The Boyacheks

The Boyacheks

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Pool day

Well, I've tried 4 times to post a video but it doesn't seem to want to go. It has been a little different today. We are seeing that the kids are trying to push the limits in a lot of different areas. We are using time outs frequently now and they seem to work but only for a few hours. The word "no" is becoming a common word out of our mouths as they are seeing how much they can get away with. So far so good though. We have been told this is a phase most adoptive children go thru so we are prepared for it.

Stefani has had a tough day. This is the first day that she has cried and cried and cried. Again, this probably has something to do with the honeymoon stage coming to an end and the fact that she has had a cold. We have a doctor here and he thinks she is fine so we feel better about it. It is tough to hear your kid cry though.

We had McDonalds for lunch. Quite the experience here as there are only a few things on the menu and they were out of chicken nuggets. I am not sure how you can run out of 25% of your menu, but somehow they did. We made due and the kids had fun playing in the double decker play area.

Leidy and John had swimming lessons today. They had a blast. I took them while Jim babysat Stefani. This was the first time for John swimming in a pool and he didn't want to get out. Actually both kids wouldn't get out until they were forced to. I guess we got ourselves a couple of water nuts...

We're going to take it easy tomorrow and get some laundry done as well as organize our stuff. It is amazing what gets lost with 3 kids around. I can't seem to find anything in our room! Another long day and I'm hitting the hay. Love you all!








Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Another great day

What a day. They just keep getting better! Life with 3 kids is really fun. Last night we began a new part of parenting. Leidy had been acting up at dinner and then she wouldn't eat, so Jim took her back to the room and put her to bed. It was amazing what that did. When it was time for bed later, she told mami and papi that she was sorry and clung onto us until we tucked her in. Poor thing. We felt soooo bad but we know it's time to set some ground rules. Today has been wonderful. We all still have the sniffles but really nothing serious at all. We had a great morning playing and relaxing. The B&B had a spa day and Leidy got her hair done. She is such a princess. We went to Frisbees again for lunch so the kids could play in the play area. It is great having a few moments to talk with Jim without the kids crawling all over us. Jim planned out the afernoon. We all crawled into a cab and went for a bit of a tour around the really nice area of Bogota. We then drove thru the University and to this park. This park was huge! It must have been at least 15 miles long! It was one play set after another. The kids went crazy. There was a sand lot that they just plopped down in and started to bury themselves. I guess tomorrow is laundry day! We walked around a lake and then hung out with a bunch of crazy ducks. After 4 hours of going from play set to play set, we headed back home for dinner. Jhon and Leidy spent some time in the shower trying to get the sand off them as I'm sure the cab driver is spending the night cleaning his car out. Leidy also lost a tooth today so she is expecting the tooth fairy to leave her a little present tonight. She is really excited about that! Anyway, all is great! I hope this video posts. Have a great night!


Monday, April 28, 2008

I'm losing track of days

Hello all, Well, we had our 2nd interview day and everything went great. The kids were interviewed first and then we were. The social worker told us that the kids have never been happier and love to be apart of our family. There was a picture in the office of a boy laughing and as happy as could be. Jhon had asked the social worker who the boy was. The social worker said that he was a very happy boy. Jhon said, ohhh, like me! That was all they needed to hear. They then interviewed us and asked us if we have any concerns. We of course asked what their refund policy was! ha ha. They are ours to keep now. The next step is seeing which court it gets assigned to and then waiting for everyone to sign all the papers.

Jim had asked about seeing where they were living on the streets. They gave us an address but really encouraged us not to go there. They said it is very dangerous there and that if anyone found out who we were, we would probably be harmed. So, at least we know later on if the kids want to see that in 20 years. It is scary to think that such awesome kids come from living in extreme poverty and rough background. We also asked how the kids were brought up so polite. They are very formal and respectful - always saying Si Senor or Si Senora. This is part of the Colombian upbringing and that they were in a very good foster home. We are very grateful for that.
So, yesterday was a longggg day. We visited a 500 year old city called Guatavita that was one of the first settled places here by the Spaniards. It was very beautiful although my pictures don't give it justice at all. On one side of the town was a mountain and the other side, a lake. Just simply breathtaking!!! We didn't get back until late and had dinner and then off to bed.

Today, we had our meeting, and then went out for make your own pizza! Awesome! This was a great treat. The kids had so much fun dressing up and making their pizza, and then there were lots of games to play. Just look at the pictures and see for yourselves. Why can't we have places like this back home? Anyone know of one?

I came back and crashed for awhile. Jim took the kids and is currently trying to see just how much energy they really have. I'll tell you, sugar will be a rare commodity in my household after seeing what it does to the kids - but especially Jim. One strawberry lemonade and he will drive those kids into the ground. It is good though as when it comes to bedtime, everyone goes to sleep quickly.

I appreciate all the comments and am feeling a little better. Everyone has a little case of the sniffles but nothing too bad. Trying to keep up with everything has been a little exhausting but I am doing my best to manage. I really hope things move along quickly here as we have heard of some families having to stay 6-8 weeks. I know our agency is very good about pushing everything thru as quickly as possible so I don't think it will be that long. We should know a little more about our length of stay in a few days as they progress our paperwork. This will determine if Jim goes home and then comes back to pick us up when we are complete or if he can stay the entire time. Please pray for a quick turnaround!!!

Joe, Jim is excited about the Boyachek cousin corruption deal. He is already calling Jhon a goofball brother and Jhon doesn't even have any brothers... Jhon doesn't quite know what to think about it but when he is united with all of his cousins, I'm sure he will catch on. Ben, Josh, Lex, Chandler, Nathan and Steven, look out! At this point, we are doing our best to stick with filtered water and not clogging too many toilets. It is tough though, especially when brushing your teeth or taking a shower.

