For, it is in the green room that your family begins. It is the adoption birthing room. While we wait, our child will be changed into his new outfit, carried into the room, and placed in our arms. Our family will finally be united, tomorrow.

Tonight, as we get ready to turn out the lights, we wonder if Eli received some extra attention today. We know that as happy as tomorrow will be, it is also an ending for our little boy. He will be saying "goodbye" to the only world he's ever known, all the familiar faces who cared for him, the smells and sounds he's grown accustomed to, and his little playmates at FANA. Before I fall asleep, I'll pray for my son's courage and strength. I'll pray that we can make him smile and laugh, that he will not be too scared when we drive away from FANA, and that God will bless him with resiliency. I will also pray for Jamie and I. I'll ask for patience and for acceptance. I'll pray that we are able to trust the process, even if it reveals itself to be more difficult than we anticipated. I will pray for blessings on my family and finally I will give gratitude, I will thanks to my God for this goodness. I know that starting tomorrow, my experience of Love will be changed forever.

Tomorrow.