Colombia Bound

Where are the Derrs?????

2011-04-10T11:45:00.000-07:00

Come visit us at our new blog site:

http://cambioadoptivo.wordpress.com/

Betty's Prayer...

2009-09-14T19:48:00.000-07:00

While it has been many months since an update, I thought it was fitting to restart our posts with something that has been on our heart more recently. I hope to soon follow this post with an update on our family, what we have been doing, how Jonatan is, and what we are looking forward to.

Sometimes, it is in an individual's death that you are reminded of just how special that person really was. And so it is the case with Dave's Mom. Back in the end of August, Betty traveled home to be with her Lord, and she will be dearly missed.

The initial news of her death came as a surprise. We had just spent a wonderful vacation with she and Dad in Toronto with Dave's brothers and their families. She had been doing so well...after two strokes and complications with her heart, this was the most clear that she had been in a couple years. She seemed on a path to getting back to her old self. Perhaps these final moments together were a gift for us as family.

A prayer...

"Lord, I'm yours~fill my cup (me) with 'sweet water' that what spills over may be a blessing to others. Fill me with your love. Fill me with your wisdom, your perspective, your patience. Fill me with hope based on faith and trust in You and your power and sovereignty. Fill me with your peace and serenity. Lord, you were never in a hurry~never flustered or rattled.

Fill me with Your Spirit. I submit to Your Lordship~to your control. This life is so short~eternity is forever. Lord, make my life count~glorify yourself in me. Take me~I'm yours.

Make my commitment a very practical, down-to-eart, tangible thing~that my husband & children can see, know, and feel."

In the front of her Bible, Betty had fixed this prayer. I can only imagine that this was something she daily meditated on, along with the scores of verses highlighted and noted. And, her life was a picture of the words written however long ago in that prayer. In remembering her with family and friends, it was amazing to hear just how significant an impact she had in the lives of others. Her love for Christ and His work always abounded, even when she felt trapped inside her own body following her strokes. I could go on about her, and I am sure that when I was done she would seem larger than life. Really, though, time spent with Betty was always about drawing close to the Lord. That was her greatest desire and gift for not just her family, but for all she met. It was evident in how she lived her life.

On September 11th, Dave's parents would have celebrated their 50th anniversary. Dave had the opportunity to spend the day with his Dad remembering. While a sad and somber occasion, it was a day of remembering back to those first days of getting to know one another and the day that began a beautiful almost 5 decades of marriage together. Their marriage has taught us a lot about persevering, and much more about life in Christ. We are thankful for the influence both of them have had on our lives, both individually and as a couple. We are praying for Dave's Dad as he grieves his "Tweety-pie" and considers the 'what nexts' of life. I have attached a copy of Betty's obituary if anyone is interested in reading it.

Betty L. Derr
(June 19, 1935 - August 23, 2009)

Betty L. Derr, 74, of 1340 Northway Road, Williamsport, died suddenly Sunday, August 23, 2009 at the Williamsport Hospital. Betty and her husband, Rev. Charles W. Derr, would have observed their 50th anniversary on September 11.

Betty and her husband were missionaries for 34 years in Colombia, Costa Rica and Canada. She was a graduate of Wheaton College, Wheaton, Ill., a member of Community Baptist Church and volunteered for the American Rescue Workers, Prison Fellowship and the Child Evangelism Fellowship.

Born June 19, 1935 in Hugo, Okla., she was the daughter of Edmund and Mary Louise Kennedy Miller.

Surviving besides her husband are sons, Mark E. (Ingrid) and Kenneth C. (Jennifer) both of Toronto, Can., and David P. (Sheila) of Harrisburg; a daughter, Kathryn R. Rice of Williamsport and seven grandchildren.

In lieu of flowers the family suggests donations to the Child Evangelism Fellowship, 460 Market Street, Williamsport, PA 17701.

Oops...

2009-05-03T13:48:00.000-07:00

So, I realized that the 'You Tube' pictoral video I put together was private. I am not sure then if anyone was able to see it. Sorry there is no music; the next one will be put to music. Enjoy!

One Year Ago...

2009-04-29T08:00:00.000-07:00

...we were in Pereira, Colombia, beginning our first steps as family together! I remember how nervous and excited we were to meet Jonatan for the first time. Repetitive flipping through paperwork and photos, checking our packing numerous times to ensure we hadn't forgotten a thing, and the endless talk of what was to come in meeting Jonatan and growing our family by one. I even remember how surreal that first meeting seemed. Standing in the visitation room that so many other children and their forever families had once visited...watching the shadows of people coming and going just outside our room (the walls were translucent), and wondering which bodies would finally represent our social worker, psychologist, and Jonatan.

Those moments seemed like forever as we sat, held each other, paced, and looked out the window. Soon the ICBF psychologist appeared to begin reviewing a list of questions and information: did we have any questions? how were we feeling about all of this? what we needed to remember in meeting Jonatan for the first time...the scope of thoughts and feelings that he may be experiencing as well. additional information collected since our last update. Despite having a translator, I remember thinking, "I am so glad there is two of us to remember all of this; because I don't think I am going to remember it all." My thoughts continued to wander to what was coming next...that long awaited moment of meeting...the shadows that danced along the wall as people walked back and forth just outside our room...the smell...the breeze...the din of people in the background. Oh, when would that anticipated moment arrive?

And then, without much transition, our psychologist explained that Jonatan was indeed in the building and wanted to know whether we were ready to meet him or not. By this time we had seen just a couple pictures of him and had only a fraction of an idea of just how big, exciting, and wonderful his personality was. Both of us looked at each other, nodded in agreement, and then proceeded to tell the psychologist that yes we were ready. I remember feeling very excited and happy for this moment, yet equally nervous about the events that were coming and how they would unfold. I remember my hands beginning to sweat, my heart beginning to speed up, and feeling a loss for words. How would Jonatan react? Afterall, we were told that he would most likely be crying, and because of his age, temperament, and other factors he may not be interested in coming to us. These were all things to be expected. How would we react? Oh, how much I wanted for our son to know how deeply we loved him, desired him to be a part of our life, and how equally sad we were for the events that were about to unfold. What to say? How to be? Only time and those first few moments would reveal just how the Lord would guide us through taking our first steps together.

And then, in the distance came crying and footsteps that could be heard above the din; closer they continued to come until small specks of shadow turned into 3 life-sized bodies through those translucent windows. What followed was a brief swinging of the door into the room where we waited with our lawyer and translator. The crying briefly stopped as Jonatan took in his new surroundings, the somewhat familiar people that stood before him, and the words being spoken to him in Spanish by his social worker. To this day, I do not remember what I said...I can't remember what Dave said. What I do remember is the social worker coming closer, and Jonatan's expression going from momentary intrigue and interest to concern and fear. By the time he was in my arms, he was crying again. His little body stiffening here and there. His arms turned and reaching out to the social worker that he had grown to know and trust. I wondered how terrible this must feel; how confusing; I wondered if this had happened before.

Despite all of our attempts to distract and redirect with toys, Jonatan just wasn't having any of it. If I was in his shoes, I think I would have felt the same way. For a then 19 month old I am not sure even the 'perfect' preparation could have prepared him for all that was in store. It wasn't long before Jonatan's crying and protest gave way to vomit and a rapid change of clothes and then more crying and reaching for anyone that was not me or Dave. I can't tell you how heart-breaking these moments were. What Jonatan, what all adoptive children, go through in order to be joined with a forever family. We were told that in a toddler this may or may not be most vividly seen...although in this day we had a vivid picture of what the joining of our two worlds would mean in that moment and the future for Jonatan. We were assured that this was a very good thing. His open grieving, fear, and even anger were necessary parts of the process of beginning our life together, yet despite knowing this I remember how sick my stomach felt. How I hoped and prayed that we could continue that grieving and growing process with him well. I remember thinking to myself, "Lord, thank you for this little one, and please help. We can't do this on our own."

All the while Dave was trying to concentrate on reviewing some material, a photo album, and other items with the social worker that Jonatan's foster parents had sent. It wasn't long though before the psychologist and social worker both agreed that it would be better that we just head on over to El Cortijo as remaining at the ICBF office was not helpful to Jonatan. His crying and fitful protest was still at its height. So, out the door we went. We got into our translator, Mauricio's, car. As the car began to move and whisk by buildings, farms, vehicles, and people, Jonatan's sweaty body slowly began to transition from less rigid to more relaxed, and moments later his little head was nestled into my neck, his arms wrapped around me, his breathing beginning to slow from heaving to slow even breaths. By the time we were back to El Cortijo, he was asleep in my arms. Although this did not last very long, it was one of the first more peaceful moments for all of us as a family. I remember then thinking, "Thank you, God, for this moment, your presence and provision. We need you to figure out how to navigate these moments as a family. Please help Dave and I to be aware of your work in Jonatan, how that is coming together in your time, and how we as parents can join you in it. Help us to know how to care for him as he is grieving and getting to know us."

Moments later we were walking the corridor to the entrance of El Cortijo. Betty, one of the women who worked there, had opened the door for us and was now also speaking loving words of welcome and adoration to Jonatan. He had awakened although did not say a word and proceeded to cling tighter. He continued to watch quietly from my shoulder. With Dave at our side we made our way up to our room to settle into our first few private moments as a family. In the room, he seemed more at ease, although still prone to periodic tearful and less consolable moments. Dave had now begun to go through the material that the social worker had given us, made his way to the photo album Jonatan's foster family had made for him, and settled down to look through it. While his intention was to read through the daily schedule and other helpful tidbits that were included in there, Jonatan seemed equally interested in the big blue album. He had slid down from my lap, tears stopped, and was now standing in front of Dave wanting to be included in the album's viewing. The very first turn revealed a page of Dave and I, the very first picture we had included in our photo pages to Jonatan. Then without hesitation, Jonatan pointed to those two seemingly familiar individuals and declared "Papa y Mama", followed by a glance to us as if realizing just who we were, seeming to make the connection between us and all that he, his foster parents, and social worker had been talking about for so long. Those three simple words brought tears to our eyes and joy to our hearts. The knot that had been forming in the pit of my own stomach seemed to unravel a bit. Here was our son, someone we had wondered about and prayed for on many an occasion.

With the passing of our one year anniversary as a family, I was reminded of how much growing and changing Jonatan, Dave, and I have been through individually and as a family. We wouldn't trade any of those moments, both the joys and challenges of becoming a forever family.

And to you, Toya, nuestro hijo precioso, we love you beyond what words could ever convey. It has been but a privilege and honor to share such a special year with you. You have such a sweet and kind heart, a gentle spirit. It is fun to watch you grow in confidence and strength...to watch as you grow in your enjoyment of music...a blessing to see your desire for learning about Jesus. You are persistent and eager, a self-motivated learner, and very inquisitive...all attributes that we pray God would continue to use to expand his kingdom through your life both now and in the future.

We are reminded this day of your birth father and mother as well. We pray that they would be reassured of your safety and care as thoughts of what has become of you visit them. May God add his blessing and peace to their hearts as they continue to live out their own lives. We pray for their protection, for wisdom and discernment in living life, and for salvation if they do not already know it in Christ.

And lastly, but not least, a special thank you to all of our family, friends, church and adoptive community...this year has been all the more special because we have shared it with you. The richness of our life together is also influenced by you and the relationships that we have with each of you. For those of you that we have yet to know more deeply, we look forward to more opportunities to spend time with you. May God continue to work out his life in all of you!

Happy One Year, Familia Derr! Much love and blessing to you, Toya, nuestro hijo precioso!

Parenthood and More

2009-01-23T21:32:00.000-08:00

So, I began this post a while ago...hence the 2008-2009 transition:

Wow, it's hard to believe that 2009 is already here!!!! Looking back on 2008, so much has taken place in our lives. If you have been reading along, then you are well aware of most of the major comings and goings of our family. 2008 truly was a year marked by much joy and celebration!

Fastforward now to Christmas 2008, and oh boy did we ever have fun this year! Although we should reassure family and friends here of our enjoyment of past holiday get-togethers as well. 2008 had more of a magical and complete feel to it. Dave and I have longed for children for a very long time. While I will spare you the recount of our own journey through infertility, I will say that Jonatan has been far more than we ever fathomed in a son or daughter. As the holidays, birthdays, and typical get-togethers have flown by, we have always felt a void in our own family.

It was an absolute delight to watch as Jonatan woke up Christmas morning to gifts at his bedside. His wide-eyed excitement as he tore into gifts--and, I must say with much more zeal and confidence than even in September at his birthday!

And now, as we approach February, Jonatan is welcoming his last molar and completed this morning 4 nights of solid sleep in his own bed and room! We were actually thinking that the independent sleeping would be a long challenge for all of us, but it turns out that he seems very comfortable in his new room and bed. I think that it has helped that there has always been a bed in that room, we have played in there with him all along, and even slept in there as a family when our house was full at Thanksgiving. So, all said, we are hoping that he continues to feel just as comfortable, as Papa and Mama are so very excited to have their room back! Ha!

Today, Dave and I were completely cracking up over how much Jonatan can eat! We are thinking that he is now venturing into another growth spurt...let me just recount two meals in the last day of eating...so, yesterday, he actually ate a little more than 1/2 a rotisserie chicken (not 1/2 cup...an actual half a bird!), about 1/2 cup of rice and beans, cauliflower, and a banana at one meal...this was after having 2 helpings of cheerios, yogurt, and blueberries for breakfast and a midmorning snack of fish crackers, raisins, and nuts! And then tonight(Dave took us to one of his favorite Chinese buffets) he ate about 1/2 cup of green beans and brocolli, 1/2 cup of rice, 3 wings, 2 cheese puff somethings, a slice of turkey, a helping of salmon, a 1/2 dozen or so clams, 4 king crab legs and an actually half crab (the crab and clams were actually intended for me, but I ended up feeding him all of it!!!!!), 1 spring roll, some kiwi and ice cream to top it all off! Holy cow! It is so hard to believe that a toddler can pack that much food away! You wouldn't even know it by looking at him! Crazy! (And, just to dispell any possible wonderings...he has no intestinal parasites that we are aware of...we cleared those tests back in the summer! Ha!)

Parenthood continues to be a journey. Jonatan is a sweet and gentle little guy. He is an absolute cuddle bug and has a love language that begs for time spent and touch. It is so very fun watching him grow and take in new things and experiences. He has a real desire to learn and is constantly investigating the things of our house and surrounding area. Walks around the block can take the better part of an hour because he is so fascinated with everything from hugging trees to smelling things like bushes that don't have much of a smell at this time of year! Too cute! He is a real socialite once he warms up to folks. We are finding that he enjoys sort of hanging back and taking things in when he first meets people, but typically warms up pretty quickly. He loves to talk, sing, jump, and play football and hockey these days. As for language learning, he has now mastered 1-5 in English and Spanish and is on his way to singing the alphabet in English and Spanish. One thing that has fascinated me with his development in this area is how intrigued he is when he sees letters on signs, shirts, cars, etc. He is quick to announce "There's the alphabet Papa/Mama!", and then will want to take the time to review letters (another reason why our walk around the block takes so long...realty signs are very intriguing these days! Smile.).

This will have to be a post to be continued...until then, ¡Buenas noches y Dios bendice!

Humor...And Just at the Right Moment!

2008-12-19T19:09:00.000-08:00

I promised myself last week that I was going to make time to blog as it is one very helpful way to account for a lot of the experiences that we are having as a family. I must say that I have been one to 'edit' what I do or do not post on here. Part of my reasoning has been privacy for Jonatan and giving him the option down the road to tell the more intimate parts of his story that he does or does not want to share; admittedly then I have tried to avoid recapping some of our tougher moments as a family as well.

So, tonight is a different night; not that I am being any less censored in my sharing, but realized that tonight's parenting chapter is probably not very unique in that every parent occasionally finds themself reevaluating how they have chosen to parent.

I am sure we all as parents have had those disasterous bedtime moments with our children. Tonight was one of those nights for us! Shortly after we had met Jonatan we had discovered that he was not used to sleeping in a bed on his own. "No problem", we thought, as we had already talked about the pros and cons of the family bed. Mind you, Dave and I do not come from families that even remotely practice the family bed. And so began our adventure of life and the family bed with Jonatan.

Among the many lessons during our stay in Colombia was one of navigating a double bed with three bodies. Ugh! Pereira wasn't so bad, because we had two double beds...Bogota was a completely different story...in desperation, one night, we had actually tried to switch Jonatan to a crib, but with no success. So, we continued. With our arrival home, we eagerly welcomed our faithful queen bed and couldn't believe we had managed nights in a double bed! Oh the stories we could tell! Maybe one day when Jonatan is old enough to give approval! (smile)

Sometime in August, though, we moved a twin bed into our room and butted it up against our bed...and this is where Jonatan has been since. The clincher is that we have gotten ourselves into a bit of a predicament in that we have allowed Jonatan to get used to having us with him until he falls asleep. And, to top it off, bedtime (after lights out) can take a REALLY long time for him to settle. Recently, we had concluded that our well-meaning efforts at staying present and helping him settle were actually doing him more harm than good. Overall he is doing well and has been adjusting remarkably; he occasionally awakens at night for a diaper change, but on the whole is a great sleeper. So, we are beginning to 'wean' him off of needing Papa and Mama to fall asleep. Tonight was our first night and 'oh my!'. As a camp director and former youth pastor, I used to hear parents talk about how they felt some of their parenting was actually creating 'monsters' in their little ones...granted I don't believe that they actually saw their children as monsters, just that they themselves were probably causing some or all of the behavior issues they were experiencing on occasion. At any rate, I now can commiserate with these folks. Tonight felt like a horrible start to a hopeful transition to Jonatan's independence in getting to sleep.

I am not someone who typically reads email forwards, although tonight was one of those exceptions. My sister had sent out a forward entitled "Mom Song", so I thought you all may enjoy. It was a gift of humor in the end of a very frustrating bedtime. I hope you enjoy, and thank you Jen for sending it our way.

The Mom Song from Northland Video on Vimeo.

Oh for the Love of Being a Toddler!

2008-12-10T11:03:00.000-08:00

As I sat basking in the sounds of toddlerville (aka the local mall play area) recently, I found myself reminiscing through the last almost 7 months we have shared with Jonatan! As his pictures reveal (sorry for those of you on blog reader, you will have to visit our blog to see photos...I will add some more photos in a future update as well), he has grown much and taken on that 'bigger boy' look...he has all but two top molars in (these are coming in right now!)...grown 2 shoe sizes, 6", and 6#! And, as if that wasn't enough growing, his brain decided to absorb more English than we ever would have expected by this time. In short, it has been nothing but amazing to see all the growth he has been going through.

Today, Jonatan is speaking short phrases in English and Spanish; he runs with great confidence, is now tackling mastery of a tricycle, and is venturing into the art of jumping off things like couches and playground equipment! Yikes to that last two! There isn't a day that goes by that I don't find myself smiling over the person that we are discovering Jonatan to be. He is a little boy with a great sense of humor, a very caring and compassionate heart, and a lover of music. With this last one, we have found that the beat of Latin American music is his favorite...salsa and cumbia, in particular! And believe me when I say that Latin music really gets his soul moving! For 2 years old, he sure has some moves...that, and an ear for beat and rhythm...not to mention he loves to drum his little heart out when we put music like Carlos Vives' on.

I can't tell you how much we are looking forward to our first Christmas with Jonatan! I was thinking back to last year at this time...and to think that we had yet to even know who we would be welcoming into our lives. I remember praying with Dave over the process of our adoption and having this strong feeling that we would be soon to meet a son. I remember feeling pretty uncomfortable with my thoughts and feelings at that time...having a hard time discerning whether this hunch was now my own desire or a small window into the future and from the Lord. And then, shortly after Christmas while reading some more adoption material, I remember thinking "It's a boy!"..."no, it's a boy, and you can believe it." It was at that point that I began to allow myself to truly 'expect' this child that was to come. From that point on, whether in stores shopping or in speaking with family and friends, our son was on my heart and mind. Now, I can tell you that I did not share this with anyone buy my husband, but now truly believe that this really was a small window into the future from the Lord.

In entering the Advent and holiday season, we have found ourselves as parents considering anew the meaning of Christmas, our family traditions, Colombian holiday traditions, and what will now become our own in moving forward as a family of three. Getting to this place as parents really has felt a bit surreal at times. It truly is hard to believe that come Christmas we will have known Jonatan for 8 months! So much has happened in that time and I am so thankful and feel privileged to have shared in so much change in his young life.

In this Advent season I find myself so very thankful for Jonatan. What an amazing gift! I am particularly thankful for the care and love that his foster family shared with him in the 17 months that he was with them. It is so very clear in how he transitioned to us that they took great care to prepare him for what was to come and who we were. I can only imagine the sadness, and perhaps fear and concern, that also comes with pouring your heart into a child to prepare them for a forever family to one day see them go. My prayer is that this set of foster parents (as well as the countless others across the world)are reminded daily of the critical role they play in the life of their foster children...and, more importanly, may they be granted wealths of love, patience, wisdom, strength, and understanding for the sometimes tentative road they travel with their children. In this holiday season, words cannot express how terribly greatful I am for Jonatan.

He's 2!!!!

2008-09-30T17:51:00.000-07:00

Sitting here at a coffee shop on my 'Mama's Night Out' I found myself thinking about all the things that I would like to get caught up on...and, as I am sure you well know, sometimes it feels a bit overwhelming to look at those sort of lists...so I decided to start with one at a time and not to worry too much about the rest until I get to them.

Dave and I recently began giving each other a night out. I have been using them in the past several weeks to reconnect with friends apart from a toddler in tow. It has been fun and very special. I hadn't realized how much I need or miss that time until I spent a few nights with close friends. It has been good to be reminded that there is more to me than being a 'Mom' and those parts also need to be nurtured.

Jonatan is now 2 years old!!! It is so very hard to believe that we have been home for over 4 months now. It feels as though we have known him all his life. In just the past month and a half since our last post, he has progressed from single syllable words to 3 or more...in fact, just today he said 'potato' and 'aguacate' with amazing clarity! He has also begun to add verbs to his short phrases...we have now welcomed in the days of 'Mama help', 'Nino run', and 'Nino hungry'...note the spanglish.

As for physical development and as of the end of August, he had grown another inch and was a grand total of 5 pounds heavier since our visit to the US Embassy physician in Bogota! He is now able to jump in place and has been attempting to balance on one foot. This is so completely crazy as we can remember back to the days not so long ago when we were running along side him watching out for those inevitable trips and falls that toddlers frequently have. He is no longer in need of this and has even mastered the art of walking up and down our short, but steep, front lawn, and even recently began climbing the local playground climbing walls without much assistance.

And, for the more intimate moments...lets see...Jonatan loves to read his "libro de Jesus"; in fact, we do not get through our bedtime routine some nights without being told numerous times "libro Jesus, Papa/Mama". He is also still very sensitive to others, ever aware of the pain and sorrow of those around him. These moments almost always evoke some tears on his part, which are also occasionally coupled with a curled lip and a more recent disclaimer "nino/nina sad".

And for some more humorous moments: We, initially upon our return home from Colombia, had found that I, Sheila, while out with Jonatan in public would receive a lot of off the cuff coments about what culture Jonatan was from or questions about what culture his father was from...most of the time these were rather harmless and folks trying to find a way to express how cute or handsome he was. Well, these stopped for a while, and then about 2 weeks ago while at the grocery store with me, Jonatan was yawning and apparently tired...so the clerk asked him if he was going to go home and take a nap with his grandma!!!!! What!!!! Now, in defense of the clerk, this was a morning after one of my 12 hour nights, but come on I don't think I looked that old! Oh my! And then, today, I was in the same grocery store and as we were exiting, an older gentleman glanced down at Jonatan in his car (below the cart) and then up at me and asked if we were brothers!!!! Ok, now, my hair is actually longer than it was when I went to Colombia because I haven't taken the time to get it cut...and, I had a form fitting shirt on along with the same in jeans...as well as a purse! Hmmm, after thinking about all the responses I could give, I simply said, "No, he's my son." to which the gentleman replied, "Well, I thought you were his brother." Oh my, again. I called Dave right after this, as I had done with the other experiences...he most certainly laughed to the point of tears on the grandma story and certainly had a good laugh today with the brother story.

Here is a video-picture collage that we had worked on and have been having a hard time uploading...finally tonight I figured it out...well, not sure how it worked, but cracked whatever code I needed to get it to work...hopefully I can repeat whatever I did tonight for future uploads. These are a collection of some photos over the last month. Enjoy.

Several friends and fellow bloggers have emailed and asked about Dave's mom, so I thought I would briefly share here how she is doing. You can continue to pray for her as she is in the process of more adjustments. In August, she was taken to the hospital with shortness of breath after a month of dizziness, low appetite, low energy, and just generally not feeling well, but with little answers from her physicians. After some more tests, her physicians thought it would be best to put in a pace maker. The pace maker actually helped to improve some of how she was feeling. She spent several weeks in the hospital and skilled nursing care before she then moved into assisted living. In fact, she just made that transition recently and seems to be doing ok. She has been a bit anxious at times, and we are not sure if this just the aging process or the fact of being in a new place and trying to get oriented. We will be visiting her this weekend as well as Dave's father to help him around the house in preparing for the remainder of fall and winter.

In ending, I had the opportunity to do a walking half marathon with several friends in September, and absolutely loved it. Since completing it, I have set my sights on some smaller walks for the coming months. I do not think that I will have the time to prepare for the marathon in November this year, so I have set my sights on running both the half and whole marathon next year with these same friends. I have also found a trail race back home near my parents that will happen next June...it is a 34 mile trail race (with the only point of completing it), and I thought it would be fitting to tackle that in a year that I was turning 34! There is a time restriction as most long races have, so I have begun to plot my course for training between now and then. (So, Wendi, you can count me back in the game for a monthly exercise challenge!)

Colombia Bound~La Familia Derr

2008-08-13T22:20:00.000-07:00

I am thinking that I should be in bed by now, although am having trouble settling this evening/night...so, it seemed fitting to spend some time updating our blog and catching friends and family up on happenings in our household.

If you didn't notice, I decided to revert back to 'Colombia Bound' as a blog title. While we love the outdoors, the whole 'Field Notes' thing just wasn't working for me...It just seemed a bit 'cheesy' to try and re-work our blog title into some sort of outdoor analogy...and, besides, we really do love 'Colombia Bound' as it not only depicted well what we were moving towards in our adoptive preparations, but now the even deeper connection to Colombia that we have as a family.

I had been intending to set aside some time to post more pictures of Jonatan, although I can honestly say that we have just not had the time. So, here are some pictures from the remainder of July and beginning of August:

Here's one for you Aunt Brooke! While this picture doesn't adequately show the love that Jonatan has for Brooke, we can honestly say that Brooke made top marks in Jonatan's book!

Oh my, while we have only known Jonatan such a short time, it is so very hard to believe that he will be turning 2 in September! Where does the time go! When I think back to our first meeting as a family and where Jonatan was developmentally, it is amazing to think of how he has grown physically, verbally, and socially. Each day we are getting even more snipits of his personality and giftedness. It has been such a treat.

