Clothes!

We spent all day Saturday sorting through 8 tubs of clothes that had been donated to us with the help of papi y mami. We have been asking for sizes for the girls for a while, but still don't have a definite answer. We must have an answer this week, since we have started to pack. We are grateful to all the people who donated clothes to us, and for papi y mami who helped us a lot with this. I still have some people who have told me they have some clothes for me. I know girls go through a lot of clothes, and I talk from personal experience. We are also grateful to the people who gave us Target gift certificates because we have been able to purchase the sheets, covers etc for the girls bedroom. For now, the girls will be in one bedroom until we can sell this place and buy a house. There is a house we saw that we like, but until we get an offer for this house we can't consider moving. I am looking forward to driving less and being closer to work.

Have a blessed Palm Sunday! --MM

Another Wonderful Conversation

We talked with the girls again tonight. We talked so much we ran out of time and the girls had to go to bed. Mirellen was more talkative tonight, which was nice. Yesica and Milena were as talkative this time as last. Sucena was the last to talk and still was a bit tentative. Our conversation with her was cut short so we don't know if she wanted to say more. They asked if they could talk to primos (cousins). We might be able to arrange that before we go. While we are in Colombia we want to call people using Skype. If you don't have it, it's a free download, but you need a computer with (or can buy) video/microphone abilities. For the laptop we are bringing to Colombia we bought a cheap $20 camera/mic. It's not complicated. This will more than pay for itself because Skype calls are inexpensive or free.

We found out that the emails we had sent were not getting to the girls so we asked them tonight some of the questions submitted to us by the cousins. We had to change some of the questions a bit because it seems that they have a different set of experiences growing up. For instance we don't think the girls have seen a movie in a movie theater yet, so any current movie they likely have not seen. Movies on video are possible but rare. None of them have learned to play an instrument yet but all who were asked had a preference.

Here are the questions and their answers:

What is your favorite color?

Milena- fusia

Mirellen- orange

Yesica- fusia

Sucena- blue

What instrument would you like to learn?

Milena- piano

Mirellen- guitar

Yesica- violin

Sucena- (did not answer)

What's your favorite activity?

Milena- dancing/cheerleading

Mirellen- running

Yesica- swimming/dancing

Sucena- (did not answer)

What's your favorite food?

Milena- frijoles (beans), carne frita (fried pork, though not sure if this means the same thing in Colombia as it does in Puerto Rico)

Mirellen- She likes everything

Yesica- chicharron (a variation on fried pork)

Sucena- (did not answer)

What's your favorite story/book?

Milena- "Gigante Egoista" (The Selfish Giant)- a short story/tale by Oscar Wilde

Mirellen- any kind of terror/scary story

Yesica- she likes everything

Sucena- Zorro

If there are more questions to ask, please send them to us. Maybe cousins could answer those questions too.

Rivera family may want to ask Hanna y Baba about the girls.

We plan to call again on Wednesday so stay tuned...

Alex

Beware of Sue the Dinosaur

Dinosaurs are dangerous. I almost lost my hand to this T-Rex (by a few million years).

Colombian Visas

Yesterday we traveled to Chicago to get our Colombian Visas. As part of the process we need a special TS visa to enter the country since we will be going to court to finalize our adoption. We decided to take the train from Milwaukee to Chicago so we did not have to deal with traffic, parking etc. We stayed in Mke overnight at Sis and Andy's house, had breakfast got up in the morning and took the train. For those of you who have taken the train from MKe, to Chicago you know that it is a great ride. Quiet, no headaches, no tolls and you can sleep on your way there so the time goes by very fast. When we got to the train station we asked a lady how to get to the 500 Michigan Avenue, she said 'just walk' its a beautiful walk. The thing was that we had had warm temperatures that week and yesterday was windy with a temp of about 30. We decided to walk. The walk was only about 12 blocks but it seemed like an eternity with the wind and cold. When we got there, it was not at all what we expected! The consulate was a very small office, it was crowded so you could barely walk around. Alex stood in line for about 5 minutes and then his name was called. A crazy old lady was there, that kept asking me about my purse and where I had bought it, she said "You got that in Colombia, right? I answered "No, la compre en una tienda de segundas manos --I got it in a second hand store'' The lady replied: 'What is the store called? I'll go there to buy one, where is it?" It's called Plato's Closet I answered, it's in Madison Wisconsin, She said "Yes, I've been to Madison, that's were they have the cabins, my son said he was taking me there... " There is always a lady like that wherever you go, but why do they always have to talk to me?

