I thought I would post some fun random pics for everyone, which depict our last few days in Bogota:

Around the casa and such:

Tio Brian’s wonderful dinners and Smoothies…and Tia Jena’s awesome chocolate drizzled Rice Krispie Treats:

Other random pics:

As you probably know by now, Hogares Club Michin is the orphanage that our kids came from. It is located in central Bogota. It’s a series of several houses, each one for a different age of children. The facilities aren’t great, but the staff is very kind and works hard. We’ve recorded these short videos to help Danny, Ezzy, Nikky, and Wompy always have these special memories of these people who loved them. We also took many pictures of Club Michin.

The social worker and children’s psychologist (Wynette & Jairo) did a lot to prepare the children for their adoption. We will always be grateful for their dedication. If you are considering adoption from Colombia, contact us and we can put you in touch with the orphanage. Not all children are legally available, but they try hard to find families for the ones that are.

The Girls’ House

Wompy’s House

Danny’s House

A Special Message to Daniel

This was quite the day. After visiting the records office three times we finally got Daniela and Juan P.’s birth certificates. And it went quickly. Daniel and I couldn’t believe it. So we rushed to the passport office to stand in line while Brian and Jena wrangled the kids and brought them to meet us. (For those coming to Colombia, the passport office in Bogota only accepts newcomers until 3:00 p.m.) We were put in line six which is the “special line” for elderly people and people with children. Fortunate for us…unfortunate for the people in line behind us. By the time we were finished processing all four passports, the line had grown and was the longest one. Everyone in Colombia is always so nice though. The ladies directly behind us struck up a conversation with Jena, and we became good friends by the time we left.

Part of what took us an hour at the desk was that the children had to come up one by one and sign their names. They also had to be fingerprinted. You can imagine how long it took each of them to write his or her new last name, and fit the whole thing on the line in the passport. It was quite adorable. The kids did fairly well waiting. Of course, I had Brian, Jena, and Daniel there to help. After everything was processed, we only waited about 10 minutes to receive the passports. We were home by 4:00 p.m. At that point we started changing our airline tickets and making arrangements. We were even able to see the Embassy doctor that evening at 5:00 p.m., which allowed us to head to the embassy the next morning.

And seriously, what would I have done without these three helpers that last week?

By the time we left Bogota, the children had wormed their way into the hearts of many. Good friends began to talk and think about adoption. These children are so very loved!!! And I don’t think I ever posted pictures of Sentencia. Here are a couple:

We were in Family Court 3. It moved along quickly, without any glitches. We were so very grateful. We are even more grateful now that the courts have been shut down for over two weeks. The workers are on strike with negotiations hopefully nearing an end this week. There are many many adoptive families stuck in Colombia waiting out the process. Although we feel fortunate and blessed to have missed the shut down by three short days–we are praying for a quick resolution so that no family is there longer than needs be. I know I certainly would have lost my mind by now. Our hearts and prayers go out to you all, dear friends. It is just another reminder that nothing about adoption is fair or easy!

Alright, already. :) Yes, we are still here. And yes, it is killing me that I have not been able to blog the past two weeks. There is so much to say, and so much to show. Adam’s laptop is now fixed, and he was finally able to load pictures to our server a couple of days ago. So totally annoying.

I think we have kicked the lice–dare I say it. There are no longer mounds of laundry. In fact, I think there is currently no dirty laundry, including bedding. Small Miracles. The girls are so great about letting me pick through their hair. According to them, every Saturday was lice day at the orphanage. Monica would comb through each nina’s hair. We think it was more of a maintenance program though. I spent three hours in Ezzy’s head two nights ago. And that was after a week of shampooing, baby oiling, and nit-picking. She had dead nits that had completing grown out with her hair. But now, her neck isn’t as dry and itchy. Her hair is healthy and shiny. And I only found 10 nits yesterday morning. Nicole’s head was completely nit-free.

The girls are still not allowed to sit on the couches (the floor is so much easier to vacuum.) And all four of the children have their own pillow and blanket down in the family room. They each have a spot on the floor, and they are completely awesome at keeping track of each other. None of them want to deal with lice anymore. The boys would much rather keep their heads shaved than deal with the disgusting little creatures.

I sacked up all of the play clothes, stuffed animals, and hair bands. The kids know why they are gone, and they have been great about the whole thing. We are giving it another week before we let them sit on the furniture. It’s probably overkill, but the laundry, vacuuming, and shampooing about killed me! :)

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Enough about lice. Each child is adjusting nicely. Adam and I are also adjusting. In fact, this past week has been cake in terms of behavior. We have the usual kid issues around here like whining about who’s turn it is and pouting over being told “no.” But the marathon tantrum and testing has calmed to a minimum. Well, at least with three of the four.

