Day 10-Happy Halloween

We just finished our big meeting with ICBF-Children's Welfare.  They are very pleased with how the kids are adjusting and have ok'd the adoption.  They told us they are done with the process and now it goes to the courts.  Our attorney said she is working on an alternative solution with the judges to get us thru the process as quick as possible. Tomorrow we sign some papers with the attorney.  I think I can leave now but I am not sure.  I am going to check with the attorney tomorrow.

Praying we all get to come home quickly!

Later today we are meeting up with our friends from Michigan to go trick or treating in the mall.  We will try to capure some pictures.  Halloween seems to be a very big deal in Colombia.  You know it is a big deal with ICBF and the attorney tell us to be extra careful today.  Thinking that is a hint to make it a early night!

Day 9-Children's Museum

Today we were quite busy.  We started the day with washing our clothes in the bathtub.  Yes, I said bathtub.  We had the hotel wash one load of laundry for us a couple of days ago and they charged us $70.00 so we figured we would wash them ourselves unless they are really bad!

We met our American friends from Michigan at 9:30am at the Children's museum in Bogota.  It was really neat as we had our own tour guide that took us around and explained everything to the kids.  The kids really seemed to enjoy it.  We have enclosed some pictures from our day below.

The only think that was a bit strange is that there are certain times you can see the exhibits.  We finished our "tour" at 11:30AM and the next one didn't start till 12:30 so we didn't see everything essentially.  You pay by the "tour"

We then headed to the mall to eat lunch at Burger King :-)  We picked up a couple of items at Exitos (Walmart like store) The kids wanted some fruit, ham, cheese and cupcakes!

This afternoon we have been hanging out at the hotel.  On our way back we say several police and military guys escorting cars to the hotel next door with big guns.  They must be important people as you could tell they were securing the building and escorting them.  They had short barrell shot guns.  Crazy how they just whip them around like no big deal. We saw guys at the mall with them too today!  We decided probably not a good idea to ask for a picture of them so sorry no pictures of them.

Tomorrow is a big day for us.  We have our last meeting with the Child welfare people (ICBF).  They are coming to our hotel to meet with us and the kids to evaluate how things are going, if we have bonded with the kids and if the kids want to live with us forever.  There are 3 people coming from ICBF, our lawyer and an interpreter all jamming into our hotel room!  If everything goes well then after a couple of days of getting paperwork together it gets submitted to the courts that are on strike:-)

Day 8-Botanical Garden

Today we spent most of the day at the Botanical Garden.  The kids seemed to have lots of fun looking at all of the flowers and trees plus it burned some of their energy.  L liked smelling all of the flowers and B was in charge of pointing out which flower or tree they were describing in the signs.  He wasn't too into smelling the flowers and had a definite fear of any type of cactus like flower.

We received some news as well on the judicial strike..not good but not bad.  Some other American families that are also adopting met with the US Embassy today.  The strike is still in full swing but the US Embassy is asking the Children's Welfare agency to see if they can come up with some alternative solutions.  The embassy has scheduled a meeting with all of the adoption agencies on Friday to provide them an update on what to expect if the strike continues, ect.  We are trying not to think about it to much but it is hard as we really want to take the kids home.

Below are some pictures of our big day today.  On a side note, many of you know I lost my dad this past December.  I think he sends me signs all the time, yesterday we saw a rare car that noone in Colombia has and today at the garden we came across a rose garden, his favorite flower.  I have enclosed both of these pictures too :-)

Tomorrow we are heading to the Children's museum with another American family!

Random pics day 7

We have learned that when in Bogota you must always look were you are walking.  This is a small hole compared to what we have seen. 

Day 7 Continued...

We just met with our attorney.  She showed us where a Science and Technology center is for kids (Nino's) where it is interactive.  It is really close to our hotel so we will be adding that to our list of things to do for sure.  We all walked to Crepes and Wafles (So far this is my favorite restaurant).  They of course have Crepes..anything you want in them--Chicken, steak , cheese, fruit. You name it they have it.  They also speacilize in Ice Cream!  We treated the kids to ice cream.  Crepes and Wafles hires women that are underprivliged to work there.  It is a really neat place and you can see the impact it is having on their lives.

The attorney said our case is in a smaller region so she thinks we will be ok once the judges come off of strike.  She said there is only 1 judge in this area and she knows him well so cross our fingers she is right.

We don't have an "official" diagnosis till we get back to the states but we think the kids have something called Kwashiorkor.  It is a form of malnourshiment due to lack of protein.  B has many of the symptoms of it and L has some of it.  So of course we are doing are best to help him out.  John went and got gatorade (thanks Maria for the suggestion) to try to boost up his electrolites.  While he was out he found me Mountain Dew!  I am having withdrawls here as I have not had one in over a week!

Tomorrow we are going to check out the Botanical Gardens I think.

