Chambers--Colombia

Random Pictures

2009-11-15T13:27:00.002-06:00

Crazy bath hair

Saying Cheese

Taking care of one of her babies

All dressed up and nowhere to go

Halloween

2009-11-15T13:10:00.004-06:00

Visiting a pumpkin patch. Mari and the skull on her shirt are both wearing blue hair bows.

Mari and her daddy carving a pumpkin.

A bit more creepy when it has a face on it.

DJ Lance Rock is AWESOME!

Why on earth would a toddler halloween costume come with adult size glasses?

Post-It Notes

2009-10-04T15:27:00.003-05:00

Rockabye Baby

2009-10-04T13:18:00.002-05:00

Marisol singing and rocking her baby.

End of the Summer

2009-08-16T14:39:00.006-05:00

Wow, it's been a long time!

Joe and I sadly had to go back to work last month, which means our incredible summer of hanging around the house playing with Marisol everyday had to end and a very busy school year had to start. Mari began attending daycare a few days early so we could get into a routine, which ended up being a very good idea. While the first couple of days were hard, she quickly came to love it. She continues to have fun playing with the other children and has started saying many new words, including grandma, grandpa, and hi and bye. She even asks for water now when she's thirsty. Overall everything is going well. --12 September, 2009

First day at daycare!

Mari asleep in cousin Alex's car seat.

Eating Dinner Is Hard Work.

Marisol and Her Dolls

2009-07-26T16:09:00.006-05:00

Ignore my mom's ridiculously loud kitchen noises in the background.

California

2009-07-26T15:09:00.003-05:00

Next was California, where we met up with my Auntie Christina and then Joe's dad and stepmom.

Marisol meeting her Auntie Christina

Mari eating fruit snacks with Grandpa John

Checking out Aunt Heaven

Swimming at Grandma and Grandpa's house

Where are my pants?

Watching Grandma Joyce feed the goats

Getting to feed the goats, too!

New Mexico

2009-07-26T13:50:00.006-05:00

Marisol made a whirlwind trip to New Mexico and California to meet the rest of her family over the past couple of weeks. She handled the masses of relatives and the six flights wonderfully and even started saying new words when she saw her cousin Charley, who's six months older, talking away.

Mari meeting her Auntie Alison and cousin Charley (and baby boy cousin due in November)

Not so sure about this yet. . .

. . . But a few days later they were playing together.

Marisol having a heart-to-heart with her Uncle Paul. . .

. . .And having a ball with her Grandma Minnie.

Playing on the couch with Grandpa Paul. . .

. . . And Grandma Minnie

Showing her new Dora shoes to Great-Grandma Miller

And sharing Goldfish with Auntie Mary.

Now she just needs coffee and a donut.

Look Who's Walking

2009-07-05T22:17:00.003-05:00

While Marisol has taken lots of steps on her own since mid May, as of this week she is finally really walking. The dog's not too happy with this new development (just as soon as he was starting to get used to her, she goes and does something different).

Marisol and Alex

2009-06-26T13:28:00.003-05:00

Marisol finally got to spend some quality time with her new cousin Alex yesterday.

David, Betty, and their two grandchildren

Betty and Alex

Marisol and Alex

Betty, Marisol, and Alex

Six Band-Aids

2009-06-15T08:42:00.006-05:00

This past week Marisol had her first check up here in the United States. So far everything looks good and the results we've gotten back look normal. She had to get caught up on vaccinations and have a TB test and have seven tubes of blood drawn for various tests. It was a rough morning, but she handled it all as well as can be expected for a 17 month old (as of yesterday, she's 17 months!). The band-aids lasted until bath time that night.
Marisol is getting more comfortable at the YMCA pool, too. She isn't ready to stray too far away from me, but she'll scoot off the edge of the pool into the water and she'll stay on the steps without clinging to me.
Getting comfortable with other little kids at church might be a struggle. She seems to like her personal space and panic if other little kids get in her way.

Talking on the Telephone (We cut the really short cord off this toy. I guess the toy maker was afraid kids would get the cord caught around their necks so they made the cord less than a foot long so Marisol had to hold the whole phone up in order to pretend to talk)

Playing With Grandpa David

Grandpa Is A Lot of Fun

Wearing a Newspaper Hat

Even Mom Got A Hat

Ready For Church

Back to Work

2009-06-07T13:30:00.004-05:00

That sounds way worse than it really is! I did go back to work this week, but only for the last two days of the school year, Thursday and Friday, to clean up my classroom and make sure my grades were turned in. Now Joe and I are free until mid August! Mari's Grandma Betty babysat for the two days (with afternoon help from Grandpa David) and they all had a blast. Marisol even started walking with the help of her little car (next post)!

