November 14, 2009 (Evening)
Our morning was spent playing Uno and trying to get our Skype connection to work so Jenny could talk with her sisters.  So far our connections have lasted only a few seconds and have been frustrating for all of us.  We'll work that out next week, hopefully. 

Those of you who have played Euchre with me (Kay) know how I "shuffle" and "deal" the cards.  You can imagine my laughter as Jenny tried shuffling the cards the normal way at first and then dropped them on the table, mixed them all up in a spread out pile, and told us to count siete (7)!

This afternoon we walked to the local mall to purchase tennis shoes for Jenny.  She found some she liked......after trying on at least 12-15 different kinds.  She already has her dad wrapped around her finger.

She is lots of fun, extremely self confident, and catches on to everything very quickly.  We've been a family for 1 1/2 days and it's going great!

Tomorrow we will go to church at Garrison Hills South and worship with our missionary friends.  We will miss our church family and hope that you have a great day.

Rick, Kay, & Jenny
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November 14, 2009 (Morning)
Sorry we didn’t write so much yesterday. We didn’t meet Jenny until 4:15 and then spent the rest of the evening trying to fill it with 13 missed years. We went from one thing to another so it was hard to focus. It isn’t until Jenny is in bed sleeping that the mind has time to process everything. Communication is a little rough, but we’re having fun with it. Jenny is very intelligent and catches on quickly. Us, not so much. She is so filled with love that it spills out in many ways. She is just like Sandy and Maribel in their displays of love and affection to grandma and grandpa. It really makes us miss you girls!

Thanks for the wonderful blog entries. My goal today and tomorrow is to slow Jenny down enough to show it to her. You want to feel young and old at the same time? Adopt a 13 year old.

Rick – still having trouble sleeping. Two weeks ago it was stress and frustration. Last week it was excitement. This week it looks like the “problem” is the overwhelming joy that our first day brought. While lying in bed this morning I thought of the many people Jenny said goodbye to yesterday and the many more she will say goodbye to over the next weeks. It felt very humbling that this little girl was willing to leave all that has been familiar and secure for so many years of her life only to go with two strangers who offered nothing more than the hope of a mommie and poppie who loved her. She cried just a little as she said goodbye; the hope of her new life was ahead. As we walked to the office before meeting Jenny, children came up to us and asked if we were “Mama y Papa de Jenny?” (Jenny had her spies out.) Even those little children realized how special that day was for Jenny. I guess that’s all children really want is a mommie and poppie who love them. Go hug your kids, or your parents, or somebody else who loves you.

In our meeting with Los Pisingos earlier in the day, God revealed to us that not only did He have a home for Jenny, but that our home was exactly what Jenny needed and that through this process of adoption God had always planned for her to be our daughter (not that we ever doubted…ha ha). That was overwhelming – to realize how special each of us are to Him that He would plan our lives in such amazing ways. “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart.” (Jeremiah 1:5) The journey was worth it; the rewards are great!

We appreciate your prayers. We pray for you many times and look forward to being reunited. Until then know that we love and miss you.

Rick, Kay, y Jenny


11/13/2009
What a day it has been for the 3 of us!  It's a day that we will want to remember every single detail of forever. The staff had been preparing Jenny all afternoon for the presentation and she was absolutely beautiful.  She entered the room with a dozen peach colored roses for mama. The time was filled with only a few tears and many, many smiles, hugs, kisses, and much laughter.  She is fun to be with and loves practicing her English with us and having us in turn practice our Spanish with her.  She says that she is still a little nervous but also that she is very,very excited and happy to be a part of our family.  It's been a great first day.  God is so good!  Photos posted...


11/12/2009 (Actually it's now 11/13/2009)
We arrived with narry a problem.  Even the luggage made it!  Short night tonight and off to Los Pisingos in the morning.  Hogar, dulce hogar!


11/12/2009
We're on our way!!!  3 hours early to the airport just to sit around eating Cinnabons.  And we'll be there in only 14 short hours. 

We can't believe we're actually going.  We appreciate your encouraging words on the blog and Facebook and look forward to sharing them with Jenny.

Thanks to each of you who have supported us with your prayers.  Keep it up!  God's blessings on all our friends and family!


11/07/2009
We have our visas! There is nothing else to be done until we get there (other than packing, getting documents ready, canceling many services, taking care of banking, and about three other pages on my notepad).

We fly out Thursday and arrive in Bogota at 9:30 PM. On Friday morning we will meet with the orphanage and at 4:15 PM we will meet our new daughter, Jenny. It turns out that Friday the 13th is good luck after all.

Saturday (tomorrow) at 2:00 PM we will get to web cam with Jenny. Can’t get any better!


10/30/2009
Well, we obviously didn’t make it to Colombia by mid October so now we’re shooting for the first week in November.  All we’re waiting for is clearance from the US embassy.  We will then get our airline tickets, go to Chicago to get our visas, and off we go.  It’s still our hope to be home by Christmas, but if not, so be it.  We will let you all know when we get word to leave.  We can’t wait to send you pictures from Colombia !