crafting

Yes, that is a glue gun…

Yes, it is hot…

Yes, I allowed the boy to use it

PAPA NOEL

Sunday afternoon….the big day…..the chance to sit on Papa

Noel’s lap!!!! There were two very excited little people

getting ready, putting on their Christmas bests.

Mike’s work held a Family Christmas Party in town.

Papa Noel, toys, snacks, crafts and all.

After a very fun holiday party, we decorated Christmas Cookies tonight. Everyone one of us was excited to frost some cookies and of course, to try one.

Saturday, December 12

This morning Mike had to work, so I took Diego and Yerly to the Library for a Christmas craft day. They were very excited to meet Chris the Children’s Librarian. They had a blast cutting and gluing and creating some Christmas masterpieces!

FRIDAY DECEMBER 11~

This was a Gretta and Emily Day. They spent all of their time tonight with Diego and Yerly. They even read them stories and tucked them in bed!

SNOW

The snow has been quite intriguing for Diego and Yerly.

They are fascinated by the “cold white ice.” 

Yesterday, Dayne and Ella went out to do the sidewalks with the snowblower, they do ours and the neighbors.  Diego decided he should go out and help.  After putting on all of the gear…he was amazed at snowpants…he ventured outside.  He took his oversized shovel and began in my flower beds…scooping the snow and continuing onto the grass to remove the snow.  I had to explain that we were removing snow from the sidewalk, not the whole yard.  He understood this because he said, “oh yes, so I can ride my bike”

Dayne rounded the corner and began coming down our sidewalk.  Diego eagerly ran to him, scooped more snow from the grass and shoveled it INTO the snowblower.  This was helpful.  We again explained the process and he diligently returned to work.

This week has been book week.  We found out the

kids LOVE books.

Our favorite memory of the week has been Ella sitting on the couch

with them, persevering and reading spanish picture books to D and Y

for over a half an hour.

 

So ….it was the perfect week for our first weekly trip to the library!!  They LOVED IT….so many books ….so much fun!

The boys boxing gloves also came out this week one night for Papi

and Diego.  Just what this boy needed, some roughing up that only a

dad can do.

Funny happenings this week:

Yerly: “I love it here because I have beautiful clothes”

Diego….hilarious santa-clause-like fake laugh when he thinks something is funny.

They both love puzzles.  Yerly has been fast at work doing 100 piece puzzles alone.  She likes to be the one to put all of the pieces in by herself.  Diego loves them too, but prefers the companionship of a helping friend.

HOME is where the HEART is

We have been home for 12 days now and it seems like we have always been together. Diego and Yerly are doing extremely well at home. They are behaving and listening and so much more relaxed than they were in Colombia.
Thrusday, November 19th, 2009
Our first day home was a blast. Nana and Grandpa brought the other kiddos to Chicago to pick us up in 2 vehicles. It was a great first encounter. After many hugs and tears we were united as a family after all this time in the United States!!! We loaded up in the suburban and started to pull out of the parking lot when Diego said "Papi sabes a manejar?!? (Papa knows how to drive?!?) - we all laughed until we realized that for the three weeks in Colombia neither Mike nor Tristin drove anywhere... We all fit snuggly in the suburban and made our first stop at the McDonalds Oasis near Rockford where we had our first all american meal of burgers and french fries. The impact of having a family of 8 set in as the bill was around $50!!! Olivia drove us the rest of the way home and when we pulled up in front of the house D&Y both shouted "Ya llegamos! (we arrived!) They spent the next hour going from discovery to discovery in each room where they had to touch and feel everything. So much excitement. That night they slept in their bads for the first time. There was some anxiety and it took a while to settle down but what a blessing to have our new family members home snug in bed.
Friday, Nov 20th, 2009
The next day they were able to watch their first American football game as our hometown high school team won the Wisconsin State Championship! That night their Aunt and Uncle came to visit them. This was a special visit for they had adopted their son from Ukraine 4 years ago and their journey through adoption process was invaluable to us. Their three children and our were able to spend time together for the first time. They brought them Build.A.Bears with voices recorded - D&Y listen to them every night.
Saturday/Sunday
Spent our first weekend together at home with some of the kids activities kicking in. D&Y were doing much better for the most part. All of us have been adjusting to the new family dynamics. Patience, patience, patience. Communication is a blast - Ella and Dayne are speaking more Spanish this first month than they learned in the previous year. We went to Pizza Hut and had our first movie night. We went to church and we were warmly introduced to all of our church friends. Diego and Yerly were a bit overwhelmed with all the people at first but slowly warmed up. That evening Grandma and Grandpa WIliams came to visit with Uncle Ryan and Aunt Staci and Greenly.
Monday-Wednesday
School
Family supper table is a wild time of different conversations going on in different languages all at the same time. We have found this time to be very special time of sharing our day for everyone to hear and bond.
Wednesday night we had snow - this was a first time Diego and Yerly had ever seen snow. They were amazed saying "Mira tu pelo" (look at you hair with the snow coverine our heads as we caught snowflakes on our tongues. and listened to their laughs and expressions of joy saying funny things like "pica fria" (spicy cold)
Thanksgiving
We were able to see all of our family on Thanksgiving day. The first half of the day was spent at Williams where they had their first Thanksgiving meal with all the fixings. We were talking about Thanksgiving all week leading up to this because Colombia doesn't have a "Thanksgiving" day. They had fun playing with their cousins. Then off to Rothwells to meet everyone for the first time. They were a bit shy at first but then once the cousins started playing they joined in.
T-Giving Weekend
We cut down our Christmas tree. This was quite an adventure - D&Y didn't really know what to think. We found out they knew about Christmas trees but did not every have one personally before. This was neat to walk through all the trees and pick the one for our family. Diego and Dayne were eager helpers with the saw.
Once we returned home we unpacked and had our first Christmas pizza-movie with home made pizzas that were interesting creations from Diego and Yerly followed by a family favorite "Christmas with the Cranks"
SUnday after church we decorated the house for christmas. We decorated the tree with all the kids ornaments. DIego and Yerly had never experienced this and really enjoyed carefully placing all the ornaments carefully on the branches. At the end when we put the angel on top they spent time just looking at the tree.
Upon our return, our hometown newspaperup wrote an amazing article about our family and the adoption process for a Thanksgiving special. It was very well done and we are really thankful for how well the reporter put the story together.

