Catching up......

Whew!! Hope you enjoy the pictures as much as we did creating them. Just be sure to scroll down the screen to see all the pictures and go to the older posts too.

Vacation Part 2: Fashion Fun

Daddy & Lovebugs

Mia, David, Sergio, Miguel

David's favorite past time.......

Family Vacation Part 1

7 months ago today

Seven months ago today, we arrived in Colombia to adopt a sibling group of three boys. Birthdays have come and gone, as well as new memories for all. Summer has been full of fun times and the boys have continued to amaze us with their eagerness to try new things.

Miguel, David and Sergio continue to be a joy to our hearts as they adapt to a new country, language, and lifestyle. All the boys are speaking English fluently or so it seems, until selective hearing kicks in and they pretend they have "NO IDEA" as to what is being said?!?! Huh? No comprendo.....I don't think so!

As you can imagine summer flew by at a hectic pace. As you all know, our blog has not been updated as often as we originally planned for it to be so please forgive us as we promise to do a better job of it in the future. School started on 8/31/09, with Sergio in 1st grade, David in 4th grade and Miguel in 6th grade. The boys have been eager to start back since the first of August and finally got their wish!

pictures

I will post some pictures soon so you can see how much the kids have been growing and changing!!!

Catching Up

Hello Everyone.....it is amazing how fast time has flown once again!! Oops, it looks like I completely missed the month of June. Not much to report other than the kids going to daycare and Mom going back to work full time. Our weekends are normally jam packed with things to do or so it seems. So it helps make the week go faster!

No more school....

Summer has officially began in the Rikli house. Their last day was on Friday and they were busy celebrating and chanting "No more books, no more pencils, no more homework, no more reading, no more school" and than Mom had to go and burst their bubbles with the great news that school was over in the classroom, but not at home in MOM's summer school!! Since Mom is taking off the month of May to spend with them from work, they get to have lots of fun learning new things. Needless to say not everyone was to happy or eager to hear this.

Sergio is really good with writing his numbers and counting. He was very busy today working in his workbook. He did way more pages than I even thought he would want to do. David worked hard on some fractions and than read books with mom for awhile. Afterwards he praticed his english skills using Rosetta Stone. Miguel worked on fractions, sentence structure and than read books with mom before practing his english on the computer.

The boys love to ride bikes, play on the scooter and shoots hoops. To take it easy their favorite down time is watching Chip & Dales, Ducktales, Tailspin and Tom & Jerry cartoons.

Time Warp

Unbelievable.....faster than the speed of lighting our lives have changed forever!!!

Wow our month has absolutely flown by and here we are again. The boys are growing and changing everyday it seems. It is so funny to watch their expressions when they see something new or different for the first time and are amazed by what it does or how it looks.

Miguel has enjoyed school, meeting new friends, riding his bike and being goofy. David has earned the title of class clown or as mom calls it the leader of mischief and mayhem!! Look out if you see him coming because one never knows what to expect!! Sergio is helpful, funny and loves to do his part to drive his sis nuts!!

School Days...School Days....

3 days down and 1 to go this week! Miguel loves school but does not enjoy doing "english" at home with mom too much anymore. Not when time is waisting to be busy playing. Much to his dismay Dad also has plans for his "free time" activities too. Now with 3 active boys and 1 girl life on the farm is bound to be filled with grumps, pouts, smiles and shouts. Luckily little Mia is shopping with Mommo today otherwise there would have been a down right fight about who exactly was going with Daddy hauling tanks to the field.
Little blessings come in so many sizes!!

It is official....

Yes! The boys started school today.....finally!!! Our household was jumping for joy when we heard the good news. Testing is done with good results. Mia is hanging out with her grandparents while Mom is catching up on laundry and household stuff.

Bummer for starting today

Well we did not get to start school as planned today. The Dr. wants to do some more testing first and when it is finished than the boys can go. Miguel, David and Sergio were very sad to learn that they could not go. After our visit yesterday they were all pumped up and so excited about their first day. So was Mom! I was looking forward to a break from them as I would imagine they would love one from me too.

Settling in.....

Hello Everyone ~

It seems like forever since my last post. Probably seems that way to you as well. We have been busy over the past week. Let's see.....we visited the Lincoln Children's Museum, 2 movies (The Pink Panther and Hotel for Dogs), Dr. appointments, shopping, our church and of course the park!! The boys have enjoyed hanging out with their cousins and meeting lots of friends and family.

We appreciate all the kindness expressed our way through the many calls, food, clothing and visits!!! Adopting older children has it's challenges, but it sure is fun!!

This morning we toured the elementary school the boys will attend. Miguel and David were very shy......can you imagine that?!? Sergio had no problem saying hola to his classmates and teacher. It seems as of now the favorite place will be the "gym" according to the boys.

The big start day for school is tomorrow and Mom can hardly wait!!!

Today has been another rough morning. We ask for your prayers specifically for Sergio, Mami and Papi to work together. It has been very frustrating and challenging in all faucets of interaction with our youngest. When Sergio decides that he is not going to cooperate it becomes the battle of the wills. I can be very stubborn....but I have met my match and he is a tough opponent to conquer. Parenting is no cake walk that is for sure. Nor did I think adding three more to the mix would make it any easier.