This picture was taken on a visit with a couple that Dave has known since college. Glen and Dave enjoyed the opportunity to share a bit in Spanish while our boys...all three...ran around and got a lot of energy out of their systems! Jonatan absolutely loved this ride!

This past Sunday our church had a child dedication service...or, rather, a parent dedication...see our previous post for an explanation if you are curious. Woody, our senior pastor always holds the kids and prays over each of them...well, we knew that Jonatan would go to him, but didn't know how long he would stay...and, it wasn't very long...although at the end of the dedication, he left Patty, our children's pastor (in the foreground of this pic) pick him up and carry him across the sanctaury to her son 'Bubba' which was an ego stomper for Woody...so sorry, Woody! He will come around! Ha!

Jonatan is a bit obsessed with biking...I went to hop on my bike to head to work the other night and he literally had a meltdown because I was getting to ride my bike and he wasn't going to be able to do the same. (So much for missing Mom, right! LOL)

I think Jonatan was trying to make noises with his mouth here...as sometimes this is the only way to get him to 'pose' and smile for a picture...he and a new friend, Dylan, got to spend the better part of a day at Hershey Park recently. They loved it.

Jonatan and some mealtime fun...need I say more!

This is one of the murals at a local park...painted by local students from the elementary, junior, and senior highs. It is the Harrisburg High School Cougar, I believe...at any rate, Jonatan loves the texture of this wall and can't resist running his fingers and hands over it.

One of our daily playground adventures:

And, until next time..."Chau" or "Ciao"

My Ritalin

2008-08-06T10:39:00.000-07:00

I can only imagine what sort of thoughts have already come to mind with a title like this. Really, it was a phrase that caught my eye a few days ago while reading. Let me digress a bit from the reading to what brought me round circle to those two words in the first place, though.

Tuesday, as Dave and I sat before our pastor, I was flooded with this giant reminder of how 'tired' I feel. I mainly attribute this 'knowing' to the fact that it was the first time I sat down (on our couch or anywhere, besides our bed, for that matter) for more than 15 minutes in the last two weeks. It truly is amazing at how aware we become when we choose to simply be still. In this case, I hadn't personally chosen the stillness, rather it came in lieu of preparing for Jonatan's dedication on Sunday.

The second bit of awareness that also led to recalling a quote from recent readings was when Woody asked us what we favor in nurturing our relationship with Christ. Hmmmm, this didn't take much thought. I have always been a naturalist at heart...followed by disciplines like Bible reading, prayer, and journaling...although, nature is where I feel closest to God and experience Him most intimately. This discussion served as a reminder of how much I enjoy time spent relating to God in His creation, and how much I hope to share that love with Jonatan.

So, my daydreaming during our conversation with Woody (sorry Woody) brought me back to a quote from "Last Child in the Woods," by Richard Louv. In one of the first pages, the author is recounting his own days of tree-climbing and wooded sensory experiences when he states: "Now, my tree-climbing days long behind me, I often think about the lasting value of those early days, deliciously idle days. I have come to appreciate the long view afforded by those treetops. The woods were my Ritalin. Nature calmed me, focused me, and yet excited my senses."

Well, I think that is about where I stand on the issue of nature! Nature has always been such an incredible medium for God's work and communication in my own life. At a very basic level, being in the back woods has always provided me peace, rest, and perspective. So, why I am I tired? I am tired on several levels for a variety of reasons. I think the biggest is simple life-change. Between the life of a toddler and adventures in returning to work, our family life has felt a bit more frenzied these days.

I can say that my return to work has resulted in a mixed bag of emotions. I enjoy the time I have with patients as well as coworkers, although I miss Dave and Jonatan and watching the daily changes that Jonatan is going through these days. While the practical side of work is that it provides an additional income, it also provides a small chunk of insanity for me. I now have a deep amount of respect for parents who worked opposite shifts for years...and they did that day/night stuff full time, sometimes overtime, and with three of us! Woody had joked that most people are lucky if they make it through the toddler years not having been incarcerated and their child alive with all of the mayhem that this age often entails. While I can say that we are fortunate to have only mild toddler mayhem, I can see what he means...I am not sure how we (my siblings and I) are still alive after those years with two sleep-deprived parents. Ha.

And so it is, I am back to work as of two weeks ago. I can't say that I absolutely love it, the schedule, that is, although it could be worse. Dave and I talked after my first week back and concluded that a reduction in hours would be best, for all of us. So, starting this week, I have reduced my already part-time hours. I can't even begin to tell you what 8 less hours of work feels like...it is but wonderful! This reduction and our conversation with Woody has also helped me to think more intentionally about the time I spend personally as well as the time we spend as a family. So, in a sense, my return to work has been helpful in more ways than one.

Yesterday, we also hosted a social worker for our first post-adoption visit. It seemed to go well. The only hitch was that Jonatan began crying and continued crying for a bit after the social worker left. We weren't quite sure what this was about as he doesn't have all the words to express that. The only thing we can imagine is that she reminded him of his foster mom or the visits with the social worker in Colombia. I am thinking the latter is more the case, and that it scared him as we went for a hike as a family last evening and he would have mini-meltdowns if I got too far ahead of him. So, today has been all about connecting and reinforcing the idea that this is forever.

Speaking of, Jonatan is getting up, so I need to cut this short. I have more to share as well as pictures, but will need to post some more in the near future.

I Blanked On A Title

2008-07-21T18:50:00.001-07:00

It is so funny to think about sitting down and sharing through these blog updates. I often think about things that I would like to share, but when I finally sit down to write I realize that I should have carried a pen and paper with me throughout the day...I definitely need to update this more often, as I feel like so much has been happening between each post that it feels pretty near impossible to get all the details in one...otherwise the result is a mega-long post!!!

To begin, Jonatan and I had a wonderful trip to Massachusetts for our visit with good friends, Stephen, Laura, Jonathan (try saying that name and Jonatan's in the same sentence without confusing the boys...some pretty funny moments because of it, though!). We also had the privilege of visiting with Laura's parents and sisters...oh so fun! Bob, if you are reading this...Jonatan is still hiding his ball behind his back and asking people to try and find it. It is so very cute! And, Queen Mama...you know who you are...Jonatan loves his beanie and bubble fan! He is so incredibly adorable with them!

Laura, Jonathan, Jonatan, and I:

On our way, we also stopped by and visited another good friend of mine, Becky, and her family in Connecticut! Once again, Jonatan's charm seemed to be a crowd pleaser. He enjoyed exploring Becky's parents' house and yard and an additional stop at one of their local Mexican restaurants.

Yesterday marked 12 weeks of being off work...so I had to return to work...part-time, thankfully...and, as it turns out, I will be able to cut some more hours for the schedule that begins the end of September. What a blessing this will be...I would only be working Sunday and Wednesday nights...yeah!

As for Jonatan and the changes that continue to take place in our family and him...oh my, where to start! Just a couple weeks ago, Jonatan was blurting out a good many words in both Spanish and English, although a good many words were only understandable to those of us who spend a good amount of time with him...we have had to develop our ears for his baby Spanglish. Ha! Actually, it is incredibly cute! When he is working really hard at a word, he gets this impish grin (with dimples to go with) that is undeniably adorable. He has actually tried to use this same grin when we are working at redirecting or correcting him in those occasional and mainly toddler moments that do occur! It is one of those faces that sort of melts us as parents...hmm...gotta work at choosing the poker face in those moments.

Currently, Jonatan has advanced to being able to say 's' words, which previously seemed to elude him...the 's' was typically silent in his pronounciation. He can now additionally say 'Jona'...Jonatan is a little too many syllables to blurt out just yet, although he tries.

It has also been such a great blessing to see his desire for sharing in our times of prayer as a family. We always tell Jonatan who is going to pray and proceed to pray...well, he began this little ritual not too long ago in saying 'otro' (meaning-another)after we would finish...he then grabs our pinky fingers, closes his eyes, and wants to pray again...but, he wants to pray...so Papa or Mama then begin a new prayer in which he likes to recite everything that is said. I can only imagine what delight this brings God! It certainly brings much joy to our own in watching him desire to emulate that.

As for other milestones or progress...Jonatan is...

*now drop-kicking a ball...we are now considering the benefits of moving his ball activites outdoors.

*pretty consistently by day announcing to us when he needs to go to the bathroom (or is going...so we don't always make it to the bathroom in time)

*now performing a gentle petting technique on all of our animals...but primarily for the cats...(score one for the felines in our household...I was beginning to think that they would be forever relegated to the part of the house where he was not!)

*learning how to float in our bathtub and loving it! We tried the pool scene, although the larger body of water seemed to put him into a panic...only in lying back into the water, that is...otherwise, he is a natural fish!

*currently getting over his first offical cold/sickness with us. It has actually been rather mild, but definitely gave us a nice view into Jonatan's world and what he needs during those times...a good bonding and growing experience for all of us.

What's that you say?

2008-07-11T21:27:00.001-07:00

More paperwork! Yep, we are in the process of completing the final bit of paperwork that we have with Jonatan's adoption. Since returning from Colombia, we have been asked quite frequently the "What's next?" question. I don't think early on we were even quite sure what the 'next' was...although, rest assured, we are on top of our game. Here is the low down on those the details:

As of today, Jonatan's readoption has been filed with the state of Pennsylvania. An intersting twist in this part of our journey was that we were under the impression that we would need to work with a lawyer to complete this...and that it would cost anywhere from $1,300 to $2,200...upon a closer look into the process and speaking with a very kind woman at the Dauphin County Courthouse, we discovered that this paperwork could be filed by us for only $30 with copies of Jonatan's Pennsylvania State birth certificates being $10 a piece! Now that was one big whoo-hoo!

A second stop was the Social Security Administration office for Jonatan's social security card. Oh my, this was quite an adventure! Once upon a time ago, I had to visit one of these offices for a replacement card when my original was stolen...and, I had completely forgotten how incredibly busy they are...not to mention that we live in a larger city, err shall I say town in this area. After an hour and a half of entertaining a toddler with everything that I could pull out of my pockets, my purse (um bag; totally not a purse type of woman! Ha!), and from my person, we were finally called to one of three windows. After some more waiting and inspection of paperwork, we were told to expect his social security card in the mail within the next 2 weeks! Check and done!

Our last stop most recently is a new home study agency to complete our post adoption reports...um, did I really say that? We had a little bit of a curve ball recently...in June, we had been leaving messages, both phone and email, with the social worker we had been working with for our home study, but did not get any response...so, we then proceeded to call the agency directly...BUT found that the number had been disconnected. Hmmm? So, a reverse look-up of several numbers produced info that indicated our home study agency still existed...called those...and all disconnected...finally, in a last ditch attempt to contact them, we went to the internet to find out if they had moved...well, their website no longer exists...in a matter of three months, our agency is gone...finished...a mystery and with no word or warning! Weird.

This little glitch was only mildly annoying. Actually, maybe it is a God-send, as we are now connected with an agency that seems very sharp, is close by, and can have our post-adoption reports done in less than a week. Sounds good to me; hopefully the ICBF will be ok with that change! So, in the beginning of August, we will complete our first post-adoption visit with one of their social workers. And, for all of you who are wondering...we will have three more that will take us through February of 2010! Whoa baby!

As for progress in other ways or things to come:

Jonatan...
1. Is now drop kicking balls.
2. Tried his first dish of green (spinach) eggs and ham and loved them!
3. Can now say several two word phrases..."Hello Papa", "Fawn come", "Lo siento", "Por favor", "Thank you", and "Oops Perdon"...some of these are understandable to us, but need some interpretation for those who aren't tuned into his toddlerease...it's too cute though!
4. Will have his first ultra long car trip this coming week...and, I am not sure who to ask you to pray for more...Jonatan or Mama! We are headed to Connecticut and Massachusetts to visit a friend of mine who also has a son about a year old...while Dave stays back in PA to catch up on work that he still has waiting from being away in Colombia.
5. Has one more trip to the hospital next Saturday for some blood draws...oh pray for our little man! The first trip was not very pleasant for him...the nurses didn't "realize" that he was as strong as he was, so he got impaled in his one thigh 5 x's for 2 vaccines...and 2 x's in the other thigh for one additional vaccine. While at the Social Security office, I found a bandaid in my bag and offered it to him to play with and he immediately started wailing because he thought we were actually in a Dr.'s office and were going to get more shots! Oh no!!!!...just a small window into next week's visit!

Mama...
1. Returns to work part-time on the 20th of July...and am now thinking that I was crazy to choose the schedule and hours I will be working. Hmmm, that may need to change.

Papa...
1. Starts another accounting class in August for the fall semester!

As for this weekend, we are off to do some swimming as a family tomorrow, and then Jonatan and I are off to New England until Wednesday.

Time Warp!

2008-07-06T21:16:00.000-07:00

I began this post last evening (Sunday):

Has it really been 6 weeks, 1 inch, and 4 lbs. now since we have been home! I can hardly believe it! Our time has been filled with both calm and more tranquill family moments as well as the rounds to see family and friends. Jonatan has done remarkably well in meeting everyone and with the sometimes lengthy drives that we have had to make recently.

We are very greatful for my Mom and Sister in taking some much time and energy to put together such a wonderful shower for us back home at my parent's house. It was awesome to see family and friends from both sides of my parent's family! Jonatan especially loved getting to play with all of his Grandpap's toys...especially his Harley and tractor! And, we have to also post a special 'thank you' to cousin Taylor for all of her hard work in helping to decorate and entertain Jonatan during the festivities!

This was a sort of funny shot one of us took at my sister's house...we aren't quite sure what was going on...but the picture kinda looks like Jonatan is "laying hands" on cousin Jayden...I hope this didn't precede any sort of toddler baptism!

We have also had the opportunity to visit with Dave's parents as well as his brother, Ken, sister-in-law, Jen, and our nephew Austin! Actually, we just shared a visit with them over this past week! We miss you guys and can't wait to see you sometime in the near future! Austin, you will have to say 'hi' to your baby sister or brother for us! (For those of you who do not know that part of Dave's family...Jen is expecting in August! Yeahhhhhhh!!!!)

A special moment with Dave's parents!

Have no fear all of you baseball fans out there (Uncle Ken & Granpa Derr!)...we are still a little young for working on form...for now, we sort think it is fun to simply swing these things at any size of ball...both in the air and on the ground!

And, afterall, we do have a superstar cousin Austin to help us out with form in the future!!!!

This was a photo that we took on Friday while at the American Musicfest on frontstreet in Harrisburg. We actually had the opportunity to see a band called AZUCAR...http://www.azucarband.com/...they were a latin dance band...and what a special treat it was!

Yesterday, we decided to deviate a bit from what our schedule has been like to take in some family time for the three of us...sooooo, we boarded the Hummelstown-Middletown railroad for a scenic tour of the area. Jonatan was pretty excited to get on the train. When he got up in the morning, we had told him that we were going to ride a train, although it was clear that he didn't quite understand what that meant. We had a lot of fun as we also got to take in some live music and singing...songs like "I've Been Working On a Railroad" and, hmmm, I just blanked on the rest...but it was fun, though, ha!

And, to wrap up the low-down of our wherabouts, today in the afternoon, we went to a local state park to join a family we know for their daughters' (twins) 1st birthday. Happy Birthday Liberty and Glory!!!!! The park actually had a giant waterpark so some of our time was spent swimming and running in and out of water geisers and fountains. Jonatan didn't want to leave! We had a pretty comical moment when we hit the car this evening...Jonatan was trying so very hard to communicate to us what he wanted..."agua", "no agua", "agua", "no agua"...I think you get the idea...and then, all of a sudden, there was complete silence...he was overcome by sleep and slept the whole way home...which is such a rarity!

As for how we are in general...we are doing well. Dave and I continue to work to find balance in our days...I am sure all the parents reading this will understand this...we are not even close to striking a balance between and in our relationship with Christ, with each other, as well as Jonatan...not to mention work and other commitments we have. I feel like each day is a new experiment to see if our new adjustments will meet the needs that we have as a family...although, I suspect, that this will also be one of those lifelong processes! Another Ha!

I find myself marveling each day at the changes that Jonatan is going through...and how well he seems to be weathering them...and so completely amazed at his understanding of English! I really do wish I had that sort of capacity (in such little time) to absorb so much! He really has only heard English since we have been home, and I can tell you that he understands much more in the 6 weeks we have been here than I understand of the Spanish I heard in our 4 weeks in Colombia! I think the other thing that I have found myself doing a double-take on is how he has physically developed. When we first met Jonatan, he was quite shaky on his feet, especially when moving fast...and, as for steps, these were a challenge each day...he was always up for it...and because of his desire for repetition he has now mastered the art of going up and down the stairs (although we still would not dare to let him travel solo!) as well as running. Lastly, I think that we have discovered that Jonatan is a natural at climbing...and, I don't mean, just randomly doing the toddler climbing thing...he actually loves "climbing walls"!!!!! One of our local parks has an actual childrens' climb which is about 10 feet or so high and he not only loves to climb it, and can climb it very well, but he goes to the top!!!!! Mama is always climbing right behind...with Papa praying that his son finds a different sport to enjoy for the future (Dave hates heights!).

Well, those are some of the highlights of what has been going on in the Derr home...I can say that I would very much love to post more often, and am hoping that I can make that happen. Not only has this been a wonderful way to share with family and friends, but it is also kinda therapeutic for me!

And, this is just a small side-note for Wendi....you are on, sistah!!! I am taking you up on a 30 Mile Challenge for the month of July, and will get my ticker up in the next day or so! I hope to see yours soon as well!

I also have to place one more comment in here for a special family that is on our hearts and in our prayers often these days...Troy and Andrea, we are so very excited for you guys!!!!!! Not only is Pereira obviously near and dear to our hearts, but you are about to have 3 boys from Pereira join your family! We have a little soccer player here who can't wait to kick the ball around with your guys!!!! Enjoy your time in Bogota; we are definitely following you along as you make this journey! Much love from PA!!!!

Outtakes:

Ummm, wow, my sunglasses were a great bargain, they do much more than I thought!!!!!

Errr, a mother's job well done!

Taking in that form that we were talking about earlier!

Ok, hopefully Jonatan will not be completely mortified when he looks back on this pic in 10-20 years! He is a complete ham at times and it totally cracks us up...he just up and does things like this when we least expect it...his entertainment skills are being polished every day!

One of Jonatan's favorite times of the day is spending it some time with Dave doing part of his evening routine!

This is a fitting last shot...chau for now!

2008-06-18T11:15:00.000-07:00

This is just a fun shot of the theme of my thoughts for the day! As Jonatan and I tackled a full morning of eating, play, and chores, I found myself reflecting on our journey to becoming a family of three. Honestly, I have been stumped on what we should rename our blog, and then it hit me this morning! "Field Notes"...while I am sure it doesn't seem a too likely pick for most people, it is so very fitting for us.

You see, Dave and I absolutely love the outdoors, especially backpacking. On our adventures you can often find us with camera and journal in hand, and for obvious reasons. It then simply makes the most sense for us to entitle our blog "Field Notes" as our journey has only begun as a family and it is in the 'field' of learning and growing together that we will be recording and journaling through the events of our lives.

What an amazing thought! When we leave for backpacking trips, we know that those trips will last a couple days to a couple weeks. To know that we have only begun this field experience and that it will continue a lifetime is such a thrill! I can only begin to imagine how we will grow as parents, how Jonatan will grow as a son, and what we will learn together along the way.

I think the other thing that is a bit striking about parenting, and so unlike backpacking, is that the journey isn't always clear. While we labor pretty intentionally on the details of our trips...from maps, itinerary, food, gear, and packing...parenting, family, and the future of our lives together isn't so much planned as it is lived moment by moment...and thankfully, with the grace, guidance, and provision of God along the way.

I realize that there are many unknowns about the road ahead. And while my own desire to have control and see the big picture causes a bit of anxiety, I am reassured in knowing that the unknown is what deepens my faith and broadens my ability to trust in my Lord and Savior. I am so thankful today for the way in which God has brought us together as family. While our road to Jonatan was relatively short in Colombian terms, his arrival to us has been awaited much, much longer...and I couldn't imagine a child any different! We are so blessed and incredibly greatful for the opportunity to share in his life! Hopefully "Field Notes" can do justice to all the experiences ahead!

Three Weeks Home & Father's Day!

2008-06-15T20:53:00.000-07:00

Papa & Jonatan prepare for a ride through the City Island area of Harrisburg! Jonatan absolutely loves the "Wee Ride" that his Abuelito and Abuelita got him! We snuck Fawn in this picture as she joined us for this adventure, although Mama and she explored on foot!

Jonatan still enjoys passing on his besitos to his furry and not so furry friends!

One of the first children that Jonatan met from our church was "Bubba", our Childrens Pastor's son. Bubba has quickly become one of Jonatan's favorite buddies. One evening while he and his family were visiting for dinner, the boys jumped in a 'froggy' pool that a friend bought (Thanks so much Amy! He loves it!). We also brought out a lion that blows bubbles (battery operated)...so the boys ended up having a good ol' soapy time!

My Mom and Sister dropped off a huge load of clothes and fun stuff for Jonatan not too long ago. It has taken me forever to sort through their gift as well as many others that we have received. It just so happened that Jonatan had found a tiger outfit and thought it was so fun to run around in! You should hear him growl; it is so very convincing!

It is so hard to believe that we have been home for three weeks now! Each day has been a complete blessing and filled with many fun surprises and challenges for us as a family!

Some discoveries or milestones along the way:

1. Jonatan loves to eat green beans and brocolli raw, but completely dislikes them cooked! I keep thinking to myself, "Is this toddler for real?!?!?!" Ha!

2. Um, can we say potty training already! Yikes and LOL! Admittedly, we weren't quite ready for this one...in fact, we were thinking that this one would come well after Jonatan's 2 yr. old birthday. I won't go into details, but will say that shortly after we arrived back to the states Jonatan began announcing to us when he was either going or had to go 'pee pee'...although right now 'pee pee' is used universally to mean #1 or #2, so we have had a few surprises with this along the way. Oh my! I can say that on the whole this part of parenting has been pretty funny and challenging!

3. The words 'yes' and 'no' are being road tested! What I mean by this is that Jonatan seems to stumbled upon the use of these words, rather than just shaking his head for yes and no...the funny part of this is that he will often use them incorrectly; at first, this was a bit frustrating for Papa and Mama as we were functioning with the commonly accepted definitions for these words. Now, we are used to hearing 'yes' but half expect to hear 'no' in the end for some things...and vice versa. Actually, it was pretty cute, one night shortly after he began consistently using these words and as we were going through our bedtime routine, Jonatan laid back on his pillow, would turn his head one way and announce 'yes', then the other way and announce 'no'.

4. Our little guy can now go up and down stairs 'solo'! (Although Papa and Mama are still a bit nervous about this one as our staircase to the second floor is pretty steep.)

5. Compassion should be Jonatan's middle name as he often surprises us with his responses to people and situations around him. Twice now, he has cried when he realized that someone else was hurting and in need of comforting. At first, we thought he was scared, but it turned out that he was truly concerned for the people around him. And, on another occasion, we were reading a book to hin in which the main character is sad in a particular part of the book. In this particular time, he began to cry and point to the main character while trying to get our attention to confirm that it was indeed an appropriate moment for sadness. There have additionally been occasions where he has seen someones "owie" and needed to not just point it out, but to approach them and hug them or stroke their head to communicate care. It has been very touching to watch this growing sense of care for those around him.

6. Phone fetish! Ok, there is definitely one area of life together that is a bit of a hurdle...in our paperwork from Jonatan's foster parents, we were told that he loved phones...what we did not know is that he REALLY LOVES PHONES!!!!! This doesn't seem to be a phase either! Oh my! And, he will not just settle for the toy version, but is pretty determined to get his little hands on the real deal! When he does, it is pretty cute! He walks around with his phone propped on one shoulder while waving his opposite hand in the air and talking up a storm...knowing that he is a pretty great mimic, I wonder how much of this is a picture of one of his foster parents or siblings. At any rate, it is pretty funny. Needless to say, he loves to get on the phone and 'chat' with family and friends.

Ok, I am sure that there are many other things that I could list here, but will end with sharing a bit about Dave. It is such a blessing to watch Dave as a Father! I know that I don't say it enough, but I have one amazing husband! In the three weeks that we have been home, Dave returned to work, has jumped back into being Treasurer for our church, has continued in other obligations...yet still has devoted very intentional time to us as a family.

As a Father, Dave is very loving, patient, gentle, fun-loving, adventurous, and creative. I am blessed each evening to watch as Father and Son run around the house being goofy, exploring, practicing new words, or just romping around. I am also blessed in watching Jonatan as he responds to his Papa...he absolutely adores being with Dave and will often ask where Papa is throughout the day. It is also a blessing to watch as Dave leads his Son in pursuit of Christ each evening. I get 'chills' as I write this because I often think about what sort of lasting impressions we are sharing with Jonatan...and, this is one that I pray plants a seed of eternity in his heart and mind. I know we all have something to share about our spouses, if married, but needed to take this opportunity to share just how special my husband is to me. What an amazing seven years of marriage, the highs and lows, and I look forward to many more as we continue to grow in our love and care of each other as well as in our parenting of Jonatan and any other children God blesses us with down the road!

Ahh, Here We Go!

2008-06-03T20:28:00.000-07:00

My effort at getting some pictures posted through the weekend failed as I was not sure where our camera was!!!!! Now, I knew that having a toddler at home would shake things up a bit, I just didn't realize how much I would misplace and forget things! Oh my! It also turned out that Dave had hid the camera out of sight so that Jonatan would not find it...well, Mama couldn't find it either! LOL!

Our house is obviously not the same since our return from Colombia! Let's see...I will start with the animals...I think that out of 4 cats, I have only seen two consistently in this whole past week. Jonatan has taken to trying to lay on poor Bud! He hasn't quite grasped the idea of petting the kitty...and simply using his hand to do so...it is definitely a full body contact sport. The funny thing is that Bud always comes back for more! Outside of referreeing the cat and Jonatan, I have found that while it took Jonatan a bit to warm up to Fawn, our canine daughter...she is no longer a foe for him. He will often seek her out for a loving headlock...hmmm, we need to work on that one too. And again, Fawn always comes back for more as well!

Over the weekend, my (Sheila) parents came out for a visit. Unfortunately Dave had to work. So sad, as he missed out on a nice weekend together! We love you, though, Papa! Anyway, we went to a local wildlife sanctuary of sorts...it is called Lake Tobias...if you are in the Central PA area, it is so worth your time to stop! The highlight for Jonatan was a petting zoo where he got to pet free-roaming goats and llamas as well as a miniature pony and camel! we additionally walked around the area to see the caged animals and then took a safari to see over 500 other animals out on a range. It was pretty incredible...and utterly amazing to see how little fear these animals had of the vehicles...to see Elk, deer, cattle, and ostrich just coming right up to the vehicle we were sitting in was pretty awesome! The fun part is that the vehicles they use for their safaris are old buses that have had their tops removed so you are completely exposed to the animals. Jonatan just loved it, and I am sure my parents did as well.

