Andres Carne De Res...WOW!!!

Today was another amazing day in Bogota!!  16 of us headed out early in the am and went to the markets.   When we got to La Fontana hotel a family was told there is no market by security.  Not sure if he really knew so we kept on walking to Usaquen.  We will have our hotel call that hotel next week to see about having brunch there and to see if there is a market.  We wandered around Usaquen for a couple hours and Katya had arranged a few drivers to pick us up outside Hacienda Santa Barbara to take us all to the town of Chia at 1230.  Another family from France decided to join us that is working with the Bosley’s agency.  We piled everyone in to 3 vehicles and headed out.  Traffic was its usual horrible self.  Many people travel outside of Bogota on the weekends.  It took us about 1 hour and we arrived at the restaurant that has come highly recommended called Andres Carne de Res. 

There are several locations but the restaurant in Chia is the main location.  We were told this is a very fun place to visit with a group of people.   We were told the owner has collected many things over the last 25 years that are eclectic pieces of art made from recycled products.  We were also told that there are many activities for kids.  The restaurant holds almost 3000 people.   We arrived and were dropped off by our driver Herman.  The other drivers of the other 2 cars, David and Andres decided to come in with us and we are so glad they did to help us interpret. 

There are no words to describe this place.  It was huge!! They had many different kitchens and bars, multiple buildings, and many people.  There was art everywhere hanging from the ceiling, bar stools made from recycled materials and crazy waiters.  We were told to ask for the “welcome” as we were there for the first time.  They sent over 3 men playing trumpet and trombone and a clown to sing to us and throw confetti.  The menu was literally almost 75 pages of different options and drinks and even cigars and cigarettes.  They saw that ½ of our crew was children so we were seated in an area that was near the kids activities.  Imagine an area with a puppet show, face painting, rock climbing wall, soccer fields, punching bags, wood working for kids, bead making, popcorn and cotton candy makers, coloring and painting stations and lots of kids.  It was absolutely crazy.  SO FUN!!  The kids had a blast.  The adults were on sensory overload!! J  We were there for about 4 hours.  A only slept for about 30 min but as long as she was fed she was happy as a clam. 

I will post some pictures as there is simply no real way to describe this place.  Andrescarnederes.com is the website if you want to check it out. 

Here are a few pictures for you:

Being some of our friends are still waiting for Sentencia also I can not post pics of our group yet.  There will be more to come!!

The Lord is my strength and my shield;

in him my heart trusts, and I am helped;

my heart exults,

and with my song I give thanks to him.

Psalm 28:7

Zona Rosa

On Friday we headed out via taxi to park 93 and an area called Zona Rosa.  It is a large shopping area with many restaurants, store fronts and a large mall that is very modern called Andino.  We first told the cab driver to drop us of at the park.  When we arrived we found the entire park area under construction.  It was kind of a bummer but it was great to walk around and see all the restaurants and shopping.  We spent a couple hours wandering the area and ate at the Hard Rock café for lunch.  It is a very fun and upscale area of town that many people have mentioned we check out.  Freddy gave us names of many restaurants to eat at so we may venture back to this area depending on how long we are here.   We spent some time at the mall and Isaac was excited to find a store with a lot of American candies.  He started filling a bag full and when we went to ring it up it was almost 16$.  He was happy and we were a bit in shock! HA!! He also found a Lego store.  Legos are crazy expensive here.  Almost double the cost!! So needless to say he did a lot of window shopping!

