Kern family arrival has changed!!

The new arrival time is 11:32 pm on Delta 676. Sorry for late notice. It couldn't be helped. Love, the Kern Family

Some parting thoughts on Colombia

It's about 230AM here and I have insomnia. Thoughts are filling my head and I can't sleep. I guess it's time to write them down.

I'm sad to be leaving this place and happy to be going home all at the same time. There is a finality to this trip that is weighing heavy on my heart. We are done with adoption. No more paperwork, fingerprints, psych evals, physicals, HIV testing, tracking paperwork, updating paperwork, redoing paperwork. And the waiting....These things have consumed my life for the better part of 5 years. Don't misunderstand me. It's all been worth every ounce of energy expended! But it's an odd feeling to be done with it all. I wish I had it in me for another adoption. But I don't. I'm exhausted. (Maybe that has something to do with a family of 4 with a new baby being in Colombia for almost 6 weeks in a 12 x 12 room?) When people ask me how many kids I want I've always said it depends on who you ask, Kurt or me. Kurts has always said 2 and I've always said 3. I wish I could turn back the clock to do some things differently, meet Kurt earlier in my life, let go of a dream to have biological children with my husband faster, start adoption plans sooner. You get the idea. But that is not my life. If things would of happened sooner or later it would not be Kurt, Lucy or Mateo. I wouldn't change that for anything in the whole wide world. But what I do yearn for is youth. I wish I was younger. Not only have we aged out of the Colombia adoption program but I am exhausted from all of this emotionally and physically. We waited for Lucy for 9 mos. We waited for Mateo for almost 3 years. If I add in all the time spent on trying to have a biological family before that it would be 8 years.

But then again...we could get a call down the road that one of our children has a biological sibling waiting for us and my heart would leap with joy at the thought of it and we would gladly start the paperchase all over again.

I hesitate to share these feelings because I don't want to scare off some random person thinking about adopting. But this seems to be the trend now with international adoption, longer wait times while children still languish in orphanage care. But that is a whole other story. Onto a brighter topic. Let's chat about my home away from home.

Colombia, the beauty of it's landscape, it's people, the food, has gotten into my blood. It is an amazing place to behold with my eyes and my heart. It is a safe place to visit. Not only is it my children's birthplace, it also feels like home to me. I have such a special afinity for this place I find it hard to put into words. I've met so many wonderful people that have touched my heart in my 2 trips here, the experience unique and special. Each time I've encountered someone new there is a story about a place in Colombia that I must see next. My bucket list is getting long! So...I know that we will be back just not for adoption. We will be vacationers, or maybe more like a Colombian Americans family coming home after a few years away.

A new chapter awaits. Thanks. I'm off my soapbox now. Feel better and tired now so I'm going to go back to bed.
Smooch
PK

Flight info

We're coming home Tuesday! We'll be on Delta Flight #1669 from Atlanta arriving at 714pm.

The last of Cartegena

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What a great trip! It was so relaxing. Mateo ate like a little piggy and Lucy LOVED the ocean and sand. Cartegena is a lovely place. We're looking forward to returning when the kids are a little older and we can do more sightseeing or better yet sans kids;)

As always it's a bit of a shock to the system to return to the hustle and bustle of Bogota after a quiet trip away. But we did come back to some good news....Sentencia! This means that Mateo is legally ours (even though he was ours as soon as he was placed in our arms) and we can leave the country. The last few days have been a whirl of activity; going to the courts to get the actual Sentencia document, Notary to get Mateo's original birth certificate and then amended birth certificate with us listed as his new parents, then off to the passport for Mateo's Colombian passport because he will have DUAL citizenship the lucky stiff and finally a visit to the US embassy to get Mateo's visa to enter the US. We go back to the embassy today to pick it up. While I'm picking up the visa Kurt will go to the Delta office to try to get us some tickets home for Monday or Tuesday. Then of course the packing will ensue and the last minute shopping at the Sunday markets:)

We will post our flight info when we get it. Feel free to come down to the airport.

Enjoy the pics
Smooch
PK

Old town

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Cartegena

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Cartegena here we come!