Sunday was our first day back to church. It was wonderful to see so many familiar faces! We had originally decided that we would send Jonatan to the nursery and have one of us join him there, so Dave had the honor since he got so little time with him during the rest of the weekend. All told, he did very well and had a lot of fun with everyone...even enjoyed his high fives and knuckles he must have done with everyone he passed!

As for the nitty gritty...I would say that we are all still working to find balance and routine. Dave and I put in an order for safety rails for our bed as we are still doing the 'family bed' with Jonatan but found that our bed is a bit too high to trust that he will not roll out during his naps...we do block the sides, but have found that our little guy still travels quite a bit.

I am sure other adoptive blog-stalking parents will agree to this one...it is an enormous change to go from having all your meals, laundry, and daily cleaning taken care of to doing it all yourself! I now realize how much time I wasted before having Jonatan! Wow, I am a bit administrative at heart, and this sure has challenged those gifts in me...I am constantly restrategizing in my head on what to do, when to do it, and how to do it...I used to work with children full time and remember my days of working to make the mundane fun and playful and have found those ideas rekindled in parenting Jonatan.

I must send a giant thank you to Amy for taking such great care of our animals and home while we were gone! Also a great big thankyou to she and Jess for filling our cupboards and refrigerator with food; not having to worry about shopping was such a huge help! We had a handful of other friends and family drop off either food or clothes, toys, etc. to welcome us home, and for this, as well, we are greatful!

So, here are the pictures you all have been waiting so patiently for!

Better late than never on some of these...this is a pic of all the families that were staying with us in Bogota

This is one side of the exterior of Zuetana for anyone who will be traveling soon and wondering what this one looked like

Ok, Dave really doesn't have a complex about the color pink, but I thought that this was a funny and cute picture of Jonatan with the car he loved to play with...Dave had just finished joking about how he would never want his son seen with a pink car when I took this picture...sorry, Papa! LOL!

More exterior shots of Zuetana:

Icecream with the Jensens on the Friday before our return home! How fun & we so miss you guys!

A fun pic of Jonatan getting his haircut in Colombia...the poor woman that was cutting his hair did a phenomenal job with a squirming toddler. She got away with only cutting herself once!

Here is Jonatan watching the airplanes in Bogota! He was pretty excited to be flying again!

This is one of cousin Taylor and Jonatan the morning after our arrival:

Hmmmm? I wasn't around for this photo op...I think that Dave is starting driving lessons early with his son. Maybe a tricycle will be in order in the very near future!

Ok, here is one of our eating adventures at home! Oh my...it depends on the food, but Jonatan can really get into it!

While this is not the most flattering picture of Jonatan, this is the only picture we snapped of he and Dave's Mom on our brief visit to their house one day last week...we will have to get more of them together...as well as Grandpap!

Jonatan met his match in goofiness! He loves immitating my Dad!

Meeting his goat buddies at the petting zoo!

And, last but not least, another moment where food is a little messy, although Mama is to blame for this one as she was not supervising the yogurt bottle very well! Oops!

Where does the time go!

2008-05-29T21:29:00.001-07:00

Wow! I can hardly believe that it has been almost a week since we arrived home! Several friends and family have written or stopped by and asked the very same question..."So, how has your life changed?" Oh my, is that a loaded question! For those of you who have adopted or biological children, I am sure that you can provide a litany of examples for this question. Well, the same is true for us.

Our flight back to Harrisburg was on the scheduled flights our travel agency had provided. It was relatively uneventful with the exception of a rather toddler moment somewhere between, say, the Atlantic Ocean and Georgia. In short, Jonatan decided to let everyone know that he was ready for some more food and tried his little lungs out in a very quiet plane! Oh my word! I can't tell you what that was like! All I have to say is that both Dave and I wished to be in a much louder place...say Walmart, Wall Street, or Disney World...not an airplane in confined quiet space with who knows how many passengers! At one point, Dave leaned over and says "Sheila!"...to which, I turn and say, "Dave, do you actually think that I am doing this!"...we laugh about it now, but definitely found ourselves at the mercy of a 20 month old for what seemed like eternity! LOL! Really, his fussing didn't happen for long, but ironically, happened to be the biggest explosion that he had had with us up to that point...we later chalked it up to much change, hunger, and being very tired.

We had a wonderful 2 hour connection in Atlanta...in fact, made it through immigration and re-checking baggage in under an hour...which gave us time to hunt down some dinner before we were to board our plane bound for Harrisburg. In Harrisburg we were met by friends and family, which was such a welcomed event! My niece and nephew had arrived from the Pittsburgh area which helped to make Jonatan at ease with everyone! He quickly warmed up to his older cousin, Taylor, who just so happens to be an amazing big sister to her brother who is only a couple months younger than Jonatan. (BIG SMILE for Taylor!)

This week has been all about getting settled in and cleaning up from our arrival...I laugh as I write this, because I have said that I would finish unpacking and organizing by Friday and we are still officially unpacked...Dave has declared that the four outfits he took to Colombia can remain in the suitcases for a while longer as he would like to give the rest of his clothes a spin for a while...I must say that I am feeling the same way with that one! (LOL) Our friends, Jess and Amy, were wonderful in stocking our fridge and cupboards with groceries for arrival...and, not just for the humans of our household, but also our 5 faithful companions...4 cats and a dog! What a blessing to not have to go out for a while!

In addition, we arrived to a banner our church had made and plastered to the front of our house! It was such a giant and wonderful "Welcome Home" card! We have pictures and will post not just these, but some from this week and the final days of our time in Colombia, over this weekend. I am working from our home computer and the pictures are stored on our laptop, which, ironically, is also still unpacked and sitting in the dining room. So, stay tuned for more!

Last weekend, my Mom and sister had traveled in to welcome us home, and today, we traveled to Dave's parents in Williamsport, PA, and what a blessing this was. Dave's father is a fluent Spanish speaker from his days of working as a missionary in South America as well as here in the states with male Spanish speaking prisoners near their home. Jonatan lit up when he heard his Grandpa greet him in Spanish! In fact, it seemed that he couldn't get enough of him for most of the day...it was pretty cute! Jonatan equally enjoyed his Abuelita and her warm welcome. I should mention that usually Jonatan is pretty reserved in meeting people for the first time. He is not liberal with his kisses and hugs, so it was a huge surprise that when first meeting Dave's parents he very eagerly gave both hugs and kisses!

As for the rest of the week, Dave went back to work on Monday while Jonatan and I have worked to play, begin the monumental task cleaning up, and just work at getting some kind of routine down for the both of us as I am off through July 20th and will only be returning to work on a part-time basis. Our week has been rather dull and calm, which I believe both of us have needed. We have enjoyed long walks...sometimes Jonatan enjoys helping Mama push his stroller and other times he is in it taking a nice nap as Mama enjoys a quiet walk on some of the green paths around town...a highlight for Jonatan is a 'frog pool' that Amy left as a small gift for him! Amy, he absolutely loves your gift! If we haven't mentioned up until now...he is a natural fish! I am sure that some sort of water sport or past time will be in his future!

As for some other details of our week...we initially found that Jonatan was not fond of our dog, Fawn...this was not a suprise as his foster parents had mentioned this in information that we had received. Our first few days home were marked by a toddler ready to climb up our legs at the sight of Fawn, although we can now proudly report that they are like old buds...Jonatan is always finding a way to sneak Fawn some snacks from the table or from the cat food, while Fawn is always up for a good gentle romp with her new-found friend...as for the cats, that is a different story! Jonatn loved them from the beginning, yet the cats didn't feel the same way...while it is not a love-hate relationship...Jonatan's lack of fine motor skill control and high pitched voice send the cats running for the hills! They are so used to a quiet relatively calm environment, and Jonatan is anything but quiet and calm...he is a perpetual ball of energy, when awake, that is! I am sure that the cats' relationship with Jonatan will blossom in time, but for now they are keeping their distance. (Smile)

We are very proud parents, to say the least! It is neat to see the daily changes taking place in Jonatan...from in-coming teeth, to vocabulary development, as well as his toddler investigative talent we have enjoyed the journey so far and look forward to what the future holds. As for posts, our intention is to continue to document our journey here...as well as, perhaps, my own personal reflections along the way. We are in the midst of deciding what to do with our blog title and will reveal that in the coming month (as days would not be realistic...ha!). Thank you for your patience and encouragement as we get adjusted as a family, and, for those of you who are in Colombia or elsewhere adopting...we continue to pray for you and follow along as you journey to become family! Much love and hugs from afar!

Super Quick Check-In

2008-05-24T04:03:00.000-07:00

To say that all is well! It is 6 a.m. Bogota time and we are getting ready to leave for the airport! So far as we can tell, our flight is on time and we will see everyone tonight at 7:30 after a connection through Atlanta!

Time for a Haircut!

2008-05-22T10:34:00.000-07:00

So, since we didn't get a chance to blog last night, I figured that I would try and post a bit here while Dave and Jonatan take a nap!

I will start by saying that last night we had a wonderful time with Lucia and Andres at a local restaurant. Jonatan had a hard time enjoying dinner...we are thinking that part of the problem was that he had just awoken from a much needed nap, although the nap was not at the time he is used to taking them since we were out picking up his visa and Colombian passport at the US Embassy during the afternoon. Secondly, the restaurant was busy and he seemed a bit overstimulated with everything. One of the waiters had come over and helped to get him in a high chair...well, Jonatan was having none of it. (Although, in his defense, he has only used a booster seat with us while at El Cortijo and is now sitting on one of our laps here at Zuetana.) There was a live musical group that played wonderful music. This seemed to grab Jonatan's attention as he loves to dance...Lucia wanted to take him up front to see the musicians up close, although he was insistent that it needed to be Papa or Mama.

We enjoyed a nice dinner of baked potato, steak, salad, empanadas, fried banana or sweet plantain (not sure), and another side that I forget the name of (made of corn flour...I will have to ask Dave when he gets up). At the end of dinner, the waiter gave us some customary candy...and, in a bad turn of judgement, I gave one to Jonatan..thinking that it would be ok to give it to him if he simply sat on my lap so I could supervise him and make sure he didn't choke on it, rather than running around and increasing that likelihood...I proceeded to share with Lucia that hard candy and young children make me nervous as I had seen my niece (yes, that means you, Taylor) when she was younger choke on a piece of hard candy...and that happened to have been the first time I ever had to use the infant heimlich maneuver....well, wouldn't you know, Jonatan started to choke on that piece of candy just as I was sharing this! Ugh! Fortunately, a few whacks on the back caused him to cough it up, followed by a bit of shock and a few tears on his part, then all was fine...needless to say, I have decided that he will not have hard candy for another 20 or so years! It has been quite some time since I felt my heart almost leap out of my chest! It was a poor decision...one that will not be repeated any time soon. A disclaimer for new parents...choose the mini-tantrum, sad face, and curled pouty upper lip as opposed to trying to allow something that you know should be postponed for a later age.

I am posting out in one of the sitting areas and do not have our camera with me, so we will have to wait on the pictures. The day has been a bit overcast here and, now, as I write this it is down-pouring! I haven't mentioned the rain in Bogota yet, but will say that it is pretty incredible! The other night I awoke to the rain...one moment it was raining cats and dogs (as we would say back home), the next moment there was nothing...I lay there in bed imagining God turning some grand storm faucet on and off. It was so strange as this continued for some time.

And, lastly, I should mention that we thought it would be better to get Jonatan's hair cut here before we leave to return home. It has gotten fairly long...his little curls are getting a bit out of control and he is only so tolerant of Mama chasing him down with a brush or comb! LOL! So, this afternoon, we are going to take an adventure to one of the salons that specializes in cutting children's hair...hopefully we will get some fun pics to share with everyone.

Flight Home

2008-05-20T19:01:00.000-07:00

Before I get to our flight...I have a fun Jonatan story to tell...or two! So, every night before Jonatan goes to bed, we have this routine we go through with him...bath, bottle, teeth, "Me Gusta Cuando" book, pray as family, besitos y abrazos, and then 'Good Night". He has become so accustomed to it, that he will often indicate to us what is next. Well, the other night, Dave was praying in Spanish when all the sudden, Jonatan takes his "titi" (a bottle he sleeps with) out of his mout and announces 'Ahmain'(I need to spell it that way because that is the way his "Amens" sound right now.) So, he doesn't just do this once, but proceeds to continue every couple seconds until Dave finishes! It was too cute and so very funny! I think we have a little charasmatic on our hands! LOL!

And then, this morning at breakfast, we were going through yet another routine...this is where Papa and Mama point to things and name them in Spanish then English or play the game "Donde esta" while waiting for our food to be served. Well, it just so happened that the table cloth had apples all over it. I had pointed to one of the apples and said "manzana" and then "apple". Well, he looks at Dave and then I and says "apple"! Oh how funny...and once he realized how shocked and excited we were...he proceeded to point to the apples and repeatedly announce to everyone in the dining room "apple, apple, apple". It was hysterical!

Ok, now, as for our flight home...we discovered two problems in booking a flight earlier than Saturday...if we leave Thursday, we can get as far as Atlanta, but would have a layover there until 8 p.m. Friday night and then come into Harrisburg rather late. The two problems are the long layover in Atlanta and the fact that Delta will not book an international-domestic flight unless it occurs (completely) within a 24 hour period. So, to sum things up...we will be home on Saturday. Here are the details of our flight arrangements:

Saturday, May 24th

Leave Bogota @ 9:30 a.m.
Arrive in Atlanta @ 3:31 p.m.

**We have a 2 hour layover, which apparently is just enough time to get through immigration...so, you can pray that our flight arrives on-time, unloads in a timely manner, and that we have no problems getting our luggage, going through immigration, and then re-checking our luggage before needing to board our flight for Harrisburg.

Leave Atlanta @ 5:29 p.m. on Delta 4239
Arrive in Harrisburg @ 7:23 p.m.

At first, I must admit that I was a bit bummed about being here a few more days. It is not that I have been enjoying myself...knowing that we could possibly come home sooner because our process here is complete, led to anticipation of home, getting settled, and seeing family and friends. Ok, I don't usually get home-sick, but I think I had my first taste of it last night as we were trying to make flight arrangements. With that said, I am shifting my focus to relishing our last few days here...looking forward to taking Lucia, and possibly David and Andres, out to dinner as a family tomorrow night, and potentially getting together with the Jensens and their two new additions before we leave. As for some sight-seeing here in Bogota, we are going to sit down tomorrow and consider possibilities for Thursday and Friday...although outside of going back to the Embassy tomorrow afternoon, Dave and I are going to carve out some time tomorrow to spend individually with Jonatan to give each other a break. Dave has already declared that his time alone is going to be devoted to an extra nap! I think that Juan Valdez, a book, and I have a date! Have a great night and thank you so much for all of your emails and comments...they serve as an appreciated connection to home. Much Love, The Derrs

Some outtakes from the last couple days:

Jonatan was so completely tired after our trip with all the families on Sunday that he fell asleep in Dave's arms on our walk back to Zuetana...this is a footpath not too far from Zuetana...it is actually quite quaint and has a park on the other end of it:

Our crazy little Colombian! On Sunday, Jonatan met this woman at the bazarre/market that was selling little Colombian ball caps...he loved them...in fact, we brought a hat down for him, but he so dislikes wearing it...this one he willingly puts on and often will wear it backwards or off to the side! Pretty funny!

In case you ever wondered, yes, Colombia has McDonalds! The menu is pretty much the same, ironically! We visited this one when we, Dave and I, first arrived to Bogota on our trip down, and then revisited it on Saturday when we got in at an odd hour and had some time to burn before stores opened and we could move into our room...the fun thing about lunch and dinner is that they have a side bar that you can visit to add Jalepeno, Salsa, and other fixins' to your burgers. The only other unique thing about McDonalds here is that they have a cafe in the front of the store, completely separate from the counter you would normally order your food from.

Jonatan is going through a stage right now in which he thinks that everything Mama is eating is actually his to eat. Consequently, each meal is always an adventure...in this pic, everytime I would try to sip some soda (or "pop", for family and friends in Eastern PA), Jonatan would try and press himself into my face and beat me to the sip. (Have no fear all of you hard core health nuts out there...he only had a few sips of soda! Scouts honor! LOL!)

Day ?: Bogota

2008-05-20T15:41:00.000-07:00

Sunday was a wonderful day here in Bogota. We enjoyed a day out with other adoptive families. Actually, as mentioned in our earlier post, we are not too far from El Refugio, where we first stayed when we arrived in Colombia. So, Dave, Jonatan, and I walked over and met four other families for some time out to a local market at an upscale hotel and then we were on to Archies, a really nice pizza place not to far from where we all are staying! It was such an enjoyable time! And, actually, we got to catch up with 2 CHI families that we were hoping to see...the Adelmans and the Jensons. Here is one picture from our time at Archies!

Yesterday, we went to this wonderful store, Maku, in the morning! We almost wished that we hadn't bought some of the things we had in Pereira (as Maku had it all and more). Oh well...the prices were comparable...we were just thinking more of the space in luggage that our little trinkets took up and the charge to fly it all (we had to pay an overweight fee of $48,600 pesos...about $27.34...to get everything up to Bogota). So, for all of you who will be traveling to Colombia for adoption and will be located in a town outside of Bogota for the majority of your time...have no fear if you miss out on the souvenir shopping...Maku is amazing (3 floors of amazing) and very close by El Refugio and Zuetana. Poor Jonatan had to endure 1 1/2 hours in Maku! He was a real trooper!

Early yesterday evening we went and saw the US Embassy pediatrician. Turns out that he and Dave shared some fond memories of the Sincelejo area. It was fun hearing them swap stories and seeing the excitement they shared. As for Jonatan, he was fine until he had to strip down for his exam...he was having none of it! We are guessing that his previous pediatric visits have not been so exciting, so this is a good heads up for when we get home and begin some of our own visits to physicians with him. Overall, he is in good health...actually, the physician was amazed that he was only 20 months old as he seem so very "alert" and "developmentally advanced" for his age. It was reassuring to hear that all is well, although we haven't had any doubts.

I am sorry that this is so long...I want to make sure I cover everything! Today we headed out to the US Embassy for Jonatan's visa application. We were told, as is customary, to expect up to a 4 hour wait. Well, we were in and out in under an hour! The only question that the US Embassy had for us was whether Jonatan had been in good health or not. Easy enough question! His visa was approved and we have an appointment for tomorrow at 3:30 to go back and pick up his passport and paperwork. Before I leave this subject, I have to tell you about the US Embassy here! It is like Fort Knox!!!!! Lines of Colombians begin at 6 a.m., apparently, for tourist visas. Lucia was telling us that over 40% of these visa requests get declined. Wow, some of these people spend all day in line to hear that their request is being denied...and there were literally hundreds of people in this large open room with windows on one side where you were called when it was your turn for an interview. I wish that we had pictures to show you but no cameras are allowed in the building.

All Is Well

2008-05-20T09:53:00.000-07:00

This is just a quick post to say that all is well here. We had a busier couple of days and then discovered that we are having some troubles with our laptop...hence the lack of posting...one of us will try and stay up a little later this evening and use the Zuetana computer to post pics and give more detail on what we have been doing.

In short, we went to the embassy physician yesterday and everything checked out fine with Jonatan. This morning we went to the US Embassy to apply for Jonatan´s visa-passport...and it was approved. We will return tomorrow to pick up his passport...and, then, surprisingly, everything will be finished! Yeah!!!!!

So, here is the prayer request...actually, it isn´t a terribly big deal, but if you want to see us earlier than Saturday, pray that we can get the adoption fair tickets worked out...we called the International line for Delta last night and were put on hold 2 separate times for over 45 minutes each...and then only to be told that while there is room on flights coming out of Bogota Thursday and Friday, our adoption fair will not allow it because of the ´class´of tickets...hmmmmm...that is why we paid the higher rate in the first place through our travel agency...soooooooo, I (Sheila) am calling our travel agency in the US after I am done with this post to see why all the confusion...and to see if they can just take care of it for us.

Until later, know that we are doing well...(when I opened my inbox today, I saw that we are starting to get "Are you OK messages!"). We are just having some electronic difficulties and a few busy, longer days...too much detail for me to share now...but will later. Much Love, The Derrs

Ahhhh Bogota!

2008-05-17T10:54:00.000-07:00

We arrived in Bogota around 8:00 this morning! Actually, Dave and I got up around 5:00 a.m., got all of our stuff together, and then got Jonatan up and ready. Surprisingly, he was a great sport about the hour. Ok, he wasn't all fun and games, but he wasn't putting up a fight either. He even enjoyed the plane ride and fell asleep for a short bit of time.

Zuetana is now our home away from home...you can check out their website at www.zuetana.com From their website: "Who we are: Zuetana means 'home' in the language of the Muiscas, aboriginal inhabitants of this region. The use of this name, Zuetana, reflects our wish to become ambassadors of our country." They actually 'specialize' in housing for adoptive families. In arriving we have already met two families from Germany, and understand that there are two other families here in addition to ourselves.

There was a bit of a misunderstanding on when we would be arriving, so Zuetana was surprised when Andres dropped us off at their doorstep this morning. They were full and had a family leaving at 1 p.m. So we moved into their room once it is ready. In the meantime, we took a walk around the area and discovered that we are just blocks from where we previously stayed (at El Refugio) when we first arrived. Our walk was productive in helping Jonatan to get some rest as he fell asleep in Dave's arms.

Today will be a rest day and tomorrow we plan to do some more walking around town and possibly go over to a market that happens each Sunday. We really haven't discussed much else beyond trying to get together with a couple of CHI families over at El Refugio.

Last Day in Pereira!

2008-05-16T20:50:00.000-07:00

The long awaited post is here! Tomorrow morning, at 7:15 a.m., we will be heading off to Bogota! It took a bit of waiting this afternoon to get Jonatan's Colombian passport, but it was well worth the wait!

This evening, we packed, said goodbye to our interpreter, Mauricio, and his girlfriend, and went out to eat with Jose and his wife to celebrate. Mauricio had brought a bag of empanadas for Jonatan as a going away present! So sweet and thoughtful! Our dinner with Jose and his wife was at a quaint downtown arepa restaurant! It was pretty neat! They even had curb service, literally! Folks would drive up, ask for a menu, order, get their food and then they were on their way...the unique thing about this is that there was a sidewalk full of tables and pedestrians between the store and vehicles pulling up to order. Pretty cool!

Another brief side note...while waiting for Jonatan's passport, we went over to one of the Plazas (Malls) and got Mimos (ice cream shoppe)...so, Dave forgot to tell me that the icecream that he and Mauricio were ordering was not vanilla...it was a Passion Fruit of sorts...well, I had ordered something like a blizzard with something like oreo cookies...needless to say, my first bite was a bit interesting...passion fruit y chocolate and creme cookie...hmmm...don't think I will do that combo again...it was interesting to try though.

Anyway, here are a few pics from today...unfortunately, we have been so busy with getting things squared away here that we have not had much time to take that many pictures...we will be sure to take more in Bogota in the upcoming few days. I need to go to bed now as it is 11:30 p.m. in Colombia and we need to get up at 5 a.m.!!!!!

Mauricio and his girlfriend on their last visit with Jonatan:

Our friends from Spain arrived back in town for their Sentencia...Juan was very happy to see Jonatan:

Jose, Rosario's driver, and his wife:

Just a Quick Note

2008-05-16T10:41:00.001-07:00

This morning went well as Jonatan's paperwork was corrected. The birth certificate turned out to be fine although our paperwork still needed to be re-presented to that office to document the change in the original application. There was some confusion surrounding this yesterday, and neither Dave or I had actually seen the birth certificate and name.

Around 1:50 Colombia time...EST 2:50...we will join Mauricio for a, hopefully, final trip to the passport office. We will update everyone with details as soon as we get back and have news of what is next.

Tonight we are joining Jose and his family for an evening out to dinner. This should be a lot of fun and great opportunity to get to know his family a little bit better. We plan to try and keep in touch with him as we have all grown close to one another in our short time here.

Well...

2008-05-15T14:04:00.000-07:00

...we headed out to the passport office around 2:30 today, and at 3:30ish we were told that the application would need to be corrected as there was a mispelling of Jonatan's name...actually, in one portion of the paperwork Jonatan's middle name was omitted...which, ironically, was the part that was used to issue his birth certificate! Oops! Soooo, Hector was going to try and get the paperwork corrected at the judicial building today so that we could retry for the birth certificate this evening...although it turns out that they would not be able to get the paperwork completed today. Tomorrow morning the paperwork will be corrected, we will get another birth certificate reissued, and then tomorrow afternoon we will attempt the passport again.

We are not stressing as we still stand to get to Bogota over the weekend. This would be nice as we were hoping for an opportunity to catch up with other CHI folks who are still in the area...meet their children, etc. We will just have to see about this one.

As for timeline, we would still stand to be home sometime between Thursday and Saturday now.

Officially Jonatan Andrés Derr-Wright!!!!

2008-05-14T20:52:00.000-07:00

Yeah!!!!!!! We are officially family in the eyes of Colombia! Whoo-hoo! Around 3:30 this afternoon, we went over to one of the judicial buildings to sign the paperwork!

I am sure that you are wondering what in the world is going on with that last name! Well, in Colombian culture, a child takes on the name of both his/her father and mother...so the birth certificate that we get for Jonatan tomorrow will show both of our birth last names. The birth certificate for the U.S. will only show Derr.

We came back to El Cortijo for a wonderful fiesta with our friends from Italy, Jose, Mauricio (our interpreter) and his girlfriend, as well as a surpise visit Alba, our lawyer's wife! Jonatan loved every moment of it...in fact, there was wonderful fiesta music playing...and all he wanted to do was "baila" (dance) and eat his empanadas! In fact, he ate so many empanadas that he had no room for the chocolate cake that we bought a second time for him to enjoy...as the first one was purchased for the day we all first met, although he was so upset that cake was not an option.

Dave called Lucia this afternoon to talk about the finer details of what was next. What we expect is this...tomorrow morning Hector is picking up Jonatan's Colombian birth certificate after he stops by and picks up copies of the paperwork that we signed today. In the afternoon, we will go and take care of getting Jonatan's Colombian passport. We actually took care of the photos for this today.

Depending on the time, we will either fly out tomorrow night to Bogota or Friday morning...since the passport office does not open in the afternoon until 2 p.m., we may very well fly out Friday morning. Lucia mentioned that we can take care of Jonatan's medical visit on Friday afternoon once we arrive to Bogota. We will have the afternoon to relax and enjoy Bogota before we then need to go on Monday and apply for Jonatan's immigration at the U.S. Embassy. We understand that this takes about a day to issue, so we may very have his immigration paperwork in hand by Tuesday...which would mean that we could fly home on Wednesday!

More Details....

2008-05-14T10:21:00.000-07:00

Ok, so Hector and his wife stopped by last night to give us some paperwork, including David's Colombian birth certificate!, and to go over what to expect for today and tomorrow.

Jonatan is currently resting...as we intentionally filled his morning with much activity so that he would be ready for a nap earlier rather than later! David and I are currently working on packing up some things as we expect to fly out to Bogota tomorrow night! Holy Canolies!

