Christmas Break

The niñas are on Christmas break and it has been fun for the four of us to be home together all day again. We have been having nasty weather (cold, icy, and generally hazardous) so we haven't been going too many places. Yesterday we went out for Andres' speech therapy appointment and also had the girls eyeglasses adjusted. We took a trip to the local library and Claudia and Anji got library cards and we checked out a bunch of books and a few little videos for the kids to enjoy as a treat.

It is hard for me to believe Christmas is in only two days. Things creep up on us fast, especially when we are busy with other things! We are celebrating Navidad as a family (just the five of us) tomorrow. Karl has the next few days off so that will be really nice to have him home! We are looking forward to having some of my family members staying with us and then we will celebrate with Karl's side of the family over the weekend.

We enjoyed some fun time yesterday before dinner and thought we would share our festive video with you! Our kids are a walking party waiting to happen! They are also the sweetest and most wonderful niños e-v-e-r! We hope our happy little niños add some special cheer to your day!!! Be sure to check out Beaker in the back (behind the kids in the video)...he has a new casa! He really likes his new bachelor pad!

Mid-December

We are way too busy to write much about life but all is going well! Although I cannot write much of an update, I thought I would post some recent pictures for your enjoyment! The kids are excellent and we are so proud of them! We adore them! We have been enjoying our Advent devotionals together each evening and the kids & us are up to 16 Scriptures memorized! The girls are out of school soon for Christmas break and we are looking forward to some special time together!

They Are Growing Up

Each of our kids is growing up so much! We are constantly amazed at their growth in every way: new abilities, new vocabulary, clothes they are out-growing, mastery of skills. They are learning to be such great helpers!

They gather the trash cans around the house on trash day, they fold their clothes/pajamas nicely, make their beds, the girls vacuum up crumbs and bird seed in the kitchen with a little dust buster, & the kids even set the table for dinner!

We are now able to use regular toothpaste for Andres who now does an excellent job of swishing and rinsing! We are so proud of him! What a big boy! This is him in action...

In addition to that important skill, Andres is out of the high chair and in his own booster seat. Even more wonderful that that, he is not in a diaper anymore and is doing such a fantastic job!

Gammy and Grandpa Bill sent the kids an early Christmas gift that we are all so thankful for - a really nice nativity set for the children! It is already getting very good use as they are able to play & explore what they are learning in our Advent devotionals together!

We have done seven days of our Advent devotional together - tonight will be our eighth. Our book we are going through (in addition to La Santa Biblia) is called The Advent Jesse Tree. Our little studies together have been increadibly valuable for the children to learn more about who Jesus is and why Jesus had to come to the earth. It has been very eye-opening for the children and for us as well as a lot of fun! The girls already have seven Scriptures memorized! Wow!

Truly, we cannot believe the transformation that has happened in our children over these 11 months together. We are so blessed to be their parents and praise the Lord for His goodness and lavish love He has set upon our family.

Segundo día de diciembre

We have been tremendously busy around our casa, hence the lack of posts to our blog! Here is a cute little video that I captured of the kids having a lot of fun this evening as we wait for Beloved Papi to come home from work so we can eat dinner together! Enjoy & please let us know what you think of our video! More updates coming soon!

Photo Tag

I was photo tagged so here is my picture! Here is Papi having a good 'ole time with the kids back at the beginning of August. The kids sure love having fun with their Papi! He is their human jungle gym! Praise God for this family He has created!

If you haven't scrolled down lately, I posted a new slide show!

By Special Request

For those of you wanting to learn more about the culture of Colombia, we thought we would offer an instructional video so you could learn how to do the cultural dance of Colombia. Get a pair of comfy shoes on & be sure to stretch first as we cannot be responsible for injuries! Enjoy and please let us know what you think of the very skilled native dancers we found to perform for this video!

It Is Conference Time

We had a wild & crazy weekend! We decided to go on a trip last minute. Thursday afternoon was spent making hotel reservations, reserving a trailer to rent and making an appointment to have a hitch installed on the van on Friday morning! And don't forget packing!

All kinds of things went wrong as we ventured off for our spontaneous trip out of town - including a bout with sickness while away! We got a late start but we made it to our destination and had a late dinner at Cracker Barrel with a dear friend. We visited with my Sister and her family and had a blast! We shopped at IKEA/the Armstrong family's favorite place to shop! We finally bought new bedroom furniture for our (Papi & Mami's) bedroom! We stayed in a hotel two nights and really enjoyed our time away together as a family.

Our kids never sleep in the car - this is them on the way home - totally conked out!

This is our dinner at my Sister's house. Her Husband took the picture. He did this funny thing with his hair to make all the kids laugh! What a great photographer! We are hoping for some kickbacks from the bib company for the advertising!

The week has passed very, very quickly. Monday I raced home after school for our 3rd post placement visit. It went smoothly. Tuesday morning, Papi & Mami took Andres to an appointment with a pediatric urologist. Yesterday evening, I had a night out in preparation for a long weekend. Tonight we will go to our very first Parent - Teacher Conferences for the girls!

Tomorrow, both girls are off school. We are all off on Tuesday as well for Veterans Day.

My ornaments are officially finished and ready for the big exchange next week. We will be packing our shoe box gifts this weekend and turn them in on Sunday! After that, I will be ready for another craft!

Thursday's Agenda

Yesterday Papi came home earlier than usual (4:30) and that was quite a treat to have extra time with him! We were still reading Claudia's book for homework and other than that just goofed around until dinner time.

We were supposed to re-blitz the office area but the two of us were totally fried. So, instead we talked about life (which was really nice) and watched a LHOP episode while folding laundry (yes we DO have a lot of laundry!) and eating popcorn! That was really a nice break except that the episode we watched was a TWO part that left our hearts racing and guessing who the bad guy was and we did NOT have time to watch the second part.

Today there is un fiesta por el otoño or a fall party in Claudia's class in the afternoon so Andres and I are planning on going to that. By the time it is over, I will just drive the kids home with me and then we are heading straight to the eye center. Claudia's "new" glasses are totally crooked and lopsided and we are going to buy a band to keep them on her head. A 4 year old and a pair of glasses is a frightening combination!!!

