Writings from the past few days

Since our internet is very sporadic and we never know when we might have access, I’ve started titling the entries with the day they were written. Today is Sunday, November 2nd.
Hello again from sunny (and hot and humid) Cucuta!
The weather here is absolutely beautiful by the way. It will be quite the change when we go to Bogota which is a much colder climate than here. I am told that the children are from a town that is much cooler than here in Cucuta so I don’t worry so much about them being so cold when they are there. Just wait until they get to Alaska! A quick lesson in what cold really means is imminent! Actually they may experience this while we are visiting relatives in the lower 48 states even before we get to Alaska because it’s very warm temperatures lately in Alaska and much colder in Oregon and other parts of the lower 48 now (from what we are told). The CNN channel is about all Rick watches other than occasional movies we find in English. Otherwise the TV is on one of the kids’ cartoon channels. Marissa especially was so excited last night when she found that High School Musical 2 was just coming on. It was in Spanish but the songs were all in English so she thought it was super cool!
The kids are very excited to go to a cold climate and are looking forward to snow! Karen wants to build a snowman and Fabian is much more interested in having snowball fights! I’m sure there’ll be hurling white balls of cold, wet snow coming my way in the near future. Hearing that Fabian’s interest was mainly on snowballs is almost a no-brainer!!! He’s truly boy through and through! Karen and Fabian both want to learn how to snowboard and they say they can’t wait to go to Alaska.
Karen wasn’t so bad waking up this morning but it still took some prodding. I mean this girl just loses all senses when she sleeps and does not wake up well at all. She is one-with-the-bed and how dare anyone come along and pull her from it! She’s our little grumpy-in-the-morning princessa! A true sleeping beauty, of which we haven’t quite conquered what it takes to break the spell of her being so much of a booger to get out of bed. Any ideas are very much appreciated and welcomed so feel free to email us or comment on the blog!
Knowing her personality, a chocolate bar first thing in the morning would definitely do the trick and get her to conform, but unfortunately that’s always been one of our biggest no-no’s for the kiddos! Not first thing in the morning -- no way! Any ideas are very welcomed so if you have any to offer up we’d love to hear them.

In the early afternoon we decided to venture out on our own and go to the mall. We should have done this way before now. I think always before we were intimidated that our limited Spanish speaking abilities might inhibit our abilities to accomplish this successfully. Wow, were we wrong! The taxi to the mall which is just up the road only costs equivalent to about $2.50 for our family one way, and I was carrying on a conversation with the taxi driver most all of the way. Not bad at all! We got so excited the other day when we saw they had an El Corral in the mall. That night we had pizza which we had been craving so much and it was delicious! Today we had El Corral for lunch, then we went to another place for dinner in the food court there. It was great too! Rick and I had steak and chicken there and it was yummy! So much for losing weight here of which we both have taken off at least 20 lbs easily, but now we’ve found more of the real good food places to eat.While we were at the mall today we got some gifts and some souvenirs. The kids got a chance to go to the arcade and ride on the bumper cars again, and Fabian and Karen got to go in this huge play place for kids, then they all got to play some games and get their tickets cashed in (like Chuck E. Cheese). They had so much fun and we took some great pictures and filmed them doing all their fun stuff! Their elevator rides were much more calm today! There was only one time that they started their screaming and this elderly couple on there just cracked up laughing at them. Only when we were going down the baby started screaming. He still doesn’t like the feeling.

Today Karen learned some lessons, we hope. Fabian‘s so darn smart that he picks up on his sisters‘ mistakes and he so quickly learns our expectations so that helps us out. His sister is a bit more stubborn-minded. Anyways, back to Karen’s troubles… At mealtimes sometimes the kids slurp up their drinks and want more (quite like many kids I know), but sometimes they expect us to get them another one, and tonight was another round of this type of behavior from the both of them. They each enjoyed their juice box so much and wanted more. Marissa paced her drink through her dinner and I caught Karen sneaking a drink of her sister’s drink right before we were leaving. I let it go with only an explanation that we don’t accept that type of behavior, etc., and it didn’t stop there of course. When we got home we had snacks of cookies and Karen ate hers up and then grabbed one of her sister’s cookies and ate it up real quick. We had to quick explain again that it’s not acceptable to take items/food/anything, etc. from others. I think we might have taught a lesson with the repercussions from her inconsiderate acts when we made her go get her M&Ms she’d saved from her lunchtime treat at El Corral and give some to her sister Marissa with an apology also. This time the anger didn’t last as long and the pouting sessions are growing less and less in duration when she doesn’t get her way and has to follow the rules. Still all in all they are fabulous kids but just need a little practice in following the rules of our household. They need direction as every child does. We’ve been on Marissa a lot nowadays too. She’s learning how the rules equally apply to her as well and isn’t liking it at times, but her adjustment so far has been excellent. God has definitely prepared each member for their bonding and deserves so much credit for the smooth transitions we‘ve made! It‘s hard to remember what life was like without all my children around. The only rough times are just a little more prep time is necessary in the mornings, but that’s really nothing to worry about at all. We’re truly blessed in that each family member adds so much to this family. I am blessed to have a husband as helpful and eager to help out as Rick does! Together we make a great team!


