One last post for the day...

I just love how he looks like such a little man here!

 Here is a look at some of the fruit we have been enjoying.  Thanks Mary Ellen, for the great photo's!

 This little muñeca{doll} cracks us up!  She spilled some water on the floor {after she tried throwing it into the fan!} She then went and found the broom and began to clean up her mess!

There goes the tongue!

 Such sweetness!

The boys flinging water with their hair.

cool dudes

This is the look she gives as she is about to ram the stroller into your legs!

 That is the smile she gives after she does it!  She is full of the dickens I tell you!

Today was another great day, we are enjoying our time together as it is coming to an end soon!

You would not believe the difference in Lucy today.  We had a few appointments to go to and she was just as shy and almost listless, sucking her thumb and not really responding to anyone, until we got back to the apartment and she saw the boys from the balcony.  She went nuts!  She was so glad to be home with the family and just like that, we had our fun little girl back.  We don't know what is going through her little mind, but it pains us to see her that way when we go to the appointments.  She does not do that when we are out and about with the family, it is only when we go to appointments or meetings.  We feel it is a good thing a couple of the boys are staying as she will continue to have the family around and not such a huge change once again.

We found out today that all of our paperwork has been submitted and we should find out soon {?} which court/judge has our case and then our lawyer said she can get in there and tell them to hurry it up!  I like that idea!  Thanks for your prayers,  God is faithful!

Luisa's 1st haircut...

...from mommy, that is!  I have wanted to cut it since day 1.  But wanted to make sure we had the defenders of minors meeting over with so no one would notice!  I only cut a few inches off the back and it is fairly even now.  It's hard to cut a 2 year old's hair with a bad scissors, but it will do until we get home!

she looks thrilled, doesn't she?

she sat pretty still and didn't fuss

When we went to the appointment we had this afternoon Patricia said she looked even more beautiful today!  I confessed and said "that's because I cut her hair!"  I wasn't sure if that was okay or not, but I felt like she knew!  She was all excited and asked where we had it done and I told her that I did it myself, that I used to do hair in a salon.  Later someone asked who did her hair and she told them I did it and they said "Ay que lindo! {Oh how lovely!}  Too funny, the Colombians we have met are so friendly!

prayers answered!

We have the meds!  We went there today and they had them ready for us.  Still not sure exactly what the hold up was, but, our translator declared "your prayers worked!"  Amen and Amen!  Thank you Jesus!  

We also finalized some paperwork so that Jayden and Spencer can stay here with me until the end of the process.  So now I will not cry as hard when they all leave on Saturday morning!

Please pray...

We are not exactly sure why, {though we have an idea} but every time our interpreter (Patricia) goes in to get the medicines we need, she is turned away for one reason or another.  She is going back this afternoon to try it again.  Please pray that she is able to get it, as we will run out by tomorrow, and it is IMPERATIVE, that Luisa takes all of it every 12 hours.  We know that God knows and is in control over this situation, we just ask that HE receives the glory, as even Patricia said we should pray.  Thank you!

Not sure how she will stay in a big girl bed, I guess we should think about getting a side rail on her bed, she never stays on this one!

 You know I am in love when she is sleeping with my pillow!  I never go with out my pillows and now I am down to one because apparently she is used to sleeping with a pillow.  We hadn't thought about that and one night when I went to put her down to sleep she got up, grabbed my pillow and laid back down on it! 

Luisa had a blast in the pool today, in one of her reports it said she liked to swim, but the first few times we took her to the pool she would barely get her feet wet.  But today, she was a wild child, jumping off the side into our arms, sticking her face in the water and splashing and having fun!

Yes, even mommy went into the pool to play!

I love the look on her face!  She didn't even wait until we counted to tres, she would just walk off the side of the pool into the water, ready or not!

Both girls fell asleep at the pool today.  Anaya "drowneded" so she said, and was very upset!  She apparently was playing on the steps and fell under, she came up to us crying saying she..."DROWNEDED!"  Poor thing was very upset and we had a nice chat about how we NEVER go by the pool without swimmies!  We will be doing swimming lessons for Easton, Anaya and Luisa this summer!

