Crazy day 1 is now behind us. We woke up this morning and had to be at the "Registro Civil" at 8am. We met our two lawyers there. We ran around to different parts of the building for the first hour first getting Marcelo's birth certificate canceled, then a new one made with his new last name "NEAL". It took a lot of begging by our lawyers each step. Our main lawyer Ximena had a flight at 10am booked to Quito to begin the other parts of the process there but she needed to have certain information with her to do that. She didn't leave for the airport until 9:25 and the airport is 35 minutes away. When my phone rang with her number at 10:10 I prayed it wasn't to tell us she missed the flight, but instead she said how she was on the plane. If she hadn't made it there is no way we could be done by Christmas. In the meantime we finished all the paperwork there to find out they weren't doing new "cedulas" (identification cards) in our town all this week. We have to have that, to get his passport, to be able to fly home. The person in charge was out in the small towns to make identification cards for them. With a little talking and a very softened heart the main guy here in Loja told us we could go there and get it (45 min. drive to Vilcabamba). He was heading there, so he gave us a ride in the government issued truck, we pulled up with him where they were doing it, and we had his card within 40 min. Truly a miracle. We then rode the long, twisting, mountain roads back to Loja to go apply for his passport. The normally stop taking the applications at 12 noon. Thus the rush. We got there at 11:40. We finished all the application but had to go to the bank to make an official deposit and bring the receipts back before they could send the application to another town for the next day passport. We got to the bank and there was a line of at least 60-80 people. Somehow our lawyer went talking to people and got 3rd in line and we were out in 10 minutes. They got the application off at 12:15. Unfortunatly the town where they send the application electronically has its lights go out from 12-2, so they didn't get it until after that. They said it could be Thurs. before we get the passport which we told them was not possible because I have tickets to fly to Guayaquil Wed. evening. They said they'd make some calls. Please add prayers that we'll get the passport tomorrow and that our lawyer in Quito will accomplish everything that needs to be done so we can get our Visa Thursday morning, and we can get our behinds home. The rest of the day was pretty relaxed, drizzling a little. We went to the park and Jill was feeling a little under the weather also. We have seen the Lords hand continue to work with us and have faith that if we keep moving forward we'll see the blessings in front of us. We have started packing our bags. Hard to believe we are gettting this close. Love and appreciate you all.
Rich