Medellin: Love at First Sight

We are very excited to announce that WE HAVE ARRIVED!!!
After a fun day full of unexpected surprises, we are very excited to be in our lovely hotel room at the Intercontinental in Medellin. Our day started off this morning with our check in for Spirit Air at the Ft. Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport. The sweet girl behind the counter looked at our adoring 7am faces and says, "I'm sorry I cannot let you board this flight as you do not have a return ticket and the US requires that all citizens have a returning flight." I was very proud of Frankie... I thought he was going to blow a gasket but he calmly explained that we didn't know this as the Spirit Air line website didn't inform us. After back and forth (involving the manager as well) we ended up having to buy return flight tickets which we booked for Sept 5th on a Spirit Air lines flight from Bogota. We weren't bothered by having to buy the flights, we were just upset that we didn't know this from the beginning otherwise we would have booked a round trip flight. Of course we do not expect to be returning on Sept. 5th (hopefully much sooner!) so, we'll have to pay the extra fee to change the flights once we know when we will actually be able to return home.
Josh was thrilled to be able to "test out" his Leapster video game system which we said he could use on the flight to Colombia, but poor guy... one of the batteries blew and he couldn't use it at all during the flight, but he was fine with it (especially since we brought a back up... the laptop with fun DVDs!) He did sleep for the first 45 minutes of the flight. As we approached Medellin Josh said it all. He looked over at me and said, "Mom (it's not Mommy anymore... :( mature 4 year old) look there's Medellin, isn't it beautiful?" I had to agree. As I looked through the window we saw the most beautiful mountains surrounding a gorgeous city... the birth place of my baby boy. I have to say.... I love the US and there's no country like it in the whole world, but Colombia is so very dear to me. Whenever I travel here, I feel at peace, like it's home away from home.
The airport was great... customs, awesome. I'm not used to that... flying home to Miami customs is daunting! Luis drove us to the Hotel and the 35 minute drive was gorgeous! Throughout the drive you can see the gorgeous countryside and mountains... and the temperature, DIVINE! A cool 70 degrees. We even drove through a cloud on the way to the hotel... Of course, Luis also mentioned that we arrived at the perfect time... for the Festival de las Flores (Festival of flowers). This week there are exhibitions and events that commemorate the occasion and we should see amazing flowers and exotic birds.
At our hotel we met our delightful guide, Gloria. She is so very sweet! She sat down with us and we talked about places we hope to visit with her while we're here and what we can expect during the next few days. So far we hope to meet with Gloria again on Tuesday as well as our Gladney rep, Nora (Tio Raul's sister). All is set for our meeting with Jonathan on Wednesday... and we are thrilled!
Thank you all for your love and prayers, I'll post more tomorrow (along with pics)... I seem to have the sniffles today so pray that my red and drippy nose will disappear for Wednesday! We are filled with joy today and as I prayed this morning, NOTHING will steal my joy this trip (not buying last minute return flights, sniffles, dead batteries or anything!) I will praise the Lord each day, thanking Him for the opportunity to come back to Colombia and love yet another wonderful, precious baby. I am humbled that He has allowed us to come back and experience this all over again and trust me, we are going to soak up every minute!
Thank you to all of you who love us, are praying for us and taking this journey alongside of us... you truly bless us and we are asking our Lord to bless you immensely!
love, Love, LOVE you all! xo