Everything is going well and we're starting to make plans to make it out to New Mexico and California this summer so Marisol can meet the rest of her family. Marisol is eating well (beans and bananas--but not together--are her favorite foods) and is sleeping all night, most of the time. The last two Sundays she's gone to church with us and has done very well in the nursery. She's referring to us as Mama and Dada, which just makes our hearts melt and is getting more comfortable (too comfortable?) with the dog. She head butts him and tackles him, but he's mostly really patient. She does offer him her toys, which usually ends with us chasing him around the house to get them back before he destroys them.

Here are some more pictures of her this past week.

Getting Closer to Walking

2009-06-07T13:03:00.005-05:00

Okay, so this post is really more for my parents than anyone else. When they were in St. Louis a couple of weeks ago, they bought Mari this little car. She mostly has just played with the horn and keyboard because she isn't strong enough to push herself on it, but just a couple days ago she started to walk behind it and use it to keep her balance! She goes all over the house and round and round the island in the kitchen. She's also started to take a few steps by herself, but Joe or I have to be really close by in case she falls. Hopefully she's be walking before too long!

Two Weeks Home

2009-05-30T13:17:00.005-05:00

Settling In

2009-05-21T23:10:00.005-05:00

About one week down, and so far everything is going well. Marisol is sleeping all night, eating very well, and getting along with her new dog, Manfred. Manfred is adjusting, but I think it's harder for him than for Marisol. Every time she gets near him, she thumps him on the nose and says "Bop."

And just one week home and Marisol isn't even the newest family member anymore! Joe's brother Tim and his wife Christy welcomed David Alexander yesterday afternoon. Joe's parents got to meet their two grandchildren for the first time less than one week apart! Christy and baby Alex are healthy and doing well. Mari got to meet her new cousin yesterday, but she was more interested in the Cheerios, so we may have to try for a picture this weekend.

Not Sure About This Yet.

Well, Maybe. . .

Yeah, He's Okay.

Best Buddies.

Grandpa Paul and Marisol

Grandma Minnie, Grandpa Paul, and Marisol

HOME!!!

2009-05-16T21:15:00.004-05:00

At the airport in St. Louis after flying all night.

We're very excited to say that Marisol is now an American citizen and is getting settled in at her new permanent home here in St. Louis.

It's been a crazy few days, so we haven't posted. We got everything done in Bogota with no problems. I (Joe) went to a soccer game and saw Independiente Santa Fe beat Pasto 1-0, and we got Mari's visa, which was the last step before leaving for the States.

We got to the airport Thursday night and got checked in, but then we realized that we there was a document that we needed for Colombian customs that we had put in a suitcase that we had checked, so I had to go back to the counter and get the airline to bring our bags back so that we could get it. Thankfully, that was the only real problem. The flights were long and crowded, but Mari was great. In fact, the 40-year old American businessman who was sitting next to us seemed to fuss more on the flight than Mari did.

So, now we're home and getting settled in. Elizabeth's mom is staying with us at the moment, and Mari and Manfred (our beagle) are getting used to each other. Everything's great, but we're still catching our breath, so we'll post more about the adjustment process later.

Settled in Bogota

2009-05-11T17:54:00.002-05:00

It´s been a few days but we´ve been busy. We are staying at El Refugio in Bogota, where I know a lot of CHI families have stayed before. Marisol had a bit of a rough night adjusting to her new environs, but it seems like everything is fine now. Today we had Mari´s doctor´s appointment and everything is on schedule so far. We´ve really enjoyed getting to know the other families staying here: A French family that adopted an infant left today after six weeks. Another CHI family adopting two siblings, a boy and a girl, who´s very nurturing with the little ones. And a family from Puerto Rico adopting twin three year olds. These girls just crack us up. They are adorable and silly. Joe finally found his hormigas (giant fried ants) at the airport in Bucaramanga and was sharing this evening. These little girls were hanging on him yelling ¨Yo quierro hormigas!¨. We may post some pictures later, but we don´t have wireless here and it´s a little hectic at times.
It has been a bit of a shock for us going from isolated in our own appartment to a huge house with other families all together, but we are really enjoying it. Bogota is so much colder than Buca, poor Mari just about threw a fit when we put the footie pajamas on her last night. An hour later she was back in her regular pajamas and a lot happier. We did like being in Bucaramanga, but after five weeks, we were ready for a change.

Marisol Checking Out Her Passport

2009-05-09T14:06:00.003-05:00

We're Out of Here!