Tonight is Mami's Night Out and if I weren't so tired I would be looking forward to it! I told Karl this morning that it is too late in the week because I am so run down but he said it is like an "ER Trip" for me. I don't know but I think if I had some alone time earlier in the week, maybe I would not be so depleted...? Whenever it is, I am grateful that Karl sends me out for a night off. - What a wonderful Husband and Friend!

My Shoe Box Story

So here is my "shoe box story"...

We have done shoe box gifts before and think it is such a special outreach to children.

But when they showed an Operation Christmas Child video at one of our MOPS meetings, my heart was so moved. Maybe it is because I am so much more familiar with the plight of children around the world now that I am an adoptive Mami and it is so much closer to home. I sat at the table with my MOPS group watching this video overhead, quietly sobbing, having to look away as I dabbed the tears streaming down my face. Once I recovered, I decided yes I would do this again this year despite the abundance of other things on my plate.

I told Karl this story and showed him the three shoe boxes I brought home to fill. He was all for doing this.

Funny thing though, as a couple days passed by, and the pressures of life increased, I reasoned that it just was not a feasible activity for me this year....As a new Mami of three children, I have an awful lot going on, not to mention the barrage of holiday related demands coming up, there's only so much that one woman can do!

When I glanced & saw the Operation Christmas Child update letter on the kitchen table, I announced to Karl that I would not be doing the shoe boxes this year and told him all my reasoning stated above.

The letter had happy Indian children joyfully carrying their shoe boxes. Inside though, was a quotation that gripped my heart...

From Colombia: A boy named Cesar wrote, "I just want to thank you for the box and also for the Bible lessons that you sent to me. I was needing these things. Now I have Jesus in my heart."

That got my attention! I ran to show Karl this quote from the Colombian boy. I knew I needed to squeeze this into my schedule and now we are doing four boxes instead of the original three we planned on!

Our Photo Pages

Karl thought it would be neat if I included images of our photo pages that we created for Colombia to send with our 3rd post placement report.

I was not pleased last night when I discovered that my upside down exclamation points that I had specifically inserted correctly seem to have been auto-corrected without my notice. Anyway, I just wanted to bring that up since it is way too late to do anything about and someone might have decided to point that out to me. Despite the flaw, I decided to include them.

If you would like to see the pages, scroll down - they are in a slide show at the bottom of our blog.

Last night, we got all of our adoption documents labeled and in order and ready to drop off to the attorney! We'll write a check and then drop off sometime between now and Friday!

Short Weekend Report

Our weekend was good but it went by too fast!

Friday we went out for a little shopping at Menards and some McD's for dinner.

Saturday Karl worked on the shed and the kids ran around & played. Karl sent me off to get out for a while and I went to the dollar store and stocked up on tons of goodies for four Operation Christmas Child Shoeboxes we are going to put together. Next post, I will have to tell you my shoebox story...

Sunday we had a great time at church and ate tacos for lunch (we all love tacos!) and just took it easy.

Today Andres & I will be going to an eye doctor appointment, the library and some other little errands - including getting some color copies redone because there are blue dots on Claudia's face from the printer drum or something. I am hoping for a relaxing & enjoyable Monday!

Copy Fiasco

It was supposed to be simple. 5 minutes in and out. Quick trip.

But, instead it was an absolute nightmare.

I ran to the office store/copy center after leaving the play date because it was on the way home. To my horror, I looked at my watch after waiting quite a while & 35 minutes had already passed and I still didn't have one (decent) copy. I had asked the copy center employees to run my copies instead of doing the self-serve (so nothing would go wrong...) but just about everything imaginable happened and I still didn't have any copies in hand.

I took the kids in hand to leave and told the manager on the way out - nicely and calmly but firmly - that he needed to give some attention to the copy center. He acted surprised I had any problems & insisted that he "try" to do my copies. MY MISTAKE. How much longer did that take? I was there about an hour total. It was ridiculous!

Well, I came home with a stack of legal size copies and was happy that at least I had that done. However, upon further inspection each copied document had the bottom 3-4 lines cut off. I still didn't have any color copies of the photo pages because the machine was "busy" running another gigantic job and the other machine made the kids' faces red like they had 3rd degree sunburn. Believe it or not, this is the short version. There are many, many more dreadful details.

You may be wondering why I didn't leave sooner... I am asking myself the same thing. It was such a fiasco that I didn't realize how much time had passed. I wanted to get my simple errand DONE. I had already had a rough day and I think the extra stress impaired my judgment!

So, last night the five of us went back to a local office store/copy center and had the legal size copies redone and the color copies made. It took a while but they did a good job and were nice about it. Now, we have our copies ready to turn in to a lawyer and photo pages ready for Colombia! Phew!

Ready To Make Copies

After much work, I finished our post placement photo pages yesterday!!! I re-did a couple of pages and am really happy with how they all turned out...and happy to be done with them! I made 6 pages but any other Colombian Mamis who might read this should not panic because that is way beyond the requirement - you don't have to do that many - only 9-12 photos or 3 pages are required.

Today we have a play date with some friends so we'll be leaving a little later for that. I am hoping to have time to stop & make copies on the way - copies for Colombia (they require the original pages :( as well as 2 sets of color copies) and some for us too! I also am copying a stack of documents to be submitted to a lawyer to initiate our re-adoption process.

Other than that, I am totally thrilled it is Friday again and we will have some time together this weekend. It was sad to say good-bye to Anji this morning. The bus came early and we had to run to the bus and I hardly got to hug her. We waved and blew kisses as the bus drove away.

We love our little niños so, so, so much. We always say that the Lord provided Papi & Mami for the niños but also that the Lord provided the niños for Papi & Mami. Truly, we are very blessed.

No Time For Apathy

Some things are more important than high gas prices or a faltering economy...