Day 7-Bogota

Today is Sunday and our 7th day.  This is ironic to us because of course on the 7th day you shall rest and they take that literally in Bogota.  There are not alot of cars allowed on roads on Sunday so it is quiet and peaceful on the streets.  We walked to the mall today and shopped at a store called Exito.  It is a department store with a grocery store in it.  John said it seems like Walmart.  We picked up Halloween costumes for both kids.  L is going to be Minnie Mouse and B picked out a Ben 10 costume.  They were very excited about their new costumes.  The adoption agency is throwing a Halloween party for all of the kids that are in the process of adoption here.  I guess there are about 9 or 10 kids that just got new parents. 

We are meeting with our adoption agency in a couple of minutes.  Hopefully they have some insight on getting our case moved to a different region so we can continue progressing with the adoption process.

More to come later..

Day 6-Park Adventure

We headed to the park today.  It is a somewhat famous park in Bogota, Parque 93.  It is where most of the "American's " go that live and work in Bogota.  The kids were so excited to go and played in the sand for the first time.  We brought B a soccer ball and he was so excited to play "Football"  After the park we headed to TGIF Fridays where John was in heaven because they served unlimited Cola!  Then we headed to a Artisan and picked up some items to bring back to the states with us.  They are items that we are going to hold onto for the kids till they get a bit older.  We wanted to have a couple of things from Colombia to remind them of their heritage.

Below are a couple of pictures:

Day 5-Bogota

We have had the kids 1 day now!  They seem to be adjusting just fine and warming up to us.  Today, we have been coloring with them, building legos, watching movies and practicing our English.  Later today we are going to take them swimming.  They slept longer than the adoption agency told us they would.  They told us they get up at 5AM.  We had to wake them at 7:30AM to get breakfast.  B is really feeling comfortable and is dancing in the hotel room :-)  I think the biggest shock to us is how really small they are and so underweight!  B weighs about 40 pounds and is almost 8 years old.  We brought size 7 clothes and they are swimming on him.  He needs 5/6 clothes for sure.  L is 32 pounds and 6 years old and fits into a size 4 or 5T.

Well more to write later..we need to grab lunch and head to the pool to burn off some of this energy!

Adios Amigos!

L Coloring in her new Dora book and B putting his legos together

L Playing with her new toys at ICBF

John and B putting together legos at ICBF among our many observers!

Day 4 Pictures..Internet is really slow so we will keep trying to get more!

 This is ICBF which is the like Child Welfare in theUS

 

Day 4...We have B & L!!

Today has been a great day but very long.  We arrived at the adoption home this morning.  We brought what they asked us to bring, cake, balloons and candy.  When we got there they asked us to decorate the entire room.  We also had to run out and buy forks, Cola (the kids drink that and coffee like it is water) and plates.  Apparently, they were not going to help us at all with the fiesta.

When the kids saw us they immediately ran up to us and gave us hugs.  We spent about an hour at the adoption home being supervised trying to play with the kids and communicate with them.  Then all of the sudden the social workers said good and handed us our temporary custody papers.

The kids have warmed up to us very quickly so far.  L is quite the chatty patty and want to please. B is a bit more quiet and does not warm up as quickly.  The hotel is 10 floors and they are quite impressed with the elevator.  We also took them to McDonalds for lunch and got them each a happy meal.  They ran around in pleasure that they got a happy meal toy.  After lunch we burned some of their Coke Cola energy off at the McDonalds playcenter.  Then B so gracially told us L had Po Po'd..off we raced back to the hotel for bath's and clean up.  We don't think they have ever taken a bath because they each did not understand they should sit in the tub.  The water was quite dirty for both of them and B had blast spashing in the water once he figured it out.

They are both very very tiny and thin, B especially.  All of his clothes we brought are going to be way to big for him.  You can tell they were both malnourished which is quite sad but they are very happy kids.  I will have John post some pictures later.  We can't post pictures of their faces yet.

The Waiting Child

This is a poem written by Debbie Bodie (copyright 1997).

I just wanted to share it with all of you.


I saw you meet your child today
You kissed your baby joyfully
And as you walked away with her
I played pretend you'd chosen me.

I'm happy for the baby, yet
Inside I'm aching miserably
I want to plead as you go by,
"Does no-one want a child of three?"

I saw you meet your child today
In love with her before you met
And as I watched you take her out
I knew it wasn't my turn yet.

I recognize you from last year!
I knew I'd seen your face before!
But you came for a second babe.
Does no-one want a child of four?

I saw you meet your child today
But this time there was something new
A nurse came in and took MY hand
And then she gave my hand to you.

Can this be true? I'm almost six!
And there are infants here, you see?
But then you kissed me and I knew
The child you picked this time was me.

Day 3 Wrap Up

We had a good day today.  We made it to 2 different malls and the second mall we walked to so we are figuring out our area.  We were able to buy L a pair of shoes.  Apparently her feet are a bit bigger then we imagined.  We also located a couple of places to eat that were recommended to us and John found the Bogota Beer Company were he happily tasted a couple of the brews!

