Trip to the Old City

Traci and I ate light breakfasts this morning. They did have French toast, but it wasn’t very good. Tasted like it wasn’t quite done in the middle. I don’t know how you do that. The kids ate everything, but cereal is getting to be a big staple in Luke and Maria’s diets (which is good because we don't have scrambled eggs, sausage or waffles very often at home). The hotel seems pretty busy today. There is an OB/Gyn conference going on here and it is the Friday before a long holiday weekend (Monday is yet another Colombian holiday. I will have to ask around for the name of this one). So, our usual table inside was full. We hadn’t tried breakfast outside on the covered deck area yet and did that this morning. It was a little muggy but nice.

The couple next to us had two kids, and one of them had a Chicago Cubs backpack. They looked kind of American so I asked if they were from Chicago. Turns out that Chicago was their home but that they lived in Atlanta now. That was about all I got out of them. They had to hurry off to somewhere. Colombian people are much friendlier.


Luke had a little friend join him for breakfast this morning. The birds would fly up to the bussed plates of left over food on this table. They seemed to enjoy the eggs. Cannibals?

Next, as promised, we went back to the old historic part of Cartagena. Pretty neat but I can’t tell if I like it better in the day or at night. When we were there at night, the cars look to be pretty much forbidden from diving the narrow streets. The place seemed to have kept some of its old fashioned lighting and looked pretty quaint (even though it was difficult to take pictures). In the day time, cars freely roamed the street, making walking difficult on the narrow sidewalks – and even a little hazardous pushing a stroller. However, Traci is a trooper and excellent stroller conductor. Plus, if she wasn’t doing that she would have my job of carrying Maria all over town (with Luke snapping at her heels asking when it was his turn and griping about how unfair it was).

Additionally, we had an absolutely perfect day today in Cartagena. It was probably in the low 80’s and barely a cloud in the sky. As nice as this seems, it actually presented a couple of problems. It must be our proximity to the equator, but that sun was blazing hot!!. Add in the humidity and it feels a lot hotter than law 80’s. Our second problem had to do with the layout of the city itself. You have a walled city with narrow streets where all of the buildings are at least 2-3 stories high. This prevented any breeze whatsoever from entering the city to cool you down. We were pretty much dripping with sweat not long after we entered the city’s maze. The poor kids were almost melting in our arms, but we trudged forward on a quest for fun and to see interesting things.

One of the things we really wanted to see was the Sofitel Hotel which used to be a nunnery well before it became one of the best hotels in Cartagena. It was on the exact opposite corner of the old city from where we entered. We had quite a hike on our hands, but managed to only stop twice – once for some air conditioning in a fancy shoe store and another time for a cool beverage in a small Italian eatery called Paco’s. Here’s some pictures from our journey:







We walked by a church and the huge front doors were open. Looking inside, we saw that a weding was going on. Check out that old chandelier in the ceiling with the candles. I was wondering if this might be the place where Luke II's cousin or uncle is getting married.


This picture was taken from inside Paco's. This outside area is where we had dinner the other night before it started to sprinkle (where Traci got more unwanted parenting advice).


I think this might be an original scupture by Fernando Botero. He is a famous Colombian artist and all of his subjects, be they people or animals, are kind of "chubby." It was in the "square area" with the tables in the previous picture. Personally, I kind of like his paintings better.

The Sofitel was a fairly nondescript looking building and we probably could have walked right past without knowing it was there if we hadn’t actually been looking for it (according to Traci’s step-mom it is one of the 1,000 places to see before you die. Now only 999 left). When you walk through the door, you see the square, open-air garden in the center. There are stone paths that run into the center where there is an old well that the nuns must have used. I could go on for pages describing it. The most interesting part, was the two toucans living in the garden. At least, the kids found that interesting.


Me in front of the Sofitel with a couple of hot, tired, hungry kids.



That line is actually part of a fountain/stream that runs down the middle of all of the walkways in the garden and then around the entire garden itself. Not a easy place to bring kids.


Do I look tired? Actually, I think at this point I was getting a little annoyed with my photographer's fumbling around (Luke).



The toucans that live in the Sofitel garden. I didn't take these pictures so they may actually be the same bird. Suffice it to say that there was two of them and they looked very similar. I wanted to ask someone about the mess they leave, but didn't think they would understand what i was talking about if the words "chi chi" and "po po" came out of my mouth. I do not know any other Spanish expressions for those things.


The pool out back of the Sofitel. What a dump. They don't even have a water slide.



Out in front of the Sofitel they had a small park with some vendors and a few restaurants.

In the end, the Sofitel Santa Clara (that’s the name of the convent that used to be at that location) was nice, but we all kind of decided that we like our Hilton better. For families, we have a pretty nice place here. Stepping outside, we looked for someplace to eat, but everything looked hot and way overpriced. Having had enough history for one afternoon, we hopped into a cab and headed back to the Hilton. On the way back, we made the cab driver stop by our little BBQ joint, “Requisimo” (I memorized the name today), and had lunch.


It's hard to tell if Papa Bill would like Cartagena. On the one hand, they bring you a cold glass with your beer. On the other hand, there is no Coors Lt.


My carne asada lunch. There were more fries before the kids started mooching off me. This little meal cost about $6 or $7. As much as we liked this place, I think we are going to have to branch out and try something else tomorrow.

After solid 2 hours naps for the ninos, we reinvaded the pool late this afternoon. Both Maria and Andres are really learning to love the pool and are starting to lose their fear of the water (which is good and bad). Traci had Andres standing on the edge of the pool and on the count of three (in English) he would jump into her arms in the pool. By the time we were done, she wasn’t catching him until he hit water. Sometimes his face went under a little but he learned to keep his eyes and mouth closed. Watching Andres, Maria picked this up pretty quickly too. Maria’s favorite thing to do was lay on her back in the water while I carted her around the pool. Of course, there were several trips down the water slide (Luke, papi and Maria). We even got some kind of tongue lashing in Spanish from some little kid who didn’t think you could go down 2 and 3 at a time. As a father, I am pretty sure his dad just told him that so that he could lay on the edge of the pool (that is where I saw the little boy run to next). There were also several occasions where I had to throw Luke as far as I could in the pool (I’m getting a pretty good work out here lifting, carrying and throwing kids – and I have managed to keep my new belt notch even with all of the good food).

Dinner was nothing too special. We just did the buffet again. Apparently the pasta dish was pretty good because every time I got up there it was empty. Luke and Maria had salchicha and fries – again! I actually ordered a couple glasses of win with my meal. This got us wondering if that is part of our meal package or not. I didn’t have to sign any additional tickets.

Luke had kind of reverted to his sibling rivalry ways for most of the day. However, at dinner time he was great. He helped find ways to get Andres to eat dinner and make Maria laugh. After dinner, M&A dog piled Luke on our bed and gave him “besos and brazos.” I think he liked that and needed a little positive feedback from the kids.



Maria was also exceptionally excited tonight. I think she went to bed happy with her new familia. As for Andres, it is hard to tell what he thinks because the kid is always smiling and happy. Every time we get on an elevator with a stranger, he makes them laugh with his goofy grin.

As for what is next on our list in Caretgena, I don’t know. I think there is supposed to be a fairly nice aquarium here in town. We might take the kids there. However, we may also just lay around the pool, play, and do family stuff. I guess we’ll decide over breakfast.

Oh, and this is why I moved the chair next to Maria’s bed.

Another Laid Back Day in Cartagena

Welcome back to another day in Cartegena. Once again, we didn’t do a whole lot today, but as Matt is so awesome with words, I will let you tell him about it (This from the former English teacher who I won't let look at the stuff I write for work any more). I thought I’d just write about a few things and then pass it to him.

One thing you all don’t know is that Matt loves to do the blog. He looks forward to it and I think his mind thinks in terms of the blog as we live out each day. He makes a true evening of it. He’s working on it when I go to bed at 10pm and I have awakened almost every night around 1am and he’s still working on it. Now, he claims he’s watching soccer. I don’t know. I think he must “pretend” he is typing when I go to sleep and once I am out, I’m pretty sure he may be sneaking to see the Colombian nightlife. Especially after our friend, Cindy, sent us a picture of the beautiful Aguila beer girls here in Cartegena. So far, I haven’t seen one between the hours of 7am and 10pm, but Cindy, I am willing to bet Matt has.

Ok, let’s play, “Guess Who Did This?” Of the Jensen 5, who do you think had the following for dinner: fish, rice, fries, apple salad, plantains, fruit cup, mousse, bread, noodles, chicken and Sprite? Anyone? The answer: Andres. I’m telling you, this kid eats! He is unbelievable! However, when there is something he doesn’t like, he immediately spits it out (and not in his hand or on his plate – just out!). Not every meal is quite as a success as tonight, but whoever said a two-year old can’t get their money’s worth out of a buffet hasn’t met our son! Ok, next question: Of the Jensen 5, who would do the following: Be sitting at the table as perfect as can be and let out a burp as loud as a large family of bullfrogs ? Once again, Andres. To think that these behaviors come from his body is unbelievable.

Another thing I have been thinking about this week are all of the modern-day conveniences I am missing. First of all, I want everyone to celebrate that I am on day three of taking a HOT shower from beginning to end. After staying at El Refugio, I had forgotten what a luxury that was. The only problem is, I have increased the amount of time it takes for me to get ready. Not exactly something you want to do when you have a family of three kids. Other things I have missed include COLD milk (I am dying here. I drink about 2 gallons a week by myself), water out of the faucet (can’t tell you how many times I have wanted a drink in the middle of the night or after brushing my teeth), ketchup (it just doesn’t taste the same here), BBQ ribs and onion rings (I’m a true Kansas City girl), reading the local newspaper (haven’t picked one up in 13 days—but couldn’t read it much anyway in Spanish), the luxury of sitting out on my deck at home (although looking at the Caribbean and reading my book on our balcony at the Hilton makes it not so bad. There’s NOTHING like that at El Refugio), hopping in the car and just going for a ride (ok, we don’t do that yet, but it sure sounds good right now!), reading myself to sleep (can’t do it in the tight confines at El Refugio b/c we can’t leave the lights on or the kids won’t go to sleep—the Hilton has been a blessing but I’ve been too tired to read in the evening), along those same lines, People magazine (nothing more to add—I’m a junkie), sports (I SOOOOO miss sports! Yes, we get select games on TV—mostly in Spanish—and that’s what lulls me to sleep. I know my Royals are on a 10-game skid, but I still wish I could go out to the ballpark and enjoy the evening), having a bathroom with cabinets and drawers so I can put things away (I feel like I am in a cluttered mess everywhere I go), American music (all we get here is an elevator version of songs like “Thriller” and “Open Arms”—I know a dichotomy of music there), and there are so many more, but I realize that this paragraph has gone on way too long.

I had a number of other things I wanted to discuss, but for the life of me, I can’t remember what they are. Maybe that’s God’s way of saving you all from torture. Sandy—I think you asked how I was adapting to being a mother of three. It’s been awesome! I’m sure things will get tougher as we get in to our busy routine at home, but right now, a baby was a million times harder than this. This has been much easier than I thought it would be, but I think I can also chalk it up to understanding more about what it takes to be a parent. Anyway, all is good. I am really enjoying Cartagena and I will never say another bad thing about the Hilton family ever again. They saved me! I am not looking forward to heading back to El Refugio. Not because it’s bad because it’s not. El Refugio is a wonderful place to be, and all of you waiting to adopt need to put it at the top of your wish list when traveling to Bogota. It’s just been so nice to have an escape. At El Refugio, you just can’t escape the “adoption” world. Everyone there is going through it, which is quite nice, but can also be draining. We don’t have to worry about our kids running into other people’s rooms, going into the kitchen while the ladies are cooking or taking them to the tiny, enclosed play area to play. (Yes, there are tons of parks but they are mud-ridden.) One of our hotel rooms here is bigger than two rooms put together at El Refugio. But I need to stop because it sounds like I am complaining again, and I’m not. Just another example of the conveniences that I am missing. Oh and one more thing—Susan or any Spanish oficionados/teachers reading, can you please help us? Maria starts tons of her sentences with “Que.” For example, “Que no” or Que agua”, etc. What is up with this!? Is this a shortened version of quiero? (That’s my idea. As I said before, Maria tends to leave syllables out of some of her words and I think she is just giving us the “que” part of quiero)

Well, I will turn it over to Matt. God bless all of you! Thanks for all of your comments and e-mails from those we have known forever and those we have never met. You have truly helped to make this a fantastic journey!

Matt: I guess I kind of do look forward to writing a few things in the blog. As I have explained to some before, when you don’t get to speak to many people in your native tongue, this is kind of cathartic and relaxing. But I don’t spend the day thinking about it. Sometimes I will say, “Oh, we’ll have to blog about that.” However, usually when I sit down in front of the computer at night, I can’t even recall all that happened that day. So, I look at the pictures on the camera and it all kind of comes back to me.

On to today. We slept in and it felt great. Well, I slept in while little bodies crawled and roamed around me. The bed in our hotel room is almost better than the one we have at home. It’s certainly bigger. The kids got up and I kind of faded in an out of sleep for a little bit while they milled around getting ready. When it was time for breakfast, I just rolled out of bed, put on the clothes nearest to my body and a ball cap and I am ready to go (ah, vacation!). No point in getting ready early with "Mrs. 45 minutes" here.

Breakfast was pretty much the same as yesterday. However, it seems that someone here at the Hilton is reading my blog because I finally got to have some bacon. Only, it seems that everyone else was really looking forward to bacon too because by the time I came back for my second helping it was gone and replaced by the fat little sausages again.

After breakfast, we went back to the pool. The slide was fixed and we did that for quite some time. Both Maria and Andres loved the slide, but papi has to go down with them. Also, when we get to the end, I have to raise them out of the water so they don’t end up drinking half of the pool. They still got water in their mouths and each time after we were done I would have to explain that they needed to keep their mouths closed.


Departing from the rule about no pictures of us in bathing suits ouside of the pool, here is a picture of me, Luke and Maria going down the slide. Luke couldn't understand why he always had to be in back - even after I explained how he can't lift Maria or me out of the water. I also like the contrasting looks of terror (Maria), concern (me), and thrill (Luke) on the faces here. you may have to enlarge the picture to see the little bit of Luke's face behind me.


Splash down and a lesson in water displacement.


Little Andres was much easier to manage on the slide.


And Luke was the daredevil trying to figure out new ways to go down the slide. Here I believe he is trying to throw is football with a tail thingie to me. It was about an hour before we noticed the "no heads first" sign which took quite a few moves out of his play-book.

We hung around the pool for quite a bit because the kids were being so good. Particularly Luke, who seems to finally be growing into his big brother role. Maria was having fun just getting cups of water and pouring them onto her head. Rather than trying to one-up Maria with a new “Watch me dad!” type of activity, Luke joined Maria in her fun. The giggles and smiles were fun to watch. It also allowed me a chance to just sit and rest – which was much needed after several trips down the slide and raising little bodies above my head.




That is Luke II's mom, Carole, in the background. Poor Luke II was having some allegery problems this morning and didn't make it out to the pool today.


Andres making an appearance.




Andres does this from time to time. I am not really sure what he is trying to do.


Maybe this looks better.

Since we didn’t have to be in the pool constantly and the kids were being so good, Traci and I decided to get a nice adult type beverage from the pool bar (we are on vacation after all). I just wanted a beer, but Traci wanted a strawberry margarita – ugh, a girlie drink. So I went down to the pool bar and placed my order. The strawberry margarita order confused everyone there and pretty soon one of the guys left saying he had to go inside to get something. He returned with a plate full of fresh strawberries. I watched as he carefully cut the berries and threw them into the mixer with several other liquids. In fact, he was so careful and meticulous about his work, I had finished a whole beer before he was done (plus, it was hot and I was thirsty). When he finished I purchased another beer and brought this trophy of a drink back to my bride. Traci took one swig and declared it undrinkable. So, I ended up having the girlie drink and she had my beer. I wasn’t going to let it go to waste, particularly since it cost more than my two beers.

For a while the familia de Jensen also invaded the other, more shallow pool. This one had steps where the kids could sit and splash around. Luke and I were playing catch with a little nerf football when I noticed something black in the water. It was some form of giant beetle about 4 inches long – the front 1.5 inches of which were these incredibly long pincher things. I asked one of the workers standing along the side of the pool what it was and he didn’t really seem to know. It didn’t look like a water bug but it almost seemed to be swimming. He left for a minute and pretty soon there were about 5-7 guys around the edges of the pool with towels looking for this bug (which we had lost track of). The kids decided that they wanted to go back to the pool with the slide and I don’t know if they ever did catch that thing.

The weather was the typical overcast in the morning but later in the afternoon the clouds disappeared and it was an absolutely perfect Caribbean day. However, by that time, we were all pretty much done with the swimming. We decided to venture out of the hotel for lunch. Right now I am drawing a blank at the name of the place suggested to us by the concierge, but it was only about a quarter mile away. I will have to get it and include it in the blog tomorrow because it was fantastic. It was just a little hole in the wall, but it was nice and pretty clean. The sign on the front said something about BBQ, but it wasn’t anything like the BBQ we have in KC. We ordered some chicken shish-ka-bobs and a sausage dish. All were excellent. Our waiter also brought out a couple sauces and warned us that one of them was pretty hot. Naturally, I poured it all over my sausage and these potato-like things on my plate. I probably should have given it a test run first because it was about the hottest hot sauce I have ever tasted. My mouth was on fire for a little while – but it was a good kind of hurt. As we were leaving, we stopped to look at the little wood fueled grill where they cook the meals. I don’t know what kind of wood they were using but it smelled good and glowed red-hot without looking like it was being consumed. We watched as they prepared some sort of flank steak for another customer and decided that we were going to have to come back for some of that some time. So far, this was probably the best meal we have had in Cartagena.


Andres enjoying a little chicken for lunch.


On our walk back to the hotel, we noticed a sign for another restaruant pointing down this alley way. Even I am not quite this adventuresome.


On the way back, Maria and Andres pretty much fell asleep. Here is a picture of us in front of our hotel.

It ended up being another kind of late lunch. Once back in the room, the ninos continued their naps and I joined them for a while. While we were away, Traci and Luke read books on the balcony.



Since we had such a nice, sunny day, Traci took a few more pictures from around the hotel.






Naps completed, we ventured out to the kiddie area with all of the gym equipment. It looks a lot nicer in photos and from afar. Still, we had a pretty good time.



