History

Journal History

Sunday, January 11, 2009 7:56 PM CST

****ANOTHER UPDATE 1-16-09****
Today, we found out that we are provisionally approved for the I-800 paperwork. This means that the USCIS is done with our paperwork and it was sent off to the Dept of State. So what we have been told is we could get word we can travel anywhere from 2 - 4 weeks!! Holy cow - we have a lot to do before then!!!!!!!
We are planning to travel to Chicago next week - probably Thurs or Friday to get our Visas. We will keep you updated!

***UPDATE 1-13-09***
We have officially been approved for the I-800-A paperwork!!! YEAH!!! And yesterday, we Fed Ex'd the application for the I-800 to the USCIS - I know that it is there (in the USCIS building that is) I have been tracking it today. It is signed for and there. Our contact at USCIS does not have it on her desk yet - but she thinks tomorrow.....then we sit and wait again. It needs to be approved by the USCIS and then it goes to the US Embassy in Colombia to be approved there. Let's just hope that it doesn't take long!!
We can't wait to meet Sam! I spoke with Elizabeth today and she said that he is doing awesome! He now weighs 23.8 lbs and is 29.5". She also said that by the time we get down there, he will be a full - fledged crawler!! So fun!! We are bummed that we are missing all of these firsts with him, but we will be there soon! We see the light at the end of the I-800 tunnel!!!

***************************************

There have been many new events at the Breunig household these past few weeks.

1. We are feeling more at home in our new home. We only have a handfull of boxes still to be unpacked. The kids are having fun finding their toys again!

2. Our 1st grader, Miss Ellie Rose Breunig, on Friday, got all of her spelling words correct. Yes - all 10 of her words were spelled correctly!!! Words like walk, all, came, game, and gate all have a star next to them as well as friendship and relationship. So today we took her to Build a Bear and she picked out a dog that she named Kelsey. She has not left her side since. We are SO proud of her!!

3. Mateo is officially out of diapers! Yes he is now potty trained!! He started going on the potty around Christmas time and it has been dry sailing ever since! Again, very proud parents here!!!!

4. We haven't received new pictures of Sam recently, but we know that he is doing good! I called FANA and found out that he is trying to sit up on his own, he is learning to roll over and he is saying "babababa". We also heard from the USCIS on Friday and they said that we will hopefully be approved for the I-800-A on Monday. Then starts the next round of paperwork (otherwise known and the I-800) which could take anywhere from 2-4 weeks to be approved for that. So we are getting close to traveling and we are SO excited!!!!

5. If you did not receive a Christmas card from the Breunig's, we are so sorry!!! Apparently, the envelopes that I bought were not good and so I have heard from many of you that you got the ripped up envelope with no card. So here it is......Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

Well that about sums up things going on at the Breunig's right now.

Thanks for checking in! LIFE IS GOOD!!!!

Steve, Jenna, Ellie, Mateo and Sam

Sunday, December 14, 2008 10:36 AM CST

Hello everyone!

Thanks to our friends the Skow / Norgard clan, we have new pictures of our Sam!! THANKS YOU GUYS!!!! Those pictures mean the world to us as we sit here and wait......

On that note, I (Jenna) actually called the USCIS (which is the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services - they process our forms to classify Sam as an immediate relative and naturalize him). I just wanted to see where we were on their list. Unfortunately, our file has not even been looked at yet. They are saying right now that the approval process time is about 90 days - and it sounds like they are taking that whole time. Our file has been there since Oct. 24th which means our 90 days is up on Jan 24th. Then once we have that approval, there is another form for us to fill out which takes about 30 days for them to approve.......so this puts us at traveling the end of Feb or beginning of March. Ok - this is NOT ok with us. But I really don't know what we can do about this!! I have a few ideas and I am working hard to try to figure out how we can get Sam in our arms before his 1st birthday (March 3rd)!! I will keep you all updated on that.

On a happier note, we moved into our new house last Sat. THANKS to all that helped us get our stuff moved in! We couldn't have done it without all of you!

We are still unpacking. I think that we will be doing that until the end of time!! My winter boots are still missing, some pots and pans are probably in a box in the garage, our mop and broom are hiding, etc. But the kids rooms are all done and they are having a blast opening up their toy boxes that they haven't seen for the past 4 months. It is like an early Christmas!

Ellie is doing great! She loves 1st grade! She has been taking the bus after school to daycare since she started school, but hasn't come home on the bus......until last Thurs. So it was about 3:15 and I knew that the bus would be coming soon. I didn't want to seem like the overprotected mom who waits at the bus stop - so I slowly walked to the mailbox, hmmmm no bus. So I sat on the front porch while I let Wylie (our dog) out. Still no bus. So I headed on inside and that is when I heard the big yellow thing coming around the corner. There are 2 bus stops within 5 houses of each other. I told Ellie that she could get off on either one. No Ellie at the first stop. So I started walking to the 2nd house. I saw the 4 kids that we stand with every morning waiting for the bus......but the bus left and there was no Ellie. I started running...and running.....and running. As I ran, I was asking the kids where the last bus stop was in the neighborhood. They told me and so I ran - as fast as I could to that stop. Holy cow I am really out of shape!! I finally met up with the bus and the busdriver nonchelantly asked, "oh honey, who are you looking for?" I could hardly talk at this point. "Ellie" She yelled for Ellie, but no response. So the driver waved me on the bus to look for her. I was panning the bus. I didn't see her. Panic. Heart racing. What now? Finally behind a taller kid I saw Ellie's hat raise. She looked at me and said, "Well mom, what are you doing on my bus?" I just grabbed her hand and got off the bus. I don't think that I stopped panting until we finally got home. I can laugh at this now (and I do chuckle everytime I think about it!) The neighbors must think that we are crazy!!! Too funny!

Everytime we would turn onto the street of our new house while we were building, Mateo would ask "is the new house almost done?" Now when we turn onto the street he says "yeah the new house is done!" He still calls Sam - Victor. He truly does think that Sam and Victor are 2 different babies that we will be bringing home from FANA. When we ask him where Sam is going to sleep in his room, he says "I don't know, but Victor is going to sleep on the bottom bunk" Hmmm....this will be interesting.

We went yesterday morning to cut down our Christmas tree. It is up and in it's stand and I think that is as far as we are going to go. No lights, no decorations, just a tree in a stand. I can see the bins of Christmas decorations in the garage, but can't quite get to them right now - so a tree will have to do. At least Santa has a place to put the presents, right??

So that is it for now. We are all doing great and looking forward to Christmas in our new house.

LIFE IS GOOD!

Steve, Jenna, Ellie, Mateo and Sam

Tuesday, November 11, 2008 9:27 PM CST

Thanks to the Kurtzman family, (who are in Colombia right now with their new son Henry) we have new photos of Sam!!! Thanks Kurtzman's!!!!!!

We don't really have any new news on the paperwork side of things - other then we have an appt for our fingerprints this Friday. Hopefully everything else with the I-800-A is going good. You just never know.......

Everything with our house is going too. The cabinets are in and next week will start to get crazy with the plumber, countertops, carpet, etc. We are planning on moving in the first weekend in Dec. We are getting close!!! We are excited to get all moved in and organized before we travel to get Sam!!

Ellie and Mateo are doing really good too! Ellie is doing great in school! At her conferences, her teacher said that she is a sweet little girl who is a great listener and is really good at math. She is also getting really good at her spelling tests! It is fun to see her excited about school!!

Mateo is too funny! He still calls Sam - Victor (he pronounces it Bikter). We are pretty sure he thinks we are going to Colombia to get a little boy named Sam and a little boy named Victor. Hmmmm....I don't think that will be happening. I just think that Sam will always be Victor to Mateo. Very cute!

Thanks for checking in on us we will update you all when we hear of travel plans!! Hope that is soon!!

Life is GOOD!

Steve, Jenna, Ellie, Mateo and Sam

Tuesday, October 14, 2008 9:28 PM CDT

Here is a new picture of our boy!! Isn't he a cute little chunker?

No real news on the adoption front. Our US paperwork is where it is suppose to be and the Colombian paperwork is going to be there next week.

Our buddy couple, the Kurtzman's, received their little boy Henry yesterday! We are so excited for them!! They were nice enough to bring Sam some fun little things from us. A rattle, a lion (that Mateo picked out for him), a blanket and a photo album of his new family. We hope that he is having fun with them! We can't wait to give him the tractor book that Ellie picked out for him and more fun toys in person!!

Our daily conversations usually somehow end up on our new babe. Ellie asks "what do you think Sam is doing right now?" or "When we bring Sam home, can you bring him to my school for show and tell?" All Mateo says is "No Ellie, not Sam, Victor." Yes Teo will not call him Sam. He still calls him Victor. We have to keep telling him that mommy, daddy, and Ellie are going to call him Sam, but if wants, he can call him Victor. It is too cute!

Our house is still coming along. We are hoping that the cabinets are on their way here - supposedly they will be here next week sometime. Along with our woodwork! It is starting to come together! You know that you are getting close when you can get rid of the porta potty that has been sitting in your driveway for the past 5 months! We are hoping for a middle of Nov. move in date.

Yes there is a lot going on right now - but we are loving every minute of it! All of the running around, living with mom and dad, painting and paperwork - it is all worth it!!

Thanks so much for checking in!! Life with the Breunig's is GOOD!!!

Steve, Jenna, Ellie, Mateo & Sam

Saturday, October 4, 2008 4:28 PM CDT

We are going to get the business side of things out of the way. Our email account has changed due to us moving and our new email address is sjbreunig@comcast.net. Our phone number has remained the same which is 651/464-5439. Our social security numbers are ......... oh wait, you are not the government which needs that information for the adoption papers.

So lets get back to the fun and exciting news of Victor. Yes, we are still calling him Victor because no first name has been determined at this time. We have a couple of names that we like and are tossing them around for a little while. Heck we might have a while to determine the first name due to the wait of our paperwork being accepted.

September 25th we had our first home study with our social worker at Crossroads (Minnesota Adoption Agency). Our second home study is scheduled for October 7th at our new but yet to be completed house. Jenna has been running around like a crazy woman gathering fingerprints, passports for the kids, fingerprints, doctors approvals, fingerprints, letters from our employers stating we have a job, fingerprints, letter from our bank, fingerprints and birth certificates. With all of the technology that our government has, why can we not get fingerprinted once in our life and then just have those fingerprints sent to whoever needs them? Ooohhhhh that's right....the government is spending all its (our) money and time bailing out failed companies. But we will move on.........

Funny story about the fingerprints.....
we went to our local police station to get our fingerprinting done. We had an appointment and all of the fingerprint cards ready to be inked. Jenna got there first so she got started right away. The officer helped Jenna with every finger and thumb on both cards that we had to do. Steve came in and we proceeded to have a nice chat with the officer that was there to help us. Things like "....boy it sure is nice to have some nice, sober people in here to get their fingerprints done...." and "...I can tell that you have done this before..."(no - not in a bad way - this is our 3rd adoption ya know!!) were said. When Jenna was done, she left the room and went to wash her hands. When she came back, the officer was still chatting away, but now he was sitting in a chair next to the fingerprinting table and Steve was standing there doing his own fingerprints!! Yes we have done this many times before!! It was too funny!!

We are hoping that our inside source at FANA will get us some new pictures of Victor soon. When we do get new photos we will post them immediately. I told Jenna I could pose for a few new photos to place on the site but for some reason she started laughing and walking away. The caption on my photo would probably read something like this:

"35 year old male, balding father of three, just lost any free time he previously had with only two children, in need of higher paying job and larger vehicle to transfer children to future soccer, basketball and baseball games. P.S. He is going to love every minute of it."

If any of you are continuous readers of our site you will notice that Jenna ends almost every journal with "LIFE IS GOOD". I am going to refrain from using that statement because we really need to be more creative with our journal endings.

So here is Steve's new, exciting, energetic and unique ending to this journal.......

LIFE IS GREAT!!

Steve, Jenna, Ellie, Teo and Victor

Monday, September 22, 2008 8:41 PM CDT

Boy do we have a shocker for all you readers!

We will begin with the morning of September 8th. Jenna calls me at work and tells me about a 6 month old child at FANA named Victor that is available for adoption. She states that she has been thinking about this child all weekend and how she thinks he would be a great fit for our family. Still trying to wake up from a long weekend of working on our house I probably muttered something like....yeah, that would be a pretty nice addition. Jenna continues to tell me his name and all the vital stats. We say our "I love you's" and hang up the phone.

The day continues and as I am hard at work I begin to replay the conversation that Jenna and I had that morning. I begin to go over the stats Jenna told me and start thinking about the age difference between Mateo and Victor. A little over 2-1/2 years, that is pretty good spacing I think.

We now move to later in the week. Jenna and I do not see each other much these days so with the time alotted we usually talk about: 1. kids 2. house construction 3. how tired we are. However this time the conversation turned to Victor. The questions of Can we...What if we....Can we do this.....arose in our brief talk.

We advance to September 14th. A few of our wonderful friends call us to let us know that another email will be sent out shortly to invite families outside of the FANA circle to consider adopting Victor. They tell us that this can not happen and that we need to step up. The main comment from those who already have three children was..."Two kids is chaotic and a third kid just adds to the fun chaos."

The following Tuesday night we talk further about Victor and decide that Victor and the situation fits us pretty darn well. We are instructed to write a letter to FANA to express our extreme interest in Victor. A letter was written and signed, a photo was attached and faxed to Patti on Thursday September 18th.

Then the magic moment! Setptember 22nd, literally two weeks to almost the hour I received a call from Patti saying that FANA had approved Jenna and I as Victor's parents (For those of you that know Patti please ask her why she called Steve after calling Jenna). We are ecstatic to be his parents and we have begun the paperwork immediately. The adoption application has been submitted to Crossroads and we are hoping to have our first homestudy meeting this Thursday.

So in a matter of two weeks we went from a happy family of 4 to an extremely excited family of 5. Please take a look at the photo page to see beautiful pictures of our THREE kids.

We will update as we have more information on our paperwork. We have been told a couple different time frames on when we will be able to travel to get him. It ranges anywhere from before Christmas to 4-6 months from now. Once we know more we will update you on this.

His birth name is Victor Manuel Delgado and he was born on March 3rd, 2008. We are talking about first names for this not so little guy.....on that note he already weighs 19 pounds at 6 months of age!!

Thanks for checking in!!

LIFE IS SO GOOD!!!!

Steve, Jenna, Ellie, Mateo & our newest member

Wednesday, July 2, 2008 10:21 PM CDT

Hello all.....

Let's see - what have the Breunig's been up to??

When you all last tuned in, we had just been to AZ - man that seems so long ago. A lot has been going on since our last entry!

First of all the big news in our family is that Ellie is now a 6 year old!!!! Holy cow - 6??!! We can't believe that she is 6!! She celebrated in style at Chuck E Cheese complete with a special visit from Chuck himself and of course a Hannah Montana cake! Very fun!

Next, we took our first official camping trip in our new pop-up camper. We were in beautiful Hayward, WI on the Chippewa Flowage. It was fun! We played at the park, sang to chipmunks, played mini golf, and hung out with Steve�s family. We can't wait to go again!! It beats setting up the camper in our driveway (which we had done 3 times before our official trip - yes and we even slept in it!!) We also just got back from a fabulous long weekend with the Thorson's Wilson's and Pawlak's at Kaptel (the Thorson's family cabin). We had such a good time!!! Thanks Thorson's!!!!!!!

Next, we all survived the 4th annual FANA garage sale!! Yes we did it again and this time we had our most successful year so far!!! Are you all sitting down?? We made $9,700.00!!! Thanks to all who donated, volunteered at the sale and those that took care of the kids at home so the moms could come and help!! We could not have done it without all of you!!!!!

I guess the last thing that is new and exciting in our life is that we are moving! Yes - our house is for sale and we are picking up and moving the family to Lino Lakes, MN!! We are really excited! The new house is moving really fast! We already have windows and shingles, they poured the concrete today, everyday there is something new happening there! While they were pouring the concrete today, I brought the kids there and put their footprints and handprints in the garage floor. They thought it was cool to "walk" on the cement.

Last, but surely not least, we are excited about the FANA golf tournament, which is coming up on Friday July 18th. Anyone reading this that is interested in joining us at this awesome event, which raises money for the orphanage that Ellie and Mateo are from, please let us know. Steve and I are golfing in it this year and also staying for the dinner. There is a great website set up to explain more about the event. It is www.friendsoffanaminnesota.org Or you could call us and we can help you get reservations! Also, there is a great way on the website to donate if you can't make it to the tourney. Just thought I would throw that out there for anyone who is interested!

Thanks as always for checking in on us!

Life it GOOD!
Steve, Jenna, Ellie & Mateo

Sunday, April 6, 2008 10:54 PM CDT

Hi there everyone,

Things are busy here at the Breunig household......

Here is what Ellie has been up to....

1. She still loves gymnastics. She is very close to moving up to the next level which means she can move into the big gym with trampolines, beams, uneven bars, heart attacks for mom and dad, etc. She cartwheels her way around these days - even Mateo tries to do somersaults.

2. She has officially learned how to swim without her floaties!! This is a HUGE step for our girl. She has never been excited about swimming and since we spend quite a bit of time around water - at the cabin and in Arizona - we really wanted her to learn how to swim. So this last trip to Arizona, she got new goggles and just did it. She swam from one side of the 3 ft side of the pool to the other side of the 3 ft side. We are so proud of her!!

3. She is having a great time in kindergarten. She amazes us with her Spanish. It gets better everyday!! She LOVES to sing all of the songs she learns in music class. She is also learning Chinese once a week at school. It is pretty cool!

4. She is just doing so great. She is a beautiful, caring, sensitive, funny girl and we are so glad she is a part of our lives!!

Mateo has been up to..........

1. Cars, bats, balls, anything boy pretty much sums him up these days!! He is definately all boy!! He is practicing his hand / eye coordination. He can't wait to get outside and play ball!!

2. He has always loved the water. While in AZ last week, he jumped off the side of the pool, swam with his new goggles on, and spent a lot of time in the hot tub. He is crazy in the water - we have to watch him closely!!

3. We found out tonight that he can count to 10. I count with him often, but he just stares at me. He has never really showed interest in counting with me. So tonight we were playing and I said 1, 2, 3....and he finished it off. Way too cool!!

4. He is really talking a ton! He copies everything that Ellie says (she hates it, we think it is cute!) He is so great too! He is kind (when he isn't driving his cars into his sister), and funny (his knock knock jokes are great), and so smart (Ellie taught him how to say hello in Chinese...next time you see him ask him - it is too funny!!!).

We all just returned from Arizona where we spent a week with my mom and dad. We always have a great time!! Thanks grandpa and mima!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So there you have it - thanks for checking in!

Life is GOOD!

Steve, Jenna, Ellie and Mateo

Saturday, December 29, 2007 11:01 AM CST

The Breunig Highlights from Christmas:

1. Having breakfast and then heading to a local tree farm to cut down our Christmas tree with the Wilson's. Then listening to Steve sing his "Here comes Christmas tree" song (ok - maybe that shouldn't be on the highlight list - but it is funny!)

2. Ellie and Mateo visiting Santa. Mateo said nothing to Santa. Here is the conversation that Ellie had with Santa.

Santa - "Hi Ellie. Have you been a good girl?"
Ellie - "Yes"
Santa - "Well, what would you like for Christmas this year young lady?"
Ellie - "Hmmm, anything that I can play with"

Santa did well with what he had to go on!!

3. Traveling to Middleton, WI to have Christmas with the Breunig side. Swimming in the pool, great meals and hanging out with family. (A not so good highlight was the 8 hour drive home in the snowstorm! We made it though!)

4. Spending Chirstmas Eve and Christmas Day with the Sievers' side. Playing the Wii, great food, and bowling with family and friends.

We are looking forward to 2008! We hope everyone has a great New Year!!
Thanks for checking in on us! Life is GOOD!

Steve, Jenna, Ellie & Mateo

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Monday, October 22, 2007 12:39 AM CDT

Wow - it has been a long time since we updated! We must be busy??
Here are just a few things that have been happening in our lives......

SUMMER....
was awesome! We made it to the cabin a few times to swim, jet ski, visit a fun "farm" called Fawn da Rosa, play the Big Mouth Billy Bass (just a few 1000 times - it is Mateo's favorite) and spent time with Mima and Grandpa.
We also made it to the State Fair 2 times, went camping at the Helinsky cabin, and spent many hot afternoons on the slip n slide.

SCHOOL....
Yes it is official. Ellie is a kindergartener (only a few tears were shed by mom). She is having a great time and learning so much! She will be talking to us and all of a sudden she will throw in a Spanish word or two. It is very cool! Her teacher - Senorita Maru is wonderful!

ANOTHER COLOMBIAN.....
Yes we have another Colombian living with us. William is a teacher at Ellie's school and is staying with us until January. It has been fun teaching him English, showing him around Minnesota, and talking about his country, a place that we hold so dear in our hearts!

KIDS....
Ellie is doing great! She is excited to start up gymnastics next month and is loving her school.
Mateo is still as crazy as ever. He has no fear, loves to be outside with dad and has already started asking the wonderful word...."WHY?" Does it start this early?? Oh boy!

