It's so hard to say goodbye....

We spent the morning on Monday packing up.  We have A LOT of luggage and I have A LOT of things to bring back.  I have tried to bring back things that I can have in our home and one day hand down to Amelia when she has her own home.  One of the most precious things I have is an old window that a friend Mary told me about that Freddy took her to find when she was in Colombia.  Being I have completely fallen in love with the architecture here it is a perfect thing to have.  That being said it is fairly large so I had to be sure that I would have room to bring it back!  We left a lot of things with the private casa as Amelia has outgrown certain things that I brought in smaller sizes.  I also gave a lot of things to a little girl at our hotel that is being adopted.

Monday afternoon Cecilia invited us to her home.  We hopped in a taxi for a short ride not far from our hotel.  She served us a traditional small meal of hot chocolate with cheese and tamales.  It was wonderful.  Cecilia lives in a beautiful neighborhood beside the mountain in the city.  Her home was lovely with an indoor garden and beautiful landscaping in the back.  It was a great time to visit with her and her husband and thank her for all her help while we have been here.  We were also able to see pictures of her beautiful grandson.  She had just returned from Hong Kong a few days prior so we were thankful we were able to see her and hug her one last time.

That night we continued to pack and moved all our luggage to another area as we had a driver arriving at 5:30am to bring us to the airport.  We said goodbye to the Italian family who is also staying at the hotel, we also said goodbye to Katya our hotel owner and gave her a little gift from MN.  I don't think either one of us slept much that night as we were dreading saying goodbye to our home away from home for the last 8 weeks in the am.  At 5:30 we ventured out of our room to get our luggage and we were greeted by Valeria, Juanita and Camilla.  Camilla leaves for school around 6:00 am so they were all up.  There were many tears and many hugs.  We have grown to love these people.  They have made our stay here so wonderful and it was SO sad to say goodbye.  We told them we would be back to visit and we would connect with them for sure.  Emails were exchanged, pictures were taken and a few tears were shed again.

As I walked out the door I started to cry again.  Saying goodbye to the place we have stayed that has been our home away from home.  It was HARD.  As we drove away we were saying goodbye to many of the fun places that we have visited while we have been here.  What a mix of emotions we felt as I worried about how she would do on the plane, I was excited to see all of our friends and family at home and I was VERY sad to be leaving my daughters birth country.  I know we will be back again to visit but we are not sure when.

As the plane took off leaving Bogota I cried again as I looked out the window at the city.  I closed my eyes and prayed.  I thanked God for keeping us healthy and safe on this trip.  I thanked him for this amazing experience and for all the wonderful people we met.  I thanked him for the experience Isaac had and that he will be able to remember all of this and for him being able to use his Spanish.  I thanked him for Amelia and the gift she is to us.  I thanked him for the private casa and for the care they gave our sweet girl until we were able to come and meet her.  As I thought about the casa I prayed for all the sweet little faces that I saw there that day and for each child to be loved and find their forever family.  I thanked him for answering all of our prayers about our precious girl.  I promised to love and care for her to the best of my ability and asked that he would guide me in this.  I thanked him for the gift of being a parent and I also prayed for her birth mother.  I prayed that God will protect her and love her and give her peace.  I thanked God for her.  I thanked God for her sacrifice of love.  I prayed that she would feel my prayers and that God would bless her.  It was a very emotional time for me.  One that will take me awhile to process for sure.

Bogota was beautiful and it has a very special place in my heart.  I pray that we will be able to go back again soon and visit.

I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers.  Philemon 1:4

Isaac and Camilla (11).  They were very good friends.  Camilla is Valeria's daughter.

For those of you who think she is always smiling! HA!  Juanita had to "do her hair?" for the pic.  She is completely crazy.  I will so miss these ladies!

LOVE these ladies!! 

Our friends from Italy and their daughter Carol who I loved playing with and doing her hair.

Isaac and Carol.  She was a hoot!

Pics of our home away from home.  Finally picked up for pictures!! :-) Ignore the sleeping kids.  It was late and I wanted to make sure I took these pics! 

I am happy to be going home!!

Last minutes in Bogota!

Bye BOGOTA!! We will miss you!!