Today started with three back to back tantrums. Poor Brent! I was in the shower and came out to three screaming kids! We must be terrible parents to not allow potato chips for breakfast! LOL!
But I think it was wonderful that we got them out of the way first thing! Once the tantrum is over we give the kids several different instructions- sit here, stand there, pick up this toy and put it here... This helps to reinforce their obedience and our authority. It shows us if it is truly "over" and also gives them an opportunity to be praised for obeying successfully.
The kids were so cute this morning. They all built a tent over the dining room table with tons of blankets and sheets! We let them leave it up all day and they were in and out frequently!
The rest of the day went fairly well! I went grocery shopping and Brent took the kids to the pool. They ended up spending over 4 hours there. I even brought home lunch and we ate at the pool! That worked well because usually they are hungry so we head back to the apartment, but they aren't fully exhausted yet. I think we'll do that more frequently!
Around 2:30, Nora and Blanca (attorneys) came to meet with us to review the new stage of the process now that our documents are in Court. I love them! They both are so super sweet and Nora is extremely organized and thorough.
Later in the afternoon we went up to the futbol field and the kids had a blast playing again. Unfortunately, it ended on a bad note when Jonathan didn't like being told we were leaving in 5 minutes. So it ended up being that we left in 0 minutes. But the tantrum was short lived. He is catching on!
We had a yummy dinner of chicken pieces and rice (with lots of salsa de tomate!) and strawberries that I bought from a street vendor. They were the sweetest I've ever had.. It was probably 4 pounds of them and they ate them ALL at dinner! Oh, well! At least they are eating something healthy and not potato chips!
The kids are all getting into the habit of taking their plate into the kitchen and washing it themselves. Tonight we started working on asking to be excused from the table instead of just leaving! Baby steps, y'all!
Oh, and it is so cute because they are all starting to remember what "I love you" means! I don't have to repeat it in Spanish anymore! And they know Chicken, and "do you like?" in English too! I love their accents! "I love you" comes out as "Eyeeee lub jew!" Awww!
After dinner, Brent, Cait and Luisa went down to the bank to get out cash and picked up Bunelos for a treat. Yum!
I think our bio kids are feeling a little homesick and tired of the drama. They each needed some extra lovin' tonight so I snuggled with each of them individually after everyone else was in bed. There were some tears and feeling like this is too hard, but we talked a lot about learning to love people that are hard to love. And how we can show forgiveness since we have been forgiven so much by the Lord. We all need truth spoken to us when we get discouraged so I hope I was able to give that to them tonight. This stage of adoption is stretching each of us beyond what we are able, so we are each learning to cling to the Lord for strength to endure and show grace instead of judgementalism. I think it is so hard for our bio kids who have been raised in a Christian home and in a fairly sheltered environment to deal with a lot of the behavior they are seeing. It is shocking them. But it is good because it reveals the hidden sin in their own hearts to them that wouldn't be seen unless tested. Who am I kidding? It is TOTALLY revealing MY ugly sin to me! I have much to confess to Him. I am so thankful for grace!
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Monday, May 16, 2011
Day 10
We started the day by going to a photo place to get the kids' passport and visa photos. They will need them after Sentencia when we get new birth certificates and then new passports with our last name on them. The Colombian government is super strict on how you must look in the photos. They had to wear a black shirt and have their hair totally pulled back out of their faces so the ears are fully visible in the photo. For Luisa it wasn't too hard with a few bobby pins, but poor Cindy, her hair is layered and very fine so we ended up with half a pack of bobby pins in her hair! Then they even put little squares of foam behind her ears so they would stick out more! Too funny! She looked very uncomfortable in the photo!
After that, we spent the morning at the Zoo. It is a very old place but it had a decent amount of animals. Unfortunately several of them looked in pretty rough condition- especially the ostriches' wings. But it was neat to see some animals that are specific to the Amazon region in Colombia. The Condor- the world's largest flying bird, toucans, some kind of Colombian bear that looks like it is wearing glasses, and several rodent animals were fun since we'd never seen them before.
The kids were fairly well behaved while we walked around. A few little issues, but nothing major.
Cait was still feeling pretty miserable since her ibuprofen was wearing off so we headed home for lunch and a short rest. The pool is closed for cleaning on Mondays so we had to find other things to wear them out. We spent a while at the futbol field. Instead of trying to play a game, Brent had them line up and do drills trying to kick the ball into the goal. That kept them occupied for a long while! I was bored watching, but they loved it.
Then we strolled over to the playground where the kids played in the sandpit with cars and made a train of people on the slide. Unfortunately Jonathan pushed Cindy off the swing so he could get on and then wouldn't get back off so he ended up in the apartment with Brent for the rest of playtime.
We made quesadillas for dinner, but none of the chicos liked them. Gonna have to work on that since that is a weekly meal in our house! Thankfully I had lots of chicken pieces left over so they ate them with rice- and ketchup, of course!
After dinner and baths, the kids had a blast wrestling on the floor with Brent. I don't know if they'd ever done that, but they were hysterical and WILD! How he has so much energy, I have no idea. He's such an awesome papi!
We really thought the night was going to end nicely, but Luisa decided she needed to test the authority structure when she was told to get in bed. Thankfully it was only a 20 minute ordeal this time. As of this moment, everyone is in bed and at least quiet. Pray it lasts!
Oh, while we were at the pool today, Gloria heard from Nora that she had submitted all our documents to the court. We are assigned court number 7. That meant nothing to us, but apparently it is a good thing. The judge is adoption friendly and tends to do things quickly (although everyone is quick to say that is never something for us to count on). In our case it could take longer because of the sheer amount of paperwork the judge has to read through. And they read ALL OF IT! The stack of paperwork is over a foot high! We should just plan on being here for another 3 months!! LOL!
Everyone was super thankful that we didn't get court #9. That judge is not adoption friendly and often asks for additional paperwork to slow things down. So we are grateful that we didn't get that one!
So, we are finally in the official legal adoption process here in Colombia! Feels kind of anticlimactic after all the past months of paperwork we filed back home! We didn't hardly do anything here, except sign our name to 4 papers!
A few of you were wondering what comes next...
We wait (of course!) for the judge to read all the documents. This could take 1-3 weeks.
After he is finished, our attorney will call us to immediately come to the courthouse to sign the final "Sentencia" (sentencing). This is the final document that will make the chicos our kids!
Then there is a flurry of activity to get new birth certificates for the kids that have our last name on them!
Then we can apply for new passports.
Then we will buy airline tickets, pack up, and fly to Bogota, the Capital.
Then there is more activity, but I'm a little cloudy on the details right now. I have it all written down, but I'd need to find my notebook!
Please continue praying for everyone's health down here. Even though I have been on an antibiotic for 3 days, I still am not feeling better. I still cannot hear out of my right ear at all and each morning I wake up with my eyes swollen shut. I have no idea what is going on. Some weird virus or something...so I am asking for continued prayer.
Also, Cait is coming down with the same thing. I am praying it doesn't land in her ear (that's miserable). So far she is running a fever and has a sore throat and cough.
I am praying that Brent doesn't get it. I don't know what we'd do if he gets sick!
Miss you all and can't wait to get home!
After that, we spent the morning at the Zoo. It is a very old place but it had a decent amount of animals. Unfortunately several of them looked in pretty rough condition- especially the ostriches' wings. But it was neat to see some animals that are specific to the Amazon region in Colombia. The Condor- the world's largest flying bird, toucans, some kind of Colombian bear that looks like it is wearing glasses, and several rodent animals were fun since we'd never seen them before.
The kids were fairly well behaved while we walked around. A few little issues, but nothing major.
Cait was still feeling pretty miserable since her ibuprofen was wearing off so we headed home for lunch and a short rest. The pool is closed for cleaning on Mondays so we had to find other things to wear them out. We spent a while at the futbol field. Instead of trying to play a game, Brent had them line up and do drills trying to kick the ball into the goal. That kept them occupied for a long while! I was bored watching, but they loved it.
Then we strolled over to the playground where the kids played in the sandpit with cars and made a train of people on the slide. Unfortunately Jonathan pushed Cindy off the swing so he could get on and then wouldn't get back off so he ended up in the apartment with Brent for the rest of playtime.
We made quesadillas for dinner, but none of the chicos liked them. Gonna have to work on that since that is a weekly meal in our house! Thankfully I had lots of chicken pieces left over so they ate them with rice- and ketchup, of course!
After dinner and baths, the kids had a blast wrestling on the floor with Brent. I don't know if they'd ever done that, but they were hysterical and WILD! How he has so much energy, I have no idea. He's such an awesome papi!
We really thought the night was going to end nicely, but Luisa decided she needed to test the authority structure when she was told to get in bed. Thankfully it was only a 20 minute ordeal this time. As of this moment, everyone is in bed and at least quiet. Pray it lasts!
Oh, while we were at the pool today, Gloria heard from Nora that she had submitted all our documents to the court. We are assigned court number 7. That meant nothing to us, but apparently it is a good thing. The judge is adoption friendly and tends to do things quickly (although everyone is quick to say that is never something for us to count on). In our case it could take longer because of the sheer amount of paperwork the judge has to read through. And they read ALL OF IT! The stack of paperwork is over a foot high! We should just plan on being here for another 3 months!! LOL!
Everyone was super thankful that we didn't get court #9. That judge is not adoption friendly and often asks for additional paperwork to slow things down. So we are grateful that we didn't get that one!
So, we are finally in the official legal adoption process here in Colombia! Feels kind of anticlimactic after all the past months of paperwork we filed back home! We didn't hardly do anything here, except sign our name to 4 papers!
