Technology is Amazing!!

I was remembering yesterday how excited I was to be able to fax a letter home when I moved to Iquitos, Peru in 1991. Turns out, it wasn't that great a mode of communication and I resorted to an occasional hand written letter and a weekly call from my parents. When we moved back to Peru as a family in 1999, email was the new thing but the connections weren't reliable and it was expensive. My how things have changed!! On this trip we have easy email, facebook, a blog, video calls on Skype and even $.02 a minute calls home to those who don't have Skype capabilities! Being connected is WONDERFUL! We so appreciate your notes, comments and most of all your prayers.

I didn't end up writing yesterday because we called both of our parents in the evening. By the time we finished, I was too tired to gather my thoughts. Victor's mother is still in the hospital and has developed pneumonia. Please pray that the doctor's can figure out which antibiotic the infection will respond to before a biopsy of her lung is needed. It has been hard being so far away while she is so sick. We are so grateful to all the family who have stepped in and are working overtime to ensure that she is well cared for.

Yesterday we tried to establish a bit of a routine as a family. It was the first day we didn't have an appointment. Victor fought with a cantankerous washing machine all day and we tried to find places to hang things to dry. We also all pitched in to clean up our little "casa." The children played at the playground some more and worked at learning to play together. Overall, they are doing very well. Angi Camila and Leandro are in a bad habit of picking on one another and fighting quite a bit. We have been pretty firm in insisting that they treat one another kindly and ask forgiveness as needed. There have been lots of tears and some serious pouting and crying. Evie and Tori are trying to be good examples. I think it has been good for them to see how it looks when they fuss with one another. Sweet Evie told me last night that she wants to get along better with Tori now that she understands how upsetting it is to others. Please continue to pray as we work through all of these changes together. We want the children to know that we love them but we also want them to know that they must respect us and each other. Consistency is the hard part - especially since we are all tired.

Today we decided to go on a small outing by ourselves. We had heard about a park in the center of town called the "Barefoot Park." We took the Metro train from a nearby station and were there shortly. It was a neat area where people are encouraged to go and relax in wading pools. "Relaxation" is the theme but it was kind of a joke with all of the kids running around screaming and splashing in the water. There is also a fountain that sprays water up from the ground and our kiddos had a blast getting soaking wet. It was really hot when we arrived and felt so good; but by the time the kids were all wet and tired, a cloud cover had come in and it began to rain. Our poor Colombians thought they were going to freeze to death. We hadn't taken a change of clothes because we thought they would just be cooling their feet. Silly us -- we know better. Anyway, we had a nice time and enjoyed riding the Metro.

Tomorrow, our interpreter is going to take us to a zoo. We are trying to space out our outings as we don't want to wear the kids out and we also want to begin working on establishing some sense of normalcy with them. We sure don't want them to think that everyday life is a field trip everyday. It's a hard balance though because we do want to see and experience all of Medellín.

We received word that our interview with the child welfare agency here will be Monday, March 16th. That is exactly the 8 business days from the placement of the children with us that the process requires. We had hoped it might be a tad earlier since Victor and the girls are scheduled to leave Medellín on March 19th. Please pray for favor on our behalf with the child welfare agency (ICBF) and our judge. We are hoping that Angi Camila, Leandro and I will only need to be here a week after our interview. We will then spend a few days in Bogotá to complete the visa process before heading home. It will be hard on all of us to be separated.

Hope to have some fun pics from the zoo tomorrow!