Well we're officially starting week 5 here in Colombia. We're finally leaving in the morning for Cartegena! We'll be there for 4 days returning on Wednesday afternoon. There are tons of families here getting sentencia ranging from 7 weeks to 3 weeks. We've been getting fat on celebration cakes! It seems as though things are moving quickly in the courts these days. I have a feeling we could be home before Easter:) But you never really know....

Monday night Kurt and I went out to Bogota Beer Company after the kids were in bed. The staff took our baby monitor while we imbibed a bit. Good beers and my gin and tonic was delicious as well. The free Aguila beer here at the hotel was getting to us. Can you say Miller Lite?

We went to Parque 93 on Wednesday for lunch with some other families. Gotta love el Corral Gourmet hamburguesas! It's been a pretty quiet week here. There's a new family here from Ham Lake so we went to Maku and Jacques bakery for a treat. They serve Baileys in their coffee:-O

Caio from Bogota
Smooch
PK

The Human Petting Zoo AKA The Botanical Garden

I know Kurt already posted something about the BG but please indulge me a moment. You all know how I love a good story no?

The BG is a fine getaway in the city of Bogota. Everything is lush, green, blooming and smells great. We were with 2 other families so I realize we must have stuck out a little but I guess I didn't realize how much;) As we were walking around a group of senior citizen approached us. A few of them came up to do the traditional fawning over the children, blessing them, telling us how cute they are. You get the idea. Then more come over and then more come over. Suddenly it seems we're surrounded about 25 Colombian surrogate grandparents. We're all chatting with them. It is custom here to greet someone with a "buenos dias" (between breakfast and lunch) a "buenos tardes" (lunch and dinner) or buenos noches (you get the idea) they greet you back. You ask how they are. They say fine thank you and you? You respond, say thank you and then you can ask some questions, get directions or what ever else it is that you want to say. Any way we're starting to get the idea they want to stick around a bit when their tour guide shoos them away NOT before taking a few pictures with us mind you.

It is a cute exchange, our group laughs and remarks how friendly they were and we move onto the Butterfly exhibit. There we have the honor of having one of the Colombian military accompany us. I think the just of what he said was that he was "at our service" God knows we weren't going to squoosh any butterflies but whatever. When in Colombia right? The exhibit is beautiful. There are tons of butterflies all around. The smell is exotic and my skin drinks in the humidity and warmth of the room.

Our group decides to take a break outside of the exhibit so we can feed babies and children, change diapers what have you when we notice a group of 3 women staring at us, just staring at us. We say hellos but this doesn't seems to satisfly them. Then, of course, more of their group join them and once again we're surrounded. "adoptados?" "our children are adopted." This exchange is more stilted and strained. There are more questions that we try to answer and finally their tour guide leads them away.

Aannnd once again we think we're in the clear when Tracy gets approached by an elderly man round 70 that is clearly smitten with her, her tall slender frame and short blonde hair. I thought maybe she may need help understanding him so I approached but what this man was trying to tell her, you'd have to be a complete idiot not to get it! I decide to stay in case she needs protecting instead! He leans into her, she backs up a bit, he leans in a bit more, she backs up again all the while informing her that he's been to the US, CA in fact and has MANY children (I think implying a still quite virile man!) so being "novios" (sweethearts) with her should be no problem!

What a complete riot! We all had a good laugh at that one. And so ends another day in Bogota.

Smooch
PK

Villa de Leyva

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Stupid Slide.com! I was trying to make some slideshows (please check out some past posts) and I left my email on the site and then next thing you know all these emails came pouring back into my inbox for some GREAT deals on Viagra. So...I am SO sorry if you were inundated. My apologies.

Villa de Leyva is a quaint town North of Bogota. We started out on Saturday with the Agudelo family. As always it's a joy to get out of town for a while and the Agudelos are a joy to be around. They've become such an important part of our lives, especially Lucy and Mateo, their Colombian Abuelos. It makes my heart sing.

