Sunday in Usaquen

Sunday we walked with Lucy from the apartment to the area of Usaquen.  In Bogota on Sundays from 7am-2pm, they have Ciclovia which means some of the bigger streets are shut down to cars and opened to people cycling, walking, skating, etc. We set out around 10am and were able to walk down one of the main avenues.  It was so much fun to see all of the people out enjoying the day.

                          Some of the cyclists as we started out on our walk.

 It's hard see from this photo, but the street was filled with people walking and cycling.

It was a pretty good walk, but we had a lot of fun talking with Lucy and just taking everything in.  Then we arrived in Usaquen.  Lucy explained to us that as this area grew over the years, they were not allowed to change the architecture.  It really is very beautiful.   

 Just a few of the many gorgeous houses that line the streets there.

We then came to the area with the flea market.  It is only open on Sundays and was packed with people and vendors of all kinds.  We were told his is 'the place' to buy a lot of handmade traditional items and to also find some fun gifts to take home.  We spent a couple of hours here walking around and shopping.  We stopped for coffee in the upper area of the market, and then we kept going!  I cannot imagine going here without Lucy as she was a great negotiator and also told us which things were good and which were not.  There were also street artists and musicians along the way.  

The view from below the upper market area.

We walked by and he was starting his drawing. 

 About an hour later we walked back by him, and this was the result. Absolutely amazing.

                                   Yes, that is a person.  A very still person.

Some dancers inviting people into their shop. 

We were all very happy with our purchases and with the company we had.   We were able to find a few things for Violet that will either go in her room or will be hers when she gets a little older.  That was very fun for me--finding some special things from her home country for her.  

These are a few of my favorite finds. 

         We found a sweet little handmade dress for her and also a pillow case that will go in her room.

                                Tiny zapatos for the Colombiana!

At our hotel in La Mesa, there was one wall outside with several of these.  I loved them and told Victor I wish I knew where to get one.  Oh, happy day for me to see them at the flea market!!  One is for our wall; the tiny one will go in Violet's room on her shelf.  To see and appreciate the attention to detail, below is an actual house on the street where we are staying.  The tiny flowers and the signs over the doors are some of my favorite things.  Each little house has a Colombian flag near the door.  So pretty!

We ended the day at a restaurant called Sopas y Postres.  It was fantastic, either because we were so hungry or the food was amazing...or both.  This photo commemorates the moment when I was so thankful I had purchased a t-shirt at the flea market since Violet pooped through her clothes and onto my shirt.  Nothing like changing all of the people in the restaurant  bathroom to make lunch exciting!

  We so enjoyed being party of the city for the day!

Sentencia!

Friday we had what is called 'Sentencia.'  This means that you go sign all of the papers to make your child officially, well--yours!  Our day started very early.  The hotel in La Mesa was kind enough to make breakfast for us before the driver came to pick us up at 7:30.  This way we had a good start to the morning.

We arrived at court and waited until it was our turn to sign everything.  There were two other families there, both adopting from the same orphanage as our family.  One family was from Denmark, and we had met them earlier in the week.  The other family was from New York.  It was nice to have others to talk to while we all waited.  Once the papers were signed, the next step was receiving the birth certificates.  This became a little bit complicated as one of the attorneys was ill and unable to be there. So all of the families waited together across the street at a cafe while Jairo, our driver and guy-who-knows-all-the-things, got everyone's paperwork in order.  This took awhile, but we enjoyed our time there and got to know one another.  And had coffee which is always lovely here.  We then made an odd sort of taxi/car caravan to an office in Bogota where all of the birth certificates were issued.  We also got to visit another cafe there while we waited (notice a theme here?), but at the end of the day it was all done!  Violet Lilliana Faith became ours forever.  In case you are wondering, she has three names because she came to us with three names and we felt that was a very good tradition, considering! In Latin American cultures, children have the last name of both their mother and father. Since she will only have one last name, we chose an extra middle name just for her.  'Violet' is the name she was given by her birth mother, just changed a bit for spelling and ease of translation.  Once we saw her little face, we knew that name belonged to her.  'Lilliana' is the name we have had for all of these years as we waited for her to arrive into our family.  'Faith' is what held us as we walked on this journey, and it is what will continue to keep us as we parent all three of our children.  God has each of them in His hand, and He has most certainly brought our daughter to us.

Our picture at court is not the greatest as by that time we had been waiting and she was not really in the mood for a photo shoot!  But--it's our first 'legal' family photo, so we'll take it!