History

Journal History

Saturday, June 21, 2003 11:50 PM CDT

IT IS VERY LATE ON SATURDAY NIGHT AND I AM STILL UNPACKING BELIEVE IT OR NOT. FOR SOME ODD REASON MY DEAR CHILDREN WILL NOT LET ME OUT OF THEIR SITE, AND SO THE GETTING ORGANIZED AND UNPACKED IS TAKING A BIT LONGER. WHICH IS OK WITH ME BECAUSE WHEN I SAW BRAD AND ABBEY AT THE AIRPORT ,I THOUGHT THEY LOOKED SO OLD,IT SEEMED LIKE I HADN'T SEEN THEM IN 3 MONTHS. WE ARE HAVING A GREAT TIME BEING A WHOLE FAMILY AGAIN. THE BIG KIDS ARE SO SWEET WITH MIA. THEY REALLY LOVE HER SO MUCH AND TELL HER SHE IS THE CUTEST BABY IN THE WHOLE WORLD. SHE SMILES AND COOS AT THEM AND THEY JUST MELT. BRAD IS PRETTY SURE SHE SAID BRAAAAAD TODAY,SO WE MUST HAVE A GENIUS 3 MONTH OLD.

OUR FLIGHTS HOME WERE VERY SMOOTH. SOMEHOW WE WERE ABLE TO GET THE 4 BODY BAGS THROUGH CUSTOMS WITHOUT PULLING EVERY MUSCLE IN OUR BACKS. WE HAD BROUGHT AN UNBRELLA STROLLER THAT LAYS DOWN FOR MIA TO USE IN THE AIRPORT. IT WAS THE BEST THING WE DID TO BRING THAT, NOT TO HOLD MIA ,BUT TO HOLD ALL OUR HEAVY CARRY ONS. WE NEVER WOULD HAVE MADE IT WITHOUT THE STROLLER. MIA WAS AN ANGEL ON ALL THE FLIGHTS. SHE REALLY COULD NOT HAVE DONE BETTER. SHE IS SUCH A SWEETIE.

WE LEFT ALL OUR FRIENDS IN BOGOTA WITH SUCH MIXED FEELINGS. WE COULDN'T WAIT TO GET BACK TO ALL OUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS, BUT IT WAS STILL SAD TO SAY GOODBYE TO OUR NEW FRIENDS AND TO END THE WONDERFUL ADVENTURE IN MIA'S HOME COUNTRY.

WHEN WE ARRIVED IN NEWARK, WE WERE SURPRISED TO SEE KATHY MORAMARCO,JIM'S SISTER. SHE FLEW ALL THE WAY FROM BOSTON TO NEWARK SO SHE COULD THEN FLY WITH US BACK TO SYRACUSE TO BE THERE FOR MIA'S HOMECOMING. NO ONE KNEW SHE WAS DOING THIS ,SO IT WAS A GREAT SURPRISE FOR US ALL. MIA IS SUCH A LUCKY GIRL TO HAVE SUCH A LOVING EXTENDED FAMILY. WE CAN'T WAIT FOR ALL OF YOU TO MEET HER. THE ARRIVAL IN SYRACUSE COULDN'T COME SOON ENOUGH. I WAS FINE UP UNTIL WE GOT ON THE PLANE TO SYRACUSE, THEN I COULDN'T SIT STILL. I WAS SO ANXIOUS TO SEE JIM,BRAD AND ABBEY AND TO INTRODUCE MY LITTLE MIA TO EVERYONE. WHAT A HOMECOMING IT WAS. I GAVE THE BABY TO MY MOM SO I COULD RUN AND HUG BRAD AND ABBEY AND I THINK WE HUGGED AND CRIED FOR 10 MINUTES. THEN I NOTICED ALL THE BALLOONS AND FLAGS AND FRIENDS AND FAMILY. IT WAS SUCH A WONDERFUL FEELING TO SEE ALL OF YOU THAT CAME TO WELCOME US. THANK YOU,THANK YOU, THANKYOU......... I WILL NEVER FORGET THAT NIGHT........ I WILL NEVER FORGET THIS WHOLE EXPERIENCE AND HOW WONDERFUL THE PEOPLE AT HOME AND THE PEOPLE IN BOGOTA HAVE BEEN TO ME AND MY FAMILY. WE LOVE YOU ALL VERY MUCH AND WE HOPE WE CAN BE A PART OF MAKING YOUR DREAMS COME TRUE AS YOU HAVE ALL BEEN A PART OF OURS.

P.S. i WILL POST A FEW PICTURES OF THE KIDS WITH MIA IN THE NEXT FEW DAYS.