Well that is about it! Lots going on here! Enjoy the pictures!
LIFE IS GOOD!!

Steve, Jenna, Ellie and Mateo

Friday, July 13, 2007 3:27 PM CDT

Can you believe Mateo turns 2 tomorrow???? Where does the time go? It is going by too fast for us!

Our little guy is definitely acting more like a 2 year old lately! He has been working on his fine motor skills much more then his verbal skills. He can drop kick a ball, dribble a ball and hit a ball off of a tee better then his 5 year old sister! Although Ellie was working on words with him today in the car and he repeated almost everything she said. It was very cute! I love this age! There is still the frustration when we can't figure out what he wants, but it is getting better!

Ellie is great too! She is such a great big sister! She knows that Mateo will do EVERYTHING that she does (and says!). And right now she doesn't mind it too much. When she wants to play with her Polly Pockets (who in their right mind invented those??) she knows she has to go in her room and close the door, otherwise he will be throwing them all around and then we won't be able to find the other smallest red shoe in all of man kind!! It will be interesting when Mateo learns how to open doors!!

Ellie is so excited to start kindergarten at LILA, a Spanish immersion school, in Forest Lake. She can't wait to say "Hola" everyday! Steve and I are thinking that we will have to take Spanish classes so we know what Ellie and her friends are talking about on the phone!! Better sign up for that soon!!

Thanks for checking in on us! Life is GOOD!!

Wednesday, May 23, 2007 10:12 PM CDT

Since we last updated, we have done/experienced some pretty fun things!

ELIZABETH ROSE BREUNIG TURNED 5 TODAY!!!!

We can't believe that our little girl is now 5! She graduates from preschool tomorrow night, upgraded her bike from a 12" to a whoppin 16", can now drive a Jeep (a Fisher Price Jeep that is), and will start kindergarten in the fall! Where did our little girl go?? We can't believe how fast time really does go!

We traveled to Warrens, WI with the Wilson's and the Dunn's to Jellystone Waterpark. It was a blast! The kids had a great time in the 8" deep pool. It was great for Mateo because this kid seriously has little fear of the water and so we felt pretty safe with him being able to float on his belly with his floaties on. And for Ellie, it was all about the purple water slide (and trying not to get her hair wet. Oh - yes, she is a girlie girl!!)

We also traveled to Madison for family pictures and a little birthday celebrating with the 3 girl cousins. We went to a pizza place that has a theater where you can watch movies while you eat, and an arcade with fun prizes! It was a lot of fun!

Both kids are doing great! They are full of love and laughter! We are truly blessed!

Thanks for checking in on us! Life is good!!

Steve, Jenna, Ellie and Mateo

Saturday, April 14, 2007 9:22 PM CDT

We are looking forward to spring here!!! After visiting grandpa and mima in Arizona for 1 week - we want the warm sunny weather!!!!

We had a great time in AZ with the Marelic's!! We are glad that the plane ride down didn't depict how the trip was going to go........Mateo cried for the entire flight! Well ok - he fell asleep for the last 20 minutes, until the captain came on the loud speaker to tell everyone to fasten their seat belts. Geez!!! We (Steve and I) were ready for a "cold one" when landed!!!!

Ellie showed us some of her new swimming techniques she learned at her swim lessons - which she passed by the way!!! She still doesn't want to go under the water - but we are working on that.

Mateo is just the opposite. He will jump in at anytime, anywhere, any way. Floaties or no floaties, swim diaper or no swim diaper - he wants in the pool! He goes under the water by himself and loves every minute of it!

We swam almost everyday, visited a very cool railroad park (twice), went to a zoo called Out of Africa where we fed a giraffe a carrot, and drove around in a 12 person conversion van. What more could we want?? FUN FUN FUN!!!

So now, we are just waiting for the AZ sun to come up our way so Ellie and Mateo can practice more of their swimming in the kiddie pool in our driveway.

Thanks for checking in! Life is good!!

Friday, March 2, 2007 1:26 PM CST

Happy snow day!!

We are having a great time in the snow these past few days! This is what living in MN is all about!

Ellie and Mateo are doing great! Here is what they have been up to lately.....

ELLIE

She still loves her preschool every Tuesday and Thursday mornings.
She was accepted into the LILA school - it is the Spanish Immersion school here in Forest Lake. We are so excited! When she found out that she was going to go here, she said, "Oh yea! Now I can say Hola!!"
She is back in swimming and doing much better this time around! Hopefully she will pass and be able to move on!
She gets to be the "STAR" at preschool in a couple of weeks. We just laugh at her answers to the fill in the blanks....

When I grow up, I want to be......
"a daycare lady!"

If I had one wish it would be......
"to have 2 pet horses - you know mom, you can't just have one. Then daddy and Mateo can ride on one and you and I can ride on one" Smart girl!!!

She keeps us laughing!

MATEO

Well - where do we start with this one??? We are hoping that everything that has been going on lately is just his age. Either that or he needs hearing aids?? Does the mans selective hearing set in at this early of an age?? Boy are we in trouble!!!! He will look at us and just laugh and then do exactly what we just said NOT to do. He sure keeps us on our toes!
He has broadened his vocabulary a bit - he says - more, dada, mama, sock (pronounced sssssss) and shoe (pronounced shshshshsh)
He knows where his nose, mouth and hair is and sometimes knows where his belly button is (selective hearing again??)

All in all, things are great at the Breunig house! Thanks for checking in!

Steve, Jenna, Ellie and Mateo

Wednesday, January 10, 2007 8:53 PM CST

Hello and Happy 2007 to all of you!

We are all doing great here! The kids had a great and BUSY Christmas! It was fun! Ellie was really into it this year. Some highlights were:

Santa made an "appearence" at Mima and Grandpa's
house.
Celebrating Christmas in Middleton, WI
Ellie getting her "real make-up case" from Santa!
Bowling on Christmas day with friends and family
Seeing Rudolph's nose on our way to Middleton
Ellie and Mateo actually sitting on Santa's lap with
only a few tears shed (by Mateo).

We are now trying to get through a winter with no snow! "Mom, how are we suppose to make a snowman without any snow?" "Mom, can I wear my new snowboots if there isn't any snow?"

Mateo is saying a few words - ball, bubble, mama - but mostly he eh eh ehs his way around. He nods his head and says eh (this means yes), he points and says eh (this means I want what I am pointing at), he puts his two pointer fingers together and says eh (this means more). We are getting there slowly but surely. I know that one day he will wake up and talk in full sentences and never take a breath. I will want these quiet days back!

Thanks for checking in on us! Enjoy the pictures!

Jenna, Steve, Ellie and Mateo

Sunday, December 10, 2006 2:09 PM CST

We are getting into the Christmas spirit here at the Breunig household!! It is hard to believe that one year ago, we were experiencing this festive time in Colombia. What great memories we have from that trip!!!

Ellie is really getting into Christmas this year! It is fun seeing her look through the Toys R Us catalog and tell me (and Santa) what she wants under the tree. This is the first year that she really has stong feelings about toys, games, etc. She still loves her preschool! Her Christmas program is on the 14th. She is practicing her songs all day and night! Swimming is going better then we anticipated! She is putting her face in the water without complaining that her hair is getting wet. She loves it!

Mateo is doing great too! He is almost 17 months (man time flies!) He is starting to say some words - ball, mama, go, mmmm (when he likes what he is eating). It is so fun! He loves swimming too! He blows bubbles and loves to go down the baby slide! I have no idea what he wants for Christmas! "Boy" things I guess because as you can see from the pictures, we have a lot of "girl" things that he plays with. Too funny!

Thanks for checking in! Have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Love to all,

Steve, Jenna, Ellie and Mateo

Wednesday, November 1, 2006 12:36 AM CST

Happy Halloween!

We've been quite busy here! Here is a re-cap of the past month (or two).....

ELLIE:

Preschool: Yup she still LOVES it!! Ms. Chris and Ms. Dawn make it so fun! She comes home singing a new song every Tues and Thurs!!

Gymnastics: She still loves this too! Next week is her last time and then she starts swimming. Should be fun! Steve and I are trying to get into "shape" for our swimsuit debut - not looking forward to that!!

MATEO:

Crusin': YIPPIE - our boy is finally walking! He started on Sept 29th and never looked back! He is loving it! We on the other hand are pretty tired from all of the chasing we are doing!

KIDS:

Trick or Treat: We started the Halloweening at Byerly's where they have their annual Boo Blast. All of the kids had a great time getting goodies in the produce, dairy, and cookie aisles!! Mateo didn't understand what was going on, but he still had fun cruisin' around!
We then had a fun party at Ellie's preschool. Games, treats and singing - what fun! Then of course there was Halloween night - Trick or Treating. Mateo wasn't feeling the best, so Steve stayed home with him while Ellie and I FROZE out booty's! It was still fun and Ellie made a killing on the candy!

Brother / sister love: They are still in love with each other! Ellie is just the best big sister and helper! She makes sure that Mateo always has something to do. It is so great to see them play together and interact!

Well that is about it! Thanks for checking in with us!
LIFE IS GOOD!!!!

Steve, Jenna, Ellie and Mateo

Friday, September 1, 2006 4:27 PM CDT

Hello!

It is time, once again, to look into the lives of Ellie and Mateo!

Ellie has decided that she would rather take gymnastics instead of dance. Also she is going to take swim lessons. This is going to be interesting!! She is excited about it, but we don't really think that she understands what is really going to happen. She will be by herself....no mom and dad to cling to! She will have to learn to swim this way - right?? We shall see!!

Mateo is still the speediest crawler we know!! He is standing on his own and will take a couple of steps, but that is where it ends! It will happen any day we are sure! He has had 2 haircuts since he turned 1. He had no hair when we got him and now he looks like Don King if we don't cut it!! It is too cute! He too will be taking swim lessons (but with mom and dad there). He loves the water so much that we will be the ones clinging to him so he doesn't take off trying to swim on his own!

Hope you all have a great Labor Day weekend! Thanks for checking in on us!

Steve, Jenna, Ellie, and Mateo

Wednesday, July 12, 2006 10:07 PM CDT

Hello everyone,

Time for an update.....

Mateo will be one on Friday! ONE - can you believe it?? Time goes way too fast! We had a small party for him last weekend to celebrate his first birthday. He had a great time! His favorite parts (yes there were two.....) were when the pinata opened and he found a sucker, got the wrapper off, and stuck it in his mouth! Both he and I were so sticky and we were headed inside - so I took it away (BAD mom!!!) He didn't like that very much! He cried and cried. We then headed in for cupcakes and ice cream - yes this would lead up to his 2nd favorite part. He shoveled that cupcake in like it was nobody's business! It was hilarious! He loves sweets!!

Ellie is doing great too! She is in gymnastics every Monday night and is looking forward to starting up dance again in the fall. She is always practicing her summersaults and straddle jumps. It is too cute!

Both Ellie and Teo are looking forward to their trip to Madison on Friday to stay with grandma and grandpa Breunig for a week! We will miss them like CRAZY but we know that they will have a great time!!!!!!

Thanks for checking in on us! Life is GOOD!!!!

Steve, Jenna, Ellie and Mateo

Wednesday, May 24, 2006 1:59 PM CDT

HAPPY 4th BIRTHDAY ELLIE!!!

We can't believe that yesterday, our little girl turned 4!!! She can now chew bubble gum and last night we bought her a booster seat for the car (almost every day, she would get on the scale to see if she was big enough for a booster seat in the car - so she is so excited!!!) She is getting so big and growing way too fast!!

Last weekend we had a lot going on!!! Ellie had her "kingdom" birthday party - THANKS TO EVERYONE FOR THE AWESOME PRESENTS!!! - we also had a dance recital on Saturday and one on Sunday. Ellie did SO great! She stole the show! She danced to "Good Morning Mr. Sun" and "The Itsy Bitsy Spider" SO SO SO cute!

Mateo is getting so big too!! Since our last update, he has now gone from just crawling to serious CRAWLING at record speeds!! Also, he pulls himself up on everything - no really, I mean EVERYTHING!!! He also got in his 2 bottom teeth, can wave goodbye, shakes his head NO and claps his hands. He still is constantly on the move but is a great kid!!

Steve built the kids a beautiful swing set! Ellie LOVES it! For the first few nights after playing on it, she would go to the porch and yell out to it, "Good night swing set! I love you!!!" So cute!

We are so looking forward to the summer, nice weather, spending time at the cabin and spending time with friends and family!!

Thanks so much for checking in on us!!

Steve, Jenna, Ellie and Mateo

Tuesday, April 4, 2006 9:49 PM CDT

****The picture above shows what fun we had one day while packing for our upcoming trip. Ellie decided that she and Mateo needed to try on "sun" hats for Arizona. I don't think that Teo liked this one?!****

Hi all!!

We just returned from a great trip to Arizona to see Grandpa and Mima Sievers!!! Ellie is getting so great at swimming and Mateo loved his first time in the pool! It was so nice to get away for a week and enjoy the sun!

The kids are doing great!

Ellie still loves going to dance class and is looking forward to her recital the end of May! She still is a great big sister and loves helping mom and dad with Mateo!!

Mateo is SO close to crawling! He does the army crawl to get close to the action and into everything that his big sister is doing! "No Matoah" - comes out of Ellie's mouth quite often! (and yes, she still calls him Matoah!)

OUT OF THE MOUTH OF ELLIE

She still keeps us laughing here!

Just the other day, she accidentally bumped into Teo.
"Oh, brother, I am so sorry! I apologize!"
***What is she a teenager already? What 3 year old talks like this???

I was putting Teo to sleep.
"Dad, is mom available to say my prayers and sing me songs?"
***I guess I forgot to put her in my schedule?!

Yes, she is still VERY interested in Jesus!
"Mom, I can't see Jesus, but he did tell me that I don't have to say my prayers tonight.....that means that we can read another book, right?"
***She cracks me up!!!

Thanks for checking in on us!!

Steve, Jenna, Ellie and Mateo

Monday, March 6, 2006 4:48 PM CST

Hello!

We are back on the mend here! Both kids are finally healthy!!! YEAH!!

Mateo was admitted to Children's in St. Paul on February 20th with RSV. We got home on the 22nd and he is doing great now! He was such a trooper! Being poked and pricked - he cried of course - but it was always followed with a smile! Most of the nurses that came into our room were just there to visit "the cute baby on the 4th floor". Too funny! He is sitting up on his own now and he can get on all fours. He will be moving in no time!

Ellie is doing great too! She still loves helping us with Mateo! Getting toys for him to play with and telling us when he is finally sleeping during car rides. She still goes to dance class every Thursday night which she enjoys so much! She is really getting good too!

We are off to Arizona to visit Mima and grandpa the end of the month. Warm weather - YEA!!!!

Hope all of you are healthy!
Lots of love!

Steve, Jenna, Ellie, and Mateo

Thursday, February 9, 2006 2:13 PM CST

Yes, things are a bit more crazy here with 2! But we are loving every minute of it!

Mateo and Ellie are still great! Ellie loves taking care of her little brother (who she still calls Matoah - very cute!)and Teo is growing like a weed!

Enjoy the new pictures!

Hope everyone has a great Valentine's Day!

Lots of love,
La Familia Breunig

Thursday, December 29, 2005 5:58 PM CST

Yes....we are finally getting settled in here at HOME!!! We are having a great time here as a family of 4!

Our days of travel went on without any problems! Steve was worried about his LONG day of travel with Teo. Come on....a single dad with a cute baby?? He had some help on his first flight. A Colombian "mom" held Mateo for about 1 hour. How come no one offered to help me with a cute 3 year old????

Mateo is growing like crazy! He is doing great! Eating, sleeping and pooping (see past journals about this!) very well. He is rolling over, eating cereal, and loves his Johnnie Jump Ups!! He also loves his sister!!

Speaking of his sister.....Ellie is doing great too! She is glad to be home, but talks about Colombia quite often! She talks about FANA and when we will be going back to get another baby......hmmmmm......we will have to get to know our 2nd first before talking about a 3rd. She loved coming home to all the Christmas decorations and the tree that "the elves" put up (THANKS mom and Katie!!) and the decorations to welcome us home (THANKS Kelly, Jodi and kids!!).

Christmas was great! It was fun to show off our babe! Santa was good to all of us this year!

Well, thanks once again for checking in on us!

Hugs and Happy New Year to all of you!
Steve, Jenna, Ellie and Mateo

Thursday, December 29, 2005 5:58 PM CST

Monday, December 19, 2005 3:41 PM CST

Anyone remember the movie Grumpy Old Men? In the movie there is a line that goes something like this.... �you can wish in one hand and crap in the other. Then see which one gets filled first.�

Thankfully the wish came first and I have Mateo�s Visa in my hand and a beer in my other hand. I would have thought that typing with your tongue would be much harder than what it actually is!!

As of this morning there were three families here in Bogota that adopted from FANA that had not signed a Sentencia yet. A french couple staying with us here signed at 4 pm today (they were in the same court as we were, court 9). A family from Conneticut signed this morning and they are staying at The Plenitud. These two I am 100ure of because I was able to talk to both famlies. This next part is word of mouth from Carmen the owner of El Refugio. A family staying at Betty�s place from Buffalo did not sign today. On most days this is not really all that important. Except today is the last day the courts are open before they go on Christmas break. They re-open Janaury 16th. So that means the Buffalo family will be here for the Holidays and much more.

Tonight will consist of watching my dreadful Packers play the Baltimore Ravens in Spanish and probably Al Bundy style. Thankfully all cameras were taken home with Jenna and Ellie so there will be no pictures of this. Maybe if Teo is awake at that time we can share a beer together!

Adios for now,
Steve and Mateo

Sunday, December 18, 2005 7:06 PM CST

The bags are packed......
Kids are asleep.....
I�m having a beer....
Steve and Rosita are playing Yahtzee and having a beer.....
Life is good!!!

Today we packed a little in the morning and in the afternoon, we (the French family and the Breunig�s) took Diana and Rosita (Vilma and Ofilia couldn�t make it) out to lunch at El Corral Gourmet. It was the first time that El Refugio was left empty. We of course ok�d it with Carmen. Since there are only 2 families here, us and a French family, it was no problem to leave! It was very fun!!

I left Steve with the kiddos and went to do some last minute shopping at Unicentro. Of course I got caught in the rain.....I should know better then to leave the house without an umbrella. So shopping took a little longer then I thought.....oh darn!

We then packed the night away, and here we are.

Ellie and I have said our good-byes (very sad!) and are ready to come home!
Steve is ready to hold down the fort here with Mateo until Wednesday.

Thanks to all who have watched us grow to a family of 4! All of your guestbook entries have been so great to read! It made us feel so close to home!

We will see you all soon!!
Love from Bogota,

Steve, Jenna, Ellie and Mateo

Saturday, December 17, 2005 5:46 PM CST

Hello from sunny Colombia -

Today, we went to Jaime Duque park. This is an amusement park - maybe Colombia's version on Disney World? There were huge monuments to look at as well as many rides for Ellie, Steve and I to go on. A roller coaster (Ellie really wanted to go on this ride, so we had to lie about her age so she could ride it - she had to be 4. We coached her on what to say to the attendent before going in line....too funny!!), a giant slide, flying elephants, etc. It was very fun! Then, we were picked up at the park by Jose and Paula for lunch at a really great steak place near the park called El Humero. YUM YUM!!! We always have a great time with them!

We came home and decided that while Ellie and Mateo took a nap, we would make a funny list for all of you - so here it is.....

Top 15 reasons the Breunig's should come home to snowy MN

15. We miss Must See TV on Thursday nights.

14. We have played so much Yahtzee here (with and without Rosita) that there are no more score sheets!

13. Steve misses driving his truck and wants to plow our driveway with his 4-wheeler

12. A white chocolate mocha, skim, no whip, no bean from Caribou coffee!

11. A cold Coke! There are so many little shops that sell ice cream and pop along the streets here, all of which have coolers for the pops. The funny thing is that not many are actually plugged in! They just store warm pop. So, we are ready for an ice cold Coke!!

10. My own pillow. I tried really hard to fit my pillow into a suitcase, but it didn't fit. So I am really looking forward to a good nights sleep with my fluffy pillow!!!

9. New clothes. We thought when we came here that it was going to be pretty cold, so I packed long sleeved shirts and jeans. It has been fairly hot on somedays. We each had 4 short sleeved shirts and have been switching off wearing them. If I never see my light blue shirt again it would be fine with me!!

8. DKNI's. Right now, Steve and I consider ourselves not to be DINK's (Dual Income, No Kids) but Dual Kids No Income. Steve has used up all of his vacation time at work, so he is not being paid right now. Neither am I so therefore we are DKNI's and need to get home to put money in the bank for all of the spending we are doing here!!!

7. Johnnie Jump Up. Man our boy LOVES to jump!! He is a mover and a shaker, so we need to get him in a Johnnie Jump Up.

6. We have memorized every aisle in Carulla, in fact we have been offered jobs there! Maybe this would help with the spending???

5. Steve knows that the average time to go from El Refugio to the bank to take out money is 11.2 minutes. This is based on the average time for the 32 trips that we have made.

