School is in.

I want to thank Luci for loaning us her camera. Without it we would not be able to share our wonderful moments with all of you. Also thanks to everyone else who has shown support through blog comments and emails. Even though we are a long way from home in a place that is much diffenrent with people speaking a language we dont understand it makes us feel like we are are close to home.

Today the kids are going to school. They will be going to the private school where Luci teaches that we visited yesterday. Her neighbor is going to pick them up at 7:45 and dropping them off at 12:45. It will be nice for Wendy and I to have some along time together. We are planning to relax a little by the pool. They will also attend tommarow and then Thursday is the barbeque at school. After that the kids will be on a month long break.

This evening we are planning on celebrating Manuel's (Luci's husband) birthday. We will be going for cake and drinks.

Last night we went out for chicken with Luci, Manuel and their two boys. Food is very resonable here. The entire meal for all of us with drinks was less than $20 US. Some things are quite expensive here and others are much cheaper than the US.

We were talking yesterday to Luci and she said the kids have not once asked for there foster mother. This is unusual as most kids begin asking for her. The kids have been calling us Mommy and Papi from day one. They have totally accepted us as thier parents which doesn't suprise us as this entire process was orchestrated by God himself.

We met with Dolly yesterday. She will be going back to court on Wednesday and will hopefully have a date when things will be finalized. So far things are ahead of schedule. Paperwork was submitted Friday. It arrived to were it goes by Monday. This typically takes 3 days. The first step is a 5 day process. Hopefully this will be completed by Wed. Then the next step can take up to 10 business days. We need prayes this step goes quickly. Then Dolly will travel to Aguchica to get the birthcertificates and passports for the children. This will take 2-3 more days. After that Wendy will fly to Bogata with the kids and get Visas with the US embassy and have physicals with the kids, another 3 business days and they are not opened on Friday. Then back to Florida!!! So on the long end it could take 3 more weeks. On the short end about 1.5 weeks.

Hasta Luego

Change of Plans.

Dolly is sick this morning but, Luci was here. She took us to the school where she teaches. The children played and Steve and I were introduced to 2 Colombian English classes. We sat in the classes while the children asked us questions. This was to practice their English. Dolly will be here this afternoon and we will talk with her about the upcoming processes. Attached are pictures from the school We are to go to Luci's house this evening. Also, Luci has arranged for the children to attend school there to help them with their English. They will go 2 days per week from 8:00AM to 12:00PM. We will go and "teach" other classes. We have been invited to a school BBQ on Thursday.

Feeling better!

Yesterday I continued to feel bad most of the day. I stayed in the hotel and slept until about 5pm when Luci and her family picked us up. We went for a tour around the city. It is much larger than I imagined. There were people everywhere palying loud music and dancing in front of there houses. There were kids swimming in little rivers. There were areas with many kids playing on electric cars, blow up slides and moon walks. We stopped and let the kids play for a while. The houses and environment is soooo much different than the USA. It really reminds me alot of Mexico although the people are very friendly here and no one is trying to sell you things. We forgot the camera although I had taken a few pictures with Wendy's cell phone. I just have to figure out if I can transfer them to her computer.

Earlier in the day Wendy and Luci took the kids out. They wanted to buy me something for fathers day. They each made me a card and Maria picked out a T-shirt for me. The kids behaved much better yesterday. Hopefully as time goes by it becomes easier.

This morning I woke upfeeling much better. We will visit Dolly, our attorney at 9:00. We thought we may go to the pool afterwards and I will swim with Juan while wendy paints Marias nails and does her hair. The sun is shinning and it looks like it will be a beautiful hot humid day justlike the rest of them.

We have been in Colombia for over a week now. I leave next Sunday. Continue praying that things get finalized here and Wendy can travel back to Bogata with me. After the judge finalizes things we recieve the Sentencia. Wendy will then travel with the kids to Bogata and visit the US embasy. The kids will have to have a physical and passports and visas will be issued. This takes about 3 days. She can then come home.

Fathers Day in Colombia

Yesterday was a difficult day. The kids are getting very anxious being couped up in a hotel room. With Maria's arm in a cast she cant go swimming. There really isnt anything else to do here in the hotel so this makes it very difficult to occupy the children. We played several games although Juan wasnt to intrested and was into everything. Gladys the hotel manager had taken us out after lunch for a little while. We went shopping for new zappatos (shoes) for the children. We went to a park on the side of a river afterwards. There were many people swimming and barbequing. Wendy started feeling very sick when we were there. She had flu like symptoms. Shortly after returning to the room I became sick. We spent the evening running to the bathroom. Luci came over and had taken the kids down for dinner. She said they ate very well. She went to the grocery store to pick up some things for us and stayed the night to help out. It was a big help.
Today I feel better although still not up to par. Wendy feels much better. She is going to take the children down for breakfast and bring me back some food. We woke this morning and watched our worship service as it is broadcasted live on the internet. The message was great. Pastor Mark talked alot about children and it was very appropriate for us. Amazing how god talks to us when we ask for guidence.
Well this is my first fathers day so hopefully it will be a great day. Luci went home to clean u and has returned with her two youngest sons. She will be back in a few hours. Hopefully we will be able to take the kids out for a while.

The first trip to the doctor

The kids wanted to go swimming so bad yesterday. I had taped a plastic bag over Maria's arm using medical waterproof tape. Well.....it didnt work. Her cast was soaked and began falling apart. The hotel doctor looked at it said it need to be replaced. We were sent to an orthopedic center. X-rays were taken and a new cast was put on. She is not allowed in the pool. This is going to be so difficult because this is the only thing that thay can do here is swim. She had so much fun yesterday while swimming. It's gonna be rough telling her she can't go in anymore, especially with the langauge barrier.

There is another couple from Italy adopting who will be leaving in several days. They invited us yesterday to go to the Exito. We didnt go because we had just returned from the doctor. This is like Walmart. We had gone shopping there on the first day here. There is two of them in town. The one the family went to yesterday has a second floor which is a childrens playground. Hopefully we can start going there as a substitute for the pool. Also there is an area walking distance from the hotel where the kids can drive electric cars. The italian familty had told me about yesterday. We just need to find out if this is safe for us to go.

Jennifer, who runs our office is pregnant and due on June 28th. She had some complications and the baby had to be taken yesterday. This is going to make it difficult for everone working to keep things going as steady. We need prayes for the safety of Jennifer and the baby along with office to continue to run efficiently. Pray that the judge makes a speedy closure of our case so we can return home to get things back in order.

We are on our own today so I dont know what we are going to do. I'm sure there will be another adventer. Hopefully tomarrow will be all about good news! Hasta luego.