We expect a call from either Mauricio or Hector, any time now, to indicate when our Sentencia will happen this afternoon. The only detail that we know is that it will be sometime between 2 and 4 p.m.

As for the remainder of our time here...Rosario has planned a fiesta for Jonatan and our family tonight...to celebrate our Sentencia...yummy yuca, plantain, empanadas (one of Jonatan's favorites), and some spicy salsa that we came across recently...so fun!

Tomorrow morning, Mauricio is planning to pick us up following breakfast as we have some more paperwork to complete. Our first stop will be for passport photos and then we will be off to get Jonatan's corrected birth certficiate as well as his Colombian passport. After Sentencia tonight, we will make flight arrangements back to Bogota and try to touch base with Lucia out in Bogota to make sure we are taking care of everything on our end.

Sooooooo, you can be in prayer for our longer day tomorrow...especially for Jonatan as the longer day and getting out of a routine seems to throw him off a bit...also for travel...we are not sure what Jonatan's experience with an airplane has been...although this will definitely be new for us...flying with a toddler, that is. A final detail that family and friends can commit to prayer is for Jonatan and adjusting to a new environment and sleep once we arrive to our destination in Bogota.

We are doing well, and have a few pictures from yesterday's slower paced day...really, we just went to Victoria Plaza (Troy and Andrea, you must put this on your list to do while down here...they have an entertainment center for kids and a pizza place that will let the kids do their own pizza...on the fourth floor!). We also visited an Exito for the first time while down here...this is really just like a Walmart Supercenter back home...they have just about everything you can think of!

This is a picture of one of the larger Catholic Cathedrals in Pereira...it is pretty spectacular!

"What's that you say?"...."Sentencia!"

2008-05-13T07:55:00.000-07:00

Well, just a quick post this morning to say that while we were eating breakfast Hector called to say that that he expected the judge to sign off on all of our paperwork tomorrow...Sentencia!!!!! Oh, how awesome is that! So, what does this mean exactly? Well, if Sentencia occurs tomorrow as Hector expects, it means that we officially become family in Colombia's eyes! What a wonderful surprise that phone call was this morning! We are truly excited!...and can't wait to receive that second phone call tomorrow!

So, what next?...because we are sure you are wondering! LOL! Well, if Sentencia occurs tomorrow, we will try and squeeze in photos for Jonatan's Colombian passport and, perhaps, have enough time to apply for the passport before the end of the day. That is the fast-case scenario. We had previously misunderstood Hector to say that he already had the corrected birth certificate, but that is not the case...sooo we will have to get this done as well. After that, we will be headed to Bogota to finish out our paperwork. We understand that not much paperwork can be accomplished on Fridays in Bogota, so, if all is compeleted here, we may just fly out to Bogota by the weekend to do a little sightseeing there before we need to run around for the remainder of our paperwork. We will just have to see. This would be a best-case scenario, which sounds very likely to happen.

As for returning home, we may very well be home a couple days earlier than we had planned...we will know more once we get through Sentencia and are off to Bogota. It is then that we will have more communication with Lucia, the CHI in-country program director here...on what is next and when we can plan to return home...sooooooooo, stay tuned & we will keep the updates coming! Oh happy day!

el Día de las Madres

2008-05-11T20:40:00.000-07:00

What a wonderful day! Where to begin! David, Jonatan, and I joined a family from Italy along with Jose for a day at the Pereira Zoo, which just so happens to be the largest zoo in Colombia! It was a very enjoyable time...and so many animals to see! Jonatan especially loved the lion...as he stood at the side of the cage and roared at his two new furry friends as they attempted to sleep! It was pretty cute...he would hold his hands in fists, scrunch his face up very seriously, and bellow out a 19 month old roar! It was pretty convincing, if I might say so myself!

After the zoo, we went out for the llanera I spoke of in my last post, and it was amazing! Actually, you could choose from 3 different meats...one being cow, the second being pig, and the third being chiguiro. A quick note about chiguiro...Jose had said that this meat was quite good, although both Dave and I were a bit skeptical...as we had seen what this animal actually looked like at the zoo and weren't quite sure it was meant for eating. Although, I can proudly say that it is quite good and I would partake of it again sometime...I am including a picture of the chiguiro below...a little more about this animal: the name originally derives from Tupi kaapĩ ûara ("grass eater") or possibly from the Guarani word kapiÿva, meaning roughly "master of the grasses". In English, it is also sometimes called Water Hog (which is also the literal translation of its species name). Basically, they look like a giant walking rat (ok, maybe a guinea pig)...don't yah think? They also reminded me of the groundhogs that we hunted with our grandfather growing up. At any rate, if you are in Colombia and looking for an adventure in eating...this is a must try!

We had several more highlights for today, and yesterday, now that I am thinking about it...first, Jonatan had been a little irritable at different points for a couple days...and we couldn't figure out why. One moment he would be completely fine, and then the next he would be disgruntled about things that he previously was tolerant of. We were stumped and found ourselves wondering if this had to do with the grief process he is going through...well, to make a long story short...when he started to put his hand and other things into his mouth yesterday, we realized that maybe his mouth was the problem...then low and behold, on a more intentional investigation, we realized the our little guy is cutting two more teeth, and possibly a third!!!! After giving him some motrin, he was back to his normal self (or what we know to be normal so far). He is doing fine, though, and had an incredible day today...which leads me to some other thoughts...

Dave had gone out with Jose yesterday to run some errands and came back with flowers for Mama from himself...and a separate bunch from Jonatan for me. Jonatan and Mama had just gotten up from our nap and were running around in our PJs when Dave came in and asked Jonatan to come outside and help him...so they both left and then Jonatan came prancing through the door with flowers for Mama! So cute! And, so thoughtful of mi esposo! They are beautiful and it has been wonderful to celebrate my first Mother's Day in Colombia with two people I love so very much!

This is Jonatan bringing in his flowers for Mama:

These are the flowers that Dave bought for me! They are gorgeous and now I have a bamboo vase to bring home with me as well! Too awesome!

I wanted to share one more small moment with everyone, and that was tonight's bedtime. It was a quite perfect ending to a very good day. I believe I mentioned that we read with Jonatan "Me Gusta Cuando"(I Like It When) as part of our bedtime routine...the neat thing about this book is that it is in english and spanish, has simple sentences and actions that a young toddler can understand and put into practice, and ends with saying goodnight. Well, tonight, after we read each page, Jonatan joined in on charading the actions that we have made up for each...at the end, we always tell him that now Papa is going to pray...and then Dave proceeds to pray...Jonatan is always laying between us and Dave and I always join hands and give Jonatan the option of doing the same...well, tonight, before we could even get the words out to prompt him to what would happen next, he was grabbing at both of our hands and grunting along to make sure we knew what we were then supposed to do! He proceeded to put his little hand in there as well...and then a few moments later...he reached up to Papa and Mama and put his little hands around each of our necks and held on for a bit while Dave finished praying in Spanish...this definitely brought tears to my eyes. A perfect ending to a truly wonderful day...and mi primera Día de las Madres con Dave y Jonatan! I couldn't ask for more!

Ok, some outtakes for the day:

Maria Victori and Jonatan love to look at caballos (horses) together...we often spend time in the evening with our friends from Italy:

Here is one specifically for Abuelito (Grandma) Wright...your grandson really does love looking at pictures of horses...we need to try him out on the real thing sometime!

Ok, it would be impossible for us to post the 130+ pictures we have from today, so here is one very unusual bird that we got to see...sorry, I have no idea what the name of it is:

As some of you may know, I am a bit impulsive and had one of those moments today while visiting an elephant...I crawled up on top one of the fences so that I could feed the elephant! Holy cow! They are big!

Day 10 & 11: The Finca & Santa Rosa de Cabal

2008-05-09T06:45:00.000-07:00

Ok, I started this post yesterday, but ended up needing to take a nap with the guys more than finishing this! So, I will attempt to cover yesterday and today in one post.

I am not sure if it is actually possible to have a horrible day here! We had a fantastic day at Rosario's family's finca (farm)yesterday! It is a working fruit farm, and beautiful it was!

The family from Italy along with ourselves, Rosario, and Betty, one of Rosario's staff traveled about 30 minutes out of Pereira. We actually passed the Pereira soccer stadium on our way, so we had the taxi stop so that Dave could take a picture for Jonatan.

Our day was spent in and out of the pool, eating some great Colombian barbecue for lunch, taking a tour of the finca (gorgeous fruit trees, flowers, and cactus!), and getting to know the staff that works the finca. The day was a bit overcast, so it made for a very enjoyable day...not too hot, not too cool for swimming!

Can we say, "tired!"...this is what a lack of nap looks like:

Actually, our day had been so active that Jonatan concked out on the ride back and did not awake until shortly before dinner (I am thinking the lack of nap also contributed to that!). I am not sure if I mentioned this, but Dave and I had been joking a while back that our son is probably going to eat us out of house and home! I cannot imagine how many calories he actually burns in a day, but he is a very active little boy...consequently, he is an amazing eater! Breakfast isn't always his best meal, yet for other meals if you didn't see who was eating you would think an adult was being served all the food he can eat! So, the highlight for him yesterday was traveling from tree to tree consuming the amazing variety of fruits we found at the farm. It was too cute! He couldn't wait to try each...and, forgive me, we are in the process of trying to get all the fruits named as we took pictures but didn't have paper and pen to write down all that we were seeing and eating!

Today, we traveled out to nearby thermal springs and waterfall (Santa Rosa de Cabal). And, holy cow, it was amazing! Jose said that he thinks it is paradise...that there are a good many places within Colombia that are utterly beautiful, but this was just paradise...I think I agree with him on this one! Even Jonatan seemed to agree...at least in his 19 month line of thinking...he was actually able to stay in the pools for the whole time we were there...as in other pools, we find ourselves having to get him out periodically (of course, not without a dispute! LOL!) because his little lips turn blue and his teeth begin to chatter.

The upper pool (for children) that we spent most of our time in was fed by a thermal stream...that I might add is incredibly hot! In fact, the water coming out of the bears in the one picture is so hot that it could scald your hand! In order to keep the tempurature regulated in this pool, the owners have several cold water fountains spraying into it...pretty ingenious and the kids love it! I also need to mention that the falls were beautiful, and because the weather was rainy, off and on, it was not crowded...which made our visit all the more enjoyable.

Well, for the weekend, we have a calm, low-key day tomorrow. Dave and I are planning to walk Jonatan up the street to a playground and then in a different direction for the store. Other than that, we are planning to enjoy time as a family here at El Cortijo. On Sunday, we have plans to go over to the zoo and out to one of the restaurants here for llanero (a type of marianated meat). Other than that, we hope to hear some news on Monday or Tuesday from Hector, our lawyer, on the progress of our paperwork in the courts here.

Day 9: Bolívar Desnudo & Around Town

2008-05-07T11:58:00.000-07:00

¡Sorpresa! Can you believe it? We are getting a post in before midnight or later! Wow, now that is a feat!

Before I tell you about earlier today, I have to tell you about last night...just some fun parent sort of stuff! Dave and I have been lucky if we get to eat a full meal together because Jonatan is usually done well before we are...he is a squirm bug when it comes to remaining at the table, so we have chosen to just take turns being with him while the other finishes eating, having coffee, etc. Well, Jonatan decided to give us a giant gift last night! He ate almost everything served to him and was still eating well beyond Papa and Mama! Oh my! We were even more amazed when we looked at the clock and saw that it read 9:15 p.m. Colombia time and we had not only completed dinner (as it is served between 7:00 and 7:30) but also had completed Jonatan's bath, bottle, brushing teeth, reading a couple bedtime books, prayer, and had him to sleep by then! Dave and I truly were beside ourselves! We actually had some alone time before both of us collapsed for the day! What an unexpected gift!

As for this morning, we had a great time traveling around the downtown area. Actually, our trip out with Jose (forgive me for confusing folks before...but Rosario's driver is Jose, not Juan...I have this awful habit of wanting to call him Juan! Oops! LOL!)...anyway, we intended to go to a music store to get a couple cd's with a variety of Colombian music followed by a trip up one of the local mountains to view the city. We ended up taking a walking tour of the downtown area, including both plazas...one is the famous Plaza de Bolívar (in Pereira the actual statue is called Bolívar Desnudo as Bolívar is depicted riding a horse in the nude). The Plaza de Bolívar in the center of the city in front of a giant cathedral. This area is the focus of commercial and financial activities for the city. In fact, our lawyer has his office just off one of the corners of this plaza.

A little about Simon Bolívar: Along with José de San Martín, he was one of the most important leaders in Latin America's struggle for independence from Spain. According to some internet sources, Bolívar's legacy contributed to the independence of present-day Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Panamá, Perú and Venezuela. In the case of Colombia, each capital city (because Colombia is divided into departments...sort of like states) with the exception of Pasto has a main square with a statue of Bolívar. The most famous ones are in Bogotá and Caracas.

Our walking tour took us to a great empanada stand with one of the hottest hot sauces we have ever tasted! Yum! It actually made my eyes water! Did I mention that Jonatan absolutely loves emapanadas! Papa and Mama are going to have to learn how to make them! Another stop took us to a very attractive downtown restaurant and then off to one of the larger cathedrals in the city. Both places were full of amazing architecture and ornate decorations.

Several other interesting discoveries or facts from this morning: When someone sneezes in Colombia...the first time, you would say "¡Salud!"...the second time (in a row), you would say "¡Salud diez!"...the third time (in a row), you would say "¡Salud, diez, amor!"...what we gathered from speaking with Jose is that while salud means health, the second and third times would add a blessing of 10x's the health and then love. Another interesting fact is that in most places, with the exception of chain stores and places like supermarkets, it is the culture to haggle prices. Everywhere we have gone and chosen to buy something, Jose has assisted us in haggling a price that is less than what is advertised on a product. Pretty interesting and good to know.

Our final stop for this morning was the top of one of the local mountains. Jose drove us to the top where the restaurant, El Mirador, is located. What a spectacular view of the surrounding area. Actually, we were able to get several pictures of the famous Viaduct César Gaviria Trujillo, a free-standing bridge connecting Pereira and Dosquebradas. Dosquebradas is the twin city to Pereira and has a slightly smaller population...the exciting thing for our family is that this is where Jonatan was born!

Before I part, Dave and I wanted to share a few things we learned in the last week (that is, in parenting a toddler!...actually, there is much more, but these seemed to be the more comical top 3!):

1. The food on your plate is never your own (or snacks for that matter...talk about invasion of personal space! LOL)!
2. Expect that what you propose doing now may not be that exciting...but given a few moments, your toddler may come back to you and state that they would like to do the very thing you just suggested. Oh, the beginning of developing independence! Ha!
3. Everything can potentially be shared...including the food in their mouth! Umm, we will have to work on that one! LOL!

Here are some additional pictures to enjoy!

An orchid that just so happens to attach itself to the trees around here...sorta like the 'air plants' we can get back home:

Our little Pereira Soccer Star!

Yesterday an Italian family moved in and just so happens to be adopting a little girl, Marie Victoria, who is only a day younger than Jonatan! Aren't they cute together!

Our Paperwork Is Officially Moving Forward Here!!!!

2008-05-06T08:20:00.000-07:00

Well, our 9 a.m. meeting at the ICBF office here in Pereira went well...it was about a half hour of speaking with the psychologist then social worker. Actually, our discussion surrounded Jonatan's adjustment so far...is he eating? how is he sleeping? does he favor one of us over the other? how is his health? do we have any questions? how do we feel about the process so far? do we want to proceed with the legal process? I think our eyes about bulged out of our heads when we were asked this last question, because the psychologist started to laugh at the odd and commical way we were charading our answer to her! The translater, Mauricio, seemed to find this pretty funny too!

Hector, our lawyer, is now off to his office and then the judge's office with our paperwork. He said that he expects the judge to take about a week to complete his part of the paperwork. The other two major pieces of paperwork that we need take care of here is Jonatan's Colombian passport and his birth certificate. In the meantime, we are also working with Lucia, the CHI in-country program director, in order to get several more copies of David's birth certificate.

Here is a fun picture we took when we got back from our integration meeting...we were trying to get Jonatan to smile for the camera, although he still does not seem to get that idea when both of us are sitting next to him...soooooooooo, the next best thing was to make faces and sounds with our tongue...he loves that...although it doesn't make for the best picture! Enjoy anyway! As a side note...Debi, I am posting a few pictures for you to see the shoes that you got Jonatan! They are absolutely perfect! He loves them and will often point to them and say "vroom, vroom".

Day 7: Rest & Pictures from Salento

2008-05-05T22:05:00.000-07:00

Ahhh...the feeling of just lazing the day away! Dave and I were talking about this past week and how busy it has been. It is so nice to have a 'day off' from running around. Our only plan today had been to go to the store for some diapers and wipies. How nice!

Jonatan had a hard night of sleep last night. At first, we thought that he was awaking every half hour or so after 2 a.m., but it turned out he was still asleep. He would sit up in bed, wimper or cry for a moment, and then drop his little head back on the bed. Sometimes he would say 'Mama', although we quickly found out that he really was asleep and no consoling on my part was going to help. We just stayed close and allowed him to ride out his dreams. When he awoke for his bottle at 6:00 a.m., we decided to let Jonatan sleep until he awoke on his own rather than trying to get him up for breakfast at 8:00. Well, he slept until 10:00! Oh my, he was a tired little boy! In fact, some of our photos from Solento show this in all of us! Hence, the rest day was oh so helpful!

Tomorrow morning is our integration meeting at the ICBF. It is a pretty basic meeting from what we understand. Our meeting is at 9:00 a.m. This will give us an additional opporunity to ask any more questions we have and also to allow th ICBF to do the same with us before our paperwork would head to the courts for more of the legal process here. We would invite your prayers for this and the coming week and a half or so as we are awaiting to have our adoption finalized here before returning to Bogota for Jonatan's passport, etc.

We had tried to post pictures from Salento this afternoon...had everything set up to post, but didn't realize that the internet connection had disconnected while we were doing the post...so it never autosaved...and, I am sad to say I didn't save it so we had to redo it here...sorry for the delay...and thanks for following along! Enjoy the pictures!

On our drive to Salento:

Salento artesians have there work posted everywhere...along the way, we saw the work of one particular artesian who carves...these were huge carvings of a lizard, ostrich, and Christ:

In Salento:

A view from the top and bottom of the hill leading into town...and what a flight of steps this is...while we didn't walk the steps, we did take a hike up the back end of the mountain on a local footpath or trail, of sorts. By the way, several websites term Salento as a 'sleepy town'. Well, as the second and third pictures will show...this is anything but sleepy!:

Jonatan loves to look in mirrors...when he sees us, he will say "Mama" or "Papa" then "Si" and then point his finger and nod his head at us...when he is in the mirror, he will point and additionally say "nini"...his toddlereaze for "nino" (boy)...we have yet to hear him say his own name. Well, getting back to Solento...we were in a restaurant waiting for our lunch of "trucha y platano"...trout and plantain...so Jonatan found my sunglasses very helpful in entertaining himself...they proved to be another great mirror to see himself and Mama in:

The Salento Catholic Church, found in the town square:

Err, um, Jonatan and I decided to try out confession. This was an old confession booth on display for the public (sorry, we are not Catholic, so I don't know what the actual term is for these):

All I can say is 'Oh wow' for this one! These guys were amazing! They are a local Andean group...we picked up one of their CDs and will have to give you all a listen when we are home:

These folks are another form of art that we came across on the sidewalks...and, yes, we assure you, this is really a live human being! All of them both amazed and intrigued me...particularly in how long they could stand, and perfectly still I might add!

A few more pics from our travel home...and also, bamboo is a readily available resource here so we thought it would be fun to include some pictures of how bamboo is used in construction...one is of a house we found in Solento while the other is a picture of part of the toll booth area on the highway:

Hoy Rancho Relaxo!

2008-05-05T12:02:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone, this is David writing today, I had promised to write more so here goes. We are all doing well except the last couple of days I have had a headache. I think I just need to drink more water. It is a little more difficult because you can’t just drink right out of the faucet. They have a water purification system in the kitchen downstairs that we can get water. They also have a container in our room of water. When we go out on trips like Salento yesterday I forget to drink extra water in order to replenish what the sun is taking out. Sheila and Jonatan don’t seem to have the same problem for rehydration, Jonatan is always asking for agua or jugo or leche. So he is fine. Other than my headache we are fine.

Things are going well with Jonatan. Although I think we have transitioned past the honeymoon period. He is probably a little more fussy, but not bad at all. As for me, I am learning a lot about being a parent to this little guy. Sheila says the key is to be one step ahead of him. Anticipate what he will need (ie. if giving him a bath) or what he will want (ie. if you need to distract him a way from something like touching something he shouldn’t touch on the table). Sometimes we can suggest to him something like reading a book or something else, but somehow it has to be his own idea so he will say no and want to do something else before coming back to your suggestion, thus making it his own idea. It is so cute.

It is fun to see what really excites him, playing ball, walking up and down the stairs continuously, and swimming. We had a hard time getting his diaper changed on Saturday at the pool because he wanted to be in the water. He just cried even though we were only taking him out for a short time. He also has a big appetite. He enjoys practically everything we have given him including vegetables.

I didn’t read where Sheila wrote about this. Our plague of bursting pipes continues. Yesterday morning we woke up to a big puddle in the bathroom again. It turns out that a pipe behind the toilet in the wall must have burst. We laid towels on the floor, they were sopping wet. We joked around a little with Betty (who helped us last week with leaking faucet knob). We gave them another bag of Hershey’s chocolate for their trouble. By the way the staff here are so awesome and the food here is wonderful. Just so you know these things like pipes bursting can happen anytime, anywhere. It just so happens the anywhere is wherever we are. So you may not want us to visit your house anytime soon LOL.

They offered us another room and strongly suggested that we move this time because they were going to be knocking a hole in the wall in order to get to the problem. We reluctantly accepted (we really like the room we were in). This new room is very nice. It has a balcony and 2 twin beds and a toddler bed. It has a walk in closet area that leads to the bathroom. The French family of 4 had been staying here and they left on Friday. I hate to say this but it is a nicer room.

Well today is going to be a low key day at Rancho Relaxo (really El Cortijo). It is nice because we need the rest. It seems like we have had a busy couple of days. Jonatan slept in this morning till about 10 AM, and is currently being put down for an afternoon nap.

Well I hope you all have a wonderful day. Thanks for your prayers and words of encouragement. Sorry that there are no pictures in this post. I am new at this and don’t have a clue how to add pictures to this entry. Perhaps Sheila will help me post pictures later today. Let us know if you have any questions about Colombia or this area. We would be happy to answer them. Thanks.

Day 6: Salento

2008-05-04T20:49:00.000-07:00

This is going to be a very short post to say that we are doing well, had a great day in Salento, and will post more tomorrow as we are all pretty tired from our day and previous night (will explain more tomorrow). Here are a few pictures to wet your pallette!

Family photo above one of the valleys surrounding Salento:

Papa y Jonatan sporting their new sombreros!

Mama y Jonatan sharing 'Eskimo besitos'!

The Country Club

2008-05-03T20:58:00.000-07:00

I didn't realize how little pictures we had gotten of the place we were at today. Rosario had taken us out to a Country Club that she is a member of. It was way beautiful! We had originally intended to leave around 10:00 a.m., but Rosario had come to us last night and asked if we could leave around noon. This was completly fine with us; we later came to find out that a good family friend had her son (a 17 year old) killed in an auto accident last night. This turned out to be a very sad day today for Rosario. She had shared that having us and her granddaughter out to the country club was very helpful to her. Actually, she mentioned that the children always seem to brighten her spirits. We can tell; she absolutely adores them and is so very helpful with them as well!

An interesting fact about death and funerals that we discovered today was that a typical length of time between death and funeral is only 8 hours here in Colombia...I should say that this is mainly typical of the Catholic majority here. Rosario said that with Protestants and other faith practices the time varies. When she said that this young man had died on Friday...I thought that she was speaking of 8 days ago...not last night! She said that the only reason the funeral did not occur last night was because the local judge sometimes will order an investigation into the events surrounding a death. In a case like this, a funeral will be delayed by a day or so. We didn't have an opporunity to discuss much more than that, although I thought it was an intersting fact to mention.

As for our day, Dave and I spent the afternoon, and quite literally, in the kiddie pool! When I mentioned in my post the other day that we weren't quite sure if Jonatan enjoyed the water or not...well, let me include an addendum to that comment: He loves it! I think that outside of becoming a future soccer star, we have a future lifeguard or scuba diver on our hands! Consequently, I think that we will plan to spend more time in the pool here!

Getting back to the pictures...we were so completely focused on spending time with Jonatan, Rosario, and her granddaugther, Violeta, that we forget to snap some shots of the place. We will try and do better with other things we are doing. Tomorrow, Juan, Rosario's driver, will return and pick us up to take us out to a tourist town about a 40 minute drive away from here. Forgive me as I will have to share what the town's name is tomorrow. I forgot it and Dave is now in bed. We will be leaving around 11:00 and return later in the evening, so expect another late night post.

Just a fun shot of Lola, the tortuga, Jonatan, and I before we left for the Country Club

Monday will be a low-key day here at El Cortijo and maybe a trip back to the Periera Mall. On Tuesday we were told to expect our Integracion meeting...this is the follow-up meeting with the ICBF to make sure that everything is going ok and to affirm that we are ready to move forward with the legal process here in Pereira. You can be praying for this time as it may entail a return to the office where we first met Jonatan. I am wondering what Jonatan will think about this. We will do our best to prepare him for this meeting and may ask Rosario for some help in making sure he gets the full meaning of what we want him to know and be reassured of. Rosario mentioned that, in some cases, the ICBF has actually come out to El Cortijo because a child or children were so upset with the first meeting. We are not sure that this will occur with Jonatan, yet feel pretty confident that we can help him understand what this upcoming visit is about. And finally, on Wednesday, we will be joining Rosario out at her finca (farm) which is, apparently, back out where the Country Club is located. We are looking forward to this week, and can't say enough how much a blessing Rosario and her staff here have been...we definitely feel that we are in good hands and well-provided for. It is so good to be able to give our undivided attention to Jonatan. Well, until tomorrow night, much love and blessing!

This one is for you, Tia Brooke...Thank you so much for the Cheerios activity book, Jonatan loves it!

Day 4: Relaxing at El Cortijo

2008-05-02T20:44:00.000-07:00

As promised, here are some pictures with Dave and Jonatan...actually, if we figure out how to post some video in the next couple days, we have some video of Jonatan with his Papa and a more detailed view of El Cortijo to share...you will have to give us a day or so on that one, though.

Jonatan loves to flip through books...all the while talking some Spanish and some his own made up language.

"Again, Papa! Again!"

Jonatan with the ball his foster parents sent with him...one of his favorite toys!

Dave was going to post this afternoon, but did not know how to work our blogger account and didn't want to wake me up as I was resting with Jonatan...soooo, dear friends, you will have to wait for a post this weekend from him...as the Derr men are fast asleep now.

Aren't they cute!

