Hola Mis Amigos!!
Yes, we are very excited about tomorrow. Bethany keeps walking around tonight saying, "I can't believe we're going to South America". We are desperately going to miss everyone, but it will be worth it. It's almost 8:30 p.m. and I'm just finishing up with a few items. We want to get to bed early because Pastor Todd wants to have prayer for us in both services in the morning. Jim's mom is coming to first service with us and then our dads are going to drive us up to JFK . We're staying at the Marriott and then catching the 3:30 a.m. shuttle to the airport. Yes, it is an early flight, but it's non-stop and only 5 1/2 hours. We'll arrive in Medellin 11:30 a.m. (they're one hour behind us). I've heard it's a beautiful landing with all of the mountains; hopefully we'll have a pretty day and will be able to enjoy the view.
Well, we'll probably write again after we get settled. Please keep us in your prayers. We're praying that the Lord will blend us together and that she will feel that she is loved and is truly part of our family. We also pray that the Lord will use us while we are there to minister to others and show them the love of Christ.
Chao,
Catalina
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Eight days and counting!!
As I'm sure you can imagine, we've been working hard all week trying to prepare for our trip. After checking out our daughter's size and weight on on-line charts, I realized she is probably only one size behind Bethany. There are probably going to be many things that they both can fit in. I've spent all day so far bringing out and washing all of Bethany's things that I just put away last season. I wish I knew her shoe size... I might email the agency to see if they can find out for me.
A huge thanks to Mandy for translating for us!!! I was able to send her different statements that I may need to use when attempting to convey to either a server at a restaurant or a food vendor regarding Bethany's peanut allergy; Mandy sent them to me in Spanish. I'm going to Staples Tuesday and have several copies laminated (English on one side - Spanish on the other). We will be able to hand one of these to anyone that does not clearly understand English and they will know exactly what and why we need a food item checked. We also are bringing two brand new Epi-Pens to be safe. I also found out this week that the Intercontinental has a doctor on premises... very nice!!!
Buenos tardes,
Kathy
A huge thanks to Mandy for translating for us!!! I was able to send her different statements that I may need to use when attempting to convey to either a server at a restaurant or a food vendor regarding Bethany's peanut allergy; Mandy sent them to me in Spanish. I'm going to Staples Tuesday and have several copies laminated (English on one side - Spanish on the other). We will be able to hand one of these to anyone that does not clearly understand English and they will know exactly what and why we need a food item checked. We also are bringing two brand new Epi-Pens to be safe. I also found out this week that the Intercontinental has a doctor on premises... very nice!!!
Buenos tardes,
Kathy
Friday, September 14, 2007
We have our visas and hotel booked!!
Hola!!
We received our visas today... wow, that was really nice not having to drive back to D.C.!! We did make our reservations for a junior suite at the Intercontinental Hotel. From the pictures on their web-site, it looks like an absolutely beautiful resort. From what we've been told, there are many people there that speak English and they will be able to assist us... muy importante!!! We have heard nothing but good things from many different people, so we feel very comfortable with our choice. Now we need to decide which hotel we are going to stay in when we go to Bogota for the end of our trip. That's not going to be very difficult... many good choices, but it still needs to be done.
Chao,
Catalina
We received our visas today... wow, that was really nice not having to drive back to D.C.!! We did make our reservations for a junior suite at the Intercontinental Hotel. From the pictures on their web-site, it looks like an absolutely beautiful resort. From what we've been told, there are many people there that speak English and they will be able to assist us... muy importante!!! We have heard nothing but good things from many different people, so we feel very comfortable with our choice. Now we need to decide which hotel we are going to stay in when we go to Bogota for the end of our trip. That's not going to be very difficult... many good choices, but it still needs to be done.
Chao,
Catalina
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Travel plans are set and our visas are on their way!!!
A LOT has happened in this last week. I've been so busy with the adoption and with two major church events this past weekend, I haven't had time to post. We are set to leave Sunday, September 30th, after church to head up to the airport hotel at JFK. We have a direct flight to Medellin (yeah!!) that leaves 7:00 a.m. on October 1st. It's a 5 1/2 hour flight, so not too bad. Of course, when to plan our return tickets is a huge guessing game. We went by the time Gina and Jim took. According to their blog, it looked as though it took them exactly four weeks. As of now, our return will be October 30th. Please pray that if it's the Lord's will, we will be able to return home much earlier than that.