2009-05-08T23:01:00.011-05:00

Marisol and Mom at the courthouse

As I stated in the previous post, we had our sentencia today! When we met with Yolanda our lawyer this morning, she said she doubted we'd get all the official papers we needed and that we would most likely need to finish up Monday and fly out Tuesday. We were lucky and everything moved fast. Sentencia itself was anticlimactic--we signed some papers with a clerk, and then the judge didn't even ask us any questions. She just said Marisol was cute and had pretty eyes. Then Joe and I just stood there like morons while she talked on the phone. Patricia, our interpreter, had to motion to us to leave.

Next stop was Marisol's updated birth certificate, which we got across the street from the Palacio de Justicia. This moved quickly, but by the time we were finished, the passport office had already closed for its 3 hour lunch break. It was crazy to see Marisol's new name and picture in her passport, especially with the last name "Chambers" on it. She's doing great, though, even after being dragged around to government offices all day long.

So, now if everything goes as planned (ie the airport doesn't mysteriously close, as airports are wont to do here) we'll fly to Bogota Sunday morning. Mari has to get checked by a doctor at the U.S. embassy in Bogota, and then we'll have to get her visa that says she can legally move to the States. Then we'll fly home on the redeye Thursday night and be in St. Louis Friday morning.

After spending the last few weeks just waiting, it's nice to have things finally moving and to have the end in sight. Our time here has been good, but we're really ready to get Marisol settled into her real permanent home. Please just keep praying for us that there are no more bumps in the process now that it's all almost done.

One more week!

Sentencia!!!

2009-05-08T12:12:00.001-05:00

We are officially a family of three! This afternoon we'll go to the passport office and hopefully we'll be in Bogota by Monday! We'll update later.

Still waiting...

2009-05-07T21:11:00.002-05:00

Thanks for the prayers, but it was not meant to be. We waited Wednesday, but then we were told that it would be Thursday for sure. We waited today, and now we're being told that we'll finally have our sentencia tomorrow morning. We're still hoping that we might get to leave Bucaramanga for Bogota this weekend, but there's a good chance that we'll have to be here until Monday.

Obviously, the whole process is a little frustrating. It would just be easier if we knew a definite time or date for things so we could deal with it, but never knowing anything for sure is hard.

Marisol is still doing great, though. We're just hanging out with her and hoping to take her to her permanent home soon.

Prayer Request

2009-05-05T17:57:00.002-05:00

We just talked to our interpreter and she said there is a chance we could have Sentencia tomorrow afternoon, meaning we could leave Bucaramanga Thursday! While we've loved our time here, we are obviously excited to go home! Please pray that we will get Sentencia tomorrow.

2009-05-03T22:23:00.002-05:00

Not much going on today. Hopefully tomorrow or Tuesday we'll have a better idea of when we'll be going to Bogota. We're hoping this week. Our paperwork ended up being filed later than we had hoped it would be because the person whose job it is to collect whatever paperwork we needed filed was out sick for three days.

Today we went out to Carrefour to pick up a clay caricature of Marisol we had ordered yesterday. There were a lot of booths set up It mostly looks like her, with the big cheeks and green eyes. When the artist tried to take her picture so he could make it, she got all serious and wouldn't smile, so he did the best he could with the lips. People here seem to really be into clay. The toy sections at the stores are full of play doh and regular modelling clay. I think the only things they have a better selection of in the stores here are foot sprays and powders.

On our way to Carrefour, we came across three iguanas hanging out on the edge of a park. Two of them took off down an embankment before we could take pictures, but one stuck around for a few minutes. They were huge! My older brother had a really small pet iguana when we were kids (he picked one with a gimpy leg because he felt sorry for it, kept it for a year or so and then determined it had cancer or something and let it go on the golf course so it could die free. . .). These ones were about three or four feet long.

So that's it for tonight. We'll hopefully have some new pictures on Flickr.

2009-05-02T22:32:00.002-05:00

So, since it's a new month, we have more space available on flickr, and since it's about 1000x faster to put pics up on there than on the blog, then that's mostly where they'll be for now. Check them out at http://www.flickr.com/photos/chamberscolombia.

We're still just waiting and hoping to hear from our lawyer early this week. Since there's not much else going on, some random thoughts from Joe:

1. Man, Colombians love mushrooms. At every restaurant, about a third of the items include mushrooms. I just don't get it.

2. There are a ton of American sitcoms on the English-speaking channels here, which has given me time to think about them. Obviously, Friends is a great show and is still great in re-runs, but Frasier and Mad About You still hold up really well also. What doesn't hold up is Married With Children. It helped push the envelope of sitcoms, thereby allowing us to enjoy Family Guy years later, but when you go back and watch it now, it's just not funny. (We've clearly spent too much time sitting and playing on the floor of the same room if I've had this much time to think about this.)