4. Grandma Jill re-wrote Walkin' in a Winter Wonderland to Will We Ever Get to Bogota? on the plane home from her visit here. Yes - it is time for us to get home so she has babysitting to keep her busy!

3. We have visited every restaurant, bar and store on Pepe Sierra.

2. Of course there are our family and friends that we miss dearly.

But the #1 reason for us to come home is......

1. To show off our Mateo!!

Well there you have it! We worked long and hard on this....over a beer of course! We also came up with just as many reasons to stay here. We LOVE it here and have had such a great time! The people that we have met this trip are so great! We are going to miss it so much and look forward to our return trip some day!

We love all of you and can't wait to see you soon!

Nighty night from Bogota!
Jenna, Steve, Ellie and Mateo

Friday, December 16, 2005 5:51 AM CST

*****YES - ANOTHER UPDATE - 5:30 pm Friday*****

Well, today Maria Teresa de Perez, Mateo and I did ALOT of running around! First the birth certificate, then passport, then the dr. Whew!!! A long day for all of us! Steve and Ellie hung out here, had a nap and went out for ice cream.
Steve has the Embassy on Monday and that will be that. We were advised to plan Steve and Mateo�s flight for Wed. just in case something happens on Mon. at the Embassy. This time of year, you never know what can happen!!!
So Monday the 19th, Ellie and I come home.....
FLIGHT INFO:
Continental 2996 from Newark arriving at 9:21pm

Steve and Mateo will be coming home on Wednesday the 21st.....
FLIGHT INFO:
Continental 2996 from Newark arriving at 9:21pm
Yes late we know - but at this point we all just want to get home!

YIPPIE!! We are so excited to get home and show off our cute little boy!

****UPDATE - 11:00 am Friday ******

The wonderful Defender of Minors decided to get in the Christmas spirit and SIGN our sentencia!!!! YIPPIE!! So today, Mateo and I (Jenna) are off and running starting at 12:30. First to get Teo's birth certificate, then to the passport, then if there is time....the doctor's to get the ok to bring him home!!!!!!

If all goes well today, then we would just have the Embassy on Monday.

I know that you all have been praying and crossing your fingers and toes for us this past week.....THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! We really appreciate all of the love and support! We love you all so much!

We are calling December 15th "All about Ellie Day!"

We started by taking her to Norbertos which has a very nice kids salon. It is decorated with Disney characters, race cars for the salon chairs and each station is equiped with an xbox or dvd player. All they do is cater to the young children. While watching a Disney movie Ellie got a short trim and then the beautiful braids (Steve here, not to sure if that is what you call what she got). They also sprayed glitter in her hair and placed some Disney stickers on both of her cheeks. From the race car chair we then went to the manicure chair where her nails were turned into beautiful works of art.

We returned to our "new home" as Ellie calls it. She even recognizes the streets we are walking on because she will now say..."hey, this is the street that our new house is on." She is always correct! Tacos for lunch and then a nap for the beauty queen. After the nap we headed to Unicentro with Erin & Juan were Ellie received a new pair of pink shoes.

After a short session of playing "Kitchen" and painting another 20 masterpieces on 8-1/2 x 11 paper we headed out to dinner with the adoptive couple from Wisconsin (Teo stayed home with Rosita). Archies (pizza joint) was the choice. While the adults were waiting for their food to arrive a worker at Archies came and put a Chef�s hat and apron on Ellie and they began to make a pizza. Ellie got to pound the dough into the shape of a pizza. She also put the sauce, pepporoni and cheese on the pizza. Ten minutes later they brought out the cooked pizza that Ellie had made.

As we were leaving we accidently bumped into Jose and Paula (friends that live here in Bogota). We talked to them for a little and discussed what we would like to do for our final weekend here in Bogota. They offered to be our personal tour guides and we are looking forward to that.

Today starts the nine days before Christmas. So last night they had Ciclovia from 7 - 10 PM. This is were they shut down the streets and you are allowed to walk, jog, ride or rollerblade your way around the city. They also had live events at all the major parks in Bogota and it was even televised live. It is truely amazing how they go all out to celebrate most everything.

Well the English speaking Sportscenter is about to begin at 7 AM and it is a ritual that Teo and I watch this together so I have to get going. This is an important show to the Breunig men because-
1. They speak English which I can understand
2. No Soccer hightlights. If you have spent more than a few days in Bogota and you are not a big fan of soccer you would understand what I mean by this.

Until later,
Steve, Jenna, Ellie and Mateo

Wednesday, December 14, 2005 9:20 PM CST

Jenna�s Update- (see Steve's update first)
The "level headed" wife is home from getting Ellie�s hair and nails done at Norberto�s (see picture) All I can say about Steve�s entry is.....use as may bad words as needed!!! Ellie and I will be flying home on Monday. Steve and Mateo will be flying home on Thursday the 22nd. It is noon here, Steve and I are having a beer :) That is all for now.

Steve�s Update-
The Defender of Minors did sign the sentencia this morning but he did not remove the three day waiting period. Therefore we are unable to proceed with any adoption steps today. Our lawyer is attempting to correct the situation but most likely we will have to wait the three days and then proceed. Our driver has advised us to push out our travel date home. Due to unavailable seats close to Christmas and the large added cost to have all of us change our tickets, one of us will be coming home with Ellie on Monday while the other will hopefully be coming home with Mateo next Thursday or Friday. Steve will refrain from using any bads words which would describe our Judge and Defender of Minors until I have full permission from my lovely and hopefully more level headed wife!!

Hi there.....

Nothing new to report, just thought I would put on some new pictures for you all to enjoy.

And....

OUT OF THE MOUTH OF ELLIE

Just a few short blurbs from the funny girl herself.....

So we have been here for almost 5 weeks now. You would think that little miss Ellie would feel comfortable saying hola to everyone here, but no. She just smiles and runs the other way. So Steve and I have been talking her through it - saying things like, "honey it hurts peoples feeling when you don't say hi" and "honey you're acting ridiculous - just say hi"

Tonight at dinner....

ELLIE: Mom, I don't like those green things"
MOM: Honey, just try them.
ELLIE: Mom, I've tried them before, don't be adickulous.

She still keeps us laughing!!

Hopefully we will have some good news tomorrow!
Until then.....

The Breunig's

Tuesday, December 13, 2005 3:25 PM CST

ANOTHER UPDATE - 12:30
SO WE SIGNED.....BUT.....THE DEFENDER OF MINOR HAS NOT SIGNED YET.
There is a sensous going on in Colombia right now - and of course today, the defender has to be at home all day for his sensous. So therefore, we did not get the copies of the sentencia needed to get Teo�s passport, go to the Dr. etc. Also.....this defender does not sound like the nicest guy. Most of the time other defenders will sign in someone�s absence, but NO ONE would sign. They all seem scared of this guy. Technically the defender signs and then there are 3 days after that that are required, for them to leave open. Then they sign again after the 3 days. This is used mostly for divorces....which makes sense to me. Couples then have 3 days to decide if they really want the divorce or go to counselling. But for adoption????? Whatever, we just go with the flow.

SO with all that said, we are hoping that the defender of minors is in the Christmas spirit and signs everything tomorrow - not leaving the 3 days open. Depending on tomorrows outcome will tell us when we will be able to fly home.....another glitch with all of this is that the US Embassy is not open for visas on Fridays. Elena said she would call and see if we could get in anyways. Only time will tell.

That is it for now.....I will update more tomorrow.

Thanks for all of your great guestbook entries. We LOVE them!!

***WE ARE SIGNING TODAY!!!! MTP IS PICKING JENNA UP AT 10:00. WILL UPDATE LATER IN THE DAY WITH MORE INFORMATION*****

Hello all website stalkers!

Today has been a quiet day here.

Steve and Ellie joined Mike and Cameron Felt to visit the hospital where both Mateo and Carley were born. It was a long drive - about 1 hour each way. They went with a trusted driver Juan Manuel, who had to talk his way into the gates of the hospital. They had to go all the way to the office administrator to get approval to take pictures of the outside. Kind of crazy! But it got done and we hope that Mateo enjoys seeing these pictures one day.

Mateo and I hung back at El Refugio for some rest. He hasn�t really been himself the past couple days. We were calling him the snack king, but now we are thinking that he might have acid reflux or something like that. So Carmen called FANA to see if we should come in to get him checked out. The doctor was not in, so Mateo and I will visit him tomorrow. For now, he is taking Milpax, which helps with all of the spitting up that he does right after eating.

Steve was upset that I didn�t mention that he danced in the kitchen last night with Diana and Ofilia......just kidding. They actually gave him a hard time about not being able to dance. They are very concerned for Ellie and Teo. They think all Latino�s should be dancing all the time. After they saw Steve, they don�t want our kids to dance! This was all after making Rice Crispy Bars and a having a couple of beers each. It was fun!!

OUT OF THE MOUTH OF ELLIE

Today after I came home from Unicentro, I walked into our room where Ellie, Mateo and Steve were all huddled around the computer.

Ellie: "Hi mom, we are watching a movie called Cinderella. Come watch it with us!"

Haven�t I mentioned before that we watch this movie EVERYDAY here in Colombia??? She is keeping us laughing!!!

Well that is all from Bogota.
Lots of love!

Jenna, Steve, Ellie and Teo

PS. If you have extra score sheets for Yahtzee please send them down with the next family that stays at El Refugio. The Breunig family has used just about all the sheets up!

Monday, December 12, 2005 8:14 PM CST

No Sentencia today. We are done speculating. We are done listening to people say..."oh, maybe tomorrow". We will just sit and wait.

So what are we doing while we sit and wait??

This morning we went with the Felt�s to FANA. Mike and Heather received the social history for Carley while Cameron, Ellie, Steve and I played in the playground at FANA. We were hoping to play with the kids again, but they were in music class singing Colombian Chirstmas carols. So we watched them practice. It was very cute!!

We then came home for lunch, naps, and a walk (does this sound familiar?? I could just say ditto I think!). We walked for ice cream and then to the Bogota Beer Company. We had a beer there, of course, and then purchesed a picther and 8 glasses with their logo on it. We came back to our house and found out that one of the French couples had signed. So we had wine and snacks to celebrate.

We haven�t really talked about Teo lately, so I thought I would tell you about him a little bit. He is doing great! I think his sister is rubbing off on him a little bit....we call him the "snack king". He cries a little so we feed him and he has about 2-3 ounces. We finally figured that we would wait til he screams and he still only eats an ounce or two. Crazy kids!!!! When he is tired, his eyes get red and start to water. It is a sure sign for us to put him down. He is getting better with us holding him when he is tired, but we haven�t mastered it yet. I think we have time still to get it down before the plane ride. He is a huge bouncer!! I can�t wait to get home and get him in a Johnnie Jump Up. I am getting big muscles though!! He decided about a week ago that he would roll over. We are not used to this! Ellie seriously NEVER rolled over! So now we can�t just leave him on the bed unsupervised. He also laughed for the first time the other day......SO CUTE!!!

Ellie is doing great too! She is sleeping good and is eating much better! She is having a good time with Mariana from Australia, and Camilla from France. They play great even with the language barrier. She is still shy around everyone here. We say that she doesn�t know how to speak Spanish, French, English, or Australian. She just laughs.

I think that is it for know. We will update as soon as we hear anything about our sentencia!!

Hugs,
Steve, Jenna, Ellie and Mateo

PS. NEW PHOTOS ADDED TO THE ARCHIVES

Sunday, December 11, 2005 7:28 PM CST

We are back from the farm and we had a wonderful time! We drove an hour or so to a town called Suesca. It is a very small town in the mountains. Jose, Paula, 2 of Paula's friends - Magdelena and Auria Maria, Jose's cousin Juan (Gloria from FANA's son), and a friend of Juan's - Pedro all joined us. It was a beautiful house in a beautiful setting! The view was gorgeous!!! The best part was not hearing all of the horns and car alarms that we hear in the city. Instead, we woke up to roosters crowing and cows mooing. It was a nice change!!

We ate a great typical Colombian BBQ for lunch. Steak, chicken, potatoes, guacamole, arepas, corn, and plantains all on the grill. It was yummy!! Just like in the US - we all gathered around the kitchen and chatted. It was a beautiful day out (an we didn't want Steve and Jose to eat all of the food) so we moved outside to gather around the grill. We ate and then took a walk on the very bumpy gravel roads. The view was amazing!

The Breunig family of 4 all slept in a king size bed in the master suite. It was interesting! I think that Ellie and Teo slept good. Steve and I hung on to the edges of the bed. Lets just say that when we got home today, we ALL took a 2 hour nap! It was nice!

We walked in the door at El Refugio and were greeted by an Australian family who are here visiting. They adopted a boy, Pedro 15 yrs ago and a girl, Mariana 10 yrs ago. They are here to visit FANA and all of the sites around Colombia. It will be fun to share their experiences and see what it will be like for us to visit when Ellie and Mateo are their ages. FUN!!

Maria Teresa de Perez was here tonight to welcome the family from Australia. We found out that the judge for our court is one judge that takes the whole 10 working days she has to sign the sentencia. The last update that we have had on our paperwork was on Thanksgiving. On that day, our papers had been excepted by the courts and on there way to the Defender of Minors. They then have 5 working days to sign. Then it is back to the judge for the final signature. So what that all means is that worse case senario......we would sign this Thurs or Fri. Our tickets to come home are for Monday Dec. 19th. If we sign Thurs or Fri, we probably won't make it for that flight. Also, with Christmas so close, getting tickets to fly home is going to be tough. We hope that we sign soon and can come home at the latest on the 19th. Only time will tell!

So that is it for now. We hope to have more information tomorrow from MTP. We will update as it comes.

Thanks for checking in!

Love to you all!!
Steve, Jenna, Ellie and Teo

Friday, December 9, 2005 5:31 PM CST

****Sorry- no new photos.....we thought we would post some of our favorites until we get back from the cabin. ENJOY!!*****

Hi everyone,

Guess what???? We didn't sign! Imagine that! All of the other couples here from MN, one that arrived 1 week after us and one that arrived 2 weeks after us both signed! We know, we know.....it doesn't make sense to us either! Nothing we can do! We are very happy for the Felt's and the Gutzwiller's. We hope for safe travels for both of them.

Jill/Mima/Mom left today :( We had so much fun while she was here! It was very hard to see her go!! But we hope to see her soon!!

So with all that said, we are making the most of our time here. Today we went for a nice long walk around the town. It was a gorgeous day out! It didn't even rain today! We then went over to Betty's Place (another residence like El Refugio) to celebrate with Heather and Mike Felt. We are home now and waiting for dinner.

Tomorrow at about 10:00 am, we are being picked up by Jose and Paula for an overnight trip to a "farm". It is about 1 hour away where a family friend's "cabin" is. It sounds beautiful and should be ALOT of fun! We are looking forward to just relaxing. The only question we asked was if it had a microwave (Teo likes his bottles VERY hot, just like Ellie did.) They said it has everything! Sounds nice and should be FUN!!!

So that is it for now. Thanks for checking in!

Love to you all.....
The Breunig family of 4

Thursday, December 8, 2005 3:57 PM CST

Hello from Colombia......

Nothing new to report really. Today is a holiday here - the Immaculate Conception? So no news from the courts, as everything is closed today. So HOPEFULLY tomorrow! Everyone here at El Refugio has signed. Right now there are just 2 families here and my mom....and she leaves tomorrow. The French family here leaves on Sat. On a reality show, being the last one here, we would be the million dollar winners.....hmmmmm. Yes - we know we are big winners....we get to bring home a beautiful baby boy and of course our beautiful Ellie. We do know that our paperwork is in front of the judge. We also know that it is a women judge who doesn't like to be asked anything about the papers that are sitting on her desk. So therefore, we don't ask many questions! We just wait.....

Today, we went to an art fair that was incredible!!! The Uptown Art Fair is nothing compared to this!! Such wonderful talent here! We purchased some things for ourselves as well as some items for the auction. We are going to have an early dinner here and then Guillermo is picking us up to drive us around to look at all of the Christmas lights around town. The Felt's, Pascal and Sophie (the French couple here) are coming too! We are going to bring a few drinks and sing Christmas carols. Should be FUN!!!!

OUT OF THE MOUTH OF ELLIE

It rains here everyday at about 2:00 - it never fails! The other night it was raining out when we were on our way to dinner. Ellie had a hood on her jacket but Mima didn't. She was very concerned that Mima would get wet, so she said,
"Mima you don't have a hood, you better put up your cabella." It took us a while to figure out what it was. Too funny!

Whenever Steve calls Ellie a senorita, she says, "I'm not a rita!"

We've only watched Cinderella about 50 times since we've been here. Ellie informed us today that she is going to watch it everyday while we are here. Oh help us!!!

That is about it for now. Thanks for checking in!

Hugs,
Steve, Jenna, Ellie, Mateo, and Mima

Wednesday, December 7, 2005 7:20 AM CST

Hello all!

As you probably all read.....we did NOT sign yesterday. We here had a "feeling" too that yesterday was the day. Oh well. We are keeping busy here to keep our minds off of it all, and we are having fun I might add! For those of you who aren't familiar with the process, signing our sentencia means that we are done with the court process. Signing means that we then have to get Mateo's Colombian passport, visit the Embassy doctor to ok him for travel, and get his visa. It takes about 2-3 days to do all of that. After we get our visas we are clear to travel. Currently we have our flights out scheduled for Dec. 19th. We of course would like to push this up IF we do sign soon, but being so close to Christmas, it might be difficult. We will figure this all out when the time comes.

Yesterday Mike and Cameron Felt joined us at the Museo del Chico park. It was this beautiful park that has a lot of grass for the kids to run, many different play toys and lots of water fountains. It is a great place right in the heart of the city! Ellie and Cameron loved it! We went to lunch at El Corral and then back to El Refugio for naps.

We were picked up by Elizabeth who brought us to her house for dinner. It was wonderful! They are such nice people and they make us feel like we are a part of their family! We had a typical Colombian soup called ajiaco. This is a potato based soup with avocado, capers, cilantro, and cream toppings. YUM!! It was delicious!! The kids behaved very well, but at 9:15, it was definately time to go home. We had a great time there!

Today it is off to FANA once again, mom and I are going to volunteer in the nurserys and play with the toddlers. We are looking forward to this!

No out of the mouth of Ellie today.....instead, I thought I would say some interesting things about Colombia.

1. There are about 10 million people currently living in Bogota. This is up 2 million since we were here getting Ellie.

2. The current exchange rate is about $2200 pesos to $1.00.

3. The rent here at El Refugio is $1,505,000 pesos for one week. This includes 3 meals (except on Sundays when we only have breakfast and a light dinner - we are on our own for lunch), cleaning, laundry facilities, babysitting services, and internet.

4. The traffic here is......ummm......well......CRAZY!!! There are about 60,000 cabs in the city. There are about 6000 buses which doesn't include the new Transmilenio bus system. The goverment runs this new bus system. They promised that they would take 100 old buses off the streets when they put on 1 of the new buses. This has not happened yet. On December 19th, they are to take 1000 buses off the streets. On Dec. 15th, the bus union is going on strike. This is NOT GOOD!! The last time this happened, the buses and most of the cabs, stop in the middle of the main roads in Bogota to block traffic. Our driver, Maria Teresa de Perez is really nervous about this day! We hope that is not the day we need to sign and get all of our stuff done. She told us that we would have to walk everywhere.......doesn't sound like fun to me!!!!

Ok - I think that is it for now! Have a great day!!

Love to all of you!
Steve, Jenna, Ellie, Mateo and Mima

Monday, December 5, 2005 6:07 PM CST

WE DID NOT SIGN TODAY, UPDATE WILL COME LATER TONIGHT OR ON WED. WE ARE HEADED OUT TO DINNER AT ELIZABETH'S HOUSE.

**UPDATED ARCHIVED PHOTOS**

***First of all I need to clarify "Mima's rules". If you know my mom, you know that she SPOILS the grandkids. We think it is great, but being in a different place, country, etc. we have worked for 3 weeks to have Ellie comfortable here and actually eat the food put in front of her. Mima's rules are pretty simple....

1. Ellie needs to sit in her chair while eating her breakfast, lunch and dinner, not on mim'a lap or on the couch while watching a movie. We've worked too hard in this area!!

2. No sleeping in mima's bed. Are you kidding....they would never sleep!!!

There they are. Plain and simple - no big deal. Mima just had to rub it in that we actually gave her rules to live by here in Colombia.

Well, we have been too busy here to write!!! We have been having a great time here!

Yesterday mom and I went shopping at some markets around town. We did pretty well with checking things off the shopping list!

Ellie and Steve went to Park 93 with another family staying here. They have 2 daughters, Jordy 5 and Elly 4. They leave tomorrow to go back to St. Louis.

Then last night we were picked up by Jose and Ana Maria and they brought us to their house for dinner. We thought for a while that we were going to a restaurant, then to a park, but we decided to hang out at their house. We ordered pizza, had beer, had a delicious cake, had beer, talked, and did I say have beer?? Boy these Colombian's know how to hold their liquor!! It was a great time!! They took us by some great Christmas lights at a children's park (which just happened to be Park 93 where Steve and Ellie were earlier that day). It was amazing.

