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.

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.

Yeah, I knew our schedule would change, so why is it still a surprise? We loaded the children in a van with the intention of getting their passports today. But that didn’t happen, of course. I do have 12 copies of Esmeralda and Daniel’s new birth certificates. They are officially McCrackens!!! They think it is hilarious when they say their new last name. The two younger children’s birth certificates are housed in a different place with a much harder to work with staff. So the certificates that were supposed to be ready this morning will now “be ready” Monday morning. Wompy and Daniela can’t figure out why they don’t have new birth certs yet. And Daniela wants a new name. She wants to be called Nicole McCracken. We’ll see if she sticks with it once we are home.

We also have to get more notarized copies of the adoption decree–don’t ask. I could not be more dissatisfied with Commonwealth/Gladney if I tried to be. The in-country support has been difficult and confusing. Thank goodness for our translator, Daniel. I recommend him without hesitation. So that means that I will spend most of Monday running around without the kids again. Hopefully, cross your fingers, we will be able to get their passports Monday afternoon. We already pushed the Embassy Doctor’s visit back to Tuesday. There’s the slimmest of slim chance that they can still be seen Monday afternoon, but it totally depends on the morning.

 What does all this mean? We might not get to come home until Friday. And plane tickets are way more expensive on Friday and Saturday. We’ll see.

Other than that, things are good. The kids are excited. And I am very grateful for Brian and Jena’s help. bureaucracy

We got word yesterday afternoon that our Adoption Decree was out. What? Two weeks from our Bienstar appointment, and in Bogota nonetheless. That is two weeks faster than our projected “cross your fingers” date. It is unheard of, and we are thankful. We are very grateful to everyone here in Colombia that has given us support and tried to hurry things along. It doesn’t hurt that we were assigned to Court 3, and that we had four kids waiting–I think they took pity on us, as they should. But mostly, I think that everyone’s wishing, hoping, and praying spurred things along quickly.

The ironic part is that Daniel T. called me not 10 minutes after Adam’s plane took off for home. I couldn’t believe. I had just finished telling the kids that we might get to go home in  two weeks, but probably three. They were okay with that, and they pretty much understand that daddy was waiting for them in Las Vegas. So when I started screaming, “Are you serious?” into the phone and crying and laughing and jumping they knew something was up. I yelled, “we get to go to Las Vegas” and I shook each of them. The kids were so cute because they started jumping up and down on the couches and yelling with me–even though they didn’t really understand.

So today, I was gone all day signing the decree and gathering birth certificates. Here is our optimal timeline and plan:

Friday–pick up birth certs and acquire Colombian passports

Monday–Embassy Doctor physicals in the afternoon

Tuesday–apply for children’s visas in the morning

Wednesday–pick children’s visas up

Thursday–fly to LAX

Friday–drive home to Las Vegas

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Auntie Jena arrived today, and I am so happy. We painted the girls’ fingernails, and the kids love that she brought them new  movies to watch. They have already been through three–granted they rarely watch the whole thing because they can’t keep their fingers off the buttons. Tonight’s picks were Ella Enchanted, Narnia, and Johnny Lingo. Jena also brought lots of goodies from our house and from our friends. New undershirts, cold cereal, more pj’s, new color books etc. Aunt Jaime and Uncle Rob sent musical cards with stickers in them. Yeah, thanks tio and tia–they won’t shut them off!!!!!!!!!!! :) And they went back and forth all night sharing the card–meaning each one gets a turn at holding it.

Our other Aunt Jaimee sent new white shirts and hair bands with Brian. The girls LOVE hairbands. And the boys take such pride in their Sunday clothes. I love it. Between Brian and Jena we are stocked up on paper and plastic products. It makes doing dishes much easier since we don’t have hot water in the kitchen–I know!

Wompy and Daniela have had an extra rough time since Adam left. I had an hour long screaming session last night with princess, and a 45 minute one tonight with little dude. Ezzy gets really quiet sometimes and clings to me. I don’t think she’s letting me out of her sight now. Daniel cried a little when Adam said good-bye, but Uncle Brian is here and that helps tremendously.

