Back to School, Orphanage Visit

We have been very busy, attempting to settle into a routine with Jeferson and Diego.

Diego started back to school on Monday, so around 11:30 AM, Cecilia picked us up to take us to AYUDAME, so that Diego could pick up his school uniform, and backpack, that he had used previously. We had a babysitter for Jeferson, as he is not going to go back to school, and will be spending future afternoons with Mami. However, both of us wanted to go with Diego, to see the school, and also visit the orphanage. Here is a pic of the outside of the school. It is a very new building.

THE PROUD ONE HIMSELF

Five of us walked Diego to school. (Papi, Mami, Cecilia, and 2 of the psychologists from Ayudame). Diego must have felt like an absolute Prince with all of the escorts! He was very excited to be back in school. His teacher Professor Lolita, was so happy to see him, as he was to see her. She met his class in the playground, and they all walked back together to the classroom. Once in the classroom, we watched the children get settled in. We were very surprised when they started the class with a prayer. This is a public school, and they pray at the start of every class. This would be unheard of in the United States. Good for the country of Colombia! Professor Lolita is an excellent teacher, you can just feel the love and respect that the children have for her, and she for them. After the children settled into their assignment, she explained to us what Diego's strengths are, as well as things he needs to work on a little, and what he needs to work on alot. She expressed that he has never had anyone to help him with his homework, and needs alot of guidance. After only 2 days of being back to school, since he has been with us, she has noticed a marked improvement in his attitude and overall happiness. Upon hearing this from Professor Lolita, Papi was so proud of Diego, that it brought a tear to Papi's eye. With as difficult as some of the days have been, this makes us realize that we are doing good for the boys. Diego is also very proud to be able to have a family who will take him to school, and pick him up from school. His face just beams with happiness! Since Papi is the one to take Diego to school and pick him up, Diego introduces him to everybody, even the security guard, three days in a row now!!

ENTRANCE TO CLASS ROOM WITH PROFESSOR LOLITA

CLASS ROOM

WHO IS THAT "TEACHING"

THE PRINCE HIMSELF

Papi and Diego leave the hotel about noon every day, and take a taxi to his school. Then papi goes to an internet cafe and works for the afternoon. Around 5 PM, Papi picks up Diego at school, and then they taxi back to the hotel. Meanwhile, Mami and Jeferson spend the afternoon together. Today, right after Diego left for school , Jeferson packed up his backpack with sunglasses, a bottle top, and spiderman, and asked for his "jacqueta" (jacket) as he was going to school as well. So on the way downstairs, he told everyone that he was going to school.

Mami decided to take Jeferson out for a short walk, to pretend he was off to school too. We ended up at a local artesian shop. He forgot all about school.

We feel that we are on track with a routine for the boys, and their behavior is beginning to reflect this. We have hope for 2 well behaved boys!

Back to Monday- Papi and Mami visited the orphanage where Jeferson and Diego lived since December. We met this visit with a certain anxiety, as we did not know what to expect. We were pleasantly surprised at the care that the children received. The children all looked happy, as we had already noticed the happiness with Diego and Jeferson. There were many children, and we wanted to take them all home. The staff at the orphanage was very willing to allow us to look around at everything, and it was obvious that they took much pride in the orphanage and their work. We took many pictures while we were there. We saw the room and bed that Diego slept in, and also the room where Jeferson slept. We were surprised to learn that he had been sleeping in a crib. The boys each slept in separate room, and we think that they were in with children of their own ages.





After the visit to the orphanage, we spent the afternoon, walking the streets of the "real " Bogota, and visited a few of the shops. We met a shop owner, who actually has a factory in the same building, where they assemble stuffed animals. He was very happy to give us a tour. We purchased a few items from him. In fact, we found the shopowner so friendly, that the next day after Eric dropped Diego off at school, he met the shop owner for lunch, so they could practice each others language.






We visited 2 markets, one was a typical American grocery store, and the other one was more of what we would think of as a farmers market. We purchased a dozen of roses for 5000 pesos ($2.50 US dollars). At this price we wanted to purchase every rose they had. We did purchase 3 dozen. One dozen for Professor Lolita, one dozen for the staff at the orphanage, and of course one dozen for mami! ( Happy anniversary flowers) It was coincidental, but along with the dozen of roses for mami, the shop owner gave us 3 free roses. (12 + 3 =15 roses) for 15 years of marriage!
Outside the grocery store, there was a man shining shoes. Eric was finally able to get his shoes shined. He gave the man 3000 pesos, and he returned 1000 pesos to Eric, as the price was only 2000 pesos, ($1.00). We also found that fruit is very inexpensive here. The cost for a whole pineapple here is 1000 pesos (50 cents). There is also not the variety of things that we have in the US. Only about 10 feet of an aisle is devoted to cereal with maybe 20 varieties. That is only about 1/5 of the variety of cereal that we find in the US. Although it seems like these items are very inexpensive, we did find that clothing is much more expensive than in the US.