Today was a calm low-key day here at El Cortijo. Actually, it was welcomed as we were all pretty tired from yesterday's trip. Our day held a trip to a store similar to Walmart in the states, the mac machine, a dip in the pool, a visit from Lola the resident parrot, and a rather long nap in the afternoon! Really, our day was pretty uneventful, so I thought that I would share some facts or discoveries from our time down here so far.

I spent some time today reflecting on our time here so far, and figured I would share some thoughts for the benefit of family, friends, and fellow bloggers/adoptive families who are waiting to travel. I also thought that I could take some time to answer questions that many have asked through emails or comments...so, here we go:

The first has to do with language and communication...I found myself wondering how difficult it really would be if both Dave and I had no Spanish experience...there are many moments throughout our day that require a longer explanation than a two or three word statement in order for Jonatan to understand what is going...the thought occurred to me today to share how important it really is to learn as much Spanish as one can before traveling to Colombia...not only do the majority of persons here speak only Spanish, but your child(ren) will most likely only have heard Spanish. Knowing Spanish has also enabled us to connect with Jonatan in a way that I don't believe we would be able to if we did not...I believe it has reduced the amount of frustration and confusion for Jonatan in this transition...it has also helped us to understand fairly quickly what he is trying to communicate in most situations...

We have also been asked if we are teaching Jonatan Spanish or will we be teaching him English. The answer is both. Right now, though, our communication with him is mostly Spanish. This is what he has heard in the 19 months of his life so far...it is what is most familiar to him...I guess in our thinking, this is confortable for now...there are too many other things that have changed for him...since we are able to use Spanish with him, we would like to give him consistency in this area and gradually introduce English. So, for those of you who are wondering...he most likely will understand some English when we finally arrive home...although I am thinking that he will probably not know enough to understand everything that is being said to him. Have no fear, I am sure he will learn English soon enough; for now, Spanish is his sole language and will continue as his primary language in the immediate future.

Jonatan facts: we aren't quite sure if he is left or right handed or ambidextrous. He is pretty skilled with both his hands...and alternates quite frequently on his use of each...meal times are pretty entertaining as he will often use a fork in his left hand and a spoon in his right, and does equally well with both hands! Our little guy loves art and music...there are some amazing paintings here at El Cortijo...some of which Rosario's son has painted (he currently lives in Italy and attended a school of art here in Periera and in Italy...and is an artist by trade today)...so, Jonatan will often walk through the living area or down the halls and point to each of the pictures and say "(Ma or Pa), na, si"...we aren't quite sure what the 'na' is, but it is pretty cute. With music, he will put his fists in the air and bend his wrists back and forth to the beat while his right leg does this sort of rhythmic movement...also too cute!

Tonight, we were reading together "Me Gusta Cuando.." (I like it when)and had gotten to one part in the book where we read "Me gusta cuando bailas conmigo!" (I like it when you dance with me!)...well, sure enough, Jonatan put his little fists in the air, began to move his wrists to the beat of Spanish worship music we had on (thanks Charlene!), and then nod his little head back and forth to the rhythm as we were lying in bed...ok, need I mention he had a bottle in his mouth while he was doing this...way adorable!

In closing, Colombia is filled with differences like the states. Some of you have shared how surprised you were to see what Colombia looks like. We had posted, several months back, a video that sort of made fun of the assumptions that a lot of people have about Colombia...Colombia is nothing like the picture these assumptions lead to. While Colombia does have its fair share of problems, it is country rich in history, culture, and landscape. Both Bogota and Periera bear evidence of the fact that both rich and poor exist. As in the states in larger cities, there are sections of city where things are fairly run down and depressed to areas that are clearly prosperous and wealthy. You will find everything from snow and mountain top to sand and sea within Colombia.

I think the other detail about Colombia that I have enjoyed learning more about is the people. Colombian people are very diverse. There is a rich cultural and ethnic history here...one which finds its roots in not just the earliest indigenous people, but also in a primary African and Spanish history. There is far too little space here to go into that lengthy history...but if you have any time to study or ready about it...it is a pretty sad and amazing history.

A few more fun pictures:

The resident El Cortijo, tortuga (turtle):

Papa y Jonatan enjoying las flores!

More pictures from Parque de Café!

Day 3: Parque National del Café

2008-05-01T19:00:00.000-07:00

This is how we began our day...an hour drive to Parque National del Café! Actually Rosario's driver, Jose, took us out across a bunch of back roads on our way to the park. This gave us a great opportunity to see the land between here and Armenia. Jose was an excellent tour guide, while Dave was an excellent tranlator for me!

It had rained the whole night, so when we arose and saw that it was still raining we weren't quite sure what we were getting ourselves into...especially with a toddler. The day was wonderful. Actually, the beginning of the day was a bit over-cast. A little about the park...Parque National del Café is actually a park very similar to Hershey Park (for all you PA folks, or those familiar with PA). The park was created as a national attraction, but also as a tribute to the history and culture surrounding coffee farming and production. One of the first things that we attended was a show that told the story of how coffee came to be cropped and one of the leading exports of Colombia...the unique thing about this 'show' was that it was all dance...there were five different and very distinct forms of music used as part of the show. The dancers were pretty awesome...they were dressed in ornate costumes...I wish that we were allowed to take photos during the show...they would be wonderful to post here! All I can say is that if you ever find yourself in this part of Colombia, you have to see this!

The park is full of coffee plants, a walking tour of how coffee is grown, farmed, and produced, as well as rides for young and old alike. We rode a lift (sorta like a ski lift) from the top of the hill where we parked and where the park begins to the bottom to where the core of everything exists. Jonatan loved it! I was relieved to see this as his Mama is very interested in sharing her love of the outdoors and outdoor activities with him...some of which includes heights! (Dave is still a bit tentative on this one. LOL)

Some highlights: Jonatan rode the merry-go-round and insisted on returning once he realized how fun it actually was! Dave, Jonatan, and I also went up in a ferris wheel together...the catch on this was that we could actually spin our car in a circle with a wheel of sorts inside...well, when Jonatan and I figured this out...we went a bit crazy while Papa begged us to slow it down. I can see now where Mama and Jonatan may get themselves into trouble together. Ha! Another highlight was Jonatan and the animals...while there wasn't a petting zoo per se, we did get to see parrots, a bull, cows, parakeets, chickens, and donkeys...he loved them! Actually, for the ones he could touch, he insisted on kissing them...including the horse monuments that we came across throughout the park...this completely cracked me up! Too cute!

Jonatan and Mama before Papa asked us to slow down!

Ok...there is so much to share, but I will have to close with one last Mama and Jonatan story before Dave shares a bit with you...somewhere in all of our morning activities, we stopped by a bathroom so that I could check Jonatan's diaper and go to the bathroom myself...well...(side note: public bathrooms here do not have seats and sometimes have paper...the other unique thing is that you do not throw your paper in the toilet...typically you throw it away in the basket next to the toilet.)...anyway, when I went into the bathroom, I could not find a place to lay Jonatan down to do our diaper work...so, the McGyver in me took over...we went into a larger stall and I proceeded to just undo his pants and diaper with him standing in the stall (fortunately he is a very patient little guy!)...sure enough, he was wet, so I took the old diaper off and proceeded to dig out a new one...and oh my, that is when it happened! Our little guy hosed me, the diaper bag, himself, and the floor! What in the world! I need to talk to the big guy upstairs about the tank size Jonatan has in him...I never knew such a small boy could hold so much fluid! Needless to say, I came outside and shared our little mishap with Dave and Jose who got a nice little chuckle. All told, we had a wonderful day together as a family...on our return from the park, Jose drove us back the main highway so that we could take in the mountain peaks and some of the views...and they were amazing!

Hi everybody! It is me David at the helm. We didn't realize that there really aren't too many pictures with me and Jonatan. I love taking pictures, I guess I need to learn to share the camera. Tomorrow we will take care of that problem. Anyway, these last several days have been so awesome. Words just can't describe the feelings I have. Jonatan has just blossomed and doing so well. He is such bundle of energy and may be a future USA or Colombian soccer star. He is such a blessing!!! I am also amazed how wonderful our experience in Colombia has been so far. The folks we have met are so friendly and helpful. It is so wonderful to be back in the country of my birth after so many years. So many wonderful memories are being rekindle and so many new wonderful memories are being made. I do have more to say (I think I could write a novel). It is getting a little late (it is 11:30 PM). I will be sure to write more from my perspective of things later.

PS I did want to wish my Dad a Happy 81st Birthday today. I love you Dad, and hope you had a wonderful birthday.

A "natural" water treatment area in the park:

Afternoon siesta, Jonatan style!

Jose got a good laugh when Dave asked if this was Juan Valdez!

The 'fine' leaved trees in this picture are actually bamboo...forests of bamboo, that is!

A true Colombian...Jonatan loves his coffee, with a Mama twist of chocolate, of course!

View of the surrounding area from the top of the park:

A view of the mountains on the way back to Pereira:

Day 2!

2008-04-30T20:23:00.001-07:00

We received a few messages from avid blog stalkers and email correspondents eager to get the low down on today! So sorry! While we remained at El Cortijo with Jonatan, the day was full. Tomorrow will be a late night post as well as we are going to travel down to Armenia to the Parque de Café…Rosario, the owner of El Cortijo, arranged for her driver to escort us down and back. It is about an hour drive from here! So fun and such a blessing!

I cannot express how appreciative we are of our host! She has gone above and beyond in tending to our needs, both known and unknown on our part! Rosario has additionally invited us to the ‘country club’ on Saturday…and then later next week we will be going out to a finca (farm) in the country for a barbecue and change of scenery.

The night before we met Jonatan, Rosario had also taken us out to the Periera Mall to show us around, coach us on using the taxis, making purchases within the local grocery store…it was so wonderful…and made us feel so much more at home. She calls herself ‘professora’ with Dave and I…actually, the pressure is more on Dave to speak Spanish with her…she is enjoying the opportunity to teach…while she is also challenging herself to speak English with us…as she is attending an English class at the local university. As another side note regarding Rosario, she must know the whole town! While at the mall, at every turn we found someone that she knew!

A little about El Cortijo before Jonatan…Rosario shared that back in the late 80’s economically the area was going through a hard time…she had also fell under those hard times and was searching for what to do. Someone had suggested she consider turning her home into a hotel of sorts for families traveling to the area to adopt. Since then she has kept her home open in this way. She has 7 absolutely gorgeous rooms…two sitting directly over the pool…literally, you can walk out on the deck from one room and you are standing over the pool! I don’t know if she would call this her ministry, nor do I know where she stands with the Lord…although I would say that she is faithful to use the gifts, talents, and resources she has in service of others!

On to today: We awoke this morning around 6:30; Jonatan had a small bottle and rested for another hour before we were up and getting ready for the day. He had slept through the night, although it was a bit short as we had all gotten to bed rather late. There is a family from France here and they are adopting a 7 year old named Juan David. They were to leave to return to Bogota today to finish paperwork before returning to France, so El Cortijo threw a fiesta with all sorts of yummy Colombian food, wine, and an xtra yummy dessert…forgive me for not knowing what everything was…

Jonatan has a bit of cold while I am still recovering from a sinus infection, so we decided to keep things low key and stick around El Cortijo. We enjoyed playing at the pool…not in it yet as Jonatan seemed a bit tentative about the agua…we splashed one another and another little boy named Juan who is being adopted by a couple from Spain while Papa took pictures.

We also spent mucho, mucho time playing ball…Jonatan is absolutely mesmerized by balls…he can’t get enough of them…a funny thing happened today with little Juan of the couple from Spain. Juan is 2 and was very interested in playing with Jonatan’s ball…well, Jonatan would not have any of this. This was the first fit that we got to see from him, and really it wasn’t all that bad. He actually seemed a bit tired today and consequently had a lower tolerance level for stuff like this. The same sort of thing happened later in the day with Juan David and his sister Karen. Hopefully tonight’s sleep will be better for him.

In parting…because I know I have written a ton already…Jonatan is an amazing eater…he isn’t very finicky about food...he even eats greens!!!!! We found that his favorite foods are definitely fruits, fruit juices, and he absolutely loves empanadas!!!! So cute! We hope you enjoy the photos, and thank you so much for all the mail and comments! They mean so much!

Family of Three!

2008-04-29T23:30:00.000-07:00

Holy Canolies! That's the only thing that comes to mind in summing up today so far. When Dave and I woke this morning, we anticipated a number of things based on our referral information, talks with Julie (the CHI program director), other parents, and materials we had been reading. I would say that all of the information we received was accurate in helping to prepare us for receiving Jonatan.

This morning we arose, both with little appetite! So sad, when our hosts went out of their way to make buñuelos for Dave since it has been years since he had them. Sunday is traditionally the day they make these here, so he, fortunately, will have another opportunity to savor them!

As for Jonatan, I will not ramble and keep everyone in suspense! He is with us and doing well! We left for the ICBF office around 10:00 this morning. We needed to stop by a store to pick up some silverware for the cake that we had bought yesterday, and then we were off to the ICBF. It actually did not take as long as Mauricio thought, so we got there in good time. It was definitely nice to not be flying right into the building, followed by a meeting with the psychologist, and then Jonatan.

The psychologist took great care to explain what we should expect. Jonatan has been with his foster family since he was two months old, so she shared that we should expect him to be very upset...on the other hand, he could suprise us all and come in rather calm...although she expected differently. We also had been prepared prior to this to expect the first reaction. Well, without saying more, upset he was! Initially, the tried and true bubbles, ball, and cars that we had brought helped to calm him...but not for long. All told, Jonatan was so upset that he ended up making himself spit-up (or, rather, erupt...and not a little, but a lot!), on me and himself...talk about a first introduction to each other! While all of us attempted to calm him, little helped, so we made the rest of our meeting and necessary paperwork short so that we could get back to El Cortijo.

Actually, the car ride was a blessing in disguise as the sound of the car and changing scenery seemed to calm Jonatan. When we arrived here, he began to cry a bit, but not much. Once in our room, with little confusion and not much going on, he seemed to settle down and enjoy some of the things we have here for him.

We have quickly discovered that he likes to do 'high fives'!!!! It's kinda challenging doing this while taking a picture...but is such a great picture of Jonatan!

A really cute and touching thing moment happened this afternoon...at one point, we decided to look at a photo album with Jonatan that his foster mother had prepared for him...in turning the pages, we first came to a picture of Dave (his foster mother had cut out the pictures we provided and intermixed these with photos of himself growing up...she included captions and everything...so awesome!). Well, when Jonatan saw the picture of Dave, he pointed, smiled, and said "Papa"!!!!! Holy cow! When we got to another picture of myself, he pointed and said "Mama"! I can't tell how those words melted our hearts! I wish I had that moment on video!

Oh my, lunch was certainly entertaining! Try eating toddler style every once in a while! Too cute!

(We tried to post this earlier, but the internet wasn't working, so sorry for the lateness of the post) This afternoon was rather uneventful...keeping things boring...little confusion, that is...and just trying to get to know one another. Right now, Dave is out with Jackie, the bookkeeper for El Cortijo, running some errands that we needed to complete, Jonatan is sleeping (shhh!), and I am awaiting our lawyer, Hector, to drop off our temporary custody papers as we were not able to finish them at the ICBF office this morning.

We will definitely write more, but wanted to make sure that we dropped a quick note to say we are doing well...I picked two cute pictures out from this afternoon that I thought friends and family may appreciate! We love you all, are excited that we can share this moment in our lives with you all...and look forward to sharing more of our journey as a family. A great big 'thank you' is being sent out to all of you who have continued to hold us up in prayer. We appreciate it, see your prayer at work here, and are so thankful for that evidence!

One last one of the three of us. We were having a hard time getting Jonatan to look at someone he was less acquainted with...

From Pereira, With Love!

2008-04-28T09:17:00.000-07:00

So, we began a post last night from here in Pereira, although one thing led to another and got too late.

Dave and I left Bogota yesterday afternoon around 2 p.m. and arrived in Pereira just an hour later. The flight was uneventful and had gorgeous views of the Andes as we passed over them and began our descent into Pereira...rolling, lush hills, and palm trees, even at 5,000 plus feet!

Hector, our lawyer, and his wife as well as Maricio, our translator, and his girlfriend all met us at the airport for a fun reception. After getting acquainted, we piled into a taxi with Hector following us in his car. Our stay for the next two weeks or so will be at El Cortijo here in Pereira...and I can't say enough of how wonderful this place is! The staff is very gracious, friendly, and so very helpful!

We have had such a great time even with the language challenge...it is apparent that Dave's spanish is coming back very quickly...he is speaking with more ease and speed as our time continues here! I am so proud of him for continuing to plunge forward even when he does not have the words for what he is trying to say...and it is apparent that everyone he has talked with so far has been genuinely intersted in helping him to polish those skills! I, on the other hand, have been slower in adjusting to using my small amount of spanish skills...I have found that it has become a cross of spanish and english...spanglish, as a dear friend, Charlene, would say. I think that my primary mode of language in the first couple of days has been charades and looking to Dave as a language crutch. My goal in the next coming days, outside of meeting and caring for Jonatan with Dave, is to challenge myself to use more of the Spanish I know...to not be such a perfectionist (if I can't get it perfect, then don't use it sort of mentality)and give myself grace to mess up...knowing full well that the folks around me are so very intersted in helping us.

I wanted to share a couple of brief sort of memories that we have had so far. The first is regarding the coffee. I love drinking my mochas at home...but let me tell you, the espresso/coffee is nothing like the coffee here! The flavor is here is very rich and bold...and the coffee is served much stronger than we would typically drink in the states, unless, of course, you are a hard core trucker or night shift person that doubles up on your doses! I told Dave, after my first sip, that I can now officially say that I have grown hair on my chest! LOL (laugh out loud, for those who do not know what this is.) I know that this is not customary or very polite to have a lady say, but, honestly, I couldn't think of a better expression to describe just how wonderful and rich the coffee is here...and, besides, this is an expression that I often heard uncles share in referring to coffee while growing up. So, all you Fulmers who are reading this, count that remark as a tribute to good ol' family times!

Another pretty funny experience happened last night...which just so happened to be quite a cultural and language challenge. After retiring to our room for the evening (and I must say our dinner was absolutely amazing...stir friend rice with shrimp, chicken, green beans, cucumbers, and so much more...with freshly baked bread, fresh fruit, freshly squeezed juice, and that oh so wonderful coffee!) At any rate, I went into the bathroom to wash my face and get into bed clothes...turned on the hot water and proceeded to wait for it to get warm. Well, while waiting I noticed I was feeling water splash on my legs, so being the good plumber that I am (right!) I turned off the water and looked under the sink to see what the problem was...well, no water was coming out of the pipes...too weird...and no more water was splashing, but there was a puddle on the ground. So, I cleaned up the water and turned the faucet back on...and, once again, the splashing occurred...so, this time, I looked while the water was on and found the water flowing down the wall from the knobs that are mounted on the wall just above the sink...so, I, once again turned it off, but found that the water was still running and the puddle was slowly getting bigger...I called Dave in, and there proceeded a crazy absolutely hysterical line of events in trying to communicate with our hosts...at one point, I grabbed our laptop and went to an online translation site, typed frantically what I wanted to say, but in English, and had the program translate it to Spanish...this was such an amazing discovery in the midst of confusion! It helped so much! At one point, though, Betty, one of the women who work here, looked at me and said that the plumbing was a problem...just a matter of fact statement while she was trying to sort out what to do...so in my good-natured, joking way, I proceeded to say, "Que? Soy Problema?" (What? I am the problem?) (while smiling, of course) Dave was pretty traumatized by this, although Betty seemed to figure out that I was merely joking and we continued in our work to try and fix the problem. All told, a plumber had to come late last night and fix the situation. Rosaria, the woman who owns El Cortijo, came by and graciously asked if we would like to move to a new room, although we decided that we wanted to stay in a room that had so much character...it just seems to fit with us and the recent events of our own lives at home! (LOL)

I am posting a few pictures here to show what our home-away-from-home is like. We hope you enjoy them. We truly are doing well and are enjoying ourselves. In less than 24 hours, we will meet our dear Jonatan, and can hardly wait! Today will include a trip to Hector's office to sign some paperwork, a trip to find an ATM, and also an excursion to do some last-minute shopping for diapers and such for tomorrow's big day! Perhaps we will post some more tonight; we will just have to see...and as a side not for Andrea and Troy, who are awaiting their referral through Pereira with another agency...El Cortijo rocks! We couldn't imagine better accomodations and staff! The area is so very beautiful and we are looking forward to traveling the area to get to know more of Pereira and the area our son has been growing up in!

Part of the yard area at El Cortijo...a cabana/patio, of sorts:

A view of one of the common/living areas:

The pool:

Another part of the yard:

The Dining Room:

Soon to come: pics of our son, us as a family, our room, the surrounding area, and friends we meet along the way!

We're Off & Arrived!

2008-04-26T23:30:00.000-07:00

We had some technical difficulties getting this posted earlier today, so here goes an update:

As I write this, we are in flight to Atlanta from Harrisburg, PA! Here we come, Jona! Less than 72 hours now separate us from our little hijo, and we can hardly wait!

Our trip today was rather uneventful (a nice change from some of the more recent events of our lives!). I think it was Genecee(sp?) that mentioned in one of her comments that the enemy loves to have field day...that is no joke! So true! Dave and I found ourselves pondering this several times in the past week or so. Sometimes life is just a rough road. Anyway, it is quite a joy to finally be in Colombia!

Here's a pic of Dave as we are arriving in the El Dorado Airport!
This evening we are staying at El Refugio with the Adelman's and several other families, although we have only run into one other family from France who are completing an adoption of two girls, I believe age 2 and and 6...could be wrong on that!

At any rate, here is a fun pic of Debi and I posing just outside our room shortly after we met; the beautiful blanket in hand is from the Adelman's (hand-made by Debi) for our precious Jona! (Thanks so much, Mark and Debi; what a wonderful gift!)

Being able to catch up with and hang out with the Adelman's is definintely another super highlight of our trip to Colombia as we have been journeying together in adoption over the last several month. (Mark and Debi are also a Colombian CHI family who will meet there dear little hija on Monday morning in Bogota…Alejandra, you are one special little girl with two pretty amazing parents!)

We will be traveling to Pereira tomorrow so our visit together will be short-lived; although, who knows, maybe an arranged meeting in a couples weeks will work out!

I (Sheila) am super excited to finally be in Colombia (the traffic isn't as bad as we have heard...sort of reminded us of our trips to Philadelphia...fast, aggressive driving...lanes seem to be optional here; this would be the major difference)! It still feels a bit surreal to be meeting Jonatan on Tuesday. I continue to wonder what he is thinking…what he is doing at this moment…how is he being prepared for Tuesday…what is his foster Mom, family, thinking and feeling themselves. I wonder what our introduction as a family holds for Tuesday. And I especially wonder what God is already doing in the heart of someone so young and just starting out in life.
It was so very wonderful to sit with friends and talk a bit about this journey over a late night dinner last night…fun to see Dave so very excited himself…in not just finally journeying to Colombia to meet his son…but to travel to a place that has given him such fond and rich memories.

As a side note for my work family at the hospital: You guys are such a blessing! While I am not the best at publicly conveying in words all that my heart feels…I am so very appreciative and humbled by your care and generosity in helping us to provide for Jonatan! (For those of you who do not know what I am talking about…my coworkers pulled together a big feast and surprise baby shower at work…so fun and a super surprise!) I can’t wait for you to meet Jonatan yourselves! Oh, he has no idea how big his family is actually becoming!

We plan to continue to ‘journal’ through our travels in Colombia and will be sure to post pictures of our experiences while there. For those that are reading this for the first time, please feel free to post comments here or email us at dsderr4@msn.com . We would love to hear from you and will do our best to keep up with everyone while we are away!

Words Cannot Convey...

2008-04-25T01:49:00.000-07:00

...what we felt yesterday as we discovered water pouring into our basement from a burst pipe!

Yesterday Dave and I were on our way out to notarize two documents that we need for our trip, tomorrow!!!!!! Anyway...Dave noticed water coming from a pipe off to the side of our house as we were about to leave. After some investigation, Dave returned to the front of the house to say that the good news was that our 'sump-pump?' works, while the bad news was that there was now water pouring out of one of our drain/sewer pipes!

After an 'oh no' moment! we frantically began the calls to plumbers and friends trying to track down someone who could come in, assess the problem, and take care of it before we leave tomorrow. All told, a plumber came out yesterday afternoon and found that our old piping had started to deteriorate, causing back-up in the sewer piping...consequently causing the old, brittle pipes in our house to burst! I guess the good news is that we were home when it happened and discovered it sooner rather than later. Today the plumber will return to actually replace the piping. He has to do some 'hammering' around some piping as it has cement poured around it from years ago; hopefully no additional problems will be revealed when he exposes this part of the piping. =)

To say that we are excited about leaving for Colombia...and meeting Jonatan on Tuesday is an understatement! (And not because we want to get away from some of the random events here. LOL!) We plan to take our laptop and sort of journal our way through meeting and getting settled as a family, and can't wait to share that with family and friends!

ONE WEEK!!!!!!!!

2008-04-22T08:20:00.000-07:00

In exactly one week, 2 hours, and 40 minutes from now, David, Jonatán, and I will become forever family! (The hair on my arms is actually standing as I write this!) There is so much excitement, and maybe a bit of nervous anitipation, building in my heart for this time together! Some funny stuff that goes along with this anticipation:

1. I have locked myself out of the house, not once, but twice, in the last week, while my previous record was being held at just once in a decade! (Not to mention I have now lost my keys just as many times in the last week!)
2. I have become scatter-brained and a bit forgetful in the past week (when I am a rather type-A personality...coupled with gifts of organization and administration!)
3. Forgot to zip my pants after leaving the restroom at church and proceeded to strut around with a little air conditioning down yonder! (Thanks to faithful friends this did not last long!)

I could ramble on about other numerous and absolutely hysterical events of the past week...which I am now chalking up to 'Mami Fever'! Though, the short end of this is that I am so completely captivated by the thoughts of becoming forever family, being parents, and joining God in raising a son that I find myself a bit distracted to the details at hand! This isn't such a terrible problem to have, right? LOL!

In all seriousness, I have more recently been moved to tears, and on more than one occasion, in the sheer awe and thankfulness I feel over our journey to Jonatán! God's hand of guidance, provision, and protection is so very clear as I look back over the last couple years. I can hardly wait for next Tuesday to come!

Our Visas Arrived!

2008-04-18T15:28:00.000-07:00

Oh happy day! After speaking with Julie on Monday, the final milestone for us in proceeding to next Saturday was receiving, by mail, our passports stamped with the visas required to do our adoption in Colombia! I cannot tell you how many times Dave and I checked the UPS site to see if the return tracking number we received would bear any evidence of our passports heading home! LOL! Well, yesterday they arrived here safely and with the correct information! Yeah!

All told, we have some paperwork to copy this weekend; no big deal. I have a few things I am sewing for Jonatan's room and will hopefully have those done this weekend. We will try and tackle our spring flower gardening and mulching this weekend as well as some general cleaning in the house.