Maria actually ventured into the play gym, but she kind of chickened out when it came to the big slide at the end.


The ball pit was a little sparce, but the kids had fun anyway.


Luke particularly enjoyed the merry-go-round. I worry about him and his fondness of being dizzy sometimes.

We still hadn't taken the kids down to the beach and it was a beautiful time (late afternoon) for just that type of thing. Luke was interested in finding shells, but it isn't a very good shell beach. In fact, it isn't a very good beach in general. But still, it's better than no beach at all.



Me, two kids and the Statute of Liberty.




These might end of being a screen saver for me. I don't know if this was M&A's first time on a beach or not. There was just a little "wow" factor that I observed. As you can kind of see, our beach is kind of a combination of sand and dirt - making it pretty dark.



Despite the not-so-perfect sand, the kids still had fun playing in it - and throwing muck into the water.



More pictures of Andres just being Andres. He loves having his tummy tickled.


Another screen saver shot.


This looks to be some newer developments in Cartagena. All of the buildings are white with light blue tinted windows. It looks really pretty in the day and almost as pretty at night.


Sun setting on the beach.

Before dinner, we all took showers and baths. Once again, as it takes Traci much longer than anyone else to get ready, I had the charge of getting the ninos bathed and dressed. Maria was a great sport about it all and I have to say that I am getting much better at brushing hair than I used to be. Aside from a year when I had a "sweeeeet" mullet in college, I've never really had long hair. So, these tangles have been a real challenge or me. As for Andres, I can't understand how a kid can love the pool so much and absolutely hate baths. While I tended to Maria's hair, Luke sat Andres next to him in front of the computer and showed his some games he likes. It was about the longest I have seen Andres sit in one place for more than a few minutes (he did sit on the plane, but wasn't happy about it at times). The bond between Luke and Andres is growing pretty well.

I don't know if I explained this previously, but our plan at the Hilton provides for breakfast every day and either lunch or dinner. Tonight we tried dinner again at the Hilton and it was pretty good. There was a buffet with several different choices from pork and fish to pasta and salad. People here still seem to go out of their way to make sure we are having fun. Everyone has been very nice and if coming to Cartagena I would really recommend this place - particularly if coming with the family.

At dinner, Luke and Maria opted for the salchicha and fries. However, this time they didn't even try to disguise the fact that their salchicha is indeed hotdogs (they weren't sliced up and each kid had three hotdogs on their plates next to a pile of fries). Luke took over some of the duties with respect to feeding Andres tonight. He did a good job. In all, Luke took a big step toward gaining a little more trust with his brother and sister today.


Luke and Maria like to take the coasters from the table and pretend they are Mickey and Minnie Mouse.

After all of that work being a good big brother, Luke was pretty tired and fell asleep on my in our room.

I haven't shaved in a couple days. Maybe i will get around to it tomorrow. Maybe now. We are going to try again for the old historic part of Cartagena tomorrow morning. I really hope this weather we had this afternoon holds up.

Thanks to everyone for your posts and emails with helpful suggestions and comments. Traci and I are happy to hear that people are enjoying the blog - however, I think it is the pictures that people enjoy most. Also, Happy Birthday to my Uncle Ron who I hear had been following the blog online. We are having a pretty good time but we all talked at dinner tonight about how ready we are to go home.

Cartagena, Day 2

After the last couple of blogs, I’m feeling a little pressure today because nothing very interesting happened. So if you were looking for a story about an earthquake, a trip past a stinky hotel, or a sudden addition of two more kids to a family, you are out of luck. Today was a pretty typical day for a Jensen family on vacation – and that is kind of the way we are viewing this portion of the trip.

We awoke at a good time and went down for the mother of all breakfast buffets described to us the night before. It was big, but it is hard to do much with breakfast that I haven’t seen before. Surprisingly, I haven’t seen any bacon in Colombia and after this morning I still haven’t. They did have some kind of weird, little, fat sausage links. The rest of breakfast was your standard pastries, fruits, cereal, waffles and made to order omelets. Now that we are a family of 5 people, there was a pretty good combination of everything on our table.

After breakfast we went out to the pool. It was still overcast but plenty warm. The major bummer of it all was that the little water slide was broken and being worked on. Traci did make the comment that it broke right after Maria and I went down and that maybe there was a weight limit. I don’t think that was fair. Maria isn’t that big.

It’s a real handful with Maria and Andres around a pool. Neither can swim worth a lick and neither appreciates the danger of water. We can’t take out eyes off of them for a second. We visited the kiddie pool for a bit and one of the two fell (I can’t remember which, but think this was Andres) and couldn’t get back up. I’ve seen this phenomena a number of times now and when they fall down in the water, they just kind of lay there face down like a piece of driftwood until you yank them back out into the air. Another time Maria was sitting on her feet on the edge of the big pool leaning in to try and get her hair wet. Traci told her a couple of times to “sit down” and “be careful,” but these warnings were not heeded. Pretty soon – “sploosh” – and Traci threw off her towel and jumped into the pool (still wearing a ball cap and sunglasses) to save Maria. At least they keep things exciting.

Luke II joined us again today. We learned that he lives with his grandparents on the Isle of White. I also learned that he likes soccer (Manchester United fan) and WWE wrestling which I thought was a weird combination. Nevertheless, he’s just an extremely nice boy. He played a little with Andres and Maria while we spoke with his mom. He also loaned Andres his little soccer ball and said we could just give t back to him in the morning when we saw each other at the pool again. His mom seemed like a nice lady too. I didn’t get to talk to her much, but Traci may have more to add about her if she ever resumes blog duties.

The reason why I didn’t get to talk much was that I was being pulled in several different directions. Well, mostly two – Maria and Luke (I also had back up duties on watching Andres and making sure he didn’t get into trouble). Maria wants in the pool and I have to carry her. Luke wants me to play “dive for the strange object hidden somewhere on the bottom of the pool” (today it was a little toy person that Maria keeps calling “muneca” which means doll. Oh, there is a tilda on the “n” so if trying to pronounce at home make it sound kind of like a “ny”). I basically took turns with each and tried to include Maria in the hiding of the “muneca.” In any event, neither was really happy with this arrangement, particularly Luke who is used to all of my time. I was glad when it came time for lunch because I knew that meant naps afterwards and a little peace for me.

We let M&A have extra long naps because we figured to be out late for dinner. So, I got first shift of sitting in the room while Traci and Luke went back down to the pool. When Traci came up to relieve me, Luke and I went out onto the beach to play catch (we brought our gloves and a ball). This got a few looks and comments from locals working the beach, but everyone was friendly. This is the second time in as many years that Luke and I have played catch on the beach in a foreign country (last year was Mexico).

Even after extra long naps, I think the fresh air and exercise had kind of caught up with everyone (even Luke with no nap). The kids were a little touchy and quick to begin pouting if things didn’t go their way. Also, the sibling rivalry was in full bloom between Luke and Maria. Each is jockeying for space and attention with mommy and daddy.

Things we learned/concluded about the kids today: They are extremely stubborn, which is no different from anyone else in our family. However, the addition of two more stubborn people adds a whole new dynamic. Also, at times it appears that Maria and Andres have never heard the word “no” before. Every time we say “no” they go into this pout which often times turns into a cry. Finally, Maria likes to be the helper. If she sees us cleaning up, she will help. If I am giving Andres a bath (as I did tonight) she will want to help. I think this is great, but sometimes help from a 4 year old can be a bit of a hindrance. No matter how nicely I say, “thanks but I need to do this” it sends her into a pout and usually a cry.

For dinner we went to the historic old section of Cartagena. This place has to be on the list of 1,000 places you see before you die. I’ll have to do a quick history check later, but the old section of Cartagena has an old stone wall around it. Although a large section of this walled off area used to be a military installation well over a hundred years ago, it looks like most of the city was within this walled off section as well. Inside, it kind of looks like the New Orleans French quarter except with narrower streets and no drunks stumbling around. They even had a couple of those guys painted up to look like statutes who would only move if you put money in their buckets. Also, the buildings are kind of a stone and stucco and painted very brightly. There were a couple of old churches, but today these streets are lined with shops and restaurants. I only saw a couple of cars on the streets, and it generally appears that cars are not allowed in the area. There were lots of horse drawn carriages which added to the allure (and scent) of the area. We entered with the thought that we would just look around a bit and then find a place to eat. Unfortunately, the place is kind of a maze and one street can look very much like the next to the first time visitor. We first encountered a square park area (Simon Bolivar Square) where they had some sort of traditional dancers and musicians doing their things for tips. We watched that for a while and moved on to look for food.

A little deeper into the maze and we found another square (the Santo Domingo square?) which had similar “entertainment” going on in various places. On one side of the square is a large church, but the other three sides is pretty much filled with restaurants. In the center of the square are tables and chairs. There are people with menus walking around and you kind of pick a table and a restaurant to serve you. This is where we ate and where we learned that Maria and Andres are not real fond of spaghetti. When we get home, I can start buying/eating more fruits and juices, but they are going to have to learn to like spaghetti. Andres was being a particularly difficult child this evening. He cried at just about everything. At one point, Traci picked him up and walked him around. I guess our waitress tried to tell Traci that the reason he was crying is that he was cold. It was 78 degrees out and he was wearing a sweater vest?!?! So, Traci was again annoyed by unsolicited parenting advice. Andres did get a little bit of a sunburn today and I have a feeling that was his issue.

It wasn’t long after we were done eating that it began to sprinkle. Naturally, we forgot the umbrellas back in our room. I even carry a back pack with me every where we go. I don’t know why they don’t just stay in there. Anyway, guided by my acute sense of direction, we wound ourselves out of the maze and back to the entrance without a single wrong turn. I am sorry but most of my pictures from the old historic part of Cartagena didn’t turn out very well. We already plan to go back (when it isn’t raining) and I will take more pictures then.

Tonight’s TV: Chinese martial arts movie, dubbed in English, with Spanish subtitles. They almost need a different Academy Award category for this. I have also been watching a lot of soccer. Tonight is the Copa Santander/Libertadores semi finals between Boca and Fluminense (not full names just what is in the score box of the upper right corner of the TV). I think these teams are from Argentina and Brazil, respectively. I probably would have been done with this blog an hour sooner if the game wasn’t so interesting. It just ended n a 2-2 tie. The semi-finals ended in a tie? I feel let down.

We’ll try to make tomorrow more interesting.


Andres put up a little fuss this morning during breakfast but was nothing we couldn't handle.


Maria got to have another granadilla for breakfast this morning. I sure hate to disappoint her when she learns that these things do not grow in Kansas.


Maria stiking a pose in her new swimming suit.


Kids messing round the kiddie pool. That is Luke II in the background.


Traci in the pool with the kids. We have kind of an unspoken agreement that no pictures of either of us in bathing suits outside of water will make their way into the blog. Sorry, ladies.
"What a drag it is getting old." - Rolling Stones.


A new Andres face. I am not sure what is going on here but it looks like he is sitting at the business end of a shotgun. Either that or a beer bong. Both are a little worrisome for a parent.


The Hilton playland which beckons the kids every morning. It's still a little too wet to go out there (or so i tell them). It's right next to our pool and once in a while they will wander over there and just stare at all of the equipment - like a kid looking through a candy store window.


Sorry this is washed out a bit. I think this must be Luke's favorite meal at the Hilton. It's the "sausage" and fries. Nothing like a good hot dog to remind a guy of home. I'd probably order it myself some time if I didn't have a hang up about ordering off the kids menu.


A couple of handsome men getting ready to hit the town. Maria is behind them somehwere in a full blown pout and not wanting to be pictured. This happens so many times during the day, I can't recall what the problem was this time.


Here's my only picture from walking around historic Cartagena that doesn't totally stink. this is the dancers getting ready for another performance. I'll try to get some better ones in the coming days.


Luke trying to show the kids how to suck spaghetti into your mouth. He's kind of got the Pop Eye look going.



Maria's and Andres' spaghetti sucking attempts didn't work out so good.


The four of us, sans Traci, at dinner. you will notice the spaghetti on Maria's nose. About the only way we could get them to eat anything was to dangle spaghetti above them and drop it into their mouths. They kind of thought it was funny if i wrapped it around their noses instead (see Andres in previous picture). Also, the big orange fruity looking drinks on the table are Maria's and Andres' mango juices (non alcoholic). I don't know why they served them in this glasses, but i didn't want anything thinking Traci and I were getting loaded at dinner on some kind of exotic drink. finally, Luke got a 7up and it came in a real glass bottle just like the way we used to buy pop when i was a kid (before 2-liter bottles). I didn't know they still had those anywhere.

Cartagena – We made it!!

Today was about as long of a day as we have had in Colombia. It started with Traci getting up at 5:30 and the rest of us not long after that. Breakfast was served at 6:30, but there was too much running around for either of the big people to eat. Let me just add here that nobody accomplishes more in as little time as my wife. The kids were sleeping when I went in for a quick shower. By the time I emerged, they were all dressed and ready to go down for breakfast. The kids ate pretty much the same thing as they always eat. However, we have discovered that Maria is a cereal eater. She liked that better than eggs or French toast.

The cab actually arrived a little early, which caused us to rush even more. When we were picked up at the airport over a week ago, Andres from CHI had a van ready for us. This time, however, we had a little car. We still had four giant suitcases, one duffle bag and 5 backpacks – not to mention 5 people that needed rides. In the end, all 5 of us crammed into the back of the cab. Our luggage filled the entire trunk and the front passenger seat. When we rode from the airport to El Refugio, it was dark and we didn’t get to see much. Driving back out to the airport, we noticed that we didn’t miss much. It’s a little more of a depressed area around the airport than where we are staying.

It took a while to get everything checked in but we made it to the gate in plenty of time. The plane left at 9:30 and we arrived in Cartagena at about 11:00. As soon as the plane landed, we noticed that the rain had followed us from Bogota. Actually, it had finished raining but remained overcast for the rest of the day. And if we thought it was humid in Bogota, it is nothing compared to Cartagena. Looks like a few more days of wearing a baseball cap for me. After we collected our luggage, we were shuttled off to the hotel in a tourism van. Our trip kind of took a brief downhill spiral from there. As I kind of explained previously, the hotel we were booked into received some rather poor reviews on the travel web sites – which we only bothered to look at after everything was booked. I tried to change our reservation while in Bogota, but was basically told that the only place it could be changed was in the Avianca office in Cartagena. I was also told that the Avianca office was right around the corner from our hotel.

I recall one of the recent travel reviews I read about this hotel mentioning something about an overpowering urine smell when you walked in. Well, I assumed he was exaggerating, and was totally unprepared for the scent that assaulted my nose. We knew I had to leave right away to see about getting the hotel changed. Traci and the kids settled in the lobby and I quickly left for the Avianca office – which actually turned out to be about a quarter mile away. Once again, I had to take a number and wait while people behind the desks with computers talked on the phone. Skipping some of the gory details, unless we wanted to spend quite a bit more, we were pretty much stuck in this hotel. Every place seemed to be full. It ended up taking me 2 hours to just get this not so helpful information. I figured it would be easier if we just stayed put for now and checked back in the morning to see if anything opened up. Plus, I knew I had a hungry wife and tired kids waiting for me at the hotel.

I arrived to the sight of relief on three little faces. I guess I was gone so long they started to worry. Traci and I discussed our options and, still trying to make a long story short, we decided that there was no way in h_ll we were staying in this hotel. Apparently, while I was gone, Maria needed to use the rest room. According to Traci, a lady from the hotel took them through restrooms on three different floors and they were all so dirty and disgusting that they couldn’t use them. Traci said they looked as though they hdn’t been cleaned in months. Finally, on the third floor, Maria was about the burst. The guide suggested that they just put Maria over the sink and let the water run. An employee from the hotel actually suggesting that someone pee in the sink? That’s the kind of place this was. In the last restroom, the lady had Maria standing on a toilet and hovering to pee. Maria couldn’t go and the poor little trooper ended up holding it until I could get back.

So, after a brief lunch, we went back to the Avianca office and ended up spending the kids’ college money on an upgrade at a Hilton resort here in Cartagena (We also told them Merry Christmas). It was a lot of running around and I skipped a lot of details. We ended up getting into the Hilton at about 3:30. The kids didn’t get naps and we all felt tired and dirty from the experience. It was a relief to get to a nice comfortable place where we wouldn’t have to worry about anything.

We did meet a nice American couple in the Avianca office. Mary and her husband (who joined us late and whose name I forget – if you haven’t figured it out by now, I am bad with names) are from Wisconsin and sailed by themselves to Cartagena from Cuacos (sp?) a little over a week ago. They are retired and told us how they had basically been living on their boat for the last couple weeks. Traci hates my idea of moving into a motor home and just driving around the country after we retire. Maybe this will be more appealing to her. Also, Andres made lots of friends with people waiting in the office. He is such a ham and real lady killer with that smile. There were a couple a young guys in the corner that Andres went over to bother with his sucker and sticky hands. One of them stuck out a fist and Andres gave him knuckles. I got kind of a laugh out of how he automatically knew what to do.

Now, a little bit about the Hilton. First of all, we actually looked at this place online before we made the arrangements to change. We were having lunch at the local Frisby’s (I sure hope we don’t have to go to another Frisby’s while in Colombia, but the kids like it) and I tapped into someone’s WiFi to check it out. In our battle weary condition, seeing those pictures made it easy for us to make up our minds – particularly when we saw the kids play area they had outside.

When we arrived at the Hilton, we were greeted by Marcos, a nice, English speaking gentleman at the desk. My brain was pretty fried from trying to converse in Spanish at Avianca all morning (I thought I did a surprisingly good job, myself), and it was nice to not have to think so much. We ended up with two adjoining rooms on the top floor. The place is clean, modern and looks like, well, a Hilton. Traci and I have a huge bed with a plush comforter and several thick pillows (I think we mentioned how the pillows at El Refugio were so thin there was hardly anything to them). Upon arrival, they also gave each of the kids boxes of some fun little flash cards on counting, addition/subtraction and multiplication.

Andres, who fell asleep in the lobby continued to sleep once we got upstairs. Our room overlooks the pools, beach and water. I’m not exactly sure what body of water I am looking at. Caribbean? Atlantic? I don’t really care at this point. Given that we have two rooms, it is a major switch from the crowded environment of the compound. We also have balconies in each room (which lock from the top so the kids can’t get out without our help). I think it is going to be a nice break in the middle of our stay in Colombia. Despite all of the hassles of the day, I think we are happy we came here.