Oh, one more first: the girls asked to read books in their room before bed. We’ve tried reading to them, and they are finally starting to take to it. They mostly like to sit and make up their own stories since none of them can actually read yet. It was absolutely adorable watching the girls in each of their beds reading. Daniel even got in the action by taking one into his room. Yay, for books!!! This is huge.

Part of our dance party–video coming soon. :)

Bye bye grandma and grandpa–the kids ask about you every day. They also call Tio Brian “abuelito” because they were so used to you being here.

Wompy’s other nicname is el bano because he is sooooo stinky. And he thinks it’s hilarious. How fitting that he found this toilet in one of the exhibits at Maloka.

I’m not sure why, but this picture makes me very happy when I look at it. I guess it’s because I’ve always been a mother hen with no chicks to push along–and now I have them.

This past Saturday’s excursion was to Maloka–a hands-on science and technology center. It’s touted as the best on the continent. We were impressed, and the kids had a lot of fun. It’s a lot like the Seattle Science Center, which I love. Although there was noone on staff that spoke English (and you know how our Spanish is) we figured out where to go and what to do. The employees were all very nice and helpful.

There is an I-Max on the campus, which featured three or four different shows. We let the kids pick which one, and they chose Vertigo. I am quite sure they didn’t know what was going to happen or they would not have chosen that one. Oh well, Adam and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Since this was the children’s first time in an I-Max theatre (and quite possibly any type of theatre), we soaked up every “uhhh” and “oh” and “what, what” they spoke. It was AWESOME. Once the room went pitch black, I quickly ended up with Daniela on my lap. She was genuinly scared the whole time. The sound was pretty darn loud, and I don’t think she liked feeling like she was actually on the roller-coasters. Adam ended up with little dude on his lap, but he actually sat through the whole thing not seeming too scared.

The big kids were a total riot. They sat in their own seats and pretended to be too big for us. Anyway, Ezzy loved the whole thing–she didn’t seem scared or bothered by it at all. But Daniel was a different story. He pretended to not be scared, but when the scary parts came he was curled up in his seat clinging to his sister. He is such a tender baby at heart, but he has such a hard time showing it–unless he’s in the mood, like all of us. Whatev!!! His loss was the little kids’ gain. :)

All in all, we had a great time. We really wanted to head to Monserrate in the late afternoon, but weather once again did not cooperate. Also, for those coming to Bogota to adopt, we totally recommend this trip. We would have seen another movie at the I-Max, we liked it so much. Our family spent about three hours there. And it is pretty reasonably priced for a family outing.

Hey princess,

…and are you ever. Your siblings often refer to you as iella (they leave out the dan). And since iella, pronounced yella, reminds both your dad and I of Old Yeller, we shortened it one step further to ella. You respond and the kids have picked up on it, but we still mostly call you Daniela. I have to admit though that Ella and Danny are much less confusing than Daniela and Daniel. We will see what you want to be called this week when tio Brian can translate for us. Whenever I went shopping for your clothes I had the feeling that I should buy lots of pink. You love love love it. Like I have said before, you would wear a dress every day if I let you. And why not, right? 

When we were being prepped the day before Presentation Day, I was the most intimidated by your profile. Did you know that? The psychologists made it very clear that you were the one who most needed the love and attention of a mother. Granted, daddy was given the pressure of the three others. But still, you were the only one billed as “complicated.” Are you kidding me? How do you begin to parent complicated? :) Daddy and I laughed about that one for quite awhile. We still shake our heads every day at your bossiness, sassiness, and emotions. But the psychologist also said that you were the most excited out of all of the children about the adoption. You asked many questions and really really wanted to be adopted by us.

Fun facts about you:

1. You love polla y papas (chicken and potatoes, of any variety). Whenever a meal is to your liking you say, “insert person who cooked the meal” and wink while giving a thumbs up and nodding.

2. You love babies. Above is a pic of you and Mimi. She is three and you love her. You also love to carry around her baby brother, Gabriel. You’ll be a good little babysitter one day.