3. I was finally able to find a street vendor the other day selling knock-off soccer jerseys, so I can go home happy now. I got an Atl. Bucaramanga jersey and both home and away Colombian national team jerseys for less than five bucks each.

4. Speaking of soccer, there were UEFA Champions League games on ESPN this past week, and while we were watching the Barcelona-Chelsea game, I got Marisol to say "Barça." So, clearly she has taste.

5. Did you know they made Chevy-Suzukis? There are Chevrolet Samurais and Vitaras. I had no idea they had a deal like that.

Okay, that's all the randomness I've got for now. We'll post again soon.

Exploring Bucaramanga

2009-04-30T22:21:00.009-05:00

The past two days we've gotten out and explored a little more. Yesterday we took a taxi downtown and walked around a lot. We started at the Bolivar museum and ended at the Mega Mall, with brief stops at the Parque de los Ninos and the hospital where Marisol was born. (You can tell this is Liz and not Joe because I will not be bothering to put symbols or accent marks over the Spanish words. . .) Today we walked to a different shopping center--Carrefour--which we've found to be superior to Exito. We also ate steaks at the food court (!!!!). Mostly the food here has been fine, but we're starting to get tired of eating out and cooking with a smaller variety of foods at the grocery stores here. What I miss the most is raw vegetables, especially salad. The fruits here are really good, though, and available through little stands on most street corners (along with cell phone minutes and lottery scratch off tickets).

Yesterday we also finally found a Crepes & Waffles, which we'd heard about from other blogs. We're going back this weekend--it was SO GOOD! Marisol finished off a kid's crepe with jamon y queso all by herself, then ate most of a mini waffle with arequipe (YUM!). We accidentally bought a tub of arequipe our first trip to the grocery store because we thought it was peanut butter. It's basically dulce de leche or caramel. Very tasty. Here they spread it on thin crispy pancakes as a dessert.

As far as adoption stuff, our translator's update of "Monday or Tuesday" became "next week--don't worry", so we figure we aren't going anywhere for a while. Hopefully we can be in Bogota at least by next weekend, but it is starting to look like our five weeks here will turn into six weeks. Oh well.

Here are some pictures from the last couple of days:

Downtown Bucaramanga

Parque de los Ninos. Marisol was taking a nap.

Finally awake, but not ready to chew.

Happy to be out of her stroller.

Green jello soul patch.

Father-Daughter bonding.

Reggae Hair Style. Rock 'n' Roll!

Fraggle Rock

2009-04-28T11:55:00.004-05:00

Watching Fraggle Rock with Dad.

Marisol hasn't really shown that much interest in television in general, but the Baby Einstein and the Fraggle Rock DVDs in particular have fascinated her. She was so excited with the Fraggles last night that we had a difficult time keeping her on the bed!

Marisol Playing

2009-04-27T11:43:00.003-05:00

Marisol playing with her favorite toy.

Besitos.

La Mesa de Ruitoque

2009-04-26T21:57:00.004-05:00

Looking out over Bucaramanga

More of the greater Bucaramanga metropolitan area

People paragliding

We took this shot, but doesn't it look like it should be from the cover of the paragliding brochure or something?

With the Colombian flag in the foreground (in case anyone forgot where we've been all this time)

More paragliding

Marisol's checking it out

A picture of dad (for once)

Marisol wants YOU to go paragliding

Every day for the past three weeks, we've stood out on the balcony and watched paragliders (parapente) off in the distance. Today we went to Mesa de Ruitoque to see them up close. While most of the gliders we saw were solo, they also offer tandem rides for beginners. I think Joe wants to go up later in the week. The view was amazing and it was so much cooler than in the city. And, while we didn't get the chance to talk to them, there were several Americans paragliding, too--the first Americans we've seen in person (besides each other) in three weeks!

Botanical Gardens

2009-04-25T21:16:00.007-05:00

Marisol and Mom at the Jardín Botánico Eloy Valenzuela

Sharing graham crackers with the ducks

Checking out a sloth

The sloth (el perezoso)

Patitos

Una tortuga

Red squirrel with an empanada

At the wishing well (as if there's really anything that she wants that we don't get her)

Toucan

Making faces in the mirror

Entirely too cute in my new sandals

-----

So, we went to the botanical gardens today (the Jardín Botánico Eloy Valenzuela). It was a lot of fun. I mean, where else am I ever going to see a sloth in the wild? Pretty cool. The plants were really pretty, too, and we have some nice pics of the scenery, but mostly the ones of Marisol looked more interesting to post on the blog.