All during the unpacking, Luke was having fits about getting out to the pool. However, we were delayed a little more by Maria who did not like her bathing suit and didn’t want to wear it. We decided to put her back in her street clothes and let her watch if she didn’t want to swim with the rest of us. As soon as we got settled by the pool, Luke was doing cannon balls and trying out the little water slide. I sat with Maria and could tell she wanted to join in the fun. I also pointed out to Maria that all of the other little girls and women had on similar bathing suits. It didn’t take much more coaxing before we were up in the room getting changed. It kind of dawned on me that maybe Maria had never worn a bathing suit before, much less swam in a pool. It’s not exactly pool weather in Bogota and I didn’t see any indoor pools or Holidomes in Ubate. Back at the pool, Maria and I went down the water slide together as what may have been her first baptism into a swimming pool. She absolutely loved it. There was a ledge on the other side of the pool where she could stand. However, she tried running, fell and got a face full of water that had her coughing and gasping for air. That had her a little scared and me firmly convinced that this was her first trip to a pool. She pretty much latched onto me after that and we bounced around the pool a bit. They turned off the water slide about 15 minutes after we got in. So we will have to wait until tomorrow to try that again.

Andres, on the other hand, took to the water like a little fish. He would hop off the edge and into Traci’s arms with no fear. He and Traci paddled around together while Luke circled the four of us doing his best tricks for the kids.

And Luke kind of made a new friend at the pool whose name also happens to be Luke. Evidently, Luke II lives on an island in the U.K. I didn’t quite get the name of it but he said it was a “dreadful” 36 hours getting to Caragena. He has a cousin or uncle getting married next week in the old part of town. Luke II is probably about 11 or 12 years old (Luke I is only going to turn 8 this June), but you can’t be too choosy when looking for other English peaking friends to swim and play with while in Caragena. I expect that we will see more of Luke II while we are here.

It starts getting dark early here, so we had a pretty quick swim. It was refreshing and felt good to wash the grime of downtown Bogota off our bodies. We quickly got dressed again and hearing down for dinner here in the hotel. We have a meal package here that includes breakfast every day and either lunch or dinner at one of the restaurants. Again, making a long story short (I already think our blogs are way too long), we can eat pretty much what we want within reason. We ended up with Traci eating spaghetti, Luke having a sliced up hot dog and French fries and me, Maria and Andres eating pizzas. I have a feeling that the weight I lost in Bogota may be found in Cartagena. The food was good and everyone got desert too. They were also setting up for tomorrow’s breakfast buffet and one of the gentlemen explained all of the things that they had. It was huge and they seem to have everything covered from fresh fruit to made to order omelets. I could tell this fella was pretty proud of the spread they put on for breakfast.

One of the gentlemen here asked where we were from and when I mentioned Kansas City, he said, “Ah, Kansas City Royals!” I’ve probably told three people here that today and gotten the same reaction. It is also followed by their asking if I know Orlando Cabrera and Edgar Renteria because they both grew up in or around Catagena. Apparently, the people in these parts really enjoy their baseball (actually, our baseball). Somewhat ironically, I am watching the Tigers play the Angels right now on one of the English speaking sports channels. Renteria went 0-3, but the other Cabrera (Edgar, not from Colombia) hit a 2-run homer. I’ll have to tuck that nugget of information away for some more small talk tomorrow. (Mom & Dad, we got to watch the end of the Cubs game on ESPN Espanol earlier).

Maria and Andres have been in bed for a couple hours now and I don’t quite know if this is going to work out. The kids’ room basically has two twin beds in it pushed together. Luke is supposed to sleep in one and M&A in the other. I have a chair pushed up again the side where Maria is sleeping so that if she rolls out, she will roll into a chair. Well, I have already been in there about 3-4 times to reposition the kids. Twice now, Andres has basically had his head where his feet should be. And Maria is now almost fully sleeping in the chair. Tomorrow we might call about a crib for Andres. I know he hates it, but Traci and I will feel better. Also, we are going to have to get a roll cage for Maria’s bed when we get home. I don’t know that I have ever heard of a kid moving around so much in their sleep. No wonder she needs a nap in the afternoons. She gets a work out in her sleep.

I guess that is about it. We made it here safe and sound – after a few trials. We drove past the old, historic part of the city and I am extremely anxious to get back out there. Otherwise, I am just looking forward to a few days of pool, beach and having more fun with the kids. People at the Hilton have been extremely nice to us and although we may be eating ramen noodles and bread sandwiches for a while when we return, I think it was a good call. We are no longer tripping over one another and we have lots of new things and places to explore. And as I look out my window right now I can see lights all along the shore line. It’s kind of pretty. I think one area is a refinery, but it still looks nice at night.


The kids stuffed into the cab on the wait to the Bogota airport.


Maria and I waiting for take off. there were a coupld of moments when he kind of started to cry on the plane. First was when you could kind of feel the plane starting to decend. Next was right before we landed. I have no idea what that was about. Otherwise, she was a good traveler and it gives me hope for the long flight back to the States.


Andres and Traci flying to Cartagena. Andes had a couple of moments, but i think we may have figured out some ways to keep him under control.


For example, a juice box seems to cure everything.


And when things are really bad . . .


Big Brother Luke is always there for to tickle his stomach and get a laugh.


A weary crew arrives in Cartagena. Little did they know, the real work was just about to begin.



Poor Andres fell asleep on the ride to downtown Cartagena (which is only about 10 minutes) while holding his ticket stub.


View from our room. In the center of the pool area you can see the water slide we went down. The beat is actually in the upper right. the sand here is kind of dark and Cartagena is not really know for good beaches. The kid play area is in the center just beyond the pool. it looked a little wet out there. I'm not too cure how much we will get out there, but it got a lot of curious looks from the kids.


Luke was just itching to get into that pool. The skies were like this the whole day today but it wasn't too bad. However, the humidity was killer. My couple of trips between the hotel and the Aviance office with a 40 pound backpack and a sleepy kid in my arms (second trip) had me looking frazzled and dripping with sweat.


This shaky picture was taken by Luke. He's usually much better. This is after the swim as it started getting dark (probably pretty close to 6:30 p.m.) As you can from the kids big smiles, a lot of fun was had and I would expect a busy day tomorrow. I wore my Bass Pro hat today which pretty much tells everyone I am from the States. Short of wearing an American flag on my head, I don't know how I could say it any plainer.

Another Day at the Compound

Not too much to report today. I feel bad that we seem to keep hanging out in the compound, but this weather makes it hard to plan anything. We awoke with no concrete plans (still wanting to go up Monseratte) but Traci really wanted to get a jump on packing for Caragena. It was a fairly nice morning so after a couple of hours of that we decided to just go shopping for the kids. And, as per usual, it started raining soon after we got out. We are normally pretty hardy people but with two little kids fighting various illnesses, we didn’t want to be out in mess for too long. I think we got to visit one store which I believe is called Ganga Kids or something like that. And, no, they don’t sell tie-dye t-shirts and “smoking accessories.” It’s kind of like a smaller Babies-R-Us and a very nice store.

Today was the holiday Corpus Christie and Bogota again closed down some lanes on streets for the first part of the day (along with banks, government offices and courts). I think I mentioned this before but on Sundays they close down the streets and encourage people to ride bikes, run or go for walks. They did it again on this holiday. This works out well for us because it is much easier to push a stroller on the streets than it is on the sidewalks. It is also a little easier to cross streets. Nevertheless, the rain cut everything short and we weren't out too long.

I also want to add what a blessing it was for me that we purchased that little umbrella stroller last night. It might have been a little more expensive than what we would have paid in the States, but my back thinks it was worth it.

Lunch was a fried fish which none of the kids were too wild about. Traci didn’t eat much either and I ate most of my fish just to be polite. While we sometimes enjoy fish, this was pretty “fishy” tasting if you know what I mean. And we didn’t have any tarter sauce to drown out the taste. At least the heads were cut off. I heard a story about a dinner where fish were served with the head on and the guy asked that his be sent back so the head could be cut off. I’m kind of like that too. I don’t mind eating meat, but I don’t want it looking at me.

Maria is still fighting some sort of stomach malady and the ladies here made another concoction to help “solidify” he stomach. This one was a little different. Not as much too it and it seemed to be mostly rice and lime juice. She drank most of it, but refused to throw back the last swallow. It kind of worked. Things are getting better but she still isn’t 100%.

While Maria and Andres took a nap in he afternoon, the weather cleared again and Traci and I went out with Luke to try and continue our shopping adventure. The poor guy is starting to get home sick and was craving onion rings – or something fried and really bad for you. We checked out a couple restaurants and finally settled on a Mexican place called Todos Tacos. We just got some nachos and guacamole. It was pretty good, particularly the guac, and I think spending a little alone time with both mom and dad helped Luke a bit. He seemed much more his old self. He hasn’t said much, but I am sure he is anxious to go home.

As far as shopping goes, we still haven't purchased anything. Luke has his eye on a soccer ball and Traci really wants to get Maria some new earrings. She had a cute pairs when we got her but lost the back to one and it got a little bent in my pocket. It seems that all of the little girls here have their ears pierced from the time they are babies. All of the little girl babies in the compound and that I have seen have pierced ears. We'll probably buy a little in Cartagena and rush around to get stuff when we get back to Bogota.

There is a bit of sibling rivalry growing between Luke and Maria. She demands quite a bit of attention from me, and now Traci too. However, I would say this is a pretty normal thing. I’ve heard of kids getting jealous when a new baby comes into the house and I don’t see this as much different. He acts out at times to get attention, but hasn’t been too bad.

Maria is into this new “game” where she will pout every time we tell her “no” or order her to do something. And it isn’t just pouting with the bottom lip stuck out like Andres. She will break down into a full blown cry. Unfortunately for her, she picked a bad time to start this. Traci and I are just too tired to succumb to the “aw poor me” tactic. So, we just lay her down and let her cry it out. She is also exaggerating every bump or bang to the extreme (Bill Laimbeer style). Again, we tell her she is fine and let her work herself out of her pout. For instance, tonight when I had her and Andres in bed and was reading El Rey Leon (the Lion King), they were getting a little out of control and I told them “no mas.” She started pouting and I told them I was done reading. She immediately perked up and said she was okay. Faker!!! I expect this to last at least until we get home – but I also expect to be too tired to fall for it.

Luke, Traci and I took us a little longer to get back than we thought it might and I was worried that the kids would be scared if they awoke and found us not there (abandonment issues). One of the nice things about El Refugio is that if you want/need to leave for a brief period, the ladies working here will kind of keep any eye on the kids. When we finally arrived back at the compound, Maria was awake and greeted us at the door. She wasn’t sad or anything. Andres was still sleeping and didn’t even know we were gone.

Before dinner, our friend, Cathy, had all of the kids doing yoga downstairs. It was fun to watch and the kids loved it. I don’t know if she teaches that, but she should. Luke, Maria and Andres all participated – although Andres really just kind of sat next to Cathy and watched.

Dinner was fried plantain, and a rice dish with chicken and sausage (which looked suspiciously similar to hotdogs, but was good none the less). Of course, the kids all got “sausage” in their meals and papi only got one. I guess that is a feeling I should get used to also. I don’t think the fried plantain is going to catch on in the Jensen household. Luke and Traci didn’t care for it much and while I ate it, I won’t be craving it when we get home (plus, I don’t know if I have seen many plantain at the Hen House or Farmer Jack - but I have never looked either). We got mandarin oranges for desert which, naturally, were very good and the M&A devoured them. I think Luke has had enough of the local cuisine and he doesn't get nearly as excited for fruit for desert.

It may sound like I have been eating well, and I have, but somehow I have managed to lose weight (which everyone said to expect when I get here). This morning I even gained a new belt notch that I’ve never used before. Another month or two here and I’ll be as skinny as I was when I got married. I think some of it has to do with all of the walking but some also has to do with the fact that we are probably just eating a little better (and none of those Midwestern portions you get when you go out to each in KC). Traci and I were just talking today that there are no overweight people in Colombia. When we were at the mall the other day, we each noticed one overweight person (different people – she noticed a man and I noticed a woman).

And this was pretty much our day. Traci started packing for Cartagena not long after we woke up this morning and this process and of continued throughout the day. That is kind of where we are different. At the earliest, I probably would have started packing around 9:00 p.m. this evening. In fact, she and the kids were pretty much packed by then and I started packing my suitcase at that time. Carmen has assured us that we will be coming back to El Refugio when we return and is allowing us to place a couple bags in storage. This is a big relief because, while other places might be just as nice, we feel like we have friends here.

One last story: The family from Spain (that I earlier thought was from Italy) have been sinning this “Pincho” song to their new daughter at dinner time. All of the kids love it, particularly Maria. So, again in a broken combination of English and Spanish, they agreed to email me the song which is on my computer now. I don’t know if music is able to be posted on the blog. If it is, I will try to post it separately. Maria sings it all of the time and “Pincho, pincho” is now engrained in my head. I just thought I would share that will all of you. So I hope I can upload it.

Answer to question: Traci reminded me that someone asked about how difficult it was to take Luke out of school Well, he is only going to miss about a week and a couple of days. But what better education could he get at this age than spending a few weeks in another country? He has learned some new Spanish words (besides “po po” and “chi chi”), seen different cultures and tasted new foods. From what I understand his class has also been keeping an eye on this blog and his teacher e-mailed the other day with some questions which we answered with a couple photos. So in the end, I think he will benefit greatly from this experience.


Traci had to have a picture of this calililly because it was so big. So, I made her get into the picture to give it some perspective. As you can see, it is almost as big as her head. And this was just outside of someone's house.


While hiding out in the Ganga Kids or Baby Ganga store, I noticed that the rain didn't seem to bother most of the Colombian people that were out and about. I guess you just get used to this sort of thing and deal with it.


Luke and Maria doing a litle yoga. I forgot to mention that Luke also discovered the magic of the iPod last night. He watched a movie on it before bed (Invincible). Today he listend to music and really seems to like the headphones we snagged from our Delta flight over here. I guess I know what he will be begging for for Christmas.


This is Maria apparently doing some sort of yoga tongue exercise. Hopefully this will help her geting those missing syllables into her words.


More Yoga. Next to Luke and Maria is David, Cathy's oldest son. He was adopted from Colombia when he was a baby and is 5 now. He's a pretty nice boy and plays with Luke a lot. On the far right is Natalie who is 9 years old. She will be leaving for Spain with her mom while we are in Cartagena.


One of he street performers doing his schtick in front of traffic during a red light. I was kind of trying to be sneaky while taking this picture for fear that they would want me to pay for taking a picture.


This is a little out of focus for some reason, but it is Maria and Andres watching Beauty & the Beast. Just a couple of really cute faces.


Despite the earlier out of focus picture, we are pretty happy with our new camera. This and the following pitures were taken in our room with all of the lights turned off. This is Luke playing his Nintendo DS in bed. We let him stay up a little later because he is older. He also got a bag of popcorn because he didn't really like his dinner.


Here's little Andres sleeping in the crib. Those blankets should stay on for about 5-10 more minutes before they are kicked to the corner.


And this is what happens when you go from one to three kids. Actually, I bought a botle of wine on our first day here thinking Traci and I might have a mini celebration of some kind after we got the kids. We have been too busy/tired to drink it before tonight. Tonight we brought it out at dinner, but only because we didn't want it to go to waste. I did buy a 6-pack of Aguila beer (Sp? I am sure the Kitts will correct me if I misspelled) which wasn't too bad. But that was gone a couple days ago.



And it was a good night for the Detroit teams. I got to watch the Pistons again on ESPN Espanol, but still cannot find the Red Wings anywhere (and it is kind of hard at the moment to slip out to a sports bar). Sports channels are a little strange down here. In the middle of the afternoon, I can probably find 3-4 soccer games on TV. Luke and I were trying to find something to watch this afternoon and also found bowling. How bored do you have to be to watch bowling? Ask me when we are on our 3rd week in Colombia and i might be able to tell you.

We have been told there is internet access in our hotel in Cartagena. So, hopefully, our next post will be tomorrow night from there. If you don't see a post tomorrow, don't worry. We probably haven't found out how to get online. If you don't see a post for a couple days, someone please call the emabassy and our Congressman.

SUNday!! Finally!

What a gorgeous day in Bogota today. Ironically, the last real, sunny day was last SUNday. Must be God working his magic (or trying to make up for the terror of the earthquake!). :) Anyway, we were thrilled to have such great weather. Luke and Maria were up and going by 7:30 or so. The nice thing is, all of the kids stay in their bed and keep themselves busy until Mami y Papi are ready to get up. Occasionally, we may have to tell them to be quiet, but for he most part they are incredible. Even Andres! Matter of fact, we can be up and moving around the room with him still in his crib and he doesn't make a peep. Amazing, but it makes me wonder if he was kept confined a bit to where this doesn't bother him. Since Andres was still sleeping, and he is still battling his cold, I took M&L downstairs for breakfast while Papi and Andres slept a while longer. Breakfast was a little sparse today as far as attendance goes. I know there were a few people who were still freaked out by the earthquake and couldn't sleep. They were afraid another one would occur. Frankly, I'm too tired at the end of each day to be afraid!

Once everyone was up and dressed, the weather completely called us outside. (Oh, by the way, Wendy--thanks for the tip on the ponytail holder. I tried headbands--they didn't work. So, thanks to your advice, I got out the ponytail holders Maria wore the day we got her and was able to get one in her hair this morning. Her ponytail looked great for most of the day.) However, once we were ready to go out, we were delayed a bit. Maria is still having some stomach issues so Matt talked to one of the awesome ladies here, Rosita, and she has made me a complete believer in holistic medicine! She whipped up some rice and herb concoction and mashed it into a cream of wheat-like consistency. Then, it was followed with some Pedialyte to help with hydration. Since taking this, Maria's done better. So after an hour of waiting to make sure Maria was going to be ok, we decided to head out. While we can't go to the park because everything is so water-logged, we decided to take another shot at Maku--the Colombian arts and craft place that we struck out on last time. Well, we found it easily this time--thanks Sheila and David!--but to no avail, it's closed on Sunday. Just our luck! So we decided to take a walk back to one of the main streets, but this time we walked through beautiful greenery, flowers, trees, etc. This was perfect to help accomplish my day's goal. I know we have been telling everyone how beautiful it is here, but the rain and dark skies don't lead to beautiful pictures. So when I saw the sun today, I decided today would be the day to try to capture all of the beautiful flowers and landscape here. For those of you who aren't gardeners, my apologies. Some of the pics will be quite boring. But honestly, this is one of the things I miss most about being home--working in the yard and taking in all of the flowers. There have been a couple of things that surprise me about the flowers here. First, there are hydrangeas everywhere. The soil acidity must be pretty consistent all around because they are all blue--the color I always wanted but could never get to grow at our old house! So I am loving those! Also, the calla lilies here are amazing! Yes, when cut, some are almost as tall as me. But since this was the flower we used in our wedding, I have found myself really enjoying this flower as well. When we walk out of El Refugio, it's the first flower I see every time. I think they also have a hibiscus bush here that is unlike anything I have seen. Pretty sure I've never seen it around us in the States, but oh how I wish I could have one! The rest of the flowers are a mystery to me. But it brings such joy to me to see them all and take them all in. Must be the divine presence of my grandma, Helen, and my grandpa, Gilbert, that make me feel this way! They would have loved this place.