Today we dressed in our "best" and went to FANA to play Santa and his elves. What a rewarding day it was for all of us! The look on all of their faces when "Papa Noel" walked through the cafeteria doors was priceless!! They all are SO well behaved and it was so great to give them presents.....THANKS Kim Pawlak for putting together the "party in a box"!!! Everybody sat on Santa's lap except Ellie, until the very end....too funny!!!

Then mom and I went shopping - again - to buy some souveniers. Now we are in for the night.

OUT OF THE MOUTH OF ELLIE

Just a few quotes from our funny girl!

"Hey guys, can we have lunch tomorrow at Jesus' Pizza?"
**It is Jeno's pizza.

"Mom, he has a very dark peanut."
**It's penis.

"I like the Wikings like mommy, not the Crackers like daddy."
**It's Vikings and Packers.

Ok - hope you're not laughing too hard!! Have a great night!

Until next time.....

Steve, Jenna, Ellie, Mateo and Jill/Mima/Mom

Saturday, December 3, 2005 3:31 PM CST

Yes.....Mima has arrived. The kids will NEVER be the same!! The spoiling has begun!

First of all yesterday, Steve, Ellie and I had to go extend Ellie's visa. When we arrived in Bogota, they would only give Ellie a 30 day visa. So we knew that before December 10th, we would have to get an extension. This was a pretty extensive process. We started at 9:30 and ended at 11:30. Only myself, who can speak enough Spanish to get around, could go in and try to explain what we needed. So I walk up to the counter. She says in her VERY fast Spanish something.......I said "extension por favor". She says something else. I say "extension por favor". She looks at me, I look at her. Finally I wave to have Maria Teresa help me. She talks her way into the building and says about 2 sentences one of which was "extension por favor". Ok - what was I doing wrong??? Then they made us go to their bank to make the payment of $57.800 pesos (about $25.00) This was fairly close, but the way the traffic is here - it wasn't easy to get to. Then we had to go make copies of Ellie's passport and get 3 new passport pictures taken of Ellie. It was crazy. Then I had to go back in line and talk to the same "friendly" person. I waited about 30 minutes and then - voila - there was her passport with an extension until January 10th. Hope we aren't still here then - but at least Ellie can now stay with us for the entire time.

We then just hung out and waited for Jose and Paula to come pick me up so we could go to the airport to pick up Jill/Mima/Mom.

The airport was the most crowded I have ever seen it. With school here being out and the holidays so close, everyone is traveling. It was CRAZY!! I consider myself to be fairly tall - at least taller then most Colombians, but I was having a hard time seeing in the big glass window. Let's just say that my calves got a good work out!! Mima arrived and all went fine. We got back to El Refugio where Teo was sleeping in his bouncy chair waiting patiently for her arrival. It was great to see her reaction when she was him.

All is good today. We did a little shopping and now Steve and I are waiting to be picked up by Jose and Paula so we can go to a typical Colombian club where we will eat dinner and dance the night away. For some reason, just today, Steve has had a "sore back". Do you think it is so he doesn't have to shake a rug tonight?? I wonder if Colombians have ever seen the Breunig sprinkler??

Well have a great evening!! Hope you are all enjoying the snow falling. I hear that it is beautiful there.

Love to you all
Jenna, Steve, Ellie and Teo

Saturday, December 3, 2005 3:31 PM CST

Yes.....Mima has arrived. The kids will NEVER be the same!! The spoiling has begun!

First of all yesterday, Steve, Ellie and I had to go extend Ellie's visa. When we arrived in Bogota, they would only give Ellie a 30 day visa. So we knew that before December 10th, we would have to get an extension. This was a pretty extensive process. We started at 9:30 and ended at 11:30. Only myself, who can speak enough Spanish to get around, could go in and try to explain what we needed. So I walk up to the counter. She says in her VERY fast Spanish something.......I said "extension por favor". She says something else. I say "extension por favor". She looks at me, I look at her. Finally I wave to have Maria Teresa help me. She talks her way into the building and says about 2 sentences one of which was "extension por favor". Ok - what was I doing wrong??? Then they made us go to their bank to make the payment of $57.800 pesos (about $25.00) This was fairly close, but the way the traffic is here - it wasn't easy to get to. Then we had to go make copies of Ellie's passport and get 3 new passport pictures taken of Ellie. It was crazy. Then I had to go back in line and talk to the same "friendly" person. I waited about 30 minutes and then - voila - there was here passport with an extension until January 10th. Hope we aren't still here then - but at least Ellie can now stay with us for the entire time.

We then just hung out and waited for Jose and Paula to come pick me up so we could go to the airport to pick up Jill/Mima/Mom.

The airport was the most crowded I have ever seen it. With school here being out and the holidays so close, everyone is traveling. It was CRAZY!! I consider myself to be fairly tall - at least taller then most Colombians, but I was having a hard time seeing in the big glass window. Lets just say that my calves got a good work out!! Mima arrived and all went fine. We got back to El Refugio where Teo was sleeping in his bouncy chair waiting patiently for her arrival. It was great to see her reaction when she was him.

All is good today. We did a little shopping and now Steve and I are waiting to be picked up by Jose and Paula so we can go to a typical Colombian club where we will eat dinner and dance the night away. For some reason, just today, Steve has had a "sore back". Do you think it is so he doesn't have to shake a rug tonight?? I wonder if Colombians have ever seen the Breunig sprinkler??

Well have a great evening!! Hope you are all enjoying the snow falling. I hear that it is beautiful there.

Love to you all
Jenna, Steve, Ellie and Teo

Thursday, December 1, 2005 3:43 PM CST

##### Mima has arrived at El Refugio #####

Buenos tardes!

****The background we chose for this journal is in honor of all the snow that has fallen over much on MN. Happy shoveling and snow plowing!!****

It is currently raining and 55 degrees here in Bogota. Not the sunny 70�s that we are used to!!

Today we went to FANA for Mateo�s social history. It was emotional as they always are, but as good as can be expected. Flor has a great way of making you feel comfortable and at ease. We went out of there feeling good about our little Mateo history!

We then went outside for a little futbol with the kids. It was great! They are very good players!! Steve was tired after being goalie all afternoon! We were then invited to have lunch with Mercedes, Elena, and Maria Teresa in the conference room. Ellie was on her best behavior! They were all very impressed on how much she ate.....if they would have only seen her the past few days eating only snacks, which by the way, we think that the�"snack queen" is no longer in reign. Tough love I say!!!

We had a few scarey cab rides there and back but are now in for the night at El Refugio.

We welcomed a family from Missouri who adopted sisters from another city. They are here to finish their adoption process and will fly home on Tues. It is nice to once again have someone that you can speak "normal speed" English with. Don�t get us wrong.....all of the other families are really very nice and we like to hang out with them (the French know how to party) but it is just a nice plus to have a conversation with someone that speaks your lanuage.

We are looking forward to my mom coming tomorrow night! It will be nice to have her here. We already have the week almost booked. The time will fly for us!

OUT OF THE MOUTH OF ELLIE

As parents we love to hear how much the older child loves their younger sibling, no??

ELLIE: Mom, I am sad. Juliette leaves tomorrow.
MOM: I know honey.
ELLIE: No one will be my best friend now.
MOM: I will be your best friend.
ELLIE: No mom, you can�t be.
Long pause.......
ELLIE: I know, Mateo will be my best friend. (then she makes up a song) You and I can play together, you and I can play together!

How cute is that??

I just have to add.....I can�t be her best friend but I can marry her. Yes, Ellie and I were married last week. Steve�s mom, Arleen, was the minister who performed the service. It was nice. Wish you all could have been here!

Thanks so much again for all of the entries!! We love to read them!

Hugs,
The Breunig family of 4

Wednesday, November 30, 2005 4:56 PM CST

Thank you for all of your messages!! We LOVE to get new guestbook entries!! We check them many times during the day!

Today we went to the Children's Museum with Heather and Cameron Felt. The first time we went there - a couple of weeks ago - Ellie didn't want to do anything until just before we were leaving. Today she knew what to expect and she and Cameron had a great time! There is a sensory area of funhouse mirrors, musical instruments, etc. There is a city, pretty similar to the Children's Museum in St. Paul. Ellie's favorite 2 are the gym, where they have a trampoline, a ball pit, and a soft obstacle course. Her other favorite part is Nutrition World. We put on our astronaut gear (pretend) and went in a spaceship to this planet full of LARGE food. They could slide down milk and veggie slides, go into a piece of cheese and go on a merry-go-round smoothy. Fun for all!!

We then came home for the whole Breunig family to take a nap. Very nice. We slept through most of the thunderstorm that passed over. Ellie, Steve and Mateo are now watching Nemo and we will be having dinner soon. It has been a good day!!

Ellie and Mateo are doing GREAT!! We are loving this family of 4 thing. Teo is much more alert and talking up a storm. The only thing that we are worried about at this time is that he will not fall asleep in our arms.....he needs to be in a bouncy seat or in his bed. Don't get me wrong, this is great when we are at home, but what about the plane ride?????? He will cry for a while on the plane I guess. We will have to work on that!

OUT OF THE MOUTH OF ELLIE

Here was our conversation at dinner tonight:

DAD: Tomorrow we are going to go to FANA and play soccer with the kids there.
ELLIE: That will be fun!
MOM: But before that you will have to be a good girl and sit for a little bit while we learn about Mateo's history.
ELLIE: What?
DAD: Like where Mateo was born, what his birth mother's name was, stuff like that.
ELLIE: And what his birth sister's name is?
MOM: Maybe.
ELLIE: And his birth brother too?
DAD: Maybe.
ELLIE: And we will learn all about his birth Wylie?
MOM AND DAD: Hahahahahaha.

(For those of you who don't know....we have a dog named Wylie)
Ok these kids are too smart!!

That is all for now, keep those guestbook entries coming!! We LOVE them!

Hugs to you all!
Steve, Jenna, Ellie and Mateo

Tuesday, November 29, 2005 3:52 PM CST

OK all you "website stalkers" (you know who you are!!!!!!!!).....are you all talk or what?? We met your request to update, but no guestbook entries. We are now updating again in less then 24 hours (are you impressed??) So we need to know that you are actually looking at these updates!!

Ok - kidding aside - we are laying low here today. This is the first day in a about 1 week that we have had no plans. It is kind of nice. We went to Carulla this morning for diapers and some snacks for the "snack queen" (more on this later). We are doing about a million loads of laundry, Steve made Rice Crispy bars so Diana could watch, learn and write the recipe in Spanish, and Ellie read a couple books out in the courtyard while Teo slept. It is a GORGEOUS day out!! I think that I got sunburned walking to Unicentro to shop for some shoes for Steve - yes - he is catching up with me on the shopping! HOLY COW - we will have to get jobs here to pay for everything! But we are having fun doing it!

OK - now about the "snack queen".....
Ellie has been having some problems with finishing her breakfast, lunch and dinner. The first couple times, we just thought that she didn't like the food....ok we will give her some crackers for a snack right after lunch. We finally caught on that she just wanted to eat the crappy foods here instead of anything that is put in front of her. When she is "done" eating she says "I promise that I won't say I am hungry until snack time" Ok - we believed her. About 5 minutes after we are "done" with lunch she says "Mom, my tummy is hungry" OK - this is getting OLD fast!! We have not been giving in the last 2 days. She is having a hard time today - so I am glad that we are laying low here.

In about 20 minutes, Ellie and the 2 5 year old French girls here are going to have their make up done by a French mom that is staying here. Should be fun! I will post a picture later.

Well - I hope that you all are enjoying your cold snowy weather there! We sure are liking the nice sunny 70's that we are having here!

Love to you all,
S,J,E,and M

Monday, November 28, 2005 9:14 PM CST

****Updated Archived Photos*****

Hello all website stalkers.....

We have been very busy here. The grandparents leave tomorrow - so we have tried to cram as much stuff into the last few days as possible.

We went to the Sunday market at La Fontana were we had to stop Steve�s dad from buying some pretty crazy slippers. Luckily they didn�t come in his size!!! We then headed over to Unicentro to buy a wallet for Larry and have McDonald�s for lunch.

We were picked up by Jose and his cousin Juan at 4:00 to go to their club. Ellie and I hung out in the kiddie pool while Jose, Juan, Steve, and a college friend of Jose�s hung out in the steam room while having beers. The grandparents didn�t bring their suits so they hung out on the side with Teo. Ellie had a blast!!!

Today we had our tour of FANA. It was great as always!!! We met many of the beautiful kids playing outside. They all wanted us to play futbol (soccer), but today we didn�t have time. We promised that we would play on Thursday when we are there getting Mateo�s history. They are all so great - I would take all of them home if I could!!!!

Steve, Arleen and I then went to the Hogar. This is the home where the birth mother�s stay during and after their pregnancy. It is an wonderful place. We took a tour and then had the amazing chance to sit down with about 10 of the 22 women currently there to answer any questions they might have. Of course one of the first questions they had was, "Do you have pictures of your children??" Oh what bad parents we are!!! BUT we did have our video camera with us!! We showed them the night of our referral - when I was SO excited I did the "Lord of the Dance" leaps down our driveway - and also, our presentation day. All of the mother�s loved seeing it and it was such a great way for us to share our joy!!!! We all went away feeling very good about our visit there!!

We ended the night at El Corral Gormet for dinner. We had to say good bye to Steve�s mom and dad and now we are tired and ready for bed!!

We thought that we would have a nice relaxing break in between the grandparents (my mom comes on Friday) but the days are already booked!! Oh well - it makes the time go faster!!

Thanks for checking in!!

Love to all of you!
La familia Breunig

Saturday, November 26, 2005 6:01 PM CST

Hello all.....

We are living like a king, queen, princess and a prince now. Yesterday 2 of the French couples returned to France which meant that we got to switch to a much larger room. It is very nice to be able to walk around our room and not trip over our stuff or each other. We were however experiencing some technical problems, but "super dad" as Ellie calls him, fixed the problem and we are now up and running.

Yesterday morning, we went to Simon Bolivar's house for a tour. The house was nice but the gardens were definately the best part!!! Blue hydrengeas EVERYWHERE. It was beautiful!

Then back to El Refugio for lunch and some sad goodbyes to the French couples that we got to know very well.

Larry and Arleen took Ellie back to their hotel for a nap so Steve and I could move rooms. Teo slept through most of it so the move went smoothly. There was a slight conflict with 2 of the other couples here - both thought they were getting the same room. No one wanted our old room - for some reason. So it was a mad dash to the room when it was clean and ready. There were some tears shed and some words exchanged - but all is ok now - I think. It will be a long stay if there is tension in the house.

Larry and Arleen were nice enough (it didn't take too much convincing....) to watch the kids so we could go out for a farewell dinner with the Ochicki's. We went to Carbon de Palo - which is a great steak place. They have yummy food and typical Colombian music to listen to. It was nice to get out. We were sad to see them go today, but know we will get to see them someday soon.

We settled down in our new room and slept great! We had to be ready to go this morning for the coffee plantation. Larry, Arleen, Steve, Ellie, Sophie, Pascal (a French couple) and I all piled into Guillermo's red van and took a LONG trip to Hacienda Coloma. It was BEAUTIFUL!! The way the crow flies, it was about 55 kilometers (or 34 miles) but took about 2 hours to get there. The ride was great! So much awesome scenery, nothing like you see in the city. Once we got to the coffee plantation, we got a tour from a young man whose parents live and work there. I tried to understand and translate as much as I could. It was fun to see the coffee plants and all of the machines to make the beans. I have a new appreciation for coffee - like I needed it!! Caribou here I come!!!

The grandparents wanted to go for a walk - after sitting for 4 hours in a car - and then have dinner out. The Breunig family of 4 decided to hang out at El Refugio tonight. We are just waiting for the "Misses, dinner" call.

OUT OF THE MOUTH OF ELLIE

So this morning when Ellie woke up I told her what we were going to do today. I told her all about Guillermo's red van. She proceeded to tell me that we once rode in a big black car with Lukas and Niko. It took me a while to figure out what she meant.

Ellie: Yes mom, we did - remember, we had to ride in it to see people.
Mom: We did?
Ellie: Yes - we went to tell people.
Mom: Tell people about what?
Ellie: That we had a baby.
Mom: Oh yeah! You are right!
Ellie: Yeah - Jodie, Lukas, and Niko all told us that it was a boy - but not Pete, he was taping everything.
Mom: Yeah honey, that was fun!
Ellie: Mom, when will be able to ride in a limbo again?

Ok - so sorry this is SO long - too much to tell!! Oh yeah - Mateo and Ellie are doing great!

Lots of love to you!
The Breunig's

Thursday, November 24, 2005 7:06 AM CST

Well all I can say is that Thanksgiving will NEVER be the same for the Breunig family!! They certainly know how to throw a great party here - even though many of the people celebrating with us Americans, didn't even know what Thanksgiving is all about. Were else can you gather around a meal with Colombians and French people then at El Refugio. It was so much FUN!!!
We all started to eat the delicious turkey, mashed potatoes, carrots, and stuffing when all of a sudden an Andes band came to entertain us. It was so cool!! The dining room floor here turned into a dance floor. HOW FUN???
Ellie danced with Carin Gutzwiller and a little boy Ethan while Mateo slept through the whole thing.....until daddy woke him up for a few pictures that is.
Earlier in the day, Steve, Larry, Arleen, Ellie, the Ochocki's and I went to Freddy's to look at emeralds. They have some beautiful things there! We then went out to eat for lunch and then came back form naps.
Carmen needed help with cooking - she put Arleen and I in charge of the stuffing, Steve made rice crispy bars and Larry was in charge of cutting the turkeys. Dinner was served and it was great!
We were all tired and ready for bed!
Nothing is new with Mateo or Ellie. They are both still doing great and are so cute together!
2 of the French families leave today which means that we get to move to room #2 - the back room on the lower level with a courtyard view. It is bigger and brighter which will be so nice. We are busting at the seams in our current room.
Thanks so much for checking in! Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We sure did!

Lot of love to all of you!

Steve, Jenna, Ellie, Mateo, Larry and Arleen

Tuesday, November 22, 2005 8:07 AM CST

****UPDATE****
Grandpa and Grandma Breunig made it here!! They got a sneak peak at little Mateo tonight. They can't wait to play with the kids tomorrow!

We are on day #12 here! We are trying to get a schedule for Teo and keep our schedule for Ellie. It is hard when all 4 of us are in a 12 x 14 room....but we are managing and everyone is doing very well!!

Teo is getting more alert and cuter every day! He hasn't been eating all of his bottle - about 4 ozs at a time - but seems happy! Last night he slept from 7:00 to 5:30. Pretty cool!

Yesterday we had the great priviledge to be a part of the Felt's presentation of their little girl, Carley. She is adorable and they are very happy! We then hung out here at "our new home" as Ellie calls it, until it was time to go shopping for chips, pop, and cookies for the BIG game.

Poor Steve! He is all alone.....no one to cheer on the Packers and no one to take all the crap he is getting today! Dana, Chuck and I on the other hand are smiling from ear to ear about last nights win!!! GO VIKES!!!!
We were hoping that at least one of the French guys would feel bad for Steve and help the Packers along - but no luck. We ordered pizza for everyone here for dinner and then most of the families went to bed. Only a few stayed up for a short time to try and understand American football. By half time, it was just Dana, Chuck, Steve and I. It was fun to watch the game in Colombia and in Spanish!!

We are all looking forward to seeing Steve's mom and dad tonight! They arrive at about 9:30. Ellie is looking forward to playing with them at a park!

OUT OF THE MOUTH OF ELLIE

Walking up the path to Monserrate, there are statues showing the stations of the cross (I - Jenna - am not Catholic, so I don't know everything about this). Ellie was very interested about all of this! She wanted us to read everything about all of the statues. About a month or so ago, she had asked if I knew that Jesus had died on the cross. I said yes. Then she asked her VERY famous question - "Why?". I tried to explain it to her. Then she asked "Who put him there?" OK - Bible study 101. Hmmmmm....."I think that his name was Pontious Pilot and he was not a very nice man."
Ok - so now back to Monserrate.....
As we were walking up the steps to get to the church, we were explaining to Ellie what each station said. We got to one where it showed Jesus and another man.

Ellie: "Is that Pontious Pilot?"
Jenna: "I think so"
Ellie: "He is not a very nice man!"
Steve: "No he wasn't honey"
Ellie: "I think he needs a hug!"

I think that we see a pastor in our future! Too cute!

I think that is it for now! Thanks for all of the messages that you leave! We LOVE to read them!!

Hasta manana!
Steve, Jenna, Ellie and Mateo

Monday, November 21, 2005 6:41 AM CST

Yes we are great here. I know that it has been a couple of days.....thanks for reminding us!! I did try to update the site but the internet was down. So here is your long awaited update.

Saturday:
3 of the French couples along with Steve, Ellie and I took a trip to Monserrate. This is a church on top of a mountain. To get there, you must take a taxi on fairly curvey roads. Our taxi driver thought it would be funny to screech around some of these curves. Now keep in mind that we are packed into this taxi like sardines. Whew...we were glad to get out of the cab when we made it to our destination!
We took a "train" as Ellie called it, up the mountains. The view was spectacular!! It was a beautiful day and we could see pretty far. Bogota is a very large city. When we were here for Ellie, there were 8 million people living here. Now there are 10 million. Wow!!

