Here the kids are staring out the window from our Radisson hotel room wondering where I had gone. After accomplishing passports, doctor’s check, and sending Uncle Brian back home to Utah, we managed to get ourselves to the Embassy to obtain the children’s travel visas. Here’s a little secret about the embassy visit–they really try and push you through if you have three or four little ducklings following you. We were in and out in just under two hours. It went quickly, and the children did so awesome. Jena and I were really proud of them. We have no embassy pictures because you have to check all camera equipment at the gate. Here’s the run-down for those who are in route: you should separate all your documents for each child and put them into separate envelopes. Whichever window takes those documents from you is the one that will tell you if there is any sort of hiccup with the paperwork–if you pass that window, you can make your travel plans. After you hand off the documents, you wait to pay for the visas–YES, the embassy does take credit/debit cards (I know there is some old information out there, and it doesn’t expressly say on the application–but it is true), and when you are paying for four of them, it is nice not to have to carry that much cash around. After you pay for the visas, you wait for the final window to call you up and give you a return appointment slip for the next day. That slip allows you to pick up your visas after 3:00 p.m. the following day. That’s the embassy in a nutshell. One annoying thing–for those of us who struggle with Spanish is that it is impossible to hear your name being called. Yes, everything is in Spanish…and yes, it is the US Embassy. :) If it wasn’t for a nice lady who noticed we were the ones they were calling, we would have had to wait a really long time. Thank you, nice lady!

It rained, and rained, and rained, and rained our last day in Bogota–like drenching flooding rain. IT WAS AWESOME!!! A big thanks to Jena for watching the kids for me as I went to the embassy to pick up the visas–children aren’t allowed back in on the following day. We thought that we would take the kids swimming and then to McDonalds to kill the last few hours of time. It was a blast. The kids loved the pool. I even took three of them again the following morning before going to the airport. Although they sank like bricks–they loved trying.

We picked up our children on Tuesday, 5 August 2008. We got “the phone call” on the night of Wednesday, 27 August 2008. We boarded the plane on Thursday, 4 September 2008. That means it took us five working days to accomplish all the post-sentencia “stuff.” That’s not bad considering the hiccups we had along the way. WOW!!! Including the few extra days that were there pre-children, I spent five weeks in-country. I can’t believe that it actually happened. Okay, don’t let me digress.

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We headed to the airport and the children all got really really silent. Jena and I kept looking at each other trying to figure out what each child was thinking about. It is times like that that I wish desperately to be able to communicate with them beyond the basics. I know it will come, but those poignant moments are important to me. Anyway, the kids traveled like champs, seriously. They were perfect from the moment we left Bogota until the moment they crawled into their hotel beds in L.A. at two in the morning. I was so proud of them. Danny couldn’t stop staring out the window of the plane. As we took off for the first time, all four children shouted, “muy muy rapido!” It was in unison and completely unscripted, which made it absolutely hilarious. All of the passengers around us were cracking up. Danny’s little legs kept kicking faster and faster in the seat to try and keep up.

I will never ever forget that first take-off. We changed them into their pajamas in Costa Rica and they slept for about five of the six hours we were on board. In fact, we didn’t even have to share our DVD players with them. (oh, the simple pleasures) All four children were obsessed with the music buttons and the earphones that the plane provided. That alone kept them each entertained for about an hour. The food kept them occupied for the rest of the time. :) I was so proud of each of them for behaving appropriately. Even going through US Immigration didn’t take too long. And at the point, the kids mostly just vegged on the ground because they were so tired.

The best part of the whole trip was wrapping our arms around Adam. Standing outside of LAX next to our own vehicle with our own children was totally and completely surreal. That moment is impressed upon my mind, and will be forever.

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

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.