We Are Going Home! (Oct 7th)

So our original flight to return home was on October 1st (we only estimated a 5 week stay). So on September 30th we cancelled our flight and rebooked our tickets for Friday, October 14th. We already had our visa appointment at this time so we took our chances that we would have our visa in hand on Thursday, October 13th. We rebooked 4 tickets and bought a one-way ticket, costs totaling $1050.00. So after coming down from our high Thursday night of having the visa in hand we ate dinner and we were about to start packing. It is 6pm and the lights go out.  I fumbled around for our flash light (future families, a good thing to have since power outages are common) and we finished eating. Two hours later the electricity comes back on, kids are in bed and we finally start to pack at 8:30 pm.

     The next morning we arrive at the airport 2 1/2 hours early, pass immigration, and now we are excited to check in. The kids and I wait alongside a wall while my husband chats with the ticket agent. He turns around and gives me a look and I inquire about his long hard stare. Continental Airlines had no record of 4/5 of us flying today, only the 1 way ticket we purchased. My husband shows them the confirmation email they sent to us with the confirmation code. After 5 minutes of my husband and the ticket agent going back and forth he was led behind the ticket counter into an office with a manager for Continental Airlines. Stressed and ready to cry I hold it together for the sake of my kids.  Once again we are caught in this game of waiting, waiting to see if we are going to be met with good news or bad news. After an hour I ask the ticket agent if I can go behind the counter and talk to my husband. He says sure and points me in the direction. Wow, that was easy. I almost laughed. I find him sitting in a chair while a Continental Airlines employee is typing with the clicking sound of her nails as fast as she can. I gave him a look and whisper, "We should have confirmed the flight last night". Um yeah, marriage tip #1 Do not voice the obvious in a highly stressed situation ever! After 16 years you would have thought I had learned that one by now. I immediately look and whisper, "I am so sorry, Its not your fault. I am sorry". I don't think there was a response so I sheepishly left the office and went back to say to my kids and our translator, yes, they have seats on the flight, but I don't know what the hold up is. After 2 hours of waiting we hear, "Last call for Continental flight #3454". Ten minutes after this announcement was made my husband finally emerges with 5 boarding passes.  After 2+ hours we have confirmed seats. Next, we run to pay the taxes (you cannot do this without your boarding pass) and up the escalator through security. We give hurried good-byes to our newly found friend (our translator and driver ) with tears from the 2 oldest in our family (no, not the kids). As we are in the security line my daughter tells me she's about to get sick. My reaction was, No, you can't. And then I gave her a bag just in case. We take off running again through the terminal to our gate to catch the plane. We were the last ones to board. I am so thankful the flight was not full and for Yessica for being so kind and helping us from beginning to end. She was on the tarmac seeing our plane depart and as it pulled away from the gate our newly adopted son and her were blowing kisses. I told him how she had helped us get on the plane to the United States. She knew he was going to a land of freedom and opportunity. I was a crying mess, my husband was a mess. We just looked at each other dumb founded at what just took place over the last 48 hours. The stress was non-stop. And now as the plane pushes back we are free to leave after 40 days, leaving with a new son taken from what is familiar, with a daughter that impressed me with her Spanish, and now my middle child who I hope knows Mom still loves him and even more, and a husband who impressed me every single day. God bless the U.S.A.!

Immigration office in Honduras - 10-15 min

I explained to Justin that 1 more short flight home so he in
turn was showing me a small airplane. I guess he was imitating me. 

Immigration in the states. After this photo I was
told that photos were not allowed. 

They even had horns. They said they had to make up for the size
of the welcoming party. 

Started the day around 7 a.m. and finally driving home at 10:00 pm.
He is in a car seat and seatbelt. Something already new for him.

Visa Appointment Day (Oct 6)

Packing to return home (I guess you know how the story ends)

Tomorrow night we will be sleeping on our own beds.

