Food

Okay, we found out that the name of the fruit pictured below is elephant mucus (at least that is the English translation). Today we had baked yucca, which was popular with Jonathan. We've eaten lots of things that we didn't know the name of, but all-in-all the food is pretty good. Yesterday we had grilled ham and cheese sandwiches for breakfast. Judging by the excitement in the dining room, this is a real treat. Today I tried to order French toast for Jonathan and Maria, but was given the impression that that was not appropriate for children for breakfast. We finally settled on scrambled eggs with ham. Today for lunch we had some sort of tuna fish pie with a creamy cilantro sauce. Most of the children wouldn't touch it, but the VanTol kids cleaned their plates. Cilantro is a favorite in the kitchen here and it gets used in many dishes. We get a hot breakfast every morning. Lunch always includes soup and ends with fresh fruit. Dinner tends to be a bit lighter than lunch, but always finishes with dessert. The other day we had three milk cake and none of the children, including Jonathan, would eat it. Interesting that they'll eat something called elephant mucus, but not three milk cake!

a day of fun

We don't know what this fruit is called, but Maria and Dwight really liked it. It looks like an orange on a stick. You crack the outside rind open like an egg. Inside is the fruit, rather slimy and full of crunchy seeds. It was very sweet.
The weather here in Bogota is wonderful. It is warm and sunny. The sky is incredibly blue and we can see the mountains around us. Sometimes there is some rain in the afternoon, but it has not rained much since we've been here.
We all walked to the park to play this afternoon. Luke and Jonathan really enjoyed playing together on the teeter-totter.
We were amazed that Jonathan could do this with his leg, but he is game to try anything. Luke is holding the log still for him. Jonathan seems to particularly love having a big brother and Luke is loving being the big brother.

Wednesday, Nov. 14

We had a good night. Jonathan went right to sleep. He likes his new pajamas and didn't want to take them off this morning. Before bed, he and Dwight had been looking at a Spanish-English picture dictionary together. When he woke up at 6 (that is when they get up in the orphanage) and saw that we were all still in bed, he got the book and looked at it quietly until we got up. After he was dressed, he had Dwight help him make his bed. That must be part of the orphanage routine, too. Maria told him that he could make her bed, too:) These pictures are from after breakfast playing on the swings in the backyard. As you can see, the clothes we brought are too big. We may need to go shopping to get a couple things that aren't so big on him. So far, all is going amazingly well.
Our ICBF interview is scheduled for next Tuesday. Please pray that it not be delayed and that it will go well. That is our next big step.
For my friends in the Spanish department - I am now carrying on whole conversations in Spanish. Granted, they are not on deep topics, but they do involved whole sentences and several exchanges. What fun!

More pictures from the orphanage

Staff from Jonathan's school who came to the fiesta to say goodbye.Isabelle, our case worker here in Colombia, with Maria and Jonathan.
Children at Ayudame enjoying cake at the fiesta.
Fiesta time.

Presentation Day

Well, we finally got to meet Jonathan. First we met with the doctor who went over all of Jonathan's medical history with us. Then Maria Clemente, the director, met with us and went over lots of information and we signed lots of papers. Maria and Luke just had to sit quietly through all of that. Finally we got to meet Jonathan. He was nervous and excited both.
We threw a big party for all his friends and the staff at Ayudame. We had cake and candy and pop and got those kids good and wired and then we left:)
Everyone was so nice and so happy for Jonathan. Three of the staff from his school also came to the fiesta. Now we are back and exhausted, except for Jonathan who seems to have eaten enough sugar to keep him going for several hours.
He is a beautiful little boy and very loving. He is also very busy.

Meeting Jonathan

Our first meeting with Jonathan at the orphanage.Everyone was very nervous and very excited.
The whole family with Maria Clemente, the Director
More of the orphanage staff. The little boy in front is Javier, Jonathan's friend.

More Pics continued

Maria and Calista having fun together.Maria and Tatis learning new languages.

Some more pictures

Here we are during our layover in Toronto.
World famous five star Hotel Paris.
Mountains surround the city. We are babysitting Calista.
Maria and her friend Tatis.

