Hey everyone.... just wanted to share this pic of Josh on Easter Sunday. As you can see, he should grow up to be a very good church member as he already likes to read the bulletin! xoxo

Missing you all!

Well, I'm sorry it's taken me awhile to update the blog... we've had a few eventful days around here. On Thursday we went with a few other families to the Botero Museum in Downtown Bogota. It was very beautiful. For those of you who are not familiar with Fernando Botero's work, he's the guy who paints the pictures of fat people. They also had many other original works of well-known artists like Monet and Picasso. We were so excited to get in for free and then we walked to a very nice restaurant called, La Tipografia. We all had something we've been missing... chicken! The hotel serves "carne" all the time! It was delicious!
Yesterday was a great day. Our friend Gloria has been raving about this famous restaurant called Andres Carne de Res in Chia, which is about 40 minutes outside of Bogota. It's only open on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. So, we all hopped into a taxi and went. The restaurant is amazing! When you first pull up, it looks like a junkyard... it's a long wooden structure with metal "art" all around it. When we went inside, the artistic quality is so cool. Apparently Andres is an artist and he used all sorts of stuff to decorate the restaurant. There were mannequin legs hanging from the ceiling, small lights decorating all light fixtures, and there was artwork everywhere! The menus were arranged in metal tins that you had to scroll through. We basically ordered appetizers, a few different types of meats, grilled veggies and also a few different beverages (their sangria was amazing!) and of course, delicious desserts all for $55 US (per couple). They even had baskets brought to our table so that the babies could sleep if they needed to. We thought it would be really cute to sit all of the babies in one basket and take a picture. That's the picture you see up top. From back to front the babies are Aly (Becky and Scott's baby girl who we kid around and say is Josh's girlfriend. She's so cute, she's quite the flirt!) Megan (Pat and Elena's baby who is 3 months old. She's is so sweet!) Zach (Gloria and Doug's baby, who was born the same day as Josh. He is so much fun!) and of course you know who! We sat near a craft table for the kids so they could go and paint pictures and create small keepsake boxes. The babies all behaved so well! They name all of the tables... ours was Mia, and they brought the receipt in a small metal tube that's a piece of art too. We posed for a quick family picture at the table as you can see!
It was a great day and we stayed there for about 4 hours... we got back just in time for dinner, which of course, we only ate a little. Here if you don't eat, Juanita, the hotel cook will come up to you and drill you as to why you didn't like the food. It can be pretty intimidating so, I always try to eat at least an acceptable amount. That's pretty much a Hispanic thing, I guess!
Today we are just hanging out. Josh has been a real trooper. He's now still waking up at least once each night to take a bottle. We're not complaining though because since he's a fussy eater, it gives him extra nutrients. He's also eating more solid food. We're still feeding him the butternut squash and bananas and soon we're going to try avocado. He's growing by the minute! Some couples who have left on side trips for a week and come back have said that he's longer... and we've compared him to the other babies his age and he does seem to be at least a "head" taller.
He's more active too. When we do playtime on the bed, he'll be laying on his stomach and turn himself over without our help. He smiles super big for Daddy, like every time he sees him! I'm also very excited to say that he's smiling at others more too.
We adults are finding ways to keep ourselves entertained after the babies go to bed. On Thursday night we watched American Idol, Survivor, CSI and Without a Trace... we were so excited that they were in English. Our friend Gloria and I practically ate in front of the TV to see the latest American Idol to be voted off. Last night was card night. I learned to play a game called Polish Hearts and then we played Uno Attack (just like Uno only faster and a few different rules). Overall, it's been a nice couple of days here. We've had two families get sentencia this week. One left today (after being here 6 weeks) and another will leave next week (7 week stay total for them).
We've also had quite a few families come in too, which has been nice. There's a couple here now also from Wisconsin who adopted a daughter 4 years ago from CRAN (Sarasol is her name) and now adopted another daugher, Isabel (3 months). The new family who accompanied us to Andres Carne de Res yesterday is from Chicago. She is Mexican and he's Irish (looks like Irial, but bigger). Their names are Elena and Pat. They adoped Aaron a few years ago and now adopted Megan. It's great to meet so many new families and get to share with them. After spending so much time with them, you feel like you truly know them!
Well, not much else to tell... we're still waiting for an update on our process. We're hoping that things will develop in God's timing... hopefully soon! Besides Gloria (who's been here 9 weeks) we are the next family up. But then again, we've learned enough to know that it doesn't work that way around here. Lots of love to you all! xoxo