Today a few families decided to venture to the salt Cathedral with a driver and the other family went on a tour of downtown.  Being we have been there we decided to call a cab and head to an area with many artesian gift stores that Katya recommended we visit.  Many of our friends had been to an artesian store called Maku while they have been here.  This store closed that was in walking distance from our hotel so we wanted to see something similar.  The owner’s brother owns a store called El Balay.  It was about a 15 minute cab ride to this area.  We bought many little things and a few larger things to have in our home.  To our surprise there were several stores like this one in the area.  Katya described the neighborhood as a typical Colombian neighborhood with many people in the working class.  We wandered through many of the shops and then picked our treasures.  We then ate lunch at an Arepa grill.  True authentic Colombian food.  It was AMAZING as usual!! Being we are a little further out and in a less touristy area we did not drink the water or ice and did not eat the small salad.  :-)  It started to rain around 1:30 so we decided it was time to head back.  We tried for almost 45 min to hale a cab from the street.  We even had the restaurant try calling.  One of the owners from the store saw that A and I were in the rain so she had us come in the store and sit down.  She wanted to be sure A was not cold.  She was so very sweet.  Another experience of people really caring for you.  Taxis are very busy on Saturdays and it was raining so when one finally showed up we were happy to get on the road!!

There are 4 other families here at the hotel now!  It is so nice to have them here with us.  It can get kind of loud at dinner time and the kids are having a ball together!  One family the Bosley’s adopted 3 boys from Bucaramunga.  They are here in the city for the next week as they have received sentencia and need to complete the rest of their paperwork.    Jeff and Heather are here from Portland adopting their son Jefferson who is 10 years old.  There is another family from Italy adopting their daughter Carol who is 8 years old.  We also have one other family who is here on vacation with their children Sebastian and Sophia who were adopted in 2001 and 2004.  They live in Shoreview!! They brought the kids back for vacation over spring break.  It has been so fun to have some other families here to talk with and the kids are having a blast playing together!! A few will just be here a short time while others plan to be here for awhile.  We are really enjoying the company and they are great people.  I am sure we will stay in touch!!    The kids are all really getting along and the adults have a lot of time to socialize and drink some cerbesa (beer)!!  I will be sure to get a few family photos of them! :-)

Once back at the hotel we are making plans for tomorrow with some of the other families.  We plan to hit the market at La Fontana hotel which we have heard is wonderful and maybe head to Usaquen.  Katya thinks we should head to Andres Carne de Res in Chia tomorrow afternoon so we will have to coordinate a few drivers as if we all go it will be 19 people.  This afternoon Isaac enjoyed hanging out with Sebastian, he is 11 and from Shoreview near our home, discussing all things Minecraft and A napped for almost 3 hours.  We headed to Carrulla for some snacks and fruit.  We are looking forward to a great evening socializing with our new friends on a similar journey!!

Psalm 104:34 May all my thoughts be pleasing to him, for I rejoice in the Lord.

Photo courtesy of Isaac!! :-)

He was so excited to find gummy bears and m and m's

Fun park area and nice hotel in Zona Rosa

Nice mall

Great food for lunch!!

Salt Cathedral

Today we were up early and had contacted one of everyone's favorite drivers Freddy on Facebook to see if he was willing to take us on a tour.  Some of our friends have raved about how great he is!  :-) He came to pick us up at 9am.  Freddy works as a tour guide so is so knowledgable about the city of Bogota and all the things to see and do.  We headed out to the town of Zipaquira for a tour of one of Colombia's best attractions, the Salt Cathedral.  It is a catholic cathedral built in to the mountain 200 meters underground.  See this video link:
http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/colombia_saltcathedral

There are several stations that represent the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ.  Freddy told us that 85-90% of Colombians are Catholic also but that only 30% are considered practicing.  Words can not describe how cool it was!  Isaac was amazed.  Freddy explained all the symbolism which was unbelievable.  Many crosses were carved in to the walls of the mine.  At one point there were 3 sets of stairs leading to the same destination.  He told us to choose which set we wanted to take.  Isaac took the set to the right, Jeff the middle and me the left.  Then Freddy proceeded to tell us that the right were for people with pure hearts, the middle was for sinners, and the left for people who have many sins.  Did we chose accurately?? :-) HA!  The Cathedral had 3 sections representing the birth, death and resurrection of Christ.  Again very cool and so much symbolism.  After the mine Freddy took us to the town center of Zipaquira where we were able to do a little shopping and see the beautiful architecture of this town.

