Tesoro's like Willy Wonka land.. minus the chocolate!

Josh and Jonathan pose for a "stroller picture".

The Ferris Wheel at Tesoro and pics of Josh and I enjoying the day.

The gorgeous view of Medellin from one of the mall lookouts.

The boys enjoyed the day... each in their own way.

Great day today! We were able to go to Tesoro and see this amazing mall. The place itself is full of great stores, most of them are high-end leather stores, SHOE stores... (which ya'll should be proud of me... I didn't buy ANY shoes.... today.) and many American stores like Nine West, Kenneth Cole, Carter's, Gymboree and Levi's. We had a great time walking around.

The mall has enclosed areas and open areas, which makes it feel nice and airy. In the middle of it, there's a mini-amusement park for kids which is fabulous! The way it works is similar to Dave and Busters... you get a card and put money on it. Each ride you want to go on costs a certain number of "points". You swipe your card and ride. It's only for kids, but I did get to ride the ferris wheel with Josh, which was so fun! I kept thinking... why don't we have one of these back home? Seriously. The park is safe, fun (not exactly germ free but hey, what is?) and affordable. Josh spent most of his time inside a play gym where you could climb, go down a slide, etc. Now that I think about it, it's like the play gym you would see in McDonalds. I guess since I never let him go to those... he took advantage and went about 5 times today.

He also rode the big slide, a monster truck and then we ended up in the arcade section. Josh is so very funny.. he thinks he's great at Skee Ball, but poor guy, he's not at all. He winds up those small balls and throws them, most of the time getting zero points.. even throwing them into other lanes, etc. It's so funny. He was happy though... he managed to score some tickets and bought two bouncy balls in the prize store.

Jonathan had a great time today too... he basically watched Josh the whole time and napped while we went around letting "big brother" have fun.

The other highlight of our day was meeting the Uribe family. We've been anxiously awaiting their arrival and are thrilled they were finally able to pick up their beautiful son, Isaac today from Casa de maria. He is so very sweet... 9 months old and I couldn't believe he even fell asleep in his Daddy's arms amidst the chaos of lunch. Their older boys, Hayden and Carter were so much fun, I can tell Josh is going to have lots of fun with them. Natalie was right... it's definately a party with 5 boys all in the same place together! I'm thinking we should get them to start a boy-beat band... maybe call themselves... los cinco Chicos. Okay, so we can work on the name.

We all had lunch at Crepes and Waffles.... seriously! When I saw that there was a Crepes and Waffles in the Tesoro mall I was thrilled! We adored Crepes and Waffles in Bogota and their food is every bit as delicious here in Medellin. I wish I would've taken pictures of our lunch date with the Uribes... but, keeping track of all the boys, feeding Jonathan and downing our food, while taking pictures seemed impossible at the time. I'll definately take some of them in the upcoming weeks! :)

So, I leave you tonight with pictures of today and of course, the promised video of yesterday... it's a good one.

Love you all and am praying for you!

Jonathan's First Pool Day

Two happy boys having fun in the sun.

Big Brother Josh is there to lend a hand as Jonathan gets his taste of the hotel pool.

Josh says that Jonathan's pool hair reminds him of "Mr. Lopart" in Handy Manny. Basically, it's a comb over do. I'd say he's right on the money. :)

He loved the water!

Great day today.. the weather here in Medellin was really nice so we decided to see if Jonathan would take to the pool as well as he takes to the bath. Sure enough, he did! We've included a video and pics of his experience. He enjoyed the water and splashed and played. When Josh was a baby, he hated water on his face (still does really) but Jonathan is the opposite. He really doesn't mind one bit if you splash his sweet face up. We had a great time enjoying that "first moment" with him.

We were supposed to visit Tesoro today, a shopping mall close by with shops, restaurants, kid's playground, etc but things got complicated. Our guide Gloria had to attend to another family who just arrived here in Medellin (who we hope to meet soon!) so, we were content to wait our turn until she was available. By the time she arrived to take us in the late afternoon, we opted to just visit Carulla today to pick up a few extra things we needed. Carulla's a supermarket chain here in Colombia. There was one very close by to the place we stayed when we adopted Joshua so we would walk there each day. This Carulla isn't too far but the street is very busy and congested... not exactly safe for a 4 year old and a baby. So, we went ahead and bought a few things: diapers, formula, contact solution, you know... essentials.