We got back in time for lunch and a nap. Then we went for a long walk with a stop at the park.

Sunday:
We headed to La Fontana for the Sunday market. We bought Mateo letters for his door, a La Familia Breunig Part 2 photo album, and Mateo's baptism outfit from Miriam the sweater lady. She is making it especially for Teo. It will be great!

We then had lunch at the La Fontana restaurant with the Ochocki's and the Gutzwiller's. It was a very expensive buffet. Oh well....it was nice to hang out and chat with everyone.

Dana and I then went to a market that is by the Santa Barbara mall. On Sundays, it is Ciclovia so it was an easy walk on the streets. We made it home just in time for the rain.

Steve, Ellie and I went out to dinner with Jose, Paula, and Ana to an Italian restaurant just down the street from El Refugio. It was very nice! They are very excited to take us out on the town once Steve's parents get there. Ellie is not ready to be left alone here - so the grandparents will babysit and we will party at a typical Colombian club.

Today.....the Felt's presentation and MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL. VIKES VS PACK. Should be fun!!!

OUT OF THE MOUTH OF ELLIE

Ellie is trying really hard to learn Spanish. She thinks that she can speak it quite well.
"Hey Mom and Dad, I can speak Spanish! Uno, 51, 69...."
"No mas, yes mas"

Ellie has been calling El Refugio our new home and our home back in MN our old home.
"Dad, when we get back to our old home, can my baby sleep in my room?"

To pass the time in the cabs - or anywhere for that matter, she has been making up songs.
While on the toilet one morning....
"I am taking a poop.....I am taking a poop....a big one and a little one.....I am taking a poop."

Friday, November 18, 2005 8:53 PM CST

We started our day at 5:30 to give Teo his bottle and then slept in until 7:00. Yeah us!!!!

We then took Ellie to the Children's Museum. She had a hard time getting into the swing of it until after our "break" and then she went crazy! Jumping on a trampoline, walking on a balance beam, sliding down a milk and veggie slide.....it was a great time. We hope to get back there with the Felt's and the Gutzwiller's.

The Ochocki's and Jenna then went to another artisian shop - like Maku. It was great! She bought new shoes for herself and a dress for Ellie. Yes - Steve gets "dad of the year" award for staying home again while Jenna fulfills her shopping needs!

We took a walk with the Ochocki's to an ice cream shop. YUM YUM!!! We made it home in time for dinner and then put the kids to bed. All is good!!

We found out today that we are in court #9. All Carmen said is that it is a better then average court. Only time will tell.

Christmas is very alive here. Ellie loves to point out all of the Santas while Teo sleeps in the Baby Bjorn. We are having a great time!

Thanks for checking in!
Lots of love,
Steve, Jenna, Ellie and Teo

Thursday, November 17, 2005 6:57 PM CST

Today was a beautiful weather day in Bogota. Party cloudy skies and temps which seemed to be in the mid 60's. There is an old farmers expression, 'When the sun shines, make hay.' So we spent a good portion of the day outside playing in the backyard or going for walks.

Jenna, the Ochocki's and Carmen (owner of El Refugio) went to the leather district this morning. Jenna bought me two new belts and Ellie got a new coin purse. While mom was away, the bambinos and I hung out in the back yard kicking a ball around and playing on the swing set.

We had a quick lunch and then put both kids down for a nap. Jenna and I went for a quick walk and checked out a few shops along the streets.

Once everyone woke up the Breunig's and Ochocki's walked to La Fontana which is a very nice hotel in Bogota. We were searching for places for the grandparents to stay when they arrive here in Bogota. While we were there we visited with the Gutzwiller's who is another family from MN adopting their second child.

We are now putting Ellie to bed and Mateo is already sleeping. We will wake him up for an 11:00 pm feeding and then lay him back down. Hopefully both kids will sleep the whole night.

I believe that we are on the tail end of "adjusting to a new life" phase. This is good news for all of you. Since we are now adjusted, we are gearing up to begin our tourist activities. This means more adventurous journals and pictures of beautiful Bogota. Tomorrow we are taking Ellie out for a Mom/Dad/Ellie day while Mateo will hang out at El Refugio.

Until we speak again,
Steve, Jenna, Ellie and Mateo

Wednesday, November 16, 2005 5:17 PM CST

Hello form Colombia,

Well we are done with a big part of the process. Today we had our Bienestar appt. This starts the whole adoption process going. Our appt. was at 9:00 am. We were all ready and even had time to spare!! Wow! I thought that was pretty good!! So anyways, the appt took all of 15 minutes. She asked us if Omar (Mateo's birth name) is fufilling our needs - easy to answer!!! And the other was - why we chose Colombia to adopt from. That was easy too!! We have friends that are adopted from here and have friends that have adopted from here. So easy!!!! We are glad that part is over. We met our lawyer there. Last time - with Ellie, Steve met our lawyer for the first time when we paid him for his services. This lawyer seems to be more involved. He was very nice. We will find out tomorrow what court we are in.

Then we went to the presentation of little Derek to the Gutzwiller's. It was great to see them become a family of 4!!

It was a cloudy day - but NO rain. So we ventured out to Carulla (a local grocery store) to get necessities and a cake to celebrate the sentencia signing for Evelyn and Aturo from France. Very exciting stuff!!!

Ellie and Teo are doing great! Ellie is going to bed early tonight - no nap - and Teo has stopped spitting up the extra 5 ozs. daddy fed him yesterday. All is good!

We are looking forward to a good nights sleep - hopefully!! Last night was an exciting night of Yahtzee with Rosita and then up early to get ready. Tonight no Yahtzee with Rosita - she has the night off - and tomorrow is a lazy day.

Thanks to all for checking in!

Lots of love to you all!

Steve, Jenna, Ellie and Mateo

OUT OF THE MOUTH OF ELLIE:
Nothing today.....no nap....not a happy girl. So hopefully tomorrow!!!!

Tuesday, November 15, 2005 8:03 PM CST

Mateo and Ellie both slept well last night. Mateo was up for a 4:00 am bottle and awoke again at 6:00 am. Ellie was able to sleep in until about 7:30 am. The day started out beautifully. The sun was shining and it was warm. It felt like the middle of June in Minnesota. We spent the morning playing in the back yard. A little time on the swing set, a few minutes chasing each other and also kicking the ball around. It really helped Ellie to get outside and run.

We then went to the Notary to have some papers signed that begins the whole process of adoption. This only takes a few minutes and we were back in time for lunch. Fish was on the memu for lunch today and Rosita realizes that the Breunig family are not big fish eaters. She made us a special "secret" lunch of ham, cheese and onion omelet. It was wonderful and very thoughtful of Rosita.

As usual the clouds rolled in around lunch time and it looked like it would absolutely poor the entire afternoon. But instead we got a few steady rain falls that only lasts a few minutes. Jenna and the Ochocki's made a trip to Maku (local store) for some shopping. Yes, Jenna was silly enough to leave me with the two whipper snappers. So Ellie is taking a nap and it is time for Mateo's 2:30 feeding. He drinks the entire 5 ounces which is becoming normal. I burp him and begin to talk and play with him. However he still seems a little ansy and not quit right. Since he did not drink his entire bottle the feeding before I decided to make another bottle for Mateo thinking that he might drink an ounce or two. Well, 10 minutes later he had drank antoher 5 ounces. This made him happy and sleepy and he soon fell asleep. Now I am thinking good, my son and daughter are sleeping and everything is well. Meanwhile in the back of my mind I am really wondering is giving a 4 month old 10 ounces of milk in less than one hour is good. Ellie wakes up and we play and then Jenna comes home. I tell her of how much Mateo ate and she is obviously surprised but happy that Mateo is getting his rest. Whew!!!! No yelling from the "control tower" about the 10 ounces of milk. I guess I really have nothing to worry about.

So Mateo wakes up from a nap and I of course change his diaper because I am 100% sure that it is not a poopy diaper. I can do yellow but not brown!!! Thankfully at a young age I developed some gag reflex to brown diapers. Anyway, for the next 2 hours Mateo slowing but surely spits up the extra 5 ounces of milk that I gave him. Periodically he would burp and out would come a little bit at a time. Needless to say Teo's shirt would need to be changed along with Jenna's and mine.

Tonight we were taken out to eat by Jose Gomez, his girlfriend Paula and Ana Maria Gomez. Ellie came with us but Mateo stayed back at El Refugio. For some reason I guess he was not hungry. We had a great time and they are wonderful hosts. We hope to be able to spend more time with them during our stay here.

News for Wed:
Bienestar interview is set for 9:00 am. MTP is picking us up at 8:15. Both Breunig Bambino's have to be ready along with the Jenna and I and all hopefully are happy and smiling. Then the Ochocki's & Breunig's head to FANA to witness the Gutzwiller presentation around noon.

Day 5 is complete and in the books,
Goodnight (or Goodmorning - depending when you read this) to all from,
Steve, Jenna, Ellie and Mateo

Monday, November 14, 2005 3:52 PM CST

Well - we are either really lucky or our time is coming for a LONG night. Yes - Mateo slept great last night once again. He fell asleep at about 8:30 and woke up at 4:30 for a bottle and went back to sleep until about 7:30. Ellie was up at 7:00. It has been great!
Today was BEAUTIFUL!! We took a walk to Unicentro because we needed to buy an umbrella - yes on a day that is SO sunny - we were thinking about rain!!! Steve ended up buying some new (very cool I might add) shoes. We stopped at Charlie's Roast Beef for lunch and headed home for naps. Pretty much when we walked through the door, the rain came! How crazy that it can change so fast without warning. Ellie and Steve are at the park now and I am hanging out with a sleeping baby. It has been kind of a lazy day!

OUT OF THE MOUTH OF ELLIE.....
Ok - so we have had a few "butt" things going on here with the Breunig kid's. First Mateo has yet to go #2 for us. He seems fine - but we are starting to get a bit concerned. So last night I went up to Dana and Chuck's table after dinner and asked if they thought that someone would be at FANA tomorrow (meaning today which is actually a holiday here) They didn't think so. One of the French moms here is a nurse so I tried to be quiet and ask her what she thought. The whole room got very quiet and all of a sudden, I was trying to explain what my son wasn't doing in English, Spanish, and French. They all finally got it and they all laughed - hard I might add. Today we ran into 2 of the French couples at Unicentro and the first they asked was - has he pooped yet??? Evelyn said that I need to be concerned after day 3. Today is day 3 and still no poop. We are going to try a few things tonight.....thermometer up the you know what and if that doesn't work, then Evelyn has glycerin suppositories that will do the trick in 2 hours. Hmmmmm....
Ok so all of this talk about poop and butts......Ellie informs us that she is hungry - "Mom and dad, I'm hungry - actually my butt is hungry and it wants noodles" Ok - is that the funniest thing you have heard or what?? They really do listen to everything that you say and take it as far as they can!!!!

****UPDATE - Teo woke up with a poopy diaper!! He was starving so Steve is feeding him and then off to Carulla to get some champagne to celebrate! Oh the things we think are great when we are parents....I love it!!!

Thanks for checking in!

Lots of hugs to all of you!
Steve, Jenna, Ellie and Teo

Sunday, November 13, 2005 2:23 PM CST

Yup - another good night with Mateo! He fell asleep at about 9:00 and woke up at 4:30 for a bottle - went back to sleep until 6:30. Yeah!!!! Ellie woke up at 6:30 too but went back to sleep until about 7:30. We are staying in the room right by the kitchen - so it is pretty noisy but they have been sleeping really well through most of it. Very nice.

There are 4 French families here right now. 2 of them have older kids - Juliette - 5 and Joseph - 5 and they are back to get infants - Jeanne and Capucine - both 5 months. The other 2 families are here for their first babies - Arturo - 8 months and Raphael - 5 months. They are all very nice and most of them speak English very well. One of the French families are supposedly leaving next week so we will be moving rooms then.

This morning we went to the Botanical Gardens. It was very nice to see flowers blooming in November. There was a bird exhibit there - we all thought that it was going to be exotic birds but it was an exhibit on canaries. The winner of all the approx. 100 canaries, some of whom where the most beautful turquoise and purple colors, was a canary that looked like a brown and grey sparrow. Very interesting and kind of funny.

We came home and put both Ellie and Mateo down for a nap and then headed out with Dana and Chuck to El Corral for lunch. YUM YUM!! On Sundays the maids here at El Refugio do not cook lunch so we are on our own. Also on Sundays in Bogota they have Ciclovia here - this means that they shut some of the streets down to cars, buses, etc. and let people bike, run or walk. It is very nice and helps get around town a little better.

We are now just hanging out here. It is raining out - it has everyday since we got here - so going out probably isn't an option with the kids. Tomorrow is a holiday here so we will probably go to Unicentro to do something fun and stay out of the rain. Let the shopping begin!!

Thanks for checking in! We love reading all of your guestbook entries!!

Steve, Jenna, Ellie and Mateo

PS - we are going to start an "out of the mouth of Ellie" series. She is cracking us up and we would like to share her "funnies" with all of you.
First of all Ellie hasn't called Mateo by his name.....she calls him brother or baby. When we ask him what his name is - she replies - "you know what it is!" When we tell her to say Mateo - it comes out as Atoah. Great - we've named our son a name that our daughter can't pronounce. Oh well it is cute!!!

Saturday, November 12, 2005 7:40 AM CST

Archived photos have been updated. More Green Room Photos!!!!
Click on link on bottom of web page.

Well we made it through our first night!! Mateo slept from 10:00 - 6:30. Yeah!!! He isn't really eating a whole bottle yet.....I am sure that when the shock of his world changing so much is over, he will be great and suck 5 ozs. down in NO time! Ellie is doing great too!

I thought that I would elaborate on yesterdays events.....

We woke up at about 7:30 and went out to have breakfast - eggs, coffee and juice. We were greeted by Ofilia and Diana. It was so good to see them!! We then found out that our presentation would be at 12:00 and that the taxi would pick all of us up at 11:00. We were all ready at 10:55 and then the wait began. The taxi was 45 min. late. Then it ws raining out so the traffic was worse then normal, if you can even imagine! We arrived at FANA and went right to the green room. We were greeted by Flor and a surprise guest - Ana Maria Gomez. We know Ana from when she stayed with the Wilson's the summer we received Ellie's referral. When we were is Colombia for Ellie, Ana and her family took us out for a night to show us the town. Ana's brother Jose stayed with us last Christmas for 10 days. It was a wonderful surprise to see her and find out that she was going to present us with our BEAUTIFUL baby boy. We then met with a nurse to learn about Mateo's medical history. Everything looks good with him. He has had all of the shots needed until Dec. 16th - so if we are still here, we will bring him back to FANA to have the vaccinations he needs.
We went back into the green room and the wait began again. Everyone, but Steve, Ellie and I were in the hall ooooing and ahhhhing over Mateo. Then Dana translated for us what was going on. They were actually asking Ana about her classes at the University here and how she got off to do the presentation, etc. Ok - stop your chatting and walk down the hall and give us our boy!!! It was too funny! They finally stopped chatting and started their slow walk down the hall and turned the corner and their he was !!! It was just as amazing as the first time we were in the room getting Ellie.
Mercedes, Elena, Flor, Monica and Ana all were there to share our special day. Chuck and Dana were our photographers and videographers. THANKS Ochicki's!!
Mateo fell asleep on the ride home. We had lunch when we got back to El Refugio and then Ellie took a 2 hour MUCH NEEDED nap.
Jose and his girlfriend Paula stopped by to say hi. It was great to see them! They can't wait until we are more setteled so they can take us out for dinner! Yup - we are ready for a nice steak dinner too.
I think that about sums up our wonderful day! I don't really know what we have planned for today - we are maybe going to bring Ellie to a park and maybe bring Mateo too. He is asleep right now. Ellie is playing so nicely with all of the toys - so we will wait. It looks like it is going to be a sunny day - but as you all know, that could change very quickly.
Love to you all back home!
Steve, Jenna, Ellie and Mateo

Friday, November 11, 2005 8:47 AM CST

We have Mateo in our arms!! He is just as cute as his referral picture! We are having a great time as a family of 4!
Ellie has been doing great! She fell asleep on the way to FANA - about 2 minutes away....so we had a minor meltdown - but all is good now. She is taking a nap - so hopefully things will be better tonight.
We are going to bond with our baby now....pictures will be up shortly!

Love to all!
Steve, Jenna, Ellie and Mateo

Wednesday, November 9, 2005 10:39 PM CST

WOO HOO!!! We are packed and ready to go! Now if we can just get a good nights sleep.....that would be a miracle!
We have to be to my (Jenna) mom's house at 5:30 tomorrow morning. That is early!!!! Can you all tell that I haven't had that much sleep?? MUST GO TO BED....
So we will write more tomorrow night when we are at El Refugio!
Thanks to all who have checked in, written a note or two, called to wish us safe travels and to all of our great neighbors who are watching over our pad while we are away and to all who have signed up for Wylie duty....we really appreciate everything!

LOVE
The Breunig's

Saturday, November 5, 2005 1:28 PM CST

Update 11/7/05
Visa's are in Jenna's hand. So we are all set to fly out on Thursday. The name of our beautiful son is yet to be determined but the list continues to get shorter everyday.

Yeah, yeah, yeah - we know......
But let me just say this.....first - we were up to our eyeballs in paperwork yesterday morning when Steve promised a "9:00 am news briefing", then I tried to update last night, but Caringbridge decided to do maintenance on their website, then this morning I tried and lost everything (I don't think their maintenance worked) So with that said - I tried!!!!

So where should we start? OK - yesterday......

None of us in the house got much sleep Thursday night! Steve and I woke up early and started planning!! We called El Refugio and Carmen said that there wasn't a room available for a week after we arrive but she would work on getting us a room somewhere else until they do have something for us. That was at about 9:00 - by 4:00 Carmen said that they WILL have a room for us! YIPPIE!!! We were dreading the packing and unpacking and moving from place to place - but that is behind us now!

Then I scheduled an appt. at the Colombian Consulate for Monday morning at 10:00. My mom and I will be flying to Chicago on Monday to get our special adoption visas. After that - all of our paperwork is DONE and we can concentrate on packing!

We then made our flight arrangements to fly to Bogota on Thurs Nov. 10th!!! OH MY GOSH......we just can't wait to get our hands on our little boy! Thanks to my great spending habits, the tickets to Colombia and also to Chicago are all taken care of with our frequent flyer miles!! Steve said to me "I never thought I would say this Jenna, but I am glad you like to shop!" Hmmmmm....can we say bring another suitcase for purchases in Colombia??????

Then the running around began! I went from Children's Home Society to the notary to the Sec. of State to get everything done for my Monday meeting. YES - it is all done and I am ready to go!!!

Steve's parents are here this weekend to help pack, clean and SHOP!! We are set on clothes other then the presentation outfit. I never thought it would be this hard to find a cute outfit in blue. Oh well - I will just keep looking!

I think that is it for now......I am not going to promise when we will update again....you will just have to keep checking!

Steve, Jenna, Ellie, grandma and grandpa Breunig

Thursday, November 3, 2005 9:52 PM CST

Hello all, Great and exciting news on the home front tonight. The wonderful Wilson clan showed up in a limo at 6:00 pm tonight at our house and presented us with our beautiful little baby boy who we are naming ??????? Breunig. (Run on sentence Debbie??) Yup, name yet to be determined.

We are excited to pack, plan, paperwork and plane ride our way to Colombia. Hopefully there by next Thursday but a lot needs to be completed yet.

Update later after becoming sober!!! Tee hee says Jenna "I am sober" Breunig!!!!

Statistics:
Born July 14, 2005
Weight: 5 lbs 3 oz.
Current Weight: 12 lbs 6 oz
Birth Name is: Omar Ramirez Gomez

Stay tuned for further updates at the 9:00 am news briefing!

Love,
The Breunig Family of one more.

Friday, September 30, 2005 1:28 PM CDT

Hi all website stalkers!

We have been busy around here! Getting ready for fall / winter and also our upcoming trip to Colombia! Ellie has decided to pass the time with the following:

Dance class:
She started dance class 3 weeks ago and LOVES it!! Every morning she wakes and asks if today is the day she gets to go to dance class. There are 6 girls in the class and 2 teachers. It is very fun to watch them!

Daycare:
We decided to switch her to an in home daycare. We really liked where she was, but with 2 soon in daycare, we had to figure what was best for both of them. We wanted them to be together all day - so very soon she will be making the move to Jodi's Daycare. There are some fun 3 year olds there that we think she will become really good friends with!

Vacations:
We took a trip up to Lake Superior - Herbster, WI to be exact, where my uncle and aunt live. We had such a great time! Mima came to watch Ellie while Steve and I went 4-wheeling (in the rain I might add!). We walked on the beach, walked through the "spooky" woods and slept in "Snow White's house". Thanks Wes and Claudett for a SUPER time!

New playroom:
We finally finished our basement! Ellie now has a great room to store all of her toys. I can scrapbook while Ellie is playing....how great is that???

Nursery:
Yes - it is all ready! Now we just need a beautiful Colombian baby to be sleeping in the crib! We are now 2nd on the "list" - so hopefully we will get the call very soon from our buddy couple, Pete and Jodie Wilson. We are still keeping busy with Ellie, but can't wait to become a family of 4!