After the walk through the park-like setting, we decided on pizza at Archie's again. We hadn't gone there since last Sunday, but a similar reaction occurred. Last Sunday, some of you may remember that Luke had a tough time at this place. Well, this time, Maria had a breakdown and didn't want to make her own pizza. So, what to do!!?? No fear, Big Brother Luke stepped in and made the pizza for her. She enjoyed watching him do it while Andres and I chased balloons around the room. Matt and Luke had the standard pepperoni pizza, Maria chose chicken and ham on her pizza, I had a four-cheese ravioli dish with a pesto cream sauce (quite good!)and Andres, well he ate the chips from our 4-cheese dip appetizer (Matt: it was another goal of ours that all of this cheese help to stop Maria up). We tried the pepperoni pizza and ravioli's with him, but there was no interest. All he wanted was his juice box which he gulped down within 30 seconds of it being delivered to our table! Maria shared a piece of pizza wih him and I think he had a few bites. We noticed that they both eat their pizzas from the crust to the point rather than the other way around. Kind of cute.

After lunch, it was pretty clear that both M & A were needing naps so we headed back to the "compound" as Matt likes to say. (Does anyone else get thoughts of Waco, Texas when you hear that word? Ok, I may be dating myself.) Both were a little temperamental--Maria more so than Andres--but went to sleep rather quickly which was nice. That gave me time to begin this blog, and gave Matt and Luke a great excuse to go play catch. I think Luke is really missing playing baseball. He loves his sports so this was a good outlet for the two. (Thanks Papa Bill and Papa Denny for sending sports-related e-mails. Luke loves to keep on top of all the teams--Royals, Cubbies, Pistons, Red Wings. It makes his day!) Plus, things have been a little strained between Luke and his dad the last few days. Maria demands a lot of Matt, however, I do think it will get better. That's tough on Luke since it takes away time from his daddy when he feels he needs it. Matt and I have always felt quite close to Luke. I feel I have grown even closer to him through this whole experience. He has been a great source of comfort during difficult times with Maria. I never would have believed that a 7-year old could help me so much.

Andres didn't have the greatest nap. The crib is just too little for him and he wants to stretch out his arms and legs. I hear him hit his head sometimes on the bed which precipitates crying. During nap, he did it again pretty hard so I took him out of the crib and laid him on me. It took me back to the many times I did this with Luke. I realized how much I love the age of two. It was a very sweet age for Luke, too, and know that I am a more confident, calm parent, I love it even more! I am so grateful to parent this age one more time! After Matt and Luke returned from playing baseball we decided to go to Unicentro and Exito--the big shopping area. We were a little worried as we walked there because the clouds were so low and dark. In Kansas, when we see clouds that color, there are thoughts of a tornado. But not here. It can be like that for hours with no rain which is what happened tonight. We ended up buying an umbrella stroller to take to Cartegena so that we can strap in our little roamer—Andres (Matt: It should also be handy in Atlanta on our way home. I can’t believe we didn’t think to bring the one from home). We treated the kids to Dunkin Donuts and all three enjoyed it. Andres cracked us up as he had to pick every single sprinkle off of his donut and eat it seperately. I also tried to find Maria some earrings because the ones she came in broke and I know she really likes wearing them, but the mall was so crowded we could barely get through. I have noticed here that people do not move out of the way of strollers like they do in the States. So you can be going straight ahead and when you get to a crowd of people, I move the stroller over to one side and the group of people just seems to expand rather than retreat to the other side. Kind of crazy. And, as a side note, I have to credit myself as a professional stroller conductor. I can now make it over every bump, crack and hole in the sidewalk and street. The stroller no longer has a mind of it's own. I am now in complete control. We never did find any earrings for Maria and she was beginning to have stomach issues, so we came back to the B&B and had our "light" supper of their wonderful grilled ham and cheese sandwiches, potato chips and Coke.

Matt: I noticed that a couple stores at the Unicentro have Wii game systems for sale and in stock. Are those still hard to find? If so, I might have to bring a couple back to help finance this trip.

Bedtime brought another cute moment. Besides the fact that we have two very loving children, I got more besos and abrazos tonight. They just melt my heart! But the cutest was when Matt was reading them the Lion King story in Spanish. At one point, Andres wanted to give Papi besos. Then Maria did, and then it kept going back and forth. It just makes you feel so good inside when they do that. Both kids continue to do well with English whether it's understanding for Andres or speaking it for Maria. They know up, down, on, off, sit down, and yes. When Maria went to bed, I told her, "I love you!" and she said it back in English. How awesome is that! Andres is also doing great. When we tell him to say things like Hola, he actually tries. Most of the time it sounds nothing like it but he is trying. Very encouraging!

Matt: for all of you Spanish students out there, it seems to me that “hola” is pretty much a useless word down here. It is always “buenos dias” in the morning and “buenas tardes” in the afternoon and early evening. “Buenas noches” is pretty much reserved for “good night, I am going to bed.” I can’t recall one Colombian person saying “hola” to me as sort of a greeting like we would day “hello” is the U.S. So, I am deleting “hola” from my vocabulary for the rest of the trip.

I keep forgetting to tell you all about a comment made at integracion. Once we realized that they were done asking their questions, we began asking more about M & A's past, their family, their foster placement, health, etc. Now before I get into the beef of the story, many of you know that I feel like one of the older Mom's whenever we go to events for Luke. Many people scoff at my thought, but I truly do feel that way. With that in mind, I think for peace of mind, I had to ask about Maria's relationship with her foster mom--something like, "Was Maria really close to her foster mom?" The social worker assured me that that was the case and then added, "Her foster mom was much younger and vibrant. Yes, she was used to a younger mom." Ok, folks, my thoughts are now supported! Thanks to my mom's genes of always looking younger than I am, I'm still starting to show my age. It also made me wonder how old her foster mom was and wish I could have met her. Maybe someday I will get to. I can't help but think that she must be missing these two terribly right now!

I also wanted to address an e-mail from my step-sister, Michelle, who said that his has made one of my nephews want to adopt 2 girls, one of which is a neighbor. Cute story, by the way!!! Warms my heart. Your neighbor may have something to say about that. ; ) Well, all I can say is that this is an amazing experience. To think that these two kids have been brought into our lives and trusted us so willingly, it's just amazing. While child birth is an emotional day filled with a feeling of pride and great accomplishment, adoption is more of an indescribable birth of a family. Do we feel good about what we are doing by coming to another country and helping these beautiful children to find a better life--however you may want to define better? Absolutely! But more than anything, you FEEL what it is like to be loved when these innocent babies put their arms around you or give you kisses like they have known you forever, and it's only been a few days. They are perfect examples of why race should never matter in this world. We may not be bound by blood or genes, but we are locked together by a true, genuine love that does not cast judgment because of our differences. So, if you feel it is your calling, jump on it! Adoption is a fantastic journey!!

Matt here on picture duty again. First, I have to get all of Traci's flower pictures out of the way. Enjoy:

It was a great morning just to walk around. Of course, Maria was a little off her feed and, consequently, had to be carried most of the morning. This also prompted several questions by Luke as to when he could be carried next (again).

Here's the Maku market we couldn't find the other day. Of course, it was closed on Sunday. We'll have to try yet again.

So, we walked some more. I finally got Maria to give me a little break. Luke took over pushing Andres in the stroller, which made him happy. He was a little disappointed that he couldn't be carried or ride on my shoulders. After seeing this picture, maybe I should have the kids call me "Big Papi." Too bad that is already taken.


A classic Andres smile. We never get tired of these.



Some of the condos in the area where we are staying. They look pretty nice and it appears there are several units still for sale. As Traci says, sometimes you can even forget that you are in a foreign country (except for the language barrier, crummy sidewalks) These buildings look like they could be in Kansas City or Chicago.


Luke took this picture. This is one of the motorcycle delivery guys that roam the streets of Bogota. We have several stopping by the compound every day bring everything from food, to medicine, to court documents. These guys are just plain nuts. They are usually pretty heavily padded up in case they get hit or wreck I guess. They drive between cars, on sidwalks, anywhere they need to go to get from "point A" to "point B." I wonder if they have a special insurance program.

Side note: Poor Maria just fell out of bed. Whenever she gets in bed, she settles in right on the edge. I keep trying to put her in the center, but somehow she keeps inching back towards the edge. We always throw our decorative pillows on the floor between out beds just in case. Anyway, she didn't whimper and hardly seemed to wake up when I put her back in the center of bed. I think tomorrow night I going to try to convince her to sleeep on the other edge of the bed - the side by the wall.



Archie's Pizza is big with the kids. Here is Luke making a pizza for Maria, and he kind of looks like he was getting into his work.



Poor Maria wasn't feeling well and you can kind of tell by these pictures.


Aside from being tired, Andres was getting back to being his old self.




The pizza is just okay, but the kids have a lot of fun.


This is one of those classic shots that can never be duplicated. Andres thinks he's pretty good drinking out of a glass but we have learned otherwise. And he refuses to drink out of a sippy cup. Anyway, Andres got a little out of control with the water and, although Traci tried to save him, she was just a second too late. You can even see the water splashing down his shirt. I don't know if we are going to get Andres any more white shirts. This one was a pretty big mess by the time we left.




Back at the ranch, er compound. There are two rooms on the second floor and we have the one with the window facing the front street. I couldn't decide which picture to post so you get three.


It is hard to imagine any bed being too little for Andres, but after Traci rescued him from the crib, she let him sleep on her chest.


Maria drinking what is left of Luke's 7up. That's my (now) well used Spanish/English pocket dictionary on the night stand.


Maria modeling for the camera.





Here's a taste of the weather we have to deal with. After the naps, some really dark clouds moved in around the mountains and it looked like it was going to pour again. Undeterred, we decided to try and get to the Unicentro before it started coming down. Although we actually remembered our umbrellas this time, the rain never moved off the mountains. Isn't that the way it always works?


A cool kids store we found on our way to the Unicentro. They have a kids door and a grown-ups door. At first, I didn't notice the grown-up's door and thought, "How am I supposed to get through that? And, where am I? Wonka-land?"


There used to be sprinkles on that donut. At first, Andres was trying to eat them one by one off the donut with his mouth. Then he figured out it was easier to pick them off with his fingers. The boy was a real mess by the time he was done.

That's it and it looks like I never going to get a post in before midnight. By the way, Maria has already crept her way over to the edge of the bed and both legs are fully hanging off. This may be a long night.

Shake, Rattle and Roll

It's funny how everyday starts out with grand plans. We have all kinds of things we want to do and seem to accomplish few. Today, Matt and I were hoping to sleep in but the kids woke up around 7pm. How can these little bodies play so hard and not sleep until late hours of the morning? Although last night was an easy night getting them IN to bed--no tears were shed--neither M or A fell asleep until almost 10pm. Andres loves to lay in his bed and make faces at me, and he has so many! Happy, sad, mad, flirtatious, aren't I cute, etc., faces. I think he believes it may get him a few extra moments out of his crib because he's so irresistible that I want to pick him up! While I absolutely love this, after an hour of it, you lose the humor in it a bit. I have to admit I will miss this when we get them home and he goes to bed in his own room. It's such a sweet time. Maria, on the other hand, finds every reason under the sun to get out of her bed or stay awake--bathroom, water, find her "la nina" (what she names all dolls), get a book, etc. We constantly have to remind her it's bed time. If anyone has any suggestions, let us know. I think it may get better when we are home and not in the room with them when they are trying to fall asleep.

Our mornings fly by. After we eat breakfast, we usually come up and try to shower. However, all of the kids are so awesome during this time and are also quite demanding of our attention. So while it normally takes me 45 minutes to get ready, I don't think I have completely been ready under 1 1/2 hours. Anyway, the goal for this morning was to try to change our hotel reservations in Cartagena. Matt stayed up late last night and discovered that there were very few positive reviews about our hotel that we will be at in Cartegena. I will let him tell the story from this point on.

Matt: With Carmen’s assistance, we purchased a vacation packaged from Avianca airlines yesterday. She did it all over the phone and when she told me the name of the hotel I checked out their web site and thought it looked okay. However, it was later in the night that I ran across our hotel on a couple travel sites. People were bagging pretty hard on the cleanliness and poor food. So, when Carmen arrived today around 11:30 with her son Daniel, I asked if she might help me changing that portion of our reservation. Long story made short, nothing could be done by phone. Carmen and Daniel agreed to take me to the Avianca office in the Unicentro mall. After about 45 minutes of wait time and 45 minutes of dealing with the clerk, the only option I felt was workable was to go ahead as planned and try to change hotels when we get there. Carmen and her son Daniel were a big help and went way above and beyond the call of duty. Even if we stay at the same hotel, I am sure everything will be fine. We have a pool, a beach and a beautiful city to see. I doubt we will spend much time in the room anyway.

After Matt returned from the Avianca office with Carmen, lunch was over and it was time to lay the kids down for a nap. Andres fell asleep pretty quickly, and Maria actually did too. I had been looking forward to nap time today as I had decided that I, too, would join them. For whatever reason, all five of us were up in the room during nap - which never happens - and all of us had just drifted off to sleep (except Luke because the kids never sleeps). All of a sudden, there was a powerful shake that caused the whole B&B to rock back and forth. We all woke up and it took a minute to get our bearings but finally determined that we were experiencing an earthquake. Don't ask me how we knew what to so, but we gathered the kids and ran downstairs only to find everyone else running out of their rooms as well. Once we all were together in the foyer, the tremors stopped and all of us breathed a huge sigh of relief. There were many people with racing hearts, pale faces and looks of terror! We have heard that the earthquake was a 5.6-5.8 on the Richter Scale and the epicenter of it was about 30 miles from Bogota. I have many thoughts after this experience: 1) I will take a tornado warning any day! 2) I can't imagine what stronger earthquakes must feel like as this one scared me to death and I couldn't quit shaking for about 20 minutes. 3) I hope and pray I never experience another one. 4) I am so grateful that we were all together when this occurred as it helped me keep a clear head. I think the only thing I have gone through that was scarier was when my airplane had to make an emergency landing after losing an engine. (Right Laura and Shawna!!??) All I can say is thank you , God, for keeping us all safe and sound! Fortunately, there were no aftershocks. Maria was able to fall back asleep. Andres was not, but ironically, he still isn't tired. He's sitting in bed looking at me as I type. My heart is melting. : )

Matt: Wow, that earthquake was interesting. I had never been in one before and I really can’t say I would ever want to do it again. At least, not one that strong. And if we didn’t have an earthquake we’d probably have a pretty boring blog because we didn’t do much again today. I was laying in Maria’s bed and had just gotten her to sleep. I was somewhere between asleep and awake myself when I heard kind of a loud noise. It’s amazing how many thoughts can run through your head in a nano second during moments like that. First, I thought it was the wind because the windows were rattling. Then I thought it was a train, but didn’t remember seeing any train tracks near by. That’s when the possibility of an earthquake ran through my head sort of like this, “earthquake? They don’t have earthquakes here do they? I don’t recall seeing anything about that in the travel brochures?” At about that time, it literally felt like the ground beneath us was rolling under our feet. Traci and I kind of looked at each other for a few seconds like “what the heck is going on and what do we do?” Then one of us, I can’t remember which, said, “earthquake?” I kind of thought about just staying put (the quake had been going on for a few seconds by then) but then I started to think about how old and fragile this building might be. That was enough to make me jump out of bed, grab the kids and run downstairs. For some reason, I think we also grabbed our shoes. Gawd knows you don’t want to be caught in an earthquake, or worse, a collapsed building without shoes. When we got downstairs, my poor French lady friend I wrote about the other night, Cathy, was shaking so hard she looked like she was vibrating. I guess they do not have those things in France. Traci was pretty shaken too, but was keeping it all together. It probably would have been a comfort to everyone if the Adelman family were still here. They live in San Diego and I would imagine they have experienced an earthquake or two in their time.

More Matt: Speaking of France, we had yet another French family move into the compound last night. Is Colombia being slowly and quietly invaded by France? Nice family. I chatted with the new dad for a little bit this morning. He doesn’t speak English so we had to use Spanish (kind of the official back-up language around here). They just adopted a little boy who I believe is around 18 months old. So, there is a lot of French being spoken at meal times now. I can’t understand a word of it, but it is a pretty language to hear.

After nap, Matt and I knew we had to get the heck out of this place. When I say that, know that we really like the B&B but you just need to get out and do normal family things! So, we've heard so much about the infamous Crepes and Waffles restaurant here and we went there for a snack. On the way, we noticed no damaged buildings, etc., from the earthquake and it looked like life resumed as usual (Matt: funny, I had forgotten about the quake or to look for damage at this point. I was just having a nice walk with my family). Back to Crepes and Waffles. . . Well, let me tell you, this place lived up to all of my expectations plus more! It was absolutely fantastic! The kids all got ice cream: vanilla (Luke)--the BEST I have ever had, chocolate (Maria)--I actually ate most of it and I don't even like chocolate all that much, and strawberry (Andres--not a strawberry ice cream fan but it was great as well. Matt and I ordered a crepe filled with mozzarella cheese and topped with caramelized onions, prosciuotto (sp?) and arugula. It was amazing with a tasty sauce on top. Bottom line, I want to open one in KC--River Market or KCP&L district. You just haven't lived until you eat this food!

The rest of the day was pretty much routine: baths, Skyped with Matt's folks and ate dinner. That takes us to bed time and this blog.

