Love the Beach

We have been going to the beach often
since we have been home. Mya loves it.
She loves playing with her family and
running in the sand. She is so good about
picking seashells and putting them in her
bucket.

She doesn't even care if the wave knocks
her down. We have to keep all eyes on
this one.

Mya is doing so well. We are growing
closer all the time. She lets us snuggle and
rock her so much more. She is doing really
well with talking. She now imitates a lot
of words and says a few independently ie.
bye-bye, down, hey, uh-oh, cat, duck, dog, drink
mama, dada, and a few other family members
names.

We are beginning the post adoption requirement
paperwork. We have received her Citizenship
paperwork a few days ago. I really haven't looked
at a lot of this stuff because I am just caught up in
relaxing with her. I can see how people miss their
deadlines.

We are waiting to hear from our lawyer here to
complete our readoption. I will fill you in more
when I educate myself a little more.

BIG NEWS
As many of you know, we have been trying to contact
Mya's foster family. They gave us emails and were a
little upset that we wouldn't contact them while in the
country and didn't stop to see them at the park. Well,
they have responded and seem to be okay with everything.
This is such a huge weight off my chest. I really wanted to
keep in contact with them. I enjoy sending them pics of Mya and
they also have sent us some pictures of her when she was younger.
I am such a picture person, so this is helping me to not
grieve the time we missed with her so much.

I can't even express to you how blessed we are. God has had
his hand in every part of this adoption. Even though I did
not see it, he knew exactly the perfect fit and time for our family. I feel
like we have had Mya her whole life. It doesn't seem as though
we only have had her for a couple of months. She knows without
a doubt that we are her family. It is such a great feeling. I just
pray that God continues to keep his hands on our family. I can't
imagine life without God being the one in control.

More Pics

Swimming at the pond for Mya's Welcome Home Party.


Uncle Travie and Mya

Now that we are settled...

We are now getting into the rhythm of being
home and getting into a little routine. I started
back to work this week. I only work 2 days a
week. Mya has a Spanish Speaking babysitter.
She cried and threw herself on the floor when I
left the first day. That was good to see. Sounds
terrible, but I was wondering if she would mind.
At church, she goes right into Sunday School without
a problem. She got over it quickly. Today, when I
got home she ran to me and hugged and kissed me.
Then she went back to our babysitter and wanted her
to hold her. She didn't want to come to me. I immediately
felt threatened and just took her away. She was fine, and then
wanted me to hold her for a while. This was odd because she
typically doesn't like to be held. I made sure our babysitter
knew that I want her to love and care for Mya, BUT
I am #1. :) She was laughing at me. So, we will keep you
updated on this.

Things have changed so much since being home. Mya is now
listening very well. She is signing a lot as well as verbalizing
some basic words. Her imitation has really picked up. Today
she let me rock her only when I turned the TV on. I put on
"Signing Time" which she loves. We imitated the signs together
as I rocked. I think it took her mind off of being held down.
Tonight she laid in bed while I read a few books. This was
huge for us. It just felt good for us to just lay together and
hang out. We hope one day she will enjoy snuggling.



My mom and Mya

Hangin with the girls


Playing "London Bridge" and loving it!


Mya is feeding a deer Justin's cousin is raising because
something happened to its mother. She loves animals and
wasn't afraid at all. She jumped right in and wanted to feed
the deer.

There is no place like the USA!!!

That's right! There is one more US citizen today. Horray!!!! There is nothing that feels better then being home with my family. I can't believe that I am actually here. Thank you God for guiding us on this trip and blessing us in so many ways. Thank you to my amazing friends who have made Mya's room look adorable and place pictures of her around the house. I just love them. I feel like everything is complete. We loved the welcome home sign. Thank you also to my family for everything they did while we were gone. We are fortunate to have such a supportive family.

Please pray for the other families that are still waiting to adopt and those that are in Colombia. There are many that need our prayers. You couldn't imagine the pain that these children and families are in.

I will blog more later. We are just so thankful Thank you for all of your prayers and support.

Embassy Done

Today we went to apply for Mya's visa. It went very smooth. I didn't realize it was outside. There were so many people there that we stood the whole time. It was a cold and rainy day. I really enjoyed meeting other families that I knew from there blogs and emailing. It was great to hear their experience and meet their children. There are so many families here. It was nice to know that everyone is kind of going through adjustment periods ie. tantrums. In our case and some of the others that are staying with us, it almost seems as thought they feel like they have to fight or scream for food, drink, toys ect. It is sad to see. I haven't put my finger on it, but most of our problems are around eating and drinking.

Other than that, Mya is amazing. She is very loving and has the best smile and giggle. We are so in love. God has really blessed our family. Tonight, they had salsa dancing for the kids here at the hotel. It was really nice. Mya thought everyone was crazy. She just liked watching and running around mainly.

We had a hard time again today trying to change Mya's name on the plane ticket. I messed this up from the beginning. I bought round trip tickets and told them I would have an infant coming home. I would recommend not doing that. Just add your child later. See, we didn't know if we were going to be able to change her name here. They were going to tell us when we got here. We did change her name, so I had to change the name on the ticket. It took 3 trips to Avianca and a lot of waiting to get it done. Try to avoid this frustration. Also, book your round trip about 2 weeks after you anticipate coming home. This will prevent you from changing your tickets twice.

Mary, a blog friend of mine, asked if it would be wise to send a package to the hotel prior to arriving. We actually had this idea. I think it would be a great idea, but we were not told for sure where exactly we would be staying. They do not get reservations for you ahead of time. So, you will not know for sure. There are plenty of places here that you can buy anything you need. They even have my shampoo and makeup here in Bogota. Cucuta has very similar to a Walmart (EXITO) as well. Try not to over pack. We didn't need any of our dress clothes or shoes really. I wore my dress clothes for Integration and the Final Decree. Other than that, you will be walking a lot. Everyone in Cucuta wheres jeans. We were told when we were there, that people with dress pants stood out to be wealthy. You will want to be comfortable. Bring shorts also. In Bogota, people where jeans and they also dress nicely. Still where comfortable clothes. Anytime you go anywhere with Andres, you will be running.