A few of you were wondering what comes next...
We wait (of course!) for the judge to read all the documents. This could take 1-3 weeks.
After he is finished, our attorney will call us to immediately come to the courthouse to sign the final "Sentencia" (sentencing). This is the final document that will make the chicos our kids!
Then there is a flurry of activity to get new birth certificates for the kids that have our last name on them!
Then we can apply for new passports.
Then we will buy airline tickets, pack up, and fly to Bogota, the Capital.
Then there is more activity, but I'm a little cloudy on the details right now. I have it all written down, but I'd need to find my notebook!
Please continue praying for everyone's health down here. Even though I have been on an antibiotic for 3 days, I still am not feeling better. I still cannot hear out of my right ear at all and each morning I wake up with my eyes swollen shut. I have no idea what is going on. Some weird virus or something...so I am asking for continued prayer.
Also, Cait is coming down with the same thing. I am praying it doesn't land in her ear (that's miserable). So far she is running a fever and has a sore throat and cough.
I am praying that Brent doesn't get it. I don't know what we'd do if he gets sick!
Miss you all and can't wait to get home!
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Day 9
Altogether a wonderful day! No tantrums, not even any "almost" tantrums. Granted, we did all fun stuff and rarely had to tell anyone No, but it's all still good in my book!
One neat thing with Jonathan...We have been trying to wean him off his addictive need for sugar, but it has been difficult because if he isn't allowed to have a sugary drink, he just refuses to drink. So yesterday Brent instituted the rule that he has to drink half a glass of water before he is allowed to have any juice, etc. Well, today, Brent didn't even have to remind him. Jonathan came up to Brent and said (in my translated version), "Can I have juice after I drink some water?" We were so proud of him for remembering and asking so sweetly! And another time, at dinner he wanted seconds of his yogurt drink (popular here) and Brent said he could but Jonathan poured himself water before he drank the yogurt! LOL! I am so thankful for the little glimpses of progress!
We spent most of the morning in the pool which wore them out pretty good! Then we walked down the road to the food court area and ordered Patitos con queso (kind of like a mozzerella stick the size of an egg roll), empanadas con carne (empanadas with beef), and bunelos (like a giant doughnut). All of them are very Colombian foods and all are fried! It was all yummy, the chicos ate very well. Jake was the only one who didn't care for any of it. He came home and had peanut butter and jelly. This is definitely a cheap meal. All 9 of us were fed for about $20.
We chilled out at the house with coloring and watching a movie, then headed to the soccer field for a short game of futbol. It was so cute seeing all of the kids playing together. The chicos definitely are Trautmans though. They have no concept of how to play the game! LOL!
The other adoptive family was at the pool (with their new son!) so since everyone was hot and sweaty, we all changed clothes and went back to the pool for a while longer. We thoroughly wore them out! At one point, Jonathan was begging Brent to take him back to the apartment! It has been sooooo wonderful to be here with the other family. All the kids get along wonderfully. It is A LOT of kids in the pool though! Both couples are constantly on the lookout for potentially drowning kids!
Fried chicken for dinner (at hit with everyone) is another cheap meal here. I only cost us $17 for all of us. We have found that any traditional food places are pretty inexpensive, but if we go to Dominos Pizza we can plan on paying double what we pay in the US.
It is interesting trying to grocery shop and cook here. I am learning that I can't shop for more than 2 days ahead of time. There are no preservatives in the food so everything goes bad by the third day. Makes things a little challenging! Also, so many food items are sold in bags- like milk, ketchup, mayo, jelly, etc. It saves space and is cheaper to package, but it is a pain to get them to stand up straight in the fridge! The kids LOVE any kind of condiments. Just letting everyone know to buy stock in makers of ketchup, because they put it on EVERYTHING! It is gross to watch. The worst was ketchup and strawberry jelly mixed together on a ham sandwich. Ugh.
We are finding some things that we like here better than in the US. One example is the Queso Crema. It is their version of cream cheese, but oh, so much better. I don't know how I'm going to go back to the bland cream cheese at home! They also have a yogurt drink (actually I think they do make it back home, but I'm too cheap to buy it) that is sold in a bag. The kids all love it and it doesn't have much sugar and it is cheap. The apple juice is nothing like the watery stuff at home. It is thick and syrupy. I like it better here, though not everyone agrees with me.
The children are starting to remember to take their plates to the kitchen, scrape them and wash them each meal. I'm hoping this will continue once we get home. The girls keep their bedroom fairly neat. Luisa is an organizer. The other day she pulled all three girls' clothes out of the closet and refolded and organized everyone's stuff. I'm going to take full advantage of this! Hope it lasts! The boys, on the other hand, are total slobs. I don't even like walking into the room! LOL! Who knows what i'll find! So, we need some work in this area.
Everyone went to bed well tonight so I'd say it was a fully good day! Thank you Lord!
One neat thing with Jonathan...We have been trying to wean him off his addictive need for sugar, but it has been difficult because if he isn't allowed to have a sugary drink, he just refuses to drink. So yesterday Brent instituted the rule that he has to drink half a glass of water before he is allowed to have any juice, etc. Well, today, Brent didn't even have to remind him. Jonathan came up to Brent and said (in my translated version), "Can I have juice after I drink some water?" We were so proud of him for remembering and asking so sweetly! And another time, at dinner he wanted seconds of his yogurt drink (popular here) and Brent said he could but Jonathan poured himself water before he drank the yogurt! LOL! I am so thankful for the little glimpses of progress!
We spent most of the morning in the pool which wore them out pretty good! Then we walked down the road to the food court area and ordered Patitos con queso (kind of like a mozzerella stick the size of an egg roll), empanadas con carne (empanadas with beef), and bunelos (like a giant doughnut). All of them are very Colombian foods and all are fried! It was all yummy, the chicos ate very well. Jake was the only one who didn't care for any of it. He came home and had peanut butter and jelly. This is definitely a cheap meal. All 9 of us were fed for about $20.
We chilled out at the house with coloring and watching a movie, then headed to the soccer field for a short game of futbol. It was so cute seeing all of the kids playing together. The chicos definitely are Trautmans though. They have no concept of how to play the game! LOL!
The other adoptive family was at the pool (with their new son!) so since everyone was hot and sweaty, we all changed clothes and went back to the pool for a while longer. We thoroughly wore them out! At one point, Jonathan was begging Brent to take him back to the apartment! It has been sooooo wonderful to be here with the other family. All the kids get along wonderfully. It is A LOT of kids in the pool though! Both couples are constantly on the lookout for potentially drowning kids!
Fried chicken for dinner (at hit with everyone) is another cheap meal here. I only cost us $17 for all of us. We have found that any traditional food places are pretty inexpensive, but if we go to Dominos Pizza we can plan on paying double what we pay in the US.
It is interesting trying to grocery shop and cook here. I am learning that I can't shop for more than 2 days ahead of time. There are no preservatives in the food so everything goes bad by the third day. Makes things a little challenging! Also, so many food items are sold in bags- like milk, ketchup, mayo, jelly, etc. It saves space and is cheaper to package, but it is a pain to get them to stand up straight in the fridge! The kids LOVE any kind of condiments. Just letting everyone know to buy stock in makers of ketchup, because they put it on EVERYTHING! It is gross to watch. The worst was ketchup and strawberry jelly mixed together on a ham sandwich. Ugh.
We are finding some things that we like here better than in the US. One example is the Queso Crema. It is their version of cream cheese, but oh, so much better. I don't know how I'm going to go back to the bland cream cheese at home! They also have a yogurt drink (actually I think they do make it back home, but I'm too cheap to buy it) that is sold in a bag. The kids all love it and it doesn't have much sugar and it is cheap. The apple juice is nothing like the watery stuff at home. It is thick and syrupy. I like it better here, though not everyone agrees with me.
The children are starting to remember to take their plates to the kitchen, scrape them and wash them each meal. I'm hoping this will continue once we get home. The girls keep their bedroom fairly neat. Luisa is an organizer. The other day she pulled all three girls' clothes out of the closet and refolded and organized everyone's stuff. I'm going to take full advantage of this! Hope it lasts! The boys, on the other hand, are total slobs. I don't even like walking into the room! LOL! Who knows what i'll find! So, we need some work in this area.
Everyone went to bed well tonight so I'd say it was a fully good day! Thank you Lord!
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Day 8
Two steps forward, one step back. That's our saying for the day.
It was a doozy. Luisa woke up on the wrong side of the bed to start with and we could see the day going downhill from there. First, she refused to go to the park with everyone else, which I didn't mind too much since I still don't feel good. Then, late in the morning she had a three hour tantrum. Brent took the first two hour shift. I had taken some benadryl because my eyes were swelling shut so I had actually fallen asleep when it started and surprisingly slept through the bulk of the drama. When I finally woke up, the other natives were restless waiting for their time at the pool. So I stayed in the bedroom with Luisa and Brent took the other kids to the pool.
Each time she has tantrumed before, once she submits and obeys us, it is over and there is no further discipline. But today, she brightened up as soon as she saw the other kids getting ready to go to the pool. Total manipulation. So I told her that even though she was happy, she still wasn't going to the pool today. Oh, boy. Then the last hour of the tantrum occurred. But, hopefully she learned that we mean what we say and tantruming is never going to result in blessing.
It rained through the afternoon so we spent the afternoon watching movies and crafting. Thank the Lord for crayons, paper, tape and Dora movies!
Tonight is not done yet. Luisa is having difficulty going to bed and Cindy is laying on our bedroom floor screaming because she doesn't want to go to bed. Thankfully Jonathan isn't giving us trouble. Poor boys, they keep asking for the door to be shut so they can go to sleep and not listen to the screaming.
Cait started running a fever today so I have a feeling whatever this virus is is going to run its course through everyone. At least we have Benadryl and that will knock them out!
Oh, one nice thing I found: everyone likes Baked Oatmeal! I bought all the ingredients to make since it is a staple in our house in the US. It is filling and healthy and easy. It was a little tricky since there are no measuring cups or teaspoons in the house. I just had to eyeball it. It turned out fine.
Ok, Brent went in to check Cindy because it was quiet suddenly. She had fallen asleep under our bed. He was able to pull her out with only a few whimpers and she went back to sleep in bed. Hopefully we are finished for the night. I'm pooped.
It was a doozy. Luisa woke up on the wrong side of the bed to start with and we could see the day going downhill from there. First, she refused to go to the park with everyone else, which I didn't mind too much since I still don't feel good. Then, late in the morning she had a three hour tantrum. Brent took the first two hour shift. I had taken some benadryl because my eyes were swelling shut so I had actually fallen asleep when it started and surprisingly slept through the bulk of the drama. When I finally woke up, the other natives were restless waiting for their time at the pool. So I stayed in the bedroom with Luisa and Brent took the other kids to the pool.
Each time she has tantrumed before, once she submits and obeys us, it is over and there is no further discipline. But today, she brightened up as soon as she saw the other kids getting ready to go to the pool. Total manipulation. So I told her that even though she was happy, she still wasn't going to the pool today. Oh, boy. Then the last hour of the tantrum occurred. But, hopefully she learned that we mean what we say and tantruming is never going to result in blessing.
It rained through the afternoon so we spent the afternoon watching movies and crafting. Thank the Lord for crayons, paper, tape and Dora movies!
Tonight is not done yet. Luisa is having difficulty going to bed and Cindy is laying on our bedroom floor screaming because she doesn't want to go to bed. Thankfully Jonathan isn't giving us trouble. Poor boys, they keep asking for the door to be shut so they can go to sleep and not listen to the screaming.
Cait started running a fever today so I have a feeling whatever this virus is is going to run its course through everyone. At least we have Benadryl and that will knock them out!
Oh, one nice thing I found: everyone likes Baked Oatmeal! I bought all the ingredients to make since it is a staple in our house in the US. It is filling and healthy and easy. It was a little tricky since there are no measuring cups or teaspoons in the house. I just had to eyeball it. It turned out fine.
Ok, Brent went in to check Cindy because it was quiet suddenly. She had fallen asleep under our bed. He was able to pull her out with only a few whimpers and she went back to sleep in bed. Hopefully we are finished for the night. I'm pooped.
Friday, May 13, 2011
Day 7 Integration Day!!!
Remember yesterday where I said yesterday was our best day? Well, I was wrong. Today was!!!!
Today was our Integration Day. For the past week we have been in a "probation" period called Integracion. It is a time for us to get to know the kids and vice versa and to decide if we need more time before making our final decision to say "yes" to the kids. So today is kind of special since it is the day when we say we want the kids for sure, they want us, and ICBF is happy with the match. It is also a time for the kids to give their goodbye gift to their foster family and for ICBF to sign off on the paperwork so it can be submitted to the courts.
We knew today might be filled with mixed emotions so we planned a tight schedule with no down time before the meeting at 2pm.
After breakfast, and laying out everyone's clothing for the meeting, we headed to the pool for several hours. We have hardly ever had any problems when we are at the pool, so it is the place we like to be to keep tantrums at a minimum. Around noon, I headed back to the apartment with Cindy, Jonathan Jake and Quinn since they were tired. Fortunately they were doing some construction on the parking lot and had a front end loader on a trailer that mesmerized the kids out on the balcony for about 45 minutes.
Lunch went surprisingly well without any food problems to speak of. We put on a Dora video to avoid wandering children while Brent and I got ready and had the kids dress one by one to avoid mayhem. I had Luisa all dressed in the adorable outfit that I had brought specifically for today when she decided she didn't want to wear that. Instead she wanted to wear a white skirt and pink top. NOT what I preferred but I realized that was my problem with having an expectation. I also had a cute headband with a flower clip that Melanie made to go with the other outfit and she wanted nothing to do with it. She started pulling her hair back in a half pony tail which she never wears her hair like that! Cait walked into the bathroom with us and it was then that I realized she wanted to look like her big sister Cait. Matching white skirts, pink tops and pulled back hair! So precious!
Once we were at the ICBF office things went very well. We were asked to tell what we were feeling after a week with the kids, how the week had gone, how each child was responding and ask any questions we had. Also they asked the bio kids for what they thought of their new siblings. We hadn't prepped them ahead of time but surprisingly they each said the same thing even though they didn't hear each other's answers. (The chicos were playing in another room for a while so the bio kids had been back and forth between them and us.) At the end of the meeting the ICBF worker talked to the chicos about their thoughts. They were super happy and positive about wanting to go to the US and be part of our family. In the course of the conversation, some new information came out about their past that we and the social workers had never heard before so that was interesting and heartbreaking too. Makes me want to hold them closer with knowing the difficulties they have lived through. They also explained to Luisa and Jonathan that they couldn't go back to their old foster family even if they wanted to because they already have new children at their home. Apparently, Luisa had already been told this by her foster mom. ICBF is sure to explain this to the kids as it helps them to stop looking backward and start looking forward. And surprisingly it does seem like their attitudes changed during that conversation. It seems like they needed the finality of the meeting for them to relax and know that their place in our family is permanent and not up for discussion. A sense of relief washed over their faces when the ICBF person commented that everything is final and we are all a family now.
As soon as the cars arrived back at the apartment, Brent and the kids went back to the apartment and I went to the hospital with Gloria to try to get my ear checked out. They ended up giving me an IV of antibiotics with a prescription for another 10 days of pills. The hospital was very modern and the doctor actually spoke a fair amount of English. Getting home was an adventure, though. It had been raining hard all afternoon so several of the main roads had been blocked off due to flooding and, as Gloria says, "because of the mountain coming down"- ie. mudslides. Traffic was insane and Gloria#1's driving was even more insane. She is a precious, darling woman, but I don't think she can see very well in the dark and rain and slams on her breaks every 5 seconds. I know God was protecting us because after about 15 near death experiences, we are here still! We drove around for almost an hour to get to a pharmacy that was well lit and had many people around (since we were out after dark) but when we finally got there, they were closed! Another 20 minutes and she found another pharmacy which happened to be only a block from our apartment! HA! They didn't have the antibiotic I needed so we headed down the strip mall to a second pharmacy and they finally were able to find it! Whew! Only problem is, during the time in the hospital and driving around, my left eye kept getting more and more sore. I am praying it is just from the ear infection and is not Pink Eye!
While Brent was here at the apartment, he said that the kids were wonderful. A few NORMAL kid issues, but no real tantrums. In fact he had a very positive discipline time with Jonathan. He had asked Brent for Jugo (juice- that's the only thing he'll drink other than Coke!) but Brent told him that before he had jugo he had to drink a small amount of water. He whined and complained but Brent put the glass down in front of him. Brent said that if he dumped the water out, Brent would make him drink the whole glass of water. I think there was some gagging and spitting out of the water and a short trip to the bedroom, but he finally obeyed and drank the water and then cheerfully had his juice! Success! Sounds like such a stupid thing to go toe to toe about, but it is a huge issue for him and we are trying to wean him off his sugar addiction slowly.
Brent said that Cindy and Jonathan were in rare form of silliness tonight. I'm sure, since it was a daddy night. Those are always fun and crazy for the kids.
So, if you've made it through this far, you will realize that we had NO TANTRUMS TODAY! NONE! ZILCH! NADA! Everything was all normal kids stuff! Amazing- especially on a day where we were fully expecting some regression. God is good. He gives us peace in the midst of the storm. Even if tomorrow is horrible, I am grateful for the grace that was evident today.
Today marks the start of the beginning of the second part of our process. On Monday, all our paperwork will be submitted to one of the courts in Medellin. We will find out which court and then we just wait until the judge reviews all the information and calls us to sign the final documents! It still could be a few weeks though.
I can't help but get the Steve Green Hide 'em in Your Heart Kids song out of my head...straight from scripture...
Let us not grow weary
In doing good.
In due season we shall reap. (repeat)
If we don't lose heart (If we don't lose heart)
If we don't lose heart (If we don't lose heart)
In due season we shall reap!!
Today was our Integration Day. For the past week we have been in a "probation" period called Integracion. It is a time for us to get to know the kids and vice versa and to decide if we need more time before making our final decision to say "yes" to the kids. So today is kind of special since it is the day when we say we want the kids for sure, they want us, and ICBF is happy with the match. It is also a time for the kids to give their goodbye gift to their foster family and for ICBF to sign off on the paperwork so it can be submitted to the courts.
We knew today might be filled with mixed emotions so we planned a tight schedule with no down time before the meeting at 2pm.
After breakfast, and laying out everyone's clothing for the meeting, we headed to the pool for several hours. We have hardly ever had any problems when we are at the pool, so it is the place we like to be to keep tantrums at a minimum. Around noon, I headed back to the apartment with Cindy, Jonathan Jake and Quinn since they were tired. Fortunately they were doing some construction on the parking lot and had a front end loader on a trailer that mesmerized the kids out on the balcony for about 45 minutes.
Lunch went surprisingly well without any food problems to speak of. We put on a Dora video to avoid wandering children while Brent and I got ready and had the kids dress one by one to avoid mayhem. I had Luisa all dressed in the adorable outfit that I had brought specifically for today when she decided she didn't want to wear that. Instead she wanted to wear a white skirt and pink top. NOT what I preferred but I realized that was my problem with having an expectation. I also had a cute headband with a flower clip that Melanie made to go with the other outfit and she wanted nothing to do with it. She started pulling her hair back in a half pony tail which she never wears her hair like that! Cait walked into the bathroom with us and it was then that I realized she wanted to look like her big sister Cait. Matching white skirts, pink tops and pulled back hair! So precious!
Once we were at the ICBF office things went very well. We were asked to tell what we were feeling after a week with the kids, how the week had gone, how each child was responding and ask any questions we had. Also they asked the bio kids for what they thought of their new siblings. We hadn't prepped them ahead of time but surprisingly they each said the same thing even though they didn't hear each other's answers. (The chicos were playing in another room for a while so the bio kids had been back and forth between them and us.) At the end of the meeting the ICBF worker talked to the chicos about their thoughts. They were super happy and positive about wanting to go to the US and be part of our family. In the course of the conversation, some new information came out about their past that we and the social workers had never heard before so that was interesting and heartbreaking too. Makes me want to hold them closer with knowing the difficulties they have lived through. They also explained to Luisa and Jonathan that they couldn't go back to their old foster family even if they wanted to because they already have new children at their home. Apparently, Luisa had already been told this by her foster mom. ICBF is sure to explain this to the kids as it helps them to stop looking backward and start looking forward. And surprisingly it does seem like their attitudes changed during that conversation. It seems like they needed the finality of the meeting for them to relax and know that their place in our family is permanent and not up for discussion. A sense of relief washed over their faces when the ICBF person commented that everything is final and we are all a family now.
As soon as the cars arrived back at the apartment, Brent and the kids went back to the apartment and I went to the hospital with Gloria to try to get my ear checked out. They ended up giving me an IV of antibiotics with a prescription for another 10 days of pills. The hospital was very modern and the doctor actually spoke a fair amount of English. Getting home was an adventure, though. It had been raining hard all afternoon so several of the main roads had been blocked off due to flooding and, as Gloria says, "because of the mountain coming down"- ie. mudslides. Traffic was insane and Gloria#1's driving was even more insane. She is a precious, darling woman, but I don't think she can see very well in the dark and rain and slams on her breaks every 5 seconds. I know God was protecting us because after about 15 near death experiences, we are here still! We drove around for almost an hour to get to a pharmacy that was well lit and had many people around (since we were out after dark) but when we finally got there, they were closed! Another 20 minutes and she found another pharmacy which happened to be only a block from our apartment! HA! They didn't have the antibiotic I needed so we headed down the strip mall to a second pharmacy and they finally were able to find it! Whew! Only problem is, during the time in the hospital and driving around, my left eye kept getting more and more sore. I am praying it is just from the ear infection and is not Pink Eye!
While Brent was here at the apartment, he said that the kids were wonderful. A few NORMAL kid issues, but no real tantrums. In fact he had a very positive discipline time with Jonathan. He had asked Brent for Jugo (juice- that's the only thing he'll drink other than Coke!) but Brent told him that before he had jugo he had to drink a small amount of water. He whined and complained but Brent put the glass down in front of him. Brent said that if he dumped the water out, Brent would make him drink the whole glass of water. I think there was some gagging and spitting out of the water and a short trip to the bedroom, but he finally obeyed and drank the water and then cheerfully had his juice! Success! Sounds like such a stupid thing to go toe to toe about, but it is a huge issue for him and we are trying to wean him off his sugar addiction slowly.
Brent said that Cindy and Jonathan were in rare form of silliness tonight. I'm sure, since it was a daddy night. Those are always fun and crazy for the kids.
So, if you've made it through this far, you will realize that we had NO TANTRUMS TODAY! NONE! ZILCH! NADA! Everything was all normal kids stuff! Amazing- especially on a day where we were fully expecting some regression. God is good. He gives us peace in the midst of the storm. Even if tomorrow is horrible, I am grateful for the grace that was evident today.
Today marks the start of the beginning of the second part of our process. On Monday, all our paperwork will be submitted to one of the courts in Medellin. We will find out which court and then we just wait until the judge reviews all the information and calls us to sign the final documents! It still could be a few weeks though.
I can't help but get the Steve Green Hide 'em in Your Heart Kids song out of my head...straight from scripture...
Let us not grow weary
In doing good.
In due season we shall reap. (repeat)
If we don't lose heart (If we don't lose heart)
If we don't lose heart (If we don't lose heart)
In due season we shall reap!!
Day 6
Day 6
*****Posted a day late because blogger was being tempermental….sorry for the delay!******
I think today has been our best day yet! Not perfect, but so much more pleasant than before.
Our morning started slowly with the kids coloring around the coffee table and eating cereal as they felt like it. Brent and I were trying to get showered and dressed to go to court to sign power of attorney. I felt like I was holding my breath waiting for the first tantrum that would delay us, but nothing happened.
Oh, wait. That’s not true. While I was in the shower, Brent found Luisa trying to call her foster mom on the phone again. He was able to secretively unplug the phone all while he was telling her he understood how sad she was that she couldn’t call. She was a little moody after that, but never had a tantrum.
Gloria #2 came over to babysit while we went to the court. I’m bummed that we couldn’t bring any camera in the building because it would have been neat to get a photo of us signing papers. It was fairly quick- only 4 pages- but we stood and talked to Nora our attorney and ICBF liason about some of our issues and questions. Then we made a short trip with Gloria #1 to Exito for a few fruits (ha! How’d we end up with half a cart full of stuff again?).
When we came back to the apartment Gloria took a photo of all of us to give as a gift to the foster family. The kids had worked on cards for them while we were gone. I just need to write a card to the foster mom and we’ll be done with their gift.
We figured that with all the talk about the foster family that the kids might easily melt down, so we decided to head to the pool as soon as we could get out the door.
Then the most crazy awesome thing happened! A total God-thing! As soon as we arrived at the pool I heard my name being shouted. I looked around and saw Amanda and her girls standing on the balcony on the other side of our apartment complex! So amazing! Amanda and her family are adopting an 11 year old boy, Jonathan, that they met through Kidsave. We have been emailing back and forth for months supporting and encouraging each other. They live in Maryland also and have 4 beautiful girls near our kids ages. We knew we’d be in Medellin the same time, but they had an apartment in a different section of town. Turns out, they needed to find a new apartment… IT ENDED UP BEING IN THE SAME APARTMENT COMPLEX AS US!!!!! What are the odds??? It is only God who could have orchestrated such an amazing “coincidence”!
A few minutes later they all came down to the pool. Their family is wonderful and sweet and already the kids are getting along well. We were able to exchange bits of conversation in between dealings with the children, but it will be wonderful to have other friends nearby. They receive Jonathan first thing tomorrow morning, so please keep them in prayer that all will go well and the transition will be smooth. We can’t wait to meet him. He sounds like such a cool kid!
At one point Luisa was getting a little hyper and I still don’t know if she was angry about something or just unable to control the excitement, but she roughly jumped on top of one of Amanda’s girls. I thought for sure that me making her get out of the pool would be melt down material, but she quickly went back and apologized.
We decided to head back to the apartment for a late lunch just in time for the rain to start. We had hot dogs (a favorite) and then they played quietly with markers and crayons while we watched a movie. I felt miserable- I think I have an ear infection- so I was lying down on the couch most of the time. I am continually amazed by their long attention span when it comes to craft/coloring time. It was so cute because Jake and Quinn were making themselves paper Knight armor to tape to their bodies and Jonathan wanted some too, so Luisa, Jake and Quinn all worked together to make him paper armor. He was happy! Sometimes he will find a towel or sheet and tie it around his neck as a cape. He’s so adorable! I am thinking he is trying to be superman.
After the movie, the rain had stopped so we decided to head down to the playground. They did well playing, but partway through Luisa started to throw a tantrum when I asked her to give back a toy she had stolen. Back to the apartment for the two of us! In the process, a 3 foot sheet of glass covering the desk in the room was broken into three huge pieces. She wasn’t trying to break it, it was accidental. However, when she finished her tantrum, she willingly helped clean up. We had a second tantrum shortly after the first, but it was much shorter and we were able to practice saying “Si, mami” a bunch of times afterwards. After hearts were restored, we headed back to the playground where everyone else was. Amanda’s family was there too and the kids had an awesome time in the sand/dirt pit.
Cindy didn’t want to hold my hand in the street/parking lot and melted down when I insisted. That little girl
has a set of lungs! BUT, it was much shorter than last time AND we went outside to practice walking the sidewalk holding mami’s hand.
Because of the rain, the kids were filthy. They all got baths as soon as we came in. Thankfully, Brent was able to get dinner started while I bathed the kids. Dinner was peaceful and I learned that Luisa and Jonathan like carrots! Score! Another food they like that I’ll be able to find at home!
A little more coloring and then devotions as a family. Cindy fell asleep during devos and Jonathan went to bed without any trouble, as usual. We decided to let Luisa have some special one on one time with us and stay up later. With all the foster family talk this morning and knowing we have a meeting tomorrow, we thought she needed some extra special lovin’. We google translated our conversation and again asked if she liked our family. Thankfully she is still saying yes, (earlier in the afternoon when we asked she wasn’t so thrilled!LOL!) and she wants to go to the US. She fixed herself hot water to drink- gross- so we offered for her to squeeze some lime and add some sugar. Yum! Very good! After snuggles and songs, she went to bed with no problems.
So, even though we had a little bit of drama, overall it was a good day. Tomorrow I expect to not have such a great one since we will all head to the ICBF office for interviews with the psychologist and staff and that might dredge up some of the ugliness of the past week. That’s ok. We are bracing ourselves! LOL!
Random Comments to remember:
-Luisa likes to talk to herself. It is so cute when I am blow drying her hair, she’ll stand and talk to herself in voices to the mirror. I have no clue what she’s talking about but it is adorable. Cait does…er…um…did this (LOL!) too and I love it!
-Cindy is doing great with telling me when she needs the potty. She says she has to go “chi, chi”. So cute!
-I keep finding Jonathan trying to do a kata when he is in his room, but he won’t do it in the living room with all of us. I think he feels insecure since everyone else can do it but he can’t.
-Jake and Cindy are meshing very well together- they are both as silly as you can get!
-On the dot at 6:15am a child in the apartment complex starts crying and yelling for mami. It lasts for a good 45 minutes. Heaven help me!
-I’m done with boiling water to drink. We’re going to drink from the faucet. If it is good enough for the people of Medellin, it is good enough for me.
- I am so extremely thankful for my dryer at home (even though it pooped out on me the 3 days before we were leaving and took 3 cycles to dry one load). Most people in Medellin don’t use dryers and they just hang their clothing. That’s fine, but it takes a full 24 hours to dry them! And I’ve had some jeans take 2-3 days to dry. With the climate and the rain, it never feels fully dry! This can be tricky for us since we have limited clothing. Nine people’s clothing and a small drying line.
*****Note for friends and family…I am sooo sorry that we are not skyping more frequently. We are extremely busy for the whole day. 6:30 am to 11:30pm we are on the go. We are also noticing that skyping puts the kids in a bad mood. I think it is because we are chattering away in English and they feel left out. It is a cool thing to do, but they can’t participate. Also, they don’t understand skype fully and aren’t yet interested in talking to “strangers”. Thank you for understanding. It isn’t that they don’t want to talk to you. They just can only deal with new people in small doses and we are it for now. We miss you all a ton and would love to skype as often as possible, but for now, the kids’ hearts are our main concern. That, and avoiding tantrums! We love you guys so please be patient as we wait until we are at a point where skyping is a healthy thing to do with them.********
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Day 6
We are so incredibly appreciative of all the MANY comments on the blog and emails and facebook messages you all have sent. Somehow each word has been exactly what we needed just at the moment I read it. I love it when God orchestrates that kind of timing! I'm so sorry I don't have time to respond to each of you, but please know that we do read them (usually late at night when we are too exhausted to type back anything coherent!) and are grateful for them. So please don't stop! We thrive on the love and encouragement!
Today I feel like we made the most progress so far. We are starting to see the children altering their behavior based on wanting to please us- or at least not be in trouble! I'd prefer for them to choose to alter their behavior because they don't want to disobey God, but right now, we'll take what we can get! LOL!
Luisa and I had a lovely (said sarcastically) morning in the room together for about an hour. But she finally obeyed, cleaned up her mess and then we practiced doing what I had told her to do in the first place. I think it was important for her and I to have the confrontation so she understands mami is not a pushover. I was actually very peaceful during the whole time, singing Hide 'em in Your Heart songs to myself, putting clothes away and quoting scripture out loud. I think it was, honestly, my favorite part of the day! Even in the midst of screaming! LOL! When I held her at the end of it, she just melted into my arms. I'd do it again all over to have that tenderness!
Brent is usually the one that deals with Jonathan and even though there were multiple confrontations, for the most part they were much shorter than before. Sometimes he even chose to obey before he got to the bedroom! Progress!!!
I only had one little issue with Cindy this evening. I had told her she could put on her "curita" (bandaid) which she mangled into a ball. Then I told her that it was mami's turn to do it with a new one. At first she agreed but when I went to put it on she decided she wanted to do it. I said no and off she went into hysterics. I put her on my bed and told her she couldn't have a curita until she obeyed me and was happy. It only took about 2 minutes of crying before she said "Si mami" and another minute until she had a happy face. Let me just say that Princess and Cars bandaids were one of the best things I brought with us! Now I am wishing I brought another box of each. They don't like to keep them on very long (or they fall off in the pool) so we are going through a lot. I can't think of a single injury that has actually been baidaid-worthy, but it is a good bonding time where mami is the one to make things all better instead of them always being tough or a big sister being the one one to help. So for any adoptive parents out there- BRING LOTS OF FUN CURITAS!
I fixed pancakes for breakfast, which, from what I can figure out with limited Spanish, they had never eaten before. I KNOW they've never had syrup. That was funny to see their faces. They expected it to taste bad, but I pushed them to try a little on their finger and they were so surprised how sweet it is! And, here it is even thicker and sweeter than at home. I wonder if it is made from pure sugar cane?
We finished the movie from last night- their first time seeing Narnia! They loved it and Luisa talked through a lot of it saying how the mean queen was very bad and the magic in the closet was very good! So cute! Cindy has no attention span to movies at all- even kiddie cartoon types. Fine with me. We don't do any tv at home and only occasional movies. Jonathan is going to have a harder time adjusting to the lack of constant tv in his face.
They colored and cut and glued most of the morning. Around 11 we went out to the playground. It was cool, because in the process of getting everyone dress and out the door (a hour long process that we NEED to shorten) there were a few mini meltdowns that got resolved very quickly. PROGRESS! I think they are starting to understand that me mean what we say.
Yolima, a lady from the church we found down here stopped by for a visit. She is so wonderful with the kids and never oversteps her bounds even when she understands everything they say and we don't. We all walked to the public playground up the hill from our apartment complex, but after only 10 minutes it started to downpour. The kids handled it very well when we said we had to go home. Yay! More Progress!
I had brought little capsule type things with a sponge squished inside. You stick it in water and let the capsule dissolve and it grows into a bigger sponge. All the kids loved doing that and then playing with the sponges as toys. The other day at the grocery store I had picked up two packages of cheap plastic play dishes for at the pool, but Luisa and Cindy played for the better part of an hour with some water and the dishes.
We asked Yolima to explain to Jonathan that we had heard he liked Karate. He shook his head emphatically and we explained that our whole family is involved in karate and would he like to learn? Oh, my goodness! You should have seen how happy he was! You'd have thought we'd told him he won the lottery or something! The boys demonstrated their katas and then he tried one. Then they practiced push ups and crunches. Then Brent got out the computer which showed the kids presentation at homeschool night of all the karate. He was glued to the screen and so were the little girls! Later in the evening I found them all in my room with Luisa leading a kata- (her own made up one! So adorable!).
Yolima was also able to help us understand that Luisa understands that we have rules that she must follow and she does want to follow them. She says that life at her foster home was very different, but that only some of the rules are the same. When pressed for some examples she said that she couldn't lie at either house.
We were able to explain to her that we understand that it is hard to try to learn so many new family rules and that we still love her even when she disobeys. Brent explained that the rules are not our rules. Does she know whose rules we follow? She said Dios! He went on to explain that God gives us the rules to protect us and that when she obeys she will be safe and happy. She grinned and I think she understands how UNhappy she is when she disobeys.
Later in the afternoon, we took the kids to the pool even though it was still sprinkling. Everyone was restless and we had told the kids we would go to the piscina after lunch but weren't able to because of the thunderstorm. It had really cooled off but they didn't care at all. After a good hour, Cindy said she was tired and Jake was cold so I took both of them back to the apartment. They were so cute during this one on one time. Jake is so good with little kids because he doesn't have any expectations on trying to get them to play anything his way. So they got along great. I was surprised because Cindy at first, was a bit cranky. But she brightened up just fine with Jake.
The rest of the afternoon they all colored and crafted. They love crafty stuff, which is great. I just hope I can find more of it here somewhere in Colombia because they are going through stuff quickly! Last night after they were asleep I packed up half the craft supplies so we would have something left in two weeks! Luisa got out an activity book with math in it and was having fun doing it! She can add 3 digit numbers and I kind of think she can carry/borrow but she didn't like to practice those because they were "Muy dificile!" (very difficult!)
I ended up making a little flip book (thank you Dinah Zike!) with English letters (only single sound consonants right now) on the outside and on the inside I either drew a picture or used a sticker for a word with that sound, then wrote the word next to it. When I told her it was hers, she was so happy! I figured I'd have to make her do it, but she was excited to do it! She was able to pronounce almost every word correctly except "frog". It came out more like frgralk! HA! I know she has to learn English and she'll probably even lose her accent, but I love this stage of adorable pronunciations of English words! The word "run" was cute too. She can't do it unless she rolls her "r's". Cindy pronounces almost everything perfectly, but I think she thinks they are pretend words because then she'll trail off into nonsense words. LOL! I haven't worked with Jonathan as much, but I'm going to try to over the next few days.
I actually fixed a decent dinner tonight. Marinated chicken breasts with baked potatos and sauted green beans. Luisa loved it, Jonathan tolerated a little bit and Cindy barely ate anything. She'll probably wake up starving. The food issues continue to plague us. Jonathan is addicted to sugar in a bad way. And both of the younger two ask for food fixed a certain way (usually with multiple condiments) and then change their minds and say they want it different. So far we aren't doing a whole lot about it, but at some point they will be expected to eat what they are given or go without. Otherwise we will waste a lot of food since no one else wants to eat their creative food concoctions such as strawberry jelly and ketchup.
I just thought of two other things I'm super glad we brought...a dishwashing wand (you know, where you fill the handle with dish detergent and there is a sponge with a scrubbie on the end?) because there are no stoppers for any of the sinks so I can't fill a whole sink with sudsy water to clean. And electricity two to three prong converters. We didn't think we'd need them, but at the last minute Brent tossed two into the bags. All the outlets in this apartment (the b&b had three prongs) are two prong. So I'm glad we have those too.
Our plans for tomorrow have changed multiple times today. But the latest is that Gloria #2 will babysit everyone (God help her!) while Brent and I go to the court to give Nora, our lawyer, power of attorney so she can request documents for us. We are also signing some papers ahead of time so Friday, after our ICBF Integration meeting, they can submit our papers to the court immediately. Then we are supposed to go somewhere to get passport photos taken. They all need to be in black shirts, no jewelry, and no colored hair bows in their hair, but their hair must be pulled back out of their face. Then we are going to get a family photo done to give to the foster family along with some drawings and letters.
Hasta Manana!
Today I feel like we made the most progress so far. We are starting to see the children altering their behavior based on wanting to please us- or at least not be in trouble! I'd prefer for them to choose to alter their behavior because they don't want to disobey God, but right now, we'll take what we can get! LOL!
Luisa and I had a lovely (said sarcastically) morning in the room together for about an hour. But she finally obeyed, cleaned up her mess and then we practiced doing what I had told her to do in the first place. I think it was important for her and I to have the confrontation so she understands mami is not a pushover. I was actually very peaceful during the whole time, singing Hide 'em in Your Heart songs to myself, putting clothes away and quoting scripture out loud. I think it was, honestly, my favorite part of the day! Even in the midst of screaming! LOL! When I held her at the end of it, she just melted into my arms. I'd do it again all over to have that tenderness!
Brent is usually the one that deals with Jonathan and even though there were multiple confrontations, for the most part they were much shorter than before. Sometimes he even chose to obey before he got to the bedroom! Progress!!!
I only had one little issue with Cindy this evening. I had told her she could put on her "curita" (bandaid) which she mangled into a ball. Then I told her that it was mami's turn to do it with a new one. At first she agreed but when I went to put it on she decided she wanted to do it. I said no and off she went into hysterics. I put her on my bed and told her she couldn't have a curita until she obeyed me and was happy. It only took about 2 minutes of crying before she said "Si mami" and another minute until she had a happy face. Let me just say that Princess and Cars bandaids were one of the best things I brought with us! Now I am wishing I brought another box of each. They don't like to keep them on very long (or they fall off in the pool) so we are going through a lot. I can't think of a single injury that has actually been baidaid-worthy, but it is a good bonding time where mami is the one to make things all better instead of them always being tough or a big sister being the one one to help. So for any adoptive parents out there- BRING LOTS OF FUN CURITAS!
I fixed pancakes for breakfast, which, from what I can figure out with limited Spanish, they had never eaten before. I KNOW they've never had syrup. That was funny to see their faces. They expected it to taste bad, but I pushed them to try a little on their finger and they were so surprised how sweet it is! And, here it is even thicker and sweeter than at home. I wonder if it is made from pure sugar cane?
We finished the movie from last night- their first time seeing Narnia! They loved it and Luisa talked through a lot of it saying how the mean queen was very bad and the magic in the closet was very good! So cute! Cindy has no attention span to movies at all- even kiddie cartoon types. Fine with me. We don't do any tv at home and only occasional movies. Jonathan is going to have a harder time adjusting to the lack of constant tv in his face.
They colored and cut and glued most of the morning. Around 11 we went out to the playground. It was cool, because in the process of getting everyone dress and out the door (a hour long process that we NEED to shorten) there were a few mini meltdowns that got resolved very quickly. PROGRESS! I think they are starting to understand that me mean what we say.
Yolima, a lady from the church we found down here stopped by for a visit. She is so wonderful with the kids and never oversteps her bounds even when she understands everything they say and we don't. We all walked to the public playground up the hill from our apartment complex, but after only 10 minutes it started to downpour. The kids handled it very well when we said we had to go home. Yay! More Progress!
I had brought little capsule type things with a sponge squished inside. You stick it in water and let the capsule dissolve and it grows into a bigger sponge. All the kids loved doing that and then playing with the sponges as toys. The other day at the grocery store I had picked up two packages of cheap plastic play dishes for at the pool, but Luisa and Cindy played for the better part of an hour with some water and the dishes.
We asked Yolima to explain to Jonathan that we had heard he liked Karate. He shook his head emphatically and we explained that our whole family is involved in karate and would he like to learn? Oh, my goodness! You should have seen how happy he was! You'd have thought we'd told him he won the lottery or something! The boys demonstrated their katas and then he tried one. Then they practiced push ups and crunches. Then Brent got out the computer which showed the kids presentation at homeschool night of all the karate. He was glued to the screen and so were the little girls! Later in the evening I found them all in my room with Luisa leading a kata- (her own made up one! So adorable!).
Yolima was also able to help us understand that Luisa understands that we have rules that she must follow and she does want to follow them. She says that life at her foster home was very different, but that only some of the rules are the same. When pressed for some examples she said that she couldn't lie at either house.
We were able to explain to her that we understand that it is hard to try to learn so many new family rules and that we still love her even when she disobeys. Brent explained that the rules are not our rules. Does she know whose rules we follow? She said Dios! He went on to explain that God gives us the rules to protect us and that when she obeys she will be safe and happy. She grinned and I think she understands how UNhappy she is when she disobeys.
Later in the afternoon, we took the kids to the pool even though it was still sprinkling. Everyone was restless and we had told the kids we would go to the piscina after lunch but weren't able to because of the thunderstorm. It had really cooled off but they didn't care at all. After a good hour, Cindy said she was tired and Jake was cold so I took both of them back to the apartment. They were so cute during this one on one time. Jake is so good with little kids because he doesn't have any expectations on trying to get them to play anything his way. So they got along great. I was surprised because Cindy at first, was a bit cranky. But she brightened up just fine with Jake.
The rest of the afternoon they all colored and crafted. They love crafty stuff, which is great. I just hope I can find more of it here somewhere in Colombia because they are going through stuff quickly! Last night after they were asleep I packed up half the craft supplies so we would have something left in two weeks! Luisa got out an activity book with math in it and was having fun doing it! She can add 3 digit numbers and I kind of think she can carry/borrow but she didn't like to practice those because they were "Muy dificile!" (very difficult!)
I ended up making a little flip book (thank you Dinah Zike!) with English letters (only single sound consonants right now) on the outside and on the inside I either drew a picture or used a sticker for a word with that sound, then wrote the word next to it. When I told her it was hers, she was so happy! I figured I'd have to make her do it, but she was excited to do it! She was able to pronounce almost every word correctly except "frog". It came out more like frgralk! HA! I know she has to learn English and she'll probably even lose her accent, but I love this stage of adorable pronunciations of English words! The word "run" was cute too. She can't do it unless she rolls her "r's". Cindy pronounces almost everything perfectly, but I think she thinks they are pretend words because then she'll trail off into nonsense words. LOL! I haven't worked with Jonathan as much, but I'm going to try to over the next few days.
I actually fixed a decent dinner tonight. Marinated chicken breasts with baked potatos and sauted green beans. Luisa loved it, Jonathan tolerated a little bit and Cindy barely ate anything. She'll probably wake up starving. The food issues continue to plague us. Jonathan is addicted to sugar in a bad way. And both of the younger two ask for food fixed a certain way (usually with multiple condiments) and then change their minds and say they want it different. So far we aren't doing a whole lot about it, but at some point they will be expected to eat what they are given or go without. Otherwise we will waste a lot of food since no one else wants to eat their creative food concoctions such as strawberry jelly and ketchup.
I just thought of two other things I'm super glad we brought...a dishwashing wand (you know, where you fill the handle with dish detergent and there is a sponge with a scrubbie on the end?) because there are no stoppers for any of the sinks so I can't fill a whole sink with sudsy water to clean. And electricity two to three prong converters. We didn't think we'd need them, but at the last minute Brent tossed two into the bags. All the outlets in this apartment (the b&b had three prongs) are two prong. So I'm glad we have those too.
Our plans for tomorrow have changed multiple times today. But the latest is that Gloria #2 will babysit everyone (God help her!) while Brent and I go to the court to give Nora, our lawyer, power of attorney so she can request documents for us. We are also signing some papers ahead of time so Friday, after our ICBF Integration meeting, they can submit our papers to the court immediately. Then we are supposed to go somewhere to get passport photos taken. They all need to be in black shirts, no jewelry, and no colored hair bows in their hair, but their hair must be pulled back out of their face. Then we are going to get a family photo done to give to the foster family along with some drawings and letters.
Hasta Manana!
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Day 5
We had a quick morning today since the Dos Glorias were coming at 9am to take us to El Penol. Everyone did very well, except at 8:45 Cindy started melting down because she wanted to go in her pj's and not wear socks! LOL! I held her on my lap for about 45 minutes until she calmed down. So we left a bit late.
We all rode in a rental van. El Penol is on the other side of the mountain- a two hour drive from Medellin. Let me just tell you that driving over a mountain is a faith building experience. Because of the flooding in Medellin this past year, parts of the mountain have completely washed away- sometimes whole towns. It is so sad. Many lives have been lost. Once we made it out of Medellin, the roads were so bad that several times each mile our driver had to take great care in avoiding the huge rocks and mounds of eroded dirt covering the road- the very narrow-on-the-edge-of-a-cliff road! At a few particularly bad parts there were huge sinkholes in the actual road and we had to go very slowly and carefully to get around the sinkhole. Most had no caution tape or any visual signs of it, so if someone was traveling at night they would definitely wreck in the sinkholes.
Our ride was made even more eventful when we had to stop (multiple times) because of car sickness. I had no idea where El Penol was or else I would have given them dramamine ahead of time. Poor Jake and Quinn and Grant! To their credit, the driver, although safe, was not the smoothest driver in the world. She had a manual transmission and she jerked the car every five seconds. Thankfully, for the ride home, Gloria #2 bought dramamine for us. It saved the day! No problems on the ride back.
El Penol is a huge meteorite in the ground the size of a mountain. The view at the top was unbelievable. The only problem are the 649 steep steps that you have to climb to get there! The kids (Cindy stayed on the ground with Gloria #1) did really well, but Gloria #2 and I had to stop for 5 minutes every 20 steps. No lie, they are tall steps, completely straight up. And because of the high altitude we had trouble with having enough oxygen to catch our breath. When you finally get to the top you can overlook as far as the eye can see, a gigantic manmade lake- actually hundreds of small lakes that are interconnected. They sank whole towns underwater so that they could make this lake. It powers all the electricity for Medellin.
After coming down, we had lunch at an authentic Colombian restaurant. The food was plentiful and delicious. We found out that the chicos LOVE fried fish! Brent ordered it and the three of them ate almost all of it themselves! Thankfully he was able to eat their food in exchange!
Then, we drove down to the lake and took a big touristy kind of boat out on the lake. Luisa was nervous at first since she'd never been on a boat but she soon got over it and loved it. They played loud Colombian salsa dancing music so the kids and I danced together. They loved that! We had lots of opportunity to work on some English words like trees, water, fish, sun, sky, clouds, boat, etc. Thankfully, Luisa is very interested in learning English. Cindy is adorable when she tries to say the words. Her mouth just can't seem to get the right sounds. She has an adorable speech impediment! She says trees like "thwees"!
Once we arrived back at the apartment, Brent ran to get pizzas while everyone got ready to go to the piscina (pool). It was sprinkling when we walked outside but we decided to go anyway. We only got in a half hour of swimming before it started with thunder and lightning. So back inside for pizza and a movie.
We had a few issues today discipline-wise, but overall it was a good day. We realized that Luisa gets quiet and pouty any time someone else is getting attention. So we are deciding to give NO attention to her when she is pouty and LOTS of attention when she's happy. Jonathan is hysterical when he tries to barter with my commands. I might say, "In five minutes we'll clean up at the pool and go to the house." And he'll hold up 7 fingers and jabber about how he should have 7 minutes. I immediately say, "Ok, 2 minutes!" Then he'll say, "No! NO! 5 minutes!" HA!
There is a lot of manipulating trying to happen with all three of them. We found out that the foster family told the kids that we would give them whatever they wanted and they could do whatever they wanted once they were with us, so we are trying to retrain that ridiculous thought.
We found out also that Luisa hasn't ever seen a washing machine (can't remember if I wrote about his yesterday...). We have found her several time washing the clothes by hand or even taking the clean clothes out of the washer and rewashing them. Thankfully Gloria helped us explain what a washer does and that she doesn't have to wash them by hand.
I had brought cute new earrings for the girls, but I haven't been able to get out her old earrings. They were a style I'd never seen before and I couldn't budge them off at all without ripping her ear! So I asked Gloria for help. Luisa explained that her foster family glued them shut because she had lost her first pair of earrings and she was never allowed to changed them again! Poor girl! I can only imagine how long she's had these earrings in! Gloria wasn't able to budge them either so tomorrow we're going to get wire cutters or something and cut them off. They aren't allowed to wear earrings for their passport photos so they HAVE to come off.
Jonathan has a big cut on his upper gum. We and he have no idea what happened. His front tooth is also discolored or dead. He had that from before he came to us. He doesn't remember what happened to his tooth. Guess we'll be spending some quantity time at the dentist once we get home!
Ok, enough for now. I'm exhausted. Grant still has a fever and I am still sick too. Need sleep!
Tomorrow is supposed to be a relaxing day at home which I'm looking forward to!
By the way, we SO appreciate your comments and emails. They are keeping us sane right now!
We all rode in a rental van. El Penol is on the other side of the mountain- a two hour drive from Medellin. Let me just tell you that driving over a mountain is a faith building experience. Because of the flooding in Medellin this past year, parts of the mountain have completely washed away- sometimes whole towns. It is so sad. Many lives have been lost. Once we made it out of Medellin, the roads were so bad that several times each mile our driver had to take great care in avoiding the huge rocks and mounds of eroded dirt covering the road- the very narrow-on-the-edge-of-a-cliff road! At a few particularly bad parts there were huge sinkholes in the actual road and we had to go very slowly and carefully to get around the sinkhole. Most had no caution tape or any visual signs of it, so if someone was traveling at night they would definitely wreck in the sinkholes.
Our ride was made even more eventful when we had to stop (multiple times) because of car sickness. I had no idea where El Penol was or else I would have given them dramamine ahead of time. Poor Jake and Quinn and Grant! To their credit, the driver, although safe, was not the smoothest driver in the world. She had a manual transmission and she jerked the car every five seconds. Thankfully, for the ride home, Gloria #2 bought dramamine for us. It saved the day! No problems on the ride back.
El Penol is a huge meteorite in the ground the size of a mountain. The view at the top was unbelievable. The only problem are the 649 steep steps that you have to climb to get there! The kids (Cindy stayed on the ground with Gloria #1) did really well, but Gloria #2 and I had to stop for 5 minutes every 20 steps. No lie, they are tall steps, completely straight up. And because of the high altitude we had trouble with having enough oxygen to catch our breath. When you finally get to the top you can overlook as far as the eye can see, a gigantic manmade lake- actually hundreds of small lakes that are interconnected. They sank whole towns underwater so that they could make this lake. It powers all the electricity for Medellin.
After coming down, we had lunch at an authentic Colombian restaurant. The food was plentiful and delicious. We found out that the chicos LOVE fried fish! Brent ordered it and the three of them ate almost all of it themselves! Thankfully he was able to eat their food in exchange!
Then, we drove down to the lake and took a big touristy kind of boat out on the lake. Luisa was nervous at first since she'd never been on a boat but she soon got over it and loved it. They played loud Colombian salsa dancing music so the kids and I danced together. They loved that! We had lots of opportunity to work on some English words like trees, water, fish, sun, sky, clouds, boat, etc. Thankfully, Luisa is very interested in learning English. Cindy is adorable when she tries to say the words. Her mouth just can't seem to get the right sounds. She has an adorable speech impediment! She says trees like "thwees"!
Once we arrived back at the apartment, Brent ran to get pizzas while everyone got ready to go to the piscina (pool). It was sprinkling when we walked outside but we decided to go anyway. We only got in a half hour of swimming before it started with thunder and lightning. So back inside for pizza and a movie.
We had a few issues today discipline-wise, but overall it was a good day. We realized that Luisa gets quiet and pouty any time someone else is getting attention. So we are deciding to give NO attention to her when she is pouty and LOTS of attention when she's happy. Jonathan is hysterical when he tries to barter with my commands. I might say, "In five minutes we'll clean up at the pool and go to the house." And he'll hold up 7 fingers and jabber about how he should have 7 minutes. I immediately say, "Ok, 2 minutes!" Then he'll say, "No! NO! 5 minutes!" HA!
There is a lot of manipulating trying to happen with all three of them. We found out that the foster family told the kids that we would give them whatever they wanted and they could do whatever they wanted once they were with us, so we are trying to retrain that ridiculous thought.
We found out also that Luisa hasn't ever seen a washing machine (can't remember if I wrote about his yesterday...). We have found her several time washing the clothes by hand or even taking the clean clothes out of the washer and rewashing them. Thankfully Gloria helped us explain what a washer does and that she doesn't have to wash them by hand.
I had brought cute new earrings for the girls, but I haven't been able to get out her old earrings. They were a style I'd never seen before and I couldn't budge them off at all without ripping her ear! So I asked Gloria for help. Luisa explained that her foster family glued them shut because she had lost her first pair of earrings and she was never allowed to changed them again! Poor girl! I can only imagine how long she's had these earrings in! Gloria wasn't able to budge them either so tomorrow we're going to get wire cutters or something and cut them off. They aren't allowed to wear earrings for their passport photos so they HAVE to come off.
Jonathan has a big cut on his upper gum. We and he have no idea what happened. His front tooth is also discolored or dead. He had that from before he came to us. He doesn't remember what happened to his tooth. Guess we'll be spending some quantity time at the dentist once we get home!
Ok, enough for now. I'm exhausted. Grant still has a fever and I am still sick too. Need sleep!
Tomorrow is supposed to be a relaxing day at home which I'm looking forward to!
By the way, we SO appreciate your comments and emails. They are keeping us sane right now!
Monday, May 9, 2011
Day 4 Addendum
Anyone interested in seeing all our photos, please send me an email. Brent has uploaded everying to a Picassa site but it is private so you need the special link.
Thanks!
Thanks!
Day 4
Whew. What a day.
I woke up feeling horrible. Terrible sore throat and I think a fever. I dosed up on ibuprofen and Zicam, but I still feel awful. Grant came down with it too- with a high fever. Poor guy. He was fine on ibuprofen but once it wore off he was miserable.
The day started off with a tantrum and ended with a tantrum and had lots of tantrums in between. We are beginning to enforce the rules (like don't say "No" to me, and don't walk away from me when I call you, and don't steal) so we were prepared for the battles. Still it is exhausting. Brent got all of them today, unfortunately. I was either in the midst of cooking or at the grocery store.
Cindy started the meltdown because I told her she couldn't have another bath- she had just had one. We let her roll around the room as she screamed and at one point she scratched Brent on the head pretty bad. It ended well and she finally listened sweetly. Win!
Jonathan has had multiple episodes over anything he doesn't like, but they are getting shorter for the most part.
Luisa had her first tantrum with Brent and she tossed the whole room, but Brent sat in the doorway and whispered sweet things to her but didn't give in to her. Brent says that he could see a smirk on her face the whole time and the screaming wasn't terror, but she was trying to see if we would give her the same attention the other ones get during a tantrum. In the end, she was sitting on the floor near enough to him so he could stroke her hand. He said how much he loved her and that he would always love her no matter how mad she was, and she just melted! She threw her arms around him and showed respect with a "Si, Papi!". He told her the fight was over but she must clean up the mess she made and she happily did it! I think this whole thing was so important today. I hate the tantrums, but through them the kids see that we are in it for the long haul and their bad actions don't effect our love for them. They must obey, but they are learning we have their best interests in mind and only want things for their good.
Still the process is exhausting. I am so thankful for a hubby who is engaged in parenting and that we are united in our plan. He is an awesome papi!
The American kids (as I've started calling them when we talk about them with the dos Glorias) are hanging in there. Quinn cried over a few little things today but I think he might not be feeling well and he's feeling left out. So we snuggled for a little while this evening which helped a little bit. Poor guy. This is hard for him. He is so gracious but he is used to a lot of my attention since he's been my baby. Keep praying for him to feel loved and included!
In the midst of this crazy day, the Dos Glorias came over to take us to Pueblo Paisa a replicated colonial house. It was good to get out of the house but it was a waste of time in my opinion. There were about 3 historical rooms to see and the rest was full of souvenirs and junk food. It had a nice view of the city and mountains so that was the highlight for me. Frankly, Brent and I were too distracted to enjoy it because we were on high alert for children melting down.
Once we came back to the apartment, I left with Gloria #1 to go to Exito. It is exactly like a Walmart. Other than not understanding what the costs were, it was fairly easy to shop. Gloria is a riot! It took forever to shop because she talked the WHOLE TIME! HA! She is very sweet and I like her a lot. She laughs at herself constantly which makes me laugh, even though half the time I'm not exactly sure what she is laughing at! LOL!
Unfortunately, the pool is closed on Mondays so Brent had to deal with disappointed children while I was gone.
At dinner tonight Brent asked if Luisa wanted to pray. Before she could answer, Jonathan piped up saying that he wanted to. It was so precious. He thanked God for each person in the family and especially for his hermanitos. (His little brothers!) Awww!
I was having trouble understanding something that Cindy keeps saying. It sounds like "Jello". Thankfully Gloria #2 figured out that she is saying "Yo quiero..." (I want...) but she still is only 3 so it comes out like "jello"!!!
Too cute!
Luisa is very interested in learning English and we sat on the sofa going through words in a book and me writing the English words below the spanish. Hopefully she'll catch on fast. I am thinking that we need to all be in the same language as fast as possible so we can talk through a situation instead of it spiraling down into a tantrum. So I think I will start saying all the phrases I know in Spanish (the number of them is growing!) both in Spanish and English until they get used to hearing them.
Luisa has been hording other kids' toys and things in her purse. I've tried to be gentle about it and not make it a huge deal since I'm not 100% sure she understands that not everything belongs to her. We had a breakthrough tonight though. Apparently she had taken two Colombian coins from Brent's nightstand. She brought them out to Brent and gave them back. She quickly apologized for taking them. Yay! A little progress!
Also, we don't think she's ever seen a washing machine before since she feels like she needs to hand wash everything. There was also a bag of food leftovers on the counter and I tossed it in the trash. She said "NO!! We need to save it for the cows (vacas). When we go to Estades Unidos we will have them for the cows!" They lived in a dairy farm area so I guess this is what they did! So cute. But I think it is not going to be edible if we wait to take it to the cows in the USA!
We are supposed to drive for 2 hours tomorrow to see El Penol ( a meteorite from space that landed in Colombia thousands of years ago). There is a huge crack in the middle and they've built almost 800 steps to take you to the top where there is an overlook overseeing hundreds of lakes. I hope we can still go but if several of us have fevers, I'm not sure what to do...
Off to bed. Praying that this fever leaves and I feel better by tomorrow....
I woke up feeling horrible. Terrible sore throat and I think a fever. I dosed up on ibuprofen and Zicam, but I still feel awful. Grant came down with it too- with a high fever. Poor guy. He was fine on ibuprofen but once it wore off he was miserable.
The day started off with a tantrum and ended with a tantrum and had lots of tantrums in between. We are beginning to enforce the rules (like don't say "No" to me, and don't walk away from me when I call you, and don't steal) so we were prepared for the battles. Still it is exhausting. Brent got all of them today, unfortunately. I was either in the midst of cooking or at the grocery store.
Cindy started the meltdown because I told her she couldn't have another bath- she had just had one. We let her roll around the room as she screamed and at one point she scratched Brent on the head pretty bad. It ended well and she finally listened sweetly. Win!
Jonathan has had multiple episodes over anything he doesn't like, but they are getting shorter for the most part.
Luisa had her first tantrum with Brent and she tossed the whole room, but Brent sat in the doorway and whispered sweet things to her but didn't give in to her. Brent says that he could see a smirk on her face the whole time and the screaming wasn't terror, but she was trying to see if we would give her the same attention the other ones get during a tantrum. In the end, she was sitting on the floor near enough to him so he could stroke her hand. He said how much he loved her and that he would always love her no matter how mad she was, and she just melted! She threw her arms around him and showed respect with a "Si, Papi!". He told her the fight was over but she must clean up the mess she made and she happily did it! I think this whole thing was so important today. I hate the tantrums, but through them the kids see that we are in it for the long haul and their bad actions don't effect our love for them. They must obey, but they are learning we have their best interests in mind and only want things for their good.
Still the process is exhausting. I am so thankful for a hubby who is engaged in parenting and that we are united in our plan. He is an awesome papi!
The American kids (as I've started calling them when we talk about them with the dos Glorias) are hanging in there. Quinn cried over a few little things today but I think he might not be feeling well and he's feeling left out. So we snuggled for a little while this evening which helped a little bit. Poor guy. This is hard for him. He is so gracious but he is used to a lot of my attention since he's been my baby. Keep praying for him to feel loved and included!
In the midst of this crazy day, the Dos Glorias came over to take us to Pueblo Paisa a replicated colonial house. It was good to get out of the house but it was a waste of time in my opinion. There were about 3 historical rooms to see and the rest was full of souvenirs and junk food. It had a nice view of the city and mountains so that was the highlight for me. Frankly, Brent and I were too distracted to enjoy it because we were on high alert for children melting down.
Once we came back to the apartment, I left with Gloria #1 to go to Exito. It is exactly like a Walmart. Other than not understanding what the costs were, it was fairly easy to shop. Gloria is a riot! It took forever to shop because she talked the WHOLE TIME! HA! She is very sweet and I like her a lot. She laughs at herself constantly which makes me laugh, even though half the time I'm not exactly sure what she is laughing at! LOL!
Unfortunately, the pool is closed on Mondays so Brent had to deal with disappointed children while I was gone.
At dinner tonight Brent asked if Luisa wanted to pray. Before she could answer, Jonathan piped up saying that he wanted to. It was so precious. He thanked God for each person in the family and especially for his hermanitos. (His little brothers!) Awww!
I was having trouble understanding something that Cindy keeps saying. It sounds like "Jello". Thankfully Gloria #2 figured out that she is saying "Yo quiero..." (I want...) but she still is only 3 so it comes out like "jello"!!!
Too cute!
Luisa is very interested in learning English and we sat on the sofa going through words in a book and me writing the English words below the spanish. Hopefully she'll catch on fast. I am thinking that we need to all be in the same language as fast as possible so we can talk through a situation instead of it spiraling down into a tantrum. So I think I will start saying all the phrases I know in Spanish (the number of them is growing!) both in Spanish and English until they get used to hearing them.
Luisa has been hording other kids' toys and things in her purse. I've tried to be gentle about it and not make it a huge deal since I'm not 100% sure she understands that not everything belongs to her. We had a breakthrough tonight though. Apparently she had taken two Colombian coins from Brent's nightstand. She brought them out to Brent and gave them back. She quickly apologized for taking them. Yay! A little progress!
Also, we don't think she's ever seen a washing machine before since she feels like she needs to hand wash everything. There was also a bag of food leftovers on the counter and I tossed it in the trash. She said "NO!! We need to save it for the cows (vacas). When we go to Estades Unidos we will have them for the cows!" They lived in a dairy farm area so I guess this is what they did! So cute. But I think it is not going to be edible if we wait to take it to the cows in the USA!
We are supposed to drive for 2 hours tomorrow to see El Penol ( a meteorite from space that landed in Colombia thousands of years ago). There is a huge crack in the middle and they've built almost 800 steps to take you to the top where there is an overlook overseeing hundreds of lakes. I hope we can still go but if several of us have fevers, I'm not sure what to do...
Off to bed. Praying that this fever leaves and I feel better by tomorrow....
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