May 9th 2008

Well, it was another unproductive day. The kids stayed in the tub again for a long time while Jim worked. I got a lot of one on one with Jaysa Stefani today which was really nice. She is such a cutie! She deffinatly loves attention. We didn't want to go out because we were waiting for a phone call today and didn't want to miss it, but unfortunatly it never came. We have been told that all of our paperwork is ready to go, it just needs the last signiture from the Judge. We are really praying that we get it on Monday.
Tonight we went to El Correl for dinner. It has really good hamburgers and it has a great place for the kids to play. We relaxed for a bit while they played. We came back and just goofed around a bit until we put the kids to bed. The only pic I have to share tonight was when I was playing with Jaysa and she stuck her fingers under the door to try to get to me. It was really cute :)
Hope you all have a great night!

Our little prunes and a nice Surprise!

Well today was another one of those days we didn't do a whole lot. We were hoping to hear from our Rep. today and didn't want to be gone for long. After breakfast the kids wanted to go in the pool (bathtub)again. So about 10:30 they got in. Stefani was only in for about 10 min and at 12 Leidy got out but then rejoined John about 2:30 as he had stayed for the entire time. He loves to show off his pruny hands and feet and thinks it is the funniest thing. At 3:30 we got a phone call. It wasn't exactly the phone call we were waiting for, but it was welcomed with much excitement. The front desk called to say we had a package. I went down to get it and it was huge! It was from Jim's work. You guys are awesome!!! SO, I finally got the kids out of the bath after 5HRS by telling them that a gift (Regalo)was here for them!! Their little eyes widened and big smiles came across their faces. The box was full of all differnt kinds of candy, and games and coloring books and stuffed animals, t-shirts and chips. The kids were SO excited and kept saying WOW to each thing. They are so cute! :) Thanks you guys at TNT so much!! What a great surprise!
We went to the wonderful Crepes and Waffles for dinner and ice cream. This restaurant is a must to everyone coming down here. I am addicted to their ice cream and their dinners are great! We then came back where the kids went into the bath again for just 45 mins this time. They are in bed now and we are hoping to sleep well tonight!

Oh, and I finally called our rep and she didn't have good news. Now she says maybe we will hear something tomorrow or next Monday. Last week she was saying we would deffinaltly hear something by Thursday or Friday. So please pray that we hear something tomorrow. We would LOVE to come home next week.





Catalina (Leidy) wrote "Muchas gracias for the regalos TNT" on the board!

Not much going on...

Well today didn't go as I had planed but that's how it goes sometimes. Jim and I both had taken something like night time thera-flu to help our achy bodies and sinus issues last night and for some reason we were both up and wide awake until about
3am. That has never happened before And yes it was for night time. So, today we were both so tired and still haven't felt well. Jaysa Stefani was very fussy all morning then decides to throw up her lunch all over the floor. Poor thing. I put her down for a nap and took care of Jim and the other 2. She woke up early from her nap crying and I held her for a little bit. They are so sweet when they first wake up and lay on your shoulder. Well then I started to feel something warm and realized she was going chi-chi as they say it here. She went all over me. At first I thought it was just in the diaper, but oh no. :) She has been better this afternoon though, so we will see. It was a very nice evening so we went for a long walk to the Atlantis mall where the Hard Rock Cafe is. We had dinner and then walked back. So not much going on today. We are still waiting to hear from our representative here about our paperwork. I think I will call her tomorrow to see if she knows anything. Have a great night!




Jaysa stood under there for a bit just saying WOW..... It was funny

What a great day!

Ok, so this is Jaime writing now. Wow, 2 posts in one night! We just got back and settled the kids in for the night. Today I have been feeling a little better and decided to take the kids to this awesome place called Divercity. It is a small city for kids where they first go to the bank and cash their check and get a credit card. Then they get to work and do different jobs. They earn money then they also have many other fun things for the kids to spend their money on. I can't even begin to explain how cool this place is. They got to be doctors and EMT's, firefighters, postal workers, pilots, farmers, actors, models, futbol players, librarians, paleontologists, cashiers, artists and construction workers. They also got to work in a coco cola plant and actually make a bottle of coke and at a kelloggs plant and put together a bag of chips. When they worked and got money they could use it to do fun things like ride rapids, rock climb, race cars and more. They had a lot more like being a dentist, vets, working for a paper or radio station, but after 5 hours you just can't do it all. It is also very reasonable. I paid about $20 for both of the kids and me. Adults can't really participate in the activities, but it was so fun to watch most of the stuff the kids got to do. If you want to let the kids go, they have a place for parents to go and can get dunkin doughnuts and use the internet or watch movies. So here are a bunch of pictures!!!

The Grocery store




The Salon



Art Studio



Modeling



Race cars




The Farmers



Telecommunications



Librarians




Actors



John is the lion and Leidy (Catalina) is the black cat
The play was SO cute!


My Doctors and Firefighters!






My Construction worker



The Bottle factory


Riding the Rapids!

Tuesday the 6th

Hey everyone. This is Jim again. Jaime doesn't know I'm writing this as she is out with John and Leidy. She went to some virtual world for kids. I guess you should expect some cool pictures when she gets back. Once again, I am bonding with my little munchkin Jaisa Stefani. We played a little hide and seek and then I put her down for a nap. She has been a lot of fun and is very sweet.