Not much going on...

2009-04-24T21:25:00.002-05:00

Marisol has a new book that makes animal sounds.

A gecko on the wall of our apartment.

Hello, all. Just thought we'd check in and let you all know what was going on. We're mostly just still hanging out here. We had hoped that maybe we'd be done here in Bucaramanga next week, but now it sounds like it won't be until at least early the following week. After that, there we'll still have to spend a few days in Bogota getting things processed before we can leave, so we really still don't know when we'll get out of here.

I (Joe) went to a soccer game here the other night. Atlético Bucaramanga beat la Sabana 3-0 and are currently in first place in the Colombian second division, so hopefully they'll get promoted back to the first division next year. For those of you who don't watch soccer, that probably means nothing, so I'll leave it at that, but it was weird being in a stadium where the only concessions are just local people who sell homemade food in the stands.

We're going to try to make it to the Bolívar museum and maybe the zoo and the botanical gardens this weekend, so that should be fun, and we'll post some pics of that.

I'll leave you with a few more random observations:

1. The word for whipped cream is "chantilly." Weird, since that's not Spanish, but it's fresh whipped cream at the ice cream places, so that's really good.

2. Not very many people smoke here, which is good. Again, my only point of reference in South America is Argentina, where everybody smokes, but it's nothing like that here.

3. We got soup the other day, not really knowing what kind it was, and it turned out to be caldito, just like you'd get in New Mexico (except the meat had bones in it).

4. Fashion observations: A lot more people wear jeans than we'd been led to expect, but the fashion here is to buy them too long and roll them up in big wide rolls--I have no idea why. The women wear really tight pants, show a lot of cleavage, and wear sandals that are too small for their feet so that their toes hang out the front (okay, Liz noticed the sandals, not me).

We'll post again soon.

Today's Pictures

2009-04-22T22:43:00.006-05:00

Playing Peek-a-Boo on the balcony.

We're amused at how her eye color seems to change depending on the shirt color. Marisol has a lot of new shirts.

"pfffffft."

"I can smell breakfast, yet somehow I still don't have breakfast. My solution is to make as much noise as I can with this toy until someone feeds me."

Uncle Pete

2009-04-21T21:53:00.003-05:00

Uncle Pete Limper

We found out this evening that my (Elizabeth) Uncle Pete had a heart attack and passed away this morning. He had been planting marigolds and had a heart attack in his garage. My heart is absolutely breaking for my cousins Chris and Jesse and my Auntie Christina, my mom's sister. We had just talked to him on Skype Sunday afternoon with their new web cam and I got to see him last month (after not seeing him for several years) when I was in NM for the baby shower. My parents and my grandmother are on their way to California to be with my aunt and cousins tonight. Please keep my aunt and my cousins in your prayers.

Mesa de los Santos

2009-04-20T22:00:00.003-05:00

Mesa de los Santos

Stopping for drinks

Not sure what she's doing here exactly
Extreme closeup

Hello, it's Joe here. So, we went up to the mountains yesterday to an area called Mesa de los Santos. It was gorgeous, all very green with lots of coffee estates and great views out over the valleys. We also stopped at a market to try to buy hormigas culonas (fried ants, they're in season now), but they were all out. The picture above of Elizabeth and Mari having a drink is in a little tourist area called Mi Colombia Querida.

Also, there was a very small earthquake this morning. Apparently it was a 5.something, but was centered up in the north. It woke Elizabeth up, and she woke me up, but by then I hardly even felt it.

A few more random observations, in case anyone is interested:

1. The weather down here leads to a very different outlook on architecture. Since the temperature year-round stays between the upper 50s and the low 80s, a lot of the building are built partially enclosed and partially open-air. For example, the apartment building we're in and the ICBF office building where the adoption things took place both have regular front doors that make you think you're leaving the outside and entering a building, but then when you get in, long stretches of the hallways are open to the outside. Very different than back home.

2. They take their security issues extremely seriously here. Many of the buildings have private security at the door full-time, even small stores that would never have anything like that in the states. Every single car has a car alarm, and they're all very loud, and a lot of the buildings have parking garages with security instead of open lots. The two apartment complexes across from us have electic fences (although I've seen birds sitting on one, so I'm not sure how deadly it is), and all of the fences are heavy iron things, not just wood or chainlink. And when you use a credit card at a store, they always check ask for ID, and, unlike back home, they really examine it closely.

3. Like lots of other countries, there are tons of really small cars on the road. Unlike other places, though, a huge percentage of them are Renault 4s from the early 60s. For whatever reason, they were hugely popular here and they're still all over the place. They call them the "amigo fiel," which means "faithful friend."