Tomorrow morning, we will visit with Dave's Mom. Over the course of this week, the cardiologist changed some medication used control the rate of her heart. The earlier crazy heart rates...either way high or way low appear to now be gone...and such an answer to prayer. She has been moved within the hospital to work on some physical and occupational therapy to see how much recovery she can do from the stroke. In the meantime, Dave's Father has been looking into options for Mom's care following her hospital stay. Tomorrow morning, the three of us will get together to talk over some of the options, and invite your prayers for God's guidance and wisdom in the decisions that Dave's Dad and Mom face for the future.

Small Tastes Of What Is To Come...

2008-04-16T17:13:00.000-07:00

After receiving some more travel information on Monday from Julie, we have been taking some time to explore Pereira and the surrounding region by web...and oh what an absolutely beautiful area it is! We couldn't imagine a more stunning place to be setting our sights to visiting while getting acquainted with our son!!!! So, here is a little taste of what Pereira holds:

The bed and breakfast we may very well be staying at for 2-3 weeks:

EL CORTIJO (THE FARMHOUSE)

Boarding house boutique in the central zone of the city, with double and simple rooms, services of laundry, internet, interpreters, and a soft drink bar. Enjoy easy access to shopping centers, personalized attention and relaxation to your measure. The Poplars Neighborhood, Pereira, Colombia.

Here is a link with additional photos for anyone interested:

http://www.naturalezaydescanso.com/imagenes/risaralda/pages/elcortijo.php

Nearby Thermal Springs and Waterfall (Santa Rosa de Cabal)

Oh yeah, apparently Santa Rosa is a famous local hang-out and tourist attraction!

The Megabus (posted for family and friends wandering just how 'safe' our travels will be.)

The Highway System (Another shot posted for family and friends who have heard crazy Colombian travel stories!)

Viaduct César Gaviria Trujillo (a famous free-standing bridge in Pereira)

Parque Los Nevados, Risaralda, Colombia (If you remember, Risaralda is the department that Pereira is located in. Parque Los Nevados literally means, "The Snow-Covered Park...while I don't know that we will do much travel in this area, it is beautiful to look at.)

More Parque Los Nevados

Northern Pereira

Well, we could post many more pictures, but will save the space for our own photos soon to come! Just as a general question for all of our blog stalking buds who happen to read this entry and want to offer some of their own travel wisdom and tips...especially if you have traveled with a toddler or young children...what would you say were items you wouldn't leave home without? additionally, what would you never consider taking...waste of space items? And, third, what were helpful things that you took to bide the time during the flight and layover on the travel home?

Less than 2 weeks!

2008-04-14T16:30:00.000-07:00

Well, time sure does fly...it was just 2 weeks ago that we were receiving news of Jonatán, and it will be exactly 2 weeks tomorrow that we meet our dear hijo! Oh my, I can hardly wait!

In taking a hike at a local nature preserve yesterday, I was reminded of the signs of new life that keep popping forth as spring proceeds to summer. While fall has my vote for tops in seasons, spring follows not too far behind. It is wonderful to hear the birds singing once again...to see the brilliant colors in shrubs and flowers...to see the trees budding...

This new life brought me round circle to thoughts of a son...meeting Jona for the first time...discovering more of who he is and the personality that God continues to develop within him...the new life that all of us both individually and as a family will soon embark on! I stand in suspense and excitement at what is to come.

Tonight, in about 15 minutes, we will have our travel call with Julie. This, I am sure, will help to answer some remaining questions that we have. In the meantime, we have some final things we are doing around the house...nothing major, thankfully...just trying to get some spring landscaping done, toddler-proofing of cabinets, etc.

Dave's mom continued into the weekend doing poorly. Her stroke was cerebellar in nature...in short, it has affected her equillibrium in addition to some of the language and communication challenges she faces from the first. She is also very weak, unable to hold herself up when standing or sitting on the edge of her bed. Her attending physician would like to see her do some rehab, but each time she has been taken for a rehab evaluation her blood pressure and heart rate have dropped significantly enough to warrant taking her immediately back to her room. Right now the cardiologist is changing some medications to see if they can get her rate and pressure under control. As a family, we continue to claim Proverbs 3:5,6...most especially Proverbs 3:5...it is so very hard to understand from a human perspective why things like this happen. I can say that I am thankful to see all the care that my in-laws are receiving from family and friends. It brings us much peace and reassurance of God's care and provision as we look to travel next week.

19 Days and Counting!

2008-04-10T09:15:00.000-07:00

Oh my, there is so much to happening! In the last week or so, we have found out that a handful of families (CHI and non-CHI) will be in Colombia during our time there! Oh happy day! The possibility of meeting up with folks that we have only known through blogger, email, and yahoogroup land is exciting! We were additionally tipped off to another family who are expecting a referral through Pereira! (Thanks Wendi!) While they have not received their referral yet, they have been told that it should be any day now and were advised at the end of March to begin updating their needed travel paperwork! A very good sign that their referral is on the horizon!

If you aren't a part of the blog stalking world, you are probably not up to date on the Adelman's adoption progress. This is the family that we invited prayer late last week for their own referral. Well, they are now proud to announce the arrival of their own referral, and what a beautiful hija she is! This is such an amazing answer to prayer! A link to their blog is in the lower right hand corner of our own...you should check their little princess out! Equally exciting news is that we will all be traveling to Colombia the same day! No way, I can hardly believe it! It will be wonderful to follow along as they meet their daughter, Alejandra, on April 28th!

I find myself wondering these days what life is like through the eyes of our little guy! How does he see his world? In our referral, we received a rough 'schedule' of what his day would typically look like, and a busy toddler he is! It sounds like he has an amazing foster mother who works hard to keep up with him as well! We have been well advised that cars and balls are very important to Jonatán (note to self, don't leave home without either! LOL). Yesterday we recieved by mail the baby backpack that we ordered; oh how fun...hopefully Jona will think the same...eeehhh!

On the extended family front, Dave's Mom remains in the hospital. This second stroke affected her overall strength and equilibrium. When Dave spoke with his Dad last, the main concern was that she may not have the stamina to do rehab. We continue to pray for her and recovery from the weakness and dizziness that she is experiencing right now, and will hopefully know more by the weekend about the direction they will be taking with her care as well as what continued testing may have revealed with all of the digestive problems she has been experiencing. We are reminded daily of God's grace and care in the life of both of our parents, and have been reminded quite frequently of God's un-changing presence and work in their lives. These reminders through family and friends have helped us to be at peace, to keep our eyes on the expectation of our first son and all that God has been doing in our lives up to this point, as well as what God is leading us to as a family of three! So, "thankyou" to all of you who have shared words of encouragement, hope, and prayer. They have meant much to us as the last couple of days have felt bitter-sweet.

Invitation to Pray

2008-04-08T05:09:00.000-07:00

Late last evening Dave received a call from his Dad in which he found out that his Mom had been admitted to the hospital after having collapsed at home. It turns out that she suffered another stroke (her 2nd in the last couple years). Earlier last week she went in for an outpatient procedure to determine the root cause of all her digestive issues. Some of the preparation for this procedure required her to abstain from the blood thinning and pressure medication she is on...while I am not sure if this is the reason she suffered a stroke, I do know that she needs prayer right now...particularly for the physicians that are tending to her and the seeming balancing act they are undertaking in trying to diagnose one issue while managing another...prayer for Dave's Mom's ability to communicate as it remains impaired from her first stroke...for Dave's Dad in walking through this with her...and for Dave...while this is quite an exciting time for us in adoption, it is hard to see his parents go through this...to know how to support and care for them.

Gotcha Day Set!

2008-04-06T09:04:00.000-07:00

WOW!!! I can't even begin to tell you how exciting this week has been! What a blessing to finally have a name, picture, and information on the son who we will soon meet. It has given our wait all the more meaning.

Late Thursday, we found out that we will be meeting Jonatán Andrés on April 29th at 11:00 a.m.! We also received a mailing from CHI which included all the original documents we had previously received translated and by email. This mailing did include a few more pictures for us to cherish and take in during the remainder of our wait. Here is one that is especially charming (I believe the original picture we posted was cropped from this one):

We have been making travel arrangments this weekend, and should have those solidified by tomorrow. It is looking as though we will fly out sometime Saturday, April 26th to Bogota. And as for the remainder of our trip, CHI will arrange for our in-country travel to Pereira. I would imagine we would know more about this the week we leave.

All told, we are doing very well. David and I took some time to go shopping for Jonatán on Friday and then a friend joined me yesterday for more of the same. So fun! Now that we know we are expecting a boy, I will be painting the trim in Jonatán's room today! (Don't worry, Debi, the pictures are coming! I am a bit of a perfectionist...gotta have it all done for the reveal!)

We will continue to pray for all of you in the blogger world who continue to await your own referrals. We know what the wait and unknowing can be like...may the Lord bless you this day with much peace and reassurance...in knowing that He too is at work in all of this. His ways are perfect, even if we do not understand them fully now.

We have friends who had submitted their dossier prior to us. They, also, are a Colombian family and are still awaiting a referral for a son or daughter in the same age category as us. Both our paperwork and theirs ended up with two different persons in the ICBF; our referral came within the time-frame a Colombian family could normally expect...theirs has not. While we are deeply excited in our own referral, we are sad that their wait continues. We had originally hoped for the possibility of being in Colombia together. In sharing this, I am inviting prayer for they and their precious son or daughter in the wait. Only the Lord knows who that child is and all the feelings that are currently apart of these soon-to-be parents' hearts. Their names are Mark and Debi; they also are a part of the CHI family. (And, Mark and Debi, if you read this...which I know you will...we love you both and eagerly await with you the son or daughter the Lord is preparing to join you in becoming a forever family! You are a very special couple and will be amazing parents!)

I Can't Stop Looking At Him!!!!

2008-04-02T00:09:00.000-07:00

Introducing Jonatán Andrés, born September 27, 2006! And what a beautiful hijo he is!

Yesterday we sent our acceptance letter to CHI, spoke with Julie about all the 'what nexts', and are now awaiting confirmation on our 'Gotcha Day'. We have proposed April 29th as the day we would meet Jonatán. If Pereira approves this, we would plan to travel to Colombia on Saturday, April 26th! We should know more about this on Thursday...in the meantime, we have a mailing heading our way...which should also be here tomorrow. We are wondering if there will be more photos of our precious son! We will just have to see!

It's a.... It's... It's a... ... BOY!!!!!!!!!!!!! Tell them!!!!

2008-04-01T13:52:00.000-07:00

Ok, my husband just woke me up so that we can call Julie...and he didn't exactly say the above...although I went to check email and this is the title that was his email to me earlier today!

So, there you have it; it's a boy! (I wasn't trying to be mean, my friends! Honest! I just wanted you to be able to have a picture with the name and gender! Ahh...I guess I should think back to my own suspense in wanting as much detail as I possibly could have as a reader of other's blogs. LOL)

Here is an additional piece of Dave's email that will get you chuckling a bit:

Oh Mami,

How could you be so cruel? You are leaving me in suspense and I already know. IT'S A, IT'S A, IT'S A BOY!!!! Tell the wonderful people in blog stalking land that it's a boy - please!!!

I love you Mami de mi hijo!!! I look forward to celebrating with you tonight.

Papi

LOL! Ok, you all have my husband to thank for the additional window into our lives at the moment! Although, it is fun to share and I was rather cruel to withhold such precious information. He will make a 'softy' out of me yet!!!!! LOL!

Ok, here are some additional details that you will be oh so excited to know:

Our son's name: Jonatán Andrés

Quick Fun Facts...

Jonatán Andrés just turned 1 1/2 years old on March 27...he was born on September 27, 2006. Jonatán loves playing with balls and cars...is very inquisitive and can imitate very well...and we can't wait for all of you to see a picture of him! He is one beautiful child! Such big dark eyes...very endearing, I must say! (Ok, Ok...I gotta get a hold of myself and resist the temptation to let the train run out of control here! Ha!)

Well, we will have to share more with all of you in the coming days! We love all of you in blog stalking land and are looking forward to sharing the details that are a part of now and movement toward Jonatán!

It's A......

2008-04-01T00:10:00.000-07:00

WE WILL JUST HAVE TO KEEP EVERYONE IN SUSPENSE FOR A LITTLE WHILE LONGER! Last night as I was arrived at work, I noticed that I had a message on my cell phone. It was Julie asking us to give her a call back! And what a fun surprise the call was! We officially received our referral last evening...it was a bit surreal and awkward to be looking at the picture of our little one without having Dave to share that moment with. Actually, I so very wanted to wait to look with Dave, although Julie needed to verify that we had indeed received the attachments she had sent. (And I must say that our little one is just perfect and beautiful! Ok, ok, so maybe as a soon-to-be parent, I am a bit biased, but I will stand guilty as charged!)

Later Dave and I had the opportunity (over the phone, since he was also on an evening duty at work) to share in a moment together before I had to go back to work...(THOUGH YOU CAN BET WE WILL BE CELEBRATING TOMORROW NIGHT TOGETHER!)...both of our families have now received phone calls and emails to share in the news! Tomorrow (err today) we need to call Julie back to go over the "what next" details and when we can actually share photos with all of our blog stalking and CHI family friends. Hee-hee!

Until then, we invite your prayers as we move forward with the next part of our journey! Holy Canolies, I can hardly believe it!

Cerca de Ti (Near You)

2008-03-31T10:47:00.000-07:00

Dave and I took a trip to his parents for part of the weekend. We were joined by a friend, Charlene. If you are still catching up on posts, Charlene has been sharing of her time and Spanish proficiency with us. On our two hour ride up and back, we had ample time for Spanish lessons, talk, and worship in Spanish. I am inserting one of the songs she shared with us...a rough translation follows. Enjoy and stand blessed this day!

Cerca de Ti (Near You) by Jesus Adrian Romero

If I decided to deny my faith
and not to trust Him,
I would have nowhere to go,
I would have nowhere to go.

If I despised in my heart,
The Grace that has saved me,
I would have nowhere to go,
I would have nowhere to go,

Convinced I am nothing without your love,
I would be without strength.
And without You my thirsty heart dies, is dried.

(Chorus)
Near You,
I want to be.
I don't want to move away from your presence.
Near you Jesus
I want to be.
I don't want to move away from your presence.

Ah!

2008-03-31T07:54:00.000-07:00

So, it was brought to our attention that something was not working right with our blog...apparently blogreader has not been displaying updates since the end of January! In an attempt to fix the problem (not knowing exactly what it was that was causing the problem), we reverted back to an earlier background and dropped several items. Well, whatever it was, the issue is resolved. We will just have to place some items back on the blog when we have more time. Sooooo, for those of you who have been simply logging on to our site, sorry for the mass update on blogreader!

Are We There Yet? Are We There Yet?

2008-03-26T08:11:00.000-07:00

We wanted to reassure everyone of our whereabouts and how things are going. We haven't heard anything regarding our little one yet, although we hope to hear something in a very short while! In the meantime, we continue to acquaint ourselves with Pereira and the surrounding region. It has been fun to discover more of the area our dear little one may very well be from.

We also continue to immerse ourselves in Spanish. A great and gracious friend, Charlene, has been getting together with us periodically for conversation, quiz, and Spanish Scrabble!!! Such fun times. It just so happens that Charlene and I (Sheila) work together, so we have had some great Monday-Thursday night Spanish conversational challenges! So fun!

Since the last step in our adoption had gone so quickly...from approval of dossier to assignment of region...we had wondered if our referral would come more quickly than usual. Our participation in a yahoo group of Colombians adopting Colombians has given us opportunity to meet folks who have received their referral in as little as 2 weeks to as long as about 12 weeks. The average seems to be around 6-8. All told, our wait may be the average or the longer. We simply have little clue with the exception of a recent comment on our blog that indicated Pereira is a city that takes a bit longer than most.

I am not sure that I know how to put into words all the thoughts and feelings that I have experienced over the last month in the wait. While our time has been filled with moving forward on our day-to-day commitments, I find myself increasingly distracted by thoughts of who our son or daughter is. What has God already seen them through in their short life? What is their personality like? What are their likes and dislikes? How is God preparing their heart for the day of our meeting? So many wonders! The suspense is exciting and nerve-wracking!

In parting, I wanted to share a prayer request. In the more recent months, Dave's Mom, Betty, has been experiencing some health challenges that have left her with a poor appetite, weight loss, and complications throughout her digestive tract. She has also experienced lightheadedness, dizziness, and other side-affects of a heart dysrhythmia. An added side challenge for she and my father-in-law is the fact that Betty had a stroke several years ago that has affected her ability to communicate...both in saying exactly what is going on with her body as well as understanding what is being asked or how she is being instructed. While she often 'knows' what she would like to say, her brain does not allow her tongue to cooperate. We see that all of this has been very frustrating and continues to be.

Prior to her stroke she was quite a 'social bug', enjoyed her time with those around her, and always looked forward to her time with family and friends. More recently, this connection to others has been even more difficult. My invitation to prayer is not just for physical healing as well as guidance and wisdom for physicians in treating her physical ailments, but also for protection from a spirit of discouragement and depression. We see how hard this is for her. It has taken some wind out of her sails as much as she would like for us not to see this or worry about it. We also are inviting prayer for ourselves and Dave's siblings in how to care for and support them through this.

Pereira, Risaralda it is!

2008-03-02T00:25:00.000-08:00

This post is a little bit behind the times as we wanted to make sure that we shared news of our regional assignment with family first.

On Friday, we received a second email for the week indicating that our paperwork is now off to Pereira in the department of Risaralda! How awesome is that!

It was fun to search for Pereira on the map and to discover that it is in the heart of coffee country and the Andes Mountains! Now, I believe I actually had a God-appointed moment prior to receiving our regional information this week! I believe it was God's peek in time to the region that we would next be shifting our hearts to and perhaps traveling within.

I was on a mission to the bookstore the other night. While there I came across a children's book about a young llama that lives in the Andes Mountains! I even found a stuffed baby llama to go with it! So, being that this book was inspired by South American landscape and culture, I couldn't resist! It was then sooooooooo cool to get a regional assignment Friday for that very region! I think that was a God moment...it would be easy to say 'ironic', but I think that there was more to it than that.

Doing the Happy Dance! and What Next?

2008-02-26T08:26:00.000-08:00

(Sorry Wendi! I just had to steal that title! It provides the most accurate picture of what our hearts are doing at the moment!)

So, I thought I would do a short post before traveling off to bed. We have already begun to receive many 'What next?' & 'Are we there yet?' questions, so I thought it might be helpful to put things into perspective for family and friends (a good reminder for ourselves as well).

While we could obsess over mathematical calculations based on the numbers we have been given...and we do need to remind ourselves that the projected timeline has already changed a couple times with time, holidays, and other delays, such as paperwork updates, etc...both lengthening and shortening (weird, right?)...ok, I just realized how fragmented the last sentence or two was!

I think the best answer we have received from Julie when we submitted our dossier was "think summer"...of course, we have received some 'guestimates' on what that
actual timeline would be, from sending dossier to referral, that is. If we bank on those timelines being accurate, then we should hear of a referral in the next 1-3 months, although I prefer to set my sites on having a son or daughter home by summer. That seems reasonable and more accurate to set our hearts on. In the meantime, we will stand completely surprised and amazed should our referral and meeting as a family come sooner! =)

And, to the 'What next?' question...we will now be awaiting a regional assignment. We have not received a specified time for this to happen...only that Julie will let us know as soon as she hears something. Again, we are reminded of God's work and how it occurs outside of our chronological time. We look forward to what lies ahead with His guidance and provision!~S.

Approval!

2008-02-25T23:00:00.000-08:00

"Good news! Your dossier has been approved by ICBF for a child 0-2 years old. Congratulations! I'll let you know as soon as I hear your dossier has been sent out for assignment. Hopefully, it will be very soon."

Wow! What great words to receive! We can hardly believe it! The funniest part of receiving this email from Julie was that I (Sheila) had resigned myself to not obsessively check email last week (and in the future). I had shared with God and Dave that the only thing I wanted for my birthday was some evidence that our adoption was moving forward...sooooo...Friday came and went, and with no word. I must say I was a little bummed, but then again, God certainly does not work on chronological time.

Knowing that I had to work a 12 hour shift tonight, I decided to get some sleep and then take the dog for a nice walk and visit to PetSmart. Apparently, David was desperately trying to get a hold of me to share the great news, but I had left the phone in the car as it was one extra thing to manage with a dog and shopping cart. So, it was pretty funny to be greeted by Dave with an email in hand when I got home. After exchanging 60 lbs of dog and cat food for an email, I got to finally share in the excitement of progress! Unfortunately we didn't have any real amount of time to celebrate before Dave needed to travel off to church board and I was off to work. Perhaps tomorrow evening. It was nice to be able to fit in calls to our parents, though. Unfortunately, the rest of our family and friends will have to catch up through this blog entry or later conversations and calls!

And It's A Race To The End!

2008-02-21T07:45:00.000-08:00

I (Sheila) cannot wait until the weekend arives! Just 8 more hours of work between now and 3 beautiful days off, and I can't wait! Dave and I continue to plug away at the miles! (I must share that my darling husband is doing an amazing job at leading in this challenge! I am so very encouraged and challenged by him!) We have a little over a week until the end of the month and look forward to trying to knock off as many miles as we can between now and then!

I wish I had more to say about our adoption, but there has been no more updates for us to share. We continue to wait expectantly for a call or email that would indicate where we are in the in-country process. I keep reminding myself that silence is ok. The last we heard, Dave's birth certificate arrived in Colombia and was being reviewed along with the rest of our paperwork. I told Dave that the only thing I hoped to have happen for my birthday this year was some confirmation of progress with our adoption! We'll see!

Simple Reminders

2008-02-09T07:06:00.000-08:00

It was great to wake up this morning to snow! Granted, it is a dusting, but fun to see a blanket of white covering things. Later Fawn and I will join a good friend and her canine son for a tramp on the Appalachian Trail! Oh so fun! And can't wait!

On a completely different note, I (Sheila) have tried very intentionally not to 'bug' Julie with a lot of 'Did you hear anything' or 'Are we there yet' emails. I just couldn't stand the suspense this past week! I admit it...I gave into a very weak moment! =) Fortunately CHI's Colombia progam director is a very patient and kind person. =)

I guess you could say that I had a hard time with the suspense of not knowing whether or not Dave and Debbie's birth certificates had arrived in Colombia and in the hands of the ICBF. So, in a weak moment, I emailed Julie to find out if she had heard anything from Lucia...and yesterday, she replied to say that the ICBF had received the birth certificates and would be providing them to the persons who were reviewing our cases. Whoo! Glad to hear that delivery was successful! My committed prayer for the week had been protection for both pieces of paperwork...especially Dave's since he would have a little difficulty from here in getting a second original. According to CHI, this paperwork should move us into a regional assignment in the near future...not sure what 'near' means as we have yet to get an official 'approval' notice...then again, we have seen that some never hear of that 'approval' and eventually find out that their paperwork is in a region waiting on a referral. So, I am committing myself to patience and will resist the urge to send any more emails to poor Julie.

I wanted to end this post with a rather long quote, or should I say excerpt from a book that I am re-reading...it is such a wonderful one at that: "Life of the Beloved", by Henri J.M. Nouwen. Henri wrote this book after meeting and getting to know a man by the name of Fred Bratman. Fred had met Henri as a journalist looking to do an article on Henri for a local newspaper. From that initial meeting they maintained a long-standing friendship, one that birthed "Life of the Beloved". The book was actually written at the Fred's request of Henri to write a book for persons who weren't a part of the church as all of Henri's writings up to that point had been written with Christian believers in mind. Fred wanted Henri to address the "need for a spirituality that speaks to men and women in a secularized society...He was asking me to respond to the great spiritual hunger and thirst that exist in countless people who walk the streets of big cities. He was calling me to speak a word of hope to people who no longer came to churches or synagogues and for whom priests and rabbis were no longer the obvious counselors."

Fred had shared with Henri: "'You have something to say,' Fred kept telling me, 'but you keep saying it to people who least need to hear it...What about us young, ambitious secular men and women wondering what life is all about after all? Can you speak to us with the same conviction as you speak to those who share your tradition, your language and your vision?'"

In writing to a new audience, Henri finds himself thinking about what it means to be 'chosen' as the Beloved of God. And so as I contemplate, anew this morning, what it means to be chosen by God, I wanted to share with family and friends an excerpt from his book:

"In this world, to be chosen simply means to be set apart in contrast to others. You know how in our extremely competitive society the 'chosen ones' are looked at with special attention. Whole magazines are dedicated to 'heroes' of sport, film, music, acting and other ways of excelling. They are the 'chosen ones' and their devotees, whether readers, listeners, or viewers, try to extract some vicarious pleasure from knowing them or being close to them.

To be chosen as the Beloved of God is something radically different. Instead of excluding others, it includes others. Instead of rejecting others as less valuable, it accepts others in their own uniqueness. It is not competitive, but a compassionate choice. Our minds have great difficulty in coming to grips with such a reality. Maybe our minds will never understand it. Perhaps it is only our hearts that can accomplish this. Every time we hear about 'chosen people', 'chosen talents' or 'chosen friends,' we almost automatically start thinking about elites and find ourselves not far from feelings of jealousy, anger, or resentment. Not seldom has the perception of others as being chosen led to aggression, violence and war.

But I beg you, do not surrender the word 'chosen' to the world. Dare to claim it as your own, even when it is constantly misunderstood. You must hold on to the truth that you are the chosen one. That truth is the bedrock on which you can build a life as the Beloved. When you lose touch with your chosenness, you expose yourself to the temptation of self-rejection, and that temptation undermines the possibility of ever growing as the Beloved.

As I look within as well as around myself, I am overwhelmed by the dark voices telling me, 'You are nothing special; you are just another person among millions; your life is just one more mouth to feed, your needs just one more problem to solve.' These voices are increasingly powerful, especially in a time marked by so many broken relationships. Many children never feel welcomed in the world. Beneath their nervous smiles, there is often the question: 'Am I really wanted?' Some young people even hear their mothers say: 'I hadn't really expected you, but once I found out I was pregnant I decied to have you anyway...You were sort of an accident." Words or attitudes such as these do nothing to make a person feel 'chosen.' Our world is full of people who question whether it would have been better had they not been born. When we do not feel loved by those who gave us life, we often suffer our whole life long from a low self-esteem that can lead easily to depression, despair, and even suicide.

In the midst of this extremely painful reality, we have to dare to reclaim the truth that we are God's chosen ones, even when our world does not choose us. As long as we allow our parents, siblings, teachers, friends and lovers to determine whether we are chosen or not, we are caught in the net of a suffocating world that accepts or rejects us according to its own agenda of effectivity and control. Often this reclaiming is a lifelong work because the world persists in its efforts to pull us into the darkness of self-doubt, low self-esteem, self-rejection and depression. And this because it is as insecure, fearful, self-deprecating people that we can most easily be used and maniputlated by the powers surrounding us. The great spiritual battle begins--and never ends--with the reclaiming of our chosenness. Long before any human being saw us, we are seen by God's loving eyes. Long before anyone hear us cry or laugh, we are heard by our God who is all ears for us. Long before any person spoke to us in this world, we are spoken to by the voice of eternal love. Our preciousness, uniqueness and individuality are not given to us by those who meet us in clock-time--our brief chronological existence--but by the One who has chosen us with an everlasting love, a love that existed from all eternity and will last through all eternity."

