Colombian Whine

Ok, we figured it was Sunday and not a lot of people really check their emails/blogs on a Sunday morning - so we took the night off last night. But here's what's been happening the last 2 days.

Yesterday, Saturday, we had a really great surprise. Donna's sister and brother-in-law had adopted their son, Mark, from Colombia a few years back and Donna had come to Bogotá with them to help out. Since then, Donna has kept in touch with her sister's attorney, Maria. Yesterday we were able to spend the afternoon with Maria and her son, Santiago. We went to the Bogotá Botanical Gardens then out to dinner. It felt great to get out with friends and the kids enjoyed running the paths in the gardens and wrestling with each other on the grass.

Here's a few pics from our trip out:


Carol waiting in line - patiently mind you - to see the Butterfly exhibit.

Anji must have run a few miles yesterday. She is getting a lot sturdier on her feet.

Dunno why but I LOVE this picture - I was standing across a pond from Carol and Jhon-Fredy and happened to catch them. I think it's the expressions on their faces that I like so much.

And lastly a sample of what we saw in the butterfly exhibit. (I was really afraid Jhon-Fredy was gonna just walk up and smoosh the ones that he saw - he tends to do that with bugs).

A bit of a funny story. Jhon-Fredy and Carol seem to be on the same bathroom schedule lately, and usually since Carol is bigger she tends to push ahead and get to the bathroom in the hotel room first - leaving Jhon-Fredy a bit dismayed and a little irritated. After we left the Botanical Gardens, we stopped at Maria's to clean up a bit before heading to the restaurant for dinner. When we got to her apartment, of course Jhon-Fredy and Carol BOTH had to 'go' and I volunteered to take them and wash them up too. When we got into the bathroom we found it was equipped with a bidet. I went to help Carol 'do her thing' and thought Jhon-Fredy was waiting patiently behind me. But alas - apparently he thought his dream had come true - he could finally go at the same time as Carol! When I turned around he was starting to 'do HIS thing' in the bidet and was quite proud of himself too. When I explained to him what it was - he thought it was the silliest thing he had ever heard of and we both had a really good laugh out of it.

We had a great dinner with Maria and Santiago and when we got back to the hotel the kids were exhausted and didn't argue when we started to get them ready for bed. They even slept in today.

As for today - we all went for a little walk after breakfast and ended up getting the kids hair cut. It was the coolest place for kids. The barber chairs where little cars and the kids got to watch Shrek III while they got their hair done. Here's the freshly cut crew:

Note the sunglasses...we bought all three kids sunglasses because they are always wearing mine. Anji lost her's on the way home from the hair salon...Carol's are already broken...Jhon-Fredy's are the last remaining - he actually hasn't really taken them off - even at the dinner table. I gotta admit - he looks pretty damn cool.

So this afternoon - Jhon-Fredy and I went to a soccer game. It was our very first sporting event together and we had a blast. I don't think he took his eyes off the ball too many times - if only to look at the cheerleaders. He talked more about them on the way home than anything else. Here we are at the game.

As for 'Colombian Whine' - Carol had a pretty rough day today. She FINALLY was able to tell us that she is getting a little nervous about flying to Pittsburgh. She said that she's not nervous so much about life in Pittsburgh but more about the actual act of flying. So we have been having A LOT of meltdowns and crying sessions.

I've mentioned this before - but when she has these incidences it is really, really apparent that there is SOOO much more to her mood than the issue at hand. It really is heartwrenching.

At the same time too - we think that both she and Jhon-Fredy are enjoying being comforted when they are crying/whiny. They never really had that - the comforting - so now that they have it they are really craving it. We are just trying our best (and praying like crazy for patience) and tag teaming when necessary.

So tomorrow I leave at 5a.m. to travel back to Chinquinquira to do paperwork and then to Buena Vista (where the children were born) to pick up their birth certificates. Donna will be here at the hotel with the kids. The drive will be about 8 hours round trip - so it'll end up being an all day affair. This is a good trial run for Donna for when we get back home and I go to work for the day.

Alrighty, I think you're all up to date now. We'll let you know how tomorrow goes. We're excited because it's a HUGE step to getting the kids home.

God bless and thanks to Jesus for our wonderful children,
Scott