Leaving for Ecuador. Day 1

We're here! Some of this information may bore you to tears...but I want to use this as a journal of sorts for future families adopting and for us to look back and remember.

Our journey really started last Friday night when we left Cedar Rapids and drove to IL to take Addie to my parents.  Addie loves her Nana and Papa and we are so fortunate to have a close relationship with both Zac's parents and mine.  Saturday morning we helped mom get Addie settled and got her clothes unpacked and organized.  Leslie, Corbett, and Evie had came in on the train on Friday night so we spent most of Saturday just playing and enjoying time with them.  My grandparents came out for lunch and it was good to see them as well. Saturday night I drove Zac to the Quad Cities as he was going with his good friend Chris to the Bears game on Sunday as Chris always gets tickets and takes Zac with him each year...it just happened to be the Sunday that we were leaving...so Zac had to say goodbye to Addie on Saturday...I think he had a harder time with it than I thought he would.  Poor guy. =(

Sunday we enjoyed the day just spending time with family.  I enjoyed a nice long nap with Addie and then Leslie and the kids and I packed up to head to Naperville.  I tried to sit and read Sisters book that we have been reading for the past several months but Addie really wanted nothing to do with it.  Funny, because she is usually so into reading that book....but wanted NOTHING to do with it.  Pretty sure she knew what was going on.  I gave her lots of kisses as she gave me plenty as well.  Tried to explain to her that it was time to go get Sister and we would be home soon...she waved goodbye just as if we'd be back in an hour. =(.  I so wish she understood what 6 weeks is...but maybe it's best she didn't.  If I cried saying goodbye to my Aunt and Uncle and cried saying goodbye to my dearest friend...pretty sure I'd be even worse if Addie was crying as well.  Oh, and Zac enjoyed a Chief's win at the game.=)  Kellie and Brian were able to come over and  Leslie and Dave treated us to Portillo's...one of Zac and I's favorite burger places in Naperville.

Monday morning we were up and at em at 5:30AM as we had to leave for the airport at 6:30AM to get to O'Hare in time.  A big thanks to my bro in law Dave for getting up super early when he is not a morning person. And a big thanks to Leslie for sending us off with some yummy coffee. =) Getting through security and what not was fairly simple with a few hiccups.  Our flight left at 9:30AM and as we were boarding it started snowing.  I was sad to be leaving the first real snow of the season...but happy to know we were going to warmer weather!  I was surprisingly calm on our flights...we flew Chicago to Miami to Quito.  We landed in Quito at about 7:30PM and the fun began.

When you land in Quito, you first go through immigration authorities check and then through customs check.  I had our passports and all the necessary paperwork.  However....Zac's passport had gotten wet and had a small crease through his picture where he had carried in it his back pocket.  Mind you, I had already shown his passport to the passport authorities in Iowa...and they said it would be fine.  They were wrong.


The lady informed us after asking several of her peers that she could not accept his passport and he would need to return to the USA.  ARE YOU FREAKIN KIDDING ME!  I was about as calm as the waters of a hurricane.  I was crying or maybe I should say sobbing....And of course, the officials continued to talk, in Spanish to each other...have I mentioned how unprepared we were for the language barrier? I thought I'd be able to understand much more than what I actually have.....I was very wrong.  Zac and I continued to just stand there and we asked to see her supervisor.  It seemed to me from what I could gather that he was saying to go ahead and accept it, but that it was up to her as it was her job....guessing that workers could be fined for letting people through illegally....we continued to explain that we were to go meet our daughter tomorrow...explaining we weren't here for tourism, we are here for an adoption...after about 30 minutes and three more people joining her at the counter, she agreed to let us through under the condition that we go to the US consulate here in Ecuador and get a replacement.  Ok, fine, just let us through...

Funny thing is we had just prayed on the plane that thanks precedes miracles and spent some time just giving thanks and praise of all that God had done and given to us thus far in this adoption journey.  And that, my friends, was a miracle that the woman finally let Zac into the country.  Praise be to God!

We went and stood in line at customs and quickly got through.  Our driver that our agency had set up was waiting with a sign probably wondering why in the world it took us so long....and of course he didn't speak a lick of English so away we went in silence to the Broaddus family apartment.  The Broaddus family had arrived two weeks prior to adopt their sweet 8 year old girl and had graciously allowed us to stay with them that Monday night.  We arrived to a home cooked meal of Spaghetti and meatballs and peanut butter cookies! Thank you Andy and Stephanie!

Stephanie let us use her computer to Skype to my parents and talk to Addie.  Addie was so excited to see us...after just coming through what we did Zac and I were two bawling babies...so thankful for that time with Addie showing off like she does.

At about 10:30PM our representative and the lawyer for Quito families, Maria Jose, arrived with her translator Jenny.  They had been working with another family that day in court so I guess that's why it was so late...Maria Jose and Jenny explained to us the process and answered most of our questions.  However, they did explain that due to things being a little bit different in Cuenca compared to Quito we weren't actually going to get to meet our daughter until Wednesday.  =( Our hearts sank...she went on to explain that we would be meeting with our lawyer and agency rep in Cuenca, Priscilla, and her translator, Carmen, on Tuesday morning and would then take us to the INFA office who oversees the adoption process.  She explained that the INFA people would be giving us a schedule of what the coming days would look like and explain more of the process in Cuenca.  They also let us know that our driver would be at the apartment to pick us up at 5AM to take us to our flight to Cuenca.  Maria Jose and Jenny left about midnight and Zac and I headed to bed.  We'd be getting up in 4 hours.