Wow! What a powerful reminder of what it means to be 'chosen'...to be the Beloved of God. Sure, there is so much more to life in Christ...but our journey begins with this foundational truth, and it is good to have these simple reminders along the way!

Pray for Cali Courts

2008-02-07T23:10:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to share a brief word on another CHI family in the process of adopting three young children from Cali, Colombia. As of Thursday, they have been in Colombia for 23 days and are only 1/3 the way through their adoption. It seems that, while there, the Cali courts closed because of a strike of sorts with preciding judges. While I am not clear on all the details surrounding this situation, I do know that the Armstrong family is concerned over the current situation...as the completion of their adoption there seems a bit indefinite given the court circumstance. We are inviting family and friends to join us in prayer for this family and situation. If you would like more information on their journey together or update on details with the Cali courts, you can visit their blog. We have posted it on the lower right hand column of this blog...Armstrong Family: 2+3=5!

February 100 Mile Challenge

2008-02-04T10:37:00.000-08:00

You may be wondering why we have placed a few 'tickers' or mileage calculators on our blog? Dave and I decided to challenge each other to a 100 Mile Challenge for the month of February! Actually, both of us have been talking about the busyness of our schedule and how we would like to be more intentional in working toward some health and fitness goals. We decided to start our re-focus with exercise in the month of February, and are challenging each other to complete 100 miles by the end of February.

My desire is to complete our local marathon again this year, but to complete it in less time. As some of you know, a good friend, Brooke, and I entered and walked a local marathon this past November. We had a great time, although the race was grueling! I am looking to walk/jog again. In the meantime, I am looking to set some reasonable goals as training for that walk.

Additionally, I am looking forward to getting back to my pre-college, athletic weight! Since being diagnosed with PCOS, my doctor had advised following a 'diabetic' diet as it would keep a good balance between carbs and proteins, a factor very helpful for PCOS patients in maintaining healthy a weight. While I am not a diabetic, I have seen that these guidelines are helpful for me and have already contributed to a weight loss of 24 lbs. (okay, the holidays brought a re-gain of 4 of those!)

So, I am recommitting myself to these eating principles...a better balance of carbs and proteins, increased water consumption, no sugar drinks, smaller portions, and more small meals/snacks as opposed to 2-3 larger ones. I am also getting back to riding my bike back and forth to work rather than driving. I actually miss these rides and look forward to the time in nature on the 'green belt' loop here in our city.

In the meantime, we have no new adoption news. This weekend was semi-productive in working on some tasks around the house. We cleared part of the baby's room and worked on completing trim work and applying some decorations to the walls.

It's On It's Way!!!!

2008-01-28T15:27:00.000-08:00

Just a quick update to share that Dave spoke with Julie today; the document he has does satisfy Colombia's need to verify his birth in Colombia. We over-nighted it out to Oregon and Julie will then send it off to Lucia, Program Representative in Colombia. She should have it in the next couple days!!!!

The fun thing is that we have been connecting with the Adelman's who are also adopting from Colombia (check out their blog in the links to the right). It turns out that Mark and Debi received the same sort of email this past Friday. Julie shared that Dave and Debi's birth certificate will be sent together to Colombia tomorrow. Hopefully this will bring them a regional assigment very soon...and, of course, a referral, with us not too far behind!

It has been fun to have them just ahead of us in the process as it has helped us to gauge our own timeline in waiting. It has was wonderful to have Debi's encouragement and help this past weekend to discern whether the paperwork we had would satisfy Colombia or not. (Muchas gracias, Debi!!!) Now, outside of waiting for the final mile markers for both families, there is some added suspense on whether we will all end up in Colombia around the same time! =) It would be rather cool; we will just have to see!

Yes!!!!

2008-01-28T00:06:00.000-08:00

So, here is what we have found out so far...David and I had previously planned a trip to Dave's parent's for this weekend, so it worked out that we could go through some older documents with them. We did recover a document that has multiple official stamps (look like postal stamps) and imprints that we later found out is most likely his "registro civil de nacimiento", and it also appears to be a "copia fiel" or "copia autenticada" from the notaria that David's father would have met with when David was born.

For those who do not know Spanish or are not acquainted with Colombian paperwork, simply said, we seem to have found what the ICBF is looking for...David's Colombian Birth Certificate. This is wonderful news! We have been collaborating this weekend with another Colombian on this paperwork (thanks Debbie!!!), and feel reassured that we are at least on the right track. We have additionally emailed Julie with what we have and a question on whether Colombia will need an 'original' or if we can have a color copy certified and sent (through notary and apostille). Hopefully we will hear back from her sometime today.

In the event that Julie feels we should send an original, David is planning to travel to one of the Colombian Embassys to get a couple copies of his birth certificate. We have discussed that it would probably be best if he did this anyway. We continue to invite your prayers as we await official word on whether this will satisfy Colombia's need to verify David's birth. The great news is that we now know that the ICBF is reviewing our paperwork and that perhaps we are not too far off from approval and an eventual referral!!!!

Progress!, & a Big Ugh!!!

2008-01-25T17:37:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I am not sure how to put into words how I felt and what I was thinking when I opened Julie's email today! (For all of you who have no idea who Julie Eagleson is, she is the Colombia Adoption Program Director with Children's Hope International)

So, the subject of the email was "Colombian Birth Certificate". When I saw the title, I thought, "This is not good." (my intuition working there.) In opening the email, I discovered "Lucia said they were asking at ICBF if you have a Colombian birth certificate. Apparently they don't like your US State Department birth certificate, although it clearly states that you were born in Colombia. Did your parents get a Colombian one that we could send them?".

Oh my, peanut butter pie!!!! When you put that dossier together and you go through all those lists and have it reviewed umpteen times by everyone and their mother, you honestly believe that what you did was thorough and in line with what Colombia expects. =( We were not expecting this email. According to all of our conversation with our adoption consultant, we needed a ds-1350 from the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C...and we need not revisit the crazy trip Dave and I had to get that document.

To make a long story short, Dave has a 'Consular Report of Birth' from Barranquilla, Colombia, although we were originally told that this would not be satisfactory...that we needed a Department of State 'Certification of Report of Birth' from here in the U.S....although it turns out that now we need documents originating in Colombia and issued by Colombia to satisfy the ICBF's need to verify that we are a 'Colombian' family, despite the other documents verifying that David was born in Sincelejo, Colombia.

Up to this point, we had no need to ask Dave's parents if they even had such a thing. After reading Julie's email and on my way to find Dave to share this update, I had this oh so sick feeling. We had started our adoption, last spring, knowing that our wait would be about 24-27 months at that time (from the time our dossier was sent to Colombia). We have also watched as that timeframe has lengthened. In the process of completing our dossier paperwork, we were informed that given Dave's birth in Colombia, we would have a shortened wait as we are a 'Colombian' family.

When your thinking goes from 3-4 years to 3-6 months...receiving this email was a little un-nerving to say the least. I guess my reminder of 'God's timing and work' from my previous entry was a very timely lesson. On the other hand, I must confess that I was still quite frazzled in waiting for Dave's parents to call us back to confirm whether they had any official Colombian documents to verify David's birth. They called later this evening to say that they had a dug up a "Como Notario Segundo de Sincelejo: Certifico", a "Papel Sellado", with some official stamps". (I apologize for any mispelling here as I am typing what I heard David and his father saying.)

We are hoping that this is what the ICBF is looking for; otherwise, we are not sure what our next steps will be. In the meantime, we will remain in 'waiting' and will update family and friends as we hear more.

Perfect Timing!

2008-01-23T08:03:00.000-08:00

So, I got home rather late this morning. It is not that I left work late, but that I decided to impulsively ask a coworker to join me for breakfast (late morning dinner for all of us who work night turn!). And, I am glad that I tend to be rather impulsive at times. I am learning that this is not always bad, and, more, that God seems to use some of these moments for His own work in my life...

More recently, I have found myself rather impatient with the adoptive process. There is a huge part of me that would like to somehow reach into it, reorder it, and set into motion events and time according to the picture I have. I have wondered, at times, if this 'wait' is going to be forever (mind you, we haven't been waiting all that long). I have also wondered about all the 'what ifs' that could speed this process up.

I mention breakfast with Charlene because I was reminded of 'waiting' and how God's work is made complete in His time. As we spoke of work, life, family, and learning, I was reminded of God's sovereignty and the freedom of choice that God gives to us. I was additionally reminded of how complicated it is to understand and explain, at times, how the two can be reconciled to one another. Although, there is one thing that I am most sure of and was encouraged in this morning...that is, the fact that while God does give me the freedom and power to make decisions within my life, not all decisions I choose to make will be the best...and that when the road seems unclear or when I 'feel' that it is more urgent to make a decision, it is usually time to slow down and 'wait' on evidence of God's leading and provision. Sooooooo, needless to say, I walked away from our conversation reminded that while I feel a sense of urgency to somehow take this process into my own hands and speed it up (and, I am sure there are a good many of you out there who can relate and have come up with a half dozen ways this could happen in your own wait), God is active in the wait and is far more clear on not just the outcome, but how we will arrive at that outcome. It is He that I return to in this journey, and it is He that I seek to sort out the finer details.

I am additionally thankful this morning for the adoptive community-family that we have. I am thankful for the encouragement, understanding, and care that we have experienced through fellowship with others on a journey like our own. So, in the spirit of perfect timing and in addition to breakfast with this friend, it was wonderful to come home to more words of encouragement. Thank you to those who have posted comments on this site, who have sent private messages, who have sent mail and quilt squares, or who have taken the time to comment through yahoo groups! Your love and care is felt deeply!~S.

Blog Stalking!

2008-01-20T23:11:00.000-08:00

Recently Dave and I were laughing about my 'faithfulness' in checking the yahoo groups site and other Colombian adoption family blogs. Yes, I must confess I have developed a bit of a habit in my life. =) It was all the more amusing, this evening, to see my wonderful husband sitting at the computer going through 'blog reader' and our 'blog favorites' list trying to catch up on everyones news and sharing. (I think he has the bug too! Shhhh, don't tell him I know...we will keep this between all of us self-proclaimed blog addicts! Ha!)

To be quite honest, it is absolutely wonderful to be able to journey along with the CHI Colombian family community and others we have met since beginning our adoption journey. It is wonderful to connect with families near and far, to see how God is working out the details of each family's journey, and watch in the miracle of each expanding family! I have found myself both encouraged and empowered through sharing.

To date we have heard nothing more about our own adoptive progress. Our paperwork is still in Colombia being reviewed. We don't expect to hear anything from Colombia until, at the soonest, late Febrauary. In the meantime, we are doing some things around the house that we have either put off for a while or would like to finish before our own little one is home with us.

OK, Here Goes!

2008-01-16T06:22:00.000-08:00

A fellow blogger and adoptive parent, Wendi, had been Tagged through her blog, and invited others to copy and paste the following questions to their own blogs (with, of course, our own answers)! So, here we go:

1. What is your occupation? Clinical Assistant on a Cardiac Telemetry Unit
2. What color are your socks right now? White
3. What are you listening to right now? The whistle of a radiator heating the room
4. What was the last thing you ate? Mexian cactus salad
5. Can you drive a stick shift? Yes
6. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Definitely blue!
7. Last person you spoke to on the phone? Vicki, a friend from work
8. How old are you today? 32, just shy of 33 =)
9. Favorite drink? Frozen Mocha
10. What is your favorite sport to watch? Soccer or any adventure sport like Kayaking, Rock Climbing, etc.
11. Have you ever dyed your hair? Does "Sun-In" count?
12. Favorite reality TV show? Hmmmm...hard to say...CSI (the original), Survivor, or Grey's Anatomy
13. What was the last movie you watched? The Guardian
14. Favorite day of the year? The day we hop in the car to head out for our next vacation adventure...(past trips have included backpacking in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, sea kayaking off of the Virginia coast, day hike in the pine barrens of New York, caving in Pennsylvania, white water rafting in West Virginia and Pennsylvania...oh I only wish there was more vacation time...sigh)
15. What do you do to vent anger? I need to do something physical...going for a long walk to clear my thoughts and get perspective is probably the best one...second to that is housework
16. What was your favorite toy as a child? Ummm...I think they were actually Tonka trucks and G.I. Joe figurines...(I was definitely a tomboy!)
17. What is your favorite, fall or spring? Fall...perfect weather for hiking and leaf watching!
18. Hugs or kisses? Hugs and kisses from my wonderful husband! As for everyone else, depends on whether I feel 'huggy'
19. Cherries or blueberries? Blueberries fresh-picked off a New Hampshire/Maine mountain-top in August!
20. Do you want your friends to email you back? I would love that!
21. Favorite dessert? Fresh fruit (especially pineapple, strawberries, and mangoes!)
22. Who is least likely to respond???? Not sure!
23. Living arrangement? We own a house and have lived here 4 years now, although Dave has owned the house much longer...our first home was actually an apartment at the summer camp I worked for
24. When was the last time you cried? A couple days ago
25. What is on the floor of your closet? Not sure! It would take some time to find it! =)
26. Who is the friend you have had the longest that you are sending this to? Posting this to other blog friends
27. What did you do last night? Worked
28. Favorite smells? Outside of thai and latin cooking...Big Mama's biscuits, and fresh homemade apple pie
29. What inspires you? Other people being true to the persons they were created to be
30. What are you afraid of? Not being true to the woman God created me to be
31. Plain, cheese, or spicy burgers? Cheese and spicy burgers, by far!
32. Favorite breed of dog? Any Humane Society or shelter breed!
33. How many years at your current job? just over 2
34. Favorite day of the week? Hard to say, that changes from week-to-week...although it would have to be my day off...when Dave, Fawn (our shelter breed), and I get to go on weekly adventures to the Appalachian Trail or local footpaths in the area
35. How many states have you lived in? Two, if you count living out-of-state over my summers during college at a summer camp in Maine
36. Celebrity crush? I will have to get back to you on that one!
37. Ever driven a motorcycle or heavy machinery? My father's four-wheeler and our camp's front loader/back hoe(sp?)
38. Who is your favorite NFL team? Sorry, not my cup of tea. =(
39. Do you have a house phone that is not cordless? Yes
40. 10 inches of snow or 100 degree weather? 100 Degree weather!

Round 2!!!

2008-01-15T08:48:00.000-08:00

Just a quick update to keep everyone in the 'know.' Dave and I ventured downtown this morning to the local police precinct to do a secound round of fingerprints for the FBI. Our current set will expire in the end of February, so it was about time to get the second set started so that we do not have this hold up the process that continues in Colombia.

This second trip didn't prove to be near as eventful as the last. =( No prisoners being hauled into cells or anything like that. In fact, there was so little going on that we actually endured a little 'all-in-fun' harrassment from the officer who did our fingerprinting.=) She remembered us from our first visit, gave Dave a hard time about washing his hands for too long (who knew this was even possible...working in the hospital, we are usually concerned with washing longer. =)..), and un-tactfully (if this is a word) told me how a mess my nails were...ha! She then went on to say that she needed to watch what she said or they would probably send her back to 'senstivity' class...oh my...this woman was pretty funny! At any rate, we had a good laugh and were just as delighted to not spend too much time in jail. =)

We have not heard any further details concerning our adoption through our agency, although continue to rejoice with other families who are beginning to receive referrals for their children. We will most surely keep you posted.

Colombia Bound Feed Test

2008-01-12T11:11:00.000-08:00

We are trying a new subscription service for our blog...for those family and friends who do not have blog reader...and still have dial-up service...this will enable all of you to keep up to date with what is going on with us and our adoption without having to come to our blog site each time. Essentially, each time we update our blog with a post, you will receive it in your email inbox...sooooooo, this is a test to see if this actually works. We have subscribed to our own blog. In the meantime, feel free to sign-up by placing your email in the box to the right of this entry!

Much Love,

David & Sheila

P.S. Dad & Mom Derr, we have taken care of this for you. =)

Just Over A Month!

2008-01-12T01:46:00.000-08:00

It is hard to believe that it has now been a month since our dossier went to Colombia! The holidays were helpful in providing a much needed rest from the paper chase as well as distraction in visiting with family and friends. =)

I found myself (Sheila) thinking the other day about all the details that we will need to take care of between now and a referral, much less travel to Colombia. I am glad for the list of things that we would either like to or must accomplish between now and then. It struck me that there are so many things that we would like to get done before going to be joined with baby Derr that we just might not get it all done!

As of the end of the year, my shift changed to night turn at the hospital, so it has been a bit of an adjustment in getting used to the hours, when to sleep, etc. With a little over two weeks under my belt, I am beginning to feel better...For all of you night-turn junkies out there, I don't know how you have done this shift for so long!!!! Although, the longer I am on the shift, the less of a zombie I feel by day when I am awake! This is progress! Oh, the little things!

Dave is working on finishing the end-of-year report and 2008 budget for our church this month. I believe he is fitting some tax work for others in there as well. We had to laugh the other day when we both realized how busy January is for him...we had originally thought that since he was not taking another accounting course or so this semester that maybe he would be less busy...not the case, although this will slow once January passes.

In the meantime, we are both working on our Spanish and getting odds and ends done. We are almost finished with the floor in our dining room and then will be on to attacking some details in the kitchen. All told, we are doing well. We continue to look forward to receiving our referral, and, in the meantime, enjoy the blessing of time that we have with each other.

Wonderful Colombia Adoption Video!

2008-01-03T20:31:00.000-08:00

This is a family who adopted through Colombia some time ago. They did a wonderful job putting together a video of their trip and experiences. The background music is wonderful as well. Enjoy!

Colombia-NOT Columbia!

2008-01-03T20:11:00.000-08:00

Another CHI family had posted this on their blog. We additionally enjoyed it, and thought that family and friends would as well! After you watch this video, you may be interested in some more about Colombia...there are additional choices that will appear after...try watching "Vive Colombia (EN)"..."Live Colombia"...this is in English...enjoy!

¡Feliz año nuevo! Happy new year!

2007-12-31T02:10:00.000-08:00

I began this post on New Year's Eve from work, but did not have an opportunity to finish it. The last month has come and gone very quickly! While this is a praise, we do have much to do prior to welcoming our dear little one home. Dave and I plan to spend this upcoming weekend working on odds and ends around the house. Until we know the gender of our baby, we are postponing the remaining work on their room. Although, we have plenty to get done.

It has been absolutely wonderful to be less busy with Dave's classes being done. We had a wonderful time visiting with family and friends over the holidays. We have additionally enjoyed some undivided time with each other.

With the arrival of a new year, we look expectantly to the day we receive our referral for a son or daughter. It should be about 2-4 months from the time the ICBF receives our paperwork later this month. The ICBF, Instituto Colombiano de Bienestar Familiar (Colombian Family Welfare Institute), is the government agency within Colombia that will be handling the review and referral of our paperwork to a region within Colombia. The "regional referral" is the forwarding of our paperwork to a regional office of the ICBF where we will be matched with a son or daughter.

We are thankful for how clearly God has been directing and providing through this process. It has also been very encouraging to speak with other adopting parents. As a couple we have been praying for children around the world who do not have permanent, stable, supportive, caring homes. We have additionally been praying for our son or daughter....praying for their health, their development, sense of peace and protection, experience of the world around them, their relationships with caring and supportive adults, as well as for their biological parents...for their health, protection, and life journey through adoption. May God also send peace to their hearts, encouragement when the days are lonely and long, and provide richly for their needs.

In the coming month, I (Sheila) begin to transition to working full-time nights. It has been a while since I kept these sort of hours, so I am hoping for a quick adjustment to them. The month of January will keep Dave busy as he works to complete budget and tax paperwork for the church and church council. Tax season is also back upon us, so he will additionally begin to help some of the residents at work with their taxes.

Think Summer!

2007-12-19T07:16:00.000-08:00

So, its official; our paperwork will arrve in Colombia sometime this week and begin the translation process! We received an email over the weekend saying that our paperwork arrived in Oregon in excellent condition and was turned around the same day and sent to Colombia!!!!!

Julie said that due to the holidays, the paperwork would not be delivered to the ICBF until January 10-15. This is still moving much quicker than we anticipated! We were thinking that translation would not even take place until then, although now understand that CHI representatives in Colombia will do the translation in the meantime so that the paperwork is ready for the ICBF review.

So, many of you have been asking what sort of timeline we are looking at then....this is what Julie has shared: "Since you didn't
specify a city in Colombia for the child assignment, your dossier will most
likely be sent out for assignment as soon as the review is complete. This
won't happen overnight, but I'd be very surprised if you didn't have a baby home
by summer, and possibly much sooner. But think summer!"

For those in need of a more practical timeline...from everything we have gathered, the review process could take 4-6 weeks, assignment to a region could take 1-2 weeks, and the official referral of our son or daughter would take 6-8 weeks. The referral is what would provide us with our child's pictures, biographical, medical, and developmental records. We are setting our sights on hearing of a referral, at the earliest, sometime in mid-March, for those of you who need a more clear timeline.

We are told to plan on traveling 3-4 weeks following the acceptance of our referral. Again, and at the earliest, that could mean sometime in April/May! We are absolutely tickeled to say the least! So as to guard our hearts from the annoying disappointment of a lengthier wait, we are more setting our focus on Julie's "think summer" comment. It is better to have a more realistic focus and be absolutely suprised if things move much quicker, knowing that holidays (and there are many in Colombia) as well as government changes, etc. can have an affect on timeline.

We had many things to be thankful for in approaching this holiday season...and now, an additional huge thanks with the paper chase being complete! God has been so clearly evident in the paper chase; we look forward to how he will reveal himself in the wait!

Praying that you and your family would equally sense the hand of God at work in your life and the lives around you this Christmas!

Much Love,
The Derrs

Our Dossier is Sent!!!!

2007-12-13T16:19:00.000-08:00

Dave and I just got back from mailing our dossier to Julie out in Oregon! What a relief that this mound of paperwork is on its way! Julie and the Northwest Office should receive it by 3 p.m. tomorrow. We expect that it will be sent out to Colombia sometime next week or the week following New Years. This will all depend on how fast the turnaround time is in the Northwest Office. The other detail that we are keeping in mind is that the ICBF will most likely not begin to handle all of this paperwork until after the New Year.

We are at peace with all the details. Our biggest desire was to get our dossier in the mail before the upcoming Christmas and New Year holidays due to the fact that some of our paperwork is time sensitive. It we waited until after the holidays, we would most likely need to renew some paperwork before even submitting it to the ICBF. We know that these renewals are coming, but at least now have the peace of knowing that Colombia will begin to review and translate our documents before these are needed.

Many blessings to you and your family in the upcoming holiday season. May Christmas be an opportunity to reflect on Christ's birth, the gift of life we receive through Christ's life, and God's hand in orchestrating it all!

The End Is In Sight!!!!

2007-12-13T09:24:00.000-08:00

Of the initial paperwork, that is! Dave and I traveled to Washington, D.C. yesterday. Our adventure was meant to complete the apostille portion of his birth certificate. We left around 4:45 a.m. knowing that traffic would be busy...little do we know! We live in a city, but nothing of the scope of D.C.!!! It took about 4 hours to get into Washington, followed by arrival at the wrong office. Fortunately, our redirection was not too far off from the first office.

We had taken Fawn, so I (Sheila) walked the streets of D.C. while Dave went in to get his birth certificate apostilled by the Vital Records department of the U.S. It turns out that the apostille was free and took several minutes! What a blessing!

Our drive home was much shorter since we were traveling in the opposite direction of most traffic. After a short stop at a rest stop for Fawn to stretch her legs...she loves to chase us around, while all the while barking and carrying on! It was a fun side trip.

Our next stop was back home to drop Fawn off and then off to the PA Secretary of State. As with the previous documents, the remainder of our documents only took a few minutes to review and apostille! The woman who took care of our paperwork has a bulletin board of all the children that they have been a part of bringing home to PA. She wanted to make sure that we knew they welcomed pictures of our bundle of joy. =)

On our way home, I called Sisi, our adoption consultant, to let her know that we had completed the apostille process and would be sending copies of everything. When we got home, we had received and email acknowledging our phone call and a reminder that there were still two documents to be completed...this left Dave and I scratching our heads and wondering what in the world could be left. After looking at the documents she was referring to, we began to wonder if these were more recent requirements...ones that we would be exempt from since starting our adoption back in the summer. And, sure enough, in speaking with Sisi this morning, these documents were changes implemented after our adoption process began...so we will not have to complete them. Oh my, I cannot tell you how thankful I was to hear those words! Some of our documents are time-sensitive and the added delays will cause us to begin redoing some of them. While I know that we will need to redo some of them, anyway...it would feel much better to have our dossier in Colombia when that happens.

I took an extra day off from work today to figure out the confusion with those extra documents, touch base with Julie (Colombian Adoption Coordinator), copy all of our documents and prepare them for mailing, and hopefully get our dossier in the mail for tomorrow morning! We invite your prayers in this leg of our journey. I am not sure what the time fram will be for the dossier to arrive in Colombia. Our guide states that it would be within 2 weeks of the Oregon office receiving it. On the other hand, we are close to two major holidays for the U.S. and Colombia, so our dossier may not arrive in Colombia until the first part of January. I especially invite your prayers in protection of all this paperwork on its travels to Colombia! =)

Progress!

2007-12-10T08:29:00.000-08:00

We are pleased to share that not only did our apostilled psychological report arrive from California in the past week, but so did our I-171H!!!! My (Sheila's) family was out visiting when we received the psychological report, so it was fun to share that piece of progress with them.

I was off from work on Wednesday when the I-171H came, although told Dave over the phone, in the afternoon, that I had not yet checked the mail for the day. While he thought this was strange since I had been pretty consistent in watching for those documents in the past several weeks, he dismissed his concern with thoughts that I must have gotten pretty busy around the house. In trying to take a siesta in the afternoon, I realized that I couldn't hold out on this news and would have to call and share rather than waiting to spring it on Dave later that evening over dinner! When I called him back, he confessed that he had wondered about my earlier response. We had a pretty good laugh and moment of celebration together.

Now, we are off to getting Dave's birth certificate apostilled by the Federal government in Washington, D.C. We will do this on wednesday of this week since both of us are off. It will be a good opportunity to spend time together. Dave's class finals are today, so he will be free of the lure of studies. We will also return home later in the day to get some documents apostilled by our state. Our hope is to complete the remainder of this paper trail this week so that we can email copies off to our adoption coordinator. She will review them to make sure they are in order before we send our whole dossier off to the CHI Colombian program headquarters in Oregon. There, Jule, the program's director, and other staff will add additional documents to this official packet of paperwork before sending it off to Colombia for review, translation, and, hopeful, approval!