We then headed to another small town on the way back to Bogota for lunch at one of Freddy's favorite spots.  We had traditional Colombian food and Isaac ordered...you guessed it...ajaico soup!! It was so fun to get out of the city a bit and see some of the smaller towns that surround Bogota!!  On the way back we passed huge greenhouses, rows and rows of them.  Freddy said that Colombia is the 2nd largest exporter of flowers.  These greenhouses is where they grow many roses.  He said that around American Valentines Day Colombia exports around 500 million roses.  That is A LOT of roses!! He said that men don't tend to give roses in Colombia to their significant others as they are very cheap here...around 4$ per dozen.  So they love to give tulips or orchids or other flowers.  One other interesting thing he shared is that in traditional Colombian families the women are the decision makers.  He could see me get a smile on my face.  Then he said, but men have the final word.... "yes dear!!"  We laughed and laughed!  We absolutely loved having Freddy with us and will contact him again for sure!  He plays electric guitar in a band so I told him that I need to get his CD!  One other fact Freddy shared with us is that typical Colombian families don't eat a lot of vegetables and the fruit that they eat is usually for dessert or in their juice in the morning.  We have noticed this with the food we are served here at the hotel.  Many times I am asking Juanita to cut up fruit or have a salad for dinner.  Crazy as the markets are full of fresh fruit and veggies.  Colombians love their meat and carbs!! :-)

We are thrilled that there is another family here.  When we get back Isaac is off playing with the other 3 boys.  Tomorrow another Italian family is adopting a little 8 year old girl.  I hope she does OK with the boys.  :-)  I will have to get a picture of them all together.  There are many pillow fights, foosball games, and lots of energy!!  :-)

I need to get a few pics of Freddy and Diego without baby A in them so I can post!! Many pics we take include her so I will try and be more intentional!! :-)

God’s way is perfect. All the Lord ’s promises prove true. He is a shield for all who look to him for protection. (Psalms 18:30 NLT)

Here are a few pics from today:

One of the mining trucks used!

Balcony overlooking the cathedral

Once again an amazing lunch!! However it did include fried cow intestines.  We did all try them...eww..

More rows of greenhouses!

Facts about our sweet kiddos!!

Monday morning came quickly and Isaac decided that it would be best to end the vacation with one last swim in the pool.  We had room service delivered to our balcony and he was in the pool by 8:45am!  Diego came to pick us up around 10:30.  He told us that his wife and girls required him to stop and get some fresh arepas on the way home.  See the pictures at end of post...they were simply amazing.  Freshly made and very cheap.  The ones we had were stuffed with cheese.  One of the best parts about going to Anapoima was the journey there and back.  I can not get over the beauty of the countryside.  Once back at the hotel we all took a nap.  Amazing how the sun can zap your energy!

Today was a low key day catching up with school and homework and Wednesday we are planning on going to the town of Zipaquira to visit the salt cathedral.  We have been told by many that it is a must see!! We are going to have Freddy take us there.  Freddy has been a driver for many of our friends and he tells us he knows all the best places!  We are really looking forward to meeting him!!
This evening an American family arrived to finish up their process.  They are from New Orleans and have adopted 3 boys ages 15,12 and 7.  Isaac spent the entire evening playing with them and using both Spanish and English.  It was so nice to visit with their parents!! They will be here for a week or 2 so we are excited for Isaac to have someone to play with and for us to have adult conversation!! There is also an Italian family who arrived who are adopting an 8 year old little girl.  We are excited to meet her also!!

Before I post pictures I thought I would tell you a few things about our sweet girl!

