San Jose

We were in San Jose last weekend. Kurt and I were fortunate enough to meet the Garcia family while in Colombia. Rosa is one of the coordinators for KidSave in the bay area. Paola was 14 when Zeke and Rosa adopted her. So I guess that means that Paola and Lucy are Colombiana "sisters" so to speak. Lucy loves Nico and Paola
(Zeke and Rosa too). She followed them around all weekend. There is a special bond between the 3 of them. I hope they are life long amigos.

This was Kurt and my first time in CA! The sun was a welcome sight after all the rain we've had here in MN. As you can tell by the pictures, we had a GREAT time.

On Saturday we went to San Francisco. The Golden Gate bridge is amazing. Pictures really don't do it justice. It is massive! Then we headed for the wharf where we had some terrific crab sandwiches for lunch. We went over to ghirardelli square for some dessert, or should I say supper.

Sunday we went to the boardwalk in Santa Cruz. Paola and I rode on a 103 year old wooden roller coaster. FUN! We had carnitas for dinner, muy muy rico!

I don't think I touched a vegetable the entire time we were there. Gotta love Mexican food. The picture of Lucy stuffing her face with Pan Dulce speaks 1000 words.

Good weather, good food and good friends. Thanks for a fantastic time familia de Garcia!

Smooch
PK

Fall update

We've had a busy fall so far. In September, we hosted 2 girls from the African Children's Choir through our church. What amazing music not to mention a GREAT cause! Check them out at http://www.africanchildrenschoir.com/

We headed down to Mankato for the day on Oct 6th to visit with some of our new friends. We actually met this family from MN while at the Bogota airport on our way to Santa Marta! We even stayed at the same resort. It has been terrific getting to know them better. I hope Andre and Lucy become the best of friends. Ignacio was kind enough to make us a traditional Colombian lunch. It consisted of sopa de Ajiaco, a soup made with chicken, potatos, cilantro, guascas (Colombian herb) and corn on the cob. Crema and capers are added before you dig into this delicious soup. We also had arepas which are a kind of cornbread pancake looking thing, also very good. After lunch we all headed to the park. After returning to their house, we had an amazing passion fruit dessert. Que bonito dia!

The weekend of Oct 13th we went up to the lake with Lucy's Godparents Cara and Joel. What a beautiful, relaxing weekend. Joel is an Electrician and was kind enough to help with the cabin. For those of you that don't know, Kurt's family started building a cabin this fall. Enjoy the pictures!

That's all for now. Smooch!
PK

Home study completed!!!!

Well, we just got word that our home study for adoption #2 is completed! We were also very happy to hear that referrals are coming again from Colombia. For those of you that didn't know, there was a slow down this summer. From what I can gather with a resurgence of Colombian pride, preservation of heritage and adoption becoming more widely accepted, ICBF (Instituto Colombiano de Bienestar Familiar, the overseeing body of adoption in Colombia) was checking to make sure that private foundations (where Lucy is from) were giving Colombian families first priority to adopt Colombian children. I think ICBF is making a concerted effort to find homes for their older children as well. So needless to say we are breathing a collective sigh of relief with the recent movement!

Now we have to fill out our I600A, (application for advanced processing of Orphan petition) have that notarized and send it off to USCIS (U S Citizenship and Immigration Services). Can I just say that I HATE the word orphan! Lucy is not/was not an orphan. She was not abandoned. Her birth mom made a plan to place her for adoption because she loved her enough to want a better life for her. OK, I'm off my soap box now:)

Anyway... we continue to plug away at the adoption paperwork and hope to have a sibling for Lucy by the time she is 2. We'll see. It is in God's hands.

Lucy now has 8 teeth. She can stand by herself and has taken a few steps on her own, promptly falling on her butt of course!

She continues to be the light of our lives.

PK

Media from our trip out East

Here is some video and pics from our recent trip to CT, NJ and NY.

Happy FIRST birthday Lucy!!!!

Well, I thought I'd give this blog thing a shot and see how it goes. Hopefuly We'll keep this thing updated with pics and such. Wish me luck!

Lucy is ONE! I can hardly believe it. We had a party for her on Sunday. I think she is still recovering! She had a great time complete with piñata, tres leches, pineapple upside down cake, super cute bday cupcakes made using my Mom's famous chocolate cake recipe,(thanks Auntie Yanne!) molasses and Neiman Marcus cookies.

Grandma Kern has cut Lucy's bangs at least FOUR times since we've been home. She is currently working on tooth #7 and #8. She signs Mama, Dada, milk, drink, more, food. She also says Mama and Dada. And just for the record, she signed and said Mama first:) Lucy is now walking holding just one of my fingers. She also loves this new push, walking toy thingie I picked up for her at a garage sale.

But I can't help feeling indebted to this woman in Colombia, Lucy's birth mom, for giving us such a tremendous gift. Did she feel sad on Lucy's birthday?? How could she not feel sad??? I know I felt sad, sad and grateful. Grateful that we have this wonderful, smart, beautiful, inquisitive, funny and determined little girl of ours. So, THANK YOU Lucy's birthmom.

Happy birthday Lucy!

PK