So, this is the next stage of our adoption which we, again, eagerly invite your prayerful participation in. We are told that it would be a while before we would hear anything from Colombia. We have been given tentative timelines. One, initially, was very long...the most recent one was more 2-4 months from the time that Colombia receives our paperwork. So, you are probably wondering what that means....this is what we think based on all we know at this point: Given the fact that the end of December presents two holidays and closure of government offices in Colombia, and if our dossire makes it to Colombia before the holidays, our paperwork will probably sit and not be even considered until early January. Our 2-4 month waiting period would begin sometime in January, so for chronological sake, we are figuring on not hearing of any sort of progress or referral until later in the spring...sometime between April and June. We would be so very excited to receive news sooner, but have chosen to prepare our own hearts with this tentative timeline, knowing that things could be much shorter or much longer.

In the meantime, I plan to begin work on a "100 Good Wishes" quilt for our baby! This will require participation of family and friends, so expect a mailing or email sometime in the early part of 2008 as a reminder if you are reading this! I have included some information on this blog site as an introduction to what this is and why I am choosing to do it (just continue reading below). This additionally will be a wonderful way for me to spend time preparing for our little one while also praying for them, their caregivers, their birth parents, and their general well-being.

We will update you in the coming week on the dossier and its whereabouts. In the meantime, blessings to you and your family as you enter this holiday season. May you contemplate the real joy of Christmas in the hope of Christ and gift of eternal life.

In the Waiting....

2007-11-14T19:36:00.000-08:00

"In the waiting" seemed to be a fitting title for the current mini-chapter of our adoption. Dave and I continue to wait for our psychological report and I-171H. In the meantime, I will be making a trip to get the remainder of our documents apostilled by the state (sometime in this coming week).

God has provided many reminders of how He is using this 'waiting' in our lives and the lives of our family. I have especially appreciated the reminder of what comes in the 'waiting' through Scripture. This adoption process has brought Dave and I closer. It has been fun to share hopes and dreams, anticipate what the future will bring, and discuss the name of our son or daughter.

We have had a handful of questions on how we intend to handle the 'name' of a son or daughter, and decided that we would like to bless our child with a name but would also like to retain the name that they received from their biological parents. Both mark a history that we would like to preserve for them. We see a name as a blessing and look forward to having our son/daugther carry forward a blessing from their biological parents and ourselves. We also look forward to being able to share that with them.

What to pray for...as mentioned before, we currently continue to await two documents that would give us the ability to move forward with our adoption. Please pray that this final wait would be speedy.

Please also pray for our son or daugther as they are in Colombia...pray for their caretakers and the many hands/hearts needed to care for all the children in need of permanent families within Colombia. Pray especially for their physical/emotional/cognitive/spiritual development despite the unique challenges they face.

It occurred to us the other day that our son or daugther is either born already or in the process of being born! Oh my! Please pray for their biological parents during this time. I can only imagine how difficult it is to make an adoption plan. Pray for comfort during grief and loss that come with making this plan. Pray also for protection during this time...the burden that a decision like this would bring...not just now, but for the remainder of these biological parent's life as they pass yearly birthdays and holidays that remind them of a son or daughter growing up somewhere else in the world. Pray that the biological parents would receive a sense of peace and hope in the decision that they are making. Pray also that blessing would also come from this decision.

On a completely different note, I completed my first marathon this weekend! This was an incredibly long walk, and I was glad to have a college friend, Brooke, to do it with me! During the marathon, I found myself contemplating the adoption process and how progress always seems to be made, as in the marathon, although their are different parts of the journey that are slower and more difficult at times. I was reminded of the wait and the outcome of the waiting....reminded to focus on the process while also fixing my eyes on the outcome.

Sunday was an absolutely georgeous day to do the marathon. Temps were in the 30's when we started around 6:30 in the morning. In fact, there was frost on the window of the car! The tempurature never got above 60 degrees, although it felt warmer given the sun and how fast we were walking! I must also say that the marathon culture is a pretty fun group of people to hang out with! Despite being overweight and a newcomer to the scene, I felt as though I had been a part of this community for a long time. Folks were amazingly welcoming and encouraging...walkers were encouraged as runners passed later in the morning. It was just a great day!

Dave came to join us on two portions of our walk...once around the 16 mile mark and then again around mile 24-26.2! I was never so greatful for his presence, support, care, and encouragment...especially at the end...and following the walk when I thought my legs were going to fall off! It is pretty incredible what the body can do if you get past what the mind is saying! All told, Brooke and I walked away with a blister on each of our left feet...I am thinking that this is from walking on the sloping side of the road all day. I drank more Gatorade and water in one day than I have in all my days of playing sports! (Ok, maybe this is a pretty big stretch...but we did consume a ton of fluids.) And I have officially decided that they have to come up with a better source of nutrition for marathon runners/walkers than "Gu"...this stuff is like extra, extra thick cough syrup and it tastes just like it! Yuck! In defense of its makers, it really does do the trick when you need it!

Great News!

2007-11-06T21:58:00.000-08:00

It was absolutely wonderful to open our email a little over a week ago and receive word from Julie, the Colombian adoption program director for CHI! She had sent us an update to let us know that the Oregon office had received our Home Study, everything was fine with it...they had completed 3 documents with our Home Study that we would need for our dossier to be sent to Colombia! This was exciting news, although I must say that what followed was even more exciting!

Julie went on to say that it looked like we were getting very close to sending our dossier, so she wanted to give us a heads up so that we could get ourselves ready because she felt that our wait for a referral would be about 2-4 MONTHS! from the time our dossier was sent to Colombia!!!!! Dave and I were more than smiles! What fantastic news! Needless to say, we are now scurrying around again...getting the nursery ready and finishing up some of our smaller projects around the house!

The social worker did connect with the psychologist back in the middle of October, and we spoke with the psychologist last Thursday. Everything was fine with this evaluation, and we were told to expect our psychological referral in the mail in 2-3 weeks from last Friday. In the meantime, I called Immigrations to make sure that everything was moving along with our I-171H and it looks that we will receive both pieces of paperwork around the same time. This means we should be able to send our dossier out to Oregon by late November/early December. Whoo-hoo! This is such a praise and encouragment.

I must confess that the slowness of everything through the fall was beginning to get to me. I had finally come to terms with the waiting, feeling like God was teaching me a bit in the arena of patience and perseverence. In fact, I had sort of set my sights on a June to September referral as the last we had spoken with Julie the wait was to be about 6-9 months with 2-4 weeks of translation and administrative sort of stuff.

Things have most surely changed! We invite your prayers as we finish up this leg of our adoption. Pray for a speedy return of the Psychological Report and I-171H. This is important, not because of my impatience =), but because we had started our home study process before ever applying to CHI, so some of our documents would need to be updated on the home study if the dossier is not sent out prior to the first part of December. The notary we originally chose for certification of some of our documents has a commission expiration in the early part of December. So, we are now in a bit of a time crunch, and we are hoping that these last two things come to us sooner rather than later so that everything moves forward without bumps. As a side note, this notary is extending her commission, so we were looking to see what we could do in just having her update the stamped portion of each of these documents...in the event that the paperwork we are waiting on arrives later than expected.

I must say, I have had to consciously choose not fret about this...it is a challenge to lay these things in the Lord's hands, and be reminded that all the details of our adoption are not just being orchestrated by God, but also in his timing!

On a completely different note, we would also invite your prayers for my family (particularly my father and his family) as we grieve the loss of my grandfather. He had been fighting cancer of the spleen and leukemia since his diagnosis in the spring, and a recent fall in the earlier part of last week caused a cranial bleed that complicated matters. The neurologist that had seen him decided that he was not well enough to endure surgery, so they chose to wait things out although made it clear that my grandfather's prognosis was not very good. He died last Wednesday. The funeral service was Saturday. While it was nice to see family and friends back home, I wish it could have been under different circumstances.

As a final bit of sharing, I still plan to attempt my first marathon this weekend! Brooke, a college friend, will be doing this with me! I am so excited, yet a bit nervous! I have definitely committed myself to a goal of simply finishing...I will worry about times down the road. Until later and a more formal update on what a marathon is like...blessings to you!

Finally!

2007-10-25T21:40:00.000-07:00

We have been eagerly (or anxiously) awaiting news of our social worker and psychologist connecting and completing their portion of the interview process for our psychological report...and finally, the email came today! Praise God for this! Now Dave and I are off to meeting with the psychologist ourselves. Our appointed meeting will be next Friday at noon, EST. The meeting should take about an hour. We are looking forward to this and have been told that Dr. Miranda is quite a neat woman; she also is an adoptive parent through Colombia.

Our I-171H has yet to arrive, although we eagerly check the mail each day...hoping and praying for that part of our process to also be completed. After all the craziness through August/September with some confusion surrounding our I600A, where to send it and an accidental submission of 2 I600A's, it will be nice to be done with that portion of our adoptive process (at least for now).=)

With the more recent change in weather, I have found myself struggling to get things done around the house. It has been more a challenge at work, though. To be quite honest, I love the fall, look forward to the changing fall colors, the crispness in the air, and opportunities to get out and hike some of our local trails. This year has been a bit too busy for that so far, and I am missing it! I am thankful for walks through a local park. With the park being closer, I have been able to manage getting out with Fawn for occasional walks/runs before and after work. While I miss the hiking, these walks have been a good substitute. These walks have also served to preserve and nurture my relationship with Christ during a very busy season.

Up to this point, I had not revealed to many family and friends that I had entered a marathon for the month of November...partly because I was afraid that I may not follow through with the training that it would require. I am relieved to say that I have been able to keep up with a fairly decent training schedule. My goal, at this point, is to simply complete it. A good friend from college will be joining me in this challenge come Sunday, November 11th. Actually, this has been a great way to pass some of the time in waiting for the slower parts of our adoption process. I definitely would recommend it to anyone who is looking to find some constructive ways to pass the time. (Not only great for your health and preparing for a different pace in life after adoption, but is also a great way to step away from the busyness of life to connect with God and do some internal journeying!)

Well, the hour is late, and I could go on for a long time. I was excited to post some of our more recent developments, and look forward to posting more progress in the coming month.

Great News!

2007-10-16T23:00:00.000-07:00

Well, Dave and I have had a pretty fun month of traveling around to see friends and family. We got to see my parents and sister out in Cranberry, PA as well as Dave's siblings in Toronto. We even had an opportunity to visit Niagara Falls for our 6th year anniversary! Fun, fun!

Niagara Falls was a georgeous place to visit; I only wish that we had had longer to spend. =( It was just as great to visit our Canadian relatives! (Hello to all of you who read this!) We miss you and look forward to another visit in the future! Until then, we are posting a special 'hello' to all of our nieces and nephews that we got to visit in the month of October: Taylor, Jayden, Austin, Hunter, and Marshall! What a blessing you are to us! You teach us much about what it will be like to be parents!

When we returned to Pennsylvania after our tour around the area, we found that David's birth certificate had arrived! We had been anticipating these copies, but had no idea how long they would take to come. Almost 8 weeks later, and we have them! Both of us were all the more eager then to see that we received our Home Study in hand, and it turns out that we received the 2 copies of this today by mail!!!! What a HUGE milestone! And, what a praise God!

We continue to wait for our personality/psychological assessment from the Children's Hope International psychologist that we are working with. We have been assured that this should not take much longer! Yippy Skippy!

In the meantime, our social worker sent a copy of our home study to immigration to complete the orphan visa process that we had begun back in the summer. In the coming weeks, we should receive a copy of what is called the I-171H, which is a rather important document...which contains only 1 sentence, or so we are told! We have also been advised that some families actually have thrown these papers away, not realizing what they really were. We will be careful not to make that same mistake.

We are also in the process of working on the house again...I am planning to do some priming and painting this weekend, although I need to take some time for a Pampered Chef party that I have on Saturday.

All told, we are doing well and continue to pray for the son or daughter that will soon join our family! We found a wonderful quote recently that I decided to get made into a giant sized 'poem' for one of the walls in the nursery we are putting together:

Not flesh of my flesh, Nor bone of my bone,
But still miraculously my own.
Never forget for a single minute,
You didn't grow under my heart - but in it.
~Anonymous

The End is Near!

2007-09-05T10:34:00.000-07:00

Oh what a few months it has been! We are finally in the end of our paper chase and it feels soooooooo good! Actually, it has been a little stressful simply waiting on other people to complete their end of this process.

It has been over a month now and we are still awaiting the final copy of our Home Study report. This is a prayer request as we had hoped to see this report sooner rather than later. A copy of this report would need to be forwarded onto the US Immigration Service in Philadelphia so that we can complete our I600A (Orphan Visa) process and we are not sure how long the final process of that will take. Although we are told not to expect that it would take too long given the fact that we have been fingerprinted by the FBI and this is the piece of the process that usually takes the longest for visa grants. (Ok, I posted this blog earlier this morning, but felt that I needed to update this to share with everyone that we received a draft copy of our Home Study today! Praise God for answered prayer! Dave and I made necessary corrections and deletions and reforwarded the draft to our social worker who will then forward it on to our adoption agency for review and approval before it is finalized. Hopefully this part will be completed within the week!)

We are also awaiting the results of our personality/psychological intentories and the Psychologist's report. The inventories that we were instructed to take consisted of 500 some true/false questions! It took over 2 hours to answer the whole test. Yikesy mama! If you are ever in the mood for some good clean fun...something to spend a lot of time laughing over, ask us to send you a copy of some of the questions we needed to answer for this! Some are pretty understandable...some make little sense whatsoever...and still some are pretty humorous! =)

The only other piece of paperwork that we are still waiting for is Dave's birth certificate. It turns out that the copy we have is from the US Consolate in Colombia while Colombia would like a copy from the Vital Statistics of the US...who knew there could be so many issuing authorities for one document. We expect this piece of paperwork any day now.

On a completely different note, Dave has begun two classes with HACC, our local community college. For those of you who do not know, he is pursuing accounting classes with the intent of pursuing his CPA (becoming a Certified Public Accountant) down the road. He has a business administration degree, but did not have the number of accounting credits he needs to get an entry level accounting position to prepare for taking his CPA. We would invite your prayers through the fall as he juggles full-time work, family, school, adoption details, and taking care of himself.

I have continued to arrange for more Pampered Chef shows throughout the fall. These have been a lot of fun for me. I enjoy meeting new people, sharing some of my own cooking experience, polishing my presentations, and sharing the reason for why I am doing PC. More recently I have also been blessed with the interest of others to do Home and/or Catalog shows. This has been a wonderful help in getting ready for the adoption and raising the final funds we need to complete it.

Someone recently mentioned their philosophical position on adoption which made me think more intentionally about my own. In our experience in preparing to adopt, we have found that there are people that understand the process completely and those that are still influenced by old pictures of adoptions gone bad or children who were very difficult to raise because of experiences that occurred prior to adoption.

I can't remember a specific 'time' that I personally began to think about adoption, but I can definitely say that it was well before marriage. Perhaps it was during childhood and having the experience of living with foster sisters; I think the decision to adopt occurred more during college through a time when God was building within my own heart a passion for working with inner city youth. It was through those years I found myself considering what it meant to be a parent and what my hopes for my own children would be. Adoption was always a part of that thinking as I did not see biological children as the only way to form family.

In marrying Dave, I was joined together with someone who's life was historically influenced by another place, culture, and people...in fact, several. In his heart, Dave maintains a huge space for his 'Hispanic' culture and heritage. It is fun to listen to his stories of growing up, watch the delight that appears on his face as he shares those memories, and to think of the history that he has to share with an adopted son or daughter from Colombia.

I found the 'philosophical thoughts' of this friend to hurt as they shared of their opposition to infant and international adoptions that cost so much when children could be adopted for little expense through other networks here. In fact, I realized in those moments why it is so important to listen. It is through listening that we have the power to see the journey of another and what God has been forming in that person's life. I also realized that not everyone is going to understand or support the journey we are on, although it doesn't diminish it. It is a bit therapeutic to write this as historically I have struggted with 'people-pleasing' and the worry of what others may think of me if I chose something they disagreed with. I realized that this more recent conversation re-ignited in me the desire to please. It caused me to question the journey we are on because of the disapproval of another. I realized also that I allowed this conversation to diminish some of the entitelement that I personally feel in becoming an adoptive parent through Colombia.

In reflecting, I have been reminded of the journey that God has been leading us personally through. I am also reminded of the directing and equipping that God has been faithful to do along the way. For the resources and reassurance, I am grateful.

I cannot tell you how much excitement is building in my own heart for meeting our son or daughter! Sometimes I am excited to pray...sometimes I am excited to tears...sometimes I find myself simply thoughtful in contemplating the future. It has been through these moments that God has also been building within my heart a compassion for our son or daughter. It is in adoption that we gain an addition to our family...a time that families celebrate with much enthusiasm and excitement. On the other hand, this addition, while momentous and exciting for us, I am reminded that it comes with much sadness and loss. I am reminded that our child will be leaving everything that he or she has known....good or bad...they will be leaving behind people they have come to rely on and identify with...and so, in my anticipation for the day of our meeting, I find myself praying for them. I am praying for a spirit of comfort and protection during this time. I am not praying that God would remove the hurt, but that God would use that hurt in their life to form in them his own character. I recently read a quote from a young Drexel college student who died as a result of a brain tumor...during her final days on earth, she was quoted in saying, "I may not be able to change what happens to me. I just refuse to be reduced by it." My prayer for our son or daughter is that transitions in life would become impetus for growth.

2007-08-19T08:20:00.000-07:00

It has been great to work at reconnecting with friends and family. It is easy to forget what a couple months of busyness can do to one's personal relationships. Our church takes a 'sabbath' from its ministries during the month of August each year...likewise, I found myself declaring a sabbath from overtime or work on our house. It has brought some much needed rest and refocus on reading, reflection, and journaling. I am thankful for the slower pace.

Dave and I are at a stand still on the paperwork that we must send out for the adoption. In fact, we are now awaiting the return of our FBI fingerprinting/background check results. Our home study is being written, which hopefully we will see a draft in the near future. In the meantime, we are also awaiting the results of a personality/psychological inventory that we completed not too long ago for a psychologist out in California.

That inventory was a bit daunting...over 500 questions long, all of which were true or false! Once these inventories are processed and she reads our autobiographies, we will receive a call from the psychologist to confirm her findings and general impressions. She will also have some brief phone contact with our social worker to go over similar impressions and questions.

Once we complete these few final steps, we will be able to have everything apostilled by the state of Pennsylvania and then send it off to Children's Hope International for translation and delivery to Colombia...all hopefully done by the end of September or beginning of October! We will then begin a 6-9 month wait for an infant. I can't remember what I had last written here, but we were told shortly after our home study visit that we could expect to be placed on an infant list given Dave's birth and childhood in Colombia.

This was exciting news! While not something that we were specifically praying for, we look forward to the opportunity and privilege of parenting an infant. I must confess that I secretly hoped to have that opportunity, if not with our first child, perhaps future children. It is neat to see how God orchestrates life with desire. On the other hand, I am tentative about allowing myself to get too excited about any specific placement, knowing that the adoption process can be a bit unpredictable.

I have been reading "Talking with Young Children about Adoption" by Mary Watkins and Susan Fisher. This is a remarkable book riddled with reviews of child developmental studies and real life accounts of parents discussing the details of adoption with children of all ages. The vignettes have been especially helpful as I have found myself more recently worried about the future developmental milestones that we would face in raisng children. How will adoption be figured into those? How will we be able to tell what is developmental, expressed through the metaphor of adoption, and what is truly an adoption issue? What do young children understand of adoption? When is it best to introduce certain adoption ideas?

I have felt particularly overwhelmed by the notion of explaining adoption and equally concerned with the possibility of unknown information. While I know that this does not spell disaster for a developing child, I want so much for our children to have as many pieces of their history as possible. I guess I imagine not knowing the complete story to be more detrimental to their growth and self-concept than the knowing. Although, I am continually reminded that the knowing can bear just as much excitement, grief, and sadness. In God's hands these things rest. I take heart in knowing that God is not only preparing a future for us as parents, both equipping and enabling, but also is preparing a young heart to enter into this world. I am both excited and nervous to become a mother.

2007-08-04T14:25:00.000-07:00

It was a fun surprise for both Dave and I to find out earlier this week that his accounting class was being completed a week earlier than scheduled. In fact, it was a great opportunity to go out today and do something that we have never done together!....the Flea Market/Farmers Market experience! We went to a local market in search of some yummy fresh products and came back with nothing fresh but two things for baby Derr! It was fun to comb through everyone's stuff...it brings new meaning to the words, "One man's junk is another man's treasure!". All in all, it was fun and very hot...the temp today is over 90 and the humidity is up there as well.

Back to the house for a nap as we had been up at an earlier hour than expected. We got a call a bit before 7:00 this morning asking us to check on a neighbor's house. The house is owned by a couple that attends the same church as us and had been broken into the previous evening. So....up for an adventure...and an adventure it was...both Dave and I were praying and hoping that no one would see me crawling through the same window that someone had apparently broken into...mind you, the police had already visited their home and had locked all the doors but had forgotten to close and lock the window that was originally the problem. So, off I went, slithering backwards through the basement window...forgetting how short I was and how far a drop the basement floor may be. After a few scrapes, bumps, and bruises, I had completed my first official break-in! I must say that it was a bit nerve-wracking...Dave and Fawn were waiting at the front door when I came out to declair everything secure...then...when we went to leave for our Farmers Market experience, we saw three police cars at the same neighbor's house, and thought 'Oh boy! Someone did see us afterall...and got the wrong impression of what was going on!'...so off we went to confess to our break-in when we realized that the police were dealing with a domestic dispute and, ironically, it happened to be along the same side of this neighbor's house that was broken into. So...Dave's first weekend off from studies in a while was definitely begun with fun and excitement!

Just a plug for something fun that a friend recently introduced me to...over to the right here you will find a link to www.goodreads.com...if you are not familiar with the site, you should visit it...this site not only gives you the opportunity to set up a library of books that you have read, are going to read, or are reading, but you also have the opportunity to write reviews, rate books, and share them with friends...you can add friends to your booklist...updating them on reads they may be interested in...and in general, use it as a way to keep in touch with those you see less frequently...or most frequently. If you sign-up, add me to your list, I would love to swap ideas on what to read...and even hear about what you are learning!

As for adoption, Dave and I found out during the latter part of this week that we need to go on a search for a copy of his birth certificate...we have a 'consular report of birth' from Colombia, but need a DS-1350 from Washington, D.C. Vital Records...this is a fancy proof of birth for someone born abroad. We do not know how long this process will take and have been advised to work on this immediately as there may be a longer than normal delay with folks rushing to get their passports with changing U.S. policy governing travel across borders. We invite your prayers in this as this stands to hold up the process of submitting our dossier to Colombia. We are reminded that God is in control and will ensure that this process works out in his timing, though.

On the whole, we are doing well...I am catching up on some sleep and rest after the push to finish the dining room and kitchen...I will continue with priming, painting, and trim here in August, but desired some rest before moving forward with that as well. It is also fun getting to catch up with some of you who we have not been able to speak with in a while!

Where does the time go?

2007-07-30T09:00:00.001-07:00

Dave and I have been vowing to hop on derrcolombianadoption.org and update the site, although truly have not had the time to even consider making that reality. Life has been extremely busy in the Derr household this summer. We began the summer season concluding that a vegetable garden would be out for this year. We were very sad about this as our garden has brought much enjoyment to both of us since moving back to the Harrisburg area. Fortunately, we still have quite a few hot peppers from last summer!

While Dave has pushed through a summer accounting class with a local community college, I have plowed forward with renovations on our dining room and kitchen. Thanks to my Dad and Mom, we were able to frame the ceiling to the kitchen, complete electrical rennovations, and begin gutting out our backroom in May. Moving into June, I continued the work with laying a subfloor, hanging and finishing drywall, and some minor electrical work. I must say that I am not game for ever finishing drywall again! It is the messiest process I think I have ever undertaken...next to demolition work, that is.

Last Friday we welcomed a social worker from the Adoption International Program to our home for the official in-home visit. It seemed to go well. Dave and I both agreed that there is far too much hype surrounding those things. Both of us spent so much time preparing for the possible parental type questions that may be asked. We also worked hard to clean up the mess from all the repairs I had been doing. In the end, the social worker noticed the work we had been doing on the house, but it didn't seem that big a deal (we could have left some more undone and it probably would have been o.k.!). There was some irony to the visit. In our effort to prepare and and ready ourselves for the visit, we had gone out to breakfast together. We returned to the house around 9:30 in the morning, knowing that the visit was to happen between 10:00 and 10:30...in fact, we expected closer to 10:30 based on the conversations that we had over email with the social worker. Needless to say, I jumped in the shower and was out about 9:45 when, low and behold, the doorbell is ringing! Ok, it is one thing to be in sloppy clothes and a bit unkept when the doorbell rings for something like this...but it is a whole different story to be running around in your birthday suit! All told, Dave ended up without a shower, unshaved, and still even had the nice cowlick in the back of his head from sleeping while I ended up dressed with sopping hair. It was absolutely awesome and humorous (ha!) and God's way of reminding us that this visit is about preparing us for adding to our family rather than weeding out all the things that could preclude us from having a child.

So, the biggest question that we find ourselves answering these days is "What is the next big step?". We also had the opportunity to speak with our adoption consultant through Children's Hope International on Friday. This call was both lengthy and extremely helpful. At this point, we will be waiting for the home study report to be written so that a copy can be sent to Philadelphia to complete our petition for an orphan visa. In the meantime, we will be working with a psychologist through CHI to complete a psychological evaluation on each of us. We will each complete personality inventory tests followed by an over-the-phone interview of each of us. In the meantime, the psychologist will read our autobiographies and call our social worker for some additional collaborative information.

While the psychological report is the next big step, there are many small steps that we will be completing in the meantime. We have several pieces of paperwork that we will additionally gather this week and next week. All of these will need to be notarized. In the meantime, we are beginning a draft letter to the ICBF of Colombia to explain our motives for adoption through Colombia, our desire in age of child, and our qualifications as future parents. Our adoption consultant will review this letter and make suggestions as needed. The last and final step in this whole process once we have received our FBI fingerprint results, our completed home study, a response from the orphan visa request, and a completed psychological report...we will travel downtown here in Harrisburg to apostille every last piece of paperwork we have gathered and had notarized. The apostille process could take several hours one afternoon and is a verification process by the state. They will literally verify that the persons who notarized our documents are official. This process would be to satisfy Colombia's need to make sure that everything is legit.

Once the apostille process is completed, we will send all of this paperwork to Children's Hope International for final preparation and translation into Spanish for delivery to Colombia. We have been told that this process could take a couple weeks followed by a 2-4 week review process by Colombia. Once our request is reviewed and approved by Colombia, we will be placed on a waiting list...and have been recently told that most likely it will be an infant list rather than toddler! So.....we need to switch our thinking a bit here, although are terribly excited! Our wait from the approval time and being placed on that list will be between 6-9 months for an infant compared to the less than 6 month wait for a toddler. The change of waiting lists is being made based on Dave's birth in Colombia. As with all things in this process, we will continue to keep an open mind, because anything can happen at this point. We are finding that flexibility needs to be a part of our vocabulary. While they are projecting one thing, something completely different may happen. We lay these details in God's hands and trust that the outcome is based on his ongoing work and what he intended all along.