Then it was back to the hotel for bathtime, dinner and bed. My nights seem to get more hectic as I keep thinking that I want to log onto answer emails, post the blog update and even place some calls through Skype. I'm sorry if I don't answer right away... I love you all and pray you'll forgive me! I try to get to them as soon as possible but, duty calls and the lack of sleep is starting to catch up with me.

Jonathan continues to be great. He's not napping as much in the afternoon which causes him to be exhausted at around 6pm, which means he usually falls asleep while we're having dinner and then doesn't want to sleep at 8pm. Plus he's onto me. He knows that when I start rocking him and humming or singing it's time for bed. He tries to put his hand over my mouth so I'll stop. It's pretty funny. He can also clap his hands and he's starting to give "besitos" where he just opens his mouth and places it on your cheek. He's got many "fans" around the hotel as people usually stop to say how cute he is or what a good baby, etc. But I have to tell you this boy has some pretty fowl bowel movements. Seriously! He used to go once a day but now we're up to two times and it smells really, really, REALLY bad. I bought these bags that are powder scented to put the diapers in, hoping they would mask the smell, but no way! We usually take them and put them in trash cans around the hotel... I'm thinking a few more days and they'll be onto us! We just can't bear the hotel room with that constant odor... and that's with candles lit and all! hee, hee. I'm going to add a "special video" on the blog tomorrow for those of you who want to see the making of this in action. There's a "soup" the hotel makes that's packed with veggies, chicken, etc and it seems to really hit the spot for Jonathan. Right after that, he's... well, you'll see. (Heck, I'm hoping to show him the clip when he's 17 and bringing dates home.) Stay tuned!

Joshua's still great with the baby... we are finding though that we have to "tighten the reigns" with regards to discipline as he sometimes needs reminders obeying the first time, and he can get demanding too. I'm praying for compassion and kindness in dealing with him as I know some of these things are surfacing because of the new baby. The cartoons are getting to me... and that means we have to plan more outdoor activities! Which now that Jonathan's feeling better, we definately hope to do very soon.

So tomorrow is the day we'll go to Tesoro and hopefully both kids will be entertained. On Friday Frank's parents arrive for a few days (Awello and Awella as Josh affectionally calls them) so, we're excited to share Medellin with them too and do some sightseeing together.

Today our thoughts are with my little nephew, Lucas. He turned two today. We love that little guy! He's so fun, energetic and cuddly. Happy Birday Lucas!!!! Wish we could give you a great big hug on you big day but we'll celebrate with you when we get back. You are such a blessing! xo

All in all, we are blessed. God is so good.

Here's the pool video... :)

Our first day out in Medellin

Jonathan's ready for his first day out in the sun!

As promised, here is our group Court Pic from yesterday. Our attorney, Angela Maria is here holding Jonathan. She's so very sweet! God truly blessed us with her!

Here are the boy "explorers" at the park.

Josh LOVED the science exhibits...

Jonathan poses for a quick smile at Mommy.

YAY! We were finally able to leave the hotel and go on an outing as a family today! This afternoon Gloria picked us up and dropped us off at the Medellin aquarium and "parque explorador" (explorer park). It was so fun! We took both strollers (thank you Jen and Johnny!) and of course, both boys and off we went to see the beautiful building. The entrance cost $16,000 pesos which is like $8 for each of us (but they didn't charge Josh, even though the kids pay per height... so I thought that was nice of them. As you all know our 4 year old is about as tall as a 6 year old.) The aquarium was very nice and well kept. We weren't allowed to take any pictures with flash so, we really didn't take many at all. We saw eels, "little nemos and dories", stingrays, lion fish, etc. much of the same that we would see back home. There were some funky looking eelish things that I didn't recognize which were kind of cool. They also had an exhibit with amphibians: all sorts of little frogs (like the ones I see on Go Diego Go... hee hee), turtles, snakes (ugh) and lizards. I'm telling you... if ever any of my boys come and tell me they want a snake as a pet...I think I'll die. They freak me out. Seriously.

Josh loved the exhibit and little Jonathan... was so very sweet. We went during his afternoon nap time (which was the time Gloria could take us) so, I was anxious to see how he would handle it. The kid was all eyes! He didn't dose off, not once... he wanted to see everything. Sweet boy. Kelly... you're right, he really does LOVE seeing everything. When I stop to think of it, he never stepped foot outside Casa de M until now... everything is so new to him. It's like going to Disney for the first time, you can't get enough and you don't want it to end. He didn't even sleep in the car on the way back to the hotel.. he wants to look outside and see all of the cars, motorcycles, busy streets.

