Monday, April 15, 2013
This morning is our Integracion meeting with the lawyer and the psychologist. They are coming to our apartment to see how things are going and to see if everyone desires to continue with Laura's placement. We are all dressed up and ready to greet them. It is an exciting time, not without a little tension! Please, continue to pray we will be given Court 1. I (Lenna) think our adoption papers will be filed today, so then we just sit back and wait. Oops, here they are!
Friday, April 12, 2013
This is Lenna again. I guess it is finally time to fill you in on the interesting 3 days of travel it took to get us here. It began with me waking up on Sunday morning with a stomach bug. No problem, I just didn't eat much for about the next 4 days. Everyone else was healthy and raring to go. Annalisa and Rebecca took us to the airport for the first little leg of our journey, which was a flight to LAX.
We had a 3 hour layover and then flew off to Miami. After a 4 and a half hour flight, we made our way through miles of the Miami International Airport, dragging our six pieces of luggage behind us, looking for the rental car place. The fun started when we attempted to find our way through Miami with the help of a rented GPS. It was all in Spanish and I couldn't figure out how to change it. Geof finally figured it out and we were on our way, we thought. GPSs are tricky little things sometimes, and I personally think they have a "fooled you!" setting, which I'm pretty sure I found. We ended up taking the "scenic" route, not intentionally of course. Every time it looked like we were figuring things out, we took another wrong turn and ended up on the wrong freeway. We had to laugh, or we would have cried...we were so tired! But, praise the Lord, we finally found our hotel. I think we got to bed around 1 in the morning.
The next morning we dragged ourselves out of our very comfy beds...
(this was Yamile's very comfy bed...), and got ourselves ready to go. This was the day we finally got to meet the wonderful people at Adoption by Shepherd Care who have helped us adopt both of our little Colombianas. I have no pictures of this event, because I must have left my brain back in my very comfy bed at the hotel. I did get a short video, which wasn't meant to be a video, but I was apparently pushing the wrong button on the camera. So, at least I have a 3 second video of these wonderful people! It was such a pleasure to meet them and chat for awhile. They enjoyed meeting all of us, and especially Yamile.
Next, we headed back to the hotel, got our luggage, and found the airport. We were running behind, but we finally made it to check our luggage in. Then we headed back to the parking lot so we could turn in our car. We checked luggage before returning the car, thus saving ourselves the 100 mile walk through the airport dragging our six pieces of luggage behind us again. Once luggage was checked in, we turned in the car and made our way through the airport happily luggage-free. We were still late, so we were sort of running through the airport---easily done without six pieces of luggage.........you get the picture. So once we got through security, I called Rebecca to say goodbye, I love you, etc. She answered, but she had just cut her hand with a very sharp knife and was apparently trying to stem the flow gushing from her newly inflicted wound when I called. It was an odd phone call, ending with Annalisa putting the phone on speaker and saying, "Mom, Mom, I have to ask you a question before you go! Should I take her to the ER?" I asked if it was that bad, and they both said, in unison, "It's bad."
So I told them what to do, where to find the papers they needed, and off they went, while I had to turn my phone off because we were boarding a plane to go to Bogota. (I spent a little time praying at this point!) We taxied out to the runway, the plane revved its engines, and then the pilot came over the speaker. He told us one of the engines wouldn't start, so we were going to taxi back to the airport while they tried to figure it out. After an hour and a half of hanging out in the airplane, the problem was fixed and we were on our way. But guess what? Because of the delay, they let us turn our phones back on, so during that time I was able to help Annalisa and Rebecca figure things out in the ER, and I was able to give my verbal permission to the nurse for them to treat Rebecca. Apparently, the dr's office had misplaced the signed permission papers I had given them, so they needed to actually talk to me. That would not have been possible without the delay. God had a plan!!
