Colombian food is a beautiful thing

Solid poops today!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Juanita continues to impress me with her cooking abilities. The other day we had patacones. I already mentioned the sopa de ajiaco and now today she taught 4 of us Moms how to make empanadas! I LOVE Juanita!! Oh! And we went to el Corral yesterday for lunch for some amazing hamburgers. So I guess it's been the Triple Crown of foods this week.

I just really dig the comraderie of food here, in Latin America in general actually. Everyone gathers, chats, laughs, chops, mixes, gossips. Things are still homemade. It reminds me of growing up on our farm. We didn't have a lot of money growing up but we ALWAYS had good food. It makes me nostalgic. Also, my motto while in Colombia, "what doesn't taste good fried in oil?"

Lucy is terrific. As I've said before, there are lots of kids here which is great. It's like a built in babysitter but then all of a sudden a bomb goes off. You can tell they are trying to figure it all out, new siblings, new friends, new beds. In spite of it all, Lucy handles it so well. They all do really. Lucy is even going to the bathroom by herself, closing the door for privacy. I love it! It used to be such a power struggle to get her to go and now she is so independent.

Bedtimes around here are a crapshoot as you can imagine. Four people in one room, all needing different things. It had been ending in disaster most nights with Mateo going to sleep first, then expecting Lucy to calmly and quietly walk in and go to sleep which of course doesn't happen. She's exhausted from the day and comes in kicking and screaming yelling, "I want Josiah!" (her Buddy here) Therefore waking Mateo up and we start all over again. Then we're so exhausted we end up going to bed the same time the kids do. This is wayyyy too tempting for Lucy. "I want to sleep in your bed Momma. I love you Momma. I want a lolipop Popi." It was like trying to fit a square peg in a round hole night after night. Meanwhile we have this extra room that we're using for storage. Finally we figured out to get Mateo down. Bring him into the extra bedroom and THEN do Lucy's bedtime routine. It's been working like a charm except for tonight. Lucy might beg to differ;) Kurt went into our bedroom to check on Lucy and she had turned on all of the lights, had raided the frig and was kicked back on her bed, legs crossed enjoying a juicebox! How can you not laugh at that?

Mateo is doing soooo much better. When we brought him back to los Pisingos yesterday we weighed him and he gained 200 grams in spite of all that sickness! Shows you what a little love can do. He sat up unassisted with Kurt tonight. He's eating like a champ. Lots of bananas and rice cereal (no cork). He's discovered his voice and loves to use it now. And the smiles....the sweet smiles he gives me when our eyes meet.

I'm in love...

Smooch
PK

No more diarrhea!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We have somewhat solid poops. It's the little things in life. No?

We went back to los Pisingos for Mateo's social history and a tour. I hate this part. It breaks my heart, Mateo's story, Lucy's story, ALL one hundred and thirty stories of the kids that are living there. There are 22 babies right now. I wish we could bring them all home with us. Somehow seeing the toddlers is the hardest for me. Maybe because they are almost the same age as Lucy. Maybe it's because there are so so many. Maybe it's because they're so darn cute. But mostly it's because they seem to need us more.

And then there is this little peanut of ours, Mateo. Our sweet sweet boy who has experienced so much in his brief life on this planet. Some would say that Mateo is so lucky to have us. Let me clear about this. WE are the lucky ones. We are blessed to have this little guy be a part of our family.

He is a gift.

Smooch
PK

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Defender of Minors

We had our meeting with the Defender of Minors yesterday. They were very busy, we were in and out of there so fast I forgot to take a picture with our Defender. I don't think it had anything to do with the fact that it was a 3pm appt and Lucy was coming unglued. She would barely allow Kurt to put her down long enough to sign the document. Cecelia was kind enough to take a picture of the four of us outside the office in the rain no less.

No sooner did we get home from our appt when Kurt started to get sick. We think he got what Mateo had. So Team Kern is still down a player. Mateo looks awesome, if we could just get rid of his diareha we'd be doing great. I wish I would of brought down more onesies and some rubber pants! Thank God the staff here do the laundry for us. I did start him on banannas and rice cereal. If I thought cork would do any good, I would add it to his cereal. He seems to like it but can't really figure out how to eat it yet. But Mateo is doing much better. He is eating and sleeping. We're even starting to get our routine established

Hotel Paris is packed tonight! We have 4 families from MN, 3 from MI, 1 from Spain and a couple from Rome with EIGHTEEN kids here ranging from 6 mos to 13. There is a pack of 3 yr olds that have been thick as thieves. It's been like herding cats:) Lucy especially loves Josiah, who is from MI. I think we may have to schedule a playdate in WI somewhere.