Singing & Dancing

2009-04-19T18:34:00.002-05:00

So, it seems that Marisol really enjoys the song "Cielito Lindo," although like most people the only part she can sing along with is the "ay, ay, ay, ay" part. She also drums and dances, so it's pretty entertaining.

Girón

2009-04-18T22:23:00.003-05:00

So, we went to Girón today. It's a quaint little touristy town just outside of Bucaramanga. They have a really nice old cathedral and traditional colonial-era architecture and lots of little shops to buy souvenirs. It was pretty hot out, so Mari got tired before too long, but it was nice to do something different.

There are some new pics on flickr. We'll post more tomorrow.

Even More Pictures

2009-04-17T13:20:00.006-05:00

View from the mall food court

Calle 31, which we walk every day

Marisol taking a nap

Marisol preparing for her flight to the US

Update

2009-04-17T13:11:00.003-05:00

Yesterday we met with Luz Stella to discuss adoption progress and what excursions we can take while we wait for our court date. We have judge 2, who apparently is just a regular judge—not the fastest, but not the slowest. Since we won’t have any court-related activities in the next week, we can go out of town, at least for some day trips. Tomorrow we will go to Girón and Sunday we will go to Mesa de los Santos, up in the mountains. We’re getting tired of American sitcoms, so we’re looking forward to the diversion. It’ll be nice to see more of the surrounding area, too.

Marisol is taking a nap right now. She sleeps really well--we've only had to get up with her a few times in the middle of the night. It's so noisy here, I don't know how she stays asleep so solidly. The street in front of the apartment complex isn't all that busy, but the walls on the other side of the street are pretty high and all of the street noise echoes. I wake up off and on all night because of the noise, but it doesn't bother her at all.

More Pictures

2009-04-17T12:58:00.006-05:00

I don't think Joe will like that his toes are in one of these pictures, but they're really cute (both the pictures and Joe's toes).

More Pictures

2009-04-15T12:15:00.005-05:00

Practicing Standing

Patito

Combing My Own Hair

Integration meeting

2009-04-13T22:14:00.005-05:00

For more pics click here to go to flickr.

Hello, this is Joe again. Mari's being very difficult about going to sleep tonight, and I don't know if Elizabeth will be up to posting anything, so I thought I would. The little one was in a very playful mood tonight, which is good, but now she doesn't want to stop.

We had our integration meeting today, where a social worker and our translator came to the apartment where we are staying to see how we're getting along and how we're bonding. Everything went fine (except for Marisol fussing for cookies while they were here). It was mostly a lot of semi-vague questions about how things are going and if we're having any difficulties, and we figured it would all go well, but it's still a little weird when you feel like you're being judged as parents after only a week. It was really good, though, and they can tell how incredibly happy we are to have her. Just look at those pictures of her; how could anyone not be happy with that? Now we wait for our lawyer to file papers for us and our court date to come up, so things are progressing slowly but surely.

So, a little more than a week into the trip, here are my random observations about life in Colombia:

1. Stop signs are treated strictly as yield signs, so crossing the street is a little crazy.

2. The food at fast food places is all very good, but not fast at all. It took 15 minutes to get a four-pack of chicken nuggets from a chicken place tonight. They tasted really good, though (they were Mari's, but I stole a bite). Weirdest fast food find: caramel quesadillas, not my favorite. Hard boiled quail eggs in a sandwich, however, were pretty good.

3. We've seen several people walking beagles, so that's cool. As you can see from the pictures to the right, we have a beagle named Manfred. My only other time in South America was in Argentina, so I was expecting to see lots of stray dogs like they have there, but there really aren't any here, just regular pet dogs like in the States.

4. The weather here in Bucaramanga after dark is absolutely gorgeous every single night.

5. People do not make room for a stroller on the sidewalk when they see you coming like I thought they would. But then, that may be because I'm a big gringo.

6. There are lots of pirated movies for sale. Fast & Furious is playing at the theater in the mall down the street and is also for sale out front.

7. The power of global marketing is obvious. I've tried shopping for a soccer jersey here at the mall, but it's completely impossible to find shirts for local teams. Barcelona and Chelsea stuff, however, is in every third store.

That's it for now, we'll post again soon.

Happy Easter

2009-04-12T21:39:00.005-05:00

Marisol tired of having her picture taken.

Marisol brushing her hair.

Marisol playing with her toys.