Sleeping in Honduras for the last time

We waited a week for our I-600 approval and then 1 more week for our visa appointment. We all woke up early at 5:45 a.m. to eat breakfast and take a taxi to the embassy for our 7 a.m. appointment time. The embassy is about 15 min drive from our hotel so we wanted to make sure we were early enough to make our appointment. Visa application, passports, money, and kids books in hand we arrived to see 2 long lines outside. It is confusing because no one is speaking English so I tried to find an English speaker while my husband and kids held our place in the residential line. I wanted to make sure we were in the right line. One is for residents and the other line was for visitors. Turns out the security guard was right. He had our name and appointment time on his clipboard and we waited outside approximately 15 minutes. Our line was escorted inside where we went through the metal detectors and then given a number to sit and wait for fingerprinting. They never called our number and it was not displayed on the marquis so we found a friend who asked another security guard why our number was skipped and never called. He told us that our child was under the age limit and that he did not need fingerprinting. The second time to listen for our number was to present our papers for the visa. It was flawless and we had everything we needed and then she asked my husband to go to the cashier's window to pay the $404.00 for the visa. My husband was aware of the "US only dollars or lempiras only' policy. You cannot make a payment of both dollars and lempiras. The US dollars have to be in perfect condition, crisp, clean, no tears dollar bills. The lemps do not have to be perfect. My husband was also aware of the "exact change policy".  I had told him the day before, but he decided it wasn't a big deal. He would hand the cashier 5 $100.00 crisp, clean bills and that would be ok, turns out it wasn't. The cashier would not make change. So my husband told her to keep the $500.00, no change needed. She could not take that either. So the scramble for lemps began. He was 46 lempiras shy ($2.30) so he asked my daughter to give him her lemps. She had wanted to buy a snack from the vending machine all morning, but I told her to wait because we might need her money. Luckily she did. Very proudly she handed over her money to her dad. For a moment we smiled, but then it was back to being nervous with the hopes of having enough. We needed 2 more lempiras (10 cents) to have the exact payment . So my husband walked out the main waiting area to another cashier and he was told that she could not make change. He pleaded, but she would not budge so he said, "Please, all I need is 2 lempiras. The lady then handed him the lempiras and with that we had our exact payment of $404.00.  The visa cashier did not reject any of our lempiras. She didn't care if they were not perfect and we didn't either. For the 3rd time we waited for our number to be called for the interview. We were told right away that we were approved for our visa (whew!) and that they were specifically looking for the updated immunization records from the doctor appointment. She asked Justin all of our names and when he looked at me, he just stared and smiled then it was onto his new sister and brother. We all nervously giggled, but we passed. She apologized for such a long wait for our appointment day, but said the line we heard several times this whole trip, "Adoptions are a high priority" and we are sorry. We just had a lot of visas to process". She almost guaranteed to have the visa ready by 3:45, but we held our breath.  Anybody who has the slip of paper with the number on it can pick up the visa. At 3:20 our driver called to tell us she was held up in traffic and that she would not make it on time to pick up my husband. He called a taxi and within 15 minutes was on his way. Our driver arrived at the embassy first and told the guard my husband was on his way. Showing no mercy, the guard said that there would be no one let in after 4 pm sharp. Our driver worked her magic (he saw the desperation on her face) and let her in to hold Bob's spot. When Bob arrived at 4:05pm our driver peered out the window pointed to Bob and the guard took our number from Bob's hand and went inside to give it to our driver. They then show you a short information video about immigration in Spanish. As long as you have the slip of paper with the number anyone can pick up the visa.  After the video was over she walked out and handed over the gold! WE CAN GO HOME!!!!!!!!!!!! HALLELUJAH!!!!!!! Yes, I am shouting!

Random days in Honduras

Trying a new fruit, litchees. They actually were really good. The little one
spotted them in Wal-mart and told me he really likes them. you peel the
 outside and eat the "big grape".  It does have a seed so don't eat it.

9/28/11

10/1/11

10/5/11
We heard it could take months even a year for a letter to reach the states so we went to
the post office in downtown Tegucigalpa and mailed ourselves a post card. It arrived
at our home here in the U.S. after 10 days. Boy, we were disappointed! 

A Catholic church in downtown Tegucigalpa

10/2/11
The kids liked Chiminike so much that for almost
nothing at all for 3 kids and 2 adults we had to take them back.

A favorite afternoon stop for us.

10/4/11

9/26/11 Nova Centro Mall - They have a great deal on Mondays
after 2pm.For 2 hours of unlimited play I think we paid 17.00 for
3 kids. Its definitely something different than the rooftop.

Our 2nd time in almost a month.

view from the open air rooftop game center

This picture just about sums up my daughters personality.

Celebrating his birthday

We went to Pizza Hut for dinner to celebrate his 5th birthday. I don't think his birthdays were celebrated or if so not in a big way because when we asked him how old he was he would tell us 4 and hold up 4 fingers. We didn't have a way to tell him, "No,  you are 5" so we thought we would make a big deal of him and celebrate his birthday. It was fun shopping for a few gifts for him and watch his reaction to the staff and his family sing Happy Birthday to him. He tore the paper off the gifts and as soon as he opened one it was on to the next one. Happy 5th Birthday Justin! We promise the next one to be even better. We love you!