Merry Christmas! Happy New Year!

The kids have been on Christmas break since the 21st. I don't know if they know exactly when Christmas day is. We let them open some presents on Friday before we left for Michigan. We opened more presents on Saturday, and then more still on Monday, after we arrived back home.

My family rented a lodge at a camp that we enjoy going to. We were there from Friday to Sunday. Rafael and Andrea met their cousins and uncles and aunt. They were also overjoyed to see Nana and Granddad again. I just enjoyed being at the camp. There was no snow at the camp, which was disappointing, because it meant no sledding. However, driving for five hours with no snow was just fine with me. Sunday, we left the camp for Nana and Granddad's house. I went to visit a friend while in town. It was good to see her.

I was off work this week, so we spent the week hanging around the house and relaxing. I took the children to the indoor park a few times. on Saturday, Rafael helped me make chocolate chip cookies. The children had never heard of cookies before, but they liked the ones we made. We celebrated the New Year by going to a kid-friendly party (we counted down the new year at 10:00 pm). The children enjoyed playing in the hot tub.

Last Tuesday, it snowed a bit, so the children played in the snow again. This time, there was enough snow for a snowman.

The children are doing better than earlier. They still go through bouts of grieving, of course. This week, I am trying to determine which of their behaviors is age-related and which are adoption-related.

(I started this entry on Saturday, but did not get it loaded until Monday; hence, the date still says December 31.)

Birthday and First Snow

The past two weeks have been busy. We celebrated Rafael's 7th birthday with Grandma, Grandpa, Tio Juan and Tia Laura. We also had an early Christmas, with presents for the kids from Grandparents and Juan and Laura. It was the first time they had met, and the kids were in love with all of them by the end of the weekend, especially Tio Juan. In fact, on Monday, after our guests had left, we drove to the park to play and Andrea wanted to stop by Tio Juan's house to pick him up. She did not understand my explanation that they live very far away from us.

On December 7, we set up luminarios, a tradition in Colombia. The children enjoyed helping me with them. Luminarios are small bags with a bit of sand and a candle. The candle is lit. It is very pretty.

On Friday, we woke up to our first snow of the season. It was only a dusting, and I knew it would be gone when the children got out of school, so I let them play in it for a few minutes before school. They really enjoyed it.

This week, after school, I have been taking them to an indoor play area. It is located in a church. It has playground equipment and lots of space to run around. The kids really love going there. It sure wears them out! Today, they started interacting with the other children, which is a good thing.

Rafael and Andrea are settling in very well. Of course we still have to deal with grieving, etc, but they are adjusting to home, school, and church quite well. They are understanding more and more English, to the point where Laurence and I can ask a question in English and Andrea, at least, will answer appropriately in Spanish.

Thanksgiving Weekend

We have finished our second week home with the children. It is mostly going well. They would be happiest (they think) with watching TV or playing on the computer all day. One big frustration is that both Laurence and I agreed that we would limit their TV watching and computer activity to only one hour a day each (two hours on weekends). We seem to end up letting them watch more than that. It didn’t help that we went to the library and checked out 17 movies.

On the computer games, Andrea seems to like the “dress up” games the best. The problem is that she told me after playing this game that she does not like her hair and wants red hair. Rafael goes more for the action games, which unfortunately, mostly involve shooting and other violence. The communication is not there yet to explain why we don’t like these violent games.

Our Thanksgiving meal this year almost was a disaster. It was kind of late, around 2:00 pm. The children were not ready to eat and each made excuses to not sit at the table. Finally, around 2:20, Laurence and I decided to start eating. About five minutes later, Rafael came to eat. About five minutes after that, Andrea joined us. Neither ate very much. I was glad we had not done a turkey. After the meal, I played a game of Sorry with Rafael. It was a very basic game, ignoring most of the rules.

We spent the rest of the weekend not doing much. We did have to buy new tennis shoes for the children for their P.E. classes. Afterword, we drove around for a bit, enjoying the Christmas lights.

The children started school last week. I think they enjoyed it. They tried to tell me about their day, but I did not understand all of what they said. They are in the bilingual program, which means they are learning in Spanish, with some part of the day in English. Everyone there is very helpful. I do wish the school was closer to home, but the school closest to us does not have an ESL program. I created and posted a daily schedule, which I think will help them.

This afternoon, we set up the Christmas tree, which they loved. They even found my bag of ornaments that I hadn't used in a while and put those on the tree!

A Week at Home

We have been home for a week now. The children are settling in nicely, and the cat is slowly adjusting to them as well.

On Monday, we took them to the school district's Family Information Center to register them. We had to take them back on Tuesday to get ESL testing done. They were deemed non-English speaking. That was no surprise! We enrolled them in school on Friday and had a tour of the school. It is a new building; a beautiful facility. The children will be in the bilingual program there, so they will be with other Spanish- speaking children, which will be good. I think they will enjoy it once they are there.

