Two Weeks Already??!!???

I cannot believe we have been home two weeks.  The time has flown by.  Maybe because life and the little routines of home have distracted me and kept me going at  whirlwind speed.

First, let me give some updates that were left unresolved.

When we were leaving Cali, we found out that the Italian couple whose adoption had been disrupted, were given another referral and this time it was a girl.  I was so happy for them.  I only wish I would have gotten their information before we left so I could see them with their daughter.  I had prayed for God to send them a daughter because they did so well with my girls.  I pray they are doing well and on their way home to Italy with their little girl.

Stefania and Natalia's ears were pierced.  Natalia turned out to be the one screaming bloody murder in the mall and if she loses these earrings, that's it, I am not piercing her ears again.  Stefania looks like a beautiful little girl with her earrings.  No more "cute boy". 

Stefania is gaining weight like a good American.  "Chumpy cheeks" like Iliana says.  The girl can eat.  She loves to eat.  She has mastered eating Cheerios and has graduated to rice.  She choked on a grain of rice in Cali.  She didn't know how to chew.  Now she could cut steak with her sharp knives, I mean teeth and she has about 4 more coming in. 

Stefania has learned to stand.  This is a baby that a month ago could only do a commando crawl.  She now crawls faster than Tommy my turtle (who is quite fast for those who don't know him).  And the day before yesterday, she stood up in her playpen.  We were in shock and so was she, but she was so proud.  We all cheered for a good two minutes.  

We got our first visit from our adoption agency just to see how we are adjusting.  Super easily.  I can't tell you how easy Stefania is.  The only problem I have is that she likes to have a bottle in the middle of the night.  Other than that, she is so easy.  She is such a happy baby.  She smiles all the time.  She loves to laugh and laughs easily.  I can't believe she is mine.  I fall more in love with her everyday. 

People ask me about adoption.  I can only speak for us as a family and me personally.  I am so happy we have Stefania.  Just like when Iliana and Natalia were born, I can't remember my life before they were here.  It's as if they were always here.  It is a personal decision but there are so many children who need parents.  If you are really thinking about it, please contact me and ask me anything.  I feel like this experience has awakened the advocate in me.  I am applying to become an advocate for foster children in my county.  It is a volunteer position and I will be assigned one child but that one child will have my undivided attention and concern.  The program is called CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate) and taken from the website:

Advocating for the best interest of a child, a trained CASA provides a judge with carefully researched details about the child to help the court make a sound decision about that child's future. He or she recommends to the Judge what the child needs to be safe and what is in the best interest for a permanent home. The CASA makes recommendations to the judge in the form of a report, attends the child’s hearings and follows through on the case until it is permanently resolved.

There are so many ways people can volunteer without adopting.  Another program I would love to get involved with when my daughters are older, is KIDSAVE.  It is a program where many older children who would not otherwise get adopted, can come to the United States for the summer and have sponsors,  who in turn work hard to find a family to adopt them while showing them a good time.  Go to www.kidsave.org as they are still looking for some host families for this summer.  


Well this will probably be my last post on this blog.  This was about our journey to Stefania.  I wanted her to have a written account of our time getting her and now that she is here, I have NO TIME to write more. (I hardly run anymore and as a result I am getting flabby).

I thank everyone so much for all of their support and love. It meant so much to us and we are forever grateful.


With much love,
The Cordero Perez family
Aimee, Angel, Iliana, Natalia and Stefania


Now if Angel gives in and gives me child # 4 then I will start another blog one day:)

Home Sweet Home

We have been back for 5 days now and I haven't had a chance to sit down and write. We left Bogota early Friday morning. It was a smooth flight to Orlando with no drama. We landed on U.S. Soil at 1:56 pm. At that point Stefania became a U.S. Citizen. I shed a tear while she snoozed. Have I mentioned what a good baby she is? She sat happily without saying a peep.
Immigration took a little while but nothing unpleasant.
My parents and brother were waiting for us at Orlando airport since we had a 5 hour layover. It was great seeing them and introducing her to Stefania who let loose her great baby charm. Iliana and Natalia were happy to see their grandparents, who of course had gifts. We were impressed with the little dress and cardigan my 78 yr. Old father picked out for his 9th grandchild.
Leaving them was sad but we were grateful for the little time we had together.
We took one more flight home to Newark and a quick can ride home where 3 feet of grass in the front yard awaited us. Really spring came that fast and furious in 3 weeks? When we left there was still practically snow on the ground. (Okay
maybe I am exaggerating a little).
Since then it has been a whirlwind of visitors, laundry and getting back into a semblance of routine. I am still tired and pray I start running soon. I miss it and I need build up the muscle again.