Thanks for being patient as we settle into yet another new routine. Please keep the comments coming as we live by them!

Chow!

Eric, Joyce, Diego and Jeferson

Sunday in Bogota

Today started about a bit late, as the boys slept until 8:15 this morning. We were very surprised, and generally Diego is the first one up, but this morning Jeferson was awake first.



After breakfast, we walked over to a place nearby where we were told the boys could swim. When we arrived, we found out that they have specific times for swim lessons, and we missed it. However, there was an instructor there and she agreed to have the boys attend a gymnastics class. We were all for anything that exerted some energy. They did lots of jumping, tumbling, and running!



In the afternoon, we decided to just take a walk down the main street nearby. We were finally able to find the dollar store that people have talked about. We have also been told that there are a few markets around, where they shut down the streets, but we have not found it yet. Maybe next week on Sunday. The afternoon became very warm, so we stopped for ice cream at a small corner shop called "Popseys". All the ice cream flavors were labeled in English. I told Eric to get the boys 'chocolate' as that is their favorite. You should have seen their shirts when they were done!! I told Eric, that the next time I tell him to get them Chocolate, that he shouldn't listen to me!! I now understand why parents purchase vanilla ice cream for their children.

We returned late in the afternoon, to find many more people had checked into the hotel today. Yeah more boys!! There were 2 families from France, and another family from Norway that checked in today. There were children running everywhere. Although, in all the commotion, we seem to be missing a Spiderman. I don't think that Diego realizes this yet, and who knows, maybe he knows where it is.

When we discovered that we were having our rice and avocado for dinner tonight, we decided to make a trip to Chicken Frisby. It is smilar to KFC. It was a treat for us. Who would have ever thought to serve rice and avocado for dinner? By the way, this is our least favorite meal.

When we returned from "Frisby", we had a problem getting back into the hotel, as they are still short a staff member today, and with all the people now in the hotel, and only the kitchen server as staff, she was very busy serving dinner to the guests, and didn't hear our call to try to get into the hotel. The hotel is very guarded, and you have to pass through a gate that is locked and then also the main entrance is locked. Since no one heard our call, we were unable to enter into the gated front entrance. After ringing the bell for about 5 minutes, we decided to walk about 3 blocks to another Zuetana, owned by the same people, and ask for assistance. One of the staff there called our hotel, and then walked with us back, to make sure someone answered the door, and let us in. It was now about 8:30 and it was raining outside. So needless to say, between no English speaking staff last night, and this, we were a bit frustrated. However, the boys loved walking in the rain with umbrellas. Yes, they did step in every puddle!!

So the boys are now sound asleep, like little angels. Diego is going to start back to school tomorrow afternoon. Both of us will go with him tomorrow, and then after that, 'Papi' will ride the taxi to his school with him each afternoon. There is an internet cafe nearby, so this will allow Papi time to work as well. Mami and Jeferson will spend the afternoons together. The boys are much better when they are not together all the time, as they tend to compete with each other. We think this will be a good situation for all parties involved.

Sorry, no pictures today. But the boys are just as cute as ever!!

Joyce Eric Jeferson and Diego.

We have 2 Pizza Chefs!! August 23, 2008

Today, we decided to venture out into Bogota. Since it is Saturday, the streets are not as busy with traffic. I have never seen anything like the traffic here in Bogota. We tried to take photos, but they just don't do it justice. Let's just say that when you cross the street, you are putting you life in your own hands. Another interesting feature, is that in the middle of the 2 lanes going each way, there is a bicycle path, and there are people on bicycles pulling advertising signs.

We have no idea what it says, but we found it very unique.

We met a family from North Carolina, about a week ago, and they are staying about 3 blocks away in another Zuetana hotel. We decided to stop by and say hello. They have adopted a 7 year old girl, and are the only other family that we have met from the United States. We had a great chat with them.

We then headed over to a Pizza place called Archie's Gourmet Pizza. We had heard about this place from another family who had previously travelled to Bogota for adoption. It was a great place, and we all had fun here. They have a small room for children to make their own pizza. They start by having the children wash their hands, and then they put a chef hat, and apron on them. Then they begin to have the children make their own pizza. After adding flour to their hands and the table, they are given a small ball of dough, and then they direct the children to flatten it out, and pound it, and then make it round. Next, each child gets a small cup of pizza sauce, followed by cheese, ham and pineapple to top the pizza with. Then they take the pizza's to be baked, and when they are baked, each child gets his pizza back to eat. I think Eric and Joyce had as much fun watching as the children did making the pizza's. Jeferson and Diego had huge smiles on their faces the whole time they were making the pizza. Since we couldn't choose which photos were the cutest, we thought we would include them all. (Yes, we are very proud parents!!!)

