Day 2

Mom, Dad and Daniela are currently meeting with her psychologist to talk about some things, so I have a couple minutes to jot down our agenda!!

Today, Mimi (our translator, a wonderful woman) will pick us up at 12 to go to lunch, and then to a carnival! I'm sooooooo excited! It's gonna be a ton of fun. After that, we'll probably play games, but hopefully my parents will let me beg out to try and sleep--i got maybe 7 hours of restless sleep, and I still wasn't fully untired (I know it's not a word, but deal with it) from the overwhelming-ness of Colombia, plus we were out practically all day yesterday.

First full day with Daniela :D

So, we walked around today, a lot. We went shopping, played at an arcade, ate lunch... Basically just a tour. OH! We also rode cable cars to another part of Manizales, which was fun, except it freaked Dad out. :( (sorry for any mistakes--im typing on a foreign keyboard... its so wierd...)

Colombia Update 1

Hello Family and Friends!

I am happy to report that we have had no "adventures" on this trip! We also have found the Walmart equivalent here, woohoo!

Today is Sunday, and I am happy to say that we are settling in well here. While I'm glad we've had a couple of days here in Manizales before we receive Daniela, we are looking forward to our meeting with her tomorrow afternoon. I hear that she has been busy saying her goodbyes which is good I know, but to me it's sad.

Yesterday we visited with the family of Fr. Gonzalo (a priest at Dad and Elaine's parish), and they are soooo very nice. We will see more of them this week, and they will also visit us at "Paradise" (more correctly referred to as "Montserrat") next Sunday.

Please feel free to email us--as you can see I'm allllllllllllways in touch, lol!

Blessings!
mc, on behalf of the fam.

Custody

We are getting custody of Daniela today! I can't wait. It's going to be kind of weird, as I'm feeling very shy lately (lots of people who don't speak my language) and extremely conspicuous (blond hair. It's like what I imagine being in China is like... only weirder.)
So, we have the rest of today and all day tomorrow with Daniela, then we're going to be BUSY BUSY BUSY!! We are going to an amusement park on Wednesday, lunch at a friends house on Thursday, followed by *drum roll* TOY STORY 3!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Of course, it's in Spanish, but oh, well! I'm still psyched :D

live.love.laugh :)<3

Day 2: Hotel Carretero

Well, we made it to our final destination for this week--the very nice Hotel Carretero. We have an executive suite with four beds, and yet we have enough room for a dining area, a living room area, closets and a mini-fridge. Sooo spacious! :D
It was so cold in Bogota this morning! I had on a sweatshirt and jeans, and I was still freezing! Oh, well! It's warmer here in Manizales, thank goodness!

Our flight out of Dulles was amazing! We had little television touch screens built into the back of the seat in front of us, and we could watch certain episodes of certain shows, movies, and play games! It was sooo cool!

Needless to say, the 45-minute flight to Manizales wasn't quite as entertaining. It was a little puddle-jumper, no 1st class, two seats to a row, with propellers! Now that was cool.

After we got off the plane, a shuttle for the hotel picked us up, then we basically came here and crashed. Did I mention that our flight landed at 9 (10 your time), we didn't get to the Sheraton last night until 10:30 (guess what time in MD?) and had to wake up at FIVE to catch the 5:30 shuttle to the airport, for a flight that didn't board for at least another hour, if not more. So, we were tired. And hungry. But we had breakfast here (watermelons, bread, mangoes, drinkable strawbery-ish yogurt, arepas, cereal and really interesting juice). I must have been really tired, because my stomach did not take to the new food at all well. After some just chilling out, Mitch and Dad went to a supermarket kind of just down the road, and before they left, I asked them if they could look for something familiar--comfort food. You know what they found? OREOS!!!!! In cute little packages of four, but a bunch in a bag. I should save some, to show you all.

So bascially, we've been in Manizales since 8-ish this morning and all we've done is eat and sleep (well, Mom and Dad slept. I couldn't--my book's too good).

I got some pictures of Wally (well, actually Mom got them for me) and I will post them soon!!

live.love.laugh :)<3

We made it! (last night)

Well we made it here safely! One more flight to Manizales early tomorrow morning and then we have custody of Daniela on monday! I so can't wait. Well, I'm tired and we're at the hotel so ill wrote more tomorrow.

Live.love.laugh. :)<3

Daniela Update

Saludos a mi familia y amigos!


Just moments ago, Chris and I received word that our meeting date of June 28 had been approved!! That means that I can now go ahead and book our flights, apply for our visas and make some definite plans. What's really exciting is that now Chris and I can call Daniela and tell her that in just under two weeks we will see her! We are so excited, and we know she will be also.


I still don't know exactly how everything is going to happen, but it appears as though the 4 of us will travel to Colombia on Fri, Jun 25 (that won't be confirmed until I actually purchase the airfare, of course). We will have our meeting with the child welfare agency the following Monday, Jun 28, at which time we will receive custody of Daniela. She will remain with us the entire time we are in Colombia. Chris, Andee and Mitchell will likely be coming back on July 9, but I will be staying in country with Daniela to finish up the paperwork. We don't know how long that will be--could just be another week, could be another 3 weeks.


I will not have my cell phone during that time (gasp!), but will remain available via email (claro, of course!).


If you have been praying for us, we THANK YOU so so much. Please continue to pray. God has definitely had His hand on Daniela, and it has been a wondrous thing to see Him at work through this entire process. (Some of my friends would probably be HAPPY to share how arduous their adoptions were compared to this one!!) We are going to be so blessed to have Daniela as part of our family. We know you will love her too.

blessings,

mc