Some thoughts/observances:
1. We hear car alarms all the time. None sound the same. Do they personalize them here? We don't know.

Matt: and apparently they are very proud of them because they set them off all of the time!! Car alarms has reached the point of being pretty annoying for me

2. There is no worse feeling when something scary happens and you can't understand what anyone is saying so as to clarify your inquisitions. Matt and I had to log onto the computer to try to figure out any news about the earthquake. I think we both hit a spot of being a little homesick today. When you can't communicate with anyone because of a language barrier, it drains you after a while.

Matt: After the quake, I turned the channel on the main room TV to the local news. We stood around watching a bit and there was some damage to older buildings in parts of Bogota. No word on what kind of damage there was out in the rural area where the epicenter was located but I understand it was pretty bad and resulted in HUNDREDS of dollars in damage (kidding). As you know, our Spanish is not good and when people talk fast, like on TV, I can just pick out pieces. So, kind of the ironic part is that I had to have the French people interpret the Spanish for me.

3. Clearly, men must take the lead on most decision-making here. When I wanted to go with Matt to Avianca this morning to go discuss our options, Carmen was a little perplexed. Whenever things need to get done here, it's never the female that does it. I find this interesting as Maria has such a strong personality, and I KNOW she will be a very strong woman one day. That just seems to go against this culture.

Matt: I'm sorry, I don't understand what Traci's issue is here. Isn't it the same way in the States?

4. I can't wait to get home and take a shower in MY shower! I have gone from one who loves to take my time to one who can shower and shave in five minutes. We don't have a lot of hot water here and it is gone within 2 minutes. The worst part? I love my showers HOT and there's no such thing here! It's killing me!

Matt: Yet, she still can't get ready in under 45 minutes.

5. It was a great day with Maria and I! I had to discipline her a number of times and after each time, she came around quickly and gave me hugs. I can't even remember how many times she came running to me with her arms open, screaming, "Mami!!" (which sounds like Ma--Meee where the Ma is short and the Mee is long and loud). Huge step today. Plus, I'm pretty sure that I received my first set of besos (kisses) tonight before we turned off the lights. Your prayers are working!

4. Notes to individuals:

Melanie--yes--a scrapbook night will definitely be in order! I hope all is going well with the baby!

Laura--Do you still have those bed things that you hook on to keep kids from falling out? Maria has fallen out of bed twice and tends to hang her body off. I have a feeling we are going to need to invest in some!

Matt: I came into the room late one night and Maria was sleeping perpendicular in her bed with her head and arms dangling over the edge. It was one of the craziest things I had ever seen. I've seen it in movies but didn't know people could do that in real life.

Cindy--Yes, I can see how we will miss his time and we are cherishing it. . . even when it gets tough! Oh, and Luke can't wait for a golf re-match with Behr!

Marilyn--the clutter! Oh you know me so well! Yes, it drives me insane, but the great news is that Maria is just like me. She goes around and puts things in their "correct" places all day long.

Nicole--We will try to give you some Cartagena details when we are there. We are unsure if our hotel will have internet access or not so we'll do our best!

Matt: If no internet access, we will probably invade an internet cafe like we have done when we go to Mexico.

Mom--Can't help but wish you were here. We'd have a blast shopping the streets. The clothing and furniture are absolutely amazing!

Dad--I know you are still worried about us even though I have assured you that we are fine. Know that I love how you worry about me as it shows a love that I think will be found between Matt and Maria as well.

Denny and Judy--thought you'd appreciate this. I have already made it painfully clear that I will be the one to keep track of all of Maria's wedding plans and expenses. As if Matt doesn't have a hard enough time on his own, Maria is going to bat those eyes and end up with a multi-million dollar wedding if he's in charge! Oh, and thanks for taking care of my dog. I miss him so much and was so happy to see him on Skype tonight!

Matt: I got to watch some of the Pistons v. Celtics game tonight. Of course, the commentary was in Spanish, but we kind of had the volume turned down because the kids were sleeping. I think it helped Luke and I feel a little more at home. I couldn’t find the Red Wings v. Penguins game though (wearing my Wings jersey today). I guess hockey hasn’t made its was further south than Florida. Tonight was really about the first time I have watched much TV down here (aside from a few kid shows and the telenovelas which seem to be on 24/7 on the local channels). After the game I got to flip around and found the Daily Show (in English with Spanish subtitles) which is one of my favorites. There wasn’t a Colbert Report afterwards though. I don’t know how many English channels we have but there seems to be a few. I don’t have a channel guide so I just flip channels until I see subtitles along the bottom of the screen. It’s also kind of fun to see the US movies where they have dubbed in Spanish. It’s weird to see Harrison Ford, Mel Gibson and Matt Damon on TV but with a Spanish voice coming out. I am now watching the end of Independence Day and just noticed that while some “curse words” in the English audio have not been dubbed out, they are “sanitized” in the subtitles. Weird. I don’t know what the thought process is there.

Sorry, but we only have a couple pictures to share tonight. The rain continues to confound any plans we try to make. On the brighter side, El Refugio can now boast that it has a pool in the back yard with a swing set in it.


This is quickly becoming known as "the Andres face." Whenever he gets mad or upset, that bottom lip sticks out. I think part of that had to do with the pretty nasty under bite he has. And even though he is made or upset, it kind of makes us all laugh because he's still such a cute little guy.


Maria let mami put another pony tail in her hair this morning and it lasted for quite a while.


And that wasn't a tube a toothpaste Maria was holding in the previous picture. It's the new foot medicine we purchased for her. Poor kid. In addiion to the stomach issues she has been dealing with lately, she also has a small case of what looks like athlete's foot. I tried to purchase some medicine, but it didn't work for beans. So, we have new. I first have to put an iodine like substance on her feet & toes and them rub this cream on them. As you can imagine, she giggles and squirms the whole time.


No, Andres didn't land in jail . . .


He's in his crib. These are some of the sunny faces he makes for Traci when he is in there.


After reading libros to Maria, I was pretty exhausted. The Pistons weren't doing too well and I kind of fell asleep in Maria's bed. I guess she had her little arm around me, but moved it when Traci was trying to get the camera. Yep, she's a daddy's girl. However, as Traci mentioned, there were great strides made in the mommy department today. By the end of the day, I felt like it was a really family. We just need some papers signed and a flight home.

Yes--earthquake

For all who have heard. . . yes, we just had an earthquake here in Bogota. Quite scary but we are all ok. No reason to worry, more to come later.

Traci

More Bad Weather, But a Good Day

Oddly enough, this is the first picture of all of us as a family of 5. We just never thought to do it before today. I guess everyone had better get used to this new look.

To start off with, today was our “integracion.” Cutting to the chase, apparently everything went well and the kids are still with us. Now for the filler . . . As some of you blog-stalkers may already know from previous blogs, this is when we meet again with the social workers and they sort of interview the family after we’ve been with the kids for a little while. It has always been our understanding that the purpose of this was to see that a family bond is starting and that this adoption will work out in everyone’s best interests. Like any family, we have our daily issues and problems, but they seem to be a little magnified when someone is coming to interview you and your kids about how you are getting along. So, we were a little nervous going in.

We first met our social worker when we were in Ubate to be united with Andres and Maria. However, rather than trek all of the way back out there for the integracion, she set the meeting for 9:00 a.m. at the compound. Carmen, the lady at our front desk, told us that it wasn’t important that we necessarily dress up. Still, she said the ladies working in the house were going to make sure the downstairs was extra clean on Friday morning. This sends kind of a mixed message if you ask me (you don’t dress up but we are going to clean?). So how do you look presentable, but not like you are trying too hard. Khakis! I brought two pair for such confusing times.

Our social worker arrived a little after 9:00 a.m. accompanied by a younger woman that did not introduce herself. The four of us and Carmen (acting translator for the moment) sat down in the living room area while the kids played around us. We started by just kind of engaging in some informal discussions and Traci & I kept wondering when the integracion was going to actually begin. They asked about Maria and we explained that she was getting better every day. Then they happened to ask Maria, who was sitting on my lap at the moment, if she liked her new family. She giggled and replied with a “si.” And that was pretty much it for integracion. It was over before we even knew it started. It wasn’t anything like the awful interrogation we were expecting. We signed a few more papers and one of the motorcycle couriers ran them off to Oscar so that he could get the legal paperwork filed today if possible. If they do not get anything on file today, it will have to wait until Tuesday because Monday is yet another Colombian holiday (Corpus Christi).

We also learned that the legal proceedings portion of the adoption will not be taking place in the Bogotá courts. The filing will be in some little city or district outside of Bogotá and the name of it is . . . written on a piece of paper that I cannot find right now. The upshot of this is that we should “move a little faster.” Of course, nobody can put a timeline on that, but we were told that nothing is going to happen next week. So don’t expect us home next weekend.

As beautiful as Bogotá is, we’ve decided that we are going to get out of here for a few days and go to Cartagena. We kind of wanted to see a little more of Colombia. That, and the weather here is just killing me. The first couple days weren’t bad, but the rain the past few days has made it almost impossible to get out and do anything. With Carmen’s help, we found a reasonable travel package though Avianca Airlines that will get us to Cartagena on May 27 and we can return to Bogotá on June 2. Cartagena is on the Caribbean coast and should be a little more tropical than the mountains we are in now. The beach is not supposed to be the best, but there is a pool in our hotel and the kids can probably spend days there alone without leaving. So, we are looking forward to a change of pace and seeing more of this wonderful country.

I have to add that the relationship between Traci and Maria seems to be getting much, much better today. When it comes to hairstyling, Papi’s got no skilz. After a couple of “ouches” this morning, I was fired. Mami was called in off the bench without any warm ups and did a great job with these little clip things with the teeth (Guys, you will know what I am talking about. Whenever you see one you can hardly resist picking it up and pretending it is eating something). It looked great and almost lasted through the whole integracion meeting. I think we are going to have to look for something else. Oddly, when I found myself sitting in the Unicentro mall (described below) later in the day with nothing to do but watch people, I found myself looking at the way women had they hair tired up and pulled back for ideas. Is this what women do at the mall? They look at each other’s hair?

After we got all of next week’s travel wired, we thought he might try going to the Unicentro mall to walk around and just look at people and things. We got everyone bundled up and by the time we hit the door it started raining again kind of hard. So, we went back up to the room and tried to make the best of things. Luke played with his Nintendo DS which he surprisingly hasn’t done much at all this trip. Maria and Andres watched DVD’s and played with Play-Dough for a bit. However, Andres kept wanting to eat the Play-Dough so that activity was cut a little short.

As for Maria and Andres, it appears that now both of them have come down with a little stomach virus or something. Andres was kind of fussy all day and had at least 4 complete blow outs (for the record, I changed 3 of them. So don’t believe anything Traci says about my diaper changing while down here). Maria didn’t eat much and complained that her stomach hurt (Luckily she is out of diapers but made several trips to the restroom for “po po.” The other one is “chi chi.” Some of these expressions are just going to have to stay in their verbal lexicon even after we get back to the States and they learn English. They are just too funny). They are now both getting a little medicine and we are hoping for a quick recovery.

Lunch was some kind of breaded and fried chicken kabob. Of course, now the El Refugio chefs were speaking Luke’s language (breaded and fried!). And with Maria and Andres not eating well, there was plenty to go around. It’s kind of hard for me to understand how two little kids that eat so many healthy fruits and other foods can ever get sick. Andres will drink fruit juice all day if you let him (and we don’t). They also served some kind of pumpkin soup that Traci just loved (I think it was pumpkin, but it might have been some other type of gourd). I thought it was pretty good, but it won’t be on the list of recipes I would ask for. After lunch it was pretty clear that Maria and Andres needed naps. There was still plenty of fussing and crying but it seems to get less and less every day.

While the kids were down, I ran off to the Unicentro mall to buy our plane tickets and travel package. I went alone and must have let my guard down traveling without kids because I almost got run over twice on the way there. Avianca has a shop in the mall and although we had made the arrangements on the phone, I had to get down there and pay before the end of the day or the reservation would be lost. They have one of those “take a number” systems with the “now serving #?” signs like at the DMV. It didn’t take long for me to get to the counter, but it took forever to get the tickets after that. Next, I ran over to the Exito and purchased some of those little travel tissue packs. We had a bunch that we brought with us expecting some colds from some or all of us at various points. However, they seem to just disappear around our little room. It wasn’t until I got to the check out line that I noticed it was 3:45 and we had made plans with another family to have ice cream at 4:00.

I pretty much jogged home, collected the family and I think we were about 3-4 minutes late getting to the ice cream shop, (Mimo’s?). The other family we were sharing ice cream with were Dave and Sheila Derr and their little Jonatan who they adopted from Pereira. We saw them on Sunday, our first full day here, but without Maria and Andres. They got a little hung up trying to travel back to Pennsylvania and do not end up leaving until tomorrow. The kids got along great, particularly Jonatan and Andres, and we had fun chatting and sharing stories with another couple going through similar times. For two kids with sore stomachs, Maria and Andres sure enjoyed their ice cream. Of course, the ice cream shop had a play gym in it and Luke went crazy while we could hardly get Maria or Andres inside. After ice cream we walked them back to the Derr’s B&B, La Zeutana, which we had heard a lot about (see blogs for Hollis and Boyachek families) but never seen. We were also a little curious since there is a chance that when were return from Cartagena we might have to go to another B&B. Carmen has assured me that we will likely get to come back to the familiar confines of El Refugio, but I wouldn’t expect tem to hold anything for us if another family is coming to town. Anyway, it was great meeting the Derrs (again) and we wish them the best of luck in their travels home.

Dinner back at the compound was rice, some kind of meat and another thing that we couldn’t really recognize. It wasn’t that bad, but I just have no way to describe what it was like. I guess I should have brought the camera to dinner again. I don’t think a lot of other people liked it either as I saw lots of left-overs on other tables and in the kitchen. Not the best dinner we had, but since Maria and Andres weren’t really eating much of anything it didn’t matter too much. They did bring out cantaloupe for desert which, naturally, they did eat. Luke, on the other hand, reverted to his old ways and opted for some reheated, 6 day old pizza we had in our frig.

Another sort of interesting thing in the compound is that after dinner each family busses their own table and brings their dishes back to the kitchen. It’s kind of nice and helps to create an atmosphere where we are all one big family. And when you have older kids you are adopting, you can start right away with everyone knowing their role around dinner time with cleaning up.

Bed time comes pretty quickly after dinner and each night of getting Maria and Andres to bed gets easier and easier. However, tonight the kids took a giant step forward. First of all, when told it was time for bed, Maria came right up, put on her jammies, brushed her teeth and got into bed with no crying whatsoever. Maria was in a pretty good mood going to bed tonight. She gave besos and brazos to everyone – not just papi. Even Andres didn’t shed a tear when eventually put down in his crib. Could just be that they weren’t feeling well but I like to think that we have turned a bit of a corner.

Maria, Andres and I laid in Maria’s little bed and I read “Quiero a mi papi” (again) and the “My First 1000 Words” book. Maria likes doing the “Words” book. But I think we started a bad practice the previous night. After I read the English word for each picture, I asked her to say it for me. She has a bit of a problem (in Spanish and English) getting all of the syllables into her words. However, after she nailed a couple of short words in English, Traci and I were giving her high fives and knuckles (banging fists together). Tonight, whether she said the English word right or wrong, she would throw her hand up for high fives and knuckles – and after EVERY word. So, we only got through a couple pages but we had fun. Luke came in at one point and helped by reading the English words for us tonight.

Couple funny things about the word book before I start uploading pictures. We tried the word Sopa (Spanish) and Soup (English). Seems like an easy enough transition. However, no matter how many times Maria tried to say “soup” (and it was quite a few), it always came out “sopa!” Then, after everyone was in bed, I pulled out my laptop onto my bed to check email and start the blog. As soon as I got it turned on, I hear Maria’s little voice from the bed next to mine say, “computer.” That was one of tonight’s words and it looks like she is a quick learner.

Thanks for comments and I am sorry I haven’t gotten to answer any questions tonight. We’ll try to get a better jump on things tomorrow.


Maria took this picture (with a little help from papi) at the integracion meeting. in the middle is Lucia who is the main point person for our agency in Colombia. She's a fantastic lady. To her left is her son David who serves as translator for English speaking folks. I got to talk with him a bit in the kitchen over coffee afterwards and he's an interesting guy. I hope we get to meet him again.


Another picture by Maria (with help from papi) of Traci who I think really felt like a mami today.


I guess I took this one as it looks like it was taken by a taller person. To the left of Traci is the social worker we have been working with. I can't recall her name right now but it is on a bunch of papers in the closet.



Andres trying on some Jayhawk hats. The red hat is actually Luke's. Not surprisingly, there is nothing from Michigan State in either of the kids closets at the moment. I guess it is my fault for not shopping for their clothes.


After we kind of got rained in, Maria wanted to listen to the iPod for a while. Of course, once she found "Maria" she played that about 6-7 times. She even started singing the parts where they just say, "Maria, Maria, Maria."


Later the smaller kids settled into a movie while Luke became engrossed in Nintendo DS. I can't recall which movie the kids were watchig here but we figured out how to get it to play in Spanish which increased their attention span a little (not much but a little). We also had to put a magazine over the buttons because Andres kept wanting to push them.


Just a random picture down the street on my "jog" home from the Unicentro. I just wanted to give people a flavor for how screwed up the sidewalks are. And these are nice compared to the sidewalks on the main drag on the other side of the compound.


Jonatan Derr and Andres Jensen at the ice cream shop.


Luke and Maria apparently taken by surprise while eating ice cream.


By this point in the day, Maria and Andres were kind of wearing down and they colds taking effect. While Maria cracked half of a smile, I had some difficulty getting Andres to even recognize the camera. In fact, thinking back we didn't get too many smiles from Andres today. He such a great character and his smile always brightens a room.


Luke and mom. Two people that have shown a lot of courage on this trip. So far, everything has been a lot easier on me.


And here we are with the Derr family. Very nice people. I'm glad I got to know them.


Luke going crazy in another ball pit. I'm pretty sure that by the time I get home I will not be anxious to go into another restaurant with one of these in it.


Maria found a rocking horse at La Zeutana. This is actually a retake. She is now asking to see the pictures we take of her and will sometimes ask for a retake.


In this picture I think Jonatan was trying to tell Andres that they had some work to do in the back yard of La Z, but Andres claims to be on a union break - and that if Jonatan doesn't like it he can take it up with his commitee man.