Ciao Bogota, Ciao Colombia, Gracias Dios por nuestros regalos (thank you, Lord, for our gifts)

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Today is our last day in Colombia…  The time has gone both fast and slow. When  we reflect on how much we have accomplished in three weeks it is really amazing.  Time seemed to go fast due to the business but seemed to go slow due to missing home…

This morning we took Yerly and Diego to a really cool children's hair salon with their friend Sofia. This salon had everything under the sun to entertain children while they get their hair done – dvd, x-box, car chairs…  Diego got his hair touched up but Yerly had a full hair braid complete with ribbons and topped off with a manicure and facial makeup.  She looks like a little doll.  She really soaked it in getting pampered like that…

 

We walked around our neighborhood to a really nice Colombian artesian shop where we found some more nice things that reminded us of Colombia and gifts.  We ate lunch at this great place called “Crepes and Waffles” where they make amazing dishes of every type wrapped in a crepes…  The kids had some amazing sundaes for dessert with the kids meal.

Mike went to the US embassy and received all the documentation and visas for D&Y to enter the US as immigrants.  We then went to validate our tickets and found out we need to get to the airport 3 hours in advance to get our seating reassigned so D&Y can sit next to us.

We made one last run to a Juan Valdez cafe and Exito before coming home for an amazing supper of Ajiaco…a typical Colombian soup.  It is a chicken based broth made with 3different kinds of potatoes.  You then add the following if you like: chicken, avocado,corn, and capers.  This delicious soup was served with homemade empanadas!!! For dessert…passionfruit cored and filled with passionfluff

 

We are all packed and ready to go. We need to get up at 4:30 to leave at 5:15am to start our travels back to the US. This flight will be from Bogota to Miami where we need to go through immigration and customs.  This process is where D&Y have all their documents reviewed and then officially enter the US.  We have three hours to get this done and board our next flight to Chicago.  We will be met in Chicago by the kids and Grandpa Williams for the drive back to Reedsburg.

D&Y are excited to see their siblings and see their new house. M&T and looking forward to seeing the kids and sleeping in their bed!!!

Colombia is a beautiful country with very sophisticated urban life mixed with natural beauty that rivals most countries.  The people are wonderful kind and helpful.  We have met many new people that we are very grateful to have known.  We have experienced some great cultural things to appreciate Colombia. We have enjoyed some great food. 

But most of all we are grateful for our gifts from God – Diego Josee and Yerly Tatiana Rothwell…

~~DiverCity~~

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This morning we woke up and had breakfast. Today Diego sat at the table instead of under the table. :) 

Helena came for us this morning to take us to the US Embassy.  We waited for about 2 hours to apply for their visas!  Tomorrow we can go and pick them up.

This aft. we went for Empanadas for lunch.  They are made of corn flour, stuffed with different assortments and then fried.  The kids had empanadas with chicken.  Mike had a specialty Bogota meat mix, I had some cheese empanadas and we all shared some tamillos which are like tamales.  While walking we got caught in a Bogotan thunderstorm..with buckets of water dropping at a time.  We all had to fit under one (mini at that) umbrella as we made our way through the streets and puddles.  Diego and Yerly thought it was great as we carried them.  They laughed and laughed as we got drenched!!

For the big shing ding today, we told the kids we had a sorpresa….surprise.  We took them to the mall to a place called DiverCity. ( Mexico mission team mates…this was KIDZANIA in Bogota!!!)  Divercity is a small miniature town for kids.  They enter and receive money from the bank and a credit/ debit card.  They can then go to all of the different attractions to work or play.  They learn how to manage money and different occupations at the same time, while all of the attractions are miniature versions of actual businesses that are in Bogota.

There was quite a line today.  We arrived an hour early and we were still about number 200.  The kids were super excited when we walked through the door.  The first place we went was to the miniature coca cola plant.  They put on their little red outfits and went in to make some soda.  They saw the whole process and finished with a coke.  Next they climbed a rock wall( with a lot of help from their belayer)  throughout the 3 hours we spent there, they were airline attendants, made chocolate, gave boat tours, got their drivers license.  There were many other occupations like being fire fighter, EMT, veterinarian, musician…etc.   It was a lot of fun, they were a little overwhelmed but really enjoyed each attraction.  You could tell they were taking it all in!!! 

Tonight we came home and their friend Sophia was waiting for them.  Sophia bought a new hair accessory kit today and wanted to do hair with Yerly. Pics…tell it all below.  they did hair and ate pizza…great way to end the night!!