We had a nice lunch on the second story of the aquarium building, overlooking Medellin. The location was in the valley of the city so it's surrounded by mountains. Gorgeous. After living in Miami for so long, I truly appreciate mountains. They're gorgeous, and they scream God's handiwork... when you look up at the vast mountains peaking in the clouds you can't help but see our Lord's creativity and awesome power. I picture heaven full of mountains and gorgeous waterfalls :)

At the end of our journey, we went to a section of the building called the Explorer park. It's really cool, especially for those of you who love science. I, unfortunately, not being one of those, can still appreciate it. The park is full of exhibits with science gadgets... you know centrifical forces, gravity, yada, yada. But Frank and Josh being science buffs loved it! We toured this area for awhile. A group of school kids were on a field trip while we were there and we ended up talking to some of them. They're so curious! When they heard Josh speaking English they immediately asked us where we were from... when we said the U.S. they were plesantly surprised... they thought we were from Spain. But they loved Jonathan... all the girls were coming to look at him and googling over him. It was cute.

Gloria picked us up after that... and drove us back to the hotel. Tonight we decided to go eat at the hotel restaurant instead of ordering "House Service" as Josh calls it. I'm so glad! You can only eat so much House Service... it was a great day.

Tomorrow another Gladney family arrives here in Medellin... I'm really excited to meet them! The little boy they are adopting from Casa de M slept in the crib next to Jonathan so, I'm sure he'll be happy to see a familar face. We can't wait to meet them and hang out with the Uribe family.

Let's see what else can I give you an update on? Josh continues to be very good... sometimes he can get a little rough with Jonathan but overall, he loves him very much. Josh loves to be "woken up" by Jonathan in the mornings and Jonathan starts to giggle and laugh when he sees him. It's so cute.

We didn't go to the pool today because it was late by the time we arrived back at the hotel, but I did tell Josh I'd try to take him tomorrow. I'm regretting that I only packed us each one swimsuit. I'm sure the people around the hotel must be like... hey lady, don't have many swimming wardrobe choices huh? But hey, I figure... it's ok. They weren't there when I had to pack our suitcases under the 50 lb limit! :0) Gladly, our day tomorrow includes SHOPPING! Oh, how I've missed shopping... let's see what goodies we can find.

Again, thank you all so very much for your comments and your prayers... please keep them coming. We love you all and are so very thankful you love us enough to check to see how things are going. I enjoy sharing this experience so much. You bless us! xo

Our First interview and court

First of all, I have to start off by saying I'm so sorry that I won't have any pictures in this post... :( I always update the blog after the boys have gone to bed and unfortunately, my camera is inside their room!
I promise to upload lots of pictures tomorrow!

I just had to share about our day today.... first of all, I have to tell you that Jonathan slept the whole night last night and woke up at 6am this morning very hungry. I was amazed! I even woke up in the middle of the night to check him, but he was great. I think he was tuckered out yesterday since we played a lot and he went to bed a little later. Let's see how tonight goes. But I was very thankful that the Lord showed me Jonathan could do it (and so quickly!) I'm praying the same for tonight.

We woke up early and went to breakfast as usual. Gloria picked us up at 9:30am and took us to Casa de maria for our interview with Dr. Eduardo, who is the defensor de minores at the orphanage and also their doctor. He was such a joy! Very pleasant and the interview was very informal. We told him how well Josh and Jonathan were getting along and he said the sweetest thing. He said that he could tell Jonathan had the perfect family for him because he looks so loved. We talked about the kids in the orphange... how many of the older children don't get adopted. It broke my heart... especially when he said that sometimes if one child does get adopted the others come to his office asking, "When are my parents coming for me?" I told him (and I meant every word) that if we could, I'd adopt 4 more and bring them home with us. Can you imagine these precious little ones wanting a family so bad yet waiting so long... my heart will be thinking of each of them tonight and praying that the Lord will bless them with good homes and loving parents.

Josh again was amazing during the interview... I packed his bookbag with fun, quiet activites he could do while Dr. Eduardo spoke to us. We even packed snacks... and thank God we did! He munched on cheetos while we talked. The conversation turned to how impressed we were with Casa de Maria, the staff, etc. The funny part was that while we were in the interview (at some point) I tore the inside lining of my dress. Ugh. So afterwards, I discreetly told Frank who said that I had to go back to the hotel to change before we went to the court. When I got back to the hotel, I saw why... you could totally see my black "undergarment". How embarassing! No worries, crisis averted and after a quick change, we were off to the courthouse.

