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.
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!!!!
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.
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?
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.....
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.
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