Cutting Corners

I made great strides on the ornaments yesterday!!! How many do I have to make? 26! I didn't get to the photo pages during the day because the ornament endeavor took so long. In the evening we were both extremely exhausted so we decided to take it easy rather than proceed with the next "blitzing" area. So, Karl helped me with some decisions on photo placement and decorative touches instead - the kind of stuff I get hung up on easily. (Karl has great ideas! He is very creative!) So, soon I will begin attaching the pictures to the paper and have fun embellishing the pages.

Today the girls have a half day so I am hoping to do something fun together. They wanted to eat lunch at school so going out for lunch is out but maybe ice cream or something. It is chilly but sunny so maybe we can play at a park together while it is still relatively pleasant outside!

Claudia's New Look

The new glasses look so beautiful on Claudia! We are so glad that Claudia really seems to like her new glasses. We are also really happy with how they fit her & look - it is hard to tell for sure what they will look like with fake lenses with obnoxious stickers all over them! I do think we will have to go back again very soon and have the temples adjusted/shortened because they are slipping down her nose a lot.

I had a great time last night at our Mom's Night Out. We talked & laughed. We played a game. We ate pizza and snacks. It was really fun! It was almost 11pm before I left to come home! I am thankful for the time to get to know some other moms. I was also extremely happy that the evening went pretty smoothly for Karl while I was gone.

Today's agenda includes trying to work on our family photo pages to send to Colombia so that they will be ready in time for our upcoming (3rd) post placement visit. I also need to spend some time working on my batch of ornaments for an upcoming ornament exchange as well.

Here is a picture of the girls together before school this morning. Don't they look so sweet?!

Another Kid In Glasses?!?!

Andres wants ya'll to know that he looks pretty snazzy in glasses too! He definitely doesn't want Miss Claudia to get all of the attention!!! Is this his new gangster look or what?

I was preparing to run to the Eye Center to get Anji's glasses fixed & mine too when I got the wonderful call that Claudia's glasses came in today - so we will all run there together for the 3-in-1 errand!

After that, I am taking off for my Mom's Night Out with my MOPS group. Pizza, pop & fun! Yeehaw! I am hoping to have dinner all ready so Karl's night with the kids is as easy as possible. (Thanks, Honey!)

Reflections on My Blogging Absence

Wow, I don't really know why it has been so long since my last post but upon reflection, here is a little taste of what we have been doing:

• 2 Dr. Appointments for Mami


• Eye Dr. Appointment...


• Another trip to pick out glasses...


• Dr. Appointment for Andres


• Kids off school for Columbus Day - Family Day


• MOPS


• Thinking about updating blog


• Sinus troubles off & on for whole family


• Working on post placement photos/pages


• Running around outside, playing, catching ladybugs


• Working on shed - including first coat of paint


• Picnics
• Iglesia


• Canadian Thanksgiving Meal


• Fellowship with Friends


• Plenty of time spent explaining that even though it looks sunny & warm, it is actually chilly outside because it is now the fall/el otoño

Well, here is our little lady who will be wearing glasses soon. We can hardly believe Claudia will have glasses that she will need to wear all of the time. We got a letter in the mail after she had a vision screening at school that said she needed an eye exam because they had noticed a problem with one of her eyes. We were shocked and slightly amazed because she already had an appointment 6 months ago - with a pediatric eye specialist who told us her eye health & vision were "perfect." So, I thought there must be some mistake. But, I still took her for another checkup. We found out that Claudia has Amblyopia just like Anji. She was prescribed glasses to work to correct this problem and hopefully get that bad eye working again (she basically cannot see out of one eye.) We'll go back again in two months to see if the glasses are working and if patching might be necessary. We are not happy about this problem not being identified in the first eye exam. We are very thankful for the vision screening that alerted us to this serious problem! Claudia's (very sturdy) glasses are on order and should arrive in about a week.

Tuesday Fun

We had a lot of fun last night taking the family out for $1 butter burgers at Culvers. We had a ton of food for a bargain price! We usually do not go out during the week so it was a real treat for all of us. Of course we had to rush home and start the bedtime routine. We got the kids to bed a little late but not too bad. The kids did really great, and Mami picked out hamburger stickers for their charts - they were so excited!!!

Change Of Plans

Today I was all ready to go on my first field trip as a parent. Sadly, the only thing worse than bad weather for a field trip is to show up all ready to go along and find out that it was cancelled. Ugh.

I just found out that Anji has a field trip scheduled for Thursday so I am awaiting a letter from the teacher to find out details to see if we can go along!

As expected, the "blitz" in our most challenging room went well but we have a lot more to do on Wednesday night. Tonight we are going out to dinner as a family and after we put the kids to bed, Karl and I will be taking a reprieve from the "blitz" to work on ironing and folding laundry together while we watch the presidential debate.

Leaves Are Falling

It was a really nice weekend full of laughter and family time. Our kids are so precious. They are a ton of fun to be around! It is so nice to have the weekend together just to enjoy them and for them to be able to play with us - we have found that to be really important. The daily grind is necessary but reserving special time to interact, to be silly and to have fun together makes all the difference - to our family unity, bonding, attitudes, even to effectively communicating love.

I am so happy to have filled the kids new charts this weekend with a bunch of stickers for their super great attitudes and cooperating so well with Mami & Papi - they even got a special gift!

I pick up neat little items inexpensive items here and there just waiting for the right moment to give it to the kids as a treat. Well, I had picked up a pouch of silk multi-colored fall leaves thinking they might like to play with those. They were such a big hit! I had them close their eyes and put a leaf in each of their hands and they yelled "thank you, MAMA!" and squealed with glee. It was really precious! They spent a bunch of time this weekend playing with those and throwing them up in the air and running under and through them - they are very creative! Yesterday evening they were pretending to have fiestas for each other's birthdays. They brought out a couple toys that light up and play music and were singing Happy B-Day and throwing the leaves as confetti. It was such a joy for Karl and me to watch them playing together and having so much fun with a surprise gift.

We took the weekend off from "blitzing" but will start again tonight - on our most challenging room: the office/craft room/where should we put it? room. We are both up to the challenge and ready to hit it with full force tonight!

