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