Tuesday, June 17, 2003 7:52 PM CDT

Monday June 16 Started with a 7am pickup to go to the Notary to get Mia's papers finalized and her birth certificate. On to passport pictures and passport. Mia had to be woken up for the pictures. They also take a picture of the child's ear for identification because we found out no two ears are alike. On to the Embassy doctor for a checkup. He was great and thorough. Believe it or not that took until 5pm so went headed home for happy hour and a great meal. Tuesday started with a trip to the US
Embassy with 3000 other people looking for a visa to the US Luckily for us it went well. Then JJ, Mia and Tara went to visit FANA which was fantastic The place is unbelievable and the children are so well cared for but it is so hard to leave them there. Back to the Embassy to pick up the visa. In between we went to Crepes and Waffles for lunch which is a yummy place. When we got back to Betty's we had a visit with Mercedes, Betty and Rafa wishing us a safe trip home. Now we are busy packing and praying that Mia will sleep tonight because we start our trip at 5am tomorrow. HOME TO THE USA!!!!!!

We forgot to mention that we finally found out Mia's height and weight. She is actually 12 lbs. 12 oz. and 23 1/2 inches long. she is obviously eating well.

Monday, June 16, 2003 11:50 AM CDT

hi everyone
Yesterday was another crazy day, no we did not go shopping again. oh wait, yes we did, in the morning we went to La Fontana for the craft market and an outdoor mass in spanish. Shopping while listening to a church service was something new. Later on we got picked up by a driver who brought us to the Gold Museum. There was only one problem with that tour, they were out of english speaking headphones so we had to struggle through trying to translate what we were looking at with our high school spanish skills. Needless to say we didn't get as much as we could out of the whole experience. The gold was beautiful. The museum contains more than 30,0000 pieces from all over the major pre-Colombian cultures in the country. Apart from all the gold pieces, the museum exhibits geographical and historical information about the Indians, their gold production methods and other artifacts.

From there we went to a special showing of a famous Colombian ballet choreographed by Sonia Osorio. She has brought her show all over the world ,NYC,Paris,Tokyo etc. It is called Ballet Nacional de Colombia. If you ever hear this is in Ny,it is so worth seeing. We were so fortunate that our "main man" Jorge Rico found out it was here and got us tickets for the last show. It is not a typical ballet, it's basically a celebration of everything Colombian. Great music,costumes and dances for all the different regions of the country. This is a must for all of you that have adopted Colombian children, the kids love it too, it is very upbeat and fun. We'll have to keep our eyes out for her next tour to the states you all would love it. The people in colombia are so good and so proud, this country is beautiful and its such a shame that most people will never see all the beauty because of the guerillas and the drug trafficing problems that have plagued the country side .
Anyway, enough history for today. Mom and I are heading to get Mia's passport and pictures taken and then on to the US embassy dr. to get the go ahead to bring my angel home to her daddy , and wonderful brother and sister who have been so patient during this absence of mom. I am so proud of them. Tomorrow is the embassy for mia's visa,FANA orphanage for our goodbyes and back to the embassy to pick up the final paperwork. We are almost there,pray that it all goes smoothly and we'll see you Wed. night.

P.S. I am so sorry about the spelling errors. It's my typing that is so bad ,not my spelling. I just read what I wrote a few days ago and I can't believe how many typos there are. oh well, I warned you that I didn't have time to read the entries, so this is what you get.

Sunday, June 15, 2003 6:43 AM CDT

HAPPY FATHERS DAY DADDY.

IF YOU DIDN'T CHECK IN YESTERDAY YOU'LL HAVE TO READ OUR PREVIOUS ENTRY TO GET THE DETAILS. AS YOU CAN ALL IMAGINE, DADDY HARRIS IS EXTREMELY EXCITED FOR US TO COME HOME AND HE CAN GO BACK TO BEING DAD INSTEAD OF MOM AND DAD.

YESTERDAY WE WENT TO CONTINENTAL FIRST THING AND GOT OUR TICKETS HOME. WED.@930 AT SYRACUSE AIRPORT, COME JOIN US IF YOU'D LIKE. WE CAN'T WAIT TO SEE EVERYONE.

wE HAD ANOTHER WHIRLWIND DAY TRYING TO GET EVERYTHING DONE. WE WENT TO THE SALT MINES,LUNCH IN ZIPAQUIRA,LEATHER DISTRICT AND CARBONDE POLLO FOR DINNER. IT WAS ALLWONDERFUL. ZIPAQUIRA IS A TOWN ABOUT 45 MIN OUTSIDE THE CITY,IT IS KNOWN FOR HAVING THE RICHEST SALT MINES IN COLOMBIA. tHEY ARE IN A MOUNTAIN JUST WEST OF THE TOWN. IN THE MIDDLE OF THE MOUNTAIN AN UNDERGROUND CATHEDRAL WAS CARVED OUT OF THE SALTAND OPENED FOR VISITORS IN THE 50'S. A FEW YEARS AGO THE WALLS STARTED TO CRACK AND THE CATHEDRAL WAS SHUT DOWN, THEY TOOK SOME YEARS TO REBUILD IT IN ANOTHER PART OF THE MOUNTAIN AND BROUGHT ALL THE ORIGINAL WORK AND STATUES OVER. iT WAS VERY COOL, JJ WAS A LITTLE NERVOUS BEING UNDERGROUND AND IN THE MIDDLE OF THE MOUNTAIN, BUT SHE LOVED IT TOO. WE HAD A GREAT TOUR GUIDE WHO GAVE US ALL THE TECHNICAL HISTORY OF WHERE THE SALT CAME FROM(THE MONTAIN USED TO BE PART OF THE SEA) AND THEN ALL ABOUT THE SYMBOLISM OF ALL THE RELIGIOUS RELICS. eVERY SUNDAY THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE COME TO MASS IN THE CATHEDRAL DEEP IN THE MOUNTAIN. IT WAS ALL VERY INTERESTING AND SOMETHING TO PUT ON YOUR LIST WHEN YOU WAITING FAMILIES COME OVER. DEFINITELY GET JORGE RICO TO BRING YOU, HE TELLS YOU SO MUCH HISTORY ON THE WAY AND IS VERY KNOWLEDGABLE AND FUN. HE BROUGHT TO A GREAT LOCAL REST. FOR LUNCH. IF YOU DON'T SPEAK SPANISH HE SHOULD BE YOUR FIRST CHICE FOR A DRIVER TO ALL THE MAJOR SITES.