Well, yesterday we went to tour Joshua's orphanage, CRAN. We were excited to finally get to see the facilities and we certainly were not disappointed! CRAN is up in the mountains, even higher than the 8600 ft above sea level where our hotel is located. It is magnificent and the work everyone does there surely should be commended. We again met with Ximena, the foundation director who asked us how it has been and if we had any questions. She then gave us a picture of Joshua's birth mother which left us in tears. And we were so happy to see that she also wrote Joshua a letter which we will save for him to read when he gets older. We then sat with Ximena's son, Gonzalo for a lengthy explanation as to the many different facets of CRAN. It was amazing! He explained to us that of course they have a separate birth mother's home where they provide four major areas of care for the mothers: nutrition, psycological care, vocational assitance and emotional support. He stressed again that at no time are mothers pressured to place their babies up for adoption. He also gave us some staggering stats about Colombia. According to their last census, 54% of all pregnancies in Colombia are unwanted. We were pretty blown away by that. He also said that 60% of Colombians live at the poverty line making about $2 a day, of that 60%, 40% live well below the poverty line earning only $1 a day. While we haven't really been exposed to the extreme poverty stricken areas of Bogota, we have seen some very poor areas. Please keep all of these people in your prayers!
Gonzalo also then told us about the process that takes place after mother's decide to place their children for adoption. They must sign the papers at ICBF relinquishing their rights and then the babies under 1 year of age go to the foster mother's house. There are about 16 foster mothers that CRAN uses, all trained to take care of the babies.. they each take care of up to 3 babies at one time. At this time a child may be placed, assuming that all the paperwork is ok. If for some reason one of these babies are "abandoned", and the parent does not legally relinquish their rights it could take years for them to find permanent families. In this instance, CRAN then takes the child (after 1 year of age) and they live on the premises. Right now they have 70 kids living there between the ages of 1 and 7. While they live there, they receive lots of care. They have psychologists on staff to assist with the children, a speech pathologist, a nutritionist, several social workers, teachers, and physical therapists. The children are all well cared for. They are exposed to art, music and of course schooling. We were so impressed with how awesome the facility was and how clean it's kept! Of course we got to see all of the children...and if you know me, I fell in love with them all! I would so wish to be able to take more home with us! Just to give you an idea, right now there are 2 sibling groups of 4 that are ready for adoption, and two sibling girls that I fell in love with. The most heart renching part of the tour was being greeted by so many of the kids. Many of them walked up to us and hugged us as we toured the facility. The kids seemed very happy and the staff is wonderful. If you think you might be willing to take in one of these little ones as your own, or if you just want more information about CRAN, you can log onto: www.cran.org.co They also accept donations by way of money, clothes, etc. It was a wonderful morning! We are so thankful to the awesome people who work at CRAN and who make these little ones wake up with smiles on their faces every day. xoxo

Also an update for today... unfortunately we will not be able to fly out this Saturday back home. I know, I know, we are heartbroken too! The courts are still in the process and so now we have booked our returning flight on May 20th to arrive at about 6pm in Miami. We hope that we will be able to move the flights sooner than that, but, it seems that everyone's process here is moving very slowly... we think due to Semana Santa and the time that we lost during that week. We promise to keep everyone posted as to the exact date when Josh will arrive home! keep praying, that's the best FedEx we've got to get home sooner! lots of love to you all! (Happy Birthday Bibi, we miss you! And a very happy belated birthday to Auntie Aly, Uncle Jim and Joe. We sooooo wish we could be there to celebrate with all of you! xoxo)

Cool Dude!

Well nothing new to tell around here. Today we are chilling out in the hotel because baby Josh has a bit of a runny nose. Due to this, we opted to stay in today. This was a pic we took of Josh when we went to La Fontana Craft Fair. We thought he looked so cute with my sunglasses on!
Speaking of sunglasses, not many people wear them around here. We had another rough night... not as bad as the night before. Josh is so good though, even with a runny nose, he finds time to smile for us!
We miss and love you all. Can't wait to be home with all of you!
xoxo

What?!

I'm missing a Wedding?

This was Josh's expression when we told him that Dad and Mercy are getting married today. You can so see that he wanted to be there... know we're thinking and praying that all goes well. Congratulations to both of you!!! We can't wait to hear all about it!