We arrived in Bogota about 3.5 hours later, got through immigration quickly, and found our shuttle to our next hotel. Whew. We were finally in Colombia. We stayed overnight in Bogota and then made our way to the smaller airport for our final flight to Neiva. That flight got canceled, so we ended up being delayed by several hours, but we finally arrived here, much to our delight, and were greeted by a familiar face...Sorany, our translator from the last time we were here. Yay!! She helped us get settled into our apartment. The owner came and showed us around the apartment. He is so nice. He has provided us with everything we need, even soap and toothpaste. He had stocked the fridge with bottled water and yogurt. The table had a HUGE bowl of fresh fruit in it, and there were bowls full of snacky crackers and cookies. We felt spoiled.
So now we are truly enjoying our two Colombian daughters, and missing our daughters who are back in the states. Thank you to all of you who are loving our Annalisa and Rebecca while we are gone. We are so thankful for you all.
In Reno
We had a 3 hour layover and then flew off to Miami. After a 4 and a half hour flight, we made our way through miles of the Miami International Airport, dragging our six pieces of luggage behind us, looking for the rental car place. The fun started when we attempted to find our way through Miami with the help of a rented GPS. It was all in Spanish and I couldn't figure out how to change it. Geof finally figured it out and we were on our way, we thought. GPSs are tricky little things sometimes, and I personally think they have a "fooled you!" setting, which I'm pretty sure I found. We ended up taking the "scenic" route, not intentionally of course. Every time it looked like we were figuring things out, we took another wrong turn and ended up on the wrong freeway. We had to laugh, or we would have cried...we were so tired! But, praise the Lord, we finally found our hotel. I think we got to bed around 1 in the morning.
Our rental car in Miami
Palm trees outside our hotel room
The next morning we dragged ourselves out of our very comfy beds...
(this was Yamile's very comfy bed...), and got ourselves ready to go. This was the day we finally got to meet the wonderful people at Adoption by Shepherd Care who have helped us adopt both of our little Colombianas. I have no pictures of this event, because I must have left my brain back in my very comfy bed at the hotel. I did get a short video, which wasn't meant to be a video, but I was apparently pushing the wrong button on the camera. So, at least I have a 3 second video of these wonderful people! It was such a pleasure to meet them and chat for awhile. They enjoyed meeting all of us, and especially Yamile.
Next, we headed back to the hotel, got our luggage, and found the airport. We were running behind, but we finally made it to check our luggage in. Then we headed back to the parking lot so we could turn in our car. We checked luggage before returning the car, thus saving ourselves the 100 mile walk through the airport dragging our six pieces of luggage behind us again. Once luggage was checked in, we turned in the car and made our way through the airport happily luggage-free. We were still late, so we were sort of running through the airport---easily done without six pieces of luggage.........you get the picture. So once we got through security, I called Rebecca to say goodbye, I love you, etc. She answered, but she had just cut her hand with a very sharp knife and was apparently trying to stem the flow gushing from her newly inflicted wound when I called. It was an odd phone call, ending with Annalisa putting the phone on speaker and saying, "Mom, Mom, I have to ask you a question before you go! Should I take her to the ER?" I asked if it was that bad, and they both said, in unison, "It's bad."
So I told them what to do, where to find the papers they needed, and off they went, while I had to turn my phone off because we were boarding a plane to go to Bogota. (I spent a little time praying at this point!) We taxied out to the runway, the plane revved its engines, and then the pilot came over the speaker. He told us one of the engines wouldn't start, so we were going to taxi back to the airport while they tried to figure it out. After an hour and a half of hanging out in the airplane, the problem was fixed and we were on our way. But guess what? Because of the delay, they let us turn our phones back on, so during that time I was able to help Annalisa and Rebecca figure things out in the ER, and I was able to give my verbal permission to the nurse for them to treat Rebecca. Apparently, the dr's office had misplaced the signed permission papers I had given them, so they needed to actually talk to me. That would not have been possible without the delay. God had a plan!!
