The Snyder Five

It’s official: we’re now a family of five!!!! Our court appointment was yesterday morning, and everything went smoothly. The older kids both consented to the adoption (and so did we, obviously), and we were in and out within roughly an hour.

Afterward we celebrated the occasion with PANI, although there weren’t as many people in the office as usual. It was actually a miracle that the adoption happened at all today since the government of Costa Rica declared a state of emergency and closed many public services. We managed to get in before this was fully implemented at the court. Praising God for His faithfulness to us in every little way!!

Yesterday was both the culmination of years of hope and prayer, as well as the beginning of a new chapter for all of us. Here are our kids:

Alisa

Our beautiful, extroverted ten-year-old is a delight and a treasure. She has a beautiful smile and a zest for everything she does.

Well…except for maybe eating carrots, whole wheat bread, and a few other things. Then the overly dramatic side comes out. No, finishing a few more vegetables isn’t going to kill you.

While it is hard to fathom that we have missed over 10 years of her life, we are absolutely overjoyed that she is part of our family. Given all that she has been through, we are amazed by her cheerful, upbeat personality.

Lion

Our timid six-year-old is definitely the most shy of the bunch. Well, he is shy until he warms up to you. Then he is an absolute goof. Sometimes I have to ask him to clarify what he is saying, since it sounds totally nonsensical in Spanish, just to find out it *is* totally nonsensical in Spanish.

Lion has been the hardest for us to figure out at times. It is going to take work  to draw him out. These next several months are going to be critical in developing trust and confidence in our relationship with him.

He is a sharp kid. He often lets us know that casi llegamos, that we’re getting close to either the hotel or our destination, if he is familiar with it.

Zion

Our dinosaur-obsessed three-year-old keeps us on our toes. He likes to constantly ask us questions or make statements about what we are doing. I have to laugh when he says quiero jugar, since this basically means dumping out all the toys on the floor before continuing to follow us or his siblings around. Doesn’t quite qualify as playing in my book.

We’ve already had our toddler mishaps. The first was Zion falling face first into the pool. Turns out a lot can happen when you’re watching one of your other kids for about 4.2 seconds.

He also took a tumble off the edge of the sofa, headfirst onto the tile. My heart jumped into my throat. But less than 5 minutes of crying later, all was fine. It was hard to fault him, as all he wanted to do was copy the somersaults his siblings were doing.

Now what?

You might be surprised to hear that we could be here another month. Yes, the adoption is finalized, but we still need to get our immigration clearances and the children’s passports to travel back to the U.S. Unfortunately, this takes quite a while.

I *do* have flights booked back on 11/4, but we’re really hoping we aren’t here that long. Don’t worry…I know what I’m doing. They are fully refundable, thanks to all my travel hacking knowledge.

Now we are at an undisclosed location in the province of Limón for a couple days. Going to enjoy the Caribbean side of the country! Please be praying for Kels, as she hasn’t been feeling all that well. We’re hoping things get better. It’s hard to be away from home and everything familiar this long.