The courthouse in Medellin is very nice... large and busy. I never saw the one in Bogota but Frank said it was dark and dreary. We met our lawyer, Angela Maria there. (You'll see pics of her tomorrow when I can post them). She is a sweetheart! She's only 34, yet very driven and extremely loveable. She held Jonathan and gave him lots of hugs. She also volunteers at Casa de M once a week so, she knows the children there very well. We waited while she submitted the paperwork for us... praise God, we got a good court! Number thirteen. By "good court" I mean that it's not one that's known as problematic. So now the paperwork process starts. Usually a judge will sign within 10 business days, so, we'll see.

After we got back, it was to the pool for all of us! Jonathan and Frank sat chatting with other adoptive families while Josh and I once again had swimming lessons. Josh is learning so much and I keep telling him how proud I am.

Tomorrow we get our first taste of Medellin: the aquarium. I'm so excited!!! Finally we can start venturing out to discover and explore this gorgeous city. Lots of love to you all.

A Restful Sunday...

There are the Bro's: Big and Little...
I'm so thankful they really do LOVE each other.

A proud Mama with her beautiful boys.

Another great day of bonding... each day we see Jonathan open up more... he laughs, he giggles and he looks for each of us. Frank was awesome... last night he let me sleep through one of the feedings and fed Jonathan himself. The baby napped awhile in the morning but then only napped a little in the afternoon. I think he's starting to realize that if he naps, he'll miss something. Sweet boy. Since we've had him couped up because of his cold, he's doing so much better! We also noticed that he's cutting a few teeth on his top gums which explains the large amount of drool that follows him everywhere. I feel very blessed that we did remember the Oragel this trip... as the last time we forgot it and Frank and Blanca sent it to us in Bogota. :)

Joshua is really bonding with Jonathan... he wants to be the one to make him laugh and sometimes if Frank or I ask him to go somewhere in the hotel with us, his response is: "No, I want to stay with Jonathan". It's cute. We are also noticing that he does have some jealousy but not the kind we expected. We thought he'd be vying for OUR attention, instead he wants all of the BABY's attention. Funny huh?

We've been ordering room service for dinner the last few nights since we've been trying to stay indoors. Josh loves it. Today he even said, "Mommy, can we order house service tonight?" This morning I took Josh to the pool again and he had a great time... he even swam to me from the steps all by himself! He was so proud and so was I! Josh was happy his friend David was close by to play with in the water and I was terrified as neither David nor Josh can actually swim. But praise the Lord, we made it through safe and both boys were happy.

Tonight we ate at the hotel's restaurant again, Fogon de Piedras. Frankie and I had slices of a bacon and prune pizza... (I know it sounds gross, but it was actually good.) Josh just had cheese.

My favorite time tonight was when we had our family devotional. We've been using this great book, Powerful Prayers for your Family by David and Heather Kopp. It's great! Today we talked about the verses:

"Let us not love with words or tongue, but with actions and in truth. We love because He first loved us." I John 3: 18; 4:19

I thought this verse was so appropriate for our family now because the Love Jesus demonstrated was just that: an action love. Not just words but actions to back it up. He proved that to us at the cross. We talked about how there will be times (especially in this month long process) that we may not FEEL like loving each other but Jesus calls us to not go by our feelings but love through our actions. We talked about ways we could do that as a family. Even Jonathan sat and looked on as we had our discussion. :)

I'm hoping and praying tomorrow goes smoothly... we have to be ready to go at 9:00am (that will take nothing short of a miracle!) in order to be at Casa de Maria at 9:30 for our first interview. After that, it's off to the court to submit our paperwork and wait to see which court is assigned to us. I'll check back tomorrow... in the meantime, enjoy the updated pics! I had bought both boys these shirts in Miami before we left and was so thankful they fit! Thank you all for your love and encouragement. Until tomorrow....

Caught on Video

So today we once again just hung out at the hotel. Josh's friend Kewin celebrated his 5 birthday today so Josh had a great morning playing soccer, basketball and golf with him. The sad part is that Kewin and his family left today for Bogota... we are thrilled for them but know that Josh will truly miss his new friend.

In the afternoon Jonathan and I took Josh to the gift shop here at the hotel to pick out a toy since he was so amazing during the Casa de Maria visit this week. Josh picked out a Monster Truck which cost 12,900 pesos which came out to about $7. I laughed because in the gift shop there are Thomas trains, but they're really expensive!