Last night I had a crazy dream: I was trying to get across the country to meet another adoptive family with three Colombian niños. For some strange reason, it was late at night and I had called for the taxi to meet me. When I arrived, the taxi cab driver had left the taxi running with lights on and doors & trunk open but never showed up. I waited & waited. I had to go and couldn't wait any longer and felt like I was in danger alone in this dark city late at night. I hopped in the driver's seat and drove off. I didn't have directions. I am directionally challenged. Wished I had a GPS system. It was very late and I called this other family for directions. Woke them all up. They must have given good directions because I finally showed up late another night. I abandoned the taxi with some money for its use and a note of explanation. Finally met the family and stayed with them a day or two. Funny dream, huh?

Blitz Extension

We "blitzed" the kitchen last night and both think we will need another evening (or two) for a second (or third) kitchen "blitz." We worked way past our 9 pm cutoff but that included tuning into the V.P. Debate and some yummy popcorn. The refrigerator and counters look refreshingly clear! It was an evening well spent!

I am so happy it is almost the weekend! Tonight we will be enjoying a family movie night and some scrumptious pizza, and the kids are so excited! I picked up a couple videos from the library but don't know which one we will watch yet. I am looking forward to some special time to just be together as a family!

A Night Off From The Blitz?

I had a very good reason for a night off - a persistent throbbing and very painful headache that I had all afternoon and that was still going strong even after getting the kids to bed. Karl said we could forget the "blitz" and rest.

I took a moment and thought about our new & improved living room and bathroom. Our bedroom was on the schedule for the evening and it sure needed "blitzing"! Terrible headache or not, I didn't want to loose our momentum! I told Karl I wanted to plow through I work on "blitzing" our room anyway!

I am soooooooooooo glad we did! I am telling you, I feel like a new woman! These are the best hour and a half segments of time we have spent in a long time! Karl and I are both elated about the progress we are making and amazed about the change in such a short amount of time. We talked about it last night and said we want to keep this up each week - not every night but maybe twice a week devote an evening to "blitzing" an area.

What is essential to our evening "blitzing" process: eating dinner early & getting the kids to bed right on time! Thanks to Karl being out of town for so long, I have become really skilled at getting dinner ready, the kids homework squeezed in and all three of them ready for bed! Last night, Karl had an out of town meeting and so I had to do dinner with the kids alone. I was amazed at how much we fit in to such a little amount of time! We sat on the sofa & read four little books together, did homework for both girls, talked, ate dinner and even had a little postre before we started the bedtime routine. By the time Karl got home from his meeting, the kids were settled in bed and ready for him to read the Bible/la palabra de Dios. I cleaned the kitchen up while Karl read and prayed with the kids. After that, I went back in to sing. So, we were ready to gear up for our "blitz" at 7:30!

The wonderful thing about our "blitz" is that it doesn't last forever - it ends at 9. After that, we put away/aside the variety of items that need further attention for another time. When the "blitz" is over, it is time to relax...sit down, chat & have a snack together, maybe even enjoy an episode of LHOP with some popcorn like we did last night, time to talk & reflect & dream, read together before bed. It has been really great! We spend some time "blitzing" neglected areas, and then we still have time together as a couple! It is like a date with no babysitter & your kids are already peacefully nestled in bed! :) And this morning, how does our room look? REFRESHING! I am so thankful for Karl's incredibly great ideas!!!

Moving On To Room #3 & The Class Report

Day #2 of the "blitz" ended with fantastic results! It was pretty cramped quarters with Karl and I in there working but no one got hurt and we got a lot done in an hour and a half. We pitched stuff, sorted, reorganized, grouped like items, washed shelves, & cleaned. Blitzing the bathroom was definitely not as "fun" as the living room but we are both so happy with the results now that we made it through!

Aaaaaaaaaah. Now when I open a cabinet, I am no longer afraid a tube of toothpaste (or maybe something heavier) will roll out & fall on one of us! The little changes are definitely helping reduce the general feeling of chaos around here. The time spent has been a wise investment.

This morning I went to the kids' school for parent day in Claudia's class. I was kind of dreading it because last time felt like a royal waste of time. Why? Last time, Claudia was not thrilled I was there (I was supposed to be at home with Andres, right?) and communicated this to me while I was in her class. It was wild in her classroom with kids all over trying to get my attention and of course my beloved hija picked the most boring station activity ever for us to do "together." Meanwhile, Andres was at a different station looking quite traumatized. So, last time was agonizing.

This time was sooooooooo much better and I am sooooooooooo thankful and relieved! It started off with Claudia's teacher reading the Three Little Bears and then we sat at tables with construction paper and drew bears. It was a fun interaction time with Claudia, me and Andres and 4 other students who were all fellow Latinos and seemed quite happy I was there! They wanted me to see every mark they made on their papers! Even Claudia leaned over and said to me, "Mami, I want do not want you to leave." Heart-warming! Kids came from other tables to visit and ask Claudia's Mami questions.

This visit none of the kids sneezed on me or whined for the most part. I observed much less naughtiness then my first visit. Even though there were many new students, it was much more orderly. I really do like children and enjoyment for me always multiplies when the children are semi-well-behaved. After today's great visit, I am even more excited about joining the class field trip next week!

I was able to stick around until lunch time and that was really fun because not only did I get to see where Claudia sits & experience it firsthand but I got to see Anji too! That was delightful! It was a sweet time of spending special time with all three of my kids but also sharing time and extending love and encouragement to the other children. It is always a pleasure to interact with the Spanish speaking students in Anji's class - they are a little older & talk more and we seem to have a neat bond. They were excited to see us and I was so happy to see all of them! They are so adorable! I am so grateful to be the Mami of my three precious Colombian niños and to experience all of this together!

The Blitz

Having three kids now, life has become increasingly complex. We seem to always be running to and fro just to get the necessities done: get kids dressed, on the potty, wash hands, brush teeth, brush hair, give a host of directions (over & over), read to them, pray with them, feed them, wash hands...and I must not forget baths, time spent picking out three outfits a day, restocking backpacks, & repeating this process (over & over)! Add to this mix homework, notes to teachers, and permission slips and all of this on top of our household responsibilities and our days are pretty full!