(At this rate, maybe we'll be home by the 4th of July. )

Anyway, not much new to tell today. Josh had a rough night. We gave him some homemade butternut squash and rice cereal and we think it might've been a bit thick so, he didn't poopie yesterday. Last night you can imagine, he was NOT a happy camper. He woke up about 10 times and Frankie was such an awesome Dad. He woke up and took care of him most of the time because I'm fighting off a cold. Of course the last thing we want is for the baby to get sick, so, I've basically been put in quarantine. hee, hee. Not to worry, though, this morning the poopie was abundant! Prayer does work! Even for poop! :))

So, today's going to be a chilling day here in the hotel. We found yet another craft fair so, maybe tomorrow we'll visit. This one is supposed to be full of bargains and you know me... can't pass that up!

Yesterday we did take a trip to Unicentro and I got Josh the most beautiful knitted blanket, white with blue trim, for only $15 US dollars. I'm still looking for a nice outift for his presentation at the church so, maybe I will find it here. I've seen a few that I like, but Frankie says they look too feminine and he doesn't want all white. I agree... the perfect outfit will show up. After all, we'll be searching on two continents! Love and miss you all!

Mommy loves Baby Josh!

Ok, it's my turn to have a cutie pic with the baby! YAY!

We had a nice day yesterday. Not much in the way of updates... we were thinking of changing rooms at the hotel to one that's closer to the gathering area. The reason why is because we were thinking that we could put him down to nap in the room and then hang out in the gathering area. But, the hotel staff found us a few baby monitors that we can use, so that way we can put him to nap in the room and through the baby monitor, make sure he's ok. It's kind of hard at night, especially when he goes to bed at 7:30pm... we're tiptoeing around the room for like an hour until we settle in to watch a DVD on the portable DVD player (Thanks Irial and Mel... it's been a life saver). We just finished watching Jesus of Nazareth (in installments) for Easter and yesterday we started Gone with the Wind. You can imagine, Frank is thrilled! hee, hee.
I have to admit these days, I'm more homesick than usual. I don't know, thinking about everyone back home... being that this is our fourth week, we REALLY want to go HOME!

Ok, here is another funny story. Our friend Gloria wanted to watch Gone with the Wind yesterday afternoon, so, we popped it in while the babies slept their afternoon nap. At the end of the movie we realized that we watched the entire second half of the DVD. DUH! So, today we'll watch part 1 of the movie. Amazing how at this stage in the game all is backwards! Well, please keep our friend Gloria in your prayers. She has been here 7 weeks and found out today that she still may be looking at another two weeks. I can't imagine!

Our rep Edith called yesterday to tell us that on Monday we get to take our tour of CRAN, so, we're excited about that! Josh has been rather cranky this morning, but we're hoping that when he wakes up, he'll be all smiles. We're hoping to start him on more homemade baby food when we get back. We've tried bananas and butternut squash here, both of which were received well by Josh. His favorite is bananas, but we have to put it in the blender as he doesn't like the stringy consistency when we mash it. Our friend Gloria has the book, the Super Baby Food Book and she says it lets you know when is the best time to introduce foods and the benefits to homemade baby food. Frankie was raised on it too! I've also been reading the book, Baby Wise and have gotten some good pointers from that. (The importance of scheduling)

I miss everyone so much! Pray the days go by quickly so that we can be home soon. xoxo

Hello from Josh and Daddy!

Well, it's another lovely day here in Colombia... we've done much of nothing the last couple of days. Yesterday I spoke to the ladies in the kitchen and we all agreed that I'd make my layered Butterfinger dessert. Thanks Aly for the awesome recipie, it's been a hit through the years, and Colombia was no exception! For those of you who are interested, here are the details of the recipie.

Layered Chocolate Dessert
Ingredients:

• Chocolate Cake Mix
• Chocolate Pudding Mix
• Cool Whip (big container)
• Favorite Crushed Candy Bar (I usually buy two snack packs)

Follow the cake mix instruction and bake it. When finished, crumble the cake and wait for layering. Follow the pudding mix... I think instant pudding works best. Refrigerate until you are ready for layering. Crush the candy bars into small pieces and place in a small bowl. When ready, take a trifle bowl and layer the cake, pudding, cool whip and candy bar. It's an easy dessert and it can be modified!

So, Frank and I went shopping for ingredients. Well, the dessert didn't necessarily translate well overseas. Frank, Gloria and I (with babies Zach and Joshua, of course) hiked awhile to a store called FedCo, where we thought we might find Butterfingers, but no luck. So, I used Twix instead. The hardest thing to find was Cool Whip... it doesn't exist here. So, I bought whipping cream but then of course, whipping it was fun. I also added graham crakers crushed. It didn't come out as great as it does back home, but everyone seemed to like it. So, that took awhile.

