I'm going to call this 'Days 1 & 2' even though yesterday didn't really count as we arrived very late and only saw the airport and our beds. I hope to document our journey in some way each day while we are here on this adventure. And an adventure it has been so far already!
Last night our plane landed at 9pm. We headed to customs which took a fairly long time, then we went down to retrieve our luggage. There we learned that Grant's suitcase had mistakenly been taken by another passenger with a similar suitcase. After going through the process of giving our contact information, bag description, etc., it was nearly 10:30pm and we went to look for our driver. There was a little confusion as to just how many of us would be arriving, so they had to arrange for a taxi instead. Either way, we were so happy to just be out of the airport and headed to a place we could rest! We were met at our apartment by Lucy,a friend and the person from whom we are renting, to get our keys and a very warm welcome.
After a night of everyone else sleeping while I attempted sleep, instead discovering that the city is very loud at night, we had breakfast with Lucy at a place one block away called Archie's. I have a photo of the kids' pancakes which I will post at some point, but they were ridiculously good as was all of our food. And the coffee was heavenly! Lucy was kind enough to be our guide this morning and show us around the entire area where we are staying. She told us which stores were good for certain things, which shops have the best breakfast pastries and coffee, and gave us many more bits of information that we would never have had otherwise. We are so thankful for her. We said goodbye to her and then did our grocery shopping. I feel we did fairly well considering this was our first-ever foreign country grocery experience. The kids helped with everything, and we walked back to our apartment feeling fairly accomplished. Grant's suitcase was also found and delivered to us this morning, so everyone was very happy and relieved.
Later in the afternoon, we went to the corner bakery to buy a cake for our encuentro tomorrow. 'Encuentro' means the meeting with your child, and they encourage you to make it a celebration. So off we went to buy cake! Somehow this past 24 hours has caused Victor to lose his Spanish-speaking abilities and mine to improve a bit. I ordered a cake from a lovely lady who spoke no English....and I knew almost all of what to say. This, people, is a triumph! I'm not saying this will ever happen again, but it was a nice moment. This evening we were able to have dinner with some friends who are just about finished with their own adoption process here. That is a story in itself, but God has incredible timing and brings all sorts of things together. Overall, this was a great first 'real' day here in the city.
Tonight was spent preparing for tomorrow. Tomorrow, we bring our daughter into our family. Tomorrow, there will be five of us here instead of four. Bags are ready, tiny little clothes are waiting, and our hearts are hopeful. So much will be different, and so much will be answered prayers. There are a lot of 'what ifs' and 'I don't knows,' but I do know that we are ready. Ready for what tomorrow holds. Ready for God to complete our family. Ready for Him to continue leading us on this adventure...together. So for now, buenas noches. While the city doesn't sleep, we are going to try!
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