Friday, Feb. 5 Bogota!

We had a really nice day today -- very relaxing. The girls had their English classes early so we got up and got them ready by 9. Fer was complaining of a painful tooth in her mouth so we decided to take her to a dentist nearby. He was really nice (found that nothing was wrong, just maybe that she needs to brush more and better) and we scheduled cleanings for both girls next week. It will save us having to get to a dentist before the summer, which will be nice.

After that the girls played a bit on the computer and then we did some reading practice before lunch. We want to get Fer's ears pierced so we decided to walk down to Unicentro to see about that (Laura from the hotel found us a jewelry store that does piercing). It turns out the man had already left for the day, but we got the phone number to make an appointment soon. We bought them earrings as their present for Sentencia Day, but we need to get Fer's ears pierced first!

When we got back, we had coffee with the Executive Director and the Communications Coordinator of Kidsave Colombia. They want to put us on TV next week! Ack, what will I wear? Not that anyone I know will see it . . .

It was interesting -- when the director asked Fer where she was going to live in the U.S., she answered that she was going to stay in Colombia. We let it go but after they left I talked with her for a bit about what she had said, just to reinforce that in fact we are going back to the States. She asked why we had to go back and I explained that we live and work and have our house there, and that when she came for Summer Miracles, she and Wendy came to meet a family in America. I also told her that she and Wendy will have two countries, Colombia and the U.S, and that Colombia will be always very important for our family. I know that leaving Colombia permanently is a very daunting prospect for them both, and now that we are closer to sentencia they know that we are also closer to going back to the States.

Then the girls had an idea for a very funny game -- that we would pack them in the suitcases and take them around the hotel. We did this for quite some time and got some great pictures. It also let us play at "going home" as we kept pretending to get to the airport, hand over our tickets, get back to the States, unpack, and surprise! our daughters are in our suitcases!








After the suitcase game we were back to the baby game, which we haven't played in awhile. Each of us had our "baby" to carry around and cuddle and give the pacifier to. Then the real baby (Tomas) came back from his day trip, and they spent an hour or so playing with him! After dinner, we practiced more reading in English, watched a Kitty, and then to bed!

We had been planning to go tomorrow with Monique and Sebastian to Villa de Leyva, a beautiful town about 3 hours away. But it turns our there are really dangerous wildfires around the town, with hotel evacuations, schools and businesses closed, and generally a pretty tense situation. So we've decided to stay here and not risk it. Tomorrow instead we're going to meet them for lunch and a movie, and maybe we'll also be able to do the ear piercing. And then on Sunday we can go again to the Children's Mass and maybe take the girls skating at the Ciclovia (when they close many of the main roads in Bogota so people can bike and skate).