Another fun thing to tell about yesterday... Frank and I got Josh ready for a bath. We did it after he poopied so that we could make sure to gain the most from a nice, clean bath. Well, after changing Josh, I decided that I wasn't going to put a diaper on him since Frank was already preparing his bath. So, I put a little towel on him and sat him in my lap while we waited. Well, pretty soon I felt a warm, wet substance sliding down my leg. Yes, that's right! I got peed! Josh thought it was hysterical. I wasn't so pleased. But it was pretty funny.
So, today we had another awesome family leave. Our Finnish friends are off and we're supposed to have three new families arrive today. Two Norweigian and one French. Should be fun! We're still hoping to catch a few excursions this week, so, we should have more to tell.
Well, lots of love to you all. Keep praying for us, we're praying for you!

Happy Easter!!!

(This is a picture of Josh and his friend Matthew... who left to go home yesterday... :( Josh misses him! )

We miss you all soooo much! Especially today, being Easter, there is nothing more we would want than to spend the day with our family and friends :( But we know that you all are thinking the same thing about us, so we just have to remember all of the great holidays we WILL get to spend together soon! Well, we haven't updated the Blog for a few days now, so, here is the update.
Yesterday was our day of rest. We try to space out the outings so that the time here doesn't seem so long... So, we just hung out here. Last night was our "movie night" with Gloria, Scott and Becky. We watched one of our favorites, The Count of Monte Cristo. Everyone loved it.
This morning we woke up early and dressed Josh in a cute Easter outfit. He had cacky pants and this super cute button down shirt that we got from Joceyln and Rody's son Rudy Jr. (thank you guys so much!) and we put his little black converse on (compliments of Auntie Z... which by the way, EVERYONE loves here. They are so cute, thank you!) and we went to breakfast here. Well, just a little story to show you how fun and UNPREDICTABLE parenthood is... Josh booched all over the outfit during breakfast. No, I'm not talking a little booch you can dab with a towel. He barfed similar to the Exorcist style. Two times. It went everywhere! Poor guy's little outfit was left soaked. Well, all except the socks and shoes. So, plan B. We thought that was so funny! It happened right when our food came too. So, we had to leave everything on the table and go change him. Now I know why parents pack an extra set of clothes when they go on an outing! hee, hee.
So, after that eventful morning, wewent to church. YAY! Our friends Scott and Becky were able to find a church here in Bogota that had an English service and since they don't speak Spanish, there you go! It's called the United Church of Bogota. In case you want to check it out, their website is www.ucbogota.org. The congregation was so friendly! Pastor Marc gave a very nice sermon where he basically delivered the proof for the Resurrection. It was very nice and we are hoping to return next Sunday as well. Pastor Marc even introduced us to the congregation during the service as a "Praise Report" for the adoptions. While the service was wonderful, it did make me miss Christ Fellowship a lot! I think both Frank and I truly miss the Waystation. We CAN'T WAIT for Josh to grow up and jam to the praise and worship...
After the service, we came back here to the Hotel and got changed. Then we all walked to the fair at Santa Barbara. We stopped to have lunch at a nice restaurant where I ordered COLD water. (It's amazing the things you miss... all of the water served at the hotel is room temperature, which I KNOW Pastor Rick loves, but I'm not a big fan yet). We walked around a bit and then poor little Aly booched so, we walked back. It's been a booching kind of day for the kids :( Thank God, they're both ok. Josh had a super great rest of the day...
The best part was coming home and being able to talk to our family at my Dad's house. They got Josh a cake that said "Happy Easter Josh!" Isn't that awesome? Of course, Josh loved it! When he saw the picture through the email, he said "AwweeaghBrrrrrr!" I think that was it. That translates to... "Wow, that's the best cake ever, I love it!" He even drooled!
Well, today's a special day for all of us... knowing that our Lord and Savior rose from the grave gives us all something to be thankful for. Of course for Frankie, Josh and I, we count ourselves doubly blessed this Easter season.

Another Craft Fair Outing!

