27 months

Well, that was anticlimactic. Today, just before noon, we visited the SNA offices again, and were given a copy of the final adoption decree. As we understand it, that was the moment the children's names changed and they became officially part of our family. The decree was signed and distributed last Thursday, and Friday was a "day of silence" allowing any public comment on the decision. Failing any objection, Monday became the effective date of the decree, 27 months or so after we started the adoption process.

What was rather odd was that, due to our children coming from a town without an SNA office, we never saw a judge. We never met the director of the SNA, or anyone else whose signatures were on the documents. So today was just one of the government attorneys meeting us in the lobby and giving us notarized copies of the document. She shook our hands hello and goodbye, but there was no ceremony, no thanks, and in particular no words addressed to the children to tell them that the adoption is final. It felt like any of the other four times we've been to the SNA office, not like anything momentous. Frankly, we hope the children truly understand it is done.

There will be other big moments, especially when they get their US passports, when we get on the plane to go home, when we see Drew and Aaron at the airport, and when we arrive at our house. Our plan to is celebrate this date as our "gotcha" day (when the adoption actually occurred). We doubt the children will even remember anything about it.

Welcome to the family, Jordan (Jordy) Santiago, Joel Eduardo, and Reyna Sherly Miller!

Their names are pronounced YORE-dee, Yo-EL, and RAY-nuh. No doubt people at school will pronounce the boys' names with a "J" sound, which is fine. In a few months, when we readopt them (a technical issue only) in the US, they can decide whether they want to keep the current spellings, select a different name, or add another middle name. For example, Jordy was called "Pacheco" at the orphanage (perhaps because there was another boy with the same first name), but we didn't know that before we had to indicate the new names for the birth certificates. Maybe he'll want to go by JP or something. Or maybe he'll want to revert to the previous spelling, "Yordy."

We are all tired of being tourists. We are ready to go home. But at this point, we are probably still a week or so away from getting on that plane. At least it's warm here!