Wompy is having an extremely hard time taming his belligerence. We know he is finding his place in the family, and getting used to parents who tell him what to do, and when to do it. He spent all day yesterday, and all day Sunday, in his room. Last night he said that he would rather be back at the orphanage. And yet, he inched closer and closer to daddy when he was allowed out of his room to watch his sibling play Mario Kart. He started stroking Adam’s arm and laid on him. This confirms to Adam and I that he is testing testing testing. He had 25 three and four year olds to play with at Michin, and only one adult to watch over him. He had free reign.

The problem is that he is sooooo good most of the time. He never does anything intentionally destructive. The marathon tantrums only come when one of us has told him not to do something, and he decides to test and defy us. Most of the time, he is so cute we can hardly stand it. Tia Jaime Lynne told him to try and do one cute thing a day…”Wompy, now I want you to try and be cute. I know it will be very hard for you, but just try. Try to do one cute thing each day.” And she asks him every time she sees him if he’s done his cute thing for the day. It’s really “cute!” And he always cleans his messes up and pitches in when asked.

We have some leads on a couple of Spanish speaking couselors. That is our first priority next week. Adam and I both feel that we are doing everything we possibly can, but the little one needs some extra help. And to Wompy’s credit, he is heads and tails above where he was when we picked him up. He listens to us 90% of the time. He has stopped constantly touching things he shouldn’t. He doesn’t talk like a baby anymore. And he tries really hard to act like a five year old. We are making tremendous strides with him, but we also recognize that we need some extra help.

We are off for a campout tonight. I have some interesting adoption/fertility things to share in the coming days. Plus, I have many many pictures and video to share. I promise it is coming. Please check back in a couple of days. I may just surprise you.

By the way…I am loving every minute of my time home with the kids.

So we are home from Colombia, and we have so much to share with everyone. But it will have to wait another day or two. Why? Oh, yeah because the children’s first day of school, yesterday, found them home with mommy not even 15 minutes after leaving the school!!! LICE! Yuck! I have mounds of laundry downstairs and four sleeping children who are covered in baby oil to suffocate the little buggers. The thing is is that grandma, daddy, mommy, and others brushed and bathed the children for weeks and never found a thing. And actually, Esmeralda is the only one who actually had anything in her hair when I did the treatments–poor baby. Nevertheless, I had to treat all four, which I finished at about 11:00 p.m. Thankfully, Adam helped get the beds made and vacuumed the floor for me.

The children can go back to school tomorrow. So far, Adam and I have no signs. I had Adam buzz the boys’ heads, which made it so much easier for me. And they are absolutely breathtaking. I know I could not make babies that beautiful. Adam almost buzzed his as well, but then he chickened out. Luckily, my neighbor and church friend stopped over last night. She made me feel much better by saying that her little girl has had it for a month…they are still battling it even after cutting her hair and multiple treatments.

Anyway, we have all our pictures downloaded. We are just in the process of re-sizing and uploading everything to our gallery. We have homecoming video and tons of photos to show off. The children should be able to go back to school on Thursday although the girls start track break on Monday–totally lame. At least Danny will get to go until Thanksgiving. He pouted all day about not being able to stay at school. He already adores his teacher!

I know I’ve been a loser blog poster this past weekend. And I’ve totally been a loser picture taker since Adam left. He would always upload and resize the pictures. I would do the writing and inserting. I miss having his help. I promise more pictures this weekend, but probably not before then. Whatever time we lost last week due to government inefficiency, we made up on Monday. I suppose when the heavens decide to bless you–the blessings keep flowing. We were actually able to get the last of our birth certs, get the kids’ passports, and see the embassy doctor all on Monday. It was a 16 hour day for me, mostly without the kids. I also had to fill out all of the visa paperwork (times four) by myself. Man, I miss Adam!!!

Brian (who is back in Utah now) and Jena have been such an amazing help. Jena accompanied us to the embassy yesterday to get the kids’ visas. Everything went perfectly and I am able to pick the visas up today at 3:30. YAY! Our flight is booked for Thursday afternoon, which puts us in LA around midnight. We’ll be arrive in Las Vegas Friday evening.

Right now we are at the Radisson for two night. We have a two room suite that is recently remodeled. The kids are in hog heaven. There are two flat screen tv’s and two bathrooms. Oh yeah, and a bathtub, which they went crazy over. The funniest thing about moving into the room was Daniel’s surprise when he saw the toilet paper roll: “mom, mom, look.” Mom: “Yes, Daniel, there is a sticker on the toilet paper roll. It’s really okay.” He couldn’t figure out why there would be a sticker there. I LOVE IT!

I promise, promise, promise more pictures in a few days. Jena and Brian have posted some on their blogs also.