Well, I know that you all know me... and Craft Fairs, I cannot resist! So, here is a large group of us who went yesterday to a lovely Craft Fair here in Bogota commemorating Holy Week. We took this picture outside of our hotel (Hotel Paris). The craft fair at Parque Artesanos was the largest one we've been to yet and we found lots of goodies to bring back home! I even found some cool artwork for Josh's room... it's amazing how creative artists can get! These families have been our "support group" while we've been here and we feel blessed to have come to know each one of them.
Let's see... Kelly and Mike are standing next to us, by now you should all know who they are... they are leaving home tomorrow and we are so sad to see them go! But, are super happy that they get to take baby Matthew home... it's not going to be the same here without them! :((((((((
The next family is Johanka and Mika, they along with their biological son, Oscar, adopted Paola(5), Catalina(4) and Jessica(2). They have been teaching us many Finnish words... including Hooova, which means cool in Finnish. They are such a sweet family.
In the back is Scott and his wife Becky (blonde on the right) adopted Ally who is 5 months. They are so sweet... from Minnesota and Ally has the most beautiful, thick hair you've ever seen! We keep saying that she's Josh's girlfriend as Scott is a big basketball guy and knows that Josh has a future in the NBA.
In front of Scott is Valeria and her daughter Camilla. Valeria works here at the hotel and makes the most wonderful desserts! They are both so sweet!
Gloria is in the front, with the stroller. She and her husband are adopting their second Colombian child, Zach. He is so loveable and huggable. Not to mention, he is destined for fame as he and Josh share the same birthday!
Andrea is next to her with Finn in the stroller. She just went home this morning to Colorado. She and her husband live in Lyons... a beautiful little town we drove through on our CO trip in October. She is full of life and Finn is definately a Colombian cutie!
The last family is Rebekah and Leo who adopted their son a few years ago here and are now back for their daughter Mia. They are also a lovely family!
So, overall, we've had fun here!
We are thinking of everyone back home today and this weekend especially since we won't be there to celebrate Easter with all of you :( We will be praying for you all and rejoicing with you as we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord. We think it's amazing that this will be the first holiday we will get to celebrate with Joshua... it's very meaningful! The Lord definately had it all worked out!
Thank you everyone for your sweet comments... yes, I thank God that I had the opportunity to talk to the birth moms. It was a moment, I'll never forget. People keep asking us if we'll adopt again from Colombia... we can honestly say that it's been such a great experience, we'll see what the Lord has in store for us. If there's anything we've learned through this whole process, it's that... God IS in control! xoxo

Daddy loves Josh!
Hey everyone! Well, lots to tell today. I usually leave my blog entries to every other day, but, today I wanted to fill everyone in on what's been happening. First off, this is one of the MANY pics I have of Frankie and Joshua... (Mercy, Frankie asked me to let you know that being a Daddy is the best thing in the whole world! Well, of course, tied with being married to the most wonderful woman! :) Did you like that? I threw it in there... hee. hee.) Yeah, so, Frankie yesterday had some cool playtime with Josh and has discovered that he can turn himself over in the bed, with a little help from Daddy. He smiles a huge smile of accomplishment! Another thing he loves is when Frankie kisses his belly when he's being changed. I think he loves it so much because the goatie scratches his belly. Frankie and I both say that we love the morning with him so much. As soon as we hear him make his little sounds, we look over the edge of the bed, into his crib. He sees us and brakes into this indescribable smile, it's amazing! Well, yeah, parenthood is awesome... most of the time!
I have to say that I don't think we've had a mealtime that's not interrupted with crying or fussiness. Usually one of us ends up standing up and holding him... heck, I've even fed myself while standing. it's pretty funny.
Well, I'm sure all of you are curious to hear how it went yesterday at the mother's home. It was amazing. We decided that Frankie would stay here at the hotel with Josh, since they didn't want the babies to be there for obvious reasons. Although the hotel staff here is amazing and I would trust them to look after Josh for a little while, we still aren't at that point yet, so, that was the main reason why he didn't come with me. So, I went with my friend Kelly (also an adoptive mom) and her rep Helena (so that she could translate as Kelly doesn't speak Spanish). When we got there, we were greeted by a wonderful young lady, Maria Elena who is the facilitator at the mother's home. She took us to a room where about 8 or 9 expectant mothers were. We went around and everyone introduced themselves. Some of the mothers had decided to keep their babies, some to already give their babies for adoption and most were undecided. The ages of the girls were 15 to 29. When it came time for me to introduce myself, I did and then proceeded to take that time to say thanks. I held it together pretty well.. only some tears, but I told them that there were no words to express my thanks to them for the gift of adoption. That I am so thankful to the Lord for each and every one of them and that whatever decision they would make in the end, I would pray to the Lord for each of them. Let's see, questions they asked... What kind of medical care is there in the US? (I thought that was a great one!) How did our families react to the decision we made to adopt... easy one for me! When would we tell our babies that they were adopted? I told them they'd just know as Frank and I plan to always include Josh's birthmom in nightly prayers, etc. For many of them, this was the first experience like this... so, they had questions about the "closed system" Colombia has with adoptions, what CRAN's policies are, etc. Oh, we also stressed how important it was to us as adoptive parents for them to write a letter to their child.. one we could share with them. Kelly especially talked about this as both of her children do not have letters from their birth moms. I asked them if there was anything in particular they would want us to pass on to the children... only one answered me. She told me that she wanted to make sure her child knew that they could turn to the Lord for anything. I was thanking God for that one... it gave me an awesome opportunity to let them know that both Kelly and I are Christians and that we have a personal relationship with the Lord. There is nothing more important to us than that! We left feeling very positive about the whole thing. The last question they asked was if we missed anything about being pregnant... I was honest, I said "Nope! I really don't!" I was very thankful that we went and I thought the fact that it was just women was great too. Of course, during the talk we were not allowed to tell them the baby's name, etc. because some of these moms may know Josh's birthmom. Going back to the bit about the birthmom's letter... I'm not sure yet if Josh's mom wrote one. We are supposed to go back to CRAN next week (the children's facility, which is different from where we went yesterday) and take a tour. They may then give us the letter, I don't know. We'll see. I hope there is one.