Yeah, we taught Jonatan how to give knuckles. If toddlers start doing this n your town, I know who to blame and their initials are Mimi and Papa Bill.


Saying goodbye and good luck to the Derr family. Luke took this picture. Not too bad, eh? As you can see, Maria and Andres had about enough by this point.

The Adventure to Nowhere

Buenos Noches to all! I write tonight with a bit more energy than normal. Carmen told me that I have been tired not just because of the adjustment to a new family, but also because the elevation can make people tired. Not sure I quite understand but I'll take her word for it. She seems to know what she is talking about. As always, we wake up with grand plans and they always seem to change. It took forever to get around. You'd think that being in a small room would make it easier to find things. But we are constantly searching for things. You know how you always have that missing sock that you never find? Well, here we have the missing Kleenex packs. We have used more Kleenex in the past four days than I have in the past year. And everytime one of the kids needs their nose wiped, a pack is nowhere to be found. I finally dug into the last pack tonight. Looks like we'll be making a run for more tomorrow.

We had plans to go to Montserrat today, but Carmen basically told us not to waste our time because it was too cloudy. So, instead, we decided to go to Maku, a market not too far from here with Colombian arts and crafts. Well, long story short, after stopping at various corners, trying to read an already confusing map, and asking a number of people who had never heard of the place how to get there, we completely struck out! We never found it and opted to have fried chicken at Frisby's instead. It was pretty funny, at one point, we were quite confused on where to go. Matt stopped a couple to ask them, in his most perfected Spanish (with a lot of "umm's" in between each word), if they could help us. They just kind of looked at him and told us in English that they didn't speak Spanish. We got a big laugh out of that one. What a relief, but it still didn't help us find the place. Our first time out to eat went very well. For the most part, the kids are very well behaved and stay in their seats. Of course, I don't want to leave out the part that Andres was strapped down in a high chair. : ) They are such incredible eaters and drink juice and water like they are constantly dehydrated. I can see that my grocery shopping frequency is going to have to change and that Sam's Club may become my new best friend. Oh yeah, side note--can anyone help me out here? While at Frisby's we saw a number of professionals on their lunch break eating their lunch with plastic gloves on. Now, I'm hoping it has something to do with getting germs from their hands to their food to their mouths, but I have to admit I began second guessing the quality of the food that has to be eaten with plastic gloves. I don't know. Weird. After we finished eating, we let the kids go over to a nice play area when it started pouring down rain outside. Being the well-prepared parents that we aren't, we had no umbrellas as they sat comfortably on our bedroom floor back at the B&B. So, we stayed at Frisby's a little longer than we had planned. When the rain let up, we decided to head back home. It was getting close to nap time and we didn't want to get caught out in a downpour. Frisby's, like many other places, has security guards. Not sure why--seems quite safe. However, if it is raining outside, the security officer will take a huge umbrella (some picnic-sized) and walk the person from his/her car into the restaurant. The other interesting thing here is that they make the craziest things look appealing. For example, Frisby's drive-thru was literally in a little alley. However, the alley was covered with greenery and flowers, quite beautiful, actually. Once home, the kids (M&A) took a nap for a couple of hours while Luke and I played another 5-6 hot games of backgammon. Then, matt and I had to get our finances figured out as we have no idea how much we are spending and withdrawing. Trying to get a handle on this exchange is not always easy.

We continue to be amazed by all three of our kids. Luke had yet another great day and is getting quite a bit more open to trying foods than ever before. Can you believe we didn't even entertain the thought of a PB&J or popcorn today? It's a miracle! And for the most part, he's been quite helpful with Maria and Andres. As for Maria and Andres, their personalities are really starting to come through. They are so self-sufficient in many ways. They LOVE to brush their teeth and beg to do it after each meal. They'd do it more than three times a day if we'd let them. That's probably why their teeth are so pearly white. Maria is incredibly helpful with keeping things picked up. After I gave Andres his medicine today, I left the bottles on the desk to go wash out the syringe. When I came back, she had them all put away in the ziploc bag that I keep them in. For dinner we had an incredible version of Colombian spaghetti with chicken, salad and the most easily peeled orange I have ever had. We had some oranges left over and the bottle of Ranch dressing that we bring to every meal (for Luke and now Maria)was on the table. As I finished feeding Andres, she gathered up all of the oranges and the ranch and took them up to our room, placing them in the refrigerator. When I think about the fact that she just turned four, she blows me away. She seems quite responsible for her age. We are starting to see some signs of why she received language therapy or at least what we would call speech therapy. She doesn't wholly (sp.?) complete some of her sounds and we notice this especially when she and Papi practice English words each night before bed. (Thanks, Susan, for those incredible English-Spanish books. She absolutely loves them!!) Today, was kind of a break through day with her. Not only was she nice to me almost the whole day (and I even got a few brasos/hugs)she said Luke's name. It's really cute to hear her say it in her little Colombian accent; however, it sounds a little more like the French pronunciation "Luc." It was also a big day in that she let me put some barettes in her hair (that fell out within 30 minutes) and ended the day with "mi Papi" (it's never just "Papi") putting all of her hair in a ponytail. When the kids do great things, we have taught them to give knuckles--Mimi, we have them ready for you! So, there were knuckles for all after the ponytail. A little about Andres. . . I think I have already said it but he is such a love bug! Today was not his best day as he whined quite a bit. But he makes it so easy to handle when he throws in a whine or two with that grin that makes everyone laugh and smile. He is quite the ham and is constantly giving me brasos y besos (hugs and kisses). He is starting to understand English a little better than Maria. Now, if we can just work on his speech. His sounds consist of Mama, Papa, ba (ball) and sssss or sssslll or ssshhhh. And most every sound that comes out of his mouth is accompanied by a point of the finger. He has a great pout that makes you laugh. This morning, he and Maria both got put in time out for the first time. He's been hitting a lot so I gave him two minutes of time out. He sat with his arms tightly across his chest and his bottom lip hung way out, but by the time two minutes was up, he was all hugs and kisses again. Maria is a different story. That was the one part of the day that she wanted nothing to do with Mami. She definitely holds a grudge and doesn't snap out of it unless it's with "mi papi!"

The stay here continues to go well. Food is awesome, people are gorgeous, B&B is welcoming. However, today I had my first issue with another person staying here. Andres and I were downstairs playing with a ball. He kept throwing it instead of rolling it. Since his throws were out of control, I tried explaining that we wouldn't play with the ball anymore if he threw it. Well, he threw it. So, I took the ball away and he came over and hit me. So I picked him, carried him to a chair as he threw his greatest tantrum yet, and set him down letting him know he had two minutes time out. Well, this lady who is here from Spain and adopting a 9 year old who doesn't really mind her came over, picked Andres up out of the chair and told me that he shouldn't get timeout and that he was just mad. I was shocked that someone would step in and tell me how to discipline my child. But that's what they do here. they are quite outspoken and like to take initiative and show you what to do and not to do. Until today, that hasn't bothered me. All of you who know me know that I typically will let my peace of mind be known, but today I held it in. Pretty sure I won't be able to do it again! : )

Well, it's time for bed. We have a big day tomorrow morning at 9am. It is known as Integracion. We will meet with a social worker, I believe, who will interview each of us to see how things are going. If all goes well, we will be awarded official custody of Maria and Andres. Then, the official paperwork frenzy begins to make the adoption official. Thankfully, I feel pretty good. When our attorney, Oscar, came by tonight, I was sitting with Maria talking to my step-mom on Skype. He asked her if she was happy with her new mami and Papi, and she gave a huge "Si!"

Thanks to all of you who have been posting comments. Matt and I look forward to them every day. While we are thoroughly enjoying our time here, it's so nice to have contact with people from the US. Being the only US family in the B&B, we need that connection! Your thoughts, prayers and kind words of encouragement make our every day. Keep 'em coming and we'll do our best to blog daily.

Matt: I really don't have anything to add to the blog today. Traci pretty much said it all. However, since we purchased this new camera, it looks like it is my job to add pictures to the blog (Traci still hasn't quite gotten a hold of the 15 step process for moving pictures from the camera to the computer to the blog). So, here we go . . .


Maria and her new dress (thanks Barbie!). She absolutely loved it. I do not think litle girls wear too many dresses in this part of Colombia. Temps in Bogota range from the low 60's in the day to the low 50's at night. So, even though we are fairly close to the equator, because we are in the mountains it remains fairly cool. Nevertheless, I think people here go a little overborad. While I am out waling around in a t-shirt, local Colombians have on coats, sweaters and the like. In fact, we have been reminded a couple of times by the staff here that when we take the kids out we should bundle them up. We kind of ignored this warning for a little while today and let Maria wear her dress (along with he new shoes that she is still extremely pround of).


Our two new litle rock stars (to add to the one we already have). I just hope the U.S.A. is ready for these two characters.






These were taken on our afternoon trip to the local Frisby's restaurant. Hey, some visitors choose to go to the Museo de Oro or Monseratte while in Bogota - we choose to eat chicken at the local chain. We opted for this after several minutes of looking for the Maku market without success. We got three kids meals and each came with an actual toy. Not one of those cheap little plastic things you get at McDonald's in the U.S. but more like something you would pull off the shelf at Walmart. As Traci explained, we had another downpour and were caught sans umbrellas. So, the kids played in the play gym for a while. Maria and Andres weren't too big on it but, as you can see, Luke had a blast. You can also see that by this point in the day we had to put a pair of pants and a sweatshirt on Maria.



Maybe this is boring to most people, but these are a few pictures of the street outside of Frisby's during the downpour. It probably lasted about 30 minutes before it let up enough for us to leave. However, as you can see fom this picture, the edges of most of the streets were pretty flooded. So, between that and places where the "sidewalk" is either being worked on or practically non-existent, it was a little difficult to get the stroller back home. I also carried Maria most of the way. Luke kept asking me when it is his turn to be carried or ride on my shoulders. So, while he has matured a lot on this trip, I think he has forgotten how physically big he actually is (or how old his dad is getting).


The "garden drive-thru" Traci described earlier. It was a lot prettier in person.


Here is one of the street vendors selling flowers. I'm pretty sure we do not own a vase big enough to hold any of these. I do have a couple of those pastic buckets in the garage, but they probably wouldn't look as nice on the dinning room table.


Back at the ranch. I had the song "Maria" from West Side Story on my iPod and played it for Maria. She giggled and we danced around our little room. Kind of a cheesy father-daughter moment, but it was fun (and for the guys at work - this is the only show tune I have on my iPod and I downloaded it for my daughter. So go easy on me when I return). You can also kind of see that Maria has her hair in a pony tail. This is infinitely easier than barets and as long as I am in charge of hair you may have to get used to this look (man, show tunes on the iPod and doing hair. I'm really in for it when I return to work).

Ciao! (Phoentially that is "chow" for my uncultured friends. That is how Maria says goodbye and it always makes me laugh)

Our First Doctor's Visit

Before I get started, I have to say that I may have to/should resign my blogging duties to Matt. I have lived all that he talked about and found it quite entertaining! He's the best! Secondly, I have to say--WAY TO GO DAVID COOK! So excited to hear he won and can't wait to get home and watch it on DVR. Thanks, Whit, for sending the comment to let me know! Now, someone go put me on the waiting list for his first DVD!

Today was a pretty good day, considering all things. The kids all slept in until after 8am which was nice. Last night, while Matt blogged away, I slept only to be awakened by one coughing spat (Andres), one crazy dream (Luke) and one fall out of the bed (Maria). Outside of that I slept well. The beds aren't bad and I am actually getting used to the flat pillows. It's amazing the comfort an arm can provide. : )However, once it hits 5:30am, it becomes Grand Central Station outside our window. The amount of very loud trucks that pass by each morning is not comprehendible. I don't know why all of these people start working so early. Maybe it's because it's dark here by 6:30pm or so and light way before people should have to get out of bed. Nevertheless, we grow a little more used to it each day--and the same goes for the close-quarters we are in. The room obviously feels very small to us, especially with five, but we aren't in it all that much. Oh, and Sheri, we definitely are in the same room as you because the first day, the English teacher in me noticed that we are not to throw toilet paper in the toilet but in the "waist" basket. I got a kick out of that but it drives me crazy every day!

Anyway, on to the day. Breakfast--the usual--eggs and French toast. However, I broke out of my traditional scrambled eggs and ordered my eggs fried. Who knows, tomorrow I may go crazy and order eggs AND French toast. You know, you gotta mix it up a little! The morning went well. Outside of Matt's blog hangover that kept him up until wee hours of the night, we were all in good spirits, except for Andres. He was very whiney and cried quite a bit. But the funny thing with him is that he can be crying and immediately stop and give you a smile that just makes you laugh. It's so funny. But we just felt like things weren't right. After Matt and Luke spent some much needed one-on-one time this morning having breakfast and walking around town. I stayed and had breakfast with Maria and Andres and just hung around the compound. At around 10:30, we took Andres to the doctor. (El Refugio is awesome and they encourage you to leave your kids there and they will baby-sit for free. It's amazing!) The wonderful lady at our B&B, Carmen, got us right in with an English-speaking doctor who basically said everything checked out ok and it looked like the beginning of a cold. He weighed in at a whopping 25 lbs.--such a little pip squeak but oh soooo cute! So, we got some medicine for him and since then he has been awesome. The only problem is that he got all off schedule. He missed lunch for a nap and slept for three hours. Matt and Maria joined him for 2 1/2 of those 3 hours while I taught Luke to play backgammon and was re-introduced to why I hate checkers so much. What a silly game.



Once everyone awoke from a nap, we decided it was time to get the heck out of the place and go on a family outing to Unicentro. Pretty cool place with lots of great shopping--Mom, wish you were here! I wish we'd had more time, but we didn't. We mainly went to maintain sanity, to remember that there's another world outside of El Refugio and to get Maria shoes. As Matt is going to do his blog take after mine, I will let him tell the story behind the shoes. It was too cute!

Matt: Wow, no pressure to make this story cute or anything. We found a store in the corner of the mall that sold kids shoes. She picked out two pair that she liked and I asked here which was here favorite. Come to find out, there are those shoes that have lights in them when you walk. She loved it. The lady in the store put both of them on her and I moved about 10 feet away and asked her to run to me. She did and about knocked me over with a big hug at the end. We let her wear them home and notice that she was kind of dragging her feet so that the lights would light up. Oh, and Kitts family, they did sell those bubble gummer shoes (nothing in Maria’s size) so email in your order.

The Unicentro is really a very nice mall. I’ve been there twice now and has been pretty crowded on both occasions. Given more time (and cash), I think Traci and I would like to do a little shopping there. The main anchor store is the “Exito” which Luke, Maria and I went to get some diapers and “odds and ends” (cervesa for papi) on Tuesday. It is nice but the aisles are pretty narrow. They have those little kid shopping carts with the car in front. Naturally, Maria had to have a car, and, of course, I had to get one. Only here you have to pay a rental fee which was only a couple dollars (I think – had to pay in pesos and they weren’t coins).

And Andres isn’t the only child suffering from some sort of malady. I took Maria in for a nap and we laid on our big bed. I noticed that she kept rubbing her feet. She said something I didn’t understand and showed them too me. It looks like she has a very mild case of athlete’s foot (Yeah! Another athlete in the family). So, on the way home from the Unicentro tonight we stopped in a drug store to get some medicine for her feet. Again, the language barrier presented a bit of a problem. I think that the pharmacist understood what I was saying, but he gave us a topical liquid and some pills. Pills? It made me wonder what I had told him she had. Anyway, I made it out of there with just the topical solution. Let’s hope she hasn’t grown a third foot when we wake up in the morning.

Traci again: It was a great day for Luke and food! Carmen was concerned about why he wasn't eating much so the cooks fixed him a grilled ham and cheese and he loved it. I have to say it was one of the best I've ever had. Our lunch was interesting. The rest of us had ham and cheese roll-up--no tortillas, no bread just meat and cheese--mashed potatoes, a salad that I wasn't fond of and an excellent smoothie-like drink tasting of lime and pineapple. Then, for dinner, Luke cashed in once again and ate pork chops and even ate green beans (which he never eats at home). The only thing he turned down was the rice (which he almost always eats at home), and we are all about sick of it as it is a staple to be served with every meal, I guess (Not Matt). The meal always ends with a dessert or fruit of some kind. Tonight, we had to ask Maria what it was and learned that we had papaya. They cut it into long, thin slices like a cantaloupe and Andres ate all of his plus half of mine. We finally had to cut him off because he had his first diaper blowout today, and we didn't want to beg for another. Wow--what a two-year old can produce in a diaper is amazing! Sorry--that was gross, but Luke also wanted me to let everyone know what a "stink bomb" he was!

With dinner being at 7pm, that pretty much takes us to bedtime. Neither of the kids like the whole routine. Maria isn't nearly as bad as Andres. However, they both LOVE to brush their teeth (Maria asks to do it after each meal), especially since I bought them toothbrushes that light up. We read to them, and again, I'll let Matt tell you how cute tonight was with Maria. Andres and I looked at a First Words book of cars. He loved it, but when I put him into that little crib, he screams. It usually doesn't last for long once he realizes no one is going to pick him up. We do have to tell him a number of times to lay down, and it's usually followed with a pout and then that heart-melting smile. Anyway, neither went to bed quickly tonight. Must have been due to the long naps. Andres just fell asleep about 20 minutes ago. So the bedtime routine takes between 1-2 hours! We'll definitely get better!

Matt: I didn’t have to read the “Papi” book again tonight. Tonight we read a Spanish-English picture book. We’ve looked though it before but she will never repeat the English portion. It usually went like this:

Me: "Libro. Book. Peudes decir 'book'?"
Maria: "Si."
Me: Silence waiting for something to sound like book to utter from her mouth.

However, tonight, she was trying to repeat the English and did a pretty good job. Traci and I were both there and gave her lots of word of encouragement. So, that all went well and she was excited.