She LOVES her brother.  I think he gets the most smiles and giggles out of her!!
She is using her hands A LOT and is clearing the table when given a chance!  This is HUGE progress for her.
She is doing really well with solid food.  She is eating banana, avocado, mango, carrots, squash, pears, apples, and rice cereal
She sucks her thumb and pointer finger to go to sleep
She is rolling all over the place, back to front, front to back
She loves sitting and is almost doing this independently...again HUGE progress for her
She gets REALLY mad and REALLY crabby when she is tired or hungry!  :-) If these 2 things are met she is really smiley and content.
She wakes up still once or twice in the night
She has discovered shaking her head no and grunting...so funny and she can be so loud!
She LOVES water of any sort, pool or bath!!
She is learning that when she cries she gets scooped up and comforted so going to sleep is becoming more of a challenge.  She doesn't want to miss out on anything!
She loves going for walks and being outside.  She just takes it all in.
She still has reflux and spits up fairly frequently so you will find her sporting the latest fashion in bibs quite often.  You may also find us with rainbow colored streaks on our outfit for the day! :-)
She goes to bed around 8, awake around 12 or 1, again around 4 and then up at 7:30.  She has slept until 7:30 without waking at 4.  We are hoping this pattern continues. :-)
If she sees you making the bottle it is all over!! :-)
She is constantly moving her legs or arms...she gets so excited and it is funny to watch.
She loves being naked or only in a diaper.  The minute you start dressing her you hear about it! :-)
Her hair is growing!!
She loves all her toys and loves chewing on a a spoon at dinner!
She is constantly gnawing on things.  Maybe teeth coming soon?

I can not wait for you all to meet her!!!

Thought I would also post a few things about our sweet boy!

He loves his kindle..LOL..you can find him reading or playing games a lot!
He has been doing really well with his school work...can be a bit of a challenge to do more if he takes a day off but he is doing better than I expected!
He really misses his friends and his grandparents.  We have not heard him say anything about wanting to go home yet though!
He loves teasing Juanita and Valeria and Tulio ...hiding and popping out at them scaring them!!
He loves almost everything Juanita makes for him and is very willing to try new foods!
He loves figuring out the $ here.  He wants to bring pesos back for his class.
He is a huge helper and is always willing to go and grab things we need.  He loves to feed his sister, hold her and entertain her!  When she is crabby he always seems to have a fix!
He LOVES to swing...here at the hotel or at the park.
He is an AMAZING translator!!
He worries sometimes that people are staring at him and his blond hair.  You may find him with his hood up in public places at times.  I tell him they think he is "muy guapo"  meaning handsome!  :-)
He loves the weather here and LOVED being in the pool this past weekend!
He will NEVER turn down a date to the local ice cream shop!! :-)
He keeps himself busy with legos, books, umbrella forts, stuffed animals, writing a journal, playing outside and movies!  He is also loving all the family time we are having!!
I continue to be so proud of him and all the adjustments he is making.  I am so glad that he is the age he is and will be able to remember this experience!!
He thanks God every night for being in Colombia and for the fun he is having and for his sister.  Melt my heart!!

Isaac and A-
I sit here with tears in my eyes giving praise to God that you are my children.  I have waited so long for the day where I could hold you BOTH in my lap.  I thank God for this amazing blessing and responsibility he has given your dad and I.  I promise to love you both unconditionally all the days of my life and will look to God to help me guide you.  A, you are such a blessing to us and we are so thankful you are finally here with us.  All the waiting and paperwork is so worth the blessing of having you with us.  You are a beautiful little girl and we LOVE you so much.   Isaac, you are an amazing big brother.  I am so proud of the boy that you have become and love your HUGE heart.  You will always be my favorite boy in the whole world!  I love you bud!! I promise to pray daily for you both as you grow up to love Jesus and other people.  Thank you for the blessing you both are to me.  Thank you for the joy you bring.  God loves you both more than I ever could.  Thanking him for your presence in my life!!

Children are a gift from the Lord, they are a reward from Him.  Psalm 127:3  NLT

Pictures for you:

One of many signs on the road.  Many turns and a lot of patience when you get stuck behind very slow trucks!!

Many many tropical flowers for sale

A quick shot of the countryside.  It was very cloudy!

Freshly made arepas!! The buses would stop and purchase these in containers for all the people riding!  This family was very sweet!!  They were so proud and let me take pictures!  I wish I could bring some back for all of you!! 

The beginning process of making the arepas.  First bowl is corn and the second is the cheese filling.