Lucy and I walked down to Uni Centro, the mall nearby, and loaded up on supplies. It was a beautiful walk outside. I think Lucy enjoyed getting out of the hotel and some Mommy/daughter time. I've been so focused on Mateo it was really nice to spend some uninterupted time together.

Juanita the cook here is FANTASTIC. Everything is made fresh in the kitchen. All the staff here are amazing so nice. We had sopa de ajiaco tonight with rice, avacado, cream and capers. It is a beautiful soup filled with at least 3 kinds of potatos, corn on the cob, chicken and guascas (Colombian herb). The cream and the capers go on top of the soup. Then you take a small spoonful of rice and avocado and dip your spoon into the soup. Que rico!


It's not letting me post any pics. Sorry! tommorrow:(

Smooch
PK

Photos

Rice cereal

Buenos noches,

Happy Sunday everyone! Let's see...everyone got dressed today and we went to the grocery store. Pretty exciting day:) The markets are in full swing today, tempted though I was, I stayed home.

Mateo is feeling better. He only threw up once today and 2 up the back down the leg blow outs today. Only he needed the wardrobe change, not us so it was a good day! We started him on some rice cereal today for lunch and dinner. He's not crazy about it but he ate it. I hoped it would stop him up a bit and it seems to have done the trick. His appetite seems to be picking up as well.

Lucy now has 2 buddies: Josiah 3 Michigan and Garret 3 St Paul. Mariana and her family are coming in from MN tonight. Mariana is about a month older than Lucy. We met them here for our first adoptions and now we're both back for our boys. Funny how life works sometimes huh?

Lucy has officially been dethroned from princess status. Thank goodness she has some kids here to play with. Kurt has taken over most of her care so I'm sure she feels slighted a bit. Once Mateo has more of a schedule, Kurt and I can take turns spending some one on one time with her. I think we will need some pampering at Norbert's soon.

For those of you that are unfamiliar, Norberto's is a full service salon for both children and adults. The kids sit in race cars watching movies or playing videos while getting their haircut complete with glitter colored spray or ribbons galore which ever you prefer. Lots of pampering for the adults as well.

We did see our friends Godfrey, Inez and Adriana yesterday. They came to pick us up in the afternoon and we went to their house for dinner. It was sooo good to see them. They feel like family to us. Mateo promptly threw up his dinner all over their nice couch so we went home after that.

Our meeting with the Defender of Minors is tomorrow afternoon. Then our court process officially starts. We will be free to leave Bogota (not the country) with Mateo. Here's hoping he feels better soon. I'd like to get him down to sea level and some humidity to get some more weight on him. We're shooting for Cartegena for a week.

We also have some other MN friends coming down soon for a vacation with their son Max. They've invited us to join them in Giradot where they've rented a house for a few days.


That's all for now
Smooch
PK

5 smiles and counting

Good morning everyone!

What a whirlwind these last few days have been! Our presentation was a total surprise and gift. Cecelia. our in-country coordinator, picked us up around 2pm on Thursday afternoon. We arrived at los Pisingos to meet Carlos the newest director of the orphanage. He is the son of one of the founding women. Presentations are done very different now since the passing of Rosa (another woman that started the los Pisingos foundation). First we met Carlos, the director and Andres, who facilitates the presentations. Andres is a LP adoptee himself! It was so heartwarming to meet them both and see how they interact with the children, talking with them, giving them their full attention.

They are very careful about germs so we had to suit up in scrubs before Andres brought us up to the 3rd floor where all the babies are. And there he was! Our sweet sweet boy! Poor little baby has a terrible virus. I guess most of the babies were struggling with it. We were in a little room off to the side all 4 of us! It felt so good to have him in our arms! After a short while we went back downstairs to talk more with Carlos and meet Mateo's caregiver. We were able to ask her questions about his schedule likes etc. What a gift to be able to get more information about him! We also brought some small gifts for Carlos, Andres and Adriana, Mateo's nurse.

