Up the mountain and house call #3... yes... #3

View as we went up the mountain

We saw a VERY different side of Medellin... extreme poverty... as far as we could see... very sad




A school

Que tal! (Hi!),

Bethany didn't make it through the night; she got up around 4:00 a.m. with a high fever and got sick again. At 8:00 a.m. she was fine and by 9:00 her fever was back up to 102.9. Bethany and I stayed in while Jim and Windy went to the orphanage and got her passport photos. Jim called around 1:30 p.m. and Bethany was feeling good and really wanted to get out (me too!!). We met in the lobby and headed out with Gloria to go up the mountain. As we were getting on the Metro to get the metro-car, we all noticed Windy was getting very quiet. Come to find out she had never been on a Metro; it was very crowded and she was scared. As we were riding the Metro and heading towards the metro-car, we noticed the change in scenery. It was endless miles of poverty. Boy did we feel like a minority and we were getting a ton of stares. Jim heard someone say something about "Gringos". I told Jim to get used to the stares because we are going to get a ton of them in the US, but for other reasons. It's okay because it truly does not bother me and I'm proud that we are adopting from another culture. Anyway... after we got off the Metro and got into the metro-car and headed up the mountain, Windy began feeling much more relaxed and enjoyed the rest of the trip. Near the end, Bethany began to feel bad again. Come to find out, Gloria, her brother, and the counselor from the orphanage had all been sick over the weekend. Gloria said that there is a virus going around because of the rain (her daughter is a doctor here in Medellin). When we returned to the hotel, Bethany's fever was very high again. Since we know that we will have to travel to Bogota soon and then back to the US, we wanted to be sure that this was a virus and not a bacterial infection. The doctor came to our room and examined her. She said the exact same thing Gloria said... she said it's almost like an epidemic that spreads when the weather is like this. She offered Bethany either a shot for her fever and pain or pills.... well, obviously we all know which one she chose. The translator from the hotel went downstairs to the hotel pharmacy and picked up her medicine and brought it to us. She is feeling much better, but then again the pill is supposed to last eight hours. We'll see how tomorrow goes.

The following is some interesting information you may enjoy; I borrowed it from Laura's blog:

October is Colombian National Adoption Month

Some statistics about Colombian adoptions:(from 2005)
3,542 Children adopted
1,484 Adopted by Colombian families
2,058 Adopted by foreign families
3,046 Adopted through ICBF (Colombian foster system)
496 Adopted through Casa Privadas (private adoption homes/orphanages)
291 US immigrant visas issued for adoptions from Colombia
Only about 10% of all foreign adoptions in Colombia are to US families. Most are to Europe and Australia I believe. Of the adoptions in 2005 they are almost evenly split between boys and girls. With the closing of most Guatemalan adoptions I suspect we will see an increase in the requests for adoptions in Colombia from Americans, especially as families that have already adopted from Guatemala are looking for a Latino sibling for their child/ren.

Thanks Laura for this information.

I may have mentioned that we have not been able to get Windy to eat any vegetables. We haven't really tried hard; I figured we will work on that at home. Jim and I assumed she probably never really had to eat them... well, we were wrong. While Jim was at the orphanage, the counselor told him that she had veggies everyday... she ate lettuce, tomatoes, and carrots with dressing. She also said that when Windy said that she loves "sopa" (soup), she is probably talking about what they fixed there. Basically it was pureed carrots and peas... a.k.a. baby food. The soup here is in rich sauces and way too much for her. It was really funny tonight because Jim sat her on the bed and told her that he spoke with her counselor. He took out her Spanish/English picture dictionary. He told her that he was told that she used to eat (as he pointed to the various veggies) carrots, lettuce, and tomatoes. She just said ahhhhhhhhh!!!! He said, "In Ingles (English)... you're busted!!!" The orphanage told Jim that she ate whatever was put down in front of her; she's never had choices. This tells me exactly how I am going to have to handle her eating... