What a sweet, pleasant day!
We didn't have to go anywhere, so we literally spent the greater part of the day at the pool. It was good weather so we didn't get run out by the thunder and rain. The kids played pretty well for the most part. A few sibling squabbles, but no major tantrums.
We had found that any time Luisa gets frustrated, hurt or disappointed, she deals with it by getting angry. She doesn't even let us take the time to figure out what is the matter so it usually spirals down into an immediate tantrum. Well, today we had a few breakthroughs that we were pretty happy about. Simple, little things, but important.
Cindy had been demanding all the cups and plates that they were playing with in the pool and Luisa had finally had enough. She started screaming at her and swam off in a huff and ignored us when we called her. Brent had to pull her out of the pool and make her sit out. BUT, the awesome thing is that a little bit later I had her come sit with me and was finally able to ask what was the problem. She explained,( rationally!) that Cindy wanted ALL the toys. I told her I understood that wasn't nice, but she couldn't get angry. She needed to be gentle with her words. If she was having a problem she was to ask for help from mami or papi and not just get angry right away. (All this was done in my most limited spanish, but she got the point!) She actually responded well to the conversation and the tantrum ended there! AND, a few minutes later two of the boys were pulling on her inner tube and she hollared, "Ayudame, mami"! I was soooo proud of her remembering to get help from me instead of getting angry!! Score for Luisa! and us!
After some quiet time in the apartment (play food, playdoh and broken phones are a hit right now!) they all headed out for some futbol with the Mason family. Every five minutes (or less) Luisa melted down because she either got hurt (not really, but lots of drama) or someone made her mad. She had several time outs on the log with me. Finally, the fake crying was driving me (and everyone else) crazy. So I told her she couldn't play futbol unless she was strong and stopped crying. Well, I guess she got the message because she didn't have any more issues. Even when she got hit pretty hard a few times she toughed it out and said she was ok. A few times I knew it really hurt, (small field and strong, competitive kids!) but she hung in there and was a Colombiana fuerte (strong Colombian woman!). Whew. Glad that worked! She is our little drama queen! LOL!
I don't mean to harp on the issues with Luisa, but I am just so excited to see the little bits of progress here and there with her. She definitely sets the tone with the other two so having the oldest learn and obey trickles down to the other two.
Caitlin got invited by the Masons to go to dinner at the Tesoro Mall. Their 2 kids still in Colombia are both close in age to Cait so it was fun for her to go! I didn't think she would since she's never done something like that before, but she did! And she had a great time! Brent sent her with money and a cell phone and I think she was a little worried about all the responsibility! So cute! I think she has needed a little break with all the chaos, so thank you, Amanda for inviting her!
Cindy was so tired tonight that she only wanted Brent to carry her around or else she'd whine. So, while I was on the phone with our attorney, Brent fixed most of the dinner with her in his arms! He is total mush with toddlers... I love it!
Nora, our attorney, called tonight and said they got all the birth certificates and some other paperwork we had requested. Yay! Because the kids' file is so huge, we aren't sure if we will get all the copies before we have to go to Bogota, but if not, it will be mailed to us. They wanted to know if we wanted anything translated, but it is $10 a page and there are 350 pages of essential documents! Uh,.... no. I'm disappointed because I thought that was included in our fees with Gladney, but I guess not. So, does anyone at home that knows spanish want to translate for us? LOL!
Tomorrow, Luisa will need to sign her new name for her identification card so just she and I will go for that appointment. Then hopefully in the afternoon we can take all three kids for their passports. Then we have to start packing and purchase airfare for Bogota!
So far it looks like we will not be able to get our change date fee waived. It is going to be soooo expensive for us to change the date, but a whole week early is a big deal right now! Several people have suggested not changing the date, but just purchasing new tickets might be cheaper... I'll have to see...
Right now we are looking at coming home next week, sometime between Wednesday and Friday if all goes as planned. We are all very anxious and can't wait to get home. The chicos ask us several times each day how many more days until we fly to the United States. It's funny, because Jonathan will try to bargain with us. We'll say, 2 more weeks and he'll say 1 more week. I'll say 5 days until Bogota and he'll say 4 days! So funny!
Note to self: at home, buy lots of bandaids, tape, ketchup, and paper....LOL!
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Day 18 SENTENCIA!!!
I have always wanted to be a wife and mom. Even as a child, it was the only thing I ever wanted to do. Get married and have babies. God has blessed me so abundantly by allowing me to be wife to the best hubby in the world and mommy to 4 precious children that I carried in my body. But today He has overflowed my cup by giving me the privilege of being mami to 3 more precious children that I carried in my heart. Today the judge signed our final legal paperwork, called Sentencia (sentencing), stating that Luisa, Jhonatan, and Cindy are ours- forever.
So many people have made comments about how we are "doing such a good thing" by adopting the kids. But, truthfully, we feel so honored and humbled by this privilege. It has nothing to do with us at all. Our lives are not our own, but they belong to Christ. Every single part of this journey has been ALL GOD. He is the One who is allowing us to have this precious gift. He orchestrated each minute detail. So all the glory today goes to HIM, not us. Every ounce of joy we feel today is because of His goodness and sovereignty.
It was an eventful day, so let me start at the beginning...
First thing this morning I was able to get in contact with our attorney, Nora, and learned that we shouldn't have any trouble with the name issue. The Minor Defender wouldn't allow us to change the kids middle names like we had planned, which is fine. We can do it in the States. But, I was worried because their visas for the US are listed as their new names. She said everything will be fine...praying she is correct!
The kids played around the apartment until 11am. The girls found 2 phones in a drawer and have had a blast pretending they are calling each other. They really like pretending, which I love to watch!
At 11am both Glorias picked us up to go to Parque Explora. It is like an aquarium and science center in one. Frankly, after you've been to the Baltimore Aquarium and the Maryland Science Center, these were pretty lame, but the chicos had never been to either before so they absolutely LOVED all of it. They ooo'd and ahh'd over every single fish and reptile! There were some unusual animals that I'd never seen before. My favorite was a starfish that was white with bright red outlining from the Mediterranean Sea. The chicos loved the turtles the most, I think. They said they had a turtle in their first foster home as a pet. And then they loved the frogs, which must be plentiful in the country area of their second foster home. It is kind of weird to see a bunch of animals from the Amazon region and know that they are only about a 2-3 hour drive south of us and we could see them in person! I would have loved to go to the Amazon, but it is not safe, we are told. Too many guerrillas along the roads.
They also have some science center type exhibits, which entertained the kids for a long time. It is all interactive so they were running from station to station. These outings are soooo completely foreign to the chicos that they go a little crazy experiencing them. It is like they can't focus and it is all too much stimulation. It's seems like they feel the need to experience everything all at the same second or they will never be able to again- which makes sense knowing their past. Going home to the States should be very interesting...oh, boy! Lots of NEW experiences!
We knew we didn't want to have a crazy cafeteria lunch experience again, so we opted to not get lunch at the Parque Explora, but instead drove to Ovieda mall for Archie's Pizza. I'd heard about this place before on other blogs. They give the kids their own piece of dough for them to form into a pizza and then they bake it right then for them. Sounds fun!
At Archie's Pizza we were right in the middle of trying to order with the waitress (and find tables to fit all of us-a little chaos!) when Brent got a phone call from Nora! We had been hoping for a call all day! He handed the phone to Gloria to work out the details. They wanted both parents to come and sign, but NO KIDS! How they expected that to happen, I have no idea, but I have to say I am soooo thankful for our guide, Gloria who said she would stay with all the kids! She kept them ALL at the pizza restaurant while we raced to the courthouse! I was so worried that the kids would misbehave for her, but she said, other than logistics of taking kids to the bathroom, all went fine! Whew! They made their pizzas and then the waitress entertained them with balloons and coloring.
Unfortunately, we had not remembered to carry around all the cash we needed with us (for LOTS of copies of birth certificates, and other documents) so we had to race back to the apartment to grab the money, then park at the Exito, grab a taxi (parking is difficult a the courthouse) to the courthouse. Of course, traffic was horrible since everyone was heading back into work from their siesta (hour long lunch break).
Once there, we found Nora where she explained all the details again. She is phenomenal. She is the most thorough and organized person I've ever met. AND she talks SLOW so we can understand her! LOL! We had thought that since they requested both parents (often they just ask for one) that the judge would be talking to us. But when we arrived we just walked up to a counter and signed our names on one piece of paper. That's it! SO ANTICLIMACTIC! She had explained that the last section of the document is the most important where it says that for now and forever the children will belong to us. Well, I lost it again. Tears... Poor Nora! I think I've cried every time I've met with her! Thankfully she is so understanding and each time says it is good to cry and go ahead! LOL! Love her!
We sat and discussed some other legal issues and asked some questions about their history and then we were off again- in a taxi to Gloria's car and back to the apartment. Gloria brought all the kids home (brave woman!) in her car. Once inside, I poured juice (drinkable yogurt- a treat) for the kids and we all celebrated. I google translated... "Today is a very special day for all of us. Today the judge said that you are our children forever!" Then we all clanged glasses and squealed!
Jonathan and Cindy were super excited. When we asked Luisa if she was excited she got a solemn look on her face and said No. Uh, oh. We braced for the worst. I gently asked why she was not happy. She said she didn't want a family. But then as soon as she said it, she burst out laughing and screamed, "SI! MUY EMOTIONADA!" (Yes! I'm very excited!) She was totally playing us! She is such the drama queen! Silly girl! She about gave me a heart attack! I tickled her to the ground and told her I was her mami forever and she couldn't have another one! She giggled and giggled. She loves the attention.
Before anyone got restless, we headed to the pool for a little while. We were able to meet our friends, the Masons, and share our great news! Hopefully they will only be a day or two behind us with their Sentencia. Once the thunder started we headed home and had pizza and a movie to relax. It had been a long day and everyone needed to chill! After baths, we all had a treat that Brent had picked up at the store. It is a container of sweet caramel called Arequipe, that you can spread on crackers or Queso Blanco. Or just eat off the spoon like some of them did!
So, that ends our very special day when our family became whole!
The one question everyone is emailing me is... When are you coming home???
LOL!
Well, we're still not sure, BUT it will be sooner than we had planned!
Tomorrow, Nora is going to ICBF to get a copy of the kids' file and her associate is going to each of the three notary offices to try to get their new birth certificates with our last name on it. We are hoping all that paperwork can be done in one day.
In Colombia, everyone over the age of 7 has to have an identification card. So Luisa has one, but she now has to go to the ID office and get a new one with her new last name. She has to sign the new name so hopefully she'll do ok! She's been practicing! She'll either do that tomorrow afternoon or Thursday morning. Then hopefully, Thursday we will be able to get them their Colombian passports with their new name. It is supposed to only take an hour or two!
THEN, we are free to book our airfare to fly to Bogota. So we'll fly sometime over the weekend, I guess.
Once in Bogota, we will still have to do all the National ICBF paperwork, and US Embassy doctor visit and Visa issuance before we come home. Some say it only takes 3 days, others say it takes 5 days. So we'll see...
Since the chicos are legally ours, it is fine for us to open our Picassa photo album to the public! Finally, you can see pics of them if you haven't already! Blogger is super frustrating to load pics to, so I'm putting the link here so you can see them. Enjoy!
https://picasaweb.google.com/107760821871854398097/AdoptionJourney2011#
So many people have made comments about how we are "doing such a good thing" by adopting the kids. But, truthfully, we feel so honored and humbled by this privilege. It has nothing to do with us at all. Our lives are not our own, but they belong to Christ. Every single part of this journey has been ALL GOD. He is the One who is allowing us to have this precious gift. He orchestrated each minute detail. So all the glory today goes to HIM, not us. Every ounce of joy we feel today is because of His goodness and sovereignty.
It was an eventful day, so let me start at the beginning...
First thing this morning I was able to get in contact with our attorney, Nora, and learned that we shouldn't have any trouble with the name issue. The Minor Defender wouldn't allow us to change the kids middle names like we had planned, which is fine. We can do it in the States. But, I was worried because their visas for the US are listed as their new names. She said everything will be fine...praying she is correct!
The kids played around the apartment until 11am. The girls found 2 phones in a drawer and have had a blast pretending they are calling each other. They really like pretending, which I love to watch!
At 11am both Glorias picked us up to go to Parque Explora. It is like an aquarium and science center in one. Frankly, after you've been to the Baltimore Aquarium and the Maryland Science Center, these were pretty lame, but the chicos had never been to either before so they absolutely LOVED all of it. They ooo'd and ahh'd over every single fish and reptile! There were some unusual animals that I'd never seen before. My favorite was a starfish that was white with bright red outlining from the Mediterranean Sea. The chicos loved the turtles the most, I think. They said they had a turtle in their first foster home as a pet. And then they loved the frogs, which must be plentiful in the country area of their second foster home. It is kind of weird to see a bunch of animals from the Amazon region and know that they are only about a 2-3 hour drive south of us and we could see them in person! I would have loved to go to the Amazon, but it is not safe, we are told. Too many guerrillas along the roads.
They also have some science center type exhibits, which entertained the kids for a long time. It is all interactive so they were running from station to station. These outings are soooo completely foreign to the chicos that they go a little crazy experiencing them. It is like they can't focus and it is all too much stimulation. It's seems like they feel the need to experience everything all at the same second or they will never be able to again- which makes sense knowing their past. Going home to the States should be very interesting...oh, boy! Lots of NEW experiences!
We knew we didn't want to have a crazy cafeteria lunch experience again, so we opted to not get lunch at the Parque Explora, but instead drove to Ovieda mall for Archie's Pizza. I'd heard about this place before on other blogs. They give the kids their own piece of dough for them to form into a pizza and then they bake it right then for them. Sounds fun!
At Archie's Pizza we were right in the middle of trying to order with the waitress (and find tables to fit all of us-a little chaos!) when Brent got a phone call from Nora! We had been hoping for a call all day! He handed the phone to Gloria to work out the details. They wanted both parents to come and sign, but NO KIDS! How they expected that to happen, I have no idea, but I have to say I am soooo thankful for our guide, Gloria who said she would stay with all the kids! She kept them ALL at the pizza restaurant while we raced to the courthouse! I was so worried that the kids would misbehave for her, but she said, other than logistics of taking kids to the bathroom, all went fine! Whew! They made their pizzas and then the waitress entertained them with balloons and coloring.
Unfortunately, we had not remembered to carry around all the cash we needed with us (for LOTS of copies of birth certificates, and other documents) so we had to race back to the apartment to grab the money, then park at the Exito, grab a taxi (parking is difficult a the courthouse) to the courthouse. Of course, traffic was horrible since everyone was heading back into work from their siesta (hour long lunch break).
Once there, we found Nora where she explained all the details again. She is phenomenal. She is the most thorough and organized person I've ever met. AND she talks SLOW so we can understand her! LOL! We had thought that since they requested both parents (often they just ask for one) that the judge would be talking to us. But when we arrived we just walked up to a counter and signed our names on one piece of paper. That's it! SO ANTICLIMACTIC! She had explained that the last section of the document is the most important where it says that for now and forever the children will belong to us. Well, I lost it again. Tears... Poor Nora! I think I've cried every time I've met with her! Thankfully she is so understanding and each time says it is good to cry and go ahead! LOL! Love her!
We sat and discussed some other legal issues and asked some questions about their history and then we were off again- in a taxi to Gloria's car and back to the apartment. Gloria brought all the kids home (brave woman!) in her car. Once inside, I poured juice (drinkable yogurt- a treat) for the kids and we all celebrated. I google translated... "Today is a very special day for all of us. Today the judge said that you are our children forever!" Then we all clanged glasses and squealed!
Jonathan and Cindy were super excited. When we asked Luisa if she was excited she got a solemn look on her face and said No. Uh, oh. We braced for the worst. I gently asked why she was not happy. She said she didn't want a family. But then as soon as she said it, she burst out laughing and screamed, "SI! MUY EMOTIONADA!" (Yes! I'm very excited!) She was totally playing us! She is such the drama queen! Silly girl! She about gave me a heart attack! I tickled her to the ground and told her I was her mami forever and she couldn't have another one! She giggled and giggled. She loves the attention.
Before anyone got restless, we headed to the pool for a little while. We were able to meet our friends, the Masons, and share our great news! Hopefully they will only be a day or two behind us with their Sentencia. Once the thunder started we headed home and had pizza and a movie to relax. It had been a long day and everyone needed to chill! After baths, we all had a treat that Brent had picked up at the store. It is a container of sweet caramel called Arequipe, that you can spread on crackers or Queso Blanco. Or just eat off the spoon like some of them did!
So, that ends our very special day when our family became whole!
The one question everyone is emailing me is... When are you coming home???
LOL!
Well, we're still not sure, BUT it will be sooner than we had planned!
Tomorrow, Nora is going to ICBF to get a copy of the kids' file and her associate is going to each of the three notary offices to try to get their new birth certificates with our last name on it. We are hoping all that paperwork can be done in one day.
In Colombia, everyone over the age of 7 has to have an identification card. So Luisa has one, but she now has to go to the ID office and get a new one with her new last name. She has to sign the new name so hopefully she'll do ok! She's been practicing! She'll either do that tomorrow afternoon or Thursday morning. Then hopefully, Thursday we will be able to get them their Colombian passports with their new name. It is supposed to only take an hour or two!
THEN, we are free to book our airfare to fly to Bogota. So we'll fly sometime over the weekend, I guess.
Once in Bogota, we will still have to do all the National ICBF paperwork, and US Embassy doctor visit and Visa issuance before we come home. Some say it only takes 3 days, others say it takes 5 days. So we'll see...
Since the chicos are legally ours, it is fine for us to open our Picassa photo album to the public! Finally, you can see pics of them if you haven't already! Blogger is super frustrating to load pics to, so I'm putting the link here so you can see them. Enjoy!
https://picasaweb.google.com/107760821871854398097/AdoptionJourney2011#
Monday, May 23, 2011
Day 17
Today started rough, but ended beautifully.
We barely got through breakfast when we had a major meltdown with Luisa. She is so much more challenging because she is so tall and strong. I definitely can't handle her alone. So it ends up being a two person effort. But, this time it wasn't as long- only 45 minutes. And surprisingly, she was a bit more tranquil. I think this time we actually got closer to true repentance. All the other times it is hard to discern whether she is fully finished with her tantrum because she stays sulky and grumpy until she gets something that makes her happy again. This time I didn't allow her to have anything nice afterward and had to say no to her several times right after and she still responded well. She even had to deal with not getting to wear the dress that she wanted since it was covered in ketchup still. So even though it was another tantrum, it was still profitable!
Around 11am we headed out to see the Metrocable (pronounced may-trow-cob-lay) that is famous in Medellin. The river that runs through the middle of the city (Rio de Medellin, I think) separates the two halves of the city. Almost all the people on the north side of the city are extremely poor and it would take hours to get to any form of work on the other side of the river where things are a bit wealthier. So the government of Medellin built an elaborate metro system that is very cheap for people to ride. It has allowed the people on the North side to find work easier by getting there more quickly and efficiently and inexpensively.
Because Medellin is literally built into the valley and up the sides of the mountain, they also built a cable car system as part of the metro. It has gondola type cars that take you straight up the side of the mountain and over the top!
We knew this was one of the main things we wanted to do here because our chicos were born in one of the slums that is underneath the cable system. It is much to dangerous to ever drive by car to their neighborhood, so seeing it safely from above was perfect.
First we had to ride the regular metro train. The chicos had never been on one before so they were a bit nervous. It was TOTALLY PACKED, and our guide said this was a light time of day! Oh, my! I can't imagine what rush hour is like! We were tossed back and forth around the metro since we couldn't get close to the holding bars.
Then we had to transfer to the cable car system. We had to take two since we had such a large group. So one guide went with all the guys and one with all the girls! You can take the cable car ride 3/4 way up the mountain in about 30 minutes or less. Or you can go all the way up and over, but that takes hours! We had only planned to go the shorter route since we got a later start in the day, but it turns out we wouldn't have been able to go all the way up anyway since it was closed due to cleaning.
It was a super interesting ride. You can really tell how the areas get progressively poorer the further up the mountain you go. Near the metro it looks like a slum in the US, but the further up you go the more depressing it is. It reminded me a lot of our travels to the Tarahumaran communities in Mexico, with scattered boards and pieces of metal for roofs with bricks holding the pieces on so the wind didn't blow it off. Only, instead of them being one story houses, they stack them up as high as they can. So there might be 3 or 4 floors- extremely uneven and dangerous to even live in. The higher we went, the more feeble the houses looked and we didn't even go as high as the poorest of poor areas.
I am so thankful we had the opportunity to go and see these areas. It made me more fully appreciate what the chicos lived through and gave me a tender heart for the multitude of desperate people in that place. My heart breaks for the many who live in such horrible conditions. Yet, what was interesting was that there were tons of people milling about and children playing and music blaring. They were still enjoying life as much as they were able to in their situation.
On the ride, Luisa talked openly about her memories of living with her birth mother. I'm not going to give the details here because it is her private story and memories, but it was interesting to hear the tidbits that she remembers even as a toddler. I'm writing all of her comments down so one day when she is grown and has forgotten these memories, she'll at least have a record of what she said to us. It is such a precious gift to us that she is talking so freely. I think she feels safe in our relationship for her to do this.
On the way back in the regular metro, we had a bit of an adventure. The train was even more crowded this time and our big group had to cross from one side of the train to the other door to get out at our station. We had formulated a plan of which adult had which child and what our escape route was, but boy, they don't allow much time for people to get off and on! Like 10 seconds! Only half of us got off in time before the doors shut! Thankfully, a guide ended up being with each of the stranded groups. I had a few kids and was able to get off, but Brent had a few of the rest of the kids and got stuck on! Poor kids were a bit panicked! It was scary! I'm just glad it was Brent stranded and not me! LOL! He's much better about those kinds of situations than me! They ended up getting off at the next stop and taking a taxi back to where we had parked. Whew!
We ate lunch in the cafeteria at Exito (a Walmart type store). That was chaotic with trying to get 9 people all the right food without any meltdowns due to low blood sugar levels! But we finally survived with only two juice spills and one bout of tears.
We headed back to the apartment to chill for a bit. After a bit we headed out for some fubol and met the other adoptive family. The kids had a great time playing futbol together but there were a bunch of bruised shins and a few other injuries! Luisa and the other family's Jonathan are very competitive so they were intense in their play! LOL! They all had fun though! Then both families walked down to the food place down the road to have dinner together. They kids are all feeling super comfortable with each other now and therefore they were all super silly and wound up! This only adds to the spectacle that we already are! LOL! They still needed to burn up some energy so we finished the night at the playground.
Once back at the apartment, Brent got a phone call from Nora, our attorney. Apparently, the Defensora won't allow us to change the kids' names like we had planned. In Colombia, the law says you can only change a child's name up until they are three unless there are extenuating circumstances. And I guess the Defensora didn't feel like being adopted was sufficient reason. That's fine because we can get their names changed once we do the readoption in the US. My only concern now (which I have to talk to Nora about tomorrow) is that the new names are listed on our airfare tickets and their US Visas. So I'm praying that this won't be an issue....we'll see...
Ok, heading to bed. It's been a full day! Pray for Sentencia tomorrow!
We barely got through breakfast when we had a major meltdown with Luisa. She is so much more challenging because she is so tall and strong. I definitely can't handle her alone. So it ends up being a two person effort. But, this time it wasn't as long- only 45 minutes. And surprisingly, she was a bit more tranquil. I think this time we actually got closer to true repentance. All the other times it is hard to discern whether she is fully finished with her tantrum because she stays sulky and grumpy until she gets something that makes her happy again. This time I didn't allow her to have anything nice afterward and had to say no to her several times right after and she still responded well. She even had to deal with not getting to wear the dress that she wanted since it was covered in ketchup still. So even though it was another tantrum, it was still profitable!
Around 11am we headed out to see the Metrocable (pronounced may-trow-cob-lay) that is famous in Medellin. The river that runs through the middle of the city (Rio de Medellin, I think) separates the two halves of the city. Almost all the people on the north side of the city are extremely poor and it would take hours to get to any form of work on the other side of the river where things are a bit wealthier. So the government of Medellin built an elaborate metro system that is very cheap for people to ride. It has allowed the people on the North side to find work easier by getting there more quickly and efficiently and inexpensively.
Because Medellin is literally built into the valley and up the sides of the mountain, they also built a cable car system as part of the metro. It has gondola type cars that take you straight up the side of the mountain and over the top!
We knew this was one of the main things we wanted to do here because our chicos were born in one of the slums that is underneath the cable system. It is much to dangerous to ever drive by car to their neighborhood, so seeing it safely from above was perfect.
First we had to ride the regular metro train. The chicos had never been on one before so they were a bit nervous. It was TOTALLY PACKED, and our guide said this was a light time of day! Oh, my! I can't imagine what rush hour is like! We were tossed back and forth around the metro since we couldn't get close to the holding bars.
Then we had to transfer to the cable car system. We had to take two since we had such a large group. So one guide went with all the guys and one with all the girls! You can take the cable car ride 3/4 way up the mountain in about 30 minutes or less. Or you can go all the way up and over, but that takes hours! We had only planned to go the shorter route since we got a later start in the day, but it turns out we wouldn't have been able to go all the way up anyway since it was closed due to cleaning.
It was a super interesting ride. You can really tell how the areas get progressively poorer the further up the mountain you go. Near the metro it looks like a slum in the US, but the further up you go the more depressing it is. It reminded me a lot of our travels to the Tarahumaran communities in Mexico, with scattered boards and pieces of metal for roofs with bricks holding the pieces on so the wind didn't blow it off. Only, instead of them being one story houses, they stack them up as high as they can. So there might be 3 or 4 floors- extremely uneven and dangerous to even live in. The higher we went, the more feeble the houses looked and we didn't even go as high as the poorest of poor areas.
I am so thankful we had the opportunity to go and see these areas. It made me more fully appreciate what the chicos lived through and gave me a tender heart for the multitude of desperate people in that place. My heart breaks for the many who live in such horrible conditions. Yet, what was interesting was that there were tons of people milling about and children playing and music blaring. They were still enjoying life as much as they were able to in their situation.
On the ride, Luisa talked openly about her memories of living with her birth mother. I'm not going to give the details here because it is her private story and memories, but it was interesting to hear the tidbits that she remembers even as a toddler. I'm writing all of her comments down so one day when she is grown and has forgotten these memories, she'll at least have a record of what she said to us. It is such a precious gift to us that she is talking so freely. I think she feels safe in our relationship for her to do this.
On the way back in the regular metro, we had a bit of an adventure. The train was even more crowded this time and our big group had to cross from one side of the train to the other door to get out at our station. We had formulated a plan of which adult had which child and what our escape route was, but boy, they don't allow much time for people to get off and on! Like 10 seconds! Only half of us got off in time before the doors shut! Thankfully, a guide ended up being with each of the stranded groups. I had a few kids and was able to get off, but Brent had a few of the rest of the kids and got stuck on! Poor kids were a bit panicked! It was scary! I'm just glad it was Brent stranded and not me! LOL! He's much better about those kinds of situations than me! They ended up getting off at the next stop and taking a taxi back to where we had parked. Whew!
We ate lunch in the cafeteria at Exito (a Walmart type store). That was chaotic with trying to get 9 people all the right food without any meltdowns due to low blood sugar levels! But we finally survived with only two juice spills and one bout of tears.
We headed back to the apartment to chill for a bit. After a bit we headed out for some fubol and met the other adoptive family. The kids had a great time playing futbol together but there were a bunch of bruised shins and a few other injuries! Luisa and the other family's Jonathan are very competitive so they were intense in their play! LOL! They all had fun though! Then both families walked down to the food place down the road to have dinner together. They kids are all feeling super comfortable with each other now and therefore they were all super silly and wound up! This only adds to the spectacle that we already are! LOL! They still needed to burn up some energy so we finished the night at the playground.
Once back at the apartment, Brent got a phone call from Nora, our attorney. Apparently, the Defensora won't allow us to change the kids' names like we had planned. In Colombia, the law says you can only change a child's name up until they are three unless there are extenuating circumstances. And I guess the Defensora didn't feel like being adopted was sufficient reason. That's fine because we can get their names changed once we do the readoption in the US. My only concern now (which I have to talk to Nora about tomorrow) is that the new names are listed on our airfare tickets and their US Visas. So I'm praying that this won't be an issue....we'll see...
Ok, heading to bed. It's been a full day! Pray for Sentencia tomorrow!
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Day 16
Today was a more challenging day. After a week of good days, we were due for a fun day of tantrums! LOL!
It started off good... Daddy walked down and bought bunuelos for breakfast. (I am glad this apartment doesn't have a scale. I'll deal with the consequences when we go home!) We tidied the house and then headed to the pool. We enjoyed catching up with Amanda and the two kids who ended up staying with her in Colombia for the rest of their adoption process. We hadn't seen her for a few days, so it was nice to sit and chat and share stories. A bunch of the kids went on a bug hunt for a while! They came back with a bunch of pool toys filled with critters! Then it started to thunder so we all headed back to the apartment for lunch.
After lunch we could tell that Luisa was heading downhill. I can't put my finger on what the issue was, but she was just itching for a fight. Finally around 5pm it hit. She spiraled down and ended up with an hour long tantrum. Much shorter than last Saturday, but still exhausting. Jonathan must have been heading that direction too, because he decided to throw a tantrum at the same time, but his only lasted a few minutes. He ended up with several more throughout the evening. It seems Luisa has them less frequently, but when they come they are doosies! Jonathan has them more often but they are not as bad or as long. Brent and I talked and we are actually relieved that it happened today. The past week was a nice reprieve, but I think they needed to test the boundaries again and learn that they haven't moved since last week.
Cindy was so adorable today. She only wanted Cait for the greater part of the day, which was so cute. Cait loved it, but I think that might have fed into Luisa's frustration today. I think jealousy played a part even though Cait did a good job including Luisa.
We brought out the UNO game this afternoon during the rainy time. I think they loved it! I lost track of how many rounds we played! A perfect game for their ages! And it helps with learning numbers and colors in English!
Then the boys and Cindy decided to put every single hair accessory that we brought into my hair and Cait's hair! Oh, you should see the pictures! Our heads were sore at the end because they just rip the hair accessory out of our hair instead of unclipping!
The chicos are very interested in learning English. It is so cute to hear them repeat words and phrases. Luisa copies when I say Okee-dokie! So funny!
Brent made a delicious traditional Colombian meal tonight. It was a honey lime chicken glaze. He is much more daring and ambitious in the kitchen! I love when he cooks, though! This is one of our favorite times together when we cook together in the kitchen. Luisa helped out for a while. Brent told her that he was making his specialty meal. So she had to make her specialty too! She made a delicious lime drink. I think it was only water, fresh squeezed limes and sugar, but it was very refreshing!
I'm glad the weekend is over. I was really missing being in church today. Missing fellowship and the teaching. I know I can listen online, but it is so chaotic and loud here that I wouldn't hear it anyway. Tomorrow the court is open so hopefully we will get Sentencia sometime this week. I'm ready to come home! (I feel bad saying that when we've only been here over two weeks and there are other families that have been here 6 weeks! Sorry, Lori! Praying for sentencia for you guys tomorrow!)
It started off good... Daddy walked down and bought bunuelos for breakfast. (I am glad this apartment doesn't have a scale. I'll deal with the consequences when we go home!) We tidied the house and then headed to the pool. We enjoyed catching up with Amanda and the two kids who ended up staying with her in Colombia for the rest of their adoption process. We hadn't seen her for a few days, so it was nice to sit and chat and share stories. A bunch of the kids went on a bug hunt for a while! They came back with a bunch of pool toys filled with critters! Then it started to thunder so we all headed back to the apartment for lunch.
After lunch we could tell that Luisa was heading downhill. I can't put my finger on what the issue was, but she was just itching for a fight. Finally around 5pm it hit. She spiraled down and ended up with an hour long tantrum. Much shorter than last Saturday, but still exhausting. Jonathan must have been heading that direction too, because he decided to throw a tantrum at the same time, but his only lasted a few minutes. He ended up with several more throughout the evening. It seems Luisa has them less frequently, but when they come they are doosies! Jonathan has them more often but they are not as bad or as long. Brent and I talked and we are actually relieved that it happened today. The past week was a nice reprieve, but I think they needed to test the boundaries again and learn that they haven't moved since last week.
Cindy was so adorable today. She only wanted Cait for the greater part of the day, which was so cute. Cait loved it, but I think that might have fed into Luisa's frustration today. I think jealousy played a part even though Cait did a good job including Luisa.
We brought out the UNO game this afternoon during the rainy time. I think they loved it! I lost track of how many rounds we played! A perfect game for their ages! And it helps with learning numbers and colors in English!
Then the boys and Cindy decided to put every single hair accessory that we brought into my hair and Cait's hair! Oh, you should see the pictures! Our heads were sore at the end because they just rip the hair accessory out of our hair instead of unclipping!
The chicos are very interested in learning English. It is so cute to hear them repeat words and phrases. Luisa copies when I say Okee-dokie! So funny!
Brent made a delicious traditional Colombian meal tonight. It was a honey lime chicken glaze. He is much more daring and ambitious in the kitchen! I love when he cooks, though! This is one of our favorite times together when we cook together in the kitchen. Luisa helped out for a while. Brent told her that he was making his specialty meal. So she had to make her specialty too! She made a delicious lime drink. I think it was only water, fresh squeezed limes and sugar, but it was very refreshing!
I'm glad the weekend is over. I was really missing being in church today. Missing fellowship and the teaching. I know I can listen online, but it is so chaotic and loud here that I wouldn't hear it anyway. Tomorrow the court is open so hopefully we will get Sentencia sometime this week. I'm ready to come home! (I feel bad saying that when we've only been here over two weeks and there are other families that have been here 6 weeks! Sorry, Lori! Praying for sentencia for you guys tomorrow!)
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Day 15
I feel like our days are just repeating the same thing over and over this week! I feel so thankful for how well things are going this week. I am just in awe that so early in this process we are having such success!
After breakfast, Brent walked to the grocery store with Grant, Jake and Jonathan. It was Jonathan's first time in a grocery store (as we know it)- EVER. Brent said he did pretty well, considering he had to be told no to a lot of things he asked for. I know Brent was glad he had all his helpers because it was a bunch of bags to carry back- UPHILL! You know, at home when I think of uphill, it is nothing like what uphill is here! It is so steep! The city is literally built into the side of the mountain so there is not one single level road in the whole place. I can't imagine how often people need to replace their brakes here!
They brought home some mangos to try and Luisa was super excited. We had never had one, so she showed us how she just slices it like a tomato and eats it. I think she almost ate the whole thing herself! Can't believe she didn't get a stomachache afterward! It turns out it is her all time favorite fruit.
While Brent was at the store, the little girls dressed up in their pretty dresses complete with tights, dress shoes, and hair bows. They were so cute even though they didn't fully match! I had brought some cloth play food, so I got that out along with some kitchen dishes I had bought for the pool. They had a blast playing with the food and dishes and lots of water at the coffee table.
After lunch, we headed to the pool. It was on the cool side so Quinn and Jonathan decided to go bug catching in the bushes behind the pool. They found some big bugs/beetles in the leaves (not leaves like at home! Big waxy Amazonish-type leaves!) and made them their pets! They fed them bits of chips and made a little home for them in the play dishes! I love watching little boys play with bugs! I can't explain it, but it just makes me happy- like all is right with the world! Boys enjoying the creation God made, not needing to be entertained by worldly distractions....so precious!
After an hour or so it started thundering so we packed up and headed back to the apartment. I decided that the US kids needed to do some schoolwork. The chicos were sorely disappointed that I had not brought them school books, though the older kids would have gladly given them theirs! I tried to pass off coloring books as sufficient but they saw through my lame attempt. LOL! So they decided to play school on their own back in the bedroom. They packed up books and paper in their backpacks and pretended to go to sleep in the beds and then wake up and do school! They were really using their imagination! So often, children who watch a lot of tv lose the ability to do imaginary play for long periods of time. We had been told that they watched hours and hours of tv each day. So when their play lasted almost 2 hours, I was amazed! No one asked for a movie or food or anything. They were completely engrossed! At one point, they asked Quinn to play too and even though he didn't understand what they were playing, he got along fine. I found him and Luisa doing math problems together! Though, Luisa is more advanced than Quinn! It is funny to watch her do addition. She writes the plus sign on the opposite side and forms her letters and numbers different than we do. I'm enjoying watching her! As a teacher I find it interesting to see and interpret how she has learned.
We played a few games- checkers and Blink. By that time, it was dinnertime- tacos! After dinner the kids played more games and cut and colored! Every day the coffee table and carpet look like a paper factory exploded! They are getting pretty creative, though! Luisa had made probably hundreds of paper coins and bills! Jonathan copies anything Quinn does. Today Quinn made himself a paper policeman costume and Jonathan had to have an exact replica too! Oh, when Brent explained to Cindy that he was a policman, she didn't like that idea! She said, "NO!" HA! I guess she doesn't have a good association with police!
Somehow all our older kids ended up on our bed to watch a Dora movie and Luisa and Jonathan ended up in the living room to watch Princess Bride again. It is their favorite movie!
After dinner, Brent and Luisa made brownies. In Colombia there is this thick liquid cream that they put on desserts or ice cream. Brent had bought some to put on top of the brownies and you'd have thought the kids had died and gone to heaven! I didn't think it had much flavor but they loved it!
The rest of the evening was very quiet, even though we had a short issue with Jonathan getting upset. The tantrums aren't even what I would consider a tantrum anymore. Honestly, I probably had to scold our bio kids more today than the Colombian kids! Brent and I keep saying how we are totally amazed at how well this week is going. We are so thankful to the Lord for allowing the kids to progress so quickly. Last week we were not so hopeful, so this week we are just in awe.
Yesterday we did get some difficult news from our agency. We learned that our program manager, his wife who is also employed by Gladney, our attorneys Nora and Blanca have all lost their jobs. Gladney is cutting expenses and as of yesterday, their jobs are terminated. We are so, so sad for them. It was a total shock for them so they are hurt and still reeling from the news. We have been reassured by both Gladney and each of them personally that they will finish our case to the end, for which we are extremely thankful. I don't know what we would do if we were suddenly left on our own at this point! We are praying that they find work quickly and can continue to do what they do best- find families for children! In our experience they have each been phenomenal to work with and we are sad to know that we are their last family. Our hearts go out to them, especially for Raul because I am sure this affects his visa situation since he is a Colombian living in the US because of his job.
Ok, heading off to bed now. The bird in the apartment balcony above us starts screaming early in the morning and I don't want to miss it! (said with much sarcasm!)
After breakfast, Brent walked to the grocery store with Grant, Jake and Jonathan. It was Jonathan's first time in a grocery store (as we know it)- EVER. Brent said he did pretty well, considering he had to be told no to a lot of things he asked for. I know Brent was glad he had all his helpers because it was a bunch of bags to carry back- UPHILL! You know, at home when I think of uphill, it is nothing like what uphill is here! It is so steep! The city is literally built into the side of the mountain so there is not one single level road in the whole place. I can't imagine how often people need to replace their brakes here!
They brought home some mangos to try and Luisa was super excited. We had never had one, so she showed us how she just slices it like a tomato and eats it. I think she almost ate the whole thing herself! Can't believe she didn't get a stomachache afterward! It turns out it is her all time favorite fruit.
While Brent was at the store, the little girls dressed up in their pretty dresses complete with tights, dress shoes, and hair bows. They were so cute even though they didn't fully match! I had brought some cloth play food, so I got that out along with some kitchen dishes I had bought for the pool. They had a blast playing with the food and dishes and lots of water at the coffee table.
After lunch, we headed to the pool. It was on the cool side so Quinn and Jonathan decided to go bug catching in the bushes behind the pool. They found some big bugs/beetles in the leaves (not leaves like at home! Big waxy Amazonish-type leaves!) and made them their pets! They fed them bits of chips and made a little home for them in the play dishes! I love watching little boys play with bugs! I can't explain it, but it just makes me happy- like all is right with the world! Boys enjoying the creation God made, not needing to be entertained by worldly distractions....so precious!
After an hour or so it started thundering so we packed up and headed back to the apartment. I decided that the US kids needed to do some schoolwork. The chicos were sorely disappointed that I had not brought them school books, though the older kids would have gladly given them theirs! I tried to pass off coloring books as sufficient but they saw through my lame attempt. LOL! So they decided to play school on their own back in the bedroom. They packed up books and paper in their backpacks and pretended to go to sleep in the beds and then wake up and do school! They were really using their imagination! So often, children who watch a lot of tv lose the ability to do imaginary play for long periods of time. We had been told that they watched hours and hours of tv each day. So when their play lasted almost 2 hours, I was amazed! No one asked for a movie or food or anything. They were completely engrossed! At one point, they asked Quinn to play too and even though he didn't understand what they were playing, he got along fine. I found him and Luisa doing math problems together! Though, Luisa is more advanced than Quinn! It is funny to watch her do addition. She writes the plus sign on the opposite side and forms her letters and numbers different than we do. I'm enjoying watching her! As a teacher I find it interesting to see and interpret how she has learned.
We played a few games- checkers and Blink. By that time, it was dinnertime- tacos! After dinner the kids played more games and cut and colored! Every day the coffee table and carpet look like a paper factory exploded! They are getting pretty creative, though! Luisa had made probably hundreds of paper coins and bills! Jonathan copies anything Quinn does. Today Quinn made himself a paper policeman costume and Jonathan had to have an exact replica too! Oh, when Brent explained to Cindy that he was a policman, she didn't like that idea! She said, "NO!" HA! I guess she doesn't have a good association with police!
Somehow all our older kids ended up on our bed to watch a Dora movie and Luisa and Jonathan ended up in the living room to watch Princess Bride again. It is their favorite movie!
After dinner, Brent and Luisa made brownies. In Colombia there is this thick liquid cream that they put on desserts or ice cream. Brent had bought some to put on top of the brownies and you'd have thought the kids had died and gone to heaven! I didn't think it had much flavor but they loved it!
The rest of the evening was very quiet, even though we had a short issue with Jonathan getting upset. The tantrums aren't even what I would consider a tantrum anymore. Honestly, I probably had to scold our bio kids more today than the Colombian kids! Brent and I keep saying how we are totally amazed at how well this week is going. We are so thankful to the Lord for allowing the kids to progress so quickly. Last week we were not so hopeful, so this week we are just in awe.
Yesterday we did get some difficult news from our agency. We learned that our program manager, his wife who is also employed by Gladney, our attorneys Nora and Blanca have all lost their jobs. Gladney is cutting expenses and as of yesterday, their jobs are terminated. We are so, so sad for them. It was a total shock for them so they are hurt and still reeling from the news. We have been reassured by both Gladney and each of them personally that they will finish our case to the end, for which we are extremely thankful. I don't know what we would do if we were suddenly left on our own at this point! We are praying that they find work quickly and can continue to do what they do best- find families for children! In our experience they have each been phenomenal to work with and we are sad to know that we are their last family. Our hearts go out to them, especially for Raul because I am sure this affects his visa situation since he is a Colombian living in the US because of his job.
Ok, heading off to bed now. The bird in the apartment balcony above us starts screaming early in the morning and I don't want to miss it! (said with much sarcasm!)
Friday, May 20, 2011
Day 14
What an interesting day!
We went straight to the pool after breakfast since we had plans for the rest of the day and we knew the kids would be disappointed if we couldn't go!
We have been needing to get organized with all our upcoming expenses for rent, document copies, birth certificates, passports, visas, etc. But, we can only make 4 withdrawls per day from the atm, and only a certain amount. This calls for lots of preplanning! So, while the kids swam, Brent and I sat at a table at the pool and counted and organized all our cash in to baggies for each expense! It is so funny because it looked like we were organizing a drug deal with all the stacks of money, right by the pool! LOL! Thank goodness we are in a gated community with tall bushes all around. Otherwise it might not have been the smartest thing to do in public! LOL!
After the pool, Gloria #2 picked us up and took us to Barefoot Park. This is a small park area that is set up to be peaceful and tranquil. It has 2 small wading pools to soak your feet, an area with crushed pebbles to walk on for therapy, a few interesting posts for kids to climb on, and a bamboo garden for sitting in the shade- or sleeping, as some were doing. The kids enjoyed it for a few minutes and then they just wanted lunch! So we ordered traditional Colombian meals for Brent and I and mega-huge hot dogs for the kids. During the meal, Jonathan had a short tantrum because he wanted to drink something other than water. This was our first "in public" tantrum, and it went pretty well! It didn't last too long. He ended up not being allowed to have juice the rest of the day because of it, though.
After the park, we drove about 20 minutes outside of Medellin to a small store with authentic Colombian artisan items. Each child was able to pick out one thing that would help them to remember Colombia and we also picked up a few presents to bring home and a few to save for gifts for the chicos to have on special occasions as they get older. It was a bit chaotic to take the chicos into the store because they had never been in a store before. Amazing to me! The things I take for granted! They used to pass this store on the way to their foster home in the country, so they were super excited to be allowed to go in.
Luisa was totally stressed trying to figure out what to get. There were WAY too many choices. She was frantically running from one end of the store to the other for about a half hour not knowing what to do with herself. The poor shop worker followed us around the whole time probably scared to death she'd break something!She ended up with a wooden box that you can store paper in. If you know her personality, you would understand that it is perfect for her! Any little container or bag that she can shove her treasures into is perfect! And the fact that it stores paper is the icing on the cake! This girl loves papers! It is a cute painted pink box that we are told was made in the country region- although to me, the quality looks like something from the dollar store. I'm just praying it will last the rest of our time here!
Jonathan took about 2 minutes to decide on a wooden spinning top. I had hoped he would find a figurine of a cow since he loves them so much, but nope, a top it had to be. At least it was an easy decision! As soon as Cindy saw a baby doll, she was hooked and didn't want anything else. Although, on the ride home she through a humdinger of a tantrum because she decided she didn't like her doll and she wanted Luisa's box. When we said No, she said the doll was fea- ugly! LOL!
The rest of the kids easily found some little treasures to take home. I am sure we were quite the sight with all our bunches of items piled up on the counter with each person coming from the car to the store one by one. No way I was taking all 7 kids in there at one time!
It started downpouring so we headed home for quiet-time with a movie and crafts at the coffee table. Seems like that is our standard quiet hour activity. The kids have had such a great time creating all kinds of things out of paper and tape! Earlier in the week it was knight costumes, lately it is paper sling bags complete with cell phone cases and paper money!
Later we walked down to the end of the road for some dinner. I think I am addicted to the empanadas, bunuelos and palito de quesos. But I know I'm going to end up with clogged arteries because of so much fried food.
The girls discovered the shower tonight. We have no way of plugging up the tub, so up until now they have been just sitting under the faucet to do their hair. It is mass chaos the whole time. But somehow they figured out that if you pull the lever, the shower comes on. I haven't heard so much screaming and squealing in my life! I can't figure out if they have never seen a shower before or if they knew what it was and were happy to be able to use it!
Today, through our translator, we learned a lot more information about the kids' past from Luisa. Some of it is funny- like Jonathan is in love with his foster sister. But a lot of it is so sad. My heart breaks when I hear some of the things she says. She is matter-of-fact about it, but inside I feel sick to know how my babies spent their early years. I am so thankful that God saw fit to remove them from those circumstances. And, although their foster families weren't perfect, I am thankful that at least their basic needs were met and they were loved.
We went straight to the pool after breakfast since we had plans for the rest of the day and we knew the kids would be disappointed if we couldn't go!
We have been needing to get organized with all our upcoming expenses for rent, document copies, birth certificates, passports, visas, etc. But, we can only make 4 withdrawls per day from the atm, and only a certain amount. This calls for lots of preplanning! So, while the kids swam, Brent and I sat at a table at the pool and counted and organized all our cash in to baggies for each expense! It is so funny because it looked like we were organizing a drug deal with all the stacks of money, right by the pool! LOL! Thank goodness we are in a gated community with tall bushes all around. Otherwise it might not have been the smartest thing to do in public! LOL!
After the pool, Gloria #2 picked us up and took us to Barefoot Park. This is a small park area that is set up to be peaceful and tranquil. It has 2 small wading pools to soak your feet, an area with crushed pebbles to walk on for therapy, a few interesting posts for kids to climb on, and a bamboo garden for sitting in the shade- or sleeping, as some were doing. The kids enjoyed it for a few minutes and then they just wanted lunch! So we ordered traditional Colombian meals for Brent and I and mega-huge hot dogs for the kids. During the meal, Jonathan had a short tantrum because he wanted to drink something other than water. This was our first "in public" tantrum, and it went pretty well! It didn't last too long. He ended up not being allowed to have juice the rest of the day because of it, though.
After the park, we drove about 20 minutes outside of Medellin to a small store with authentic Colombian artisan items. Each child was able to pick out one thing that would help them to remember Colombia and we also picked up a few presents to bring home and a few to save for gifts for the chicos to have on special occasions as they get older. It was a bit chaotic to take the chicos into the store because they had never been in a store before. Amazing to me! The things I take for granted! They used to pass this store on the way to their foster home in the country, so they were super excited to be allowed to go in.
Luisa was totally stressed trying to figure out what to get. There were WAY too many choices. She was frantically running from one end of the store to the other for about a half hour not knowing what to do with herself. The poor shop worker followed us around the whole time probably scared to death she'd break something!She ended up with a wooden box that you can store paper in. If you know her personality, you would understand that it is perfect for her! Any little container or bag that she can shove her treasures into is perfect! And the fact that it stores paper is the icing on the cake! This girl loves papers! It is a cute painted pink box that we are told was made in the country region- although to me, the quality looks like something from the dollar store. I'm just praying it will last the rest of our time here!
Jonathan took about 2 minutes to decide on a wooden spinning top. I had hoped he would find a figurine of a cow since he loves them so much, but nope, a top it had to be. At least it was an easy decision! As soon as Cindy saw a baby doll, she was hooked and didn't want anything else. Although, on the ride home she through a humdinger of a tantrum because she decided she didn't like her doll and she wanted Luisa's box. When we said No, she said the doll was fea- ugly! LOL!
The rest of the kids easily found some little treasures to take home. I am sure we were quite the sight with all our bunches of items piled up on the counter with each person coming from the car to the store one by one. No way I was taking all 7 kids in there at one time!
It started downpouring so we headed home for quiet-time with a movie and crafts at the coffee table. Seems like that is our standard quiet hour activity. The kids have had such a great time creating all kinds of things out of paper and tape! Earlier in the week it was knight costumes, lately it is paper sling bags complete with cell phone cases and paper money!
Later we walked down to the end of the road for some dinner. I think I am addicted to the empanadas, bunuelos and palito de quesos. But I know I'm going to end up with clogged arteries because of so much fried food.
The girls discovered the shower tonight. We have no way of plugging up the tub, so up until now they have been just sitting under the faucet to do their hair. It is mass chaos the whole time. But somehow they figured out that if you pull the lever, the shower comes on. I haven't heard so much screaming and squealing in my life! I can't figure out if they have never seen a shower before or if they knew what it was and were happy to be able to use it!
Today, through our translator, we learned a lot more information about the kids' past from Luisa. Some of it is funny- like Jonathan is in love with his foster sister. But a lot of it is so sad. My heart breaks when I hear some of the things she says. She is matter-of-fact about it, but inside I feel sick to know how my babies spent their early years. I am so thankful that God saw fit to remove them from those circumstances. And, although their foster families weren't perfect, I am thankful that at least their basic needs were met and they were loved.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Day 13
Another good day! This just keeps getting more fun!
We seem to be falling into a "slow moving morning" routine. I love slow mornings, but it might be hard to break the habit once we get home! Oh, well. I'll deal with that then. There will be so many changes that will just be one of many.
Since this morning it was kind of cool, Brent took the kids to play soccer. They love it. I especially enjoy seeing Cait get in the game and play too. She is starting to really bond with Jonathan in a cute way. He loves sitting near her and will often slip his hand in hers as they walk. I didn't expect this, so it is very special!
Luisa, I'm noticing, is more of a homebody. She will most always prefer to stay at the apartment- unless we are going to the pool or for bunelos! Today she didn't want to play soccer so I stayed in the apartment with her. She enjoyed listening to Spanish kids songs while she colored. I was hanging up laundry, but when I came back to check on her, she was in the boys' bedroom cleaning the room! She is super organized (poor child- she doesn't yet know how messy her mom is) and was disgusted by the sloppiness of her brothers. She folded all the blankets and clothes that were on the floor. I'm so impressed by her skills! Earlier she asked if she could make something in the kitchen. I couldn't understand what she was saying so I told her to show me. She starts cutting up a bunch of different kinds of fruit in a bowl! Ensalada fruta! Fruit salad!
We spent many hours at the pool, even skipping lunch because they didn't want to stop swimming. I got the chance to sit and talk with the other adoptive family for a while. This past week we hadn't seen them too much due to our different schedules. It is so nice to sit and connect with other people going through the process. They are an awesome family!
When we came back, we heard from Nora, our attorney. She said that our case was admitted to the judge! That means that all the administrative paperwork/review was done and now the judge can sign! He has between 1 and 10 days to sign for sentencia. This is wonderful news! If the court was going to ask for any additional clarifications or paperwork it would have happened during this time, so it is wonderful that they didn't ask for any additional info and slow down the time!
We are hoping for a quick Sentencia so we can get home faster! I'm ready! I am looking forward to starting real life together with our kids in the US! I am LOVING Colombia, but it is just not home. Though, as much as I am ready to go, I think about the chicos and how each day closer we get to the US, the closer they get to losing their homeland and culture. That makes me sad, too. Everything in adoption has its bittersweetness. Gaining a family can only come through loss. Healing only comes through grief. Joy in a family replaces untold pain in early childhood. So it is only fitting that my anticipation of going home is mixed with sadness in ripping them away from theirs.
We decided to take a walk UP the hill (we'd only been downhill before) and around the big loop. It is an interesting mix of super fancy apartment complexes like ours and run down buildings across the street. Still this area is the wealthiest of the city. I learned today that we are in a small pocket of wealthy citizens. Most of Medellin is slums of the worst kind. I hope to get a chance to see some of that area because that is where our kids were born.
We had ice cream at the end of the walk. Jonathan ended up with some gross kind of mango-y type icecream. Some of the flavors here are really weird! Cait and I also walked down to the Panderia. It is a bread bakery that is popular here. Oh, my goodness! The bread was amazing! I could get addicted! I got it to have with Baked Ziti that I fixed later. It is our first "American" meal that I have made that they have never had. At first Luisa practically spit it out of her mouth at the first bite! Cindy didn't want it, but I told her to Pruebua- try it! So she did! And she liked it! She didn't want me to put any on her plate, but if I put little pieces on mine, she would eat off my plate! When Luisa saw Cindy eating it, she couldn't be outdone. So she ate some too! I don't think she liked it very much, but she still ate it! Jonathan ended up spending most of the dinner time in his room- can't even remember now why, but it was low key and he ended well.
Grant, Jake and Luisa have this WILD silliness going on. They get completely out of control when the three of them sit together. At dinner, Luisa started imitating Jonathan's crying and she was hysterical! She loved the audience so it kept getting more and more dramatic. I think Brent got some of it on video so if you want to see it, let me know and I'll send you our picassa picture link.
The rest of the night was quiet and wonderful! Everyone was happy and went to bed wonderfully! Thank you Lord!
We seem to be falling into a "slow moving morning" routine. I love slow mornings, but it might be hard to break the habit once we get home! Oh, well. I'll deal with that then. There will be so many changes that will just be one of many.
Since this morning it was kind of cool, Brent took the kids to play soccer. They love it. I especially enjoy seeing Cait get in the game and play too. She is starting to really bond with Jonathan in a cute way. He loves sitting near her and will often slip his hand in hers as they walk. I didn't expect this, so it is very special!
Luisa, I'm noticing, is more of a homebody. She will most always prefer to stay at the apartment- unless we are going to the pool or for bunelos! Today she didn't want to play soccer so I stayed in the apartment with her. She enjoyed listening to Spanish kids songs while she colored. I was hanging up laundry, but when I came back to check on her, she was in the boys' bedroom cleaning the room! She is super organized (poor child- she doesn't yet know how messy her mom is) and was disgusted by the sloppiness of her brothers. She folded all the blankets and clothes that were on the floor. I'm so impressed by her skills! Earlier she asked if she could make something in the kitchen. I couldn't understand what she was saying so I told her to show me. She starts cutting up a bunch of different kinds of fruit in a bowl! Ensalada fruta! Fruit salad!
We spent many hours at the pool, even skipping lunch because they didn't want to stop swimming. I got the chance to sit and talk with the other adoptive family for a while. This past week we hadn't seen them too much due to our different schedules. It is so nice to sit and connect with other people going through the process. They are an awesome family!
When we came back, we heard from Nora, our attorney. She said that our case was admitted to the judge! That means that all the administrative paperwork/review was done and now the judge can sign! He has between 1 and 10 days to sign for sentencia. This is wonderful news! If the court was going to ask for any additional clarifications or paperwork it would have happened during this time, so it is wonderful that they didn't ask for any additional info and slow down the time!
We are hoping for a quick Sentencia so we can get home faster! I'm ready! I am looking forward to starting real life together with our kids in the US! I am LOVING Colombia, but it is just not home. Though, as much as I am ready to go, I think about the chicos and how each day closer we get to the US, the closer they get to losing their homeland and culture. That makes me sad, too. Everything in adoption has its bittersweetness. Gaining a family can only come through loss. Healing only comes through grief. Joy in a family replaces untold pain in early childhood. So it is only fitting that my anticipation of going home is mixed with sadness in ripping them away from theirs.
We decided to take a walk UP the hill (we'd only been downhill before) and around the big loop. It is an interesting mix of super fancy apartment complexes like ours and run down buildings across the street. Still this area is the wealthiest of the city. I learned today that we are in a small pocket of wealthy citizens. Most of Medellin is slums of the worst kind. I hope to get a chance to see some of that area because that is where our kids were born.
We had ice cream at the end of the walk. Jonathan ended up with some gross kind of mango-y type icecream. Some of the flavors here are really weird! Cait and I also walked down to the Panderia. It is a bread bakery that is popular here. Oh, my goodness! The bread was amazing! I could get addicted! I got it to have with Baked Ziti that I fixed later. It is our first "American" meal that I have made that they have never had. At first Luisa practically spit it out of her mouth at the first bite! Cindy didn't want it, but I told her to Pruebua- try it! So she did! And she liked it! She didn't want me to put any on her plate, but if I put little pieces on mine, she would eat off my plate! When Luisa saw Cindy eating it, she couldn't be outdone. So she ate some too! I don't think she liked it very much, but she still ate it! Jonathan ended up spending most of the dinner time in his room- can't even remember now why, but it was low key and he ended well.
Grant, Jake and Luisa have this WILD silliness going on. They get completely out of control when the three of them sit together. At dinner, Luisa started imitating Jonathan's crying and she was hysterical! She loved the audience so it kept getting more and more dramatic. I think Brent got some of it on video so if you want to see it, let me know and I'll send you our picassa picture link.
The rest of the night was quiet and wonderful! Everyone was happy and went to bed wonderfully! Thank you Lord!
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Day 12
Today we had a slow start with a big breakfast and lots of coloring. The kids finally hit the bottom of the ream of paper I brought- or so they think! Luckily when I saw how fast we were going through paper, I reserved half the ream in the closet. I'm putting the call out now for anyone reading this, that we would appreciate ANY donations of scrap paper!!! We are going to be using a lot, for sure!
At 10am Gloria#1 picked up me and the chicos to go for their last vaccination they needed before their embassy doctor visit. We didn't tell them about it until just before she got there, and right away we heard the whining about not wanting a "vacuna"! Luisa whimpered in the back seat the whole way to the clinic, but Cindy chatted cheerfully the whole time. Once we arrived, Luisa tried to not enter the office, so I had to half drag her in. She started crying and I started wondering how in the world I was going to manage getting her to sit still for a shot. She is tall and strong. No way for me to hold her still by myself!