Other news... we were very pleased to hear that we've been assigned Court #2, which is a great court! The higher courts (17, 19, 21) are usually the toughest and require additional signatures. Lord willing, all will work out according to God's timing. Well, lots of love to everyone!

Thank you everyone for your great advice on the teething! I'm going to keep trying to use the teethers we have here.. (Dad, we do have the water filled ones) and I looked for OraGel at Carulla, but they don't have it. I'm going to look at Exito during our next trip. We'll keep trying cold stuff. He seems to be better with it. Thanks Kelly for your suggestions! Blanca's were similar. I feel so blessed to have so many people cheering us on! Yeah, we've definately learned to wing it! I think that's the most fun thing we can do!We've had a few quiet days here... Sunday was very nice. We went with Kelly and Mike to a local craft fair at La Fontana hotel. It was marvelous! The fair itself was kind of small, but, there were activities for the kids and the day was beautiful. We hung out there for awhile. We bought Josh a beautiful handmade puzzle of Colombia that we hope he'll use when he gets older. We figured it would be a nice compliment to the many talks we'll have about where he was born. It's amazing how the weather is here in Bogota. Usually the mornings are awesome... sunny and hot, but the afternoons are rainy and wet. (kind of reminds us of Miami in the summertime). We also had a most delicious brunch. It's funny... all desserts here (well, I'm exaggerating, not ALL) but many are made with arequipe. We even saw today at Carulla, Frosted Flakes with Arequipe. Super funny! Then, after the craft fair we walked back to the hotel. We've learned the weather pattern here so, we always go out equipped with two large umbrellas and a big bird raincoat we drape over the stroller. Well, we got caught in a hail storm. Luckily, we were close by a building with an overhang, so, we were able to seek shelter there. The hail was coming down the size of large peas... some small marbles. It was a memorable experience! Don't worry... we were all fine. I love walking places.... it's very relaxing. Yesterday we just chilled here at the hotel, nothing special. Today is the visit to the mother's home at CRAN... I'm looking forward to that. I may go with Kelly and our agency representatives. The ladies said that the babies shouldn't go, so, the Dads are going to stay here with them. It should be emotional... I hope I don't lose it! I'll update you guys all about it on our next blog entry. We also have plans this week to go to Hard Rock Bogota, the Botero Museum, and there is a local Arts Festival beginning tomorrow for Holy Week. Should be an exciting week! I leave you with yet another "Josh Shot"... love and miss you all. I'm praying for all of you!!!

Hola! Here's a pic of Josh as he's getting ready for a daily outing. He loves his little LeapFrog Worm that Jackie and Vanity (my friends from work) gave him! He especially loves the musical melodies (classical music). Just like his mama, he loves to sing and dance!
We pray that everyone is doing well. Thank you again so much for the awesome comments. We read each and every one and appreciate them! Well, not much to tell today. Yesterday we took our first trip to the local mall, UniCentro. It is a beautiful mall with many stores. We mostly did a lot of window shopping. I did manage to get two short sleeved shirts for me, but the sizes here are very wierd and so, they didn't fit. I'm going to have to return them. :( It's wierd the shirts came in packages and so, they didn't let me try them on. They were pretty reasonable though... they each cost about $7.50 US. It's like shopping with ROSS prices! All of you who know me well will be surprised to know that I don't like the shoes in most shoe stores. They're kind of funky. (Frankie's happy about that:)
I know, I know, enough about me! Josh is doing great. He's getting a bit fussy in the afternoons, I think because of the teething. If any of you Moms can share words of wisdom, I'd greatly appreciate them. He doesn't like the teethers and we didn't bring oragel and they don't sell it here. Yesterday Frankie was magnificent and calmed him down after a bit of a "gas" episode. He's found a new hobby though. He now loves to shriek at the highest pitch possible. It's quite funny... he does it just to hear himself, we think. He can be happy, sad, etc. and he'll do it. He's grown quite a bit. On the changing table, he's just about the size of the changing pad (length wise). We're putting him in all of hte 6-9 month clothing and it fits perfect lengthwise, but super big width wise. I'm thinking that I'm going to leave most of the 0-3 month clothing here for the orphanage.
Pray for us on Tuesday. We will be visiting the mother's home for CRAN. Josh's birthmom will not be there,but other young moms who are currently pregnant will be. We're going to have a chance to talk to them, ask questions and just interact. I think it will be a great opportunity to thank them for their gift to us.
We love you all! muchos besos y carinos!