After a fun afternoon, we walked back to Zuetana. The boys played a little before dinner, and then after dinner it was time for bed. We listened to a few kids songs and colored. Eric is sooo amazed at how many kids songs Joyce knows the words to. When Eric was surprised that there were only 8 songs on each of the CD's, Joyce reminded him that technology has advanced, because when she was a child, she had all the songs on "45 records" and each side had only 1 song, so having 8 songs before having to change the CD is advancement.

Another very busy day, but the boys were very well behaved on our venture.

There appears to be some type of employee issues here at this hotel. When we went down for dinner tonight, we discovered that there was only 1 staff member here, and that was the maid/server. She doesn't speak any English, but from what we understood, she was handling the front desk and also serving dinner. This is very unusual, so we tend to think that there is something going on. We were told that one of the desk hosts will be leaving Zuetana next week.

Around 9PM a desk hostess did arrive, but doesn't speak English, so we are not sure what happened to the regular staff member.

Another family arrived tonight as well. They are from the country of Norway. The dad was originally adopted from Colombia many many years ago, and he and his wife have now returned to adopt a second child from Colombia. Surprisingly they speak only Norwegian and English, and no Spanish. Since all of the other families here are from the Scandinavian Countries, they tend to communicate with each other in the Danish/Norwegian language.

We want to Thank everyone for their emails and comments. It brings us closer to home.

Another exhausting day for Mami and Papi.

Adios from Eric, Joyce, Jeferson and Diego.

One Week with the Boys. August 22, 2008

Wow, it is hard to believe that the boys have been with us now for one week. On second thought, it maybe seems like a lot longer than that.

Yesterday, August 21, was our 15th Wedding Anniversary. Not like any other anniversary we have celebrated over the past 15 years. Although you could say that we travelled a long way to celebrate 15 years. Our present to each other, was 2 beautiful and healthy boys.

We tried to stay active throughout the day, as this is what the boys really need. We went to the park after breakfast, and then took a long walk around the business district. We stopped at a small shop called Fres y Chocolate. They had many different treats, and the boys loved the chocolate covered strawberries, which were served 3 on a stick. Joyce had a slice of strawberry cheesecake, and we are not sure what Eric had, as he made a mistake in ordering. Diego was kind enough to share one of his 3 strawberries with Papi. Jefferson was not willing to share at all.

When we returned late in the afternoon, Zuetana was hosting a small party for a new child that was presented to her parents today. The couple is from Norway, and the little girl is very cute. She is 14 months old, and very small for her age. But she has the cutest little smile.

Another family from Germany who had adopted in another area in Colombia, already received Sentencia, the final adoption approval, and were just waiting for their flight home today. They adopted a little boy about the age of Jefferson, and have another daughter who was about the age of Diego. We enjoyed our time with them. There is another couple in the hotel from Denmark who adopted 2 girls, ages 18 months and 3 yrs, and a couple arrived today from Germany. Since the new couple speaks very little English, we are not sure when they will be receiving their child.

Our children are by far the noisiest children in the house. Of course we had to have at least one tantrum for the day, and this was after the party, as the children watched a movie, before dinner, and when the movie was over, Diego wanted to watch another movie. Boy, did he get upset when we told him it was time to eat, and no more movies. He ended up falling asleep on the couch in the living area, and never even got to eat dinner.

Friday, August 22.

Cecilia called us this morning to let us know that we will be meeting with the boys therapist at 4:00 PM today, at Ayudame. We decided that since it was not raining this morning, that we better get to the park before it starts to rain, as it rains every day here. This morning was actually very warm for this area, around 70 degrees, when the sun shined through the clouds. However, when the sun goes behind the clouds, the temp is more like 65 degrees.

We made it to the park, but were there about an hour when it started to sprinkle a little bit. Since the boys had already found a puddle to play in, we figured, what is a little sprinkle going to hurt. After about 10 minutes, the sun was shining once again through the clouds.

Since we had promised Diego a movie this afternoon, after we returned from the park, the hostess put in a movie for the boys. We decided this would be a great opportunity to sneak away to the store to pick up some items. Diego is becoming quite the juggler, so we wanted to buy some small balls for him to be able to juggle.













We were also looking for kite string. We purchased a special toy for each of the boys at the shop yesterday, so they have now tranformed from Superman to Spiderman, as we purchased each one a small Spiderman. Mami attached a long (mucho grande) piece of thread to each one, so now each of their Spidermans do great stunts from the upstairs balcony. However with all the stunts, the string broke many times, and is now mangled into a little ball of thread. We didnt find any string, so we settled on ribbon instead. As long as it is Mucho Grande, the boys are happy.





























