Short Update

We finally got the immunization thing squared away last Thursday (at about 4:30 pm). The girls started school on Friday and they absolutely loved it! Their teacher is bilingual and there are kids in their class that speak Spanish. I only hope that this does not slow their learning of English, since that is the main reason we put them in public school.

I go back to work tomorrow (5 hours per day). Things haven't gone exactly as we had planned, but when does anything? We've just kinda rolled with it and we are surviving.

-Anne

Ode to Hanai

Just wanted to give some credit to our 2-year-old Golden-Retreiver-mix Hanai. She was (is) not used to having children in the house (except for the occasional nieces and nephews). She has been sat on, hugged, kissed, dragged around the house by her collar, paws stepped on, fur pulled, fur rubbed the wrong way, screeched at... you name it, they've done it to her. She has been very tolerant in my opinion. We brought her home first since she is pretty laid back. Our other dog (Hank) is a 7-year-old terrier- mix. He will be living at my (Anne's) mom's house for awhile... he would not tolerate any of the above - at all.

Hanai (han-eye)

Oscar (ohz-car)

Diana (dion-ah)

Mayerly (my-airly)

Claudia (clow-dia)

First Professional Family Picture

Pictures!

This one is of just the kids...

Tim doesn't like this one, but I do...

While we were in Bogota, we bought all the kids handmade (Colombian, of course) sweaters. Before it gets too warm, and before they all outgrow them, we got our picture taken. We also got individual pictures taken of each child in his/her sweater. I'll put those above this post (if the kids can refrain from calling me in to referee their skirmishes long enough).

School

We finally finished shots for all the kids... so we thought... so I turned in the paperwork yesterday morning to enroll the girls in school. They said everything looked like it was in order, so they should be able to start today. However, last night at 4:40pm (when it is too late to do anything about any problems) the school nurse called Tim and told him that their shots are not current and that we need to get more shots. We had blood drawn and testing done to make sure that the shot records from Colombia were correct - and our pediatrician said that they were. The nurse also wanted to know when (month and year) they had all had chicken pox. We don't have that information - again - that's why we had blood drawn on each of the kids. I'm going to the school tomorrow to see if they will accept the shot records from the US Embassy doctor. I'm also going to see what I can do about the chicken pox thing . What a pain...

English

The kids are all starting to pick up more English. Here are some of the funnier things that they say...

Goose nigh (Good night)

Vamos a la house (We're going home)

A-goo ghoula (Good girl - to our dog Hanai [pronounced Han-I])

Seent-ow (Sit down - also to Hanai)

Comb on (Come on - Hanai has been very useful in teaching them short phrases...)

Noooo Can-I (what they usually say to Hanai about a hundred times a day)

Estop it (Stop it - this one is not always directed at the dog)

Feliz Cumpleanos a Claudia (6 years old today)

Here are the pictures first, since I know that's what everyone wants to see anyway...

Here she is with her cake

She's pretty pleased with her candle blowing abilities (I don't know why Tim has a fist in this picture, he didn't hit her... really)

Claudia with her new 'Viewmaster' and Mayerly (don't know exactly what she's looking at...)

Just in case you didn't think the other two (Oscar and Diana) made it home with us, here's a picture of them too

So you are probably asking, "What happened to Claudia's hair???" To protect the innocent and the guilty, we will just say that there was a little problem and we had to cut it all off. If I (Anne) don't dress her in pink and put barretts in her hair, she looks like a little boy - I hate it. Here's hoping it grows out fast...

Back to the Birthday. We went about the day just as we normally do, get up, get dressed have breakfast, do our school thing, eat lunch, play all afternoon... point being - no one had any clue that today was Claudia's birthday. We had dinner (ham and bean soup and cornbread - 'rico' according to the kids... that's good in case you don't know) and then I brought out the cake I baked earlier while they were playing upstairs (only Mayerly saw me because the TV is downstairs...). It was kinda like a surprise party because everyone was surprised... too funny.

We started homeschooling with 'Abuelita' (Grandma Schoemig) last Monday. The good news is that the kids are doing well, and are even starting to pick up some English words. The bad news is that they are all very far behind where they should be scholastically. My hope is that we can get Mayerly and Claudia in school by September at a grade level not too far below where they should be for their ages. I think Oscar and Diana will be working with my mom longer than that.

I also found a preschool close to our house that will take Claudia (even though she is now six years old and doesn't speak English). I'm going to take her on Friday to see how she does there. If she looks like she will be okay, we will enroll her for the 1/2 day classes (5 days a week).

That's it for now. Hasta luego.

Weeee're Heeeere!

Just a short post to let everyone know we made it home okay. It feels good to be typing on an 'English' keyboard again (I used a Spanish and a French one in Colombia and couldn't find the @ on either of them most of the time...).

The kids traveled pretty well. We didn't have any tantrums, but we did have to tell them to be quiet on the airplane more than a few times. They were pretty wound up.

We got home about 9pm here (that's 10pm in Bogota). The grandparents were very happy to meet their new grandkids (even if they can't understand anything they say). The kids didn't go to bed until 10:30.

Later,
Anne

Going Home

All of us in the back yard at El Refugio The kids with Rosita, one of the ladies who works at the B&B

Sorry, we haven´t been able to post for a couple of days. The computer at the B&B got a virus and was out for repair. We didn´t do it...

Over the weekend we just hung out at the B&B waiting to go to the US Embassy on Monday. We did a little last minute shopping and took the kids out for ice cream at Mimi´s and pizza at Pizza Hut (yeah there is one here within walking distance). Sunday was cold and rainy.

On Monday we left for the embassy right after breakfast (about 9am). There, we gave them all our paperwork and waited in line to be called up to one of the windows. They called our name and we went up to the window where the agent had to lay eyes on each of the kids. She then told them they could sit down. Then I (Anne) had to answer a couple of questions and sign my name four times (once for each of the kids). We then got to pay for all the visas at another window. After that we had to sit down and wait again for them to call our name again. When they did, the lady told me that they would have the visas ready the next day at 3:30pm and she also had to look at each one of the kids again. Then we went back to the B&B - that was at about 1pm.

Today I went to the embassy and picked up the visas and paperwork for US Immigration in Atlanta (Tim stayed home and entertained the kids at the park). The guy at the window remembered me from the day before. I don´t think it is often that they see people adopting four kids. He wished us the best for our new family.

That was the last piece of paperwork. We are done here. Our flight schedule was confirmed this morning. We are leaving Bogota early Wednesday morning. See you in KC...

-Tim & Anne

Facatativa and South Bogota

These pictures are from the town of Facatativa (or Faca to locals) this is the town where Oscar,Diana & Mayerly were born. It is a small town (those in Bogota told me) of about 100,000 people & very scenic, with brick streets leading to the square.

I (Tim) spent all day Thurs with our attorney, Oscar. We had to pick up all four birth certificates & then have these changed to our last name. The day started out in south Bogota at the Civil Registration office, for Claudia´s birth certificate, she was the only one born in Bogota. We then had to drive 45 minutes west to Facatativa, where the other three were born. We had to go to two different offices, wait to get their last names officially changed, then to the bank for notarized copies. We then headed back to Bogota to pick up Claudia´s changed birth certificate & to the bank.

We left the B&B at 7am & I got back around 4pm, but their last names are officially changed to Verhulst. It was quite interesting dealing with Colombia Civil Registration, it takes a lot of patience. It sure helps to have an attorney like Oscar, it was amazing how fast he could get things done & how he seemed to know everyone.