The next 48 hrs were a tornado filled with vomit, diareha, very little sleep and lots of Colombian coffee! But last night he seemed to be feeling better and slept most of the night. Thank you Jesus! Picture the movie "Terms of Endearment" and me practically crawling in the crib, pinching him to make sure he was alright!

Lucy has been sooooo sweet with him. She likes to hold him and help feed him. Needless to say we've been in hunker down mode at Hotel Paris. But the staff are great, very attentive. Once Mateo feels better we'll be venturing out for a walk soon.

Just an FYI, I won't be posting anything on facebook while we're here. There is just too much to keep track of these days:) Plus this site is for Mateo so that he can have this as a record of our beginnings as a family. So don't forget to leave a note for us in the comments section! Hint! Hint! You don't have to have an account. Just click on comments and sign in as anonymus.

So...Please pray that he continues to get better and kick this virus, that he thrives, grows and gains weight under the care of his new family.

We are blessed!
PK

A few more photos

Pobrecito (Poor Little Guy)

The presentation was yesterday as scheduled and we received Mateo at Los Pisingos. He is a beautiful little boy and we are so happy and blessed to have him as a part of our family.

Unfortunately, he is quite sick with the flu and so it has been a vomit and poop filled day and a half (I think we went thru half of our clothes). Thus, no time for pictures or more posts. Hope to have more information this evening.

Kurt

PRESENTATION 3PM TOAY!!!!

We were all downstairs this morning having breakfast chatting with the other families here at Hotel Paris when one of the staff handed Kurt the phone. We assumed it was Adriana or Godfrey calling to welcome us to Colombia. When I heard Kurt say, "Cecilia!" my ears perked up. We weren't expecting our presentation until next week (long story). Then I heard Kurt say that we'd be ready by 2pm I knew that we're getting Mateo TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So we're waiting ever so not so patiently for Freddy to pick us up to go get Mateo.

We can hardly wait to get our hands on him!

Ciao for now
PK

Bogota sweet Bogota

It's so hard to describe the feelings of being back here....I felt as though we were coming back home after a long time away. My heart feels like it is put back together again. The yearning for Colombia, for our family, friends here is gone, vanished. It is so amazing to be back in this very special country. The place where we became a family and now coming home again for Mateo.

Freddy picked us up from the airport! It was so good to see his face again and that smile.

More later time for breakfast
Smooch
PK

Bogota bound!

This time tomorrow we'll be waking up in Colombia! Talked with out coordinator yesterday and found out that los Pisingos (Lucy and Mateo's orphanage) usually does their presentations on Mondays and Tuesdays. So our agency, is trying to get them to move up ours to Thursday or Friday. We'll see what happens... At this point we have no control of the situation. The extra time would be nice to get settled in and spend some time with Lucy, just the 3 of us...But at the same time it's going to kill us if we have to wait to get Mateo until next week!!!!

Hang on baby! YOUR family is coming!

Smooch
PK

We're all packed

Well 5 enormous suitcases later....We're all packed and ready to go. I thought I was going to slit my wrists and stick them under warm water yesterday but Kurt told me to breathe and my panic attack subsided. Just a tad stressed but feeling WAYYYYY better today. Whatever we forgot, we'll buy in Colombia.

We've totally been nesting all weekend. Washing car seat covers, filling drawers with cute boy clothes (THANKS for the hand-me-downs ladies. You saved the day!) raising the crib mattress, laundry, more packing and making some meals to throw in the freezer for when we get home. I think we're as ready as we're going to get for this little guy.

The visas arrived! All we have left to do before we leave is to find out when our presentation will be. We get in around 9pm on Wednesday so please here's praying for Thursday or Friday at the latest.

Smooch
PK

P.S. Love love love you Mateo!

Special visitor visa is in the mail!

I hate to post anything because then the latest picture of my sweet sweet boy will not be the first thing I see when I open the site.

That being said....our visas are on the way home!!!!!!!!!!!!! We over nighted our special visitor visas via FEDEX last Saturday to the Colombian Consulate in Chicago. They arrived Monday. I've been compulsively hitting the refresh button trying to track our overnight return FEDEX package all week and it is ON IT'S WAY HOME! That means that we can leave on Wed!

I can't wait to hold my little boy, feel the weight of him in my arms and drink in his sweet smell.... Did I forget to mention that my baby Mattie is sweet?

Smooch
PK

More Mateo pictures

What a wonderful surprise to open my email and find MORE pictures of Mateo. My heart skips a beat every time I look at my cute little boy.