Joyce also wanted to purchase a water bottle that you could not see through, so she could be discreet when she enjoys her COKE Light-We have been unable to purchase Diet Coke here in Bogata. If the boys see a bottle for soda, they immediately want to have some as well. It is amazing how many tricks we are learning. The staff at Zuetana, agreed to watch the boys while we went to the store. Since the movie was on the entire time, the boys were little angels.

After about an hour at EXITO, we became frustrated, with all the people, and not finding what we were looking for, so we returned back to the hotel. We ate lunch, and then went to meet with the boys therapist. We were meeting her and Cecilia back at the orphanage where the boys lived, so we were not quite sure how they would react. They didnt seem to be concerned with being back there. We truely think that they were treated well at the orphanage, and enjoyed the other children and staff.

What did we learn from the therapist? both boys love to manipulate!!! Not a surprise to us! We discussed how our first week went; and the actions of the boys. We have decided that it is best for Diego to have more structure in his day, so he will be going back to school here in Colombia, for 4 hours each afternoon. Since the 2 boys were used to being in school (Jefferson in the morning and Diego in the afternoon), they never really had the opportunity to antagonize each other the way they do now. We think that this will be the best for Diego, and Jefferson will spend the time with mami, without having to compete with his brother. We didnt feel that
Jefferson needs to return to school, here in Colombia, as he is easily entertained. Mami will be working with him on his English during this time. However, once we return home, both boys will immediately be enrolled in school, so they have the structure and exposure to English that they need. The therapist also told us that we need to be direct when speaking to both of them, as they need to have discipline. Since communication is a barrier, she said to really show our emotions in our eyes, as the boys understand that, and looks are universal. The therapist also spoke to Jefferson and Diego, and reported that the boys seem happy, and feel that we are very warm and patient parents.

Upon leaving the orphanage, we started our new discipline technique, and the boys were very good during dinner. With a few reminders, they sat nicely, ate all of their food, and even got to enjoy some extra time watching the NASCAR race on TV with papi.

The boys sleep so well at night. We are very thankful for this. They go to sleep around 8 PM, and sleep until about 7 AM. We love when they wake up in the morning, as they are both little angels. They love our family time.

We are going to look into taking the boys swimming sometime this weekend, at a local fitness club. We think they would really enjoy it, as they love to play in water. By the time they finish washing their hands and brushing their teeth, the bathroom floor is like a swimming pool.

We hope everyone is enjoying our daily blog. We try to update daily, but this is sometimes difficult.

We hope everyone is doing well.

Chow!!!!

Eric, Joyce, Diego and Jefferson

TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS, AUGUST 20, 2008

Hi Folks

Today I start with a bit of a warning . . . there will be much boasting on our part, there will be much humor with the boys actions, and YES - we are the the most frustrated we have ever been in our life!

However, in our opinion, we still have the best match of two children ever in the history of adoption. Consider yourself warned, and read on if you like.

First, let me start by saying what an absolute treasure JOSE PABLO is with his visit. We totally believe his ability to speak Spanish was the reason the first three days were so WONDERFUL, and the last two - well, are we are getting tested! Just yet another example of how blessed we are to know him - and don't forget the 8 hours travel overnight on a crowed bus just to visit - ONE WAY. Boggles our mind. We hope that all our exchange students know we would also travel to the moon for them if need be. It is special we were able to share this MUCHO IMPORTANTE experience with him as well.

Our plan with Jose was to expose the boys to as much as we felt they could handle. We wanted to see them react to various situations. We did just that, based on the boys behavior, and they handled everything with much more patience and love than we could ever have hoped for. But, we were able to communicate totally with them about any situation that came up. Please read on if you dare.

First, a brief update on Monday (of which was a holiday here in Bogota - they have so many!). We went to a placed called Moloca (http://www.maloka.org/ if interested, Hispaniol only). This is sort of a childrens hands on experience with a museum. It is geared a little older than children 3 and 5 years old, but the kids had great fun anyway. A few of our favorite exhibits were the Electricity and Space exhibits.

