Today we went to the notary to sign power of attorney to our lawyer to attend to our case. She is very nice. Then we went to the shopping mall and that was very refreshing. We would like to go back there - it was nice and clean and bright and cheery. It had mini rides for the kids and yummy places to eat. We were drooling! At the supermarket, we smelled pollo frito (fried chicken) and it smelled delicious. We have been laughing about how much weight we'll loose because we are hardly eating! :) Also, shortly before we had to leave to meet the children, I about had cardiac arrest because of the HUGE spider in our bathroom. I involuntarily screamed "bloody murder" and the ladies ran in and killed it. It was traumatic but they insist they have never seen a spider like that in the casa before! Yes, Karl captured the awful spider on camera!
Right now I am sitting with little Andres on my lap. He is sooooo sleepy but fighting going to rest. Anji and Claudia were so tired they almost begged to go to bed so they laid right down and shut their eyes! It has been a good day but a challenging one as well. We met at ICBF at 3:30 and met the children around 4 pm. The meeting went pretty well but Andres pretty much screamed the whole time and when he finally calmed down we rushed home. He did better until now because he is so overtired. The children are absolutely precious and really everything is going well all things considered. Mami and Papi are very tired also and quite sweaty from chasing the kids around and it is humid and no air conditioning. Karl is with the girls who are so excited to be with us and are giggling and keep calling Papi in the room because they like him so much! Please continue to pray for us as we all adjust to each other. So all the kids are up and we will all get to bed eventually :)
These children of ours are absolutely precious. We are newbies at this and communicating is difficult but we are overjoyed to be their parents. The girls kept saying Mami es Julia y Papi es Karl. They have been so excited and keep saying how muy bonito we are. It is really sweet. Andres finally smiled when I chased him down to tickle him. He has very cute dimples just like Karl. He is extremely independent and stubborn. This little guy has a will of iron! It's surprising because his paperwork said he was really easy-going and laid back. He likes to shake his head NO a lot. Hopefully after these first couple of days things will smooth out. Andres finally conked out in my arms but when we tried to move him he woke up and is now just as determined not to cooperate with his heavy eyelids.
We have lots of neat pictures and hopefully I'll be able to post them a little later. We got video too. We brought a big, fancy chocolate cake and coca-cola and the whole shabang for a party and the girls really loved it. The girls woofed down their cake but Papi and I had to tag-team our new, screaming toddler. It was hard because all the adults spoke Spanish (we were supposed to have a translator but a young guy was recruited and he did a terrible job). The adults were all extremely opinionated about what we needed to do about the situation and were giving us orders and we got absolutely rushed out of the ICBF office by our driver because there was a break in the crying. So we left our cake, and accidentally left our special candles and Andres' bear. Meanwhile, Karl was being asked to dish out the pesos for our mediocre translator & the children's commute. It was chaotic. But the highlight was to have the ICBF people tell us they were so happy that the children were getting such great, nuturing parents and that was really special. You might be wondering if I pulled out the bubbles to help calm Andres down . . . yes, we packed the secret weapon but to my horror, I reached in the bottle and there was NO wand to blow bubbles with! AAAAAHHHH!
This has been a day to remember: the day the Armstrong family had a population explosion! J
What a wonderful day! We are really enjoying the children and rolling with the challenges. Our first meal went very well and our car ride back to our temporary casa was also fun. Manana es nuevo dia y we're excited to see what happens. Excellente!!! K
14 comments:
We will continue to pray for you, Karl and Julie, as you adjust to one another! It's quite a surreal feeling, isn't it, to "all of a sudden" have three children in your care?! I'm sure they are so precious and I hope things go smoothly as you adjust to one another and get to know one another. I'm thinking Cali might be pretty hot, since you're on the coast?
Sweet dreams and a happy night to you all . . .
love,
janine
Felicitaciones y que Dios les bendiga en este nuevo camino. Usteden forman una familia muy bonita.
