Wednesday, November 7, 2007

Day One in Colombia...plus Photos!

The excited parents-to-be!

Laura & Angie's bed (with our surrogate PJ), plus Mami y Papi's bed (Juan Carlos has a great sofa bed to sleep on!)


Our room...plus Robert's foot! :)



This is what it looked liked last night - before we 'officially' moved in!

Day One in Bogota, Colombia! We had a great day...slept in until almost 10! Was great - we definitely needed the sleep! We got up and made our way out to the main area of the house - and were immediately greeted by many of the families here! Betty's Place is a bed & breakfast type place that caters exclusively to adoptive families. So far we have met 4 families staying here. I believe there is another one too, but their daughter has had some health problems so she has been in the hospital. The families we have met are:

Tamara & Paul, their daughter Julianna (age 4 - adopted from Colombia at 3 months) and her new brother John (5 months - currently being adopted).

Evelyn and her daughter Marlie (age 10 -currently being adopted).

Corinne & her mother Michelina (from France) and Corinne's new daughter Alexanne. Corinne's husband left yesterday with their son Killian who was also adopted from Colombia 5 years ago.

We also met Betty - the owner of the place. Betty is from New York originally, but married a Colombian man 30 years ago and has lived here ever since! She took Robert and I to the grocery store nearby where we picked up some things for snacks and lunch fixings. We also stopped by a tiny shop where we had a man make photocopies of our passports for Betty's paperwork. His name was Jairo and he talked to us forever! He was so excited we were adopting 3 children, and he told us all about the lovely things about Colombia. He also talked about how he believes God brings the right people to adopt these children and gave us candy to give to the children when we meet them tomorrow...so sweet!

We talked with Edith, our in-country associate this afternoon. Turns out that our meeting with the children is not in the morning tomorrow as we had thought. It is at 4:00 pm! More waiting...but not much! In fact I think I'm going to go to the local hair salon (Norbeto's) tomorrow morning to get my hair trimmed...it has needed it for about 6 months and we hear Norberto is great...and inexpensive! :)

PS - thanks for your comments - we love reading them and it makes home feel a little less far away...can't wait to update tomorrow night (may be late...) with the adventures of our day...and first pics of our children!

Con mucho amor! Roberto y Holly :)

8 comments:

Jennifer said...

SOOOO exciting! I am looking forward to seeing photos with the kids soon! Thinking of you all!

Karrie said...

Yeah!! I am so glad that all is going well. Can't wait for your next update.

Teresa said...

Holly & Robert -

I am so eager to meet your lovely family! You have a cheerleader in Iowa who is leading the charge - and she is so excited to be Grandma to more little ones! I know you will be great parents! Thanks for sharing!
~Teresa

Mrs. Hawk said...

I worked out this morning without you, Holly - Dave just isn't the same as you! :) Glad to hear that your first day went well!!!!

Rita Andrews said...

Holly
I some how got your blog addy months ago, i think through one of the Colombian yahoo groups. WE too adopted 2 girls from Bogota back in June. We stayed right in the same room as you at Betty's Place. We loved it there!!!! WE arrived, got our girls and were gone in exactly one month....BUT not without major issues...health and in the hospital. God bless you!! Rita and William Andrews
www.andrewscrew.blogspot.com

Genece said...

Wow, the exciting day that forever changes your days to come is now upon you! How awesome! And now you're only hours away from meeting the kids! Our thoughts and prayers are with you today as you embark upon this wonderful endeavor. May it be filled with many blessings. Genece

LaDonna said...

How exciting!! I am glad you all got there safely and things have been moving along smoothly! Can't wait for you all to come back home and to meet everyone. take care.

Charlotte said...

It's so fun to read about your experience in Colombia and with your children. Thanks for keeping us updated. We're praying for a safe return home. Can't wait to meet your niƱos!