Sorry we haven't written anything for a few days. We didn't do anything special for Easter. Marisol has kept us pretty busy. We spend hours watching her play every day. Tomorrow we have integracion, when a social worker and our attorney will come to our apartment and make sure everything is going well. After this, we should have a better idea of how long we'll wait for the adoption petition.

Finally, a Happy Baby!

2009-04-09T21:51:00.003-05:00

Marisol playing games while talking to her grandparents on Skype.

Marisol clapping and laughing during lunch.

Today has been the best day of our adjustment so far. Marisol is finally warming up to us more and even laughing and smiling, which is something we hadn't seen much of these last few days. I cannot even begin to comprehend how difficult this transition is for her or for any other adopted child. To finally see her happy has meant everything to us. Hopefully she will continue to get comfortable with us and show us more of her personality.

We've gotten into a comfortable routine these last couple of days. As many adoptive families before, we spend time at the malls, just walking around. Today we bought groceries at Exito, which is like a Super Walmart. I think we like this grocery store better than the one we'd been going to. Most businesses will be closed the entire weekend for Easter, so we were warned to stock up. Having an apartment means we can cook so we've been buying a lot of food. We brought a couple of those giant reusable shopping bags from Target to make hauling groceries a lot easier. After the first shopping trip, we've found it easier to let the bag boys bag the groceries like normal and then outside the store we re-bag everything ourselves because they think we are crazy Americans asking to use our own bags when their bags are perfectly fine.

The two big malls are a really nice way to kill some time! The stores are nice and there are a lot of baby stuff available. We also found a Colombian version of Build-a-Bear, which we may have to go back to some time in the coming weeks. It was closed for Easter today.

Most of our days are spent watching Mari play and repeating everything she's doing in Spanish and in English (I do the English and then just repeat whatever Joe says in Spanish). Mari says a few words in Spanish and even one in English (bye). She keeps babbling something like "zhazha" but we have no idea what she's saying (Ever the jokester, Joe tells her Eva is the cooler Gabor sister, but she doesn't get it. . .). She's also starting to crawl around the apartment, something she hadn't felt comfortable doing before. Maybe we can get her walking before we come home.

Just a quick word

2009-04-08T22:55:00.002-05:00

Nothing major to post, but we did go out with Mari in the stroller today and did some shopping. Everything went great, and there are a few more pics on flickr. We'll blog more tomorrow.

Parenthood

2009-04-07T21:26:00.002-05:00

So, today was our first full day as parents, and it's all still a little crazy. Mari slept great all through the night, so that's good. She likes having us hold her hands and walk her around, and she likes watching the cars go by from out on the balcony (we're staying on the third floor). She still wants Mommy to do everything instead of Dad, but she's giving in a little at meal times.

We went and signed more legal documents today, and now we have until next Monday before we need to do anything specific. That means we can take it a little easier, do some shopping, maybe some swimming, and get in a routine. Oh, and there are a few more pictures up on flickr now, so feel free to check those out.

Gotcha Day

2009-04-06T22:51:00.003-05:00

Buenos días, todos,

This is Joe, finally posting something here instead of making my wife do it all. Right now she's staring at our beautiful daughter, who's finally sound asleep.

It was a very big day, so I'm not even sure how to describe it. We got Marisol this afternoon, and we met with the social workers, doctor, nutritionist, attorney, etc. at ICBF (basically, the Colombia DCFS). The whole meeting is still kind of a blur, because we had our new baby there on our laps, so it was hard to really listen to information. We did get a scrapbook from her foster family, though, and that was great, because now we have pictures of her every month from 2 months up to a year.

After the meeting, we came back to the apartment, and we got her to take a short nap. Then we ate empanadas and arepa con huevo. An arepa is a kind of corn cake that you can get with egg in it, and so far the only word she's said to us (other than just babbling) is the word "arepa."

We called home on Skype, gave her a bath, played a little, and eventually she got to sleep. She's definitely way more attached to Elizabeth than to me at this point, but that's okay. We were told before we came down here that that happens.

So, to see pics of our gorgeous hijita, go to flickr.com/photos/chamberscolombia, and we'll post again very soon.

Settled In

2009-04-05T19:45:00.002-05:00

We finally made it out of Bogota and to Bucaramanga. The view from the airport was breathtaking. We were so zonked out from exhaustion, neither of us thought to take a picture. Luz Stell, our translator, met us at the airport. She and the driver had already made two trips out the airport to get us because of the crazy delay. The apartment we're staying in is beautiful: it's huge and fully furnished and really makes us wonder if the price we were quoted is not accurate. . .