ANOTHER DAY NOW --
Today is Monday, Nov. 3rd and as we were getting ready for breakfast this morning our interpreter stopped by. On both Thursday and Friday of last week she was going to come to take us to get the kids’ shots, but each day she wasn’t able to make it. This morning she came to look at their shot records which we only have the shot records for baby Luis. When we inquired at ICBF they told us the shot records of the older children were in their file. Perhaps the ICBF office was mislead to believe they were there in their records because for some reason our attorney thought we might have their paperwork. So it would appear they have to get several shots before they go. We asked how much longer they thought the process would be and any word on sentencia? There is no word yet on when to expect that and it didn’t sound hopeful to happen in the next day or so. We’ll take a welcome surprise any time now if that is in God’s will!!!!
Hey Sherri, perhaps we will share sentencia day also! Wouldn’t that be cool???!!!! For those of you who have no idea what (or who) I’m talking about, Sherri is a dear friend whom I met on a Monday night prayer group where a few of us who are adopting (or have adopted already) from Colombia. She and her family are in Bogota adopting a little boy named Isaac. For months now our families had been looking at similar timelines to be in Colombia for our adoptions, but we had no idea we would share both our “gotcha day” and our “integration day” as the same days for each of our families being brought together! Now we’ll try for sharing the same “Sentencia day”! I think when I read their blog lately they were predicting to hear something on Wednesday or Thursday of this week. That would be nice! Sherri and her family are keeping a blog and if you care to take a peek the link is at http://allglorybetogod.blogspot.com
It’s always a good read so enjoy, and add them to your prayer list as little Isaac could use a healing touch from above! We have witnessed God’s glory in our own little baby boy and wish that miraculous healing be extended to Isaac too. Please pray for them.

The girls are playing with their dolls on one of the beds right now and being quiet as the baby is napping. He doesn’t take much for naps nowadays so we grab them when they happen and try to get the other kids to remain quiet long enough to count as a nap. It’ll be nice when we’re not all crammed in a little 2-room hotel room and a routine can be more established. The kids will surely enjoy their space and being able to play alone with their toys instead of sharing them with everyone else at all times just because we’re in such close quarters.
Fabian got in a little trouble this morning after breakfast because I noticed some bite marks on the furniture he sleeps on. There are a few spots where the wood is worn down from his teeth biting at it. He has this thing about using his teeth for just about everything. They were probably his survival tool in doing so much before. I have to correct him several times daily about putting things in his mouth or trying to open things with his teeth. He has a tendency to not want to use his utensils for eating, and would much more prefer his fingers. Even for rice and things like that -- fingers are his preference. We just continue to give him guidance and correction at times, and follow it up with much love!!!
Oh, how the day unfolds… we just saw a commercial for some sort of castle with princesses and cats, and of course Karen told us she wanted that! I told her that was nice and told her sorry her papi didn’t much care for cats so a real cat was out of the question. Only dogs and she already has 2 of them. She got real bummed and kept begging for a cat. Now she’s a little bummed out, but just as I’ve wrote these few sentences she’s come around and is okay though she just rattled off to Rick that he needed to buy her 2 dolls at the store to make up for it. Just before the commercial came on they had planned to go to the store. Karen’s full of trying to get more at times but she is quickly learning our ways.
I do have to brag just a bit on another bit of huge progress and that is how giving thanks is coming more naturally nowadays. We are hearing “thank you” in English quite a bit nowadays and they are able to name the things they are thankful for and usually name them in English. It’s just awesome.
Oops, spoke too soon, I guess, on everyone getting ready for the store. Karen didn’t want to listen and obey just before they were walking out the door so she wasn’t able to go.. Right now she’s sulking with her hands covering her face as she lays on the bed. At least she’s not doing the crying bit. She still pouts but we will have her stubborn streak conquered sometime, I’m sure of it! You just have to stay firm on the rules for that little girl. She’s just like Marissa use to be so we’ve been down this road before and know firsthand how out-of-control things can get if we go lax on the rules.
It’s been 10 minutes now and she’s still angry that she didn’t get her way. I think sometimes she tries to act goofy and play around and we allow her to do that because it’s very much a part of her personality, but sometimes she tries to push it a bit and not listen when we are serious that she stop goofing off. She seems to know exactly when her dad is serious, but still tries to push it most times, but at least she acknowledges it. With me, she just tries to carry on as if nothing happened. She has much more respect for male figures than with women it seems. It’s really nothing outside of learning how and who they respond best to and that will come eventually. We’ve made great strides but still have little moments in the day where we have to stop and address whatever the issue is. Don’t all parents go through that? Nothing new here! We enjoy our children so much and I’m actually complimenting them in such a wonderful way by telling of just the very small issues which are all we’ve had to deal with thus far. It’s really nothing other than normal parenting. I’m just bored and running out of things to report on.
We’d love to go to the pool right now but there are little kids over there taking swim classes so I don’t dare go interrupt them. We’ll wait until later this afternoon to get the swim time in. We’re sort of hanging out in the room waiting for Alexandra to stop by to maybe accompany Rick to take the kids for their shots.
On a political front, we were very closely watching the outcome of the Venezuelan vote on the referendums yesterday and it looks as if the voters very narrowly defeated Chavez’ referendums which would have given him more power over various things in his country. So many of the cars here have Venezuelan plates on them however the people are truly Colombians. To license a car in Venezuela is much cheaper than to license through Colombia. Also, I’ve seen only 2 gas stations here in Cucuta which hardly get any customers. Yet there are individuals set up along the roadside with many gas cans and you just pull up and they’ll pump in whatever amount you request. Clearly it is an operation that works with several vehicles with larger gas tanks will move back and forth to Venezuela delivering gas to Colombian roadside entrepreneurs who siphon the gas out and sell it for a little more than they paid. Still a bargain from what we’re told but for the cheap gas everyone goes over to Venezuela.

Signing off for now but will try again later. Sending all our love and thank you for your comments. It really took faith in sending all of our pictures instead of picking through some of the best ones, but oh well... these are our memories even if I wasn't looking or feeling my best in a few of those pictures. Such is life! Ciao!

Yikes, as I type this poolside right now at 11am on Tuesday, a huge iguana just ran past my feet. No kidding! Crazy but what memories!