Delay

The kids got up great this morning!  They had pancakes and eggs, and were finished before Naty arrived.  Dave and I had been ready for a while and ready to go back to City Hall to sign the new birth certificates.  We were a little early, so we went to our Internet café for a few minutes.  We met Rocio around 11:40 in front of City Hall along with an Italian couple we keep running into due to a commonality… being adoptive parents.  We have seen them many times at SNA and they have always been so friendly.  While there was no line and only seemed to be open for us, we still waited for a couple hours.  But the time passed as we chatted with the couple.  Anthony is originally from Calabria and works for his father in a paper recycling plant and Katya is a secretary at a university.  They live in Milan.  They have adopted a seven-year-old named Franklin.  Franklin lived on the street when he was five and had an alcoholic mother.  He has lived in an institute for the last couple years.  You’re probably wondering how I know all of this; well, apparently I speak Italian, as well.  Even though Spanish and Italian are similar, I actually was able to carry on a conversation… perhaps it’s the gift of tongues.  We also found out they still have a house in Calabria for the summers… nice!  We were finally able to sign the new birth certificates and imprint our index finger in the space provided by our names.  However, the chief who works on Saturdays and has to sign and seal the certificates was out sick.  So… we’re back on Monday!  Our tickets for Lima are for Monday anyway.  After hugs and kisses between families and Rocio, we left to get a bite to eat.  Dave and I had lunch at Patio del Ekeko.  I had lasagna and was able to taste some of Dave’s alpaca, which is similar to steak, but lighter in color.  Dave ordered a plate of three meats; lamb, alpaca, and beef, which came with French fries.  Since our receipt at the restaurant came with a sticker for 30% off in their store, Dave had to check it out!  They carry nice pieces of pottery and textiles.  We left the restaurant to return to the Internet café for a brief moment to check on booking hotels in Florida.  We were able to successfully rent a car.  After returning home, we found Naty had helped them pack after their spaghetti lunch.  The children are ready to go!  I took a nap after much frustration with the day’s slight delay.  I was ready to have those certificates in hand so we could leave tomorrow.  Oh, well…  Lizet woke me up by climbing over me and hugging me tightly.  We got up and watched Lady and the Tramp.  Then, Dave called Sandy to ask him if he could order us a pizza for delivery.  While Dave left for the store across the street for another Coke Zero, the Domino’s guy was delivering The Dominator!  If you haven’t tried this, order it when you have five people… it’s pretty huge!  And our kids can put away pizza.  We talked a lot at dinner about Florida and swimming in the ocean and playing on the beach.  They are thrilled!  Dave also had me tell them tonight that if their grades are good, they clean their rooms, and sleep in their own beds they will earn $10 weekly.  When they realized that’s about S/30.00, they were ecstatic!  Xavier plans on saving his and buying something big.  They also enjoyed counting Dave’s money tonight.  Xavier wrote out how much in change Dave had and then in bills and told Dave the total… as if Dave doesn’t know how much he has at all times.  We are all watching Kangaroo Jack while the kids are having ice cream.  Lizet has been taking notes about me and just brought me a note that has my name, my age, my birth year, my birthday, and across the page says: Mamá, Te Quiero.  I love you, too.