First the electricity exhibit. This was very similiar to what you would find at that Tommy Bartetts Robot World place in The Wisconsin Dells. They had a generator that would run electricity from "someplace" through your body and have it do "something" at the tips of your fingers, feet, elbows. It was absolute magic to the kids. We must have heard "magico" 100 times, but once Papi was volunteered by the show host, the kids were transformed into paranoid schizophrenics as they were obviously interested in what was going on, as long as it did not hurt Papi. We assure you (and the boys several times) that Papi was just fine, but there was very slight pain, and weird sensations running through his body - nothing like a tazer from the police, but guarateed you do not want to go through that. The only part we did not like is the flash of the digital camera did not go far enough, and the pics without the fash are just too blurry for anyone to recognize unless you were there. Thus, sorry no pics of that portion. But the looks of concern on the boys faces, and Diego giving the "business" to the show host about hurting Papi, really made this portion of Moloca worth writing about. Diego must have given a two minute lecture to the show host on "several occasions". He had the people in "stitches" around us during the lecture. Although we could not understand at the time what he was saying, Jose was trying to interpret, and was not being able to translate quick enough. Upon finally hearing what he was saying, and what he was going to do about it if Papi was hurt. . . well, honestly, this made Papi so proud he wanted to run around like a Gorilla thumping his chest!!!!!!! Ever get lectured by a 5 year old????

We were able to get photos from a portion of the Electricity exhibit. They may also be blurry. Not because of the lighting, but because the kids run so fast. It was this sort of spinning circle type "thingy" - much like you would picture a horse walking around in circles tied to the little pole in front of it, and having no place to go but in a circle. Using this analogy VERY playfully

we have found two horses. OH MY GOD, did they run around in circles! The diameter of the circle is barely 5 feet, so they also got very dizzy. It was hillarious to watch them run, then want Mami and Papi (Jose too) hold them up by the hands so they would not fall to the ground (dizzyness). Boys will be boys - they would not quit! Diego's face never really did change in looks, but Jefersons face was so contorted, I bet you could have opened a bottle of coke in the folds of his cheeks, chin, eyes, and all other facial parts - I would have to think about it, but I bet even his ears were involved!

The other cool exhibit was the Space portion. This was also what you would expect from a normal childrens space exhibit. Alignment of the planets, the solar system, asteroids and what not. The kids were so enamorred with it, and spent a lot of time there, we decided late in the afternoon to catch an IMAX film there. It was titled "Fly Me To The Moon". It was not what we expected! In fact, we never knew that a fly (just a general house fly) was tucked inside of Neil Armstrongs suit when man first landed on the moon. We know now. It was animated, and in 3d like an IMAX movie would be (wrapped all around you practically 360), and had some great special effects. Diego loved it! It was a bit too old for Jeferson (or he ran around in circles too much) because he was not that intersted in the movie, and fell asleep on Madre's lap during 80% of the movie. TOTALLY OK WITH MAMI as she loves to hold him, and even better when sleeping (all you moms out there can relate!). Jose, Eric, and Diego were glued to the screen above. Did not even notice that Jeferson AND Madre were sleeping (Oh, the cuddling feeling with a new parent and their children). Did not find that out till after the movie. GOTTA LOVE IT!

Tuesday, we woke up to mucho Mucho MUCHO different children. The morning ritual was virtually the same, no problemo, but throughout the day the kids just got more and more wild. They would not listen to us very well, the limited Spanish we speak only seemed to make things worse. At lunch, Papi was siting with Diego. Madre was chasing Jeferson trying to get him to sit and eat. He would not, despite the wonderful people fluent in Spanish speaking to him as well. He simply would not sit much less eat. Well in the mean time, with Papi sitting with Diego, Papi noticed that Diego simply kept on chewing and chewing, despite hardly ever putting food in his mouth. All of a sudden Papi notices Diego is only using one hand to put food in his mouth. Papi asked him what was in his hand. Diego promptly showed him a pack of Chicklets Gum. Neither Madre or Padre know where this came from - we did not give it to him. Papi asked for it, which turned into disaster number one. After a bit of quite non forceful removing the pack of gum from his hand, Diego started pouting. And Pouting, crying a fake cry, and pouting some more. You swear that Papi would have stolen his livlihood, but we guess in some ways he did. Here is where the real problem came in.

Papi noticed in the pouting that Diego still had two pieces of the gum in his other hand. We may have a "slight of hand" artist in our midst. No clue how that happened. Well, through an interpreter, simply because Papi would not be listened too, Diego finally gave up one of the pieces of gum to James, the wonderful front desk clerk here at Zuetana. Papi informed James that he was looking for TWO pieces of gum and not one, as I had seen two in his hand. Diego absolutely lied and lied and lied about this. Papi held strong - and told James to tell Diego that I am not angry with what happened to the gum, but MUCHO NO FELIZE that he is not telling the truth. Diego hung to his story, until Papi started "lecturing James" about what he wanted James to tell him about telling the truth has virtually no consequences, but NOT TELLING THE TRUTH IS MUCH WORSE! While Lecuring with Diego compaining at lot, all of a sudden Diego told James that he now wanted to tell the truth. Diego came clean with James in that he chewed the second piece of gum while Papi was talking to James, but that is the reason why there is no second piece of gum.