Since Luisa was upset the nurse decided to take Cindy first. Well, look out! Miss Cheerful turned into Little Monster as soon as I picked her up. I had to sit on the table with her on my lap and hold her tight. But the worst part was after it was over! She had a royal tantrum on the floor, kicking, screaming, taking her shoes and socks off and trying to run out the door! She must have been saying "Get me outta here" because one nurse (God bless the woman!) told her "Ok, lets go!" and she took her hand and let her walk around the building (no shoes and one sock!) until she calmed down!
All this time, the other nurse was trying to get Jonathan to sit up at the table and I was trying to pull him from between the chairs on the floor unsuccessfully! Thankfully, the nurse and Gloria were able to talk to Luisa and took her in the room first. I think they said something about acting like a strong Colombiana (Colombian woman!)! LOL! They told her to just hold her breath. She did it and NOT A WHIMPER! I was so proud of her! She had been so scared and acted so brave! I think she was proud of herself too. She had a great smile on her face.
She told Jonathan that it was easy and didn't hurt. That made him let his guard down so I could pick him up and sit with him on the table. It took me, two nurses, Luisa and Gloria (in her late 70's!) to hold him still! LOL! I had brought Double Bubble Gum as a treat for afterwards so he was anxious to get that.
Thankfully, it is all over and next time they need shots, Brent is going to come too! I was sweating by the time we finished!
While I had the kids at the appointment, Brent and the bio kids had Daddy time! They walked around the area, bought soda and had a fun time talking. It was very timely and I think they really needed the decompression time.
Once everyone was together again, we all headed to the pool, of course! It was kind of cool, so it didn't last too long. Back to the apartment for snacks and craft time and a movie. This seems to be our afternoon schedule! We decided to fix an early dinner of carne (thin beef steak), potatoes and fresas (strawberries) that I bought off a street vendor. After dinner we headed back to the pool because the sun came out and the kids weren't worn out enough!
Luisa is definitely our fish! She could swim all day! She has progressed so much in 12 days! Actually all of them have! I am so impressed!
We were all set to walk down the road to get an evening snack of bunelos, when the heavens opened and it started POURING! Out of the blue- no clouds at all! Crazy! But, Brent, Jake, Grant, and Luisa still decided to walk down in the rain to get some bunelos and bring them back to the rest of us.
The past two times, Brent has gotten a few extra for our apartment manager. He is always stationed at the gate and is so sweet. He speaks a little English and goes out of his way to help us out or chat with the kids. The other day when we had to leave the soccer field with Jonathan crying, the manager just smiled. Today he asked Jonathan if he was ready to be a good listener to mami and papi and if he was calm now! LOL! Often times we have wondered what the other people in this complex think about this crazy group of gringos. But there have been many other adoptive families in these apartments so I am sure it isn't too strange. Though I am sure we are still quite the spectacle! The other moms with their kids just smile and stare! LOL!
So far, we have had no other issues or tantrums, so I shall declare today a success! (Can't count the vaccination issues. That's different!)
I must say that I am so excited for the Bynions to bring home Maddie Lidong Bynion! I'm sad we won't get to welcome them home, but glad that they can start their new lives together in the US this weekend! I miss them all so much! Emails and the occasional skype to China are good, but face to face is best! Can't wait to meet the little sweetie! I am praying that Cindy and Maddie will be friends! It is mind boggling to think we have been on this adoption journey together for so long and now it is coming to a close. Well really, it is just the beginning! God is so good.
I am so grateful for all the emails and facebook messages that all of you have been sending. They are such a wonderful encouragement for us. To know that other people care and are loving us from afar is one of the greatest blessings to us. So thank you again from the bottom of our hearts.
I have also appreciated the emails from several adoptive families that are in the trenches right now (Hi Lori!) or have walked this road of older sibling group adoption. It is such a relief to know that the things we are living through are normal and WILL GET BETTER! It is a huge encouragement to see their blogs or hear their testimonies of how their families have grown and blossomed into something beautiful even if they had rough beginnings. This gives me such great hope. God really does redeem the time that they lost when they didn't have their family. Already we have seen tremendous progress and change in just 12 days. When we keep our eyes looking to the future it keeps us from being dragged down in discouragement in the middle of a crisis. I pray I can always keep the biblical eternal view instead of wallowing in a temporal mindset.
At 10am Gloria#1 picked up me and the chicos to go for their last vaccination they needed before their embassy doctor visit. We didn't tell them about it until just before she got there, and right away we heard the whining about not wanting a "vacuna"! Luisa whimpered in the back seat the whole way to the clinic, but Cindy chatted cheerfully the whole time. Once we arrived, Luisa tried to not enter the office, so I had to half drag her in. She started crying and I started wondering how in the world I was going to manage getting her to sit still for a shot. She is tall and strong. No way for me to hold her still by myself!
Since Luisa was upset the nurse decided to take Cindy first. Well, look out! Miss Cheerful turned into Little Monster as soon as I picked her up. I had to sit on the table with her on my lap and hold her tight. But the worst part was after it was over! She had a royal tantrum on the floor, kicking, screaming, taking her shoes and socks off and trying to run out the door! She must have been saying "Get me outta here" because one nurse (God bless the woman!) told her "Ok, lets go!" and she took her hand and let her walk around the building (no shoes and one sock!) until she calmed down!
All this time, the other nurse was trying to get Jonathan to sit up at the table and I was trying to pull him from between the chairs on the floor unsuccessfully! Thankfully, the nurse and Gloria were able to talk to Luisa and took her in the room first. I think they said something about acting like a strong Colombiana (Colombian woman!)! LOL! They told her to just hold her breath. She did it and NOT A WHIMPER! I was so proud of her! She had been so scared and acted so brave! I think she was proud of herself too. She had a great smile on her face.
She told Jonathan that it was easy and didn't hurt. That made him let his guard down so I could pick him up and sit with him on the table. It took me, two nurses, Luisa and Gloria (in her late 70's!) to hold him still! LOL! I had brought Double Bubble Gum as a treat for afterwards so he was anxious to get that.
Thankfully, it is all over and next time they need shots, Brent is going to come too! I was sweating by the time we finished!
While I had the kids at the appointment, Brent and the bio kids had Daddy time! They walked around the area, bought soda and had a fun time talking. It was very timely and I think they really needed the decompression time.
Once everyone was together again, we all headed to the pool, of course! It was kind of cool, so it didn't last too long. Back to the apartment for snacks and craft time and a movie. This seems to be our afternoon schedule! We decided to fix an early dinner of carne (thin beef steak), potatoes and fresas (strawberries) that I bought off a street vendor. After dinner we headed back to the pool because the sun came out and the kids weren't worn out enough!
Luisa is definitely our fish! She could swim all day! She has progressed so much in 12 days! Actually all of them have! I am so impressed!
We were all set to walk down the road to get an evening snack of bunelos, when the heavens opened and it started POURING! Out of the blue- no clouds at all! Crazy! But, Brent, Jake, Grant, and Luisa still decided to walk down in the rain to get some bunelos and bring them back to the rest of us.
The past two times, Brent has gotten a few extra for our apartment manager. He is always stationed at the gate and is so sweet. He speaks a little English and goes out of his way to help us out or chat with the kids. The other day when we had to leave the soccer field with Jonathan crying, the manager just smiled. Today he asked Jonathan if he was ready to be a good listener to mami and papi and if he was calm now! LOL! Often times we have wondered what the other people in this complex think about this crazy group of gringos. But there have been many other adoptive families in these apartments so I am sure it isn't too strange. Though I am sure we are still quite the spectacle! The other moms with their kids just smile and stare! LOL!
So far, we have had no other issues or tantrums, so I shall declare today a success! (Can't count the vaccination issues. That's different!)
I must say that I am so excited for the Bynions to bring home Maddie Lidong Bynion! I'm sad we won't get to welcome them home, but glad that they can start their new lives together in the US this weekend! I miss them all so much! Emails and the occasional skype to China are good, but face to face is best! Can't wait to meet the little sweetie! I am praying that Cindy and Maddie will be friends! It is mind boggling to think we have been on this adoption journey together for so long and now it is coming to a close. Well really, it is just the beginning! God is so good.
I am so grateful for all the emails and facebook messages that all of you have been sending. They are such a wonderful encouragement for us. To know that other people care and are loving us from afar is one of the greatest blessings to us. So thank you again from the bottom of our hearts.
I have also appreciated the emails from several adoptive families that are in the trenches right now (Hi Lori!) or have walked this road of older sibling group adoption. It is such a relief to know that the things we are living through are normal and WILL GET BETTER! It is a huge encouragement to see their blogs or hear their testimonies of how their families have grown and blossomed into something beautiful even if they had rough beginnings. This gives me such great hope. God really does redeem the time that they lost when they didn't have their family. Already we have seen tremendous progress and change in just 12 days. When we keep our eyes looking to the future it keeps us from being dragged down in discouragement in the middle of a crisis. I pray I can always keep the biblical eternal view instead of wallowing in a temporal mindset.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Day 11
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!
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!
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!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)