The Lord really looked after us yesterday; we had to drive into D.C. to personally apply for our visas. For those of you who have ever attempted to drive in that city know that it's a total nightmare. We prayed before we left our driveway and everything went perfectly... no missed turns and we found extremely close parking!! Come to find out, we brought WAY too much paperwork than what their policies said we needed. The gentleman said since the orphanage was so well known, he didn't need all that paperwork. During my emails with them, they told me that we would have to drive back in order to pick up our visas. When the gentleman found out how long of a drive we had, he told us to go down the block and purchase a pre-paid FedEx envelope. He said he would have them ready today and send them right out. What a blessing not to have to take the time and gas to drive back over there. We will have our visas on Friday!!
Hasta luego,
Kathy
The Lord really looked after us yesterday; we had to drive into D.C. to personally apply for our visas. For those of you who have ever attempted to drive in that city know that it's a total nightmare. We prayed before we left our driveway and everything went perfectly... no missed turns and we found extremely close parking!! Come to find out, we brought WAY too much paperwork than what their policies said we needed. The gentleman said since the orphanage was so well known, he didn't need all that paperwork. During my emails with them, they told me that we would have to drive back in order to pick up our visas. When the gentleman found out how long of a drive we had, he told us to go down the block and purchase a pre-paid FedEx envelope. He said he would have them ready today and send them right out. What a blessing not to have to take the time and gas to drive back over there. We will have our visas on Friday!!
Hasta luego,
Kathy
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
We've got the "green light" to travel!!
Hola Amigos/Amigas,
I literally spent the entire day emailing, faxing, and placing phone calls for our adoption. I won't bore you with the numerous amount of items I dealt with, but the bottom line is we're not having to wait for papers to be sent all over the place (as I mentioned in yesterday's post). Apparently Casa de Maria already approved us in June. Today I was emailed all of the documents that we need for our visas, but the orphanage is asking us to wait until the end of September to travel and then pick her up on Monday, October 1st. Due to some commitments Jim has the last weekend of the month, we're asking to travel either October 1st or 2nd. Earlier today I was told that it would be fine, but later today I got a mixed response. Hopefully tomorrow we will be able to work out the date and purchase our flight tickets.
Some of you may have noticed that we haven't mentioned her name; that's because we were not sure what we were going to do regarding this issue. Three years ago when we thought about adopting from Guatemala, we had picked out the name Belicia (Bay lee see ah) which means "dedicated to God". While you are in Colombia, you cannot change a child's first name if they are over the age of three (3), so we thought about changing her name when we returned to the US (only if she agreed). Today we found out we could write in our acceptance letter a new middle name, so we decided to do that. As of now, her name will be Windy Belicia Baker. We will call her Windy while in Colombia and hopefully make the transition to Belicia. We'll pray about it because we do not want to upset her.
Chao,
Kathy
I literally spent the entire day emailing, faxing, and placing phone calls for our adoption. I won't bore you with the numerous amount of items I dealt with, but the bottom line is we're not having to wait for papers to be sent all over the place (as I mentioned in yesterday's post). Apparently Casa de Maria already approved us in June. Today I was emailed all of the documents that we need for our visas, but the orphanage is asking us to wait until the end of September to travel and then pick her up on Monday, October 1st. Due to some commitments Jim has the last weekend of the month, we're asking to travel either October 1st or 2nd. Earlier today I was told that it would be fine, but later today I got a mixed response. Hopefully tomorrow we will be able to work out the date and purchase our flight tickets.
Some of you may have noticed that we haven't mentioned her name; that's because we were not sure what we were going to do regarding this issue. Three years ago when we thought about adopting from Guatemala, we had picked out the name Belicia (Bay lee see ah) which means "dedicated to God". While you are in Colombia, you cannot change a child's first name if they are over the age of three (3), so we thought about changing her name when we returned to the US (only if she agreed). Today we found out we could write in our acceptance letter a new middle name, so we decided to do that. As of now, her name will be Windy Belicia Baker. We will call her Windy while in Colombia and hopefully make the transition to Belicia. We'll pray about it because we do not want to upset her.
Chao,
Kathy
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
We received the final piece of the puzzle!!!
Another exciting day!!!! Besides celebrating our 14th wedding anniversary today, we received the social report today. This is what happens next... we have to FED-X our acceptance documents and a small photo album to CHSFS (the adoption agency), their committee officially approves the match, and sends our documents and photo album to Casa de Maria. Their committee officially approves the match, sends CHSFS the certified papers we need for our visas, and then CHSFS sends the papers to us. The papers give us the official "green light" to travel and tells us when we need to arrive in Colombia. It should take about 1 1/2 weeks from now for us to receive our papers. At that time, we can make our travel arrangements and then apply for our visas.
Buenos noches,
Catalina
Buenos noches,
Catalina
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