We have done some fun activities, such as riding tricycles to the park, visiting the library, and seeing Christmas trees at the Festival of Trees at a local mall. We had wonderful meals brought to us by people from church, who were excited to meet the children, so tomorrow when we take them to church, there will be some familiar faces.

Laurence went back to work on Wednesday. The children did well without him being around, but now when he is home, they hang on to him (literally). I will start back to work on Monday and the children start school on Monday.

Home at Last

We awoke early on Friday. The date was 11/11/11, which I thought was lucky. Neither my Dad nor I were able to sleep much Thursday night. We ate a small breakfast and left for the airport at 6:30. After getting our passports stamped we checked in. Then we went to immigration. The person looking at our papers was slow and very careful. Dad and I were nervous for a while because he read every word of the Sentencia. At last, he smiled and said “listo” (ready). He stamped the children’s passports and we were on our way.

The children did very well on the flights. On the leg to Atlanta, they were interested in the music and TV available. On the second leg, there was only music. They did not look at any of the things we brought for them to do. At the Atlanta airport, we had to go through immigration again. We had been advised to take a later flight to Chicago because immigration takes so long. However, we were lucky because it took less than half an hour. We had time to get our luggage, recheck it, go through security again, and find our gate. By the time we reached our gate, there was still nearly two hours before our next flight. Dad let the children play with some of the toys in the bag for a while, then we went to find supper.

The flight to Chicago was quite uneventful. We got into O’Hare about ½ hour before the scheduled landing. While we were collecting our luggage, Nana, along with Joe, Camille, and Mahlon showed up. It was good to see all of them. Rafael and Andrea were pleased to see Nana again, and I had the pleasure of introducing them to their uncle and cousins. Rafael and Andrea are both a little shy about meeting people for the first time, so I am not sure if they understood who Joe and their cousins were.

We waited for about 10 minutes before Laurence arrived. Everyone was excited to see him. The reunion with Nana and Joe was not very long, because it was nearly 9:00 pm. (10:00 pm Colombia time). We left the airport at 9:00. Because it was so late, there was little traffic in Chicago, so we were able to be home by 11:45. Rafael and Andrea slept on the way to Champaign. However, once we got home, they woke up. They were eager to explore the house and look at all the new toys. After about an hour, I said it was time for bed. Rafael did not want to go to bed and became upset. I realized that he was not sure about what would happen tomorrow. Once I told him the plans, he calmed down and went to bed.

Laurence and I thought that because they went to bed so late, they would sleep in. We were wrong. They woke us up at 6:45 am. We spent the day playing with toys, riding the tricycle, shopping for clothes, and eating. We also stopped at the church so the children could see the building before meeting all of the new people. They were not impressed, however, they did like the toys in the nursery. Pastor Janet was there and was able to meet them.

Blessings of the day:

• a sign created by some children at church which greeted us. Andrea especially loved the balloons.

• Supper provided by Beth, a good friend.

• A second hand store which sells clothes at $20 per bag.

• Safety in travels by airplane and car.

Last Day in Colombia

Today is our official last day here! I am so glad it is here. We have been here three weeks longer than we thought we would be. Fortunately, we had no problems with safety or health (except for one bout of tonsillitis).

This morning, we were picked up by Alfonso, a friend of Jorge. He drove us north out of the city, past the turnoff for the Jaime Duque Park (where the zoo is). At the next exit, he turned off and drove down a two-lane highway. We passed the Alpina plant and Alfonso explained that this area is the best for milk production in the country. The grass is very good for the cows and so they produce good milk. We stopped at the store on the plant grounds, where they sell their products. The children chose yogurt and I picked up a package of cheese. The cheese was hard and had a smoky flavor. It was very good.

We drove on up the mountains. Soon after we left the factory, we came up on a road block. It was fortunately short, but what we passed was the cleaning up of an accident which involved two dump trucks and a car. I hope no one was hurt; all three vehicles looked quite damaged.

We ended up driving around the east side of the mountains that are to the east of Bogota. It was very picturesque. We saw lots of cattle in pastures. We stopped at a small village called La Calera. Alfonso wanted us to see the square. It had an old cathedral, which was interesting.

As we got closer to Bogota, we came across a reservoir. Alfonso told us that this was the water for Bogota. We stopped for a break at a restaurant, where there was a hill that the children enjoyed climbing. Rafael and Andrea discovered the joys of rolling down the hill.

As we drove back into Bogota, we stopped to take in the view. A cow was feeding beside the road, so I took a photo of it.

