Harry's Middle Name

So we will go through the process of changing Harold's last name to Larson, and we are a little stuck because we also think we will (should?) change his middle name as well. Currently it's Smith, so you can see our concern. so we are appealing to you in the webosphere for help. You can cast a vote by commenting on this post for your choice for Harry's new middle name. Here are the choices:
A) Harvey (this is Rachel's maiden name)
B) Danger (Brian's personal favorite. this is not a joke, how cool would that be?)
C) Joseph (Brian's middle name)
D) ________ (you pick one and other people can vote on it as well by reading the comments).
You have a couple of weeks to think about it, I think the name change court date is mid-January. Choose wisely.

The Colombian Consulate

We are down to our last few steps before we leave. We need to get fingerprinted again (this will be the fourth time, as if our fingerprints expire or something. This is your homeland security hard at work), and get our temporary special visa from the Colombian Consulate (top picture) in NYC. For various reasons, I am the one who 'gets' to go. It's about a 45 minute plane ride from Rochester or a 6 hour drive. I chose to fly. The consulate closes at 1pm every day, so I need to get there early in the morning. I have all the paperwork listed on the sheet the agency in New York gave us (this is important, you'll see why in a second), except ONE piece is missing, and I have left messages for the agency asking for it. By Monday morning at 7:30, I am on 5th ave in NYC (lost) and have not heard from the agency. I find the consulate and try to get something done in the meantime. They are extremely nice and my Spanish holds up well. But they say the piece I am missing is the most important one! I finally hear from our 3 representatives in new York who have no idea what sheet I am asking for. It was listed on the requirements they gave us! So I leave the consulate and whip my iPhone out. It saved me big time. I found a kinkos not too far away, they emailed a document to me, it was the wrong one.....they sent it agin, it was still the wrong one. Short version; I walked back and forth up and down Madison Ave. 5 times between kinkos and the consulate getting the paperwork turned in. I barely made the 1o'clock deadline! My new Friend Jesus at the Consualte was very nice. and the security guard was no longer even checking me. we will exchange Christmas cards. By this time I was a regular New Yorker, I was banging on hoods of cars in the cross walk like Dustin Hoffman in Midnight Cowboy yelling "I'm walkin' here!" but I got it all turned in and spent the rest of the day walking around Manhattan. Rachel called at 3:30 to see if I was on the subway to the airport yet. I was not. I was wandering aimlessly in Central Park (bottom picture). My flight left in one hour. So being a freshly minted New Yorker, I ran down to 52nd, hopped the subway and made it to JFK with 7 whole minutes to spare. At this point I was even giving directions to foreign travelers. On the E train I got a very cool performance by some dudes dancing for cash. they were awesome. During that day, I walked from 30 Rock to the Flatiron building (about 30 blocks), up to the park,and down again to 52nd. And I ran in to 2 former students at different times. What a small town! the consulate now has our passports and will send them back with he visas. If they don't make it to us by January 8 , the whole deal is screwed. then I found out Rachel put a Connecticut zip code on our return FedEx package. Did I mention we are a little stressed? Now we shuffle off to Buffalo ( come on, I had to at least once) for our fingerprinting session....again. then that's it! all we do is wait. and wait. and wait.

first, a little history...

Before I officially begin with the new posts, I thought a little background is needed. We started the international adoption process in September 2009, after 2 years of similar stuff in Oregon. We have a local agency in Rochester, an agency in New York city, Spence Chapin (you'll hear much more about them later, trust me) and the orphanage in Bogota, called Ayudame. We have to navigate between all of them as well as the US and Colombian governments. Ugh. Plus, we have 4 social workers, one additional liaison in Bogota, Manuela, and countless other people we rely on throughout this process. We have never met Harry, we dont even know if he likes the name Harry. He has seen pictures of us, and some brief bio's we sent down with our Dossier. We have sent him gifts for him and the other kids at the orphanage, so we know he knows about us, but more than that remains a mystery. He knows we live in the US, but I can't imagine he has any idea what Rochester means. In all honesty, how do you prepare anyone for a one way trip to Rochester? How do you describe knee deep snow and frostbite for 4 months? We hope he is not allergic/terrified of dogs, because we have plenty of those around the house. And to be perfectly honest, we are not 100% sure the picture above is actually Harry. There are written descriptions that contradict what the picture seems to suggest. He lived on the streets of Bogota for a few years and had a rough upbringing in many, many ways. We feel confident he is negotiating through this well, but we are as prepared as we can be to deal and cope. The term 'prepare for impact' comes to mind, but when you hear that do you really have any clue what it means or what you're supposed to do? so we are in a very real sense, helpless as kittens as we hurl ourselves face-first in to this coming storm. should be fun. so now you are caught up. we are happy to clarify anything you think of, or respond to comments on this blog. you can sign up for alerts by email or just check in every once in a while, I'll try to update often as I'm sure its going to get busy soon!

And so it starts

December 1, 2011. Last night Rachel and I got the email we had been waiting for since we learned we would be adopting Harold Smith (or Harry, as we have come to call him. I wonder if the nicking of names is common in Colombia), we got our travel dates. so its on! we need to be in Colombia by January 10, 2012, meet and 'pick up' (it makes him sound like dry cleaning when I say it that way) Harry, our new son.
This is also when the madness swells. It seems the Colombian government closes down entirely for the Holidays, from December 15th to January 16th. Then it opens again to what I can only assume is a flash-mob of people looking to get their government related paperwork signed, stamped, authorized, endorsed, corroborated, upheld, certified, vindicated or verified. Including us. On top of this, the timing of this adoption is right around a Colombian national holiday, so flights are more expensive and harder to find. We also need to get to New York City to get our Visa Especial application processed, and they, too, close for the Holidays. and we needed to be there yesterday. Plus, it seems our fingerprints have expired. I had no idea they could even do that! so we need to get re-fingerprinted (for the fourth time!) in Buffalo, NOT Rochester before we can go. This is not as easy as it sounds, especially with a 4 1/2 year old on long car rides to Buffalo at 6 in the morning. The first time is fine, the second time has all the appeal of wet underwear.
The stress is palpable in the Larson home. Poor Petey just wants walkies! But we are excited nonetheless, I can feel it increasing the more I think about finally getting Harry home. The pic above is the Larson's as it stands now, 3 of the eventual 4, in Colorado this last summer. I thought of photoshopping Harry in but that would just be weird.