Anyway, the point is that there seems to be very little time to accomplish anything beyond these constant necessities. Thankfully, we get dishes done, meals on the table, laundry "done" (I have a very full basket of folded laundry that needs put away & much more waiting for me downstairs), and general cleaning gets done on a fairly regular basis. However, we are fighting the clutter monster over here. Stuff accumulates quickly! Oh, our problem is a hoard of school & other papers, mail that needs attention, stuff that needs put away or simply needs a "home," new toys or other items that need incorporated, items that still need to be unpacked or unwrapped, any and everything that gets dropped off by the door but never picked back up - you name it, we have got it. It could be much worse, but it is bad enough and is bugging us!

So, Karl and I sat down and made a plan for a "blitz." Last night we attacked the living room and tonight we'll attack the bathroom and we will continue throughout the weeknights after the kids go to bed. I was kind of dreading it but it went extremely well! A lot of what we did was little changes that made a big difference - a little dusting, moving some things, & straightening up. It is not perfect and there is always an undone project for us to complete but it is SO much BETTER!

I am so thankful for such a wonderful Husband who is so full of insight and great ideas. He is responsive, decisive, thoughtful, patient, creative, kind, fun to work with, helpful, loving and supportive. I give thanks to the Lord for him!

Papi Will Be Home Today!

After waking up late, I scurried around trying to get Anji dressed & ready for school (and for picture day)! I took a very fast shower and then got the other kids ready and served their breakfast. Then we rushed to church so we wouldn't be late. Despite the rocky start, we had a wonderful morning at MOPS today! The kids really enjoyed their classes and were so happy when I picked them up! I had a great time too! The Mamis did a really neat craft, heard a speaker who talked about tips on motherhood, and we had a discussion time & prayer too. It was all very refreshing. Afterwards our group went out for lunch and had a nice time and the kids played on the indoor playground.

Karl is on his way home and I am so happy he will be with us tonight! It feels like we haven't seen him for a L-O-N-G time (feels like much longer than a week)! Not sure what we are doing yet...I suggested getting a pizza...Karl mentioned maybe going out together. Whatever it is, it will be so great to just be TOGETHER again!

One other thing that I am really excited about: our new social worker got us in contact with another (nearby) family who is in the process of adopting two boys from Colombia - and not only from Colombia, but from CALI (same city where we adopted our beloved niños)! That is very exciting!!!

Home Alone While Papi Is Out of Town

The trip to see Papi at his hotel was a wonderful success! The long drive to and from went great. The kids LOVED the time with Papi and for us all to stay together & have fun in the hotel. I enjoyed it very much too! We got much-needed time with Papi and he still had plenty of time to do his work since he didn't have to do the long commute!

We got to town early and had a FUN time at IKEA. We had a really cool cart with a car and the kids had a blast beeping their horns while we wandered through the store for a couple of leisurely hours. It was dreamy!

The hotel pool was already closed, but we went to a very nice park with a great playground and had a lot of fun. While we were there, a Latino Fiesta started up in the park and we got to enjoy some peppy música & bailando!

We met up with my sister and her family for church and spent the afternoon together at a little zoo and enjoyed lunch and much laughter and smiles! We were also eaten alive by swarms of mosquitos - big hairy ones. It was nasty! This time my bites did not swell up but Andres' sure did! He has looked like a bumpy headed creature from Star-trek.

I am so thankful my friend Mandy stayed with us this week while Karl has been gone. She made the days and evenings so much more pleasant. We didn't sleep much :) but I loved her company and so did the kids! Even a Mami with three little joys experiences loneliness - having Mandy here was an encouragement and refreshment to me! It was sad to say goodbye to her today! We love you, Ms. Mandy!

The week is winding down...the girls have school today and Andres & Mami have an eye appointment. Other than that, we will catch up on some household chores. Friday we will enjoy MOPS and a group lunch date afterwards! We will look forward to Karl coming home Friday evening & hopefully some relaxation together!!!! Then, our weekend is jam-packed with activities before another busy week...I mean another busy month starts!

All Ready for PP #3

Well, I cannot mail the release form yet because Karl is not home to sign it but I am so, so, so exhilarated that my grueling search is over! We now have an appointment for the beginning of November for our 3rd post placement visit with a wonderful provider in our town! Their fee is the same $250 that we already paid and there are no additional fees whatsoever! I am totally relieved and extremely thankful! Tomorrow we will drive to stay with Papi for the weekend. Karl will sign the release from, we will fax it off right away, and then snail mail the original. And then, we will be all set until our appointment in November. Yeah!!! The funny thing is that we had prepaid for our 4th post placement report & translation fees, and I had totally forgotten all of those details and requirements (I guess adopting three children will do that to you). So, we will have two more post placement visits with the new social worker but the 4th one is one whole year after the 3rd. Okay, now I need to go pack up our toiletries and a few other items before the girls get home so we will be ready to zoom out of here tomorrow!

One More Thing On Mami's To-Do List

Today went so much better than yesterday! Andres behaved wonderfully all day (exact opposite of yesterday). I am so very grateful! We ran some errands together, came home for lunch and ate tacos per Andres' request :) When the girls got home from school, we did some homework, talked and all enjoyed a pizza and salad together. Our bedtime routine was smooth and problem-free.

The day went so well that I had a little time to work on some paperwork. I read through a letter that came from our agency and upon closer inspection it was a good thing I did because the very important deadline is next week..."for what?"...to find a new post placement report provider! (Our agency will no longer be able to provide post adoption services or post placement reports in IL.) Long story short, I started some phone calls (thinking it would be quick & easy) and spent Andres' entire nap on the phone with different places only to end up totally flabbergasted and without any leads! The phone calls were nightmarish - no straight answers, tons of miscellaneous fees, 58.5 cents/mile travel fees, misunderstandings, being transferred to people who were on perpetual vacation, etc. As we sat down to dinner, one lady called me back and said it would be $500 for one PP report (since we have three kids). Another lady called me back and said they would have to adjust their fee for a report covering so many children. Talk about discouraging & stressful! Anyway, the search is still on to find a new provider for our last upcoming PP report(s). I sure hope I can get this finalized TOMORROW and get this out of my hair and our release form into the mail!

