Esteban's Birthday and ICBF visit #1

Esteban turned 3 on Monday! We celebrated with a long visit at the park on a very sunny afternoon, and dinner with Julien's parents, who arrived in Bogota over the weekend. We went to dinner at a local chain called Crepes and Waffles, where Esteban got 2 desserts! Isabella had a grand time at dinner being sociable with her grandparents. We are so excited to get to celebrate Esteban's birth in the city of his birth.

Tuesday morning we had our Integration Interview with ICBF (Instituto Colombiano de Bienestar Familiar), the child welfare agency. The meeting was to determine if Isabella was integrating into our family well and if we would be a good match with her. At 8:50am, we were trying to get ourselves all clean, dressed, and presentable looking when Sabeth's mom showed up (she flew in on Monday night). Grandma Dawn saved the morning! She was able to entertain the kids while we got ourselves the rest of the way dressed and the bags packed. Our taxi arrived at 9:00am and we were off to the meeting. Helena, our representative, warned us to be ready to wait when we got there, so we took plenty of snacks and things to entertain the kids. As we were waiting in the hall, another family joined us - and they recognized Isabella! Their son had been in the same foster home with her and they had photos of Isabella and he together. Our lawyer arrived, and we were called into the meeting room with the Defender of Minors. She asked several questions about how we were adjusting to Isabella, her needs and health, and how Esteban was adjusting. After about 10 minutes of questions and answers, she said she was officially signing responsibility for Isabella over to us. We all signed the papers. Then she talked to Esteban about how he is responsible for being Isabella's big brother, and she had him put his fingerprint on the documents as well.

We came back to the hotel and went to lunch with all the grandparents to celebrate! At 3:30pm the hotel hosted a birthday party for Esteban and another little girl who turned 4 on Tuesday. They each had their own cake, and everyone from the hotel came and sang Happy Birthday (in English, Swedish, Finnish, and Spanish - all the languages currently present in guests and staff). The cakes were delicious! Thanks to all who emailed and posted birthday wishes for Esteban.

And here' s the video of Isabella I promised - it's only about 45 seconds because that's all Google will upload :)