Today was an important day in Colombia as the new president, Juan Manuel Santos (no relation to our good friends the Santos family... hmm... or maybe?) began his term. Of course that, coupled with Medellin's festival of flowers and everyone's festive around here. We've had fun watching some of the festivities on TV... we were told it's much less hectic to watch on TV than to go in person. Either way, we do hope to catch some of the gorgeous flowers and exotic birds featured this week next week when we go to the Botanical Gardens.

Jonathan's doing great. He is feeling much better and his demeanor shows it. He's much happier and laughs and smiles ALOT! He napped this morning but took a short nap this afternoon. Because of that he was totally wiped out at 7pm tonight. Let's see how tonight goes. I had a hard time sleeping last night because the club downstairs had the music blazing and you could hear it through the windows. We've been keeping our windows open to avoid turning on the A/C because the Casa de Maria nurse suggested it would help Jonathan's respitory system heal better. It's not bad... it gets a little hot during the day, but otherwise the breeze is nice.

Well, I leave you with three videos to enjoy today. One is Josh making Jonathan laugh... we discovered that today while playing. Another is of Jonthan's "airplane" trick which also gets both boys going and the last is of Jonathan's walking progress. Love you all! Much love and blessings! xo

An Ordinary Day

Daddy and Jonathan are all smiles.

Mommy has to get creative when feeding baby Jonathan...

Josh said that Buzz Light Year was landing on a "baby alien planet". Poor Jonathan!

I get so much love while in the pool!

There isn't much exciting news to tell today. Jonathan slept well last night but still woke up at 1:30am and 6:00am. I fed him both times and changed his diaper and we both went back to sleep. The only problem is that feeding him takes a LONG time! Little one takes his sweet time drinking his milk so, by the time I feed him and change him... I'm up a whole hour! Needless to say, I am a little backlogged on my sleep, but it's ok.

Frankie usually wakes before us... today he was there to witness Jonathan waking up. He immediately looked over at me and broke into a HUGE smile. Ah... ok, now I'll get up as many times as it takes at night! My heart melts... sweet boy. He really is opening up to us and I'm so very thankful for that!

We were supposed to go to Casa de Maria today to have Jonathan see the pediatrician but Gloria suggested we wait until Monday. He's doing so much better and we are due to go on Monday to the ICBF court to meet our "defensor" for "la presentacion". It's the first step in the adoptiong process here in Bogota. So truly, our time here begins on Monday, even though we will have already been here one week. No worries... I'm praying for a "good court", one that doesn't take so very long. Whichever God chooses!

We stayed indoors mainly today except for our usual outing at the pool. Josh was so excited because his friend Kewin was there too. His parents are from Germany so he was wearing one of those cute kid speedos... Josh immediately tells me, "Mom, why is he swimming in his underwear?" Ugh. I explained that those were his swimmy shorts and boys can have different swimmy shorts. Imagine. I'm including a video of them both jumping from the wall as Josh likes his 5 minutes of fame too!

Jonathan's feeling much better (thank you all for your prayers). He still has a tiny bit of a runny nose and still sneezes some, but overall he's in much better spirits. He's smiling more and definately loving crawling and trying to walk. Today he only slept for two naps... morning and a longer afternoon one. He was asleep at 7:30pm today so, we'll see how we do tonight. Eventually I want to wean him off the midnight feeding so, let's see how soon that can happen.

I wish I had more exciting news to tell... this weekend will be much the same. We hope to watch the festivities on TV tomorrow... the new Colombian president gets sworn in and one of the parades for the Festival of Flowers will be on (one that features old, antique cars). We thought we might be able to venture out to see some of this live, but with Jonathan under the weather and our upcoming interview on Monday, we don't want to chance him taking a turn for the worse.

Josh has been a trooper. When we have to stay indoors during the day, he happily watches Discovery Kids in Spanish or Playhouse Disney. Tonight he told Frank that he misses "the United States of America" and his programs in English. Poor guy... the hotel has a series of flags out front and each time he sees the US flag.. he beams, "That's OUR flag!" I'm praying that the poor guy doesn't get too bummed out about being here, it seems we will be here awhile.

Our plan is to hopefully visit the Medellin aquarium next week.. I think Josh will love that.

Well, I'm going to log off now... try to sleep some before the "baby alarm" sounds off.

Lots of love!