I have a dry nagging cough, and I would like for it to go away! Trying to talk and cough at the same time is not fun!

Two Weeks In Review

I cannot believe it has been so long since I have updated but we have had a lot going on! Since our last post:

• We had an absolutely wonderful time at Gammy and Grandpa's house. It was a weekend of relaxing, garage sales, shopping, eating, swimming, playing and a whole lot of family fun!
• Claudia started school - Monday through Thursday - all day Pre-K. She loves it!
• Mami went wild trying to take pictures on Claudia's first day of school. I had all three kids and was doing the breakfast thing with them and the camera flew out of my (unzipped - oops!) camera case, slammed on the floor and the lens cap broke off! Thankfully it is still working, minus the lens cap!
• Last week, Andres and I joined Claudia's class for a weekly parent time. She's pretty independent and expressed that she did not want me there (I told her that her teacher did want me there!) but she seemed to enjoy my presence nonetheless.
• Anji enjoys school too - Monday through Friday. She has homework assignments throughout the week that we squeeze into our evening routine.
• The bus is now in order and is picking up the girls and bringing them home! We have had a few surprises like the morning that the bus did not show up... but for the most part, Mami's carpooling service has thankfully ceased (except every other week when they have an early dismissal!)
• Have not yet sent the girls with a lunch...forking out the dough for school lunches still but thanks so much for the input, in time I will put your ideas to good use!
• We are all quite tired again due to the disruption of our old schedules and the adaptation to new ones revolving around the girls' school schedule! Phew!
• Final Dr. appointment for my foot. Fracture is healed. Told to be cautious with toe and that ongoing pain was normal for up to a year. Yes, I do still have pain but thankfully not all of the time. Working to try to walk normal again. So happy to wear a normal shoe again!
• First day of MOPS! It went great and Andres and Claudia both did wonderfully in their classes - that made Mami so happy!
• Found out that Papi has to be out of town for the next two weeks...
• Thanks to a very sweet friend, Papi & Mami got to go out on Friday night for a much-needed date of talking and planning.
• Saturday was focused on getting packed and ready to go and getting household things in order for the time Papi is gone and Mami manages sola. Cleaning, food prep, laundry, etc.
• Sunday we enjoyed iglesia together. We went to worship service all five of us and then the girls started their very own SS classes while Papi & Mami (& Andres) went to a new class to start a new parenting study.
• Monday: our 8th month anniversary as a familia of five!!!!! Getting household things in order to help while Papi is gone.
• Today Papi left for his trip. I had a terrible, awful day but thankfully the evening has gone much better! I got dinner on the table and all three kids to bed without any issues and will start it all again tomorrow morning...

School, School & More School

We went to Wally World today in search of a new backpack for Claudia & insulated lunch bags for school. Despite how terribly picked over everything was: mission accomplished! We found a backpack that Claudia loved and Mami approved of and cute little Dora lunch bags.

We have been buying school lunches for Anji which we are realizing (duh!) is a bit expensive for the food that the kids are getting and maybe not eating... We didn't qualify for any sort of discount so the girls' meals are full price. Anyway, we have been debating about what to do about this matter - keep buying the lunches or send the girls with a lunch from home. So now I am armed with our insulated little lunch sacks but am wondering what in the world I will send in their lunches every day?!?

Tomorrow is the orientation for Claudia's Pre-K program and so I will go to that along with Claudia and Andres when we take Anji to school.

Soon, we will drive back to the school for a brief meeting and then pick up Anji and then drive to have the car issues looked at by our regular car place (while me & the kids wait). I hope they have encouraging news than the alignment place...

"Calgon, take me away!"

Countdown to Wednesday

Last week was crazy and our weekend together zoomed by! Uh, what in the world happened to August?!?

Now we are back to work and school tomorrow. We are so excited because we are getting ready for another road trip! This time we are going to see Gammy and Grandpa! Wooo Hoooo! We're packing up all of our stuff again and counting down the days until we will be reunited and have fun, fun, fun!

On our to-do list now: a few unexpected car repairs to try to get done before we go and a washer that stopped just before the spin cycle. UGH! Thankfully, my Mom said we can bundle up & bring all of our laundry to her house! Thank goodness she is so kind & wonderful because I was counting on doing a bunch of loads before our trip - including shorts and pants for us to wear! Oh My!

Our new blog photo is our most recent family photo - taken just yesterday by my Beloved Esposo with the tripod! Fantastic job, Karl! What do you think of his photo-taking abilities? He is totally Super-Papi-Extraordinaire!

Plenty of Parentheses

We had a very eventful end to our trip!!! On our second to last day, we woke up promptly at 7 a.m. to get the whole family ready for the day (thinking we would have plenty of time) to meet up with my sister and her kids at the Arboretum and nothing went quickly.

Instead, we had lots of issues including certain uncooperative niños, hotel breakfast chaos with an out-of-control mother yelling at her son (it was not me!!!) and thus much stress and slower eaters (you can't eat very quickly when you are gawking), and then as we piled into the van and happily pulled out of our parking space..."pmpf, pmpf, pmpf, pmpf!" In horror, we realized we must have a flat tire! I hopped out to look and our back tire was totally f-l-a-t. We were already running late and now things were definitely not looking pretty. After deliberation, we decided to call for our roadside assistance (that we pay for but never use) to help us put the spare on and thankfully the guy came very quickly and changed the tire in less than five minutes (wow).

My sister arrived in her van shortly before the repair guy came and we were off in a jiffy on our little donut tire to enjoy our day together! We drove (very cautiously) to the Arboretum and it took us a while to get unloaded...when we were finally all "ready," my sister noticed big, dark storm clouds approaching along with lightning. Unfortunately, we stood in the entrance for an hour and a half waiting for the storm to blow over. It was an agonizing wait. We didn't leave because they would not refund our (exorbitant) admission fee we had just paid! Finally, the sun came out and we entered the park and proceeded to eat our lunch and had a very nice time. We enjoyed the trip so much!