Traci again: A few more random thoughts/stories before signing off to Matt. First of all, I have realized how misconstrued my thoughts have been about the American culture. For the most part, I thought we were pretty loving, and I know in my family we aren't afraid to show emotion. But here, it is out of this world! Andres runs up to EVERYONE and wants hugs and they give them to him (Matt: like the random sales lady in the shoe store this evening). At Mc Donald's yesterday, he ran over to a lady and pointed to her drink. She asked if it would be ok if she gave him some of her Coke. What!? Ok, anyone, would you do that with a stranger's kid? Well, I wouldn't but that is just the way they are here, and I actually love it. It helps me to get to know my kids even more. Today, Maria was hanging out by one of the babies here at the B&B and the mom was singing in Spanish to the baby. She asked Maria to join along, I think, so Maria started singing. It was a very sweet moment that made me realize how much of her culture she will lose when she goes to the States. Kind of made me sad for her. Another story about Maria--she will not let me do her hair. Ok, actually, I tried the first day and totally failed. I mean seriously, I just got down how to spike Luke's hair after 8 years and I am supposed to get ponytails right the first time!!?? Well, they were horrible so I pulled them out to start over. By doing that, I hurt her and that was all she wrote. However, "mi papi" can do the same thing and all is perfecto! Matt hasn't attempted to do ponytails yet, but I am confident that it will be happening soon. Otherwise, the poor girl is going to continue to run around with 80's rock star hair. Now, one about Matt, well actually two. First off, this whole process has just made me fall even more in love with the guy. He is incredible with Maria and Andres, and always has been with Luke. Yesterday, I noticed a picture of my deceased grandparents on the mirror. I asked him why there was a picture of them in Colombia. He said, "Because without them, this wouldn't have been possible and we wouldn't be here." It brought tears to my eyes because in situations like this, I always feel close to my grandparents because I know how proud they would have been. But he is right. We owe so much them as they left behind the financial means to make this dream a reality. I miss them so much throughout this process and wish so much that they could see the fruits of their labor. And my last story had to due with breakfast yesterday. Matt and I have found that humor is incredibly important during this process. There is so much out of your control and so much change that takes place. While we were at breakfast, things were crazy. We were both running ragged trying to tend to all three kids, getting their plates ready, making sure they had all they needed. Just as we would sit down, something would come up--they needed more juice, someone sneezed and needed a kleenex, etc. Finally, Matt looked up at me and said, "This is why the Brady Bunch needed Alice." We both started laughing so hard we couldn't stop. I'm sure the other five families were wondering what came over us. Just a priceless time. Well, Buenas Noches to all! Things are going well in Colombia, and I want to say again how beautiful it is here. I really have enjoyed it, regardless of the fact that it rains every day and there is very little sun. I feel blessed to be here and going through this experience! Oh, and my day ended with Andres saying "Mama" for the first time, at least the first time I have heard. He speaks few/no real words so that was a beautiful way to end the day.

Matt again: I am sorry to all of the blog stalker out there waiting for a post this evening. For some reason the power has been flickering in the compound this evening and we keep getting bumped off of the internet. But my real reason for the delay was that I just had a very nice conversation with a French lady who is here in El Refugio adopting her second baby boy. She apologized for her poor English, which I found somewhat ironic since I can speak ZERO French. Nevertheless, her English as quite good and we had a great conversation about our children, the adoption and things in general. Cathy, my new French friend, and her husband Tony adopted a little boy named David from Colombia 5 years ago. David is the boy here closest in Luke’s age and they are kind of partners in crime around this place. He’s a really sweet boy and very handsome. I told her that he is going to break a lot of hearts some day. They are adopting another baby boy named Jeremy. However, the officials in Colombia have told them that some of their paper work from France is incorrect. (My worst nightmare). So, Cathy’s sister is going to be running around for them tomorrow trying to get stuff signed, stamped and delivered by overnight mail to Colombia. From what I gathered, she has a lot of driving to do. Poor Cathy wants to call her sister at 9:00 a.m. (France time), but she is afraid to go to bed and try to get up to do it (and that is probably a wise move with the power flickering like it is and alarm clocks going out). As of my writing, she has at least another hour to wait before she can call. Anyway, I really enjoyed out little conversation. She was a lovely little lady and seems to have raised one fine boy and is looking forward to duplicating those efforts on another lucky child.

I think we have touched on this before, but it’s really fun seeing the other families from different parts of the world here. At the present, we have two from France, one from Spain, one from Italy (might be Spain also, I haven’t gotten to talk with them much) and us from the U.S. Another family from Spokane, WA arrived at about 10:45 tonight but they are just stopping over before they fly out to another part of Colombia at about 7:30 tomorrow. It is kind of fun to be a part of all of the different languages and cultures here in the compound. Everyone here speaks at least a little Spanish and most speak some English (between the two we can usually convey thoughts, wisdom, assistance or just pleasantries).

Our other U.S. family here in the compound, the Adelmans, left early this morning for San Diego. They were a very nice couple who lived in the room across the hall. Debi’s mom, who was born here in Bogota, made the trip too. They adopted a baby girl, Alejandra, who is just about the prettiest little girl I’ve seen on my trip. Mark & Debi, if you are reading our blog, it was great getting to know you in the brief amount of time that we had. Thanks for the friendship and the help getting our bearing straight here in Colombia.

Our friends the Derrs were supposed to leave today or tomorrow but it looks like they have been held up. I know they are probably anxious to get home but it will give us an opportunity to maybe meet up with them at least one more time. We saw them on Sunday, but we didn’t have Maria and Andres then.


Here I have lured Maria into taking a nap by pretending to be asleep myself. And it worked!!


Andres didn't eat any lunch because he wasn't feeling when and was tired. So, we save some cheese and lunch meat for him. Here is Luke feeling Andres his "lunch" after the nap.


It pretty much rained most of the day today in Bogota. So, here are the kids killing some time with coloring.




A little walk in the rain on the way to the Unicentro.


Inside of the Unicentro. I found this burger joint interesting and strangely familiar. Someone alert the King!


Maria and her new shoes.


At about the same time, Andres decided to have his first "moment" while still in the store. Poor guy had to wait until we got home before he could be changed.


Maria and papi in the drug store on the way home. Even without seeing anyone's face, you can just sense that there is a difficulty here with the language being spoken.


Traci and Andres sharing a little papaya desert. Actually, I don't know if there was any "sharing" going on as I think Andres ate all of his papaya and most of Traci's.


Hermana y hermano. When they want to, both of these kids have great "camera smiles."



Brushing teeth before bed. As we said, Maria is great at brushing her little teeth. Andres, on the other hand, just kind of chews on it.

What day is it?

Traci was too tired to do the blog tonight. So you get me, Matt, instead. I honestly have not had time to read anything that Traci had posted since we arrived in Colombia. So, I had to do a quick review before I could post. Let’s see what she posted . . .

landed safely – check
whisked away to impregnable “adoption compound” under cover of night – check
wonderful people we have met in said “adoption compound” - check
touristy things we did – check
great food and Luke’s diet – check
Oh, and post a few picture of Matt looking fat – check

I’ll start with my impression of the kids. They are fantastic. Andres is super sweet and gives “brazos y besos” (hugs and kisses) to everyone. He doesn’t talk much. In fact, he hardly talks at all. We’ve gotten him to say a few words, but he usually just smiles and points and that tells us what we need to know. And when they told us he likes to play with cars, they weren’t kidding. The kid is constantly on the floor zooming cars around the place. When he isn’t doing that, he is giving us one of his cars. At first I thought he wanted to play but then he just walks away and does his own thing. He’s a really funny little guy and extremely lovable. We’ve managed to get him down for one nap each day and he is pretty good about it. However, when it comes time to go to bed he really let’s us know he is not happy.

As Traci said, Maria is a total daddy’s girl and, yes, I am loving every minute of it. She has been fighting naps these first couple days and pretty much won each battle. The first time we went to take nap, I laid her down and she immediately grabbed for the TV remote in our room. Problem is, the TV doesn’t work for some reason. So, we really didn’t end up sleeping. Today, we laid down again but no nap. Later in the day, we were in the common area of El Refugio (the “g” sounds kind of like and “h” and it is fun to say) and she fell asleep in my arms. Before that happened, we were watching one of the telenovelas that are constantly on the TV in Colombia. I am guessing that she used to watch telenovelas when she took her naps. I know I got a little sleeping watching (of course, I can barely understand anything people say, but whatever it is they are saying they are really passionate about it). Anyway, I am going to have to get that TV in our room fixed.

The relationship between Traci and Maria has been a little hot and cold, but from what we have been told that is fairly common among older kids and particularly girls and their new mami’s. Tonight ended on a very good note and it seems that things are already getting a little better. So, time is working to our advantage. I know it has been a little hard on Traci, particularly when she sees the attention I get from Maria. However, she has been great about not letting it get her down too much and pressing forward with being a good mom for Maria.

Today we got around a little late because it took a while to get the ninos (tilda on the second “n”) to bed and we wanted to let them sleep. I think we got down for breakfast at about 8:30. As with the day before, I got about one cup of coffee down before Oscar, our attorney, came to the door and said that I had to leave for the notary to sign a power of attorney in 15 minutes (Surprise!). So, I pretty much missed breakfast again. However, when Oscar came back 15 minutes later, he said Traci had to go too. So, she scurried around and both of us, in sweats, left for the notary with Oscar. It was just a few blocks away and we all walked. Thank God, we didn’t have to appear in court or something because we both looked a little rough. The power of attorney we signed is so that Oscar can act on our behalf in court proceedings without us (a little more official than the retainer letters we use in our office). As for breakfast, I don’t think I missed any real special treats. They pretty much serve eggs and French toast (Freedom toast for Jim and John back at the office) every day. Still, like all of the food, it’s pretty good.

We pretty much hung around El Refugio most of the day. Luke, Maria and I went to run errands and for a short trip to the park. Andres might be coming down with a cold so Traci stayed behind with him and to make sure he got a good nap in. I have been dying to try this Juan Valdez coffee shop everyone talks about. So I made that our first stop. It was pretty good, but the coffee they make here at the compound is also very good (and I don’t have to leave). Our next stop was to the bank and the ATM. I once again withdrew a huge wad of pesos and stuffed my pockets.

Matt anecdote alert: the Colombian monetary system has been a little difficult for me to grasp and I still don’t think I have the hang of it. I forget exactly what the exchange rate is, but a cup of coffee costs something like $2,400 pesos. Someone told us the easiest way to figure it out is to “make the comma into a decimal, then divide in half and add a little more.” So, that is how I am spending my cash. Thanks goodness I don’t have to tip much because some waiter would probably either be spitting in my food or buying a new car the next day.

The electronics store was next on our list. As you know, we (Traci) dropped the camera on Sunday and we had to make an emergency trip to get a new one (cha-ching!!). After we bought our new camera, we noticed that the SD cards we had purchased for our trip did not work in the new camera (D@mn Sony and their proprietary memory stick cards!!) Traci omitted to comment in her previous blog on how when we were there the previous day, a couple of the girls behind the counter were apparently making fun of my language skills. Traci speaks less Spanish than me but when they tuned back around she was giving one of them a funny look and we think she though Traci understood because she got really red in the face. I prefer to think they were talking about how handsome Traci’s husband was and how they too hoped to find a strapping young man like that to marry some day. But we can stick with Traci’s story that they were poking fun at me.

After that, we went to the park where Luke only got hurt once and Maria only got hurt trice on the teeter totter (and you wonder why you never see any new teeter totters in the US). It was a pretty short trip to the park as everyone was a little tired from walking around. We did get some ice cream from one of the street vendors on the way home. I arrived back at the compound just in time for lunch with two sticky kids.

Lunch was pretty good. They served us beans, rice and loose hamburger in separate bowls, but when mixed together it was pretty good (I think we were supposed to do that. If not, I take full credit or the new recipe). We also had some sort of meat like dish that looked like little-bitty, extremely dry spare ribs. The dryness was a little confusing to me because before we left to run errands I saw the meat being boiled in the kitchen. They were okay, but I won’t be asking for that recipe. We also had friend plantains and some sort of little corn muffin (I am sure someone who has been here will know the name of them as I also ate them last Friday in the Colombian restaurant in KCK).

There isn’t too much to say about after lunch. Traci took Andres and Luke for a quick walk for some air, but mostly to take Luke to McDonald’s for lunch. Poor kid has pretty much turned his nose up at almost everything they serve here. We did have a big downpour while they were out and I was a little worried but it turns out the were in the McDonal’s during the worst of it. Maria and I tried watching some DVD’s but Maria’s attention span is pretty short. She did pretty well with “Tom and Jerry” but we probably got through about two of those short cartoons. I also read Maria’s new book to her. I think it is called “Quiero my papi porque . . . (I love my daddy because . . . )” but can’t be sure even though we have read it about 50 times already. It’s the only book we have given her so far that is almost all in Spanish. I think I am going to have to break out some new ones (although my pronunciation in this one is finally starting to actually sound Spanish as opposed to Spanglish).

At dinner it was my turn to help feed Andres. He doesn’t feed himself and the “feeder” usually gets to eat a fine, cold meal. So, I got to eat a couple pieces of cold chicken, two pieces of cold broccoli, and a small piece of cold potato (aside from the portions, it sounds pretty American, don’t it). Desert was the festive Colombian portion of our meal tonight. They brought out bananas (standard) and some sort of fruit that looks like an orange with a smooth rind and a stem. Maria’s eyes immediately lit up when she saw this local treat. They are called “granadilla” (special thanks to the little 9 y/o girl here named Natalie for helping me with the spelling on that) and you eat them by first banging them on the table to knock a hole in the hard rind. Then, you make a larger opening and spoon out the jelly and seeds for a tasty little treat. Traci and Luke weren’t real fond of it but Maria and Andres loved it. I had just a bit and didn’t think it was too bad. And as Traci discovered, the seeds are a little hard so you don’t chew it, you just let it slide on down.

As for Luke’s diet, he finally decided to try something that didn’t look like it was cooked in the Midwest. He actually enjoyed the chicken once we got him to eat it. He also had some potatoes, but no broccoli (he never really liked that in the States either). Unfortunately, I doubt they will be cooking that particular chicken every night. As another side note, we brought a couple bottle of ranch dressing all the way from the U.S.A. for Luke to eat with his food (he smoothers everything in ranch). Maria and Andres tried some tonight and they both loved it. Maria in particular, who was practically eating it by the spoonful without the requisite salad or chicken. If we bought a particular brand of dressing, I’d be telling all of you to invest big in that company when we return.

Tonight we gave Maria and Andres their first baths (with us, I am sure they have had them before because they both smelled really good when we got them). We learned that Andres is really not too fond of water. You would think we were trying to put him to bed or something. Afterwards, Maria wanted me to comb her hair (more daddy’s girl stuff). She only said “ouch” two or three times, so I think I did okay.

We were told that the usual bed times for Andres and Maria were 7:30 and 8:00, respectively. We’ve been trying to keep to that schedule but it is hard when dinner is served at 7:00 p.m. It’s really hard on Luke who is used to a 9:00 p.m. (or later) bed time. So, we let Luke run around downstairs on his own while we tried to get Maria and Andres to sleep at about 8:30 (yeah, we blew it again but we are getting better). Maria did pretty well tonight, but Andres cried and fussed again. Traci and I decided to turn out the lights, lay on out bed and wait for them to go to sleep before sneaking out to join Luke. Maria went to sleep fairly well but when Andres wasn’t rolling around crying he would just sit and look at us. Finally, Traci decided to join Luke so that he wouldn’t be alone and I stuck with the night watch. Andres began to fuss again when Traci left. After a minute or two of whining, I leaned over and during a break when he was catching he breath and in a stern voice said, “Te duermes” which I am pretty sure means “You sleep” but not in a command type form (Sorry to Susan and all my previous Spanish teachers). Anyway, that was the last I heard from him. 15 minutes later, I escaped.

The reason for the escape was to spend a little two on one time with Luke. First of all, we can’t be more proud of this kid. I think he has aged a couple of years maturity-wise on this trip so far. He’s not only been great with Maria and Andres, but he is also friendly with all of the kids living in the compound. He’s been much more outgoing than I have ever seen him before. And even though none of the kids here speak English, he seems to be communicating on some level. However, Maria and Andres demand quite a bit of our attention and we see that Luke sometimes feels a little neglected. So we wanted to have a little time to eat popcorn and just hang out with Luke giving him the time he has been missing the last couple days. I am also going to try to sneak him away for breakfast, just the two of us, tomorrow morning. I told him this evening that I doubt his mom and I could have gotten through this without his help.

In general, my impressions of Bogotá are extremely favorable and it is much like people have been telling me. Granted, I think we are in a pretty nice area, but the people are all extremely handsome and charming. The other folks living in the compound with us are also extremely nice. Unfortunately, we probably know the least amount of Spanish of anyone here, but between our token Spanish and their usually pretty good English, we can exchange pleasantries or obtain/provide assistance fairly easily. The people working here in El Refugio are just great and I would recommend this place to any of my friends who were visiting Bogotá (of course, I think you have to go home with a couple of extra kids). We have very clean rooms, great food, and plenty of help in getting around town. They have also helped me a little with my Spanish. As many of you know, I have been trying to study in my spare time and have been listening to CD’s in my car on the way to and from work for the last few months (thanks, Kitts family). Well, the past couple days has been like driving to work for about 16 hours a day. All Spanish, all of the time. I just have a very basic grasp of things and can understand Maria most of the time. The thing that really throws me though is her little kid accent which I didn’t account for. Once in a while she will tell me something I totally do not understand and I just nod my head and say, “Si, si.” As I told a couple of my friends back home, I sure hope I haven’t promised her a nice car when she turns 16 or something.

I’ll close now as this is already the mother of all blogs and (hopefully) get a few pictures in. Given the length of this blog, I do not know if Traci will let me post again.






Morning with the kids.


Me and Andres talking on the phone with Nana Judy and Papa Denny. Maria joined in too and I don't know what kind of Spanish my folks were throwing at her but she said "Si" a couple of times.


Dinner with most of the family. I have noticed that i have one again neglected my picture taking duties as Traci isn't in any of these.


This is me apparently trying to speak Spanish to Andres and him looking thoroughly confused.


He eats!!!


Maria eating her granadilla.


Probably not the most flattering picture of Traci, but I had to include one in here somewhere. You can almost see Andres over Traci's . . . Well, he's there taking a nap.

Pictures from Monday

Here are the pics from yesterday. Some pics from when we first saw Maria and Andres are not the best although we are grateful for our attorney's offer to take them. My favorite one is the last one.

The moment we've been waiting for.
The moment I will never forget. Isn't this the best picture!!??



Bonding brothers.
On the back to the B&B.

Another heart-warming picture.

Goofing around in our room.

This one says it all! I just love it!