TODAY WE ARE OFF TO LA FONTANA,WHICH IS A NICE HOTEL THAT HAS A LITTLE OUTDOOR CRAFT MARKET ON SUNDAYS AND THEN TO THE GOLD MUSEUM, OLD CITY AND A COLOMBIAN BALLET. I DON'T THINK WE COULD SQUEEZE ANYMORE INTO THESE LAST FEW DAYS IF WE TRIED.

Saturday, June 14, 2003 6:39 AM CDT

SENTENCIA, SENTENCIA, SENTENCIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WE HAD A BIG CHANGE OF PLANS YESTERDAY. WE WERE ON OUR WAY TO NORBERTOS FOR OUR ''EXTREME MAKEOVER'' AND WE GOT A CALL ON BETTY'S CELL PHONE . IT WAS MARIA THERESA DE MALDONADO FROM FANA, TELLING US TO GET BACK TO THE RESIDENCE SO ANNETTE OUR ADOPTION COORDINATOR COULD PICK US UP TO GO TO THE COURTS TO SIGN. WE WERE IN SHOCK, THIS WENT SO QUICKLY. OUR COURT WAS AN AVERAGE COURT SO WE THOUGHT MAYBE WE'D HEAR SOME NEWS BY THE END OF NEXT WEEK. fRIDAY THE 13TH WAS TURNING OUT TO BE A LUCKY DAY FOR US.

AT THE COURTS, IT WAS A COMEDY OF ERRORS. EVERYTHING SEEMED TO GO SMOOTHLY AND WE LEFT AND WERE ON OUR WAY TO A NOTARY WHEN ANNETTE NOTICED THEY HAD STAMPED ALL THE SIGNATURE PAGES" DIVORCED" INSTEAD OF "ADOPTION",SORRY JIM!!! IT WAS PRETTY FUNNY,I GOT DIVORCED AND ADOPTED A BABY ALL IN ONE DAY. WELL, DR POLO OUR LAWYER GOT THAT ALL FIXED AND WE WERE ABOUT TO HEAD OUT AGAIN AND HE THEN NOTICED THE WORDING ON THE DOCUMENTS WAS ALL WRONG. BACK UP AGAIN TO COURT 16 FOR ANOTHER FIX. BY THE TIME THAT WAS ALLCORRECTED THE NOTARY WAS OUT TO LUNCH SO THAT HAS TO WAIT TILL MONDAY.
SINCE EVERYTHING HAD TO WAIT TILL MONDAY WE WENT WITH BETTY ON ONE OF HER SHOP TILL YOU DROP EXCURSIONS. IT WAS GREAT SHE BROUGHT US TO THE EMERALD GUY,FREDDIE,TO A GREAT SUEDE PLACE WHERE JJ AND I OF COURSE HAD TO BUY A COAT,AND TO A PEWTER PLACE. THEN WE SAT IN FRIDAY AFTERNOON TRAFFIC FOR AN HOUR OR SO TRYING TO GET HOME. wHEN WE FINALLY GOT HOME AROUND 5,WE CELEBRATEDWITH EVERYONE IN THE HOUSE.

We think we will be getting back on wed. night Continental from newark at 930pm. we'll let you know when its all confirmed. we have a busy weekend of touring and of course more shopping. We are soooo excited to see everyone. we certainly will miss all the wonderful people we've met here. To all you fana waiting families, you are in for a treat. This experience is better than you can imagine and you get to bring home the best gift ever,your beautiful child.