When we got home, the kids helped us immensely to unpack and put stuff in the right room! We were so thankful for their eager helping hands! I was especially happy because Karl found my camera in the garage (phew)!!!

Anji started school this week and Mami is driving her to school and picking her up (along with Claudia and Andres) because somehow we did not make it on the bus list/schedule...?!?! I made some calls and hopefully she will be back on the bus soon (she loves the bus).

We are trying to get into the new swing of things with our new school schedule & bedtimes (ugh). Karl started working to compile all the documents we need for the refinalization of our adoption(s). I have been working on an ornament design for a Jesse Tree Ornament exchange. It is busy over here but going very well! For only being a family for 8 months and only in the U.S. for 6 months, we are delighted for the progress (& harmony!) in our household. Thanks be to God for His lovingkindness, mercy, & special care for our family!

Cali Vistor & Family Fun

Yesterday 8/20 we had a blog visitor from Cali, Colombia - a city near & dear to our hearts! We would love to hear from you - whether you live in Cali or if you are an adoptive family staying in Cali. :)

We are doing wonderfully at the tail end of our trip! Today we checked out of one hotel and checked in to another. We are bummed because both of our hotels have not had HGTV and this hotel doesn't have Fox News. We do not watch much TV and were looking forward to these channels on our vacation. We did get upgraded however from a studio to a one bedroom so that was fabulous! We have a mini kitchen that we have already put to good use and the set up here suits us well.

The kids met their cousins and Aunt today and we had such a great time! Tomorrow morning we will meet up with the fam for an outing and spend the afternoon & evening together.

The five of us have had a lot of fun together in our new hotel today - lots of laughs and silliness! We visited the indoor pool and splashed around in the whirlpool together. We have been pretty relaxed and definitely wild & crazy! Our motto has been: "Hey, we are on vacation!"

Enjoying Our Trip

We are having such a fabulous time together on our trip! It has been a blast! Karl & I are enjoying the break from our normal daily grind. The kids keep telling us how excited they are to be staying in the hotel - they love it! Little Claudia keeps saying "I am excited about/like this trip." Melt my heart! Their behavior has been wonderful and they are getting lots of stickers for their great attitudes!

The worst thing about our trip is that my camera is missing in action. We have no idea where it is - if it is at home somewhere or if it is lost. An hour or so into our trip, I wanted to take a picture of the kids doing something cute in the car and was horrified that the camera was not in my purse like I had thought. So, I am camera-less and it is awful! I have our video camera thankfully but left an important cord for it at home. Ugh! : (

Today we ventured out to the nearby Target to pick up some things we need and that little trip went well. The kids stayed right with me in my motorized shopping cart. They were peaceful and obedient and a delight to Mami! They are amazing! I see other kids their age in public... and am so incredibly thankful for our kids and their desire to heed our instruction and training.

Our hotel is fantastic! Airplanes fly over our hotel within view of our windows about every 3-4 minutes! Our kids are really enjoying seeing so many aviones!!! The breakfasts here have been great and the evening meal has been very good too! I have even cooked in our room a couple of times when meals were not available.

Karl's training is going well too. It is the reason why we are here so that's pretty important! His class is quite challenging and he is being given a ton of new information to process and to study in the future! We are very thankful for the opportunity for this training.

Tomorrow we will be frolicking en la piscina and having a great time with a beloved friend! And then on Thursday we will venture over to visit my sister and her family for a couple more days of fun before we have to go home.

As I write, the girls & Andres are in the other room singing Jesus loves me; Holy, holy, holy; Jesus loves the children of the world; and other songs. That is beautiful music to my ears!!! Thank you, Lord, for these incredible children!

Mañana de Viernes

Thankfully, our packing adventure went smoothly last night - it was much easier to pack clothes when the kids were in bed! Karl & I got all of our clothes set aside and then he put ours and the kids' clothes into suitcases. (He folds & packs like a pro!) We even had time to sit down and polish off our chocolate cream pie together! That was a nice surprise!

Laura, your comment made me laugh! Trying to go anywhere IS chaotic! Thanks for helping me remember we are normal! We are so excited to get out of here but then have to face the dreaded task of packing...aaaaaahhhh! :)

I already had the kids pack two little bins of toys (that was interesting!) Tonight we need to zero in on packing toiletries and food for the trip. Hopefully we won't forget anything important.

Karl is on the road today and forgot his phone so it is a good day to not have a big crisis since I won't be able to get ahold of him until he gets home tonight! Claudia's teacher will be here in 3+ hours so I still need to get ready for that. I have not settled on what we are having for lunch... ¡Adios!

¡Casado Feliz Por Ocho Años!

So much to tell and so little time! It has been like a whirlwind over here! We are going out of town on Sunday and so the packing frenzy officially began today! Yes, we should have started packing sooner but didn't because of the variety of things going on over here...

First, Karl and I celebrated our 8th anniversary! Karl took a couple of days off of work to celebrate together as a family, and we had a great time! We went to the zoo, had a picnic, watched our wedding video, had a special dinner along with yummy chocolate cream pie, & even went to Chuck E. Cheese's...! This anniversary was definitely different as parents than our previous anniversaries! It is more difficult to "celebrate" your anniversary when you have no time to pick out a gift, cannot find the card you picked out/have no time to write in it, can't go on a getaway anywhere, you are exhausted, have a bum leg, your kids don't even understand why you are married, what marriage is, or if they even like the fact that you are married! We tried to make it as special as possible and involve them in the celebration too. We had some grumbling about the whole anniversary situation and their distaste for it but we are grateful that their tune started to change as we enjoyed time together in the process. We are also so thankful for the opportunity to go out for dinner when friends offered to babysit our beloved niños!!! That time just the two of us is so very precious!

Anyway, so tonight is more packing (and laundry!) and getting things ready for our trip. Tomorrow Claudia's teacher is going to come over for lunch. Saturday is an extended family wing-ding. Not much time to get everything ready to go! And then on Sunday we are supposed to be ready to zoom out of here in the morning and we will return home next Saturday.