I haven't had a chance to shop or really enjoy Bogota. I am going to the gift shop that you guys told me about. It is walking distance from the hotel. So, we will do that tomorrow before picking Mya's Visa up at 3:00. We then will go straight to the airport to catch our flight.

We are so glad that it is time to go home, but we have really enjoyed spending time in Mya's birth country. We are glad that we stayed outside of Bogota for a while and really were able to experience Colombia and spend time in the town where Mya was born.

I will blog again from the United States. YIPPEE!

Change of Plan

We were not able to go to the Embassy today. We had to go to ICBF to get a form signed prior to going to the Embassy. Cucuta had made several mistakes to the document and it had to be sent back for corrections. We went this morning because we were told it was ready; however, it needed to be signed by the Bogota's ICBF director. She wasn't able to do it until later on today. So we went back. Andres had a little fun with me today. I was signing my name and had to write my passport number down. He then said something else for me to write. I didn't understand and he just kept saying "a dot a dot." I'm thinking "Where the heck do I need a dot." He was trying to say "Date." We laughed about this for a good while. I was yelling at him because he runs EVERYWHERE. It is hard to keep up holding a baby. He just laughs at me. We have fun messing with eachother.

Earlier today David, Lucia's son, took us back to the hotel. He had his two boys with him. They are so funny. I enjoyed talking with them. It is nice to have some people to cut up with while we are here. David to us to Baby Ganga (i think that is the name). We got a potty chair that I will leave here. This store has EVERYTHING you would need for a baby. It's similar to Baby's R Us. He showed us where to walk and go. I like Bogota. It is so much different then Cucuta. I wish more of our trip was here. But, I don't want to extend it just to see more:)


So, we will change our tickets to Thursday evening instead. We are having some trouble with getting Mya's named changed for the ticket. I had to give a copy of a birth certificate and the final decree. We will know tomorrow if it gets approved. I thought that was strange. I wasn't sure what the big deal was. They had all of the information.

The Embassy will be tomorrow, then on Thursday we will pick up the Visa. We are going to check in at the airport and then leave and go to the Embassy to pick it up. That way we are checked in 3 hours prior to the flight. TRICKY!!!!

I just love Zuetana hotel. It is so cozy, and everyone here is adopting. It is nice to see other people going through the same struggles as us. We enjoy seeing and talking to all of these wonderful families. Another Integration was today (which is when the parents get the child), and the hotel had a party. It is so great, they have all of the flags of the different countries here at the hotel at the party, cake, balloons, streamers. What a nice jesture. The staff and owner of this hotel is just great. We are blessed.

Teaching the Dog to Talk

 
 
 





We watched Mya do this for such a long time. She would howl and then the dog would howl. When the dog would stop, she would get him to go again. It was so funny. We have it on video. She was so afraid of him at first. Then little by little she would pet his back and then got closer to his head. She even finally kissed and hugged him.

See the pancho. It is chilly in Bogota. I never would have thought. Make sure you bring a jacket for the kiddos.


Today's news:
WE ARE IN BOGOTA!!!!!!! YEAH!!!! We had to work for it though. This morning we got Mya's passport. We waited in line outside before it opened at 7:30. They were asking for things we didn't have. It was stressful because her new birth certificate says my maiden name not my married name. This is how it is done in Colombia. Our attorney's secretary came and they were able to work it out with the help of Lucia and Mercedes. The people in the passport office said that when we arrive in Miami, they would make us fly back to Colombia because it was wrong. I was really worried. I wasn't sure who to believe. We are just trusting that Lucia and our Attorney know what they are doing and the other people are wrong. Nichole is sending me my birth certificate and Marriage Certificate just in case I need to show something with my maiden name. This is a great idea. I would just go ahead and make a copy of that and put it with your papers. It wouldn't hurt.

Then we flew to Bogota. Andres was there to pick us up. Traffic was unreal. It took us over an hour to get out of the airport. I think some light poles fell down or something. Mya and I went to the Dr.s appointment. This was easy. We just needed our passports, immunization records, and any other records you have. You also need a picture for this visit. We had to get additional pictures prior to the visit as well as for the Visa. Apparently, you need slightly larger pictures than the ones I had for the passport. I had some extra left over from the passport, but that didn't work. Take a note of that.

We are staying at Zuetana. I really like this place. I haven't really looked around yet, but it is nice and cozy. It is a bed and breakfast type place. There is a play room next to my room. This is great. I will tell you more about it when I see more. The man at the front desk speaks English. That is helpful and dinner was great. It is nice to eat something different.

We are waiting for a form for Cucuta before we can go to the Embassy. They sent it earlier, but it had many mistakes and had to be redone. We hope to get it in the morning. If so, we are on track.

Someone had asked why we chose Avianca. We wanted a straight flight and be able to change the tickets. We called Delta, and they would not honor the adoption change ticket deal. So we went with Avianca. We have been very happy. Also, there are many places in Cucuta and Bogota where you can go to an office. We flew Areorepublica back to Bogota. We chose this because I needed the earliest time after 2:00 to be able to make a Dr.s appointment. Very nice airline. Everyone was REALLY kind and helpful. I have never seen that from an airline before.

Pray for a smoothe Tuesday. We are so thankful that we were able to get everything done today. We know that God has his hand in this because we keep coming upon these road blocks, and he sees us through.