WE SWEAR WE COULD HARDLY STOP FROM CRYING BECAUSE HE HAD GOTTEN PAPI'S MESSAGE AND CAME CLEAN. BRAVO DIEGO!

Upon recollection of this, hours after, this may have been a milestone, the first baby step if you will, but none-the-less, MUCHO IMPORTANTE!

Lunch really did not continue, but that was OK.

We went to the park with the boys. We felt they needed to blow off a little energy. The trip to the Park was horrible as well. Jeferson was now playing off Diego's emotion (as expected) and they each fed off each other. Well this ended up with Papi holding Diego's hand the entire way to the park with Diego eventually throwing a temper tantrum on the way. Jeferson was great once he got away from Diego a bit walking ahead with Madre. A good "old fashion temper tantrum" erupted - just like the ones your mom told you about! Lots of throwing himself to the ground, not walking, crying a fake cry, kicking etc, etc, etc, the entire walk to the park.

Oh, I forgot to mention this was because Diego threw the soccer ball into the street and it was Papi's turn to carry the ball.

Once at the park, Papi kicked the ball into the park which always ended up with Jeferson and Diego chasing the ball at breakneck speed. Off went Jeferson! Diego too, but in the opposite direction, the temper tantrum continued.

Finally Papi got to Diego, and picked him up, walked to a rock and sat holding Diego screaming and crying for about 1/2 hour. Seemed like 5 hours - the entire time holding Diego firmly whispering anytthing he could think of. Eventually it ended up in a bit of a tickling issue. When Papi was certain this was "over" this time, Diego ran off to the swing set where Madre was playing with Jeferson, but with that watchful Eagle Eye on both kids that mothers are so good at.

After the park, we returned to the Casa, and a movie was in order. We hate the idea of using a movie to babysit a child - this was needed for all parties. Two hours of simply staring at Shrek saving the Kingdom. Absolute joy! Diego and Jeferson were enjoyable (really for the rest of the night) and went to sleep without further serious incident.

This brings us to the end of the day, which brings us to the next day (Wednesday). Same thing but this time it was Madre's turn to deal with the same temper tantrums over nothing. As was with Papi, Madre was pushed to the brink of a nervous breakdown. Jeferson too got in the tantrum mood, but he is either not as strong willed as Diego, or is simply younger - with a shorter attention span - as they seem less severe and not as long. Diego's "attention to detail" is going to be legendary - at least in this category - hope it transfers to math!

Although these temper tantrums described above seem dramatic and they are, the love and joy these boys bring to our lives really shadows these moments. We believe most of these stem from our lack of communication directly with the boys!

As an example - look below:

Keep on praying for us, send the all the encouragement you can. We live for the blog replies.

MUCHO GRACIAS

Eric, Joyce, Diego, and Jeferson

GOTCHA DAY PLUS UNO August, 16, 2008

Hola! we are still a day behind in posting the blogs, but the 2 boys are keeping us very busy.

The first night with the boys went fantastic. The boys went to bed at 8:30 and slept until 7 AM the next morning. In fact, they went down very easily. The beds were dry and, well, everything was normal. Much to our suprise! Joyce and Eric did not sleep very well at all. Joyce did manage to get a brief sleep in during the night. Eric - Nada.

For those of you who may not know us that well, previously we sponsored three Foreign Exchange Students in our lives. They each lived with us for approximately one year. One is from the great Country of Colombia! Our Mucho, Mucho, moy moy moy bien AMIGO Jose Pablo, arrived around 8AM (this morning) Saturday morning- of course in Colombian time. He was initially due at 12:00 midnight, then 2:00 am, then 6:00 am. I think the listening to every breath, snort, rollover, fart!!!!! (Oh my God!) of the kids, coupled with the the anxiousness to see Jose created a "non-sleeping" atmosphere. Jose travelled from his home town of Buccaramanga, Colombia 8 hours overnight via a packed full bus just to come and see us and help in any way he can. He also WANTED VERY MUCH to met the children. He says he is certain of how great parents we will be due to his experience with us. We pray this will be true. It is great to see him again, and he has been a tremendous help in our transition, mainly to understand what the boys are saying. But we are slowly learning, and also teaching them the words in English. They are both very bright, and will repeat words that we say in English. The communication is difficult, and it breaks our heart many times when we can't understand what they are asking of us. Especially when they end their question with "por favor", as we know that means "please". We do tell them "no comprende mi amigo" meaning that we do not know what they are saying. Often we say "repeate por favor no rapido" and they do. They will sometimes take our hands and direct us to show us what they want. Otherwise they get Primo (cousin Jose) to translate.