It's about a 4 hour drive to get there. We checked into our hotel and found a restaurant in the town square for some lunch. Then it was onto dessert. Godfrey had to bring us to "the best coffee shop in Villa de Leyva" My thoughts were, "Great! Good coffee." It is a little shop on a corner called "Cafe Don Eloy" It was some of the best coffee I've ever had. I'm not kidding! And the desserts...To DIE for!

We start back to the hotel and it starts raining, so we duck under a tent for a bit thinking it will pass. Godfrey and Adriana volunteered to go with an umbrella and get the car to pick up the rest of us. No sooner than they leave that the heavens seem to open up and there is this incredible downpour! We have to duck out of the tent and take refuge in a shop. It's only about 15 feet away but we're pretty drenched by the time we run to the other building. Now we're really feeling sorry for Godfrey and Adriana! Hopefully they have ducked in somewhere to avoid the weather as well. A little while later Inez decides to call and let them know where we are. When she puts her hand in her pocket she comes out with the car keys! Oh no! By the time they finally reached us everyone was soaked! I couldn't believe the torrents of rain. We could see the rain coming down the mountain like a river. It proceded to move down the streets through the town square and kept right on a going to God know's where.

It was nice to walk around, check out some shops and just relax. Kurt was sick again from who knows what???? So I took Lucy to the Fossil Museum. Evidently millions of years ago the area was an ocean. There is a pretty huge fossil there of some kind of crocodile. Pretty interesting stuff. There was another family from the hotel that happen to be there at the same time we were so we all went together. We also went to an Ostrich farm. I think that was Lucy and Garrett's favorite part.

We had a quiet ride back to Bogota on Monday afternoon. Lucy and Mateo promptly fell asleep in each arm. As I looked down on them sleeping so peacefully my heart was bursting with joy. I am so happy, so content, so lucky.

Our family is complete.
Smooch
PK

Botanical Garden

This weekend we are in Ville de Leva (pictures to come soon) but earlier this week we went to the Botanical Garden in Bogota. I must say that I really enjoyed it. Right now they have an exhibit on butterflies of Colombia where you go into a special part of the greenhouse and hundreds of butterflies are flying around you. They also have dozens of varieties of orchids there, but unfortunately most of them bloom here around December. Despite the orchids not being in bloom, we did enjoy the rose gardens and many other exotic plants and flowers.

Hope you enjoy the photos,

Kurt

Guatavita

This was by far my favorite day trip so far, including our last trip here as well! As always it is great to get out in to the countryside, seeing the farmers work their fields of potatoes. Breathe in the fresh cool air. It is not as lush or green this time around. This region is in a terrible drought. I think they must all be praying for the rains to come!

Freddy is a great tour guide and friend. We hiked up to the first view of the lake. Lucy was a total trooper. She walked most of the way with Kurt helping her along the way if she needed a break. There were lots of breaks! For those of you that have been before, the walk is about as high as Monserrate, around 10,000 feet. We went with our friend Tracy and her son Ty. Ty and Mateo are only 3 weeks apart. It was time to feed the babies by the time we reached the top so we plopped ourselves down to listen to Freddy tell us the Legend of el Dorado. Quite an interesting story of the indegenious peoples worshipping the lake, offering gold sacrifices, complete with Spainards draining the lake 9 feet to look for and plunder said gold.

We then went into the town of Guatavita for some lunch. Freddy took us to a fabulous restaurant where we all enjoyed the 4 food groups;) Kurt had the trout, Freddy had the chicken, Tracy ate the steak and I enjoyed the rabbit! So tasty in a tangy garlic sauce. Tastes like Grouse:)

The town of Guatavita is quaint. All the buildings are white with red tile roofs. There are many steep red brick stairs leading to all the shops and houses.

I've finally had some time to organize and download our pics. I'm hopeful that I can back track and put up some slideshows week by week of our stay. I know we haven't been posting enough pictures for all of you.

Smooch
PK

la Candelaria

The internet is so fussy here. Our Skype is pretty sporadic at best. The spell check doesn't work on our blog and sometimes it won't let us post pics. Sigh.... I guess we're a little too dependent on technology these days. How did we ever survive without the internet;)

Saturday we went to la Candaleria with the Parmers. We had a delicious lunch from a restaurant that specializes in food from Cali. Que rico! After lunch we headed over to Bolivar Plaza. They have a display there now. Ants are crawling on the side of one of the buildings. They represent the displaced peoples living here in Bogota that have had to leave their homes and land to get away from the FARC and paramilitaries.

