WERE BACK!!

OH it feels great to be back home! The kids did pretty good on the way back. They didn't like the fact that we had to wait to get on the plane. They wanted to get on right a way! They were so excited and kept pointing out all the planes they saw. It was a long day and on the last little flight from Atlanta they all fell asleep. Our parents and some sweet friends of ours met us at the airport and it was SO great to see everyone!! Thanks for the flowers and snacks and balloons and welcome signs! The kids loved it!
So when we got home the kids were so excited and were running around looking at everything. John loved his car bed and Catalina just kept looking at her room and smiling and went straight to looking at all the clothes! Our parents blew us a way with all the things they did while we were gone! Downstairs they turned our main room into a play area, and it looks great!!!! The kids were so excited to see all the toys and the "pool of balls." We went to church on Sunday and it was SO great to see everyone and have them welcome us like they did!! When we got home the kids went straight for the pool. They love the water! Between Sunday and yesterday they have been in and out of the water about 8 times and gone through all 3 of their bathing suits, about 20 towels, 6 different pairs of PJs, and about 10 different changes of clothes too!!! I think they don't know what to do about all the new things and just want to keep trying everything out. :) We will have to put a stop to that soon as I can not keep up with that much laundry.

Arrival

Well, we were able to change our flight so we get into Huntsville at 6:30pm!!! Hope to see whoever can make it. Everything has gone great today and the United States has 3 more citizens now! Can't wait until we get home!

Love you all!!!

The US Embassy

So things went better then excepted today at the Embassy. We were there for only about 2 hours. The visas were approved and I have to return tomorrow at 3:30 to pick them up. There were a lot of people there waiting. The kids got restless, but I am so glad we didn't have to stay another 2 hours. All morning Jaysa was very fussy and then just sat in the stroller the whole 2 hours, which is unlike her. I new something was up and when we got back in the car she was eating a cookie and up-chucked everything. She was also running a fever. Poor thing. She slept all afternoon but has not wanted me to put her down. I ended up having the doctor come tonight as she was very fussy and still running a fever. A few kids here had sore throats so I just wanted to make sure she didn't need meds as we are flying on Sat.

So a few of you have asked if you could come to the airport to greet us and we would Love it if you can!!! Here is the catch though. As it stands now we are getting into Huntsville at 9:43pm from Atlanta. There is an earlier flight that we would love to see if we can catch that gets us in at 6:37. We won't know until around that time if we can get on it. So, we will try to update the blog if we can get on the earlier flight. We also wouldn't mind calling you if you want us to. You can email me and make sure we have your phone number. www.jaimeboyachek@bellsouth.net
Also, Jim will have his crackberry so you can email him at boyaj@tntfireworks.com and he can get with you prior to 5pm on Saturday by email if need be. Thank you all so much for your support. It has meant a LOT to us!
Have a great night!


Our friend Debi Adelman helped translate with the doctor and took pics too! Thanks Debi!


The Doc let John listen to his own heart and he was so cute moving his hands really fast to show the Doc what he was hearing :)

We are coming Home!!!!!!!

What a busy day. I left at 7:30am and we had to go to 2 different Notary places to get the kids birth certificates. Usually you request it 1 day and then pick it up the next so we were hoping to get it done today. Well 4 an a half hours later we were able to get it done!! We then came back to the B&B to get the kids and had a quick bite and left to go get them passports. We picked up another couple at the other B&B and we all went together. We pretty much were running everywhere we went. David who took us to the passport office is great. We skipped a head in line of about 100 people. The place was filled with people but our guy knows some people here :) He then ran us to the doctors office and left us there. The doc was real nice and spoke pretty good english. We finally finished about 6 pm. What a great blessing to be able to get all that done today! SO that means we will be coming home on Saturday!!! I am so excited and so are the kids!!! Tomorrow we go to the US embassy to apply for visas which they say we will be there about 4 hours. So I am off to bed to get ready for another long day!




This is funny where they didn't tell me the kids had to wear dark colors and she had white on and so did I, but thanks to our french friends the husband let Leidy wear his top shirt. It was a bit big, but it did the trick!!

Sentencia!!

So today was the day that we got the final signiture! I had been waiting around all day and everytime the phone rang here I got nervous. It was about 3:45 when the phone was finally for me! The office closed at 5 and the taxi came for me about
4:15. I got there at 4:45 and My lawyer met me there. They had spelt Johns name wrong and had to fix it and after the place was almost dead at 5:40 we were finished with the first part to get us home!!! My day starts really early as my lawyer is picking me up at 7:30. If we can get the birth certificates tomorrow and be able to get the kids passports and medicals done then I have a good chance of coming home on Saturday. So please pray that we can get all that done tomorrow!!! If somethings go wrong I am told I can't come home until next Tues. Sorry this is short tonight, but I am tired and have to get going early. Thank You all for your prayers and encouragement! Whoo Hooo! Home here we come!