Stefania's 11 month b'day present

Today I picked up Stefania's visa. Tomorrow we will be home, God willing!
We leave tomorrow morning at 9:00 am to Orlando for a 5 hour layover. This is perfect because we will see my parents and brother and whoever else shows up to say hi.

This truly has been an exciting journey to get our beloved baby Stefania. We have made amazing friends here in Colombia. I will definitely come back because my daughter's country is now mine as well.

Here in Bogota we have been blessed with help and guidance especially by Manuela our agency rep in Bogota and Edgard Perez, a fashion designer who so generously opened up his home to us. His cousin is married to my cousin and though he had never met us before, he treated us like family. See you at Fashion Week Edgard.

Social Issues and Weather

I have been in Colombia a little over 3 weeks.  In those three weeks, I have had maid service for almost everything until we came to this apartment.  A lot of people have maids and drivers.  They are not necessarily rich.  However, if you are a professional (which then makes you well off in comparison), then you are expected to have, no other way to put it, servants.  It has been such an eye opener.  I am an American who comes from humble backgrounds.  My father was a doorman and my mom worked as a teacher's aide before I was born.  Their parents were servants and factory workers and a fisherman.  I see the servants here and I talk to them, hang out in the kitchen with them and ultimately we became friends.   Their children are lucky to get jobs with them and work in  the kitchens, cleaning rooms in hotels, etc.  My grandmother could not read or write and yet her grandchildren include lawyers, doctors, nurses, hotel managers, and various other professions that she could only dream her grandchildren would become.  There are some serious barriers to becoming a professional here in Colombia if you come from a poor family.  If you aren't born into the right family, you are out of luck.  We are so fortunate in the U.S. to really have all the opportunities available to us to study and become successful in whatever we choose.  This trip has allowed me to be grateful for all that I have and all that I can give my daughters.  Stefania's life will be so different than if she would have stayed in Colombia.  Racism, classism are alive and well everywhere but it is still pretty blatant here.  Bogota especially.  Cali is more diverse and Black professionals were prevalent because Stefania's lawyer and one of her doctors was Black.  I did not see any Indigenous professionals but I haven't visited cities where they are prevalent.  They are everywhere but they tend to be very poor.  My daughter is indigenous and will exceed her biological mother's dreams for her.  Angel and I have both made that promise to her (though we haven't met her or been in contact with her).  We left her letters at the orphanage if she ever goes to find out about Stefania.  I do think Colombia is on the right track though.  I think things are changing, slowly but surely.

Again these are my observations and they could be totally wrong.  I am an outsider and the intricacies and history of Colombia are their own.

Now on to the weather.  Bogota is going through a rough winter.  Lots of rain. (though all pictures I have ever seen are of Bogota in a cloudy haze).  I could not live here just because of the depressing weather.  Rain, wind, my least favorite things.  We get scolded for not having anything more than windbreakers or sweaters.  Apparently it is "freezing" and when we tell them we are from the Northeast of the U.S. they apparently think the "cold" of Bogota is worse.  High today 66, low 46 with a light drizzle.  Bogotanos take them themselves a little too seriously and need to lighten up a little when it comes to the weather.  We have been scolded about the girls jackets a little too much.  My girls just experienced a winter of over 20 snowstorms.  I think they can hang in 50 degree weather.  Everytime we go out and ask the girls if they are cold, they look at us with a weird look and say, "uh, it's nice out."  We are just sarcastic New Yorkers I guess.   Now poor Stefania has never been in cold weather before being a Cali girl but she gets all the layers so she can be cozy.  She likes being outside so I don't think it affects her too much.

Bogota

I am so sorry I haven't had a chance to update the blog since I've been in Bogota.  We've been moving around until we settled in a 2 bedroom apartment. 

Bogota is a huge metropolis.  And I know big cities because I am from NYC. It has over 8,000,000 inhabitants from all socio-economic walks of life.  I have been fortunate to stay at two very high end neighborhoods in Bogota. 