They both drink a lot of water, and now carry water bottles they are constantly refilling with 'agua". By the way, DID I MENTION THEY TALK A LOT! I think I did but in a previous post, but we had no idea of how often the sing. AND THEY SING LOUDLY AND OFTEN. Possibly future American Idol winners - they do get enough practice in now.

Sometime after breakfast, Deido and Jefferson managed to change in the phonebooth (somewhere-we still have not found the phone both yet) and became Supeman. We never even saw it!. They just came down stairs, with their blankets tied around their necks and walla - the caped cruisader is alive and living in Bogota. The superheros are leaping tall couches in a single bound, seeing EVERYTHING with their expert vision, moving faster than a speeding bullet! How LUCKY everyone here at Zuetana is - especially the staff!

The boys are such big eaters, they eat like there is no next meal, and very rapido. We have to be careful about how much we give to them since they will eat everything and anything. In our meeting with the director of the orphanage on Friday, we were given recommendations for their schedule, eating habits, etc, and we are trying to follow it very closely trying to avoid any disruptions to their daily routines and eating habits.

Sometime after breakfast, the doctor who does house calls, came to the hotel to check on Diego's stitches. The wound is healing well - may not even end up with a scar. She will be back on August 21 to remove the stitches. Diego is being so brave about them. He did cry when the bandage finally came off. Eric initially was not impressed with the removal of the bandage. The wound side of the gauze bandage was stuck to the wound so we could not even replace the bandaid on the stitches the initial night due to this. The doctor quickly put our medical supplies to great use, but after about 15 minutes of attempting to slowly remove the stuck bandage, she just tore the thing off. Luckily it worked perfectly and did not disturbe the wound at all. Diego did break out into a horrific cry when this first hapened, but Papi was there with the doctor to make it all better. Maybe she did know what was doing after all, but you should have seen the look on her face when we pulled our "Pharmacia" out of the closet. She realized we are traveling ready for anything: sprains, strains, colds, flu, cuts, bruises, bumps, scratches. Possibly even a fracture or an amputation, but lets not talk about that - I just want to point out that Madre is ready for anything!

We have determined that Jeffersons clothes fit Diego. Shopping was certainly in order as Jefferson. They are all so big, as are the size 8 clothes that we brought for Diego are MUCHO Grande. So , we took a trip to the local mall to buy some clothes. Size 3T is a better size for Jeferson, and size 6/7 is a better size for Diego. We purchased a couple of outfits for Jeferson, and also a jacket for Diego. He was so funny in his new jacket. He put it on and then put on his sunglasses and baseball cap, and started singing and strutting around the store with them. We may have a rockstar on our hands.

I have to say that both nino's are suffering in the clothes category. I swear, the clothes sizes in compairison are 1.5 sizes off. As an example, in my opinion, a Colombian 4/5 is the equivalent of a 3T in Colombian. The Boys were fantastic in the stores - and this mall is HUGE. They were very patient, and just took in all the sights of the mall. They didn't ask for a single thing. They really are good boys, but don't get me wrong, they are still boys.

They have lots of ENERGY.

As you might remember from our internet meeting with them a few weeks ago, they talk alot, and we have learned that they talk very loud as well. They sing all the time. They really are happy boys, and are very curious about so many things. We are not able to leave Jeferson alone for a moment, without him getting into something that he shouldn't be. As an example, yesterday, I missed him for a couple moments, and found him in the bathroom, with the soap dispenser in his hand, and pumping soap onto him, and all over the floor. He is very quick and bright!! It is also very funny when they start chatting with each other in Spanish, as we think they are scheming their next moves.

For dinner we went out to dinner to an authentic Colombian restaurant, and met Jose's mother and her friend. It was very nice to finally meet Jose's mom. Although we can not communicate directly, we had a great time, and the food was fantastic. The boys sat and ate so good. We were so very pleased with their behavior, as this was our first dinner out, so we made no guarantees. They both ate A LOT, and then both fell asleep in our arms, as we continued to chat with everyone. Once back at the hotel, they were out for the night.

What an exhausting day. What great problems to have.

Adios Amigos

Eric and Joyce

"Gotcha Day" August 15, 2008

Let me start by saying that Diego and Jeferson are absolutely adorable little boys. They are very warm and trusting, and their smiles just brighten our days.

The day on Friday was so magical. We had been notified that we would meet with the Director of the AYUDAME orphanage at 11:30 AM on Friday morning. Our LSS Colombian facilitator, Cecilia called us around 9:30 and suggested that we bring a cake and some Coca Colas to celebrate the presentation of the children at the orphanage. Since it was only 9:30 and both of us were ready to go, and now had an hour and a half to wait, we walked to the local bakery and chose the most delicious chocolate torte to bring with us.

