Frustrations..and blessings.

Well.. we've been here for a few days, and are frustrated over the fact that we have been having problems with our computer, have not been able to post as much as we would like, and have not been able to figure out how to call our family in the U.S. Our computer is causing us a lot of headaches, it died on us for a day, then Alex took it someplace here and there was nothing wrong with it. It just decided to shut off. We thought we could also skype, but have not been able to do it. Papi said that I had to do some international code or something. We are so busy we don't have much time to sit in the computer (when it works) and figure this out. So we feel a little distant from the world we know. This and the fact that we do not have a dryer (there are no dryers in Medellin or laundromats, everyone dries on the rack), is extremely frustrating. Imagine just the underwear the girls go through every day! Just that, is a few loads a day. We have a washer, but it only does small to medium loads. So I go through many loads of laundry a day. Alex has also been having some back problems because of the mattress. It is very hard and his back has always been bothersome so the hard mattress we have has been not good for his back. I bet he can't wait to get back home to our sleep number bed. On top of that our bank must have capped our expenses on us even though we had talked to them before we left Today we bought stuff for the girls and when we went to pay we couldn't! We had to use a lot of our U.S. cash for it. It was frustrating and embarrassing. The girls were great about it.
With all of this however, we feel blessed by many things so far in our stay here.
First, Medellin is truly a beautiful place and the people are just wonderful. They are helpful and kind. We usually get stares because somehow people can't figure out why we have four daughters, are from the U.S. yet the girls don't speak English. We have been told that we cannot say anything about our adoption, so we usually don't. The other day a girl at store figured it out. There are several adoption houses here, however most adoptions go to Colombian citizens. The rest go to Europe and the U.S. Most of them go to Europe. There are only few Americans that adopt here.
Our country guide is just wonderful. She is like a friend, truly, she is there for us in anything we need. She took us shopping today and waited around to help us figure out how to pay our bill. She did this, risking a ticket since they have a limit of certain cars per day that can be out on the streets during rush hour.
We are blessed to have her. Finally, we are blessed by our girls. We are getting to know them, and at times it seems as if we have known them our whole lives. Yes, I am extremely tired by the fact that I am the main communicator between the girls and us. I feel bad for Alex, that he does not understand as much. But I try to send the girls out with Alex to do something every day. They love their papi, especially in the pool. Yesterday the girls shared with us some of their horror stories from their parents and foster homes. We cried in front of them. We cannot believe what these girls have gone through, yet how strong and healthy they are.. Yes they may not have all the social graces, but overall they are wonderful girls. When we went to pick them up, they told us "you are really taking with you four treasures".. Now we know how true that statement was. --MM