Presentation Day...

This (below) is our translator Patricia talking to the boys.  This is around 11:30 am.  just before we "left the house"  to pick up Luisa.  Immediately after we walked out the door, she received a phone call stating that the road from Barrancabermeja (where Luisa is from) to Bucaramanga (where we are) was bad because of recent flooding and they (people who were bringing her to us) were headed back to Barrancabermeja to go around another way.  Oh. no. stinking. way.  I have waited 361 days to meet this little darling and now, AS I WALK OUT THE DOOR, you say this is not happening just yet?  Are you kidding me?!?  Those were the thoughts that ran through my mind in the brief seconds that followed her phone call.  But, she said in a few hours she would call when Luisa got there and we could go then, so we walked back in the house a tad bit deflated, and a little nervous because we heard her say "miércoles" at one point during her phone call.  So once again, we waited...

While waiting we were listening to WJQ radio on the internet and the song Our God came on, at one point in the song it says:  "So if our God is for us, then who could ever stop us and if our God is with us then what can stand against us!"  I shouted "surely not flooded roads!"  It was a powerful reminder that God is in control, and just what I needed at that time!

 

We played card games with the kids and sent them to the pool with Mary Ellen.  They came back totally bummed because the pool was not open, and wondered why we were still there!  Finally around 3:15 they called and said they were picking us up in 10 minutes!  Below is the lawyer Yolanda opening the door for us.

It took quite a while to get to ICBF, Bucaramanga is a big city, 1.2 million people live here, and traffic was CRAZY!  Once we arrived at ICBF (equivalent to social services in the US.) Ryan had to go to the restroom, and I was turned around talking to our translator about a cat that was walking through the building, and then we turned around and there was a woman carrying Luisa!  I was stunned, I thought we would have some sort of warning, Ryan was still in the bathroom!  So I started talking to her and took her from the woman and just hugged and loved on her.  Ryan came walking up with this shocked look on his face and said "She is so beautiful!"  He was only gone for a few minutes and was like..."how did I miss this?"  We went to a cafeteria like room and gave her a little doll, all the while she just stared at us.  Everyone was trying to make her smile or talk, but to no avail!  Soon the brought us back to an office with several other women who must have been social workers and they talked with the lawyer and translator while we just checked out Luisa and she did the same to us! They said she looks at our picture book every day and knew our faces!

 

We got a photo album and a typed letter from her foster mother describing her routine and likes, dislikes.  She also wrote how happy she was that she was getting such a beautiful family!  So happy to know she was well loved!  They handed us her medications and said she hates to take it!  {Oh great!}  One of them was not labeled as to how much to give...grrr.  Then we signed a few papers and were handed the rest of her belongings, which included the things we sent her and a Pooh backpack, a doll, and a rattle.  We said thank you and got in the car to head back to our apartment.  Poor baby had been traveling all day long and did not look to thrilled to be getting back into a car with us no less!!  She did great though.  I fed her a bunch of cheerios and then she fell asleep in my arms!  I started to cry then, and  I told Ryan I felt like I won the lottery with this sweet baby, what a gift!  Then he reminded me, if that were the case, we paid quite a bit for the ticket!!  True, but we both decided it was totally worth it!

Dylan waiting for us to get back with his new sister!

Arriving back at the apartment, the boys were all looking at us from the balcony, so sweet.

We had talked about the fact that they needed to be calm and not all over her, as it would surely overwhelm her, and they did such a great job containing their excitement!  They each came over one by one to say "hola!"

They all wanted to hold her but I decided she had had enough for one day!  I LOVE that they love her and are so excited to have yet another sister!  Glory!

Anaya was so excited.  The first thing she said is "look, shes brown like me!"  LOVE IT!  She has told us she loves her new sister over and over again!

Luisa was not sure what to think about all of this!  Poor thing, it had been a long confusing day!  Ryan and Mary Ellen took the kids out to dinner for Dylan's 13th birthday, and Luisa and I stayed home.  She came flying out of her shell within minutes of them leaving!  She saw her stroller and wanted to get in it.  So I pushed her around the apartment, then she wanted to push the baby doll in the baby doll stroller and I followed her with the big stroller.  She toddled all over the apartment and then she started getting goofy.  She started ramming into the big stroller with her little one and cracking up!  I played "going to get you" with her teddy bear and she thought it was hilarious.  Unfortunately I did not have my camera right there, I was just so happy to see her smile!  Bless my soul!  I think we have a perfect fit!  She can be wild and crazy just like the rest of them!  Oh and I saw her stick out her tongue when she was trying to do something.  Amazing, God truly does set the lonely in families!

The girls shirts say LOVED Valentines Day 2011.

I tried to give her her medication and she pushed her lips together and shook her head no!  Ummm, this could get ugly!  I totally did not want to upset her, however it is a matter of life and death so I got creative and put it in spoonfuls of pudding, which only worked on the first spoonful.  Then she kinda drooled it all out!  So I tried putting it in her juice, and she took one swallow and got the shivers and that was the end of that!  So I waited till Ryan came back and he helped me.  I held her and he squirted the medicine/juice mix into her mouth and thankfully she drank it down, but looked as though she was going to puke at any second!  Why can't they make that stuff taste better, or chewables for heavens sake!  I had read that the medicine tastes awful and that was one of the challenges we would face.   So far so good, she is such a trooper!  We decided to wait on the other med. with no dose written down, we think it is an antibiotic, she sounds "rattley"{ I think I made up a word} but her chest is congested and you can feel her breathe, sometimes she coughs and tries to stop it, it sounds like she should keep going and spit the junk out.  Sweet baby.  We go to the doctor on Friday, we hope to find out more about her current health at that time.

Precious gift!

First smiles with the brothers!

Love those eyes!  check out that fancy hair!

Dylan was so happy to be getting Luisa on his birthday!  Sweetness!

Our first family photo!  Thank you so much Mary Ellen, you are such a blessing to us!

Thanks for checking in!