When we got back, I heated up lunch for the kids. Lucy arrived and she had our visas and packets! The packets we are not supposed to open, but give them to immigration in Atlanta. The one for Rafael is thicker than the one for Andrea. I do not know why. The reason Lucy was able to get the visas this morning is that there is a student protest that is going by the US Embassy this afternoon and it would be impossible to get there. I am so glad she was able to get it!

Visa Applications

This morning, we applied for the visas at the American embassy. We will pick them up tomorrow after 3:00.

The children are excited and a bit nervous about leaving for the US. I hope we can give them reassurance and a sense of peace. I know that with God's help we will.

I just looked back on my earlier posts and realized that I forgot to mention the countryside of Sucre (the department that Sincelejo is the capital of). With its humidity, palm trees, grasslands, cow pastures and distant mountains, it reminds me of the area around Macondo, the town in One Hundred Years of Solitude. I think that Gabriel Garcia Marquez had Sucre in mind when he wrote that story.

Passports

This morning we left at 7:55 for the airport to get the documents that we need for the passports and visas. Because of traffic, it took more than ½ hour to get there. We did not arrive at the passport office until 9:45. The children were glad to stretch their legs. We needed to get a number for waiting in line, which Juliet got. Then we went upstairs to get the passports.

Finally, around 10:00, we met the person who would prepare the passports. The lady looked at the documents and then wondered why my mother’s maiden name was not on my passport and it was on the other documents. I pulled out the copy of my birth certificate which ICBF in Sincelejo had faxed over, but she was not interested in seeing it. Instead, we had to wait for about 20 minutes before a lawyer came in and explained to her that in Colombia, it is the law that my mother’s maiden name be on the documents, but it is not used in the US. (I was afraid they would tell me to go home to get another passport.) She was finally satisfied and then processed the paperwork.

We were told the passports would take twenty minutes. They did not take that long. Tomorrow, we go apply for visas because we were not able to do that today. I am glad the end is in sight.

Church and Earrings

Today we went to church. I knew I was missing church, but I did not realize how much until I heard the singing. This was an Evangelical church, which means lots of singing and a long sermon. When I left, I realized I felt as if I had had a drink of water after five weeks in a desert. I really felt the Spirit in there, especially during the singing.

The sermon, what I understood of it, was helpful also. My favorite Psalm of the day is number 37. I needed to hear it on Friday. The sermon was a series of questions, one of them being “Why Me”. The pastor said that perhaps things happen to us to make us stronger and better able to help other people in the future.

The children did very well during the long service. I was very impressed.

This afternoon, I took Andrea to the Unicentro Mall to buy some earrings for her. She has been having problems with infections with the earrings she came with. We walked around for awhile, not finding any stores with earrings, except for one place that had a pair for about $50. After leaving that store, I stopped at Dunkin Donuts and bought a donut for Andrea and drinks for both of us. When we were done, I decided to try the Artisan store. We walked in, and found some earrings at a reasonable price. Andrea picked out a silver pair with a red heart. I picked a pair in the shape of coffee beans. I also found a Colombian spoon.

When we got home, I cleaned the earrings and then put them on Andrea. The first one went on just fine. As I was preparing to put in the second one, I dropped the back of the earring. I used the back from one of my earrings and it seemed to work. A few hours later, Andrea came in complaining that one of the earrings was going to fall off. I tried to tighten it (the backs screw onto the posts), but it wouldn’t tighten. Andrea wanted me to tighten the other one, but when I did, she said it hurt. We took out the earrings and it turns out the infection was worse. It probably never went away and the earrings just irritated it. Fortunately, there are women here who know how to take care of it.

Bomberos

After lunch today, we and another family took two taxis to a fire station. Adam, the other father, used to be a firefighter and wanted to go exchange some shirts. (He collects shirts from fire stations around the world.) The traffic was very heavy and it was raining. Granddad and the girls got into the first taxi. About 10 minutes later, we caught the second taxi. Our driver drove as far as he could through side streets, avoiding the traffic. He did pretty well, until one corner where he was trying to turn right from the left lane, a car was trying to turn into the lane we were in, and the cars in the street we were turning onto were not moving. Talk about gridlock.

It turned out that we got to the fire station about 5 or so minutes before the first taxi. Adam was very pleased with the tour and impressed with the station. The children enjoyed climbing into the fire engines, but they were rather bored with the rest of the tour.

The package I was expecting today did not arrive. Betty suggested I call Lucy to get the tracking number. I got it, but because Rafael was on the computer, I did not check it until 4:30. I noticed that the address they had was wrong. I called Lucy to tell her. It was too late for her to go to the place to pick up the documents. Juliet will pick them up Tuesday morning. I hope we can still get the passports and the visa applications done on Tuesday.

Tomorrow, we may be going to church with another family who is here. I am looking forward to it.

Here are some pictures of the day.