Saturday

Today has been a rough day for me. Kerry and the boys left the hotel this morning at 6:30 and at 8:30 am I discovered that both boys left their blankies in their beds. By then it was too late to do anything about it so now I have two souvenirs that I can smell and hug when I get lonely for them. I do feel for Kerry though having to deal with both boys without blankets. Kaleb should be fine as he has another favorite one at home but Cohen really only has the one he left here so I hope the next few days aren’t to hard on Kerry dealing with the fall out.

The good news is that I got our camera back from the driver this morning so I will post pictures of the coffee plantation, the falls, the zoo, and Kaleb’s birthday party soon.

Yesterday we took it easy in anticipation of them flying home today. We took the boys to one of their favorite parks here for one last play time and we went to a local artisan shop called Maku again to stock up on some gifts for everyone at home. We have some more gifts to buy at the markets but they only occur on Sundays so I will be bringing a few back with me. Kerry got a lot of packing done throughout the day and otherwise just tried to soak in the last few hours of Bogota. Dad and the boys tried to spend a lot of time with Kariana knowing they wouldn’t see her for awhile and I took close ups of each of them so Kariana and I can look at their pictures on the computer while we are separated. We don’t know how long that will be and we don’t want her to forget them so we will look at them a lot. The boys had the Kopka boys over one last time for a movie after supper and then they said their good-byes as they were getting up early to leave.

We found out we are in court 14. Court 14 isn’t on the ‘fast’ list but it isn’t on the ‘slow’ list either so my stay will probably be the average of 6 to 7 weeks. That would put me here another 3 to 4 weeks but if there is anything you learn quickly about this process, its not to assume anything so my stay could be longer. After our Defenders of the Minors meeting, it’s really just a waiting game for us. From then on, it’s the lawyer that deals with the judge and the courts kind of behind the scenes from our end because we really won’t know what is happening pretty much until the judge signs the papers. It’s a different judicial process than we are used to as we don’t have to ever appear in court. Our lawyer represents us in everything so we just sit back and get to know Colombia so we can tell our daughter all about her beautiful birth country.

It poured rain here this afternoon. And for the first time since we have been here, it even had lightening and thunder. We went to the mall and grocery store this morning and its lucky we did as the weather was nice but now its cold and miserable. Hopefully it clears off tonight before the Sunday markets tomorrow.

I think that is about it for today. I hope no one minds reading about some of the mundane aspects of our days but this blog will be kept for Kariana to read when she is older so she understands everything that occurred while we were here for her without relying solely on our memories of our time in Colombia. I want her to have as many details about her birth country as she wants and we are using this blog as the journal of our time here.

Missing my boys in Colombia,
Cresta