Another Fabulous Friday here in Colombia!
Today is another lovely day in Bogota. We've had a nice couple of days... yesterday we went to the Salt Cathedral in Zipaquira, about a hours drive from Colombia. It's a beautiful Cathedral in a salt mine and so the entire cathedral and chapels were carved entirely of salt rock. It was beautiful. Here's the link if anyone wants to see it: http://www.backpackingforlife.com/southamerica/pictures/colombia/saltcathedral.html
We took a tour with our friends, Kelly and Mike (in English) which was about an hour long. Josh went strapped to me in the smugli and had a great time. We then stopped at McDonalds for Josh's first visit there. Here in Colombia we were surprised to find out that the McDonalds had table service and so a lady came to our table to take our order. The entire time there was American 80's music playing in the background. Josh and Matthew (Kelly and Mike's son 6 months old) especially loved the Pointer Sisters' song JUMP as they were forced to jump each time the song said the word. Overall it was a wonderful day.
Well, we also learned yesterday afternoon that our friends Kelly and Mike got their sentencia. YAY for them! (Sad for us). Sentencia basically means that the court process is over and Matthew is legally theirs. Now they have to get his birth certificate, see the embassy doctor, get his visa, and a few other steps so they can go home! We're bummed, but super happy for them.
Today we are hoping to maybe go to UniCentro after lunch. It's a mall here, closeby. I need to buy some T-shirts as I didn't make much "down clothes"...
Josh is doing great, as usual. Still great nights! His hair is growing some too. We think it looks brownish. Oh, on Tuesday we plan to visit the CRAN mother's home. Josh's mom will not be there, but other moms who are thinking about giving their babies up for adoption will be. We hope to get a chance to talk to them... thank them all for the gift they give to us parents. It should be an emotional, but I think rewarding time. I'm already in prayer for that.
Today's a special day for me... it would've been my Mom's 52nd birthday. All the more reason to have a fabulous, rewarding day with Josh! Love you all!xoxo

If any of you are curious... Hotel Paris currently has quite a few families. Here is a picture of the kids that are in the process of being adopted. Here are the kids, (left to right) Laura, 16; Finn (reminds me of Irial, 4 months) Joshua; Zach (5 months); Matthew (6 months); Ally (4 months) Sebastian (4 months) Noah (5 months) sitting on Luisa, 11; Camilla (Valeria, one of the lovely ladies who works here's daughter); on the floor, Ashley 3 , and Emily 3, (both adopted by their families previously from Colombia) Oh and I forgot Charlie on the left hand side too. He's not adopted, but his mom is adopting Laura and Luisa. They all are from different foster homes (CRAN, Los Pisingos, Chiquitines, Ayudame, etc) or ICBF directly. As we mentioned previously, many of their adoptive parents have been waiting awhile already for the legal process to be played out. All of these kids are so great... they each have so much love to give. Please be in prayer for all of the kids here in Colombia who still need adoptive homes. Maybe the Lord's calling you to play an active part in this process! We can say from experience that it's the most rewarding blessing we've ever had. Josh is in there too! He's the second baby on the couch, from the left hand side. He's having such an awesome time with all of his new friends! Of course, he also has great friends in Florida through CAI who are waiting to hang out with him too!

Here's the update for today.... yesterday we went to a fabulous lunch spot called Crepes and Waffles. It was delicious! Then to a cute souvenier shop called Maku nearby. It was a nice outing and we had a great time. Today we only went to Carulla, our daily outing. We went to buy a small cake for our head cook, Juanita, because she got jealous that we took a cake to the lawyer this week and hadn't gotten one for her. I think she said it more of a joke, but we won brownie points with her today! Also, another really special family went home today and the mom, Laura was celebrating her birthday so, we wanted to get her a cake. She was such a sweet, Chrisitan lady, she touched us. She came with her biological daughter, Mary to adopt a little girl she had been fostering named Lina. Lina was in a very bad fire when she was little and her face is pretty much completely burned. Laura and her husband were fostering her for 2 years and now adopted her. Well, while they were here to finalize the process, they came upon John, another young little boy who Laura says the Lord wanted them to adopt too. So, the whole family went home today! What a blessing they were!