Thanks Lucy for the wicked tan lines I now have!

Hormangas colonas!

In Guatemala we saw these ants and there they call them Zompopo's.  They don't eat them in Guatemala.  But here in Colombia, especially in Santander {which is a department, similar to our states} they EAT THEM!

*Amazing story: Mary Ellen has friends {Oscar and Ellen} who she met at school in Kentucky, who live in Belgium where Ellen is from, Oscar is from Colombia, and they "just happened" to be HERE in Bucaramanga this very week while we are here!  So tonight she went out with them for a bit and then brought them back to the house so we could meet them.  We learned a little about Belgium and more about Colombia, it was great to meet them!  Oscar brought us the Santander specialty of fried ants!  We had read about them, but didn't expect to actually eat them{I didn't give them a try!}  THANKS Oscar!  The kids will remember this for a lifetime! 

YES, she wanted one too!  So we gave her one, who knows she may have had them before!

Mary Ellen was not too sure about this, but she had her Coke Light ready to go!

Ready boys?

Eww!

Ryan and Spencer crunching on ants!

They all said they weren't bad, kinda crunchy and salty!  I may have liked them, but that is just too weird!

Speaking of weird...check out Luisa eating her favorite fruit, granadilla fruit.  I haven't tried it yet, it looks slimy and has seeds in it which you just swallow, {and then find in her diaper the next morning!}

 

One more weird thing that happened today...While we were at the pool we met a lady who knows my mom!  They grew up in the same neighborhood and went to school together!  How weird is that!?!

Tomorrow morning bright and early (6:45) we have some doctor appointments for Luisa.  Please continue to pray the paperwork mess gets straightened out so we can get her meds.  Thanks for checking in!

Coming out of her shell...

 Luisa enjoying her huevos this morning!

 Mental note to self:  Never have a glass top table with 6 kids!!!!

 Talking with the doctor that came to the house today to give Luisa her breathing treatment.  She needs to have them for the next 2 days as well.  Hopefully her cough will go away, and we won't have to continue this when we are home.  Please pray that we can get a few things straightened out with her medicines and treatments.  I can't go into detail, but it sounds like we need some divine intervention in order to get what we need.

She did such a great job!  He said most kids cry or fuss, but she just sat there like the little trooper she is!

 Luisa was super fun and playful today.  She did great during our meeting with ICBF.  The meeting went great, the psychologist  was wonderful and she kept saying how happy she was because she knew Luisa would get the love and care that she needs and deserves!

 We kept saying that we were the ones who were happy to be able to love and care for her, she is an amazing blessing!

We ate at this little empanada stand today.  We cleared out his whole stock of empanada's and they were awesome!

 We all ate around this little TV tray sized table!

Love this!  Look at her little hand on her sisters leg!

This is the little fruit store down the road from our apartment, the fruit is cheap and the ladies are nice!  A few days ago, we tried the fruit pictured below.

I got a tiny piece and chewed and swallowed, the flavor was good, but the texture was awful!  But, Mary Ellen was given a huge chunk and she tried to take a bite, but it wouldn't break apart so the lady motioned for her to put it all in her mouth, so she did and then she turned around to face Dylan and she asked him to take it and get rid of it for her, but he decided he better not since they were watching!  So poor Mary Ellen was stuck with this big chunk of non-dissolving, never ending fruit in her mouth!  I was laughing so hard, I believe I snorted!  Once we left I suggested she keep it to show Ryan, so she chewed it the whole way home and showed Ryan and finally was able to spit the thing out!  So funny!

Mary Ellen and the never ending fruit!

 Luisa was miss independent today!  Until now she had to be carried solely by mommy or in her beloved stroller, but today she decided she was ready to run with the pack!  So cute.

 Look at the tongues!  I told you she is a perfect fit!  We love this girl so much!!!

 Sisters!

What a great day we had again today!  It was as if someone flipped a switch inside Luisa today.  She was super happy and played with the kids, we saw so much happiness in her it was amazing! 
Thank you Lord for the healing that can only come through you, we pray that each day you will continue to heal our little Luisa, heart, soul, mind and body!