Answered Prayer

We are full of joy and gratitude as Hugo and Leidy and Julei begin their life together as a family! On Tuesday, Julei met Hugo and Leidy in Bogota at the ICBF offices -- the same place where we went for our meetings back in January -- and they settled into the apartment where they will stay for the adoption process before coming home to California. Wendy and Fer are thrilled beyond measure, as are Chris and I. On Friday, we had the chance to skype with them for Leidy's birthday. All four kids were so happy -- Hugo and Leidy had these enormous smiles on their faces the whole time, and Wendy and Fer were so excited to show them everything on camera. "Quiere ver los perros? Quiere ver las Barbies? Quiere ver nuestro cuarto?" ("Do you want to see the dogs? the Barbies? our bedroom?") They ran the computer around the house and held up their toys to the camera. As well, Fer showed them the photo of the two of them that we have with our family photos in the living room. One amazing thing, we can see how much English Wendy has learned and that she is even losing a little Spanish -- she forgot how to say "to read" in Spanish and had to ask me the word! Another wonderful coincidence is that Julei has the same lawyer we did, Jorge Ivan who is a really great guy. He happened to be there when we skyped so we got to say hello to him as well. Here are some pictures of the three of them in Bogota:









And here are the girls skyping:

Happy Birthday to Papi!

To the greatest Papi on the planet -- we love you!! Happy Birthday!!!










We celebrated at home with Gigi and Grandad. Chris was very grateful for the cards and phone calls from his dad and Deb and from the Gosas, and we look forward to seeing them at Thanksgiving!

Girl Scout Weekend!

Saturday we went to Boo at the Bronx Zoo with the Girl Scouts. The zoo had a special day when all children in costume enter free, and the Girl Scouts made it their big fall family event complete with patches for attending. Fer is Batgirl for Halloween, and Wendy has a ballerina costume and a college graduate costume. It was quite cold and windy, so I was trying to convince her to wear the graduate one so she would not freeze. She was adamant until the last second that ballerina it would be, but then suddenly changed her mind and jumped into the college one in time to leave. Saturday afternoon we went to the Columbia soccer game, and then Sunday we did Meet the Breed at the Javits Center in Manhattan. Unfortunately my camera died so I only have one picture from Meet the Breeds, but it was an amazing extravaganza of all things cat and dog. Wendy earned a tiny patch for doing a scavenger hunt with me, while Fer took a more chill approach. Except for my allergies kicking in with 30 cat and 70 dog breeds on display, it was a lot of fun!

Columbus Day Weekend

We had a great time in Tivoli with our summer friends Apple and Millie and their parents Harris and Katie. The four girls absolutely love spending time together and begged for every minute possible. We spent the day together Saturday (including at the Germantown tricentennial with the most gorgeous fireworks any of us has ever seen), did a sleepover for the four kids at our house Saturday night, and also did church on Sunday and a local pumpkin patch, hayride and corn maze. Monday we had the chance to see Christine and Matt and Jack, which Fer and Wendy always love.

Brownie Service Project, Botanical Garden!

This past weekend we ended up staying in Riverdale. We had hoped to make it up to Tivoli, but Chris had to work on Saturday and it just seemed like too much. As well, our dog Happy got sick on Friday so we had to take him down to the vet Friday night and he ended up being hospitalized overnight until late in the day on Saturday, so we had to be in town to be available to pick him up. So on Saturday I took the girls with me for Wendy's monthly hair appointment (an absolute necessity if family harmony is to be maintained -- she is very tenderheaded and hates having her hair combed through daily, so a braided or twisted style that lasts a month or so is a great solution), and then we went over to Riverbank State Park to help with a Hudson River cleanup project through Girl Scouts.




On Sunday we went to Costco in the morning, and then Fer had a soccer game at 12:30. Sadly, the Green Clovers were just not on their game and lost 4-0. She seemed fine about it though. She played for much of the game and was in there at some key points. Then we went on an outing to the Botanical Garden. Wendy and I had spent some time getting a scavenger hunt together -- I saved the materials from a recent KIPP trip there, and we made prize bags together and got everything ready -- but it turned out they were having some really fun activities in the family garden. The girls each made a cornhusk doll, and Wendy was milling corn to make cornmeal, and then they both got to plant radish seeds with one of the volunteers.








Chris was able to catch a little shuteye while the girls enjoyed the activities:




On Sunday we also went over to our Brownie leader's house because she is an amazing crafter and had Halloween costumes for the girls to borrow. Wendy will be a ballerina/dancer, and Fer is going to be Batgirl. She also had some great hand-me-downs for which we are very grateful. This is our first Fall with the girls, so we are lacking some seasonal clothing. So far we're surviving, but we really need to go through everything and figure out what we have and what we need.

So far school seems to be going really well for both girls. They are very happy with their friends in their classes -- they beg to go to Afterschool so they can have playtime with some of the other students. We decided to stop having them attend the afterschool program in Riverdale because it just proved to be too exhausting, so now they are seeing Mrs. Zamora, who tutored them over the summer, for homework help 3 times a week, attending the St. Peter's afterschool one day a week, and then Fridays I pick them up for Girl Scouts.