Friday, June 13, 2003 9:56 AM CDT

So you all know that grandma JJ(my mom)arrived safely. We ave been having a blast. She brought goodies from the USA for everyone here and its nice to see a family member from home. We got going yesterday with a pedicure and manicure for her and then off to shopping. We went to Maku which is a three story Colombian artifact/souvenier shopand picked up a few things. Then on to lunch at Jaques cafe. We sat outside and enjoyed a wonderful lunch on a beautiful sunny springlike day. Then we checked out every boutique we passed on the way home. JJ is very proud that she didn't buy anything for herself yet. We came back to the residence and had a fun happy hour with the dutyfree vodka that JJ brought for us. The maids mixed it with fresh raspberry juice and it was excellent. They made my favorite empanadas for appetizers and Bettgers, betty and Dr. joe and Donna joined us. We spent some time with Mia who wondered what happened to her mommy once JJ arrived and then we were off to Dinner. The two of us went alone so we could catch up. We went to Harry Sasson's thai restaurant. It is down near Centro Andino mall and there are many restaurants and shops all in a nice walking area. Similar to a Armory Square area in Syracuse. The Thai place was very upscale and classy. We had a bottle of chardonnay from Chile and two huge entrees and the whole bill was only about 30us dollars. For you couples that are waiting to come down for your adoption we highly reccomend Harry Sasoons. Today we are off to Norberto's to get a makeover/haircut. Its a little scary since my spanish is weak lets see what they do to my hair. Everyone down here says its a must because this guy does all of the Miss Universe girls and its quite the experience. JJ is going to watch and laugh at the rest of us cuz she just got her hair done before she came down. We'll check in later. Bye.

Thursday, June 12, 2003 7:56 AM CDT

Here is your guest journalist for the day. Hope I do as good a job. I'm JJ (grandmother-abuela). I arrived late last night after too many hours walking around Newark and then sitting on the plane for 2 hours waiting for them to fix something. Luckily Tara was patient and waiting for me because we forgot something important for customs. I had no address or phone for where I was going. The customs man finally gave in because I said I was going to the FANA orphanage to give them some toys. Shed a few tears and you can get anywhere. Mia is adorable and so tiny. I'm used to big babies. She did give me a welcome smile so I guess I passed the test. Today we have a tough day manicure, pedicure for me, getting to know the area, lunch and back for happy hour at 4pm. I don't know if I can keep up the pace but I'll try. I'm going to make sure that Tara updates this journal and takes more pictures everyday. So long from Bogota. Mary Jane

Monday, June 9, 2003 9:28 PM CDT

Another relaxing day in Bogota. It's starting to get like the movie"Groundhog Day". Sandy Bettger ,Nicolas her 3 year old and I went to a new shopping area today called Santa Barbara. Part of it is a historical building, an old hacienda that belonged to a prominant Colombian, now it is filled with little cafes, shops and colombian arts and crafts. They built amall attached to it but it is still very nice and quaint looking. We had a nice lunch and headed home for an afternoon of manicures and pedicures. About 8 dollars total for both. Unreal, huh????

A canadian family was supposed to come tomorrow but I just heard they may not be arriving for another week or so. We are going to have another couple here from Virginia. They are the parents of a daughter that is adopting from another city in colombia, Medellin. The parents are coming to Bogota to do some work at some missionary hospitals, I believe one is a doctor and one a nurse. When their daughter signs off on the adoption in medellin she will come here to the Us embassy, before she can go home so it looks like the house will be filling up a bit and that should be fun.

Mia is doing great. she is so sweet. its been nice to have this time to really bond with her and make up for the 7 weeks that I missed.

Sunday, June 8, 2003 4:22 PM CDT

Today is the 2 week mark. Time really does fly by down here. I of course can't wait to get home and introduce you all to Mia but we're still doing well and are looking forward to grandma jj coming down on wed. We have entered stage 2 of the whole process. Our paperwork is now at the defender of minors until Wed. at the latest and then it goes to the judge. The judge has 10 business days max to sign off on everything if all goes well. Then when we hear from the judge that is our "sentencia" day. After you hear you run around like crazy trying to reschedule flights,get to the embassy for the baby's visa , get Mia a passport etc. etc. and hope to get it all done smoothly. That is the process in a nutshell, so things are moving well right now so pray everything stays on track for us.

yesterday was a fun day. We celebrated the 4th of July with the whole colombian/American community. Betty is the vp of theAmerican Womens Association here in bogota and they organized a huge 4th of July party at the us embassy for about 600 people. This is the 7th year they've done this and it was a huge success. The do it in June because many Americans travel for vacation in July. Betty had to go to the embassy early to set up tables and red white and blue decorations everywhere. I went with her and helped get everything ready. I met some wonderful people and had alot of fun. We got the whole embassy grounds decorated and then signed people in after they passed through all the security checks. It was a great way to meet everyone . The picnic was filled with american food and drink vendors. Mcdonalds,KFC,Coke,Duncan donuts,Fridays, southern comfort, baskin robbins, hard rock cafe.....They all set up tents and gave out free food and drink. They had bands playing good ol american oldies and of course all the patriotic songs. They had games and inflatable jumping things for the kids. As we're all hanging out eating big macs and drinking Budweiser I looked up and noticed on every corner of the embassy roof was a sharp shooter with a huge machine gun in his hands. Kind of a strange mix of feelings with that sight, I wish I could have taken a picture but they confiscated my camera at security, Betty thought it was ok last year to take pictures but they wouldn't let me in with it. Understandable, since they don't want any pictures of the embassy layout getting in the wrong hands. My sweet angel is chirping so I must go feed her, I'll check in again soon. Keep all the messages coming ,I love hearing from everyone. Bye.