Waiting for our flight to Neiva
On the bus from the airport to our plane
We arrived in Bogota about 3.5 hours later, got through immigration quickly, and found our shuttle to our next hotel. Whew. We were finally in Colombia. We stayed overnight in Bogota and then made our way to the smaller airport for our final flight to Neiva. That flight got canceled, so we ended up being delayed by several hours, but we finally arrived here, much to our delight, and were greeted by a familiar face...Sorany, our translator from the last time we were here. Yay!! She helped us get settled into our apartment. The owner came and showed us around the apartment. He is so nice. He has provided us with everything we need, even soap and toothpaste. He had stocked the fridge with bottled water and yogurt. The table had a HUGE bowl of fresh fruit in it, and there were bowls full of snacky crackers and cookies. We felt spoiled.
At our favorite restaurant, Tijuana, on Tuesday evening
So now we are truly enjoying our two Colombian daughters, and missing our daughters who are back in the states. Thank you to all of you who are loving our Annalisa and Rebecca while we are gone. We are so thankful for you all.
Our translator, Sorany, on the left, her sister, Maritsa, and their mother. We are eating at the little outdoor restaurant right next to our apartment building.
Geof, Laura, and Yamile. The food is amazing. The building directly above and behind Laura's head is our apartment building. We are on the 5th floor.
It's hot here!
Hi. This is Lenna blogging. Wow, didn't expect to be so busy this time around. We came totally prepared for boredom while we wait, and that's not happening! It's actually challenging to find time to blog. But we are truly thankful for that, as it is so much better to have things to do. This time around, we rented an apartment instead of staying in a hotel, and it really makes a huge difference. We have lots of room to move around in, and I have a kitchen...and if you know me at all, you KNOW kitchens make me happy!!! Believe it or not, it is actually cheaper for us to rent this spacious apartment than it is to stuff ourselves all into a single hotel room! AND I can cook! Did I mention that already? They really have some amazing fruit here. And Colombian food is so delicious. There is a small outdoor restaurant right next to our apartment that serves huge portions of food. It ends up costing us about $2.50 per person to eat a full meal there. Breakfast is fruit, oatmeal, or yogurt. Sometimes we go out for dinner, but tonite we are going to eat fresh baked bread from a "panaderia" here, with some Colombian cheese and fruit. Then we plan to take the girls to get some "gelado"--ice cream cones.
With the heat being as oppressive as it is, the pool is one of our best friends. We all enjoy that activity, and it gives us lots of opportunities to interact in more physical ways. Communication isn't only by speaking!
With the heat being as oppressive as it is, the pool is one of our best friends. We all enjoy that activity, and it gives us lots of opportunities to interact in more physical ways. Communication isn't only by speaking!
We are all enjoying each other very much. It is so satisfying to finally get to be with Laura after all the waiting!
Thursday, April 11, 2013
Gotcha Day!!!
Okay, we are so eager to fill you all in on what has been happening since we left on the 7th to head to Colombia. It has been so crazy and busy that we truly have not had a single moment to sit down and make even one blog entry. First, the most important news of all: we have our girl! It started out with us going to ICBF to meet with the staff there. They were to give us any pertinent information they had and answer any questions we might have. We were told we could either bring Yamile with us, or she could stay with our translator's sister. We had been told we would receive Laura later that day, and we knew we would definitely want Yamile with us at that point. The Lord graciously saw to it that we chose to bring Yamile with us for the staff meeting, planning to have her sit out in another room with a book while we talked with them. We got to the meeting room and sat down, expecting them to send Yamile out anytime. I (Lenna) happened to look out the window, and who did I see but Laura! So we asked if Laura was expecting to meet us right then, and they told us yes. We were completely not ready, having been told that when it was time to receive her, they would bring her to us at our apartment. We had planned to take a video of our meeting, and to bake a cake and have it ready for her when she came. It threw us and we did not know what to think. We told the psychologist we had been told we were not receiving Laura yet, and she said that was fine, that they could bring her to us later that day. But the more we thought about it, the more we realized that would not give Laura the kind of message we wanted to send. In the meantime, as we were trying to figure out what to do, one of the staff called Yamile and just sent her out to see Laura, without any warning, or without even asking us if that was okay with us. It took us completely by surprise. So we just jumped up and followed her out as soon as we realized what had happened. So there we all were, looking at each other. I just walked over and gave Laura a big hug and a kiss, and she gave me a wonderful hug right back, with a huge smile on her face. Geof hugged her next, and then he and I went back into the room to have our meeting, leaving Yamile and her new sister together to chat and get reaquainted.