Introducing Mateo Nicolas!

With great joy and pride we announce our newest "Kernel". Mateo Nicolas was born August 3rd 2009. We accepted our referral Feb 4th 2010. We leave for Colombia February 17th 2010. But he has lived in our hearts for as long as we can remember.

Kurt and I shared our news with Lucy that Thursday night. She looked at his picture, made a rocking motion with her hands and said, "I want to hold him Momma. I want to rock him Momma." Could she be any sweeter? The next morning she woke up a tad surly and informed me that she didn't want him. She also thinks we should pick him up in Peru NOT Colombia. God I love that kid.

That's all the news for now. Stay tuned for more exciting adventures from the Kernel clan.....

PK

The rest of Peru

Well I survived the Anniversary party! Ha! Lucy went to bed around midnight and I fell into bed at 2am. It was a an amazing party! We started out that Friday evening going to church. Then we came home to get ready for the party. People started arriving around 9pm and lastly the happy couple that had been married for 40 yrs. A mariachi band even came to sing! The food was delicious. I tried sheep lung and cow stomach. The alcohol flowed freely and I had my first pisco sour. It is made with fresh lime juice, egg white and pisco. Pisco is a kind of like brandy and it is made here in Peru.

We all managed to wake up, pack up and drive to Ica (wine country) which is approximately 5 hrs South of Lima. We stayed at the Hotel Carmelo. It is a beautiful old hotel where they also make wine. We woke up early and drove to a little oasis in the middle of the desert to take a dune buggy ride. Oh my God! Talk about scary and fun all at the same time. When I was sure that Lucy wasn't going to fly out of her seat, I actually enjoyed it:) Talk about primal scream therapy. She kept pushing my hand off her leg and smiling ear to ear. My adventurer! Love it! Anyway, we stopped for a while and the driver started waxing up this snowboard...hmmm....Lucy even got into the act. As I was taking another turn, laying down on my belly to slide down the hill, Lucy jumped on my back! I hung onto her arms and away we went! She is definitely an adrenaline junkie. We got to the bottom of the hill and she said, "Otra vez Momma! Otra vez! Again Momma! Again!

I needed a drink after that so we drove to Tacama where they make wine and pisco. It is the oldest vineyard in Peru, spanning 4 generations. The tasting room was my favorite part;) On a side note, all that amazing Chilean wine? Grapes grown in Peru and bottled in Chile. The Peruvians aren't happy about it either!

Then is was off to Paracus to see the Sea Lions. Unfortunately we missed the last boat by the time we arrived. Oh well. Lucy and I were exhausted and it was only 230pm. So we decided to have lunch there by the ocean. I LOVE ceviche!

It was nice to come back to the hotel so my little fishy could relax, swim her brains out and go to bed.

By this time it is now Monday, my BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!!! Victoria agreed to watch Lucy for me so I could go see the Nazca lines. Myself and another couple staying at the hotel hired a driver, Hector, to take us to the airport to see the lines, the aquaducts, museum, lunch and then back to the hotel. It was an early morning without coffee:( But a few Inca colas and I was good as new. The Nazca are an ancient tribe of people that lived in this area a LONG time ago. They made the lines and the aqueducts. No one really knows what the lines are for. There was a German woman Maria Reiche that spent her life studying the lines. The aqueducts were fantastic! The Nazca people built the aqueducts to filter and irrigate water that flowed down the mountain. This area has many earthquakes and the aqueducts are still intact AND working! They still collect and filter water! Feel free to google for more info. I still need to read the book I bought about it and don't want to give you the wrong info and sound like an idiot.

OK so now Lucy and I need a rest from this fast paced vacation so we hired a taxi back toward Lima to the town of Asia (Ah-see-ah) which is a really nice resort area right on the beach. We stayed at the Aquavict resort and basicly had the place to ourselves! The perfect place to rest, swim, eat and rest and eat some more! Lucy and Victoria's boys swam in the Pacific ocean but loved the sand more. Notice the picture:)

Whew! The last few days of the trip were spent doing laundry, souvenir shopping and packing.

It was the trip of a lifetime! Victoria's family is terrific! They took great care of us. We were able to see so much of Peru in a short time. I feel like a part of their family now. Thanks Victoria for a wonderful vacation.

Smooch
PK

Enjoy the pictures!