We are so excited! The kids have been longing to go back to stay in a hotel since our trip to the CHI Reunion (asking pretty much daily) and I am sure looking forward to a change of scenery and some fun together. Towards the end of our trip, our kids will finally get to meet their 3 primos/cousins & their Tia and Tio: my sister & her Husband & their kids!

Quite Different Than Last Week

We went to a follow-up eye exam for Anji today and got great news that her eyes are responding really well to her glasses and that her vision in both eyes is now pretty much equal. We will need to go back in 6 months to have her vision checked again but were so thankful for the progress! At this point, patching will not be necessary!

Andres and Claudia did really well during the appointment and got stickers from the Doctor for their superb behavior and have gotten three more stickers today from Mami for their great attitudes and cooperation! And, they got to enjoy lunch out with me too!

It has been such a refreshing change from last week! Each of the children has been so much more well-behaved this week - much less testing, disobedience, and bad attitudes! Much quicker to listen and to what we ask them to do. Yeah! Way to go niños!!!

Today I must have felt brave because for the first time I attempted Sam's Club with the kids alone. I still cannot walk so I have to use the motorized cart but the kids did fantastic and held on to the sides just like they would have if Papi was with us! I was so proud of them! It was not a huge shopping trip but we picked up a few things and it was nice to get out of the house for a while together!

There is a lot to report and many photos to share but NO TIME to do any of that right now but wanted to quickly check in with an update :) More to come soon!

Smile!

When you have had a hard week like I have had so far, you need a good laugh. So here are some pictures to put a smile on our faces! Looking at these definitely lightens my spirit and helps me to remember not to take things quite as seriously!

The Attack

Thankfully I am still alive after the attack today. Where was the attack? In the Kids' room. Yes, dresser drawers and other areas desperately need help but "it" has been bugging me every day. Each day I would look at "it" and sigh, grimace, moan, and tell the kids that "its" day was coming to an end soon. The day finally came.

After 162 days of accumulation, playing, and cleaning up but not really putting toys away where they really belong/stashing...there was a growing mound in the corner of the room. Yes, I have worked in there to reorganize. I even bought a new bookcase to accommodate our growing collection of libros and to hopefully help that area look nicer. But in the busyness of these past weeks and with my limited ability to get around, that area has become an eye sore, a disaster, a mound of stuffed animals, cars, wagons, strollers, dolls, a total hazard.

Phase 1: My first area of attack was under the bed. Armed with my vacuum, I starting pulling out the bins. I found about an entire box of loose (unused) Kleenexes, a hand full of dust-covered hairbands and lots and lots of dust bunnies. I got that all cleaned up and it felt good. I moved a rolled up carpet we had stored under the bed to make room for their wagons and cars to be parked under the bed on the end.

Phase 2: Now my plan was to re-evaluate the bins' contents and move things around so they fit better. I brought the "stuffed animal bin" (one of them) out to the kids to pick some to get rid of. I know, I know, silly Mami! After asking them 3 times in desperation, they did manage to cull some and they were put aside in a pile. Now most of the animals they want to keep fit inside the two bins. Oh yes, that was with the help of creating a new "dolly bin" specifically for the girls' collection of dolls that were strewn about and tucked here and there.

Phase 3: Get rid of little baskets that I thought the kids would play with but have just become an excuse for clutter! Now that the under bed area was in good shape, I parked all the cars and wagons...including the empty wagon which is now providing a home to an airplane and bus. This is dual purpose - the kids don't have to dig as far to get those items and then they will be informed that those items need to be put back into the emptied wagon each time (rather than park it under the bed filled to the brim with junk.)

Phase 4: Dollies - the kids really do play with these and enjoy them immensely. They are valuable. Problem: Disorganized and kids constantly asking me "Mami, where is ______ de mi muñeca?" "Oh honey, I don't know! Where did you put it last???" And so the story goes. Well, it was time to deal with the problem. I dumped the three bins of miscellaneous doll stuff out and sorted...blankets, pillows and the like in one pile; clothes, socks and shoes in another pile; pacifiers, bottles, and other doll paraphernalia in another pile. Each has it's own bin now rather than a huge mess! I will be marking all of these bins hopefully with a picture of some sort!

Phase 5: To be continued. I was exhausted and the kids were tired and hungry so I put the room back together as best as I could and decided maybe I can attack it again sometime!

Don't worry, I plan to have a very thorough overview with the kids about what goes where and what does not go here or there. Now that I am getting around better I plan to do better inspections too. They really had been picking up pretty well but things seemed to get really out of hand after I hurt my foot. I have tried and am continuing to try to help them by creating concrete areas for items to go. Today's attack helped and it will be fantastic if I can work in there tomorrow too!

Hey, if you have any great ideas whatsoever, please be sure to pass them on!

The Days Pass So Quickly

The last few days have sure flown by! Phew! Since our last post, here is a sample of what we have been up to (not in order!):

• a trip to the park


• a family movie night with Milo & Otis in Spanish with English subtitles while enjoying popcorn and lemonade


• Worship & Sunday School


• school time here at home each day


• visiting friends


• a trip to the dentist to have a cavity filled


• haircuts for the kids


• lunch at a restaurante


• Mami finally able to hobble out of the house for a night out out for the 1st time since the end of June


• overdue mowing of the yards & completion of other household tasks


• laughing, giggling, smiling & being silly


• mucho jugando


• reading books


• prayer & Scripture reading


• creativity with leftovers


• exhaustion!!!!!

Escuela de Casa

We have been incorporating time dedicated to learning new skills and reinforcing some already gained here either at home or at summer school this week. I am happy to report that it is going much better than I anticipated! The girls are thrilled to have escuela en casa with Mami and actually requested to have it again today (Saturday)! Their attention spans are improving and we are able to work on "school work" for a couple of hours with no complaints!

Our plan has been to teach the girls some really practical information that they need to know beyond typical school stuff, introduce memorization of Scripture, do some learning crafts, etc. Our/Karl's list continues to expand! :) So far, the girls have learned how to say our complete address all on their own! We are so proud of them!

Anji practiced writing (& saying) letters and numbers!

Claudia & Mami worked on names of shapes and colors in inglés & español.

Even Andres had learning time - working on a 12 shape sorter!