Diego found this little dog lying underneath the warm stove!

Tropical wilderness!  It felt as if we were in the rainforest at times!  This trip reminded us of the road to Hana in Maui if you have ever been.  Winding roads and constantly changing beautiful landscape.  

Buenos Noches!!!

PARADISE!!

Tomorrow will be our last day at this beautiful resort!  We have had an amazing time that is for sure! This place is really geared toward families and we are so glad that we took Cecilia's recommendation to visit.  AMAZING!! It has felt like a vacation within a vacation.  It has been warm 85-90 every day.    It rained one night overnight but that was all.  It is strange because it will get very overcast and you will hear thunder in the distance but no rain and then 15 minutes later the sun will be shining.  The tropical flowers and landscape are beautiful!  The resort is situated in the middle of a mountain that over looks the valley.  It is a bit humid at times but we spend a lot of time in the pools they have here.  A has done amazing as we were not sure how she would do in the heat.  She loves hanging out in just a diaper so she has done well!!  Our room is not air conditioned but there are fans so that has also kept us cool.  We have heard that true Colombians don't believe in using air conditioning!!

The resort consists of "cabanas" or cabins with balconies for families to stay in.  There are also several main buildings that have a play room for kids, work out area, tennis courts, volleyball courts, entertainment area with ping pong and air hockey, a little store the boys visited for pop and candy  and a few areas with TVs.  There is a full restaurant on site that has amazing food at very reasonable prices and free breakfast.  We have been enjoying typical Colombian food, wraps, crepes, seafood etc.  There is a zero entry kid pool and a large pool and 2 hot tubs.  Isaac met a friend Lucas who is visiting here from North Carolina.  His mom was born here and married an American in college and moved to the US 20 years ago. She is here visiting her family.   Many families here ask us where we are from, why we are here, how long we are here etc.  Once again we are so impressed with how friendly people are.  Many people we have met speak more than one language so are always willing to help when we are struggling with our Spanish.  A few of the staff here have wanted to work with us to work on their English.  So nice!!

Jeff and Isaac have been having a lot of adventures and quality time together.  They played tennis together and jumped on the trampoline yesterday!  Jeff was excited to learn that they have a tennis pro here that will play against you for 5$ an hour.  He was a really good match for Jeff and Jeff had a blast!!  Isaac, A and I went to watch!  Today Jeff played tennis again and then he and Isaac went horse back riding.  They have 5 horses that people can ride and another 3 young ones who are in training.  This was Isaac's first time on a horse.  He was thrilled and a bit nervous!  He was also super excited to learn that the horse was the same age as him! HA!  Jeff had a hard time telling the horse which direction to go!  I wish I would have been able to capture that on video! Majority of our afternoons are spent in the pool.  Today the lifeguard asked Isaac if he is a fish! :-)

We have really enjoyed our time together and all the family time that we are having.  We are looking forward to heading back to the city tomorrow.  We plan to go and see some more of the sites this next week.  Isaac is doing so well.  Hard to believe tomorrow marks 4 weeks here.  I asked him today if he was ready to go home.  His response was he wants to go back to the city but is not ready to go home-home yet!!  He misses seeing all his friends and grandparents but is really enjoying all the time here and the weather.

Here are more pictures for you:

One of many super cool bugs Isaac found! Praying Mantis!

Not a bad view each morning!

Psalm 104:24 - O LORD, how manifold are your works! In wisdom has thou made them all: the earth is full of your riches. 

Planning to go to Anapoima!!