Friday, June 6, 2003 2:43 PM CDT

Yesterday I mentioned the way that they control the high traffic hours by limiting the rush hour traffic on certain days of the week. I was wrong about how they know whose night it is . It is based on the last digit of your plate, but not odd or even. Tf your plate ends in a 1,2,or 3 then you can't be on the road on mon. between 7-9 am and 5-7 pm and Tuesday would be digits 4,5,and 6 and so on... I wanted to clear that up so I'm providing you all accurate info. Anyway, on the subject of traffic ,have I mentioned the driving down here. I think it could be classified as an "extreme sport". It is hysterical, well and a little frightening. The drivers do not adhere to any road rules. It is all afree for all. The traffic is heavy, fast and absolutely muy loco. They run red lights, they go the wrong way on one way streets, they do whatever they have to to get to where they are going. This isn't just crazy drivers , this is everyone. They say this is the land of the strong and pedestrians are at the end of the chain. I think they actually seem to speed up if you dare cross the road. They tell us right away that crossing the road is very risky and don't plan on any car giving you the right of way. The air in the city is very polluted also. That is why we can't take the babies anywhere with us, its very harmful to their lungs. You see some people wearing masks in certain busy areas and its not due to SARS. The air contamination is largely a by-product of the poor condition of the cars. They leave behind clouds of smoke,and there aren't any emissions controls here for your vehicle.

I can't belive I just wrote my whole journal on the traffic down here. That of course is the down side of living in the city but there are many plusses ,too.
Tonite the Bettgers are going out to a grat thai rest. for Gary's bday. He is leaving on Sunday so I'm going to stay in and take care of Nicolas and the babies. I'll have a fun day tomorrow, we are actually going to a big 4th of July shindig at the us embassy for all americans in colombia, I had to go out and buy a red white and blue shirt. We get to be gringos for a day. I'll fill you all in tomorrow. Oh and don't worry it is all under heavy heavy security, I've been asured by everyone that it is very safe. Bye.

Thursday, June 5, 2003 8:29 PM CDT

Yesterday was a another great day. I hung out With Mia till about 200 in the afternoon and then Alicia our wonderful nurse sitter came and watched the babies while betty and I went to the Metropolitan club and had lunch and massages,you'd think I'm living the high life here but believe it or not the lunch was abot 15 dollars total at this beautiful private club and our massages were only 5 dollars each for a half hour. we had to cut it short because Betty had to get her car home or she could of gotten a ticket. Down here you have certain nights that all cars that end in an odd number can't be on the road after 500 o clock and then the other nights the even numbers have it. So if your somewhere and you don't get off the the road by 5, you have to leave your car and get a cab home. So, anyway, we cut our massages short and went to Betty's house and then she called me a driver to bring me back to the residence. This massage was by a woman and it was similar to our massages back home.

So here we are thursday,and I went back to Fana today. The other family, the Bettgers had their tour and social history of their baby. Jim and I did that last week. I offered to go with them so I could watch their 3 year old while they did their meetings. Nicolas and I spent a nice hour and a half on the Fana playground just playing. I kept thinking how nice it would be if I could have spent that time one on one with my kids, with no phones, no dinner to make no laundry waiting to be folded. I miss them so much and I wish they were here. But , there really is not much for them here and everyone is helping make their life go so smooth at home. I certainly feel so fortunate for my friends ,my family and my great husband. not everyone could turn into Mr. Mom and be so successful at it . Your the best, hun!!! After our morning at Fana we came back and Sandy and I got to get out together, we did our grocery shopping which isn't much because the maids are such amazing cooks you definitely leave the cooking to the them. We then went and did a little window shopping around the mall. That's about it today. Talk to you soon.

Tuesday, June 3, 2003 9:04 PM CDT

Today was pretty laid back, we hung around all morning and then betty visited and she, Sandy and I went out for some coffee and desert after lunch(just what I need). Anyway we went to this crepes and waffles place, the food was to die for. They keep telling me you don't gain weight down here because of the altitude, but we'll see about that ,the way they feed us I should come home with a little extra padding.Betty also drove us around some great shopping areas, I'll wait for you mom to go check it all out. Tomorrow Betty wants to take us to lunch at the Metropolitan and then to the spa for another massage. I haven't had 2 massages in the same year let alone the same week. Whoever thought having a third child would be so easy and relaxing, this is nothin!!!!!! Hope you like the new photos, they transferred huge this time, I'm not sure why.

Monday, June 2, 2003 9:50 AM CDT

Hola

Well, I'm solo now cuz Jim went home to be with the kids. I think Betty has a good sense on when someone needs a little extra spoiling. I was a sad when Jim left but felt very happy that the kids would have a parent home. Thanks again to the grandmas who did so much for the kids this week. Your care , support, love and emails were so valuable to me. So back to Betty, she came over to the house and started planning the week. She sent over Peter for me and the other house members this morning. He does unbelievable massages, kind of a massage and chiropractic visit all rolled into one. Definitely very different than at home.!!!! They massage almost every muscle you have,it was an experience to say the least.
Mia is healthy and doing very well. She ate at 930 last night and slept till 300 am. Not to bad except at 3 she wanted to chat and play until 430. She then slept till 7am .

