Day 21

Well half our of six pack is awake and functioning. We decided to let the older boys sleep awhile since it is Saturday morning. Today we will celebrate at Archie's Pizza with our friend Jenna, Ellie and Sammy. This is the place where the kids can create their own mini pizza from scratch so there should be lots of fun pics coming soon!!

Mia's perspective on Colombia ~
I like playing at the parks. I don't like the rain. I like it when it suns. I like to talk to the maids here. They are kind of like my grandma here. I like to talk to my grandma and grandpa on the phone. I love to eat the funny faced ice cream! I miss Lucky too. I want to take my brothers home with me cause I would miss them if stayed. Miguel is very funny and we play and everyone likes him. David is funny with all the kids at Colombia. Sergio is also funny and fun to play with. The little baby Sammy is also fun to play and sing around with too. My friend Ellie is also fun to play with and we play school and principal too. I like all the bears on that picture on the wall. I like the computer to play games and my brothers like to play lots of good games. Probably that would be it. Enough for now.

I love you! And I hope my brothers will get home and fly home really soon. GOOD-BYE!!!
I am gonna miss you....bye!! I like my mommy and my daddy and everyone in Colombia. I like blowing bubbles and chewing gum and eating chocolate too.

Mia

Day 20

It is official!! The children's passports and medicals are done. On Monday we will apply for the visa's and pick them up on Tuesday afternoon. We will arrive in Omaha at 8:37 pm on Wednesday evening. So clear your calendars folks and anyone who wishes to attend may do so.

The boys and Mia are very excited that we will be heading for Nebraska soon. We have been counting down the days. I told them that it will be very cold there compared to Colombia. They pretend to shiver and wrap their arms around themselves and giggle. Our course Brad and I will have the last laugh when they realize just how different it will be!! Mia has already instructed one set of grandparents that they had better be ready to dole out alot of hugs and kisses to her when she arrives because she has been gone soooo loooong!!!!!!

The boys are growing and changing a little each day. Miguel is learning to be a kid again instead of in a more "adult role" as he has had to do in the past with his siblings. The transition has been very postitive for him and he has come out of his shell big time. David has a great sense of humor and is always making funny faces to Mia, who sometimes does not appreciate it and has no problem telling him so! David is slowly improving his manners at the table and loves to remind others to not talk with food in their mouths or burp. Than there is Sergio...who bounces around all over the place at the table and is learning to keep his hands and feet to himself. Of course it helps when his Daddy is attached to his side and redirecting him on what is acceptable at the table. Mia is a busybody telling on her brothers when they are not using their utensils correctly or doing something that she does not consider appropriate at the table. Of course she forgets to include herself in this rationale as she is poking her finger in her soup and licking it or slurping it up as loud as can be. She has earned the "slow poke" award at every meal because she is way to busy talking or directing her brothers to concentrate on eating!!!

Day 19

Good News!! We are another step closer in our adoption process. The next few days will be full of finishing up appointments. It looks like we will get to come home next Wednesday!!!

Day 18.5

This morning we posted some pictures of past photos we have taken in and around Colombia since we have been here. As you might have guessed some were taken while we were moving, so they may be a little blurry.

We surprised the boys with their remote control cars today. We chose not to overwhelm them with too much stuff at the beginning and wanted to wait a bit. They were so excited to get them!! It was like we gave them a million dollars....they hugged the stuffings out of us!!! The best part of it was that they were kept very busy and did not have much time to concentrate on tv today.

Onto a new subject ~
I got to take part in a really neat event that happened at our B&B tonight. Jenna who is from MN is currently waiting for her adoption process to go through the court system. Her husband, Steve had to leave early, so she had a friend come to help out for 5 days. It just so happens that Julia had been adopted from Colombia when she was 6 yrs old and had not been back for 30 yrs.
She was aware of some older siblings who were not placed for adoption at the same time as her and another sister. On a whim Julia decided to look in the phone book here in Bogota' to see if there was anyone listed by the name she had for her older sister. And low and behold, the first number they called was her birth sister, Carmen.

The owner of our B&B did the translating for them because Julia does not speak Spanish and her sister only speaks Spanish. The birth sister caught a cab and came in person to meet Julia along with her youngest daughter and niece. It was a very sweet event to watch transpire between the birth siblings. I was able to help out with taking pictures and video during some of their conversation.

Since Julia was so young at the time of her adoption, she did not remember too much about her older siblings. The other sister who was adopted along with Julia did remember the older siblings and would tell her stories about them. So tomorrow, Julia will get to meet her other older sister, Bridget who was not able to come along tonight and her birth mother. She does have two brothers also. One she does not know where he is and the other is still living in Colombia. She hopes to be able to meet him before she goes home.