Nov. 12

We are staying at the Hotel Paris, named for the proprietor Katya Paris. There are about ten other families here also adopting. All have been here since October or longer so we are the new kids on the block. All but one are here for their second adoption so there are lots of children around. The families here right now are from Finland, Italy, France, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. There is one other family from Michigan, one family from Tennessee, and three from Florida. We all spend a lot of time together. Both parents and all the children are here for all but one of the families. Callista's mom just returned to the states a couple days ago and Callista and her dad hope to return to Florida at the of this week. There are even a couple sets of grandparents around. Adoption is definitely a family affair around here.
We all eat together and there is a staff that does all the cooking and cleaning. The food is good. I am definitely not going to lose those last five pounds while I am over here. The dining room is crowded with high chairs and meals times are busy with so many children. There is usually at least one baby crying at all times. Actually, this is true most of the time, not just during meals:)
Today is a holiday so most everything is closed. We took a long walk with another family. This is their second time here so they were showing us all the best places to visit. Their son wanted to play in the McDonald's play place so we stopped there for coffees while the kids played. The mochas we had were very good, served in fancy glass cups with globs of hot fudge at the bottom to be mixed in. Yum!
It is still warm, but rainy today. Maria and her new friend Tatis are here trying to teach each other their language. Tatis is from Italy, but adopted from Colombia and still fluent in Spanish. She knows no English, however, so Maria is trying to learn Spanish and Tatis is trying to learn English. The Spanish teachers would be pleased to hear how much Spanish I am using here. The staff speaks no English so I keep trying to understand their questions and respond appropriately. They are so pleased every time I get it right. I also keep having to act as interpreter between Maria and Tatis because they sometimes get frustrated when they can't understand each other. We also spent time yesterday and today doing homework with Luke and Maria.
K

Pictures of Jonathan

Another couple who is here now was also here almost 4 years ago and had some pictures of Jonathan in the orphanage from that time that they shared with us. These are of Jonathan at Ayudame orphanage when he was 3 years old. The baby is their adopted son Daniel and they just adopted a second child, Jonathan. They inquired when they were here the first time about adopting our Jonathan, but he wasn't available for adoption yet. The mom said she has been praying for our Jonathan to find a family and she is so thrilled that it is going to happen and she was here to meet us.

Dwight's adventure

Last night when we got to the hotel we realized that we were missing a bag. Apparently in the rush and crush of disembarking and customs I left one our bags in the x-ray machine. So Freddy our taxi driver and I rushed back to the airport to see if we could retrieve it. One thing about Columbia, there are lots of policion everywhere. I'm glad that Freddy was along to translate because we were directed to many different offices until we finally found the one where lost baggage ends up, and there it was sitting on the counter, what a relief.

This morning after we met with Isabelle, we decided to go for a walk to see what the neighborhood is like, and many of the other families here were going out also. We took Callista, a toddler who is also being adopted along with us so her dad could work on getting his paperwork finished up. We walked along a canal that is near the hotel to a park and from there we walked along some of the commercial streets in a big loop back to Hotel Paris. Bogota has some of the feel of Timisora in Romania. It has lots of obviously very old architecture mixed in with the new and modern. Bit where Timisora was medieval mixed with Communist concrete revival, Bogota is Spanish Colonial mixed with shiny steel and glass. Apparently on Sunday they close many of the streets to cars so that people can ride bikes or rollerblade or jog along the calles and many people were taking advantage of the beautiful weather after many days of rain. I was going to post some pictures but I can't find the right cable so maybe latter.
d

Nov. 11 part 2

We just found out that we cannot meet Jonathan until Tuesday at 3:00. We are very disappointed. It is a long holiday weekend here in Colombia so that is why we cannot meet him until Tuesday. Apparently they have a lot of holiday weekends here. No one is even sure of what the holiday if in honor of.
We are going to go for a walk. It is a beautiful, warm day here.
K

Nov. 11

We arrived safely at the Hotel Paris last night. We have our own room with a bathroom. Right now all the floor space is taken up with beds. We may move to a different room later because there really is no place in here to put Jonathan. We meet with Isabelle this morning and then we hope to learn when we will get to meet Jonathan. Everyone we have met so far has been very nice and friendly. There are lots of families here adopting and lots of children, although none as old as Luke. Maria has made a new friend, a nine year old girl being adopted. Maria also befriended a young couple in the airport yesterday. They were eating lunch near us and Maria asked them if they were speaking Spanish. They have been living in Toronto for five years, but were traveling back to Colombia with their two year old son to visit family. We were on the same plane and now have their phone number in case we should need any help. They were very nice.
K

Nov. 10

We flew out of O'Hare this morning on a cute little "jazz" plane. There were only 18 people on our flight. Maria and I sat in the front row and Maria enjoyed chatting with the flight attendant and listening to all her explanations in French. Maria also got to go up front and meet the pilots and see all their instruments. Interestingly, Dwight and Luke were in the last row. We are now at the Toronto airport eating lunch and waiting for our connecting flight.
K