Jim and I did not have time to journal about one great day we had when he was here. We went with Jorge Rico and his 1973 neon green dart to tour some historical parts of the city. Jorge is a great guide who speaks english so you can learn so much from him. He is also very personable and very street smart which is a big plus. He knows where to go ,what americans like to eat and how to keep you very safe.

We started our day at Monserrate. This is at the top of one of the many mountain peaks that surround the city. There is a very beautiful church at the top. Monserrate has become a mecca for pilgrims to go and visit Senor Caido which is a statue of the fallen christ. It was sculpted in 1650 or so and it has been attributed to many miracles. I thought I 'd say a few prayers and see if our family and friends could experience all the miracles that they talk about but Jorge informed me that the only way you can ask for a miracle is to trek to the top of the mountain on foot. Oh well we rode up on a cable car so that wasn't going to work. Monserrate is frequented by many tourists and pilgrims because the view of Bogota is breathtaking. Physically and emotionally, you are at about 10'000 feet above sea level. You can really feel it. Bogota is about 8000 above and many people take a couple of days to adjust and get altitude sickness. Jim and I were fortunate we had no problems with the altitude. It must be that running around with the kids all the time that helped our lung capacity. For those of you waiting to come to bogota you must go to Monserrate.

We then went to the "old city" called La Candelaria. This is the oldest part of the city which has a beautiful charm to it . There are many old restored colonial homes, restaurants hotels and museums. Plaza de Bolivar is the centerof the original town. there is a big statue of simon Bolivar in the middle of the square, and all around the square are colonial style buildings that house the Supreme Court, the mayor, and congress in the capitol building. The buildings are monumental and seemed to be built of stone in a classical greek style. Jorge toured us all around the cobblestone streets and took us to a wonderful place for lunch where we could taste some local fare without worries of stomach problems, he reccomends for you what to order, he knows there are some things that will not agree with our stomachs.

From there we went to the leather district and I just had to buy a coat. Great prices and beautiful leather. My coat was about 70 us dollars and it is of great quality. Many briefcases, purses,belts wallets, all at very reasonable prices.
After that long day we went home to our little angel and called the kids. The next day was low key for me and Jim went to golf. That night Betty and Rafa our wonderful hosts asked us and the bettgerrs to their house for dinner. It was fabulous, great columbian food and lots of drinks, a very fun night. I can't remember what I have written about and what I have not. I think all this relaxation is going to my brain. If I repeat myself I apologize and please don't pay attention to grammer and spelling. I don't take the time to read over my entries because I write a little and then I get up to do something for Mia and then I fit in a few more sentences later. So if all this seems to run on and on you know why. Plus you all know how I like to talk so this computer has been a good listener when I need to ramble. Please keep writing and giving out the address to anyone you think I 'd like to hear from. Adios amigos!!!

Saturday, May 31, 2003 10:22 PM CDT

Well today was my last day here in Bogota so I felt it was only appropiate that I enter the journal, plus the fact that Tara and Mia are deep asleep gives me the right as well. This morning I had the good fortunes of playing golf with Maria Theresa Maldonado (she is one of the key people of FANA) along with her brother and sister in law. The club was very nice, an exclusive club that has all the bells and whistles. As I approached the first tee, right out of the car none the less after a 50 minute drive, I noticed these four guys carrying golf bags in red jump suits like the white suits the caddies wear at the Masters. I noticed one of the guys was carrying my bag. In all the years I have played, I have not had a caddie, it was a real treat. Forget the fact that he didn't speak a lick of English, it was great, felt like I could have played at the Masters under those conditions. What did I shoot you ask?..............Can I tell you how great Mia is? She really is awesome. While I was shooting an "unbelievable" score today, Tara was able to change rooms as a family left this am. The room she moved into is much larger then the room were have been in with its own bathroom and sitting area to hang out in and such. The crib has a mobile above it and when we put Mia in it, it was hilarious to see her follow the bears around and hear the music, she watched it for about half an hour and then finally gave in and is sleeping away, dreaming of that bottle of yummy smelling warm formula. When I got home today, I immediatley held her and instantaneously she was all smiles, boy its gonna be tough to leave tomorrow......I hope all of you are well and I look forward to seeing you soon, thanks for all of your notes, thay are great to read, we apologize if we cannot respond to you but I know Tara will attempt to keep us all informed of her days while she is here......I am trying to think of more information to write because once I sign off, I am to bed then tomorrow will be here then it adios amigo for me, oh well, thats all folks from me from Bogota, JJ you made it thru the week.....barely, thank you, see you all soon.