More to come.

Day 3-Less than 24 hours and we meet our new additions

It is Day 3 for us in Bogota, Colombia.  John and I woke up this morning and said " I can see why people label their blog's as each day"  It is helpful to keep track of the days.  As frustrating as the last couple days have been for us it is giving us a new appreciation of how frustrating it will be for B & L to not speak the language.  The traffic and pollution are quite crazy here.  Yesterday we had a great meeting with the Children's authorities.  We learned lots more about B & L. ( We can't put their names on the internet)  We learned that B likeschicken nuggets, Legos, Ben 10 and of course soccer.  We learned L likes pasta and cheese(a girl after my own heart), dolls, My Little Pony and her favorite sport is riding her "trycycle" .  We had some challenges with a thing called a Article 5 which is a document the US Embassy in Bogota had to issue.  We should have had it before we left but I think our agency is having issues with the process.  We got worried and decided we would just go to the US Embassy.  We learned if you say you need help with Immigration they won't let you in but if we say American Services we get in.  We didn't make it in yesterday despite showing them our nice US passports. :-)  Now we know for next time.

This morning we were able to get the Article 5 issued which is a good thing.  We just ventured out to the mall that is near the hotel.  The Children's institute asked us to get things for a fiesta tomorrow. They asked us to bring cake, balloons and candy.  As you know our spanish is not so good but we are happy to report we were able to find a very small cake, balloons and a small bag of candy for about $35 in US.  Things are very expensive here.  We are guessing because everything is imported as far as clothing, shoes, and everyday items.  We are getting together with another American family this afternoon.  We are hoping they can give us some tips on navigating around so we can do some site seeing while we are here.

We are getting picked up tomorrow at 8:50AM for our big day!

Adios

We made it!

We arrived in Bogota around 4:40PM on Monday.  We are checked in and have already unpacked.  We have our first meeting tomorrow, Tuesday with ICBF at 10AM.  Our attorney is going to pick us up at 9am so we have plenty of time.  We are hoping to get more information on the kids tomorrow and some updated photos.

We said adventure didn't we?

As I type this we are sitting in Houston airport at 2am.  Why might you ask...well we thought we would be creative and save some money by using our dear friends buddy passess.  It seemed like a great idea and everything was lining up just right until 1 flight after another we were told..sorry there were seats on that flight but we ended up selling out.  So in a panic thinking we wouldn't make it to Colombia in time for our meeting we bought last minute plane tickets.  It is by far the most expensive coach seats you will ever buy!  So in pure Janda form our new route is we leave for Panama City, Panama at 8:30AM from Houston and after a short layover will head to Bogota, Colombia.  I am trying to look at it like one more stamp in our passport book!  We should arrive in Bogota at 4:50PM on Monday.

Last Day of Work

Tomorrow is our last day of work!  We are on track to leave for Colombia on Sunday.  John's students made him goodbye safe journey cards that just mealt your heart!  We both continue to be in awe at how much everyone has supported up thru this journey.

5 days and counting..

After today it is 5 more days and we leave!  We are excited to be going yet very nervous.  We found out recently that the judges in Colombia went on strike on Thursday, October 11th.  We are not 100% sure what this means for us as we have heard that all legal proceedings are on hold and then recently we heard that family court is still in session.  We won't find out more until we get there.  Worst case we will only be able to get thru Stage 1 or Entraga of the adoption process and then we will have to wait until the courts open again. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers!

The Countdown...

We leave in 9 days for Colombia!  All of our waiting, filling out paperwork and stressing is coming to end..well probably will still be doing all of that but at least we will have the kids.  Thank you to all our friends and family for your support during this process.  You have donated money, given us clothes, carseats, toys, airline tickets and overall support.  Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for helping make this a reality!

Bogota, Colombia--Why?

Did you know that in a city of 8 million people there are nearly 60 thousand orphans?  Sixty-thousand minus 2!! 

Colombia is known for so many things.  Bogota, Colombia is very similar to Colorado.  They love the outdoors and they have a wonderful landscape with mountains!  The people work hard and play hard!  The country is a very religous and for us mirrors our religious belief system-Catholic.

" I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you, " says Jesus--John 14:18

The beginning of our journey...

We made the decision in October 2011 to adopt two wonderful children from Colombia.  From the momment we made the decision we have had experienced many high's and lows and killed many trees with the amount of paperwork we have submitted.  There were times we thought maybe this is not meant to be but then we received signs along the way like when we received government approval from Colombia the day my dad passed away.  We are happy to say that we are near the end of the road.  John and I leave on October 21 for Colombia and we will be meeting our new son and daughter on October 25th..hopefully sooner.

This journey could not have been possible without the love and support of our friends and family and god watching over us.  Please join us on our journey as we embark on this new adventure!