Jim put a counter on this web site the other day. We couldn't believe that more than 200 views are happenning each day! WOW! That is so incredible to us. We feel so loved and cared for during this time. It has been such a great encouragement to us and we are only here a short time. I think about all the missionaries out there that need this kind of support and now I will make so much more of an effort to contact them and love them in this same way. What an impact we can make for God's kingdom for just sending a note of encouragement! Thank you all for showing me this!

Also, we are officially changing the kids names a bit. We can't legally change Leidys name until we get back to the states and we will see what she wants to do at that point. It is a very common name here but in the states may be very confusing to people. So, Jhon Fredy will become John Peter. Since Jhon was so close to John this was very convenient but also it is very special to us as my grandfathers name is John and Jims brothers name is John. Also, Peter is Jims grandfathers name as well as Jims middle name. Also Yurley Estafani already goes by Stefani so we will keep that as her name. We really liked Jaysa so altogether her name will be Jaysa Stefani. Our lawyer (Oscar)here has been great and very helpful. He has been very involved since the beginning and knows the process very well!

Well, thanks for all the love and prayers. I am so thankful today went well and excited for what tomorrow brings! Fun, fun, fun. I am doing my best to soak these days up Check out the sign - Big Daddy! Jim had to get a picture! Leidy - her hair in the wind Stefani even getting in on the action Jhon showing off. Jim tries to create some interesting pictures with little props! Leidy wants to know if we're there yet. Enough sightseeing papi, where's the shopping? You gotta go on these cars even if they look like they are about to fall apart and possibly injure the little guys. What a beautiful view from this little town! It's pizza time! All dressed up for our second interview! The kids look great and were very well behaved. A few misc fun and beautiful pictures.

Sunday, April 27, 2008

Day 7

Well, this will be really short as it has been a LONG day. I started getting a sore throat last night and I have gotten worse today and tonight I have a slight fever and feel awful. Jim is also starting to feel bad and we are both coughing and sneezing. Today we went to a beautiful town north of bogota. It was one of the cutest towns we have been to. I will post pics tomorrow as the internet is really slow and I am going to bed. Leidy has been a little challenging today too. Tomorrow we have our integration meeting where they separate the kids and us and ask us how things are going. It also starts the offical paperwork for us to become a family. Please pray for us to feel better and have a great day tommorow. Sorry this is so short. Luv you guys!

Day 6!

Sorry our internet has been down all night...

OK, Jim again. Jaime has caught what I call a case of the three muchachos. Interpreted for you without 3 or more kids - she is completely exhausted. I think the frustrating thing for her is that the spanish that she knows - although I think is very advanced, is still not enough to keep up with these guys. They talk so fast and not knowing what they are saying sometimes makes it a little difficult. They are speaking a little english now and we are picking up more of what they are saying everyday. It is challenging but very rewarding. We are doing most of our talking in small spanish sentences. We use a lot of hand jestures and really it can be very effective. If needed, we can get with some of the staff and they can help us here but overall we are managing by ourselves. Leidy is especially wanting to learn English quickly so we say the word in spanish and then translate it to English for her and she repeats it.

Today was a long day though. We all were up early to go to the zoo - well actually it was more like a big petting farm. Not really any exotic animals but a ton of birds, pigs, sheep, horses and cows. They had a blast here so I know I can take them to quite a few places in our neighborhood and show them something similar. It was a very nice drive though - about 1 hour north of Bogota. Traffic is very crazy here and cars always have the right of way instead of people. I found this out - almost the hard way.

We were at the zoo about 7 hours, riding horses, seeing pigs race, and running after lots of birds and kids. The trip home was slow but very sweet. The kids fell asleep on us, Jaime had Jhon and Stefani and I had Leidy. It was fun when we got back as they were completely knocked out and we had to carry them into the casa.

Everyone went for a siesta except me. I decided to give the streets of Bogota a try for a run. It was challenging dodging the traffic but probably the more challenging thing was my my lack of exercise over the past 3 months. I stopped in at a phone shop to try and get my cell phone working but to no avail. I was able to amuse the entire store as I was in running shorts and NO ONE wears shorts here. It is amazing to me but in this beautiful weather, everyone wears jeans and sweaters and scarfs. Anyways, I struck up a conversation with Sergio there and he was so thrilled for what we were doing here. He asked me to bring the kids by his shop when I can. It was really amazing to me as he was literally moved to tears when I was telling him about the kids. They really cherish the family here and kids seem to be everywhere.

Can you guys believe we have 3 kids! It is still very hard for me to believe. I think that it seemed like such a dream but now such a reality. If I knew it was going to be this much fun, I would've pursued this a long time ago. I am already trying to convince Jaime to consider this again but she is always the rationale one... I guess it just breaks my heart to hear and see so many kids that grow up without a family and that we can actually make a difference in a few kids lives.

Tonight was jump on Jaime night. I had nothing to do with it, trust me. I taught the kids one of my favorite games - steamroller! I think I like it better then they did but we laughed and laughed and laughed. There are only a few times in my life that I have laughed so much - you know - like when snaught comes out of your nose and you start coughing until you can't stop. Yeah - that was tonight. Jhon has the most hilarious laugh and you can't help but laugh when you hear it.


Tommorrow should be another fun filled day. We are going on a bit of a tour of the city and who else knows what may happen. Our God is a great God and we thank Him everyday for all He has blessed us with. This is an awesome ride and we look forward more and more to each day. Hasta Luego







Colombia