Saturday, May 31, 2003 7:36 AM CDT

Hi everyone

Jim is golfing today with Maria Theresa de Maldonado,her brother and sister in law. Maria Theresa is another prominant person at FANA. Speaking of prominant people at FANA, Jerri Wegner is infamous. All of us in the WNY group know how much she does for us to let our dreams come true. Down here EVERYONE knows Jerri. It's wonderful to be a part of a group that has given so much back to FANA. They give us such a gift, and everywhere you look from the FANA facilities to the mothers home there are thankyous and wall plaques displaying the donations from our group. Whenever we mention that we are from the WNY group, they thank Jerri for the wonderful support network she has created. There truly is no other group like us. Once you are here, you absolutely know how important our fundraising efforts at home are. These children and birthmothers really need us.

My sweet angel needs a bath so I'm going to sign off for now. She seems to have a very easy going temperment(Yea!!!) It is amazing the instant bond we feel with her. We love her to death and can't wait for you to meet her.

Just a quick thanks to Brad, Abbey, and thir grandmas(JJ and Yia Yia) they have been doing so well this week. We love you very much and know this trip could be so tough on the kids without you. We write to the kids and call often and our so thankful that they are having such a good time with all our family and friends. I'm sure they are being spoiled rotten but thats ok with us, we'll get back to realty when this whole adventure is over. It makes our time with Mia all the better when we hear the kids telling us about the fun week they are having. We love you and thank you so much.

Friday, May 30, 2003 11:25 PM CDT

Hola!!!
We thought that entering the journals during our stay was going to be a snap but it's about 11:30 Friday night and this is the first opportunity I have to share with you our past two days. Let me first say that we really appreciate your comments on this page, it is great to hear from so many of you, I imagine that once I leave on Sunday Tara will apprecite even more your thoughts and good wishes. Yesterday we went on our official tour of FANA. they showed us the entire facility and we think that most hospitals in the states would love to have their facility be as impressive as this was. The cleanliness is the first thing that stands out. They go to great length to keep the facility as clean as possible. Another thing that we noticed is the actual size of the facility. It is quite large and they seem to make good use of every area. The new borns are kept in an area similar to a maternity ward back home, numerous beds with nurses taking care of them. We then were able to see a few of the class rooms where the toddlers and older children are schooled. When we popped our head into one room consisting of about ten 2-3 year olds, the immediately turned towards us and all ran up to Tara giving her hugs and hugs and more hugs. By the look on here face, I thought I was going to be coming home with a handful of these kids. Don't worry JJ and Yia Yia, were just coming home with Mia. The rest of the tour was equally impressive as they offer these children a full range of services to help them develop.
Once the tour was done, we met Flor, one of the key people of FANA to gather some general information of FANA and its history as well as discuss the details of the legal matters of this process. We left there feeling great about our decision to come to FANA for adoption.
The rest of the day what was left was spent back at BP's(Betty's Place) with Mia. She really is a peach, she enjoys just hanging out with us and is starting to smile more as the first few days she gave us this stare like "who are you and what is going on". She seems to enjoy the baths we have given her, proof in the pictures above. Generally speaking all is well, Mia seems to mild mannered and agreeable to her surroundings. She has slept well, actually thru the night our first night together but the last couple nights more like a new born......."yawn", with that said, time for lights out, I have a tee time for 7:30 tomorrow am, should be fun, be good and keep in touch, thanks for your support.

Friday, May 30, 2003 9:57 PM CDT

Wednesday, May 28, 2003 5:03 PM CDT

Today was an action packed day. This morning was our visit with the individuals of an organization comparable to what we refer to in the states as �social services�. This interview is known as Bienestar. The women were extremely nice and seemed to be very supportive of our intentions of adopting this little baby girl. It was a very emotional meeting ,however we left there feeling pretty good as they mentioned that they were thinking of implementing some sort of followup process with the new adoptive parents, but they told us they were extremely confident that Mia was going to have a good life with us, because they could feel our love and bond already. That is when we knew we passed inspection, the bienestar women,our lawyer and our adoption assistant, Annette, were all emotional with us. It was a very special meeting. By the way, our social worker in the states is required to do follow up with the familiesafter the baby comes home
To the USA.

After a nice lunch with Betty at a wonderful Lebanese rest. Tara and I, along with the Bettgers who are another family staying at Betty�s place went to visit the home where the expecting mothers stay called Hogar. Mercedes� daughter welcomed us and gave us a tour of the facility. At the end of the tour, we were able to sit with about twelve of the expecting mothers. Translation was needed again here but the emotions were vivid and universal. We were asked some excellent questions by them and hopefully made clear to them that their babies were going to be loved and cared for in a way they would approve of. They presented us with a few gifts and again this event was ended with tears and hugs. These women are so brave and courageous to make the decisions that they are making, they love these unborn children so much . they had so many questions about the life we could give them. They are doing this out of unselfish love so their baby can have the best life possible. At the home you�d be amazed at the care and skills training these women participate in. They learn knitting.sewing, cooking, computers and so many trades that they hopefully can use back in their community. The number one focus is on their self esteem. They need these women to understand their worthiness and they have social workers and psychologists who work with them daily. It is such a wonderful place.

The weather here since we arrived has been great. We are just coming out of the rainy season and we have had springlike 60�s and 70�s ever since we arrived. We couldn�t ask for any better, if it was hotter it would be uncomfortable because we don�t wear shorts here and this is perfect touring weather.