I thought you all would enjoy hearing this wonderful story of adoption.

Day 18

Day 17

Here is some fun information about the boys ~

Miguel: likes to read, write, draw, play with legos, watch tv and swing.

David: likes to sleep, watch tv, play computer games

Sergio: likes to play with puzzles, swing, play with legos, watch tv and soccer.

The oldest and youngest boys are the most active. The middle is more of a couch potato.

Mia: is easygoing most of the time, likes to play with the other girls and her brothers, enjoys telling and hearing stories.

Brad & Tammy: Are the referees from morning till night!!

Day 16

Oops!! I forgot to post an entry for yesterday after I updated the pics on the last one entry. Not too much excitement happened. In the morning, we took a cab to PARK 93 which was located in a nice area of town in a little square surrounded by eating places. The park was okay just not enough things to do for growing boys. We stayed there about an hour and headed back to our B&B for lunch. In the afternoon it was time to play outside, watch tv and practice English skills on the computer.

Since we have a lot of time to just hang around it is hard to find things to do for everyone. The older boys are getting tired of going to parks (me too) and the youngest love it. The happy medium is doing a little of tv in the morning and playing outside in between. Compromise is a good thing here or we will all go CRAZY!!!!

Day 15

Wow!! We have now been here for over 2 weeks...it is amazing how it has flown!! Today we went to a large scale amusement park/zoo. It is called some long name that I cannot remember. We went with 2 other families from our B&B. Everyone had a great time and it was a beautiful day.

Day 14

It was a lazy Saturday around here. Brad has been doing some male bonding at the park with his boys. While Mia and I have been busy checking out the artisten shops with Jenna and Ellie.
The boys & Brad decided a movie sounded better than walking half way around the city to look at local cultural items. So they stayed at the house. Afterwards we all enjoyed ice cream at Crepes & Waffles nearby and had to hit the park one last time to burn off some energy!!

Day 13

Day 13

Well not sure what to talk about today. Not too much excitement happened. We just hung out at the house most of the day. Went to the park in the afternoon. Had a meeting in the morning that concluded with the approval to begin the next step in our process. Which basically means more waiting and than eventually in a couple of weeks or so we will get a court date to start the next phase of the paperwork. But who is in a hurry right? We are on Colombia time and that means we have plenty of time.

Tammy's Perspective ~
I do have to say the overall experience of adopting older siblings has been one of the hardest things I have ever done in my entire life. It is not always fun. It is hard work to bring young minds into submission and teach them what a family is and how it is to function. Often I feel like we are in a constant tug of war. Each day is a little better, even though most days I could not even tell you what day it was. The idea behind this blog was to share with you our thoughts and experiences while on this journey. We have tried to keep our posting as positive as can be, but that is not always the case on this end of things. We have been tested to whits end and we are happy to say we have survived and are moving forward to the next step.

Day 12

The best thing about today was that we got to move into a new room. Finally we can put our clothes in an actual closet instead of living out of our suitcases!!

This afternoon we went out for ice cream with three other families. The place had a climbing tower that was a big hit with the kids!

We were sad to see some of our friends heading home, but happy that their process was done.

Day 11

We celebrated Sergio's 6th birthday with a big fiesta (party). He was very excited all day long about his special day. At breakfast the housekeepers/cooks made him a special frito (fried egg) with a ketchup smiley face displayed on the top along with a muffin with a candle. He was surprised by this action and quite happy! In the later afternoon, our B&B friends and adoption specialists helped us throw a birthday party for him. There was balloons, presents, cake, pop and goodie bags for the children. Sergio was absolutely thrilled with all his toys he received and could hardly wait to open them.

Day 10.5 Extremely funny!

Hi it's Brad again. Take a good look at the picture above. At Panaca, we saw some pig races. For the last race, the kids were invited out on the track to stand behind "their pig". When the chute opened, the kids all followed the pigs and encouraged "theirs" around the track. It was going ok, and about halfway around the track, our son Sergio (age 5) realized it was a race and decided he wanted to win. He took off running, ahead of the pigs! Then the pigs decided to chase after him and it finished as a very close race--but Sergio won the pig race by a nose!!! Extremely funny, and we wished our video was on!

Day 10

We went to Panaca which was a big petting zoo/research facility/educational farm. It is really hard to describe the place it has huge outdoor buildings that are open pens that you can walk around and pet the animals. We went with two other families and rented a van since it was a 45 minute drive each way. The children got to sit on a llama and have their picture taken. Within the facility we saw a variety of different cattle, horses, pigs, fowl, donkeys, goats, sheep, etc. from different countries. The children all got to milk a dairy cow. It is also a working research facility with flowers and plants. They also had two shows to entertain the children with silly antics of the animals and trainers. We will post some photos later.