Once at AYUDAME, we were directed into the room where we were first going to sign all the paperwork, and be given the information of how the finalizing of the adoption process will work. This meeting took about an hour. The staff was very friendly. After all the paperwork was signed, they went upstairs to get the boys. At this point, We waited in the room, with many butterflies in our stomachs. Then we could hear the boys talking and then they appeared in the room. We have included a picture of the expression on our faces the first moment we saw the boys. Both of the boys came running up to us saying "Mami and Papi". It was the most beautiful moment that anyone could experience. Diego ran up to Mami, and Jeferson ran up to Papi, and we both received the biggest hugs one could possibly get from a child. Then the boys switched and gave the other one a hug. They looked so happy to finally meet us, and of course, I don't need to mention how happy we were to finally meet them.

After the initial hugs and tears, the boys noticed that chocolate cake, and it was on to cake time. Jeferson (youngest ) took a chair right in front of the cake, and was ready to put his fingers into it.

After we arrived back at the hotel, we had lunch, yes even after the chocolate cake! They are both very good eaters. Then we decided that with all the excitement, the boys really needed to get rid of some energy, so we took them for a walk to a local park. They are very energetic typical boys, and I think they wore us out.





























Also, just to mention, the scratches that you see on Diego's face are from an incident at AYUDAME, where he accidently fell and hit a table. He ended up with 2 stitches by his eye. He is a very active little boy, and anticipate many more accidents along the way.

When we returned to our hotel, the staff at Zuetana, threw a party for us, to Welcome Diego and Jeferson, and Congratulate us on being a forever family. There were balloons and steamers, and a Colombian band, and pastrys, and many people to help us celebrate. It was so nice of the Zuetana staff, to honor us.

Here the boys are waving the Colombian flag, and the US flag.






So, after a very busy day, we ended with 2 very exhausted boys, and 2 very exhausted parents!!

We truly believe we are the luckiest parents to be able to welcome these 2 precious boys into our family.




Eric, Joyce, Diego and Jeferson

Friday is presentation day!!

Hola, We just realized that we didn't even let everyone know when we will meet the boys.
We met with Cecilia yesterday, and she informed us that the AYUDAME orphanage has decided to allow us to take the boys full time on Friday. They felt it would be best for the boys, as they are so excited to meet us, to allow them to live with us, rather than just visit for the integration. They also thought it would be better, rather than for us to just meet and then leave, and repeat this for a few days.

So, tomorrow is the day. Our presentation is at 11:30 AM on Friday. We are excited and scared all at the same time. Our Spanish is going to be our biggest barrier, so it is nice to have so many people around us who speak Spanish.

Zuetana is a very family friendly place to stay, and they have many programs and things for the children to do. There are about 4 other families here right now, as 2 families left today. One of the families is from Denmark, and the other 2 are from Germany. The youngest child is 2 years old, the oldest is 7 yrs old.

It is very late, and we need all the energy that we have for tomorrow. Adios, we will update tomorrow.

Hola from Bogota, Colombia

Good morning - we landed in Bogota at aroun 8:15 last night. Our bus trip to Ohare, and our flight from Ohare to Miami, were flawless. We boarded our plane in Miami as scheduled, but then due to air traffic, we sat on the tarmac for 1 1/2 hours before departing. So this delayed our arrival in Colombia. Once in Bogota, we did not have a ramp to deplane, but instead, had to use stairs from the plane, and then be shuttled over to the terminal. Once at the terminal, we waited in a very long line to go through immigration. We then retrieved our luggage, and went through customs. They allowed us in with no problems!

Our driver was waiting for us holding a sign " Familia Christy" among about 500 other people. If you have ever watched Good morning America, and you see all those people lined up outside the studio, that is what it looked like when we were trying to find our driver to take us to the hotel. We arrived at the hotel around 10 pm. Exhausted!

Just 1 more day! August 10, 2008

Just wanted to let everyone know that we are busy packing and doing last minute errands and cleaning. I don't think I have ever made so many lists in my life.

Friday night we did find some time to go to our last Brewer's game of the season. They won!
It was a perfect evening for a baseball game.

We will try to post one more time before we fly on Tuesday, and it will be a full day of travel for us. We are going to take the airport connection from Milwaukee to Chicago O'Hare airport, so we will be leaving early in the morning to catch our flight out of Chicago, and we will be landing mid evening in Colombia. Bogota, is in the same time zone as Wisconsin, so it will be great not to have to worry about time changes. Although, I am sure we will be very tired when we arrive.

However, we will probably not sleep very well even after an exhausting day, as we will be very excited to meet the boys first thing on Wednesday morning. We can not express the excitement knowing that this day is finally arriving.

We want to thank everyone for their support and prayers, and ask that you continue them as we journey to Colombia.

I am totally exhausted, and tomorrow will be another busy day with final preparations.
Adios for now.

-Joyce