We were glad both of our transactions could be done at the same time, because we thought that we had to have separate appointments. Days before going to the consulate we had carefully prepared papers and had them very organized. When the lady revised my paperwork she said there was a problem. La Casita de Nicolas had written an acceptance letter for us and had written my maiden name. My passport had my married name (Only a problem in the U.S.) so they wanted a copy of our marriage certificate, something we had not brought with us. I thought of calling Ginny but she did not have a key to our condo. So I called my parents to see what they were doing. They said they were going to pick up Otin's kids at 2:30, so I could not ask them to go to our house to get anything. Then I told them our problem. Mami says" Papi says he has a copy of your marriage certificate" Imagine my surprise. Mami said that he had gotten a copy for himself when we asked them to go to court to get one for us. Wow! Papi faxed the copy and it got there quickly, our visas were expedited immediately. We were out of the office in about 45 minutes. Papi was the hero that day. Gracias Papi. Here we are on Michigan Avenue across the street from the building were the consulate was with our new visas.

We then went to have lunch, we were so hungry we went to a place across the street for Sandwiches (The Reagle Beagle). We also walked through Millenium Park and saw 'The Bean' as soon as we got there a bunch of 3rd graders started running towards it. We could not help but take a few pictures ourselves.

Since we were in Chicago, we decided to go to the Field Museum and walked there! The wind was nasty, it would have been a great walk otherwise. I really wanted to see 'Sue' before we left Chicago. Here she is...

We went to the area of the Americas and found some information on Native Peoples from Colombia. Here is the map we saw. Medellin is approximately where the Quimbaya tribe lived.

Then we went to see a special exhibit on Mammoths and Mastodons that was just beautiful. We could not take pictures of this exhibit. The most exciting part for me was seeing Lyuba, the baby mammoth that was found in Siberia about 4 years ago. She was there in display. We were running out of time so we walked back to the train and waited. Our bones were achy and cold and we were both worn out, so we decided to get on the train (which was very crowded), and the minute we got to Mke we drove home.

One thing that was very upsetting that day was the fact that our agency sent us two e-mails that advised us that there were new fees added to our transactions in Colombia. We are not happy with our agency right now :{ They are extremely disorganized and seem to lack understanding of the Colombian program. We are trying our best to take it in stride, but it's difficult. We want to be happy about our process, but we both feel our agency has made it unnecessarily stressful. We will keep you informed about our next steps. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers.

--MM

More paperwork...

Today Alex and I prepared another set of paperwork to take to the Colombia Consulate in Chicago on Thursday. I am so grateful that Alex has a part time job (even though he does not get paid as much as he deserves), because without that we would have not been able to do this process at all. It's very difficult to explain to people the complexities of the adoption process. Most people are incapable of understanding it. The only people that do are those who have actually gone through the process. A friend of ours at school adopted a little girl from China, and she always smiles and says... "I know how it is". It is nice to hear that, because there are times when I think that people don't believe when we tell them we have to wait to do this and that... We understand the reasons why the process is this way, and have been compliant with everything. What has been most frustrating is the lack of communication with our Adoption Agency in Minnesota. There have been times when we send an e-mail and don't hear from them for days to a week. I know I would loose my job if I did that. We also hear from our local agency in WI that other families are having issues with our agency as well. It's too bad our experience has been so negative, although my friend who I mentioned before said "Once you see the girls, you'll forget all that"...I'm sure that will be the case. --Cedinin--

We Have Plane Tickets

We bought our plane tickets today. 2 round trip tickets and 4 one-way tickets. I know most of our trips in the future will not be this expensive, but traveling by air is now a much bigger expense than it used to be. Here is our itinerary:

Thursday April 15th

Leave Madison (8:40am) to Chicago (9:30) American Airlines flight 5018

Chicago (10:50 am)to Miami (2:50 pm) American flight 2050

Miami (6:05 pm) to Medellin (8:25 pm) American flight 923

(Surprisingly leaving and returning to Madison was similarly priced or cheaper than Milwaukee or Chicago)

We are unsure at this point where we will be staying in Medellin. We will pass that information on as we know it. Our return is a bit strange. We do not return to Madison until May 22nd. That's 5 weeks in Medellin and Bogota. We are giving ourselves extra time in case something causes us to delay. Since neither of us has to return right away we are setting it up so that we have extra time. If for some reason everything goes quickly we will weigh the options of leaving early which will have the cost of changing flights with the cost it will be to stay in Colombia an extra week or more. Right now we are assuming we will be delayed (since we have been delayed many times before). Extra time might give us more time to better understand Colombian culture and give me more Spanish practice.

Our final paperwork and legal procedures happen in Bogota at the US Embassy and at the capital, not in Medellin. So we will have to travel to Bogota at some point during this 5 week time. As of now we are looking at a place in Bogota called El Refugio. It is a place that was recommended to us by another couple that has adopted 3 times from Colombia (all from Bogota). They liked the three meals a day included in the price and the cultural/local assistance the place provides. We have not made a final decision on this place yet. We have been told that our stay in Bogota should be short 2-3 days).