If any of you are trying to reach us through our email or J.J�s it may take us awhile to get back to you since we are trying to keep updating this website and also because our computer is fickle when it comes to letting us send messages. We have been so touched by all your messages, they will mean so much to Mia someday when she reads her diary of journal entries. Adios for now!!

Tuesday, May 27, 2003 9:08 PM CDT

Hola from Bogota

I�m finally sitting down to update you on what we�ve been up to. For those of you who haven�t heard the story of May 15, I�ll give you a quick synopsis. Mark and Susan Matthews are our good friends who happened to be our FANA�buddy couple�. They have been there throughout the whole preparation and planning stages to help us out with the paperwork and to teach us all about FANA and share with us all their adoption expertise from their own experiences with adopting Samantha,Ryan and Jason. They were informed of our new little girl before we were so they were able to plan a wonderful surprise celebration on Thursday night May 15. They invited some family and friends to completely knock our socks off. We were so shocked when the doorbell rang and we went and saw pink balloons and a ton of people. It was finally happening. We still can�t believe they were able to pull off a surprise since Susan and I have talked almost everyday for 18 months about �our referral day�. Thank you again to all of you that were able to be there. The cake,balloons,champagne,poems,picturesand gifts made for a night that Jim,the kids and I will always remember.

After a crazy week of planning and preparations we were off to Bogota, Colombia to meet our little angel. Brad and Abbey stayed home with their grandmas who are making sure they are having lots of fun and I�m sure are being spoiled rotten. We miss them tremendously, but we can not wait to share with them all about their new baby sisters culture and heritage. Our experience in bogota so far has been so wonderful. We arrived sun. night with no problems on our flights and were picked up at the Bogota airport by Jorge Rico and his neon green 1973 Dodge dart. Al of you Fana families who�ve been here I�m sure have experienced the Dodge dart. Jorge was great and filled us in on any safety issues that we needed to know. Mostly all big city safety tips, but still great reminders.
When we got to Bettys place{ this is a home where many Americans stay, kind of like a bed and breakfast} we were welcomed by to wonderful families that stayed up to greet us. One couple the Steinkirshners have been here about 5 weeks and will hopefully for them be done this week. We will miss them but know it is time for them to get their beautiful little boy , Matthew home to the rest of his family. The other family is from outside of Washington,DC. The Bettgers are here for their second time. They have an almost 3 yr. old named Nicolas, we have had a lot of fun with him. They arrived on Sunday a little before us so we will be here together for awhile, which is great. They are fluent in Spanish which has been such a help for us gringos that don�t know much more than Hello, please thankyou and muy bien!!! So speaking of muy bien you wouldn�t believe how kind and caring everyone has been. We have two wonderful maids who cook and clean for us plus a nurse who comes for about one dollar an hour to watch our babies so you don�t bring them with you when you�re out and about. They are so used to a very sterile environment at the FANA orphanage so they really don�t want the babies out of Betty�s place. It makes so much sense, it�s such a big change for these little babies so we take it real slow with them. Alicia the nurse is so sweet and so great with the children.
On Monday, Memorial we had our big presentation day at Fana. They dress your little baby up and come to this room where the parents are anxiously awaiting to get there child. It is an experience you can�t quite put into words. We were not sure what we were going to name her until she was put in our arms. When we saw her we knew she was Mia Kathryn. There kept being so many signs that led us to put Mia up there with the top 3 names , but we really needed to see her and when we did we looked at each other and both side �She�s a Mia�. There were 5 families getting babies at fana that day from all over the world. It was so special and emotional to be a part of so many dreams coming true. We celebrated with cake and champagne with all the Fana staff and all the new families. Then it was back home to Betty�s to start bonding with our sweet baby. We�ll fill you in on Fana the orphanage after we take our tour on Thursday.
Today,Tuesday, the steinkirshners took us to their favorite caf�, Jaques, what a treat� we had a great lunch, a few cervesas and off to shop at Maku. Maku is a great Colombian souvenier shop. Wonderful handmade items at great prices. Tomorrow we go to our Bienestar interview. This is the first step in getting our case into the courts. We should know possibly by Friday what court we�re in. This gives us a rough time frame of how long we�ll be here, but its really all a guess. Mia is calling so I�m off for now.

Tuesday, May been27, 2003 4:32 PM CDT

ok so we know you've all been waiting to hear from us, we're so sorry. We have all been so busy , we thought we'd be able to write more often but the first few days have been so crazy. Our experience has been so wonderful, I can't wait to tell you all about it. Mia is a doll. She is doing great. She has some reflux issues and just got a little conjunctivitis in her eye,but she seems so easy going that nothing phases her so far. She likes to just stare at us all day. She likes to look at my blonde hair and try to figure out who she is, she is used to the beautiful dark haired nurses that raised her for 7 weeks at FANA. I have to go get drops for mia's eyes so i will try and write all about our last two days late at night tonight.

May 15,2003

The waiting is finally over, our buddy family, the Matthews show up to tell us that there is a little girl down in Bogota waiting for us....

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