The church was also open which is a rarity I guess. It is enormous, not to mention breathtaking! We happen to be lucky enough to see the changing of the guard at the presidential palace as well.

Today we had Bandeja Paisa for lunch at the hotel. The staff really outdid themselves.

Tomorrow we're going to the town of Guatavita to see the Legend of el Dorado.

I'm truly in heaven...

Smooch
PK

Sunday Markets - So much shopping, so little time and money

My dear friend Adriana was kind enough to go to the Sunday Markets with me. I thoroughly enjoyed our time together without kids. Thank you Kurt! I am amazed at my restraint. I came back to the hotel with my backpack only half full:) I have my eye on a few things and of course I need to go to hotel la Fontana as well. But I have to tell you the dollar is not going as far as the last time we were here:( Good for the Colombians but bad for my shopping addiction! While my bargaining skills are a little better, they are not as willing to barter. But many thanks to Adriana who helped me!

Anapoima....what a relaxing getaway! Hansa tours now (or maybe they always have) rents houses/apartments all over Colombia. Check it out at www.hansatours.com We went with another family from Wed - Fri last week. It was only about a 2 hr drive and the scenery is breathtaking! It is quite the ride down the mountain! The fresh air and weather was awesome. And the pool....that was a lifesaver. Lucy only came out to eat, go to the bathroom and sleep. My little fishy. We really needed the quiet time away as a family. The hotel is great but ohhhh so busy. Katia, the owner, told me that she's had to turn away four of her reservations. Mateo is thriving! He ate like a little piggy and now officially has a tiny double chin and elbow dimples! He went swimming in the pool and now even has a little tan. Kurt is back to being the whitest member of our family.

Today is a down day and then we're going to Guatavita for the day with some other families from the hotel. We're still figuring out our Villa de lleva trip with the Agudelos this weekend, how many nights. It is a 4 hr drive so we'd like to go for more than one night.

Chiao!
PK

Anapoima

Here are some photos from our stay in Anapoima. Weather was a little cloudy but still about 82 degrees each day.

So Much to Do, So Little Time

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Since I have not posted anything but pictures yet (I been a bit lazy about writing this time), I thought I should finally take a little time to share a couple thoughts with everyone. So here is what has been on my mind for the first week and a half:

Family

It has been interesting to watch the new dynamics of our family unfold. Cooporation, frustration, exhaustion, negotiation, jealousy, happiness, love, joy, togetherness are just a few of the words I would use to describe how the new family unit functions. So far it seems to be working pretty well with just a few minor hic-ups along the way. Although, I will say that the remaining 10 hairs I had left on my head have fallen out as a result of all 4 of us sharing the same room for the last 14 days.

One final thought on family, it really is special to watch all of the families that are here with all their different adoption stories. There are people here from all over the world adopting babys, special needs children, and family groups. This afternoon Lucy and I played Play Dough with three boys who are being adopted by an older Italian couple. I can tell when I see them together playing, eating dinner, and doing learning activities with their new mom and dad that they are going to be a great family with a lot love to share between them. This is just one of many hopeful situations for both the children and the parents that I see here everyday. Please say a prayer for all of them.

Travel in Colombia

Now that we have met with the Defender of Minors we can travel around Colombia. This is what we have been doing or will likely be doing over the next few weeks while we wait for the OK to go home:

- Nemocon (were there this weekend, see pictures)
- Anapoima (leaving for there tomorrow)
- Guatavita (Next week, this is where the legend of El Dorado originates)
- Villa De Leva (two weekeds from now)
- Caratgena (week of the 23rd)

Hence the name of the post, "so much to do, so little time"

May God bless the children who are still waiting for their families,

Kurt

PS. Spell check is not working so please forgive any errors. Also, as I mentioned above we will be traveling this week without internet, so no new posts until this weekend . . . sorry.