Our return flights start on Friday May 21st (yes, I know I said we were returning on the 22nd).

Our flight leaves from:

Bogota (7:35 am) to Miami (12:30) American Airlines flight 2170.

Because we will have to pass through customs which will include the girls receiving green cards and other immigration procedures we are not sure how long this process will take. Instead of stressing about making our next flight, we decided it would be best to stay in Miami for a night (break up the trip a bit for the girls), visit with Mercedes cousin Laisa and her husband Eric (if they is around) and/or play in the hotel swimming pool.

On Saturday May 22nd we leave from:

Miami (10:50 am) to Chicago (1:05 pm) American Airlines flight 703 (we nixed Dallas)

Chicago (1:45 pm) to Madison (2:30pm) American flight 5022

Then the next weekend we go up to Crab Lake with Martin family folks to help open the house. It will be a wild and exciting time for all of us.

For all those who helped us financially with our trip either through donations, t-shirts, jewelry, baked goods or for coming to the show, we thank you very much.

Some of the details of our travel we won't know until we are in Colombia like when we go to Bogota? How long our stay in Bogota will be? Will there be a national holiday that we are unaware of that will shut down the legal system? When and how much will the cost of airfare from Medellin to Bogota be? Right now we can only do so much. We will have to wait until we are informed about them.

My take on the phone call with the girls was very positive. The girls were less shocked or stunned. They were more talkative and relaxed. Mirellen and Mary Sucena are still a bit shy. We plan to call again on Monday, hopefully they will have received the photo albums by then. We were told they should be. Either way the girls are very anxious and excited to come to Wisconsin. They are asking about their primos (cousins) and abuelos (grandparents).

On our phone call with the girls I realized I have more Spanish to learn. I was only consoled by the idea that the girls used a bunch of colloquial phrases from Colombia. Maybe I will return from Colombia with a Colombian accent just like I returned from Mexico with a Mexican accent. Which accent will become my dominant one? Mexican, Colombian or Puerto Rican? We'll see. Maybe it will be like my English where I have picked up phrases from friends from different regions which confuse people who are trying to figure out where I grew up.

Enough for now. AM

Another call

Yesterday we called again to wish Yesica Happy Birthday. We sang Happy Birthday to her. We asked her if she had a good birthday, she said she had a piece of candy, a sticker and a chocolate milk from her teacher. She had a lot of questions for us, but mostly about our trip back here, whether or not we were going to go in an airplane, stay in a hotel etc. It's hard to explain it will take us a few weeks through the process. She later said "This is the best birthday I've had, since no one has celebrated my birthday before". Then we spoke to Edis Milena. We sang Happy birthday to her too. At first we thought it was Mirellen, but she actually gave the phone to Edis, and we spoke with her for a while. She said "I can't wait to go to the United States, I'm ready to leave here". She is very eager to learn English she said. Then we spoke for a little bit with Mary Sucena, she actually gave the phone to one of her friends and we spoke to her too for a little bit. Finally we spoke to Mirellen for a few minutes and told her we would be in Colombia for her birthday and would celebrate with them there. She was very quiet. We told her we would be there for her birthday she did not say much to us and then they had to leave, I assume they all had to get ready for bed. Yesica asked when we were going to call again. Just to keep things consistent, we said we would call next Monday again. Don't know if that will work, but we will try to call in the morning, since we have to go to CPR class in the late afternoon.
That's all for now.

Travel Date

We now have a travel date. We were approved today to travel and have negotiated traveling on April 15th and meeting the girls on April 16th. We have a lot to do to prepare, so things will get busy very fast for us. Mercedes last day at work will be April 14th, so she will be working hard to prepare for this. We plan to be in Colombia for about a month. Mercedes will be taking 7 weeks off, most likely we will not be sending the girls to school here in Sun Prairie, but we are considering some summer school programs in Middleton. We have already applied for Open Enrollment and hope to find out before we travel. We are getting excited and we can tell the girls are as well. Our adventure is just beginning. MM

My experience with the girls on the phone (my brain went blank in Spanish) means I need to do some quick cramming of Spanish before we go. We will be in Colombia for about 4 weeks. There have been many frustrations in this process, and I am glad we are finally at this point. At the same time I wish we could go now, it's nice to have a bit of time to prepare.