Your children are beautiful!!!
I'll be praying for you guys! Your girls sound precious, and Andres seems just about right for his age :). I noticed at about the one week mark it all seems to smooth out a little, but I will pray it goes faster for you! Even in the chaos it's exciting, sleep as much as you can!
Love,
Sherri
PS- I understand the difficulty of finding time to blog, but you won't hear any complaints from me when the pictures come up!
Love it! Congrats, Mami y Papi! Little Andres will be a Mami's boy, you just watch and see!!!
We will continue to pray for you guys as you transition. Lucia was really helpful when we seemed to have some difficulty in Florencia';don't hesitate to call her. She's awesome.
Can't wait to hear how the story continues to unfold...bask in motherhood!!!! Congrats!
Ohh, I have tears in my eyes! I am so happy that you all are finally united!
You all have been in my prayers often lately and will continue to be there!
Thank you for the update. Hang in there with Andres. We'll be praying that each day is better.
Congratualations! on your family of 5!
Praying that everyone sleeps well.
Thank you for the time spent to inform us about your first day! I can't tell you how many times I checked it today,... :-) I will keep praying for you and this super little family!
Good eye re: giant spider!!!
Love you very much, I will be excited to hear more!!!
This is a day you will never forget! The days may seen long at times, but the memories that you make will be so precious. Before you know it you'll be home and you won't remember what you did before. Those Andres' are something else - ours was a "thrower" - threw everything he could get his hands on. Thanks for the update.
Karen
Wow!! And again I say, Wooowwwwww!!!! We can just picture the girls giggling and calling out to their new Papi as well as little Andres succumbing to the comfort of his new Mami's arms. God is SO good!! You will continue to be in our prayers--that you will all have good rest and that the days ahead will go smoothly as you continue to become a family of 5.
On a side note, Julie, I really think you should write a book. I'm serious!! You are very Erma Bombeck-ish. Aside from the oohs and aaahs when reading about the children, we were getting a huge laugh from the meet and greet/screaming toddler/no bubble wand story and the spider story, even though I'm know none of this was funny at the time. To be honest, we could totally "hear" the scream from up here. :)
We love you all and we love getting the updates! Can't wait for the pictures! :)
Love, Beth and Eric
We were praying for you guys tonight as we tucked our little ones in. We pray you are resting well and that you'll have a great day of family bonding tomorrow. We're expecting snow tomorrow. . .wonder what your kids will think of the cold white stuff?!
Much love,
Craig and Debbie Jo
Ahhhhh, Chaos ... welcome to it Julie & Karl!! But believe me, it gets better and you've already got the multi-tasking gift so you'll manage through just fine! What a happy day for you and your family! The children are just gorgeous and I love how the girls are so attached to the papi already. That's how our Karen was instantly! How cool! I'm keeping you in my prayers and can't wait to hear more updates in the days to come.
Love, Genece
What a joy to read about your first day together - I am so thankful that you've been united with the beautiful children God has given to you two! What a gorgeous family you are. And I agree with Beth, you're a great writer Julie! :)
You've been on my mind much today and will continue to be. Women Helping Women Steering spent much time in praise and prayer for you five today at our meeting! :)
Love to you all, Nicole
What a beautiful Family are you!!!
I am so happy that you are now together and you will see, will be better day by day!!!!
Enjoy Cali an obviously the food. Did you try the "empanadas" or "pandebonos" or the fruit juices?
Muchas saludes!!!
Jusie
Congratulations! The kids look like they are great. The information we got on Mateo ended up being about 50% correct...so be prepared that you can't always trust what they say to be the case (might have been at the time - but not once we got him). El Corral is a good hamburger place. If there is an Archies around they have really good pizza and they have a special deal for the kids to make their own. Frisby's has good chicken strips. They serve them with honey. Bunelos are yummy. Ajiaco is a very nice chicken and potato soup that is one of my favorite things to get.
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