Well, I think that pretty much sums up our lives right now! Thanks for checking in!

Steve, Jenna and Ellie

Friday, September 30, 2005 1:28 PM CDT

Thursday, July 14, 2005 10:26 AM CDT

We are in full summer swing here! Ellie loves to be out in this hot weather!

Here are a few highlights so far:

Mima and grandpa's cabin.
We try to get up to the cabin every chance we get! Ellie caught her first fish this year - with a little help from daddy! She has captained the pontoon boat a few times and loves to drive the golf cart! I even heard a passenger say " That Ellie is a crazy driver!"
We all had a great time at the 3rd annual 4th of July celebration up there! Great times, great food and great friends!

Questions.
Yes, the "why" questions have officially started here! It first started when we were having dinner and Steve said something to Ellie and she just kept asking, why, why, why? I was laughing so hard at Steve's answers to the questions that I was crying. Steve then tried to change the subject and said, " Look mommy is crying" Ellie looked right at me and said "WHY?" I almost fell off my chair!

Baby.
No Ellie doesn't play too much with her baby dolls yet. She is more interested in her baby in Colombia. She is putting aside all of the toys that she is going to share with him or her. She is also practicing playing peak a boo. It is very cute. You will often hear her say, "I am a big sister, I can do that" She would like a baby boy and a baby girl, just like Dora. She has named them Babba and Bobby. Cute eh? Well, I think that we will still keep looking through the name books.

Well that is it for now! Have a great summer!

Steve, Jenna and Ellie

Thursday, May 26, 2005 2:20 PM CDT

Ellie turned 3....YIPPIE!!

We had so much fun at the party! Dora the Explorer came to help get the ingredients for Ellie's cupcakes! We had to go through the "sugar cube forest" and collect 4 sugar cubes, then go down the "slippery slide" where everyone had to get a letter, and finally we went to the "pontoon pond" to get our goodie bag where there was a candle to put on Ellie's cupcakes. It was so much fun!!

Ellie has had fun playing with all of the fun gifts she opened!

She keeps talking about her baby in Colombia (and she still talks about her purple earrings too!) No word yet - it will be a LONG time as there hasn't been anyone from MN there for about 1 month. Luckily we are having a great time with Ellie! We are anxoius, of course, to get word on a baby waiting for us, but happy we have Ellie to keep us busy!!

Thanks for checking in!

Steve, Jenna and Ellie

Sunday, April 10, 2005 9:25 AM CDT

Just thought we would update after our FUN trip to Arizona visiting Grandpa and Mima Sievers. We swam, went to a western town, swam, went to an amusment park, swam, danced outside by a fire, shopped, swam, ate great food, had an Easter egg hunt.....and had a GREAT time!

Enjoy the new pictures!

Jenna, Steve, and Ellie

Thursday, March 24, 2005 9:12 AM CST

Hello!

All is well around the Breunig house! We are happy the weather is warming up so we can play outside without bundling up 'til you can't move!

We are also looking forward to our family trip to Arizona to visit Jenna's parents!! Ellie has her swimsuits packed and ready to go!! It should be fun!

I will update more when we get back!

Thanks for checking in!

Friday, February 11, 2005 7:57 PM CST

Is there an off switch on these 2-3 year olds?? If someone knows....let us in on the secret! Just kidding!
Ellie is starting to actually have real conversations with us! Some of her new vocabulary consists of:

"That's interesting!"
When we say no, Ellie comes back with "Well I do now!"
When we say not now, Ellie says "Maybe tomorrow?"
She has now gone from getting purple earrings and a baby in Colombia to getting everything (and anything) that is purple in Colombia. When I asked her what color she thinks Colombia is she said "Purple mommy!" Can anyone guess what Ellie's favorite color is??

We are going to Middleton, WI the end of this month so Steve can play in the alumni basketball tournament. We are looking forward to spending time with Steve's family.

We are officially on the waiting list for baby #2! Our paperwork went down the middle of January so we are talking more and more about Ellie getting a brother or sister. She is very excited to share her toys and give the baby her crib to sleep in - yes, we are making the purchase of a "big girl bed" very soon!

Well, I think that about covers our life right now! Thanks for checking in on us!

Steve, Jenna and Ellie

Thursday, December 16, 2004 9:06 PM CST

HO HO HO!!

Everything around the Breunig house has to do with Santa Claus....better known to Ellie as Ho Ho.
"Ho Ho bring Nemo, stickers and Barbie?"
"No sit on Ho Ho's lap!"
And every night before bed "No Ho Ho?!"
So, she wants presents but won't sit on Santa's lap to tell him what she wants and doesn't want Santa to come in her house to bring the presents! When we went to the mall to see Santa, she wouldn't even look in his direction, so I knew that it was going to be hard to get her over to even see him! So I told her that if she wanted Santa to bring her presents, she had to go up to him and tell him what she wanted. So when it was our turn, she stood about 10 feet from him and started yelling "NEMO.....NEMO....NEMO" then headed for the exit. It was pretty funny!!

This is our first Christmas in our house! We have had fun putting up Christmas lights and decorating! We cut down our tree for the first time this year and Ellie was a big helper!

We have started to get Ellie ready for a big change in our family that will be happening next year.....the addition of a new brother or sister. So we have started talking about going to Colombia to get a baby and she is very excited! If you ask her what we are going to do in Colombia she says "Baby and purple earrings" We are trying to get her to say green earrings (since Colombia is known for their beautiful emeralds and it just happens to be her birthstone) but she insists on purple!!

We hope that you all have a happy and healthy Christmas and a wonderful New Year!
Thanks for checking in on us!!

Steve, Jenna and Ellie

Tuesday, November 2, 2004 5:36 PM CST

Happy Halloween!!

We had a great time carving pumpkins and trick or treating!

Enjoy the new pictures!

Steve, Jenna and Ellie

Monday, October 18, 2004 7:45 PM CDT

Let's see....what is new in the world of Ellie??

She has been talking our ears off the past month! Everyday she wakes up saying and knowing a new word! I think she dreams about what word she wants to use and how to use it in a sentence! She amazes us!

We have been to the pumpkin patch and Ellie is looking forward to carving the pumpkins this year. She is also very excited for Halloween. I don't think that she understands the whole candy thing - she just loves to be dressed up in her costume!

Our Disney trip got canceled due to the lovely hurricane Jeanne. We ended up canceling about 8 hours before we were supposed to catch our plane. We were all watching the weather hoping that Jeanne would take a quick turn back to sea, but no luck! We were all so bummed! We will hopefully be able to get there soon!

That is about it - hope all is well with all of you and we appreciate you checking in on us!

Steve, Jenna and Ellie

Saturday, September 4, 2004 10:12 AM CDT

Ellie has been keeping us very busy these past few months! We never seem to have a free weekend these days! Some of the things she has been doing:

Going up to Grandpa and Grandma Sievers' cabin
Visiting Steve's family and friends in Madison
Going to Twins games
Going to the State Fair
Going to Fawn-da-rosa (petting zoo in WI)
Getting to know the Forest Lake parks
Going to the Eagle's Nest

While we were in Madison we went to Uncle Joe's farm and Ellie got to see "mommy cows" and "baby cows". It was hard for us to explain why there weren't "daddy cows" on the dairy farm so we just gave up and said - yes Ellie that is a "daddy cow". She LOVED riding on the "green tractor"!

Our family had fun at the 9th annual FANA golf tournament and picnic this summer! We always do!! It marked the 2nd anniversary of our referral of Elizabeth Rose!! We raised a lot of money to help all of the children waiting for families at FANA in Colombia! THANK YOU SO MUCH to all that donated!! We so appreciate all that you do and the support that you give to us!!!

The cookbook sales were a part of the fundraising events. It went very well!!
****WE STILL HAVE COOKBOOKS FOR SALE - PLEASE CONTACT ME IF YOU WANT TO PURCHASE ANY!!!***

We have a trip to Disneyworld planned for the end of this month with Grandpa and Grandma Sievers, auntie Katie and cousin Alex. It should be a fun time!!

Well, I think that is everything for now! Hope everyone is doing well!! Thanks for checking in!

Steve, Jenna and Ellie

Tuesday, July 6, 2004 7:22 PM CDT

Happy 4th of July!!

We had a great time celebrating the 4th at Jenna's parents cabin in Wisconsin with friends and family. Lots of jet skiing and fireworks.

The 9th annual FANA golf tournament and fund raiser will happen in a couple weeks. We look forward to this weekend as it marks the 2nd anniversary of us receiving our referral of Ellie! This year as a part of the fundraising efforts, we put together a Friends of FANA Cookbook. It is a collection of recipes from families associated with FANA. They will be for sale at the picnic and the golf tournament. They are $15.00 each and all proceeds go directly to FANA. Also, we are selling FANA aprons. These are also $15.00 each. If you buy a cookbook and apron together, it is $25.00 for both. Please call or email me if you are interested in buying one!

We are doing great here! Thanks for checking in!

Steve, Jenna and Ellie

Sunday, May 23, 2004 9:21 PM CDT

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ELLIE!! She turned 2 today! We celebrated with grandpa and grandma Sievers, auntie Katie, cousin Alex and great grandma Betty. It was a fun day for Ellie! We will celebrate with grandpa and grandma Breunig when they come to visit this weekend.

Ellie just finished her first round of swimming lessons. She learned to kick and blow bubbles - well she would actually suck in the water and cough a little - but she tried! We will work on that this summer.

Everyone here is doing great! We are happy that summer is almost here so we can get outside and PLAY!!

Thanks for checking in on us!

Love,
Steve, Jenna and Ellie

Sunday, March 28, 2004 4:10 PM CST

Hello all!!

We just got back from visiting Grandma and Grandpa Sievers in Arizona. The weather was beautiful and Ellie loved being outside! She did great on the plane rides. There was never a dull moment on our trip! We packed as much stuff into 1 week as we could. It was a great time! Now we need a vacation from our vacation!!

In February, we went to Chippewa Falls, WI for a get together at a hotel with Steve's family. There was a waterpark there and all of the kids had fun going down the big water slide.

We have been busy here! We are looking forward to spring and playing outside!

Adios,

Steve, Jenna and Ellie

Tuesday, February 10, 2004 8:13 PM CST

Howdy all,

The heckler (Trisha) was wishing for an update and new photos. So here it is. We continue to get adapted to our house and new routines (the drive!) Ellie is saying more words but her favorite seems to be "Mama". At least that is the case when she is with Dad.

We have been outside this winter and have taken her sledding. She seems to really enjoy that but Jenna and I get pretty tired pulling the little girl around. We will attempt to train our dog Wylie to pull her around the yard but that seems like a long shot. I guess dad will just have to get into shape in a hurry.

Ellie continues to go to daycare 3 days a week and she is with Jenna the rest of the week. Play groups, shopping and Ellie tagging along while Jenna works seems to make those days fly by for Jenna. Maybe we will have another Interior Designer in the house if she enjoys going to work with her Mom. That sounds decent! Mother and daughter work, dad plays golf all year. Hmmm.......

We head to Middleton, WI in late February for an alumni (old farts) basketball tournament. Then in late March we head to Arizona to visit Grandma and Grandpa Sievers for a week. It should be interesting to see how Ellie behaves on the flights.

Adios for now,
Steve, Jenna, Ellie and Wylie Kegger

Monday, December 29, 2003 9:53 PM CST

Well - Ellie is now 19 months old and growing so fast!

We had a rough Christmas this year! We were so excited because we thought Ellie would really enjoy opening all of her presents (and mom, and dad's...) instead she came down with that bad influenza! YUCK!! It lasted over a week! She is better now and back to her crazy self, thank goodness!!! Other then that, our Christmas was good.

We are in our house...YEAH!!! We moved in the day before Christmas Eve. Stressful - yes, but we are so happy to finally be in - even though the unpacking has just begun!

Thanks so much for checking in on us! We love to hear from all of you!

Love -
Steve, Jenna and Ellie

Wednesday, November 5, 2003 8:35 PM CST

Hello everyone!

We had a great Halloween here at the Breunig residence! It started early when we went to the Zoo Boo at Como Zoo. We also "trick or treated" at Byerly's. Ellie had fun people watching. She didn't really get the whole idea of trick or treating, so mom and dad gained 10 pounds each from eating all of her candy!

We sold our house - it was only on the market for 11 days! We are closing on November 25th and moving in with Jenna's parents until our house is done. Our goal....to be in before Christmas! Santa is going to get too confused if we aren't moved in by then!

We hope all is well with all of you!

Steve, Jenna and Ellie

Tuesday, September 23, 2003 8:48 PM CDT

Well, our lives have officially changed forever....our little girl is a walker!! She is cruzin' everywhere! She started about 1 week ago and hasn't stopped! It has been a blast to watch her smile and laugh as she tries to run.

Her vocabulary is growing as well! She says: mama, dada, Dora, backpack, bubbles, and most importantly, she can roar like a lion.

Our house is now on the market. Our new house is going well. Steve and his dad primed the walls and ceilings this past weekend. Steve is going to tile this weekend. It seems to be moving right along and on schedule. We are hoping to be in it by Christmas! We are starting to pack up things here. It is amazing how much you accumulate over 6 years!

Well, we hope that all is well with all of you! Thanks for checking in!

Steve, Jenna and Ellie

Tuesday, August 5, 2003 1:36 PM CDT

One year ago today, we were given the greatest gift anyone could ever be given, the gift of our daughter Ellie. When she was placed in our arms, we knew life would never be the same!

Everyday I think about Ellie's birth mom and just how lucky we are that she loved Ellie enough to give her to FANA so that she could have a better life. Little did she know that we now have a better life because Ellie is in it!

We are having a great time being parents and watching Ellie grow! She is doing great and is so close to walking!

Thanks to all of you for all of your support and love this past year!

Lots of love,

Jenna, Steve and Ellie

Monday, July 7, 2003 12:58 AM CDT

Hello!

Hope everyone had a great 4th of July! We sure did! We celebrated with friends and family at Jenna's parents cabin. Ellie enjoyed her first boat ride and watching the fireworks.

Our house building is going well! We have shingles, windows, most of the electrical is done and the rough-in plumbing is complete! Every free moment we have is spent at the new place!

Ellie is doing great! She is a busy little girl! She has come up with her own "language". It is quite funny to hear her talk! She now has 4 teeth and 2 on the way! Isn't the teething stage fun? And she is really close to walking. It won't be long and we will be chasing her all over!

Well, that is our life in a nutshell! We are keeping busy and are loving being parents!

Thanks for checking in!

Jenna, Steve and Ellie

Monday, May 26, 2003 2:27 PM CDT

Ellie Rose here. In the last month I have learned how to talk, spell and type. Not bad for a one year old, right???

I just turned one on May 23rd. My mom and dad had a birthday party for me on the 24th. My friends Nate, Sydni, Tristin and Alex came to celebrate with me along with a bunch of elderly type people. (You know, the 30-60 age group, elderly) We hit a pinata and tried to brake it open to get the candy from the inside of it. All 4 of us got a few chances to break it open but it took Alex, who is the oldest and strongest of us all, to break it open. Candy flew everwhere and we all scrambled to get our share. We then went and opened gifts which was then followed by ice cream and cake. I had a marvelous time and really hope that I have another birthday very soon.

Also since my last update, my grandma and grandpa Sievers have returned from Arizona and I will get to hang out with them during the summer months. Grandma and Grandpa Breunig were here over the Memorial Day weekend and hopefully they return soon to take me for more walks and to laugh at me when I do funny things.

My mom and dad have begun to build a house for me. They say that I need more room for my toys and eventually more room for a brother or sister so that is why they are building me a bigger house. On Memorial weekend they dug the hole and then Saturday night we drove up there to look at the hole. I do not know what all the fuss is about. It just looks like a hole in the ground with a bunch of big dirt piles on the outside of the hole. They would not let me crawl (oh yeah, I can do that now) around in the dirt because they thought I would eat it! What, do they think that I am one year old or something like that. As you can see from the picture, I thought I would help with digging the hole so we can move in faster!

I go for another doctors appointment on Wed (5/28/03) to see how tall I have gotten and if I have gained any weight. By the way that I eat, I should be a sumo wrestler by now. I love pancakes for breakfast, turkey for lunch and ravioli for dinner. Of course dessert for all meals is CHEERIOS! I love CHEERIOS!

In the next month or so, I am looking forward to begin walking. I can walk with mommy or daddy's help but I would like to do it myself. They always seem to be right by me and I need my space. So if I can walk, I can get away from them and enjoy myself for a little bit. Maybe head to some plants that are on the floor and see what they taste like. Maybe finally be able to catch up with Wylie the dog and be able to pet him. It is very hard to keep up with a dog when all you can do it crawl.

Well, my bottom feels a little wet and my eyes are feeling droopy. I am going to hit dad up for a diaper change and have him rock me to sleep. I will keep you all posted on my future events in the next journal entry.

Adios for now,
Ellie Rose Breunig

Saturday, April 26, 2003 9:21 PM CDT

Hello everyone!

We are in spring / summer mode here at the Breunig household! We are loving the beautiful weather!

Ellie is doing great! It is fun to see her closer and closer to crawling! She has a couple face plants a day while trying, but lives through it and is right back at it again. She is a trooper!

She loves to eat! I think that she would do it all day long if we would keep putting Cheerios in front of her.

Oh yeah and the biggest news of all is that Ellie has two teeth! The two bottom teeth came in over night! No whining, no crying...nothing! I put a Cheerio in her mouth (imagine that!), and there they were!! We hope that all of them come in like that!

That is about everything that is new in the life of Ellie.

Thanks for checking in!

Steve, Jenna, Ellie and Wylie

Monday, March 31, 2003 5:14 PM CST

Hello!

Well, Jenna and Ellie made it back from Arizona with no problems! Ellie was great on both plane rides! Jenna learned very quickly that it is hard to travel with an infant and all of the items that goes with one! Stroller, car seat, car seat base, diaper bag, toys...and the list goes on and on!! They did have fun though! Grandpa and Grandma Sievers were thrilled to be able to spend time with Ellie. They hadn't seen her since the beginning of January. Ellie showed them all of her new tricks... clapping, waving, and talking up a storm! They loved it!

We did end up at the Urgent Care while visiting AZ. Ellie ended up with tonsilitis! It was a big mess...but turned out ok. She was put on meds and now is a new girl!!

We are planning on visiting Grandpa and Grandma Breunig in Madison for Easter. Hopefully the Easter bunny will find us there! Steve has a big sweet tooth you know!

Ellie is such a great joy in our lives! She is doing something new everyday! It won't be long and she will be crawling! She is so busy and curious! She has to get her hands into everything! It is so much fun! We love her to pieces!!

Thanks to all who still check in on us! We love to show off our little Ellie!!!

Steve, Jenna and Ellie

Friday, February 28, 2003 4:05 PM CST

Hello web site stalkers!

Ellie had her 9 month check up today. She is a healthy little girl! She is 27 3/4" long and weighs 17 lbs 9 oz. All ear infections are finally gone!! We were glad to hear that!

She is still waving at everyone and everything. She isn't rolling over yet and doesn't have any teeth, but we know it won't be long for all of that to happen!

Ellie and Jenna are traveling to Scottsdale, Arizona the end of March to visit Jenna's parents. They are so excited to see her (Ellie that is)! They will have a lot of fun hanging out at the pool with Grandma, Grandpa, auntie Katie and cousin Alex.

Thanks for checking in on our little Ellie!

Steve, Jenna, and Ellie

Wednesday, January 29, 2003 at 08:50 PM (CST)

Ellie continues to grow and show us all of her new tricks daily. She is a blast with all of her little noises and her funny little facial expressions. Ellie sits up on her own and she waves hello to us and to all of her stuffed animals. Wylie (dog) and Ellie continue to become best friends. It is more of a take and take relationship for Wylie. Ellie will grab his hair, ears, legs and pull as hard as she can. Wylie looks at her and just bears it. What a guy! She has been fighting an ear infection and a congested chest the last week but continues to smile and be happy.

Mom left Ellie and I for about 5 days while she went to Arizona to visit Grandma and Grandpa Sievers. While Jenna was gone, Grandma and Grandpa Breunig came to Minnesota to help me take care of Ellie. We all had a great time but now things are back to normal. In March, both Mom and Ellie head back to Arizona with Katie and Alex Sievers (Sister and nephew) to visit Bill and Jill again. Oh what will I do for a week with no one around???? That is right, I will miss them like crazy. What were you thinking!!!

We are still planning on beginning building our new home in Forest Lake starting in May. We can't wait to get the extra room. Excersaucer, swing, bouncy seat, high chair, toys and many others take up quite a bit of room. If you are interested in blisters, sweat and a good work out, give us a call at 651/FREE-BEER.

Thanks for checking in every once in a while.

Steve, Jenna, Ellie and Wylie

Saturday, January 04, 2003 at 01:44 PM (CST)

The new year is upon us and like so many others, we have so much to be thankful for. Jenna and I had a little get together with friends for the New Year's celebration. Most people brought their children so only a few of us made it to midnight. Suprisingly, Ellie and her friend Tate did last until "the ball dropped" at midnight. Ellie fell asleep at 8:00 but awoke at 10:00 probably because we were not the quietest of people. Check out the photo page to see Ellie and Tate celebrating.