Day 2: An Emotional Day--They are Ours Part II

What a day yesterday was. FYI--Breakfast: Traci--nothing, too nervous, Matt--coffee, Luke--poptart from US. : ) We were all pretty nervous and couldn't eat. Our attorney, Oscar, arrived a few minutes early, which is against the norm from what we understand. So we weren't totally ready but quickly gathered our stuff. The ride to Ubate was absolutely gorgeous. Yes, there were poverished areas, but the green mountains and incredible countryside was awesome! I so wished we could stop at various places and take pictures but obviously that was not our intent of the ride. : ) Some interesting things we saw: 1) rocks painted on the sides of the streets. These rocks are painted by political figures running for office. It actually looks like a memorial because it has the persons name and the years for which they are running for office. Kind of funny, but I do have to say it looks better than all of the plastic signs that we see. 2) Cows just randomly on th side of the road tied up. We saw this in Jamiaca, too, but never knew what the deal was. Apparently, if the owners don't have enouh land or enough money, they tie them up on the side of the road so that the cow can eat. Fortunately, they are milk cows not meat cows! When we arrived in Ubate, it was a VERY small, quaint town. The streets were quite narrow, barely large enough for two cars. If I remember correctly, all the buildings were painted in a light yellow. It kind of reminded me of an Italian village but dirtier. The ICBF office was squeezed in amongst other businesses, and very small. First, we went into a sterile-feeling office and signed a bunch of paperwork, updated records, etc. While doing that, the kids walked into ICBF. We couldn't see them but we could hear their vibrant voices and Andres' wonderful laugh. Finally, we finished paperwork and walked into the room (office) that they were in. I saw Maria first and she was quite shy and a little withdrawn. Matt saw Andres who went running immediately to him. Fortunately, I turned around just in time to see it and it was something I will forever remember. After 20 minutes or so, Maria never warmed up to me. She appears to have had a very close bond with her foster mom (which I am grateful for) so eventually, Matt and I switched places and he went over with Maria and I went to Andres and got my hugs. The whole time, Maria kept backing herself into a little corner, and Andres was all over the place, smiling, laughing and showing his incredible personality. (Shawn and Cindy--watch out. I think he will turn on the charm with Crissy!) After 45 minutes or so, it was decided that we would not meet with the foster mom--which was better since Maria was not doing well, but we were disappointed not to be able to see her and tell her thank you--and we left. Maria cried for about the first 10 minutes in the car until we got out a DVD player and she watched Dora. When we got back to El Refugio, we had lunch and the kids ate great. We had hamburgers and potatoes (no, Luke didn't eat any of it) and the B&B always makes "sopa"/soup for the kids to eat while the rest of the food is cooking. After lunch, I brought Andres up for a nap and Matt, Luke and Maria went to la ienda/the store to get diapers. Yes, we are back in the diaper market with Andres. : ) He slept for over an hour and then we hung out at the B&B the rest of the day. I have to say that the day got kind of long and difficult for me as Maria wanted nothing to do with me. I just let her have her space and watched as I saw her with Matt. As awesome of a "boy" dad as Matt is, he was meant to have a girl. He is sooooo good with Maria and she didn't leave his side the whole night. He even got his fingernail painted. At dinner (chicken or beef in some kind of breading, a cucumber dish of some sort and salad--no, once again, Luke did not eat and had a PB&J and popcorn) Matt got up to go get something and Maria looked at me and spoke some of her first words to me (besides "no") and said, "Mi Papi?" It was so cute! Again, Maria and Andres ate well. She occasionally stared at me but mostly conversed with Luke (who she also adores) and Papi. Andres loves to make the Home Alone face where his hands go on each of cheeks and he opens his mouth really wide. Too cute, quite dramatic. Matt and I have yet to eat a full meal--first nerves, now craziness of three kids at the dinner table. But we are loving it! Bedtime was interesting. We were told that Andres went to bed at 7:30 and Maria at 8/8:30. Needless to say, there was a lot of energy in the room--sadness and happiness-and we didn't get them to sleep until a little before 10pm. Both had some periods of crying. Andres has to sleep in a small crib-like bed that I think it is smaller than what he is used to so that was tough. Funny story for the day. . . Andres would not lay down in his bed. He kept standing up and looking around. I finally figured out that instead of telling him to lay down in Spanish, I was telling him to stand up. The poor kid was probably so confused! Then, Maria went to bed fairly easily. But just as she would start drifting to sleep, she would get up and get her backpack that we gave her and pull out her make-up and jewelry. The bonding moment I had with her last night was when she wanted to put lipstick on my lips at 9:30pm. Normally, we'd handle this situation differently, but I had to capitalize on the moment! We are still trying to figure out the pictures. I will download them as soon as I can get it to work. And I will try to post again tonight is time permits. Until then, adios!

Day 2: An Emotional Day for All--They Are Ours

What a day this has been. We have our two BEAUTIFUL childrento add to our one beautiful son--and I do mean BEAUTIFUL for all three! Luke has been amazing! I can not figure out how to download our pictures with this new camera and honestly, we are exhausted. So, I will see what I can do first thing in the morning to update. Thanks for understanding!

Day 1: Around town

After finally getting to sleep after midnight, we all had a decent night's sleep. I actually felt refreshed regardless of the fact that the pillows are flatter than pancakes. After a nice breakfast--for those wondering it was scrambled eggs and toast, Frosted Flakes for Luke, sweet orange juice and coffee for Matt--the three of us walked around Bogota. It really is nothing like I thought it would be. Outside of the language barrier, I don't actually feel like I am in South America rather than North America. There are a lot of unique shops and the eateries look similar to what you find in the States. I envisioned a lot of vey worn down buildings and homes, but there are some gorgeous "apartamentes" here. Around 10am, five adopting families--2 CHI families that I knew through blogging and 2 from Spain--went to a very nice market not too far from our bed and breakfast. I purchased a beautiful royal, blue crystal necklace that I may wear tomorrow when we go to get Maria and Andres. Then, we went to Archie's which is a nice pizza joint. It's known for it's kid-friendly service. Unfortuantely, this was where Luke had his first taste of homesickness. They come and get the kids to go make their own pizzas in another room. Since there were no other children in our group that were old enough to do this, Luke was the only one to go, so I went with him. When we got into the room, there were a bunch of Spanish-speaking kids washing their hands. Luke couldn't get the sink to work and then he realized he couldn't understand what anyone was saying to him so he wanted to leave. Eventually, we went back to our table and there were some tears. I think it was the first realization that we are definitely the minority here. The sadness only lasted for about 15 minutes before he perked up and began playing and making the kids laugh. Have I mentioned what a GREAT big brother he will be!!?? After lunch, we decided to have a little bit more of family time and the three of us went to a park and played baseball. Although many of the pictures look cloudy, it's actually been a beautiful day here, the clouds come and go as does the rain, but the temperatures was probably in the 70's. As close as we are to the equator, the sun feels quite warm and I did get some color on my arms. Most of the day, I wished I had shorts on, but funny enough, the Colombians had on wool, winter coats and sweaters! On our way back from the park, I about had my first meltdown. We were walking along and I saw a great photo opportunity with a juggler in the middle of the street. As I reached for my camera, I dropped it and of all times for this to happen, I broke it. Fortunately, Matt immediately consoled me and found a place to get a new digital camera. What an adventure to try to ask about certain capabilities, etc., when you can't speak the native language. The one thing we understood was that we could bring it back within 8 days if we didn't like it. Not exactly what we need to be spending our money on right now so it's a little stressful, but if this is the worse thing that happens, I'll take it! Right now, we are all just hanging around, playing games and waiting for our light dinner. I thought it would be best to post early tonight. After dinner, we will probably come up and get Luke showered and watch a movie. We all want to get a good night's rest as we will be leaving between 7:30-8:00am tomorrow. At 10am (Central Time), everyone please say prayers that all goes well. We can't wait to let you know about life as a family of five! Love to all~ T

The adopting families who went to the market.

The mountains of Bogota.

Luke playing baseball in front of a beautiful aprtment complex--the pic doesn't do it justice.

Oh yeah--even in Bogota. . . the ice cream man can find us!

Another beautiful structure that looked much like the KU Alumni Association.

Luke waking up this morning and checking out Bogota for the first time in the daylight.

Luke and Mom taking advantage of a photo op.

Even the trash man needs a break on Sunday!

Matt and I in front of El Refugio--our home away from home.

Luke trying out the wares at the market.

Pretty sure we'll try this place out after a hard day! ; )

We have arrived!

We have arrived safely. It's been a long day but everything went smoothly, the flights were great--both were even a little early. Thanks to my dad and Kathy, and my mom and Ron for taking us to the airport. It took all of us to get our mass amount of luggage to the check-in!

When we got on the plane, I still felt like I was in a dream. It just seems so weird that the time has finally come. When we arrived in Atlanta, we went and had a meal at TGIFridays. I was craving my last glass of good, cold milk, only to get a glass full of spoiled milk instead. Oh well. Anyway, we finally made it to the international terminal. As we were walking through, I started having that feeling of anxiety about going to an unfamiliar place. I was quickly put at ease when I saw a huge contingent of US Army men and women. We spoke with a couple of them. They were all heading to Iraq. Suddenly, my anxieties went away. My worries couldn't be anything compared to theirs! Anyway, they were so kind and I made sure to thank them for what they are doing to keep us safe. They were even kind enough to take a picture with Luke.



The flight to Bogota was perfect, going through customs was a matter of picking up our luggage (which was amoung the first out) and walking right through the door. We immediately spotted Andres, the man here to help us get around, and easily got to El Refugio. We immediately met Debi and Mark, another CHI family, who just adopted a little girl. It was so neat to know them before we ever got to meet them. How wonderful to see "familiar" faces in an unfamiliar place. We are in the midst of unpacking in our VERY small room. I don't think our room is as big as Maria's room at home and there are bunks, a crib, a ful size bed, a full bathroom and two large closets. They definitely use their space here. But it will all be perfect.

Well, I'm signing off. Were all tired and want to get unpacked so that maybe we can go to a market tomorrow. This way unpacking will be one less thing we have tomorrow night as we prepare for our big Monday! I'll end with a few more miscellaneous pics from the day. Love to all! Please say many prayers.


Saying goodbye to Max was tough!



An excited big brother saying goodbye to his grandparents.

Waiting to leave Kansas City.

Heading to Bogota.

Life Continues and Questions Are Answered

I logged onto the blog this morning and read the time line above: 5 days until we are a family of 5! Wow~unbelievable! Obviously, my brain has wrapped around the fact that we will be pulling two more beautiful children into our family, but when I see "family of 5" it blows my mind away. Sometimes you feel like something is never going to happen and then, all of a sudden, the time is here. Right now, there just aren't
enough hours in the day accomplish what I need to. Every day I have grand plans and the plans take a lot longer to carry out than O think they should. I have gotten better at letting certain things go, removing them off of my list because they just don't matter. But just to give you an idea of my last two days, I spent 3 hours yesterday trying to track down a form that we need. THIS WAS NOT IN THE PLANS and threw my whole day off. Bottom line, I got nothing resolved with it, but our CHI rep told me not to stress about it. I spent the rest of the day running errands, getting bills and a pile full of receipts in order, trying to catch up with laundry, made a list of general clothing items to pack, and ended the day by putting up a wallpaper border in Andres' room with Matt. We started wallpapering at 11pm. Thank goodness I had a little relief in there by going to Luke's baseball game.




I definitely need that release each day, and I have found that I seek that time with him every night. Two nights ago, it was sitting and watching him and Matt play soccer and then I played basketball with him until dark. Luke's presence is really the highlight of my every day--from the time he wakes up until the time he falls asleep. The other night, he asked if we could say prayers for Maria and Andres. His went something like, "Dear God, please watch over Maria and Andres and make sure that they have shelter. Help them so they won't cry and be scared of us when we see them. Let them know we love them." Just makes my heart melt. Anyway. . . today I spent my ENTIRE day running errands--I think last I counted, I made 18 stops today. Of course three of them were to Target. Then, I realized that I needed to get the yard mowed so I did that. Lovely night to be out! Thank goodness Luke has been occupied by our friends after school the past two days. (Thanks a BUNCH, Cindy!!!!!) He convinced me tonight that I needed to take a break (which I did) and watch American Idol. GO DAVID COOK!!!! (Someone, anyone, PLEASE let us know who wins next week. I can't believe I won't get to see it and cheer on the hometown KC boy, David Cook. But I guess the pay off is worth it.) Again, another nice release but I have to admit I was running around doing things during commercials. With only two days left, packing to do, errands to complete, and laundry to do, I am questioning how it's going to get all done. I guess the fact that I am blogging at 11pm is a pretty good indication of the fact that my days seem to never end.

With that all being said, I truly am enjoying all of this. The stress comes and goes but I keep reminding myself that no matter what, I will be seeing our kids in 5 MORE DAYS!! I apologize to all of you who have written e-mails, left phone messages, tried to stop by, etc. and our paths have not crossed. Please know we are grateful for all of your support and understanding at this very hectic time. We look forward to catching up with you all when we get back home.

Well, I gotta wrap this up. The washing machine just stopped and I need to get upstairs and get the next load in. Then it's off to bed--or at least I am hopeful to get there before midnight! We found out that we will be staying at El Refugio. If you are interested in seeing more of the B&B you can go to www.geocities.com/casahotelelrefugio/ingles.htm and see it. Not your typical 4 star place but we'll survive. We understand the people there are wonderful and his was our preference so we are ecstatic that we have been assigned there.

Excitement, Exhaustion and a Weekend for Three

Time is finally flying by at a time when we need it to slow down, but I am not complaining. I finished up work last Thursday. It was strange telling everyone good-by. It definitely made this whole process seem very real! Everything is definitely in fast gear and it will be nice to finally get on the airplane Saturday and relax, knowing that we have done all we can to prepare. I have never run so many errands in my life. We have been working diligently on Maria and Andres' rooms. Maria's is finished. And I love it.



Andres' is still a work in progress. It's just not coming together as easily as hers did! So, when it's completed I'll include pictures of it, too.

Mother's Day weekend came at a perfect time for us. We really needed some time together as a family of three. So on Saturday, we let Luke pick where he wanted to eat. We had a nice time together eating pizza and playing video games at a local place called Beach Bums. We talked a lot about the trip, our expectations, what to be excited about, etc. Luke is taking all of this in so well. I swear he seems to have aged a year since we learned of Maria and Andres. After we ate, we went to Target and surprised Luke with an early birthday present--a Nintendo DS. He was so excited. On Sunday, we decided to go to the Royals game. Usually by this time in the year, we would have been to a handful of games, but the adoption has thrown our life out of whack a bit and we haven't had time to go. The weather was absolutely beautiful and we had a fantastic time together. There's nothing more relaxing than a beautiful afternoon watching baseball. Ok, I know the Royals aren't the best, but I am a big fan. I can't think of anything I'd rather do in the summer than go watch them play--ok, maybe watch Luke play and spend time with family and friends! : ) Here's a few pics from the game. Thank goodness I have sunglasses on as I m really starting to look as tired as I feel!





It was also nice to get to spend some time with my mom on Mother's Day. I can't imagine what life would be like without her! She makes it so wonderful being a daughter. I can't wait to have a daughter as well as I cherish the relationship I have with my mom. Hopefully, Maria will feel the same about me. I find myself thinking about Maria a lot. Since I am not familiar with having a daughter in my life, I am experiencing things in a different light now. Of course, Mother's Day, as I just mentioned, felt different knowing that I will soon have two sons and a daughter. But I am also seeing how having a girl will be very expensive! I have refrained from making any girl clothing purchases. However, when I was out last week, I ran into this dress, and I immediately saw Maria in it. I had to get it! Can't you just see her beautiful, dark hair and eyes in this?




Well, I need to sign off as I absolutely have to get a good night's rest tonight. I am exhausted. Thanks to all of you for your thoughts and prayers during this time. PLEASE say a few extra prayers that we can wrap up our adoption within 4 weeks. Some of the families there right now are in week #5. I don't want to think about what that will mean for us if we aren't finished with everything after 4 weeks. One thing is for sure, it would run us right into Luke's birthday, and by that time he is going to be ready to come home, I am sure. This causes anxiety, but the bottom line is that it is out of my hands. Just think positive thoughts!!!

Celebrations and countdowns!

I have no idea where the last week and a half went as we have been very busy. Matt's parents, the BEST and I do mean BEST in-laws God every created, came in town, and we always look forward to seeing them. Originally, they were coming in town for Luke's first communion but we managed to squeeze in Luke's soccer game and a family shower as well. We received some wonderful things, including a locket that my mom was given by her parents and that I wore when I was a little girl. Now, it's Maria's turn. :) Needless to say, tears were shed when opening it as it somehow made me feel the presence of my grandparents who I continue to miss every single day! They would be so proud right now! Anyway, I digress. . . we definitely made good use of the time my in-laws were in town. It was so wonderful to have all of the grandparents around at the same time! There was a lot of imagining what things will be like when two more grand kids are added. The week following, we spent gathering up documents, copying them, sending paperwork to Topeka, painting Andres and Maria's rooms and making lists of all of our "TO DO's." We ended our week by having our phone conference with Julie at CHI to go over all of our travel details. It was great to talk to her and I think we feel much more informed about what to expect. I think she worried a little as our tornado sirens started going off during the conference. We assured her all was ok as the spotted tornado was a few cities away. I think that comment kind of struck her funny. Only those of us who are seasoned tornadoites know it was all ok.

The best news is that we now have all of our official paperwork. We received our FBI clearances today which was a big relief. My fingerprints are not very definitive which sometimes causes the FBI to deny the clearance. So, it looks like in 12 more days we will be on our way and in 14 days we will have our family of five! We are so excited!! Also, this is my last week of work which is a great feeling since I have a number of things to do requiring a LOT of errand running. That's tough to fit in after work when competing with sports and activities. But I will dearly miss my co-workers. They, too, threw me a shower last week which was overwhelming within itself. So much generosity in that building! I am truly blessed to work with them each and every day. Thanks to each and every one of them who have supported us throughout this time. God definitely could not have dropped me into a more caring environment. : )

Finally, I thought I would end this post with some pics highlighting the week.



Just proud at the thought of being a big brother!



Cake from our family shower. There's no way it could have been any cuter.



Love this picture. It's times like this when I see how quickly he's grown.



Luke and his proud grandparents.



Probably our last picture as a family of three.