After the meeting, we all left together and came back to our apartment to hang out and get to know each other a little. Swimming definitely came into the picture (have we mentioned it is very hot in Neiva?), and dinner at our favorite restaurant. So far, we are enjoying our time here, and we are definitely enjoying our new daughter. Laura and Yamile get along very well and are clearly very happy to be reunited. Back home, Annalisa and Rebecca are eagerly awaiting our return so they can get to know their new sister as well.
Because it has been so difficult to actually get a chance to sit down and write a post, we are going to send this out without pictures. I will work on pictures as soon as I can. Thank you all for your love and prayers!
After the meeting, we all left together and came back to our apartment to hang out and get to know each other a little. Swimming definitely came into the picture (have we mentioned it is very hot in Neiva?), and dinner at our favorite restaurant. So far, we are enjoying our time here, and we are definitely enjoying our new daughter. Laura and Yamile get along very well and are clearly very happy to be reunited. Back home, Annalisa and Rebecca are eagerly awaiting our return so they can get to know their new sister as well.
Because it has been so difficult to actually get a chance to sit down and write a post, we are going to send this out without pictures. I will work on pictures as soon as I can. Thank you all for your love and prayers!
Saturday, March 23, 2013
Travel Date!!
The waiting is over! This past week, on Tuesday, March19th, we received notice that our Article 5 was issued and we were given a date to meet with ICBF in Colombia. Our ICBF meeting date in Neiva is April 10th - we don't know for certain yet whether we will "get" Laura on the afternoon of the 10th or if we'll have to wait until the 11th. We will be heading to Colombia the Sunday before, April 7th.
A couple days later this week we received more news - Laura has received the care package we sent her and knows we will be adopting her. In the words of one of our ICBGF contacts, Laura is super feliz (happy). We have a video chat scheduled with her for this afternoon and, for the first time, will be able to talk about adoption. We are looking forward to it with hopeful anticipation. It's hard to believe that in just over two weeks we will get to see our new daughter and shower her with love!
A couple days later this week we received more news - Laura has received the care package we sent her and knows we will be adopting her. In the words of one of our ICBGF contacts, Laura is super feliz (happy). We have a video chat scheduled with her for this afternoon and, for the first time, will be able to talk about adoption. We are looking forward to it with hopeful anticipation. It's hard to believe that in just over two weeks we will get to see our new daughter and shower her with love!
Sunday, March 17, 2013
We're at it again!
I guess we can't get enough of Colombian adoptions - we're at it again!
For those of you who don't know, we are quite a ways along in the process of adopting another girl from Colombia. Her name is Laura Daniela, she turned 13 in November of 2012, and she and Yamile were foster sisters for three years in Colombia. We found out last July that Laura was available for adoption and, as soon as we could, began the adoption process, submitting our letter of intent on the first possible day we could - August 2, 2012.
I-800 Received!
I know it's been quite a while since we posted anything, so here's the latest. We received our I-800 approval in the mail the week of March 4th (the actual I-800 approval date was March 1st). Since then, there's been a lot of waiting ... and waiting ... and waiting - for a travel date. Lenna worked feverishly to put other paperwork together so we could get our visas from the Colombian consulate, but we can't send for those until we get the travel date.
