ICBF Day

We are learning as we go. And today had many lessons. It started out like every other day since we got the boys. They wake up about 7 o'clock and it actually takes them about 20 minutes to fully wake. So I take this opportunity to get in some good cuddles. I rub their backs and scratch their heads. While they haven't said, " Wow, I love it when you do that.", they don't move away either so I like to think they enjoy that time with Mama (Papa is usually finishing up his early morning workout so I have them all to myself.)

At breakfast we got a call from our attorney that she will pick us up in fifteen minutes to go to the notary. After that we came back to the hotel to swim. That's when the twists and turns began. We had our first big fight between the boys (over a certain color pool toy) which sent the younger one off pouting. After that a test of Darin's authority ensued with the older boy. Needless to say, Darin won. I think we did a decent job communicating the pecking order AND our unconditional love for them both.

Then a quick lunch, short siesta, and off to ICBF. Our appointment today was not actually in a court, rather it was in the Child Protective Services office. They had reviewed all of our paperwork and needed to interview us and the boys. The meeting went really well. They boys said they were happy to be a part of our family. They asked the boys such questions as "What do you do together?, Are you happy?, Is this the family you have been waiting for?, Do you understand your parents?" They asked us why we would want to adopt two young boys after we already had three teenaged daughters...a question we've asked of ourselves many times over the past year. As we answered...you guessed it...more tears from me and our lawyer and the ICBF official! She said we could come back again and she would approve us for more children! Actually Miranda already mentioned that several days ago:) So she gave our lawyer an approval letter which was the last document that she needed in order to present our case in court. She will take our file tomorrow and we'll find out which of the ten courts we are assigned to. Some are faster than others and we are praying for the fast one.

The rest of the day was uneventful...and now after a long tickling match, there are two angelically (if that's a word) sleeping boys in the next room and two tired parents in bed. As I'm typing we are drifting off to sleep.