Bogota has been a wonderful journey for us. We are having a great time and enjoying the Colombian people. It has been a very educational time for me as I have been studying Spanish and learning a lot about the culture here. These people like to party as they have a celebration for every day of the year. We were very sceptical when we came here as we were told many warnings about how to act here and obviously the kidnapping reputation that this country has. I have to say that I have been pleasantly surprised as time after time I have felt great courtesy, respect and have never felt in danger. Some of the areas here are by far the most beautiful I have ever seen, but because of the "Colombian" reputation, many people will never even consider this place as a vacation. There are many places here that would dominate as a tourist area if Colombia could clear up their image.

There have been quite a few things I have found out. I think this came to me as I was getting on the bus with my kids for a tour and the kids wanted to sit in the front seat. Now, if any of you know me, this has never ever taken place in my lifetime but because of their begging, I gave in. I immediately felt like I could work in an IT department as my nerd factor quickly quadtripled. People started looking at me differently and I kept thinking how cool it would be to sit in the back with all the cool guys. Of course, at the first stop, I bought myself some suspenders as I felt a belt just wasn't getting the job done. I'm sure many of you from Huntsville know exactly how this feels.

Anyway, I did learn some things.

#1. Colombians are taught in school there are only 5 continents - The Americas are only one continent
#2. Bogota is at almost 9000 ft, which make it one of the highest cities in the world.
#3. Colombians are more literate then Americans
#4. Average yearly wage is $8,400
#5. WalMart had more in sales last year then the total GDP of Colombia

Now this learning streak I am on may have something to do with the fact that I can't watch any of the NBA finals here because it isn't on. I have tried to follow it thru NBA.com, but it really isn't the same as yelling at Kobe Bryant for being the most overrated player ever. To win the MVP of the league is the most ridiculous thing ever and he wouldn't even be playing right now if it wasn't for Pau Gasol. I'll try to refrain from my sports bias though.

I also have a bone to pick with my wife as before we went down this road, we planned out the jobs portion of taking care of these munchkins. She drew the straw of changing diapers, but somehow I am beginning to dominate that task. She also has the gift of hearing if one of the kids moves at 3am in the morning in the next room, she is up making sure they are ok. She then wakes me up and lets me know that everything is alright. Why? Any guys out there? Any advice?

I will say that she has been absolutely amazing and this journey has been the best with her. She is doing great and her life is full with these 3 kids. She was born to be a mom and I see her gifts as a nurse, caregiver and nurturer coming out everyday more and more. I am lucky to have her as my wife as most of you have repetively told me over and over again!

Well, I need to go get little munchkin up and I'm sure, change her diaper. I think I'm in the mood to play "I will throw you up as far in the air as he can until you throw up". (My dad taught me that one) The kids love to wrestle and try to pin me down and jump on me like a trampoline but they ususally find themselves on the ground after too long screaming for their mom to help. I don't know how that happens, but I remember screaming for my mom when that same thing happenned to me?

So far we haven't found out any new news of our paperwork but I'm sure we'll know something more tomorrow. Life is great! Thanks for your emails of encouragement and comments. We couldn't be happier and look forward to coming home soon. You're prayers have made this journey what it has been!

The day the city shut down

It is Cinco De Mayo. We are staying at the Embassy Suites, near downtown Bogota. The area we are in is very, very nice - a beatiful area with shops, restaurants, nice walkways and waterfalls in front of buildings. We are enjoying some peace and quiet here as we have a suite and the kids all sleep in the other room. They have been so good.

Leidy and I have been going thru an English phonics book. She is really doing well and really wants to learn. Some people have told her that she won't be speaking any Spanish once we are in the US so I guess she is trying her best to get a head start. I gave John another new puzzle today. Oh my word, that kid went crazy. It was like the greatest gift anyone could give him. He has been playing with it all day!

Jim has been able to work here quite well as they have a fantastic business center. Most people understand English here also so that makes things a little less confusing for us as we are limited but it is really not too bad to get around.

Jim and I have not been feeling good today. It is tough to keep up with 3 munchkins when you don't feel good but so far we survived today! All 3 of them spent an hour in the tub today. It was so nice to just be able to sit and rest and smile at how cute my kids are. Jim came up to the room when Stefani went down for a nap and I took the kids to a very good hamburger restaurant that has an awesome kids play area. The kids played for about an hour which gave me another chance to rest and watch them play :) Tonight we ran to the store for a few things and ordered chinese. It was very good. I don't think we have any plans for tomorrow yet. I am hoping to feel better to be able to do some fun things with the kids.
Here are some pics of our 3 little monkeys!




For a snack today they made themselves a picnic :)

Cinco de Mayo

Well tomorrow is the big holiday down here. We have been told things get pretty wild here so we are going to take it easy like we did today. There isn't much to report. It rained all day so we just hung around the hotel and watched movies. It was a nice break as we have been pushing ourselves a little hard and a few days of relaxation is nice.

We have been told that our paperwork maybe going a little faster then we expected but we still don't know exactly what that means. You can't get a whole lot done here on Friday but hopefully we can get a lot completed this week!

Leidy is really learning English quickly. When she wants to be excused from the table, she now asks, "May I be excused please". It is really cute with her accent. She can count to 20 in English and knows the Alphabet song. She also tells us she loves us every night in English. Very sweet. John is picking it up also as he follows closely to Leidy.

We wish everyone a great Cinco de Mayo. We will hopefully have more to report tomorrow night. Love you all,