As we've waited we have put together a "care package" for Laura and sent it off to her. Among other things, the package included a Fallon Greenwave t-shirt, two photo albums of our family and friends, a camera for her to take pictures of her friends, a DVD of our family and home, some candy and art supplies for her foster family, and some letters we wrote for her. We sent that off and Martha, our "on-the-ground" person in Bogota, received it within a couple days. She translated the letters for us and then sent it off to the Huila region (where Laura lives).
(Let's call this next paragraph the "delay paragraph", shall we?) In God's providence, it turns out there was a strike in the Huila region, which shut down all the roadways within the region. Therefore, the care package was delayed, which delayed the delivery of some visa photos of Laura that were needed in Bogota. These delays have resulted in our travel to Colombia being delayed until everything is delivered. While we hoped to travel in March, it's probably going to be mid-April before we get to go. We know this is the Lord's timing and He's helping us grow in the area of patience. We also know this means we will still be here for Rebecca's 17th birthday on April 4th, and we are very excited about that!
Also, beginning in February, we were able to re-connect with Laura via video chat. We hadn't had any communication with her since November, so that was a welcome opportunity. We still are not allowed to mention the adoption to her, so the video chats result in a lot of small talk, but we get to see her smiling face and she even tries to speak a little English to us. Back in September, in an earlier video chat, she had asked if we would be coming to Colombia any time soon. I told her we planned to, probably in six months or so, and she was very excited about that. When we chatted with her again about a week ago, she asked when we'd be coming to Colombia. I told her that we don't know for sure. We think she knows we will be adopting her, but we can't talk about it. Talk about dancing around the elephant in the room! One of these days, soon, she will be receiving the care package and then we can talk about adoption.
So, that's the update for now. We appreciate your prayers - for patience for us, that we would trust in the Lord's timing rather than our own, for Laura's preparation for adoption and the transition that it involves, for us as we prepare to travel, and for our transition to having a new, Spanish-speaking teenager in our home.
As we've waited we have put together a "care package" for Laura and sent it off to her. Among other things, the package included a Fallon Greenwave t-shirt, two photo albums of our family and friends, a camera for her to take pictures of her friends, a DVD of our family and home, some candy and art supplies for her foster family, and some letters we wrote for her. We sent that off and Martha, our "on-the-ground" person in Bogota, received it within a couple days. She translated the letters for us and then sent it off to the Huila region (where Laura lives).
(Let's call this next paragraph the "delay paragraph", shall we?) In God's providence, it turns out there was a strike in the Huila region, which shut down all the roadways within the region. Therefore, the care package was delayed, which delayed the delivery of some visa photos of Laura that were needed in Bogota. These delays have resulted in our travel to Colombia being delayed until everything is delivered. While we hoped to travel in March, it's probably going to be mid-April before we get to go. We know this is the Lord's timing and He's helping us grow in the area of patience. We also know this means we will still be here for Rebecca's 17th birthday on April 4th, and we are very excited about that!
Also, beginning in February, we were able to re-connect with Laura via video chat. We hadn't had any communication with her since November, so that was a welcome opportunity. We still are not allowed to mention the adoption to her, so the video chats result in a lot of small talk, but we get to see her smiling face and she even tries to speak a little English to us. Back in September, in an earlier video chat, she had asked if we would be coming to Colombia any time soon. I told her we planned to, probably in six months or so, and she was very excited about that. When we chatted with her again about a week ago, she asked when we'd be coming to Colombia. I told her that we don't know for sure. We think she knows we will be adopting her, but we can't talk about it. Talk about dancing around the elephant in the room! One of these days, soon, she will be receiving the care package and then we can talk about adoption.
So, that's the update for now. We appreciate your prayers - for patience for us, that we would trust in the Lord's timing rather than our own, for Laura's preparation for adoption and the transition that it involves, for us as we prepare to travel, and for our transition to having a new, Spanish-speaking teenager in our home.
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