As the girls said, "chao"! AM

E-mail from the girls 1

Today we received e-mails from three of the girls. Here are the e-mails ( I have translated)

MM

hola Soy Edis Milena fue un plaser hablar con ustedes por telefono , en una foto dice que le gustan mucho los peluches a mi tambien me encantan lo van a ver. Espero disfrutemos mucho en familia. me gusta mucho estudiar y sobre todo si va a ser en ingles

Hi I'm Edis Milena it was a pleasure talking to you over the phone in the picture it says you love stuffed animals and I love them too, you will see. I hope we have fun as a family. I like to study, especially if it's English.

Hola soy Yessica que alegria conocerlos los he espérado por mucho tiempo, yque placer fue hablarles. estoy feliz porqque muy pronto vendra por nosotras. feliz dia de la mujer.

Hi, I'm Yessica I am happy to meet you I have waited for you for a long time and it was a pleasure to talk to you. I am happy because soon you will come to for us. Happy Woman's day (side note-March is Women's History Month).

Hola soy Mirellen cuando hable con ustedes el martes me alegre mucho por que la voz de ustedes me parecio muy linda y espero que hagamos una familia muy unida y feliz los quiero muho besos y abrazos quiciera poder saber de mis primos estoy preparandome para hablar con ustedes papi y mami chao

Hi I'm Mirellen and when I talked to you on Tuesday I was very happy because your voice sounded beautiful and I hope we make a very united family and a happy family I love you very much, kisses and hugs I would love to find out more about my cousins and I am preparing myself to talk to you papi (daddy) and mami (mommy) ciao.

For now, if you have any questions for the girls, please send them to us for now we will be asking if others can contact them directly. We want to hear from cousins...

Important call

We talked to the girls today (for the first time). It was Edis' birthday and we wanted to wish her a "feliz cumpleaños¨. They all sounded very polite, they kept calling Mercedes ¨Señora¨, but were quick to call me ¨papi¨. Maybe that´s because of her administrative voice. Anyway they were tentative but excited about talking to us. They didn´t know what to say , but neither did we, and then of course I could say even less because my Spanish left my brain. The three older girls´ voices sounded very much the same (Yesica´s sounded a little younger), but Mary

Sucena´s voice sounded much younger. They have a bit of raspiness in their voices. Mirellen Crisitna seems to prefer Mirellen (Martin family folks will need to practice this).

We tried to explain that there were presents coming for the two birthday girls and photo albums for all of them soon. It sounds as though they are not celebrating the kids´birthdays (Edis said that she was studying and that there was no cake or sweets to celebrate her birthday). We will have to make up for that when we get there.

We are very happy. We plan to call again next Monday for Yesica´s birthday.

If you have something you would like us to ask them, please email us or make a comment on this blog entry.

Some of our last steps

We are nearing the end of the enormous amount of paperwork that we must have in order to finalize our adoption. Yesterday we sent one last form and today we received our provisional permission from Homeland security to adopt the girls from Colombia. The stipulation is that we must secure our visas to travel there and while in Colombia get the visas for the girls (this is why is provisional). The form sent yesterday is one that states how long we plan we stay in Colombia, where we will stay etc. Our Medellin representative has assured us that if we travel after the second week of April, we will have a better chance of getting an apartment, this would be after the Easter Holiday.

We also sent books for each girl that had pictures, and a letter specifically for each girl. Alex worked hard on that on Thursday and did not go to work. We both worked yesterday to make up the time we have spent trying to finalize everything and running after our agency to get questions answered. Alex talks or e-mails the agency on a daily basis.

Here is a picture of Alex at Office Depot, a store in which we found this great lady, Alice who put these beautiful books together and then a picture of Alex at Fed Ex ( a place we visit at least once a week for the last month or so). More to come...

Still in WI

Many of you have asked if we are still in WI, well the answer is that we are still here, we have had some delays before our departure to Colombia to pick up our daughters: Edis Milena, Mirellen Cristina, Yesica Tatiana and Mary Sucena. Today we went to Office Depot to order some books that we are preparing for them with pictures of both of our families, and of our home and neighborhood. We have also encountered another delay, and that is that our FBI clearance has expired and we must get a new one before we travel. Under the law, the FBI has to destroy all documents of people who are not under investigation every 6 months. So.. that means that we have to wait about three more weeks to get our Colombian Visas before we can travel. On top of that there are many events going on in Colombia right now that have made it difficult for us to find an apartment: Panamerican Games in Medellin, Easter week (all courts are closed) and the last one I found out about (since I watch Colombia TV daily) is the Davis Cup, which starts this weekend in Bogota. Even though we have had all these delays, this might be for the best, since we might be leaving later and might not have to enroll the girls at school this spring. This is probably best, since we have been unsuccessful in selling our condo and therefore have not found a home in close to or in Middleton.

Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers throughout this adventure.

Mercedes (Cedinin)