Ellie is talking frequently now and has started eating solid food. Ok, Ok, mashed up veggies, apple sauce and stuff like that. No steaks or tacos yet!!! She does not yet roll over but that is not far away. Jenna and I have noticed that she is getting quite a bit bigger lately and is very alert of her surroundings. She enjoys daycare 3 days a week at Children's Discovery in Vadnais Heights. She will be celebrating her mom's 29th birthday for the second year in a row on January 11th and has yet to get her a birthday gift. (I remember when I thought 30 was really old, but now I am married to an "old fart"). So needless to say, Ellie has some shopping to do this next week.

Ellie will be traveling back to Madison in the middle of February to watch her dad play in an alumni basketball tournament. Then in March, her and mom are going to Arizona to visit Grandma and Grandpa Sievers, who will be spending the next 4 to 5 months there as they do every year. She gets to travel with her aunt Katie and cousin Alex as well. Dad gets to stay home because someone has to pay the bils.

Thanks to everyone that continues to check this web site. We appreciate you visiting.

Steve, Jenna and Ellie Breunig

Friday, December 20, 2002 at 11:03 AM (CST)

Hello!

Now is the time when we look back at the past year and remember....Oh what a year it has been.

It started out very sad as Jenna's grandma, June Rose, passed away in early January. She was a big part of all our lives and is truly missed!

Our lives changed forever on July 29th when we received the referral of our daughter. We traveled to Bogota, Colombia on August 4th and Elizabeth Rose was placed in our arms on August 5th. We stayed in Bogota for 3 1/2 weeks where both sets of grandparents visited Ellie's birth place. It was an amazing time!

Ellie is the light of our lives. She is loved by so many and we are very lucky to have her in our family!

We want to thank all of you for your love and support this past year. We love you all!!

We hope that you have a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!!

Steve, Jenna, Ellie and Wylie

Wednesday, November 27, 2002 at 11:23 AM (CST)

Hi to everyone!

Where should I begin?? Lets see....since our last update, Ellie turned 6 months. I can't believe how fast she is growing!! Today we had her 6 month check up. She now weighs 14 lbs. 12 oz. and is 26 1/2" long. The dr. said as long as she is content and sleeping as good as she is, we don't have to start her on solids yet. We shall see.

Yes, she is sleeping through the night! She goes to sleep around 8:30pm and sleeps until 6:00am or so. We give her a bottle and then she goes back to sleep until about 8:30. How nice for mom and dad eh??? We are loving it!!

She also started daycare at Children's Discovery last Monday. She is there Monday - Wednesday and seems to really like it there.

I hope that all of you are doing well and that you all have a great Thanksgiving!!

Love to all,

Jenna, Steve and Ellie

Sunday, October 27, 2002 at 08:02 PM (CST)

Hello,

Well we have now been home for 2 months and Ellie turned 5 months on Wednesday! My how time flies by!! She is growing like a weed and does something new each day. It is fun to see her find her hands, make new noises and try to stand and sit. We are having a blast with her!

We had a busy weekend! Ellie was baptized today. All went well! It was a nice day and it was good to see Steve's family who came in from Wisconsin.

Steve has been clearing our land in Forest Lake. We will put in the driveway and culvert this fall and then start to dig in the spring. We are so excited to move! Our current house is getting a bit tight with all of the new additions of toys and things that come with a kid!!!

We will talk to you all soon!

Steve, Jenna, Ellie and Wylie

Thursday, October 10, 2002 at 08:27 PM (CDT)

Hello all,

Ellie had a doctors appointment two weeks ago. She is in good health and is doing great. She weighs 13 pounds and was 24" long at the time of the appointment. Ellie continues to eat more and more. We now have to make 6 oz. bottles. She does not always drink all of it but we still make the full 6 ounces.

Ellie is going to be baptised on October 27 and we are looking forward to that. We even attended a baptism class last Saturday morning where there was about 10 young children all with their parents attending this class. It was a lot of fun.

Ellie has determined that she can not be bullied and she will continue to wear the green and gold colors of the Green Bay Packers. She is very proud of the Packers 4-1 record at this point in the season. Thankfully the purple and gold colors of that other professional (or is it a high school) football team has not appeared in her dresser.

Adios for now,

Steve, Jenna, Ellie and puppy dog Wylie

**JUST TO LET YOU ALL KNOW, STEVE WROTE THIS...I (JENNA) AM A VIKINGS FAN AND ELLIE WILL BE A VIKINGS FAN TOO. AND YES, SHE HAS 2 VIKINGS OUTFITS!!!!

Sunday, September 22, 2002 at 09:18 PM (CDT)

Hello all!

Well we have settled in here and things are going very well!!

We have been keeping busy these last few weeks with visits and showers. Last weekend we traveled to Middleton, WI for two showers. It was nice to have all of Steve's family and friends meet Ellie. Today we had a shower put on by Jenna's aunt and a family friend. All I can say is Ellie is going to be a stylin' little girl with all of the cute clothes she received!! She will be reading all of the books and playing with all of the toys too!! Thank you to all!! We had so much fun!

We have one more shower and then we will need to build a bigger house so we have more room to put everything!! Actually, Steve and his dad Larry were up at our land in Forest Lake clearing trees this weekend. We are planning on starting to build in the spring. We are very excited to get that going!

Ellie has her first Dr's appt. this week. We can't wait to see how much she has grown since she has been home! It seems to us like she is getting so big! I (Jenna) had to put away her first outfit that she has outgrown. It was very hard! But then I look at all of the fun things that she received at the showers and I can't wait to see her in them! It is so fun being a mom and watching her grow!

We will write more soon.

Jenna, Steve and Ellie

Thursday, September 05, 2002 at 09:57 PM (CDT)

Back off, Hosers!!!!!!!!! It is tough getting this web site updated because it is a lot more fun holding and playing with Ellie. We have yet to play catch yet but we are working up to that. Right now we pretty much just blow bubbles with our own saliva and pinching each others cheecks. She is still as cute as ever and I think she has grown a bunch since she has been home. It may have something to do with the fact that she is drinking a lot more. Tonight she had her first full 5 ounces during a single feeding. We will have to see how much she drinks at the 11:00 feeding, hopefully she will be hungry then and not at 2:00 am.

She has been sleeping pretty good. The best night we have had so far is Ellie sleeping from 11:00 pm to 5:15 am. Not too bad, but most nights she is up about twice. Fortunately I am only aware of it if Jenna gets me up because I usually do not hear Ellie. I just get the elbow to the chest or face and Jenna saying, "your turn".

We have started the search for daycare in our area. We are hoping to find someone close that can watch Ellie for only a couple days a week. The other days Jenna will be able to watch her while working out of the house. We do however have some bad news. Our beloved vibrating bouncy seat that we used so much in Colombia is not cooperating with us. It is now just the bouncy seat that we sometimes use here in Minnesota. For some reason it no longer vibrates. Yes!!!!!!! I have tried new batteries. I even did what most men would do. Tore the thing apart, looked at the motor and said, "yup, it is broken." Put the thing back together and that was it.

We will try to get some nice pictures of Ellie soon and get them on the site. Wait a second, forget that I said that. I don't need more people heckling me about updates. In all seriousness, we appreciate people still watching our web site and we will do our best to update it periodically.

Thanks,

Steve, Jenna, Ellie and Wylie Kegger (dog)

Friday, August 30, 2002 at 10:09 AM (CDT)

We have made it home safe and the transition for Ellie has gone well. Sleeping, eating and that third thing little babies do is all going well. It has been an emotional experience seeing her sleep in her own crib, the first bath and of course meeting Wylie Kegger (the dog). We will never forget the past 4 weeks as they have been the most exciting weeks of our lives.

We thank everyone for their journal entries, emails, calls and all around support. Thank you for all being there at the airport to welcome Ellie home. It was amazing to see all of our friends and family together. We will never forget it.

We would also like to invite everyone to a little celebration at Grandma and Grandpa Sievers house on Saturday, August 31st. It goes from 2-6 and they live at 2451 Forest St. in Maplewood. Please give Jenna or I a call if you need directions.

651/490-7720 or 612/816-9711

We will update the photo page as soon with arrival photos.

Bye Bye,

Steve, Jenna and Ellie

Tuesday, August 27, 2002 at 11:08 AM (CDT)

Our final journal entry in Bogota. Our email is currently not working so if we have not emailed you back, we are sorry.

We ended Monday with a nice dinner at Atico De Los Olivos. It is very close to El Refugio and the food was excellent. Today, Jenna and Jill have already left for shopping. Bill, Dave (from North Carolina) and myself are going golfing with Arturo. He is the husband of Mercedes. He is taking us to his private club and it should be a great time.

Tonight will be spent packing and saying Goodbye to everyone.

Hope to see you all at the airport or the party on Saturday. Until then, adios.

Steve, Jenna, Ellie, Bill and Jill

Monday, August 26, 2002 at 10:06 AM (CDT)

Hello to everyone!

Yesterday morning we went to the market at La Fontana Hotel and purchased some neat Colombian items. A photo album, a frame, and a babtism gown. We only had a short time to spend there because we then went to Mercedes house for lunch. It was for all of the American families staying at Betty's Place and El Refugio. It was wonderful! There were 7 babies there and Ellie was the only girl. Mercedes called her Queen Elizabeth.

In the afternoon we received a call from Ana Maria. She is the lady that was staying with the Wilson's over the summer. She just returned to Bogota on Saturday. Ana Maria and her brother Jose picked us up and drove us to a private social club that their family belongs to. Along the way, we stopped to pick their parents up. The club was a beautiful place with a great view of the city of Bogota. It was high a top a mountain and you could see for miles. It was night time so the city was lit up and looked beautiful. They showered us with Colombian appetizers as well as deserts. Not to mention some Nectar which is a very good tasting alcohol shot. Needless to say we enjoyed every moment with them and greatly appreciate the time they took to spend with us. We hope to see them the next time we visit Colombia.

We returned home and gave Ellie a bath. Then went to bed.

On Monday morning, Bill, Steve and Ellie went to the American Embassy to aquire Ellie's VISA. We just returned at noon today. Steve has to go back this afternoon to pick up the actual VISA.

Jenna and Jill are currently touring the Hogar. This is the home where the biological mothers stay a few months before birth and a little while after birth. It should be interesting to hear their thoughts of the tour.

There is an open house for Ellie's welcoming home on Saturday, August 31 from 2-6 at the home of Bill and Jill Sievers. Everybody is welcome. The address is 2451 Forest St in Maplewood. It is near the intersection of Hwy 61 and Cty Rd C in Maplewood. If you need directions, please feel free to contact Steve and Jenna at 651-490-7720 after Wed.

Saturday, August 24, 2002 at 09:35 PM (CDT)

Hello all,

Today started with Jenna and Jill going to an emerald shop where we purchased some beautiful items! It is Ellie's birthstone you know!!

While Jenna and Jill were shopping, Steve and Bill went to Norberto's to get their hair cut along with a shave. Yes Marcia, Steve went back. Jenna and Jill were getting a little nervous because they were gone for 3 hours! We thought that maybe Fra'nk kidnapped them? He did take a liking to Steve the first time he went. And Bill threatened to get a mohawk haircut, so we were dying to see what he had done! They came strolling in after they had found a bar on the way back to El Refugio. Jenna and Jill then got picked up by Omar and headed to the leather district where more purchases where made! We had fun!

We all ate at El Refugio for dinner and then had a birthday celebration for Heloise who is from France. She turned 6 today.

Ellie is still doing great! She is smiling more and loves to talk. We are so excited for all of you to meet her. She will melt your hearts!

Love to you all!!

Steve, Jenna, Ellie, Bill and Jill

Saturday, August 24, 2002 at 08:53 AM (CDT)

Friday was another busy day getting ready to come home. All three of us went to get Ellie's passport completed. We brought Ellie back and left her with the grandparents while Jenna and I headed to FANA for Ellie's social history. This is where they give us as much information as they have about Ellie's biological family. We then headed back to El Refugio.

At 2:00, the grandparents and a few couples from here headed to Monserrette. A church high up on a mountain. There is a cable car ride up a steep hill and then a very beautiful view once on top. While they were doing that, Jenna and I took Ellie to the Embassy doctor were she passed with flying colors. We got all the necessary paperwork from the doctor. Our day of running around was then complete.

We capped off the day by going out to eat at Carbon de Palo. A great steak restaurant within walking distance. After that, Grandma and Grandpa Breunig had to say goodbye for now to Ellie and they left Bogota this morning. Luckily, it will only be about 5 days until they see her again at the airport.

Got to run and hop in the shower for todays events. Probably more than you wanted to know, but oh well.

Love,
Steve, Jenna, Ellie, Bill and Jill

Thursday, August 22, 2002 at 03:45 PM (CDT)

Hola from Bogota!!

Our day started out with Steve being picked up by Maria Teresa Perez to go to Court #8 and sign the sentencia. This means that we can come home!! It also means that our next couple days will be full of running around trying to get stuff done so we can bring our little girl home!! Our plans are to fly home on Wednesday August 28th. Can you believe that we are actually coming home?! We were shocked yesterday but today are really excited! Steve also got Ellie's birth certificate and her ticket to fly home. He was a busy guy!

While Steve was doing that, Larry, Arleen, Jill, Bill and I went to FANA to get a tour. It was my 2nd time but it was just as great as the first! FANA is an amazing place with lots of love and care!! I think that the grandparents really enjoyed it.

We got home at about 12:00 and waited for Steve to get home so we could go and have lunch. We then sent the grandparents back to the hotel so we could have some quiet time with Ellie. (She really needed a nap and that wasn't happening with the grandma's not letting her sleep!!)

Tonight we are going to celebrate our signing at H. Sasson which is a Tai restaurant. We've heard that it is really good!! Should be fun to hang out with the grandparents and our friends from North Carolina Dave and Kathy.

The new pictures are compliments of Grandma Sievers. She is a crazy lady!! You will know why Ellie needed a nap so bad! She was busy changing her outfits.

We are so excited for you all to meet Ellie!

Love,
Jenna, Steve, Ellie, Grandma and Grandpa Breunig and Grandma and Grandpa Sievers

Wednesday, August 21, 2002 at 07:03 PM (CDT)

Anybody ready for a suprise??????? Ellie is sitting up and rolling over and already saying Grandma and Grandpa.

OK, for the real suprise......... We sign on Thursday. Yes, tomorrow or today whenever you are reading this. Thursday, August 22.

We can not believe it. Next Monday is the three week anniversary of receiving Ellie. We will not know any travel plans or anything like that for awhile.

Hoping to see you all soon.

Steve, Jenna, Ellie, Larry, Arleen and currently in the air on the way to Bogota, Bill and Jill Sievers.

Wednesday, August 21, 2002 at 08:56 AM (CDT)

The Breunig Grandparents arrived at El Refugio about 9:30 for a little play time with Ellie. We then had a 6 hour guided tour of the Catedral De Sal Ziquaria. Ziquaria is the city that the "Salt Cathedral" is located. Guillermo drove us to the city which is about 45 minutes away and he pointed out all the sites a long the way. We also visited the town square of Ziquaria. Very beautiful place. We then had a one hour tour of the Salt Cathedral followed by a nice lunch. We took the scenic route back to Bogota and returned about 4:00 in the afternoon.

We then prepared to head to Tom Pawlak's going away party. All the American couples from El Refugio headed over to Betty's place to wish him well. However, Tom was no where to be seen while we were there. We at least got a photo of us at his party just so we could show that we were there.

We returned to El Refugio for dinner and a few more games of Yahtzee. We then called it a night.

The grandparents will be arriving shortly so we must go plan the days events. It will be highlighted by the Sievers grandparents arriving late tonight.

Got to run,

Steve, Jenna, Ellie, Larry and Arleen

P.S. Ellie's hair in the front is straight and in the back is curly. The humidity also adds curls all over. So we never know what it will look like.

Monday, August 19, 2002 at 11:01 PM (CDT)

We started the day with a walk to Maku. Maku is a 3 floor shop that sells authentic Colombian souvenirs. Unfortunately due to the holiday, it was closed. We still enjoyed the walk and all the beautiful scenery. Later in the day, we went to Uni-Centro and did a little shopping. A few cd's of Colombian music and souvenirs for the parents.

Jenna and I then got a break from parenting as we left Ellie with grandpa and grandma at their hotel room. When they returned we went out to El Corral which is a local hamburger place. The night ended with playing yahtzee with another couple from North Carolina.

Ellie had a long day so we are hoping that she sleeps well tonight. She is a very well behaved and beautiful little girl. My mom commented that she is much smaller in person that what it shows on the photos. Jenna and I both agreed.

We love you all and someone pay our house bills!!!! Mow the grass while you are at it!!!!!!!

Love,
Steve, Jenna, Ellie and first wave of grandparents

Monday, August 19, 2002 at 08:45 AM (CDT)

Let's see, what day is it???? Oh yeah, Monday. You kind of lose track of the days while down here. Today is a national Holiday for Colombia. Don't ask me which one!!

On Sunday we went to FANA to celebrate their 30th anniversary. It started out with a difficult trip to FANA on the bus. There were supposed to be 2 buses but only one showed up. We stuck around to wait for the second one which was an hour late for various reasons: stuck in traffic and then in an accident. We were all happy that it got in an accident before it picked us up.

Anyways, once we arrived at FANA they began with a beautiful mass. Immediately after the mass there was 10 presentations. A very touching moment for everyone. All the people then headed outside for music, speeches and great food. We made it back home about 5:00.

The employees of El Refugio do not cook lunch or supper on Sundays, so a bunch of us ordered pizzas from Archies and ate them here last night. Mom (grandma) got Ellie to sleep at 9:00 and she did not get up until 2:30. She then went back to sleep. Back up at 6:00 and then back to sleep unti 8:15. So Jenna and I are well rested and ready for the week ahead.

The pictures which will be posted shortly show what life is like for Jenna and I recently.

Go twins (they were on tv last night and won!!!!) and have a good one,

Steve, Jenna, Ellie, Larry and Arleen

Sunday, August 18, 2002 at 07:48 AM (CDT)

Hello everybody,

We had another fun day celebrating with FANA. We went to an old farm where they had games, music, food and beverage. We have met a lot of great people the last few days and we will see them again as today is the final day of celebration. We will be going to FANA and there will be 10 couples presented with their children. Should be a great time.

After today, there will be 5 infants, 4 older children and 6 sets of parents staying at El Refugio. So for everyone who is not a math teacher (Alyson and Jake) that would be a full house of 21 people staying at El Refugio.

Grandma and Grandpa Breunig made it safely last night. We got to El Refugio about 9:15. We got the moment on video tape and it was filled with emotion. As a side note, the video can be purchased from Breunig Enterprises and all proceeds will go towards Steve's golfing fund!!!! Please purchase quickly because there is a limited supply. (Jenna wanted me to state is was for Ellie's college fund, but some things are more important)

Today marks the two week anniversary of being here in Colombia. The time has flown by and we are having a great time. The Colombian people are very nice, generous and helpful. The city of Bogota is a very active city and there is always entertainment to be found. We look forward to the next week and a half of touring the city even further with our parents. (Grandma and Grandpa Sievers fly in on Wed. night)

Ellie is doing great! She sleeps about 3.5 hours at a time at night before she wakes up for another bottle. We have been very lucky that after she drinks, she falls asleep again during the burping. So she is not up for a great amount of time. This suits Jenna... I mean US just fine. She is still congested a little bit but she has no other symptoms. It has been hard leaving her the last few days while we go to the FANA celebration but we know that the wonderful ladies at El Refugio treat Ellie very well.

Got to run, have a great day,

Steve, Jenna, Ellie, Grandpa and Grandma Breunig

Friday, August 16, 2002 at 06:32 PM (CDT)

Hello all!!

On our last entry we left off on Monday night in Cartagena. So I will start with Tuesday.....

We had a good nights sleep!! Ellie woke up at 3:00 for a bottle, 7:00 for another bottle and then went back to sleep until 9:30! Of course we took advantage of it!!

We got ready and headed down to the pool to sit in the shade. We again took turns swimming in the pool. We went back up to the room at about 2:00 to get ready to go back to the "Old City". We wanted to get there in time so we could tour some places before it got too dark.
We bought a map of the city and while we were studying it, a guy came up to us and offered to be our personal tour guide. This was great!! Willy, our tour guide, took us to see San Pedro Claver church, the Cathedral, and we ended up at The Santa Teresa for drinks on the 6th floor by the pool to watch the sunset. He told us about each and every building and all of the great history that went with it. It was definately worth the $20.00!!

As part of our Cartagena trip package, we could go out to dinner one night, so this was the night. We went to a restaurant called Club de Pesco. It was built in an old military fort. We sat right by the water on the deck. It was a beautiful night!

We then went back to the hotel and went to bed.

On Wednesday, we woke up (after another great night of sleep), had breakfast sat by the pool and then went up to finish packing. Ellie was a trooper once again on the plane! The flight went smooth and once again we were at our home away from home!!