It's amazing what the Lord's teaching us while we've been here. During our quiet time in the book of Genesis, we've been reading about the lineage of Abraham and now Isaac. It's amazing to me how the Lord kept his promise to Abraham even through his children, and their children. It makes me think alot about the issue of legacy. Now that I'm a Mom I find myself thinking, "What legacy do I want to leave to Joshua?" What would I be proud to tell his birth mom later on in life... the bottom line is that I just want him to be a good, godly man. One who puts Christ first in everything. I can't wait for him to know what it's like to be secure in life, to know that the Lord has it all under control. That's my prayer for my child... if I can help him get that, I will have been a successful parent.

A Soon to be Famous Josh SMILE!
Hello our blessed family and friends! We miss you ALL! We hope that all of you are well. Please email us and tell us what's going on at home! Thank you so much for all of your beautiful comments. And NO, I was not licking my baby. Although, it does kind of seem like it! I was kissing his cheek and Frank thought it was so funny because he was smiling and laughing, so he decided to take a picture. I miss you guys sooooooo much, you have no idea! Yes, Bibi, Mel and Danny.... I keep thinking of Mom everyday. And I promise! I've already told Joshua how much Jesus loves him and has a special plan for his life! OK, now onto our update.
Yesterday we had a wonderful day! We went to a local flea market and a craft fair. We had fun! We bought a few souveniers and a Colombian soccer outfit for Spencer! (miss you buddy!) Oh, and also a pretty wooden thingy for Josh for his room (with his name on it). We also almost got a pretty quilt, but it was kind of expensive. She was asking $200,000 pesos. ($100 US) and we didn't want to pay more than $50 US) so, we didn't get it. Josh behaved great, especially since it was his first long day out. We strapped him in the smugli for most of the day and he went exploring strapped to me. Another great night!
We went today to the ICBF, department of minors (it's like the department of children and family services) and we met with our lawyer there, Griselda. She was very nice. She asked us a few formal questions. I think one was, "Why did we decide to adopt from Colombia?" and another was "How has it been being his parents so far?" The courts still refer to him as Marcos Babilonia Morelo because until we get the sentencia (last step of the process) we won't be able to change his name officially to Joshua Marcos. She was very impressed with our Spanish (thanks Ma, Pop, Daddy, Nanny, & Abuelita!) We are so thankful that our Spanish was up to "par" at least for this interview! Then, she gave us a formal piece of paper that basically says that he's in our custody while we are in Colombia. So, now the legal process is officially underway. The wait has only just begun! Now here is how it's supposed to playout: we have 10 days for ICBF to sign the papers and get them to the courts, then they have 10 days to get them back to ICBF, then another ten days back to the courts. So, these 10 days are working days (each of them so a maximum total of 30) Then, factor in that we received confirmation today that during Holy Week, the courts are closed all week and ICBF is closed Thursday and Friday. So, you can see why a few families here are in a bit of a panic. Some have already been here 3 or 4 weeks already. Daddy and Mercy... we hope to be there on April 22nd. Anything's possible for God! We presented Graciela today with a small gift of thanks and also brought a nice dessert for all in the office. The Colombian people are so wonderfully nice! That's all for now. xoxo to all!

Going outside....
Yeah, all little things get us excited these days. It seems that everyday we have an outing to Carulla, our local supermarket. Of course, today wasn't any different. We went with our friends Kelly and Mike and their kids. It was so nice, we had a beautiful Colombian lady approach us to ask us if we needed any help. As soon as she saw the babies, she said, Did you guys adopt and we said yes. She then thanked us for adopting these little ones from her country. It was so sweet! Not too much new to tell, so, we'll let the pictures do the talking! Last night, again, Josh had a great night! He slept from 8pm to 7am this morning. It's amazing how much he's smiling these days! God is so good and we are so thankful to Him for keeping us on this journey. Thank you to all of you who have been praying for us and sending us words of encouragement... you have no idea how much they've meant to us! It seems that tomorrow we will venture to go to the craft shows, so, you know me... I'm all excited! xoxo We'll try to post tomorrow... but I'm not promising anything... for sure by Monday!