It was a lazy couple of days getting ready to travel out of the city for the weekend.  On Wednesday we had to go back to the private casa to get some paperwork stating that we are allowed to take Baby A out of the city.  Being we are in the court process there is a lot of paperwork we carry with us at all times being she is in our custody.  We had a low key day and headed to El corral for lunch after Isaac finished his school work.  It is spring break at school next week so he asked if he could work harder these next few days and then not have to do as much next week.  Sure! Great plan Bud!!  :-)  Pilar picked us up that afternoon to go to our meeting.  It was quick and we were able to talk to the director of the casa.   She was not aware which court we are in and we have been told that they are not telling people any longer.  SO we really don’t know and the director told us to just RELAX!!   We are trying to but it would be nice to know although it has always been speculation as to which court is good and which court is slow!! :-)

We are headed to a private club that our in country representative brought her children to for many years and she was able to make a reservation for us for a long weekend.  Diego had agreed to drive us out of the city and come back to pick us up.  Anapoima is about 2 hours outside of the city.  It is known for having some of the best weather in the country.  It is warm-80-90 and sunny.  The weather here is unpredictable these days so we are not sure if this will be the case.  It has been raining in the city every afternoon around 3 for about an hour or so.  Cecilia said this is not typical for this time of year.  Sounds like the weather in MN.  Not typical!! Isaac is excited as Cecilia told him that they have a beautiful pool!!

On Thursday we headed over to the mall to find some sandals as we did not come prepared for hot weather!  We went to TGI Fridays for lunch-a little taste of home! We like to go out for lunch to get us out and about and it costs about the same as if we were to eat at our hotel if we split things.  It is fun to taste new foods and visit new places but we also love having typical Colombian food for lunch too which Juanita is always excited to make for us.  We spent some time in the arcade at the mall again per Isaac’s request.  After we got back we packed up.  Being our hotel is not busy Katya was fine with us leaving all of our stuff in our room and won’t charge us while we are away.   Hotel Paris has truly become our home away from home!  We thought we would pack just a weekend bag but we forget how much stuff you need with a baby in tow! :-)

Friday am Diego picked us up around 9 am and we were off.  It took almost 1 hour just to get out of the city.  The city puts restrictions on times that people with certain license plate numbers can drive to try and control the traffic.  For example if the plate ends in an 8, you can drive on even days all day but if it ends in a 9 you can not drive during the hours of 6:30-9:30am and then again from 3-7pm on an even day.  Diego said that it is meant to try and get people to carpool, however people are smart and just own more cars with different plate numbers.  The restriction is lifted from 9:30-3.  You would think once the "rush hour" is over it would be OK, but really the traffic gets worse!  

Once out of the city it was a lot of driving in the mountains to get to the club.  The views were absolutely breathtaking at times.  It felt as if we were driving through a tropical area with mountains and very deep valleys.  There was bamboo everywhere, many flowers even along the road, lush green scenery, and many views of valleys in the mountains. There were fresh fruit stands everywhere with literally hundreds of mangos and many other types of fruit for sale.  Many tropical flowers in buckets for sale.  My camera was packed away so I will be sure to get some pictures on the way home as we will take the same way back.   In certain parts the road signs had the squiggley line as there were many turns and there were also many 90 degree turns going through the mountains.  No direct way to drive when going through mountainous areas.  Diego had us listening to his favorite Colombian music the entire ride!!

There were a lot of eye opening moments for Isaac (and for us) driving through some very impoverished areas.  He saw how many people on typical farms live with tin roofs, laundry hanging on the line, very thin cows tied out in the front yard, chickens roaming about, freshly butchered meat hanging in the window, and dogs that were very skinny.  He saw many houses built right along the edge of the land fill.  He has learned a lot about people living in impoverished areas who do not have a lot with our sponsor kids living in Africa and Haiti from World Vision and Compassion.  He has seen videos at church talking about the importance for clean water and how far people have to walk to get clean water.  He has learned about the importance for families to have a cow for milk, or chickens for eggs with our sponsor kids.  We talk a lot about being thankful for what we have and ways that we can help and be gracious to people.  It was a lot to take in and I am sure there will be many conversations to come.  

We arrived around noon and got settled in.  We checked out the pool and the restaurant. We are really looking forward to a great weekend!!  It is absolutely beautiful here with many views of the mountains and the valley.  We have a cabana which is like a very large room with 3 beds and a baby bed, a balcony and a bathroom.  I will post some pictures this weekend!! :-)

Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus. (1 Thessalonians 5:18 NLT)