Today started the 30th anniversary celebration at FANA. We were taken by bus to FANA to take a tour and have a typical Colombian lunch. I would tell you what we ate, but I am not quite sure what it was. It was good though! The tour was great!! We went out of there feeling very good about the care that Ellie was given before she was placed in our arms!

We are looking forward to Steve's parents coming tomorrow night!

We just got the "Misses, dinner" call and therefore, I must go. I hope that all is well with all of you! It is wonderful here!

Love to you all!!

Steve, Jenna and Ellie

P.S. We found out that we are in court #8 - an average court we've been told. We shall see.

Thursday, August 15, 2002 at 08:30 PM (CDT)

Hey, guess what we did on Thursday?????? Absolutely nothing, or at least pretty close to nothing. I went with Carmen (El Refugio Owner) to pay for our stay here so far. I also went to the grocery store to pick up a few things. That was it!!

Another French couple arrived today and a couple from Conneticut will be arriving this everning. They both will be presented with the children on Sunday during the 30th anniversary for FANA. The next three days will involve celebrating with FANA for 30 years of greatness.

Let's go back a few days to Sunday afternoon. We arrived at Hotel Caribe in the late afternoon. We were tired and hot. Jenna, Ellie and I took advantage of the buffet supper and the live entertainment by the pool. We then went to bed early.

On Monday, we woke up and headed to the pool. We were hoping to get our lounging done before it got too hot for Ellie. She did great sitting in the shade of a large tree while Mom and Dad took turns swimming in the pool. We were also highly entertained by the many young children swimming in the pools and the elderly men wearing speedo's. Thankfully for Steve and our viewing audience, Steve was never seen wearing a Speedo. In the late afternoon, we met up with the Goleski's. We headed into the "Old City". Cartegena is the second oldest city in Colombia. Dating back some 469 years. The "Old City" is a beutiful place full of wonderful history and architecture. We really enjoyed this. We had a drink or two at Santa Clara which is an expensive hotel in the city. We then ate at Pazaluna which is a quaint little pizza joint on the square. We talked to many great and friendly people and had an absolutely great time. Before we left that night we had already decided that we would return the next day. We went home and went to bed. We will continue the rest of the trip on the next journal entry.

The pictures on the web site today are a re-inactment of the first time I changed a messy diaper. The photos are sponsored by "FOYC". Which stands for the "Father of the Year Club." Luckily, the first week of fatherhood does not make a year. Therefore I still have 51 weeks to pick it up.

The weather here is about 65 degrees and an occasional sprinkle. No rain outs yet! We are walking around in shorts and t-shorts while all the people of Colombia are bundled up. Oh well, they just look at us and have an occasional chuckle.

Adios,

Steve, Jenna and Ellie

Wednesday, August 14, 2002 at 10:22 PM (CDT)

We have had a safe return to Bogota. Our time in Cartagena was great. We really enjoyed the "Old City". It is a very beautiful place and is full of great history. We will write more about Cartagena in the next few days.

We are tired and heading to bed soon. On Thursday, we will write a little more about our trip.

Ellie is doing great. She drank a lot while in Cartagena. Maybe because of the heat or maybe she has adjusted to everything. Who knows???? Anyway, she was a trooper for the entire trip. Every person we met while "on vacation" just thought she was adorable.

Ellie is sleeping so that means that Jenna and I better get to bed so we can get some sleep as well.

Love from our home away from home,

Steve, Jenna and Ellie

P.S. Is our regular home still standing?????

Saturday, August 10, 2002 at 10:37 PM (CDT)

Ellie is beginning to drink much better. We were a little concerned that she was not drinking enough. We even took her to the nurse at FANA. She is fine and basically was just adjusting to the change. Ellie is looking forward to her trip to Cartagena.

On Saturday, Joe Goleski and I (Steve) headed off to Norbertos for a hair cut and a shave. We were expecting a barber shop setting and were quite suprised with what we got. It actually was a salon. A very upscale salon. We were ushered upstairs where about 7 male Colombian hairdressers where waiting for their next client. What ever you picture a male Colombian hairdresser to be like, times that by 10 and that was Fra'nk. Our hairdresser. Joe and I had a great time with the hair cut and the relaxing shave. Enough said about that.

This afternoon, Elizabeth who is the head nurse at FANA came to El Refugio. Her husband, Carlos is an exporter of Emeralds and he showed us some of his jewelry (not jewels). Ellie was able to get a pair of emerald earrings. No her ears are not pierced yet.

This evening, Joe and Linda Goleski and Jenna and I went to Carbon de Palo for supper. It was fabulous food and they had live bands playing. It was a great time.

On Sunday morning we head to Cartagena. We will not have a computer there so there will be no updates until next Thurday. Sorry about that one.

Hope everyone is in good health and doing well

Love,
Steve, Jenna and Ellie

Friday, August 09, 2002 at 06:50 PM (CDT)

We were picked up today at 9:30 to head to our Baby Class. They showed how to bathe, feed and clip fingernails. We got back to the house at 2:30.

The two french couples received their children today and they returned to the house at 4:00 with Annys and Xavier. Annys was born May 21 and is quite a bit heavier than Ellie. Xavier is two years old and is as cute as can be.

Jenna and I ran to the grocery store for a few things and will soon be eating dinner. Maybe have a beer during dinner, but who knows.

Just hanging out and getting rested for our trip to Cartagena. Ellie is still being wonderful and is a great joy. We love every moment we have with her!

Love,
Steve, Jenna and Ellie

Thursday, August 08, 2002 at 11:06 PM (CDT)

Hello from Bogota!

All is well here. We are loving this parenting thing! Ellie is doing very well. We took her to see the nurse at FANA this morning because she wasn't eating as much as they said she should (5 ounces every 4 hours) She was eating more like 1.5 ounces every 4 hours. Although she seemed to be fine we thought it would be better to take her in just in case. Turns out that it is the adjustment and seeing new faces that is the problem. She is just fine. We were relieved!

We then went to the Bienestar meeting. This will start the paperwork. They asked us questions like, How did you hear about FANA? Why did you name her Elizabeth, How long did it take you to get to Bogota once you got the referral... Pretty easy questions to answer. We hopefully will find out tomorrow what court we are in.

Tomorrow morning we have the baby class at FANA. Should be fun to see how she was cared for there!

We also booked a trip to Cartagena. This is a city that is on the coast in the northern part of Colombia. We will be going this Sunday returning late Wednesday night. For all you website stalkers, sorry - we won't have email or be able to update while we are there. Not to worry though. We will try to get more pictures on to keep you all satisfied for that short time.

Well, it is time for the 11:00 feeding.

Love to you all!

Jenna, Steve and Ellie

Thursday, August 08, 2002 at 08:01 AM (CDT)

Yet antother good night of sleeping. She was up for one hour for a bottle and little play time but that was it. For those of you stating that Ellie should be a little rougher on us during the night, #$%* ^*$(that is Ellie language for, no way man)

She enjoys her pacifier and her vibrating bouncy seat. Very content little girl.

How did Ellie get her name???

Jenna and I both have grandma's with the name Elizabeth. Rose is the middle name of Jenna's grandma Sievers and also Steve's aunt Jane. Both of whom would have loved to see Ellie come into our lives. That is how she became Elizabeth Rose Breunig.

Got to run. Everybody have a great day.

Love,
Steve, Jenna and Ellie
P.S. Please send photo of Wylie. We miss our buddy.

Wednesday, August 07, 2002 at 02:40 PM (CDT)

Hello from heaven!! The weather here is about 65 degrees and partly cloudy. So it is very nice sleeping and for lounging during the day. We really have not ventured to far away from our accomodations.

We had breakfast this morning and then a lady who does manicures and pedicures showed up. Jenna jumped at the opportunity. Linda and Joe Goleski also took advantage of the situation. So now I am the only ugly one here!

At noon today, two couples from Holland arrived. They are here until Friday and then they head home. They are here to sign their Visas. They actually had spent about 4 weeks in another city where their children were. Then the visas have to be signed in Bogota. We have been spending time getting to know them and also had lunch with them. This afternoon we may venture out for a quick walk (aka: liquid reinforcements)

About the liquid reinforcements, we really are not drinking that much. We just buy a 6 pack or 12 pack at a time. Try different beers. Once we settle on one brand, then we will back the beer truck up to the doors and unload. Then you will not have to hear about the liquids.

Hey, do you want to hear about Ellie. She slept great last night. We had to wake her up to feed her. Otherwise she is as cute as a button. We just stare at her and hold her as much as we can. We have to spoil her before the grandparents get here.

On Thursday we have our bienestar. This starts the paper work for the court system. Then on Friday we have a baby class at FANA. Joe and I are going to try and get a shave and hair cut at a local barber shop here sometime soon. It is supposed to be a highly entertaining barber shop.

We are also trying to figure out our travel arrangements to Cartagena. Hopefully we will travel with the Goleskis at the early part of next week. We will see though.

Got to run and go do nothing!!! I love typing that.

Steve, Jenna and Ellie

Tuesday, August 06, 2002 at 11:07 PM (CDT)

Our two days here have flown by. Not really sure what we accomplished today but we sure had a good time. The Pawlak's came over for dinner tonight. Three babies all together. Yes, we did get photos. How much money will you pay to see them????

Ellie slept a majority of the day. Probably very tired from yesterday's events. We are experimenting with the feeding and trying to fit it between her naps.

Just so everyone can get off my back, I (Steve) have changed a couple of diapers. Yes, one was a wet one and one was a very soiled one. No problemo!!! No photos because Jenna was too slow. We will reinact at a later date for photos.

Ellie is getting very used to the flashes from the cameras. Barely phases her. What a cutie she is!!! We are hoping that she sleeps well tonight and we will be able to play with her on Wed.

Tonight Ellie had her first bath. No crying. See photos in the archived photos or the photo page.

Love,
Steve, Jenna and Ellie (Wylie also)
We miss you buddy!!!!

Tuesday, August 06, 2002 at 01:01 PM (CDT)

The first night of sleeping went well. She fell asleep at 7:30 while we were eating supper. She finally woke up at 6:30 this morning. During the sleeping time, she did wake up about 4 times but never longer than 10 minutes. She is a little congested in the nose so we had to clear that a few times during the night. Other than that, she is doing wonderful.

We are hoping to give her a bath this afternoon. That should be entertaining.

This morning we went to the notary to have some papers signed. Maria Teresa walked us there. After we signed, the Goleski's and us went to Unicentro. Large shopping mall near El Refugio. We got some essentials for the kids and then some food for us. We are heading to eat lunch now and then tonight, Kim and Eddie Pawlak and Maxine are coming over for supper.

We also hope to get over to Kim's place this afternoon just to get out for awhile.

We will take some photos in a little while and give you some new photos.

Monday, August 05, 2002 at 10:39 PM (CDT)

Well we made it through the first day!! Our little girl is fast asleep right now!

It is so wonderful being parents! We have only known her for about 10 hours and she already has us wrapped around her little finger! When she says jump, dad says "how high??"

Make sure to check out all of the photos that we have on our link! We've been having fun taking pictures of her!

Tomorrow we go to the notary for something (I am not sure what). We just do whatever our driver, Maria Teresa Perez says! We also have plans to venture out for a walk to Betty's Place to visit Kim and family. Then to the local store for more liquid refreshments.

We found out that out that our bienestar appt. is on Thurs. This is what gets the ball rolling with the court stuff.

We have quickly found out to take cover when little Ellie lifts her legs. Little EF's, as Steve calls them (otherwise known as Ellie Farts) coming flying out! Too funny!!

Thank you so much for all of the guestbook entries and emails! We love to read them all! It is our lifeline!

Love to you all,

Steve, Jenna and Ellie

Monday, August 05, 2002 at 04:35 PM (CDT)

Wow!!! What an experience!!! Suprisingly, few tears were shed. Just great amount of joy, happiness and excitement. It was great to have so many people there with Jenna and I. Kim Pawlak, her mom Maxine, Joe and Linda Goleski, Mercedes, Flor and the rst of the FANA angels.

We celebrated with a champagne toast at the end before heading home. Once home, we had a nice lunch and then mommy left dad alone with Elizabeth "Ellie" Rose Breunig. Ellie is absolutely beautiful. So far she has taken little cat naps and drank 2.5 ounces of milk for dad.

Jenna is still shopping with Linda Goleski. Getting pesos and some celebrating liquid. We will write more later in the night and I will try to put all the photos on the link page in the next few hours.

Monday, August 05, 2002 at 09:28 AM (CDT)

We have word of a presentation time. It will occur at high noon today. Both the Goleski's and us at the same time. We will be picked up at 11:30.

Goleski web site www.caringbridge.org/mn/goleski

Sunday, August 04, 2002 at 10:53 PM (CDT)

We are here. Beautiful place. El Refugio that is. We did not see the city because it is dark. Time to go have a beer. We will update later or Monday morning. We do not know what time the presentation will be. Also, check out www.caringbridge.org/mn/goleski . Joe and Linda are the other couple receiving their son on Monday.

The photos are of el refugio.

Saturday, August 03, 2002 at 02:53 PM (CDT)

Well, we are on our last "things to do" before we hop on the plane tomorrow! We are pretty much packed and ready to go.

We are both sleep deprived but doing good. I guess we are getting ourselves ready for the "parenting life". People keep saying that we need to get some sleep....NOT possible!!! We are too excited and always thinking of what we need to do next!

Our buddy couple Pete and Jodie Wilson are coming over tonight to make sure that we have all of the paperwork that we need. Hopefully we don't spill any beer on the important papers!!!

As we are writing this, we are counting down the hours until we will have our little girl in our arms!! Depending on the time of the presentation we figure we have approx. 48 hours of being "DINKS" (dual income no kids). Being "DINKS" isn't all it is cracked up to be. We look forward to having our nights of sleep interrupted, staying home on Friday nights, and spending all our money on HER!!

So, hopefully (but no promises to those of you stalking our website) we will update tomorrow when we arrive at the residencia.

Love to you all!!
Steve and Jenna

Thursday, August 01, 2002 at 12:18 PM (CDT)

The Visas neccesary for this whole operation are in Jenna's hands. She got to Chicago which is the site of the Colombian Consulate this morning and they are on their (Jenna and mother, Jill) way back. She however said that they would be stopping at an outlet mall on the way back. This would be the third straight day of shopping. To me, this is not healthy for an individual!

We are looking forward to being able to sit down and breathe tonight. All that is left to do is PACK!!!! Probably easier said than done.

We are leaving on Sunday and will be united with our little girl on Monday.

Here is a little information for the people who are not familiar with this process:

Jenna and I are staying at a place called El Refugio. I believe there are about 6 bedrooms, each equipped with their own bathroom. There is a common living room and a common kitchen. Meals and other services are provided by El Refugio.
We will also have a "guide" to help us get around and help us with the paperwork involved in the adoption process. Our "guide" is basically our life line.
The length of stay in Colombia ranges from about 4-7 weeks. The length is dependant on how quick the paperwork processes through the Colombian court system.
Both sets of grandsparents will be visiting us in Colombia.
Lastly, the most important part, Mari (she will be given an official name at presentation) will be with us every minute after the presentation on Monday. So the 4-7 week time period will give us a great opportunity to bond as a family. Maybe by then I (Steve) will be able to change a diaper!!!! or maybe I will have to play dumb!!! I know, I know, don't tell me that I am good at playing dumb.

Thanks for all the great guest book entries.

Wednesday, July 31, 2002 at 08:04 AM (CDT)

Hello all!

Well things around the Breunig household are a little hectic to say the least! Lots of things to do before we travel to Colombia on Sunday morning.

Yesterday we had the pleasure of talking to Elizabeth, who is the nurse at FANA that is taking care of Marisol. She said that she is very beautiful and is doing well. She weighs 10 lbs 3 ozs. We think that all of that weight is in her cheeks!!

We have a room waiting for us at El Refugio. We bid on a one week stay there at the silent auction and won!! We are glad that they have room for us.

Jenna and Jill are heading off to Chicago to get our visas today. They will be staying over night at Steve's parents house in Middleton, WI.

Thank you all for the nice journal entries we have been getting! It means so much to us!

Love to all,
Steve and Jenna

Tuesday, July 30, 2002 at 8:15 AM (CDT)

YEAH!!! We have a little GIRL! She was born on May 23rd in Bogota,Colombia. Her orphanage name is Marisol and she is precious!

Last night we were at the fundraiser / golf tournament for FANA. We were eating dinner and listening to people speak when they started to announce that there is a little girl born May 23, etc...and she goes to Mr. and Mrs. Steve Breunig. Everything after that point is a blur!!

We are so excited and can't wait to travel. If everything goes as planned, we will be flying out on Sunday and have the presentation on Monday. Jenna and her mom, Jill are planning on leaving tomorrow to drive to Chicago to get our visas at the Colombian Consulate. There is a lot of paperwork that we need to gather in the next few days!!

We will update when we know more!

Love to all,
Steve and Jenna

Tuesday, July 02, 2002 at 11:47 AM (CDT)

YES! We have gotten our referral! Our little girl, orphanage name Marisol, was born on May 23rd in Bogota, Colombia. We received our referral at the golf dinner tonite! More news later (and a picture too!)

Tuesday, June 04, 2002 at 12:54 PM (CDT)

Hey, guess what???? Still waiting! But in the mean time, I felt like writing a joke. Hope no one is offended.

One evening, a family brings their frail, elderly mother to a nursing home and leaves her, hoping she will be well cared for. The next morning, the nurses bathe her, feed her a tasty breakfast, and set her in a chair at a window overlooking a lovely flower garden.
She seems O.K. but after a while she slowly starts to lean over sideways in her chair. Two attentive nurses immediately rush up to catch her and straighten her up.

Again, she seems O.K. but after a while she starts to tilt to the other side. The nurses rush back and once more bring her back upright. This goes on all morning.

Later, the family arrives to see how the old woman is adjusting to her new home. "So Ma, how is it here? Are they treating you all right?" they ask.

"It's pretty nice," she replies. "Except they won't let you fart."

Sorry, it is the best I got that can be put on the site.

Take care,

Steve and Jenna

Monday, April 22, 2002 at 07:19 AM (CDT)

We are currently waiting for a referral of a child. We will update when we get word.

Tuesday, March 05, 2002 at 04:02 PM (CST)

Hello all. Just letting you know that Jenna is in her final trimester. Our dossier paperwork has arrived in Colombia on March 5th. This mean that we are officially on a "waiting list". The little kid could pop out at any moment now.

The length of time on the waiting list is different for each couple. However, we have been told that the average wait is about 2-4 months.

Jenna and I went out and celebrated the fact that we are one (large) step closer. That is all that I have to say at this moment. Talk to you all later.

Thursday January 24, 2002 2:33 PM CST

Nothing new is happening.

Jenna and I look at our web page: photos, guestbook, journal everyday. I do not know why, but we do. So, here is a little contest.

The first person to write a joke in our guest book that makes Jenna laugh, wins a free meal from the Breunig's. That would either be a cooked dinner at our house or an inexpensive dinner for you and your guest of your choice.

Restaurant choices would be places like Chilis, Chi-Chi's, etc. No Manny's Steak House. I would hate Jenna to have to get a second job to pay for the meal. Just kidding.

As you can tell, I am tired and bored of working at work and needed something fun to do. Sorry if I bored anyone.

Love,

Steve and Jenna

Sunday, December 30, 2001 at 08:09 PM (CST)

Here is a little update. FANA (orphange in Colombia) has requested that we get our final paperwork to them in March. This is the final stage of paperwork. After we have submitted this "stuff", we are then on the waiting list. We are hoping that the wait will be short and by mid summer Jenna and I will be parents.
That is all for know.

Tuesday, November 20, 2001 at 10:13 AM (CST)

Howdy all,

Not too much is happening. Jenna and I have been approved by the Minnesota Department of Health Services (DHS) and also the Immigration and Naturaliztion Services (INS). We have been informed that at the beginning of 2002, "...things will begin to happen with FANA..." We are obviously excited to proceed with more paperwork. .

The Breunig's have purchased a digital camera. Umfortunately Lukas Wilson is not around for me to test the camera on and download photos. So tonight I will snap a few shots of Wylie or Jenna and try and download them onto this site.

Also, at the bottom of the page is a link to an archived photo albulm. This web page only can hold 3 photos so all other photos will be placed onto this link. Just click on link and it takes you right to it. Once again, there are not many pictures to look at but Jenna and I will be practicing with all this new technology.

Just bored at work and thought I would write something new in case people are checking in every once in a while.

Talk to you all soon,

Steve (oh yeah, and Jenna)

Tuesday, October 30, 2001 at 07:28 AM (CST)

Hello all, we actually have some pictures to look at now. The photos are of Lukas Wilson. He is the son of our buddy couple Pete and Jodie. They were nice enough to bring their digital camera and take a few shots for us.

Jenna and I have sent our application to FANA (Colombian orphanage)and are waiting to hear that we have been accepted. Once accepted we again jump through hoops to get more paper work done. It is taking a while for the whole process but we are getting close.

Talk to you all soon.

Monday, September 17, 2001 at 04:28 PM (CDT)

Hello all. I am currenlty at work (yes, obviously working hard) and have decided to create a web site so everyone can experience this great event with Jenna and I. I will update it when more information is available.

Date & Time

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