May 12th

May 12th... Today was fun. We all slept in and had a great breakfast at the hotel here. We talked to our agency first thing and they think it could be tomorrow when we get our signature but unfortunately that doesn't guarantee we can come home this weekend. I am still holding out hope about it though...

So, we packed up Jim's things and got him ready to leave as he leaves at 6am tomorrow. We talked to the kids and made sure they understand why he is leaving and that we will see him in about a week. They started pouting but got over it pretty quickly with some candy. We played some games and Jim again played his favorite game - throwing the kids up as high as he can. They laugh and laugh.

We continue to work on their English and our Spanish. It is really a lot easier than I thought it would be. I bought a phonics book for Catalina and she really tries each day to work on learning. Every chance we get we are teaching them things. We went thru some pictures with them and they pointed out all the things they knew. John has a hilarious way of saying WOW when he sees something he likes. It makes us all laugh.

Last night was very special as Jim took me out for dinner and a movie. It was our first time that we have been without our kids in 3 weeks! 24/7 kids make you really appreciate getting out and spending time without them. We went to this mall where they said they had a California Pizza Kitchen - one of my favorite places to eat. Well, we looked and looked but could not find it so we went to plan B and had some Mexican. Not a bad 2nd choice... When you buy a ticket for the movie theater, they are assigned seats which is kinda nice. They also escort you to the correct seat.
Jim had a little culture shock there as the restrooms are a little more unisex here. They still have mens and womens bathrooms, but when Jim went to use the restroom, there were two women in the mens room just acting like it was no big deal. Apparently the men didn't care either.

Overall, it was a pretty good mothers day. The kids made me feel very special and loved and Jim kept reminding them all day to go abraso (Hug) Mami. I probably got hugged and kissed 100 times yesterday! They also brought flowers to my room in the morning. I know they have wanted a mami for a long time and I wonder what they are thinking as they know I am theirs and they are mine. We did have a time in the afternoon that they didn't get what they wanted and had a pouting fest. We were at the mall so Jim took them back and little squirt and I shared some ice cream and finished shopping. It was a really nice time and as Jaysa and I were walking around we heard some singing and realized they were having a church service in the middle of the mall. It really is amazing that God knows exactly what you need and meets you right where you are. Even when you are in a foreign country and don't really understand what they are saying HE can use it to still speak to your heart. I serve an awesome God! What a great day!

I took the kids shopping with me today as the next few days may get a little crazy without Jim. It is nice to be able to get out and have the hotel take care of the munchkins. They have been amazing and are really good with the kids. I see the way the kids listen to them as they speak spanish with them, and I know that once the kids have more English under their belt, things will get easier to deal with.

Sorry we haven't been able to post many pictures. Our flash went out on our camera and a lot of the pictures didn't turn out. Here are a few happy pictures and sad pictures. It isn't all roses here but it is most of the time. The kids like to pout but they are learning that it doesn't get them anywhere except an hour in bed. Please forgive me if I don't post a whole lot the next week but I will do my best to let you all know what happens as we finish our journey to Colombia.

Many blessings

Happy Mothers Day

Hey all. I'm giving my wife the day off - or at least I'm trying. The kids are a handful today. We are trying to take the day off but with three kids, it all seems impossible. I am getting a babysitter for tonight so I can take Jaime out for a nice meal... A luxury we are looking forward to.

It looks like our paperwork is delayed a few more days. Hopefully we will hear something on Tuesday now, but that is the best case scenario now. After we get the signature, it takes 3 business days to get the passports, medical clearances and visas. So, I have booked a flight back to the States on Tuesday the 13th as it doesn't look like we will be able to finalize everything down here until the 19th or 20th of May now - but of course, we still don't know anything for sure.

We have settled into another hotel - the El Refugio, since I am going back home early. They have everything here and will also babysit if Jaime has to go and sign papers with our lawyer. It is also located within a 10 minute walk of the mall which is easy to take the kids on a stroll if nothing else exciting is going on.

I wish all mothers out there a great mothers day but especially to my mom and mother in law. I have taken their jobs for granted until now that I see what it really entails. Jeeesh... Moms, I hope today is wonderful for you both and I can't wait to see you both soon.

Have a great day, from Jim, Jaime, John, Stefani and Catalina.