As for the other three.....
Miguel and David have been settling in nicely. They love their new bedroom and toys. Their favorite activities seem to be legos, lincoln logs and knex's. Both are eager to practice their writing skills, numbers and word/picture recognition. They are willing to follow directions and do what is asked of them.

Mia is happy to be back at home! She missed Lucky (our dog) very much and was eager to get reports from Kim while we were gone. Kim and Matthew did a great job taking care of our beloved friend. Thanks!! I think maybe Lucky got a little spoiled too!!

Settling into a new routine takes a lot of energy ~it seems like the day is gone before everything gets done and a new one begins. Did I mention laundry?? Not sure where it keeps coming from? Maybe out of the woodwork??

Tomorrow should be fun at least for the kids.....we are splitting the youngest and the oldest between the grandparents so we can do our taxes. We are actually looking forward to the brief time without our kiddos...it will be the first time in over four weeks!!

Tshirts to Tnecks

Amazing what a change in temp can do to your system. We were so used to warm, sunny and very comfortable and now it is cooler, cold and down right chillly!!! The boys are not liking this cold ....brrr.... NE weather much. We are hoping that more sunshine is headed our way soon. Today has been one of those challenging days that you look back and say what have we done. Than you take a DEEP BREATH and relax......and realize we only have to take ONE DAY at a time and it all goes into perspective. Sometimes it is more like one minute instead.

Sergio is learning that when Papi or Mami says no that means no...not maybe, or perhaps, or what about my sad puppy eyed look? Limits and control has been the topic of today. As well as, screaming and crying. Brad thinks perhaps we should invest in ear plugs. I am learning to tune out way more things than I ever thought possible. Boys are crazy, fun, aggravating, silly, messy and curious to name a few characteristics for now.

For the moment, the boys are playing quietly upstairs while Mia is taking a nap. Brad has sneaked away for a couple of hours to do paperwork and an oil change. And I get to stay and wrestle all the ornery creatures!!

Day 25

Packing...packing....stuffing it all inside in every corner available!! Amazing how much can be accumulated when you are away from home for 3 1/2 weeks.

We are back tracking one day just to let you know what we did BEFORE we left our home away from home.

Mami and Papi were up at (4 am ) hustling 4 ninos/nina to get ready before the crack of dawn! Not one of them were too impressed by this idea although they had loved counting down the days to departure before....amazing how things change.

You will just have to visualize this......
6 suitcases, 2 duffles, 6 backpacks, 1 stroller and 4 tired children

Arriving at the airport.... going through the line....Yes, we have tickets....no they cannot find 3 of them. Yes, we are going to Atlanta! Just try and stop us now!! Okay, maybe you do have 3 more ....somewhere. More waiting.....waiting ..... waiting. Well look right here, yes...it looks like you have 3 more. Great! Another line and many more people....lots of confusion. Waiting for our boarding passes. Lost in translation. What!! The time has changed and we have to be up there when!! Oh my gosh we have less than 25 minutes to be at the gate! Hurry up and wait ...we are pros at this tactic. Finally we have all 6 passes and a personal escort. Time limits to take off....hurry up! Security checkpoints......Whew!...we are at our destination.... but wait we cannot enter until ....what! one more hour!!! Okay we will wait some more. Relax everyone.

Good-bye Bogota ~
Miguel, David, Sergio waved good-bye to the land that they love and were eager to watch out the windows at the scenery from up above. It is bittersweet to watch their amazement at the sights far and wide.

We arrived in Atlanta, Georgia with all our luggage and hungry kids. Everyone, except Mami dozed on the flight to Omaha. Sergio was so tired he could hardly stand upright!!

Thanks to all our family and friends who met us at the airport last night!!! We really appreciated the grand WELCOME HOME!!!!

We pulled in our drive shortly past midnight with WIDE AWAKE boys and a girl. There was
much to explore, see and do before bedtime.

Sammy's 1st Birthday Party

We helped celebrate Sammy's first birthday tonight. The kids all had a great time playing games and eating cake. We even got to try empandas and there very tasty!!

Archie's Pizza Pictures

Day 24--Almost home!

Today was just another regular day. We all went shopping for a couple of last minute things today. Tammy has been busy packing, and pretty much everyone is anxious for tomorrow morning! I (Brad) went back to the American embassy today to accept the boys' visas/passports and immigration information. Finally, all the paperwork is done here!! Now all we have to do is kill time until we leave early tomorrow morning. Whew!!

We have received comments and e-mails from many of you and that has certainly helped us feel more at home. We especially wanted to say thank you for all of your prayers for us. We have had some difficult times these three and a half weeks, and know that there will be more to come as the boys transition into our language and American culture. The boys have experienced many firsts already with us here in Colombia (McDonalds?, escalator and elevator, and more we probably don't even know). If you would, keep us on your prayer list for the next few months as we continue the process!

Day 23

Went to the Embassy to apply for the visas today. Two and a half hours later we were able to leave with an appointment to pick them up on Tuesday afternoon. The good news is only one of us has to go! Not too much excitement happened today. The kids are very excited that it is only 2 days to take off. The boys are constantly growing and changing a bit every day. They all seem more at peace with their new family and ready to look towards the future.

The internet has not been working consistently the last few days so that is why the posts are sporadic.

GRANNY and PAPA this is for you!!!

I thought you would love this picture of the poinsettia that is in our backyard. There are several beautiful flowers interwoven along the landscape wall.