Funny thing: We ran into one of the other traveling families, the Crowleys, at the airport in Bogota. They were white, carrying a stroller, and didn't have a baby. Since we knew they were flying in around the same time we were, we asked them if they were the Crowleys. Our flight was finally boarding as we noticed them come in, so we didn't really have much time to talk. They're off to Pasto, where they'll meet their daughter tomorrow, too. Maybe we'll run into each other on the other end, too!

Anyway, Luz Stella is picking us up at 3:00 tomorrow to meet our daughter! Even though we haven't slept much these last couple of nights, I seriously don't know how we're going to sleep tonight either!

Still in Bogota

2009-04-05T11:22:00.002-05:00

We are currently stuck in the Bogota airport. I guess a plane fell apart on the one run way in Bucaramanga (???), and according to the one guy who speaks English, no one has clearance to clean it up, so it's just sitting there (seriously). Hopefully we'll still get there today! Otherwise we're good--just super-tired.

Shots, Showers, and Studying Spanish

2009-03-27T16:49:00.007-05:00

A little more than a week to go, and still way too much to do! This morning we went for our Hep A vaccinations and tomorrow Joe's family is having a shower for us. Last weekend I was in NM for a beautiful shower from my family. Marisol is going to be one well dressed little girl!
We have our visas and paperwork ready to go, and we'll have our phone conference with Nichole from CHI on Monday. Joe has spent the last few weeks going over old textbooks from when he taught Spanish to refresh his memory. Now we have to get our school stuff in order, pack, and prepare to be away from home for a month. I can't believe how fast the last few weeks have gone by.

Here are some pictures from the shower in NM:

Introducing Marisol Chambers

2009-03-10T16:37:00.003-05:00

Isn't she absolutely gorgeous? We can't stop staring at her! She was born January 14, 2008, so she's just at 14 months. Right now it looks like we'll travel April 4, meet her April 6, and stay in Bucaramanga for about five weeks. There is just so much to do still. I've been checking on plane tickets all afternoon (luckily, this has been a Yahoo group conversation lately, so I knew where to start). Spring Break is in three days--hopefully we can catch up on the details (and all the grading we've put off in all of this excitement) then.

I just can't get over how adorable she is. Even as I type this I keep scrolling up to get a look at her again.

!!!

2009-03-03T09:18:00.001-06:00

IT'S A GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Details to come. . .

Even Better News

2009-02-27T18:28:00.002-06:00

We got a really good call today: "Get your fingerprints and medical letters ready. Another week or two, most likely."

Finally, Some Good News!

2008-11-12T18:27:00.002-06:00

Our paperwork is FINALLY in a regional office!! Today I received an e-mail from Nichole, our SW here in St. Louis. She said that our paperwork was sent to the regional office in Bucaramanga a few weeks ago! Hopefully we'll hear something soon.

Moving Along

2008-05-01T15:54:00.002-05:00

I heard from our CHI social worker today. According to Julie we are fifth on the list (I think we must have really been higher up than sixth last time I got an update, though, because it seems that there have been a few non-Colombian family baby referrals lately. . . Julie was confused by this number, too). August 05 families are up (!!) and we probably have two or three months left to wait! We were approved August 31 and we know another St. Louis area family was approved the day before we were. Traveling during the summer would be a bonus for us as we are both teachers and off for the summer. Very exciting!

And it's really cool to get a preview of what's to come: I've loved reading all of these blogs lately (it's seriously like a drug--whoever came up with Google Reader is a genius). How weird to have never met someone but to feel so connected by a shared experience (even if it's sometimes kind of one-sided because I don't always leave comments!). For me, waiting has been so abstract that I've had to either focus on other things entirely or remind myself what we're waiting for in the first place. Reading other adoptive parents' blogs makes it easier to see the big picture and to realize how many other people face the same or even longer daunting wait times.

Update

2008-03-29T12:06:00.000-05:00

So not a lot to update. We recently found out that there were five CHI baby families in front of us, down from seven the last time I asked. Julie, the Colombia program director, and Nichole, our SW in STL, think we still have about six months to go: the July 05 famililes are up now and we are August 05. They estimated that it will take about three months each to get through July and Aug, so now we're aiming for the fall. We are going ahead with our CIS update even though we still have a little time before it runs out, just to be on the safe side (and to take advantage of our free refile).

We took advantage of the extra time from our spring break last week to paint the baby's room and put together that crib that's been collecting dust for over a year.

Hopefully 2008 Will Be Our Year

2008-01-06T16:01:00.000-06:00

Welcome to our Colombian adoption blog. We've been in the process of adopting an infant, either a boy or a girl, from Colombia for nearly three years through Children's Hope International. Our dossier was sent in May 2005 and we were approved in August 2005. We are hopeful that 2008 will be the year for us!