3. You can shake your hips like nobody’s business. And yet, you have no sense of timing. When we were clapping along to a song at the dog show you couldn’t keep the time and rhythm for the life of you. It was hilarious because I knew what a good little dancer you are. Oh well, you are only six, right?

4. You love to help clean the house. You would rather stay home and help with the laundry and dishes than go to the park or other places most days. I will enjoy it while it lasts. You like the individual attention it affords, but you also thrive on positive praise particularly centered around accomplishing house tasks–that is how you were praised and recognized at the orphanage.

5. You can scream louder than any child I have ever met.

6. Most nights you need extra cuddles and snuggles, but sometimes you do not want anyone touching you. The trick is that we still cannot read which one you want, and sometimes I think you do not even know. Hence the complicated comment. I am hoping that Uncle Brian can also help with this one. I just need you to understand in Spanish that if you need extra mommy time at night, you just need to ask. I think that will help a lot.

I just want to give a little shout out today to chocolate cake. Adam and I had some Betty Crocker for breakfast–it was one of those mornings. My tummy is paying for it now, but it was good while it lasted. And we have sunshine, finally. The past week has been utterly gloomy, which I am not complaining about, being a Northwest girl and all. And I will soon have more sunshine than I can handle back in Las Vegas. However, the drenching rain does make it more difficult to enjoy the playground. We might actually do some sightseeing today since Adam leaves us on Wednesday. He really wants to get to Monserrate before leaving.

Uncle Brian flies in from Utah tonight for a week to help out. And Auntie Jena flies in from Las Vegas on Thursday…she’s planning on staying till the end. Grandma and Grandpa Penning made it back to Washington State safe and sound. They are sorely missed by the kids and by us. These kids are so loved…it’s ridiculous.  :) We have our three week anniversary as a family tomorrow. I am so grateful that Adam was able to extend his trip by a week (thanks, Jim). The kids have benefited greatly. The last part of our stay here will be much smoother because of his extra time.

We had a couple of firsts last night. I had the three oldest in the cocina eating. I promised them some soda pop with dinner earlier in the day so they were asking for it. As I was pouring their drinks, Danny asked how to say gaseosa in English. I looked up and they were all three staring at me. I explained to them that it could be soda pop or just soda or just pop. They settled on pop because it sounds like papas, which they are used to saying. I said that’s great (especially since it’s pop in Washington). We have been working on some common food words like juice, milk, and water. They are all starting to understand that they have to accompany the Spanish word with the English word, if they want the item. It is awesome to see their progress–not just in vocabulary, but in the understanding of how things work.

And again, this morning I said, “I know” in Spanish and Danny asked how to say it in English. He and Ezzy went around saying, “I know, I know.” It was really adorable. Adam used, “I don’t care” in Spanish yesterday when they said they were hungry. It was awesome! They all just looked at him, and couldn’t believe he would say that. But when we hear, “tengo hambre” 20 times a day when they already get five meals…it’s really annoying. Of course, I remember always telling my mom I was hungry. I’ve just started saying, “sorry, you’ll have to wait.” They get the picture. :) 

The other first has to do with going home. The three oldest were chatting about grandma and missing her (they had just waved to her over Skype and they were so excited about it). Then their conversation shifted to uncle Brian coming and airplanes and traveling. I was enjoying listening to them talk to each other. Well, I could tell they were talking about Las Vegas, but I wasn’t sure what they were saying. Finally, Danny asked me how many days until we get to go to Las Vegas. I showed them the makeshift calendar I had made, and pointed to the important days. I showed them when daddy was leaving and then when we might leave. I told them maybe 15 days or so. They seemed satisfied, and went on talking about airplanes.

That made my heart sing because I see them taking more interest in going home. It is becoming a little more real to them as they meet family members, and as things get closer. Ezzy wanted to see pictures of her room yesterday. That’s the first time any of them have asked unsolicited. So times like last night make me feel that the children are starting to believe that we are a forever family. They are becoming more and more comfortable with looking to the future with us. It makes me very happy. It also makes me seem like more of a mother rather than a caretaker.