Today I went to the U.S. Embasssy with Stefania and our local agency rep Manuela, and my goodness it is huge.  Not only that, the lines!!!  I got to go to the front of the line because I am a U.S. Citizen but my goodnes it was so big, it was like an open air arena.  And my people, it is outside!  You go up to a window where the workers are all nice and cozy from the elements while you shiver outside talking to them through a phone as if you were visiting someone in prison.  There was some mix up and apparently adoption visas are from 8-11am and we thought it was from 11am to 2pm.  Fortunately they took us but we were scolded like little kids and I hate the fact that I was chastised by my fellow U.S. citizens.  Until now throught the process, Colombians have been professional and wonderful to us and helpful in everyway possible.  The last person who finally attended us was very nice and he helped make my experience better.   

While I suffered in the cold with poor Stefania who did outstanding, Angel took the older girls to a place called Divercity which sounds the like the best thing ever.  Children get to go into a city run by children for children.  They all go "shopping" in stores and the great thing is no adults are allowed in each store or attraction.

 They pay with pretend money and credit cards.  They go to "schools" to learn how to be vets, etc.

This is a real dog they are working on.  They listened to his heart.

They rode around on a bus with a kid who was the "bus driver" and the driver drops them off at various stops.

Girls working on the farm and milking the cow.

  They come out in fashion shows, and in the end they can cash out their pretend money from various jobs they've worked for prizes. 

                                          My girls chose to get a manicure.  Are they Latina or what?

                                          My baby was so tired after all that work.  She is still napping.


We pick up our visa tomorrow at 4pm and then we are free to GO HOME!!!  We have to see about changing our plane tickets and hope we can get home ASAP.  Pray we can change our tickets and be home by the weekend. 

Stefania Aurelie Cordero Perez

Stephania is now Stefania Aurelie Cordero Perez!

Daddy signing Sentencia or the Adoption Decree.

Angel with our magnificent lawyer Gertrudis (standing) and the law clerk who handled the paperwork.  I mentioned my grandmother's name was Gertrudis.  When we looked at the name of the Judge who signed the paperwork, we saw the name Ines.  This was the name of Angel's grandmother.  I am definitely convinced they got together up in Heaven to speed up our process.  It usually can take up to a month to get all of this paperwork done and ours was done in less than 2 weeks.  God, the angels and my husband's good looks and charm got us through:)

The Cordero girls.  The Three Musketeers.  My Charmed Ones:) 

The first thing I am going to do is get my daughter's ears pierced.  If I hear one more time about my cute little boy...  While I am at it, Natalia will get her's pierced for the 3rd time.  Poor girl loses them and the earlobe heals so quickly, I can't get an earring in.  Plus she wants them.

Today we received her Colombian passport which frees us up to go to Bogota.  From there we go to the U.S. Embassy on Monday and should be ready to travel back home by Wednesday afternoon!!!!  I can't wait.  I LOVE Colombia and Cali is now my home as well as Puerto Rico and the U.S. but I miss my pets, house and routine.  I can't wait for Stefania to be part of our beautiful life back home.

We are starting to say our goodbyes in Cali and I am getting sad.  I promise to bring my daughter back here so she can see and learn from her great city. 

Magnolia

Magnolia deserves her own post because she is amazing!!!  I know many families who have adopted from Cali have met Magnolia and know this to be true.  When I say I feel I am with my aunt when I am with Magnolia, I am not exaggerating.  She takes care of you like no one else.  And how she loves the kids!!!

Yesterday she took us to her home for lunch.  We took the girls to a pool at her apartment complex and relaxed.  She rescued the girls from boredom.

Here we are at Magnolia's place and notice the little baby under my chair.  She learned to crawl 2 days ago.  Before, she only did the belly crawl and in a week and a half, her gross motor skills improved so much, she is crawling all over the floor,  There are sisters to catch up to, toys to play with.  Belly crawl won't cut it anymore.

I suspect standing will be next because she got on her knees today.

Today the wonderful Magnolia called with even more fantastic news.  We have Sentencia tomorrow!!!
This is crazy fast for the courts.  I feel bad because some families were here before us and they are just getting sentencia today and yesterday.  But I am also grateful.  Our lawyer is named Gertrudis and that was my grandmother's name so I feel there is a little help from above going on.  I'll take it.
Sentencia is when the adoption decree is issued and Stefania will officially be our daughter.  After this, we can get her Colombian passport on Friday.  After that, we fly to Bogota on Saturday where we will stay with our cousin's cousin Edgar.  Hopefully we get started on Monday at the U.S. Embassy and fly home by the end of next week.  To be home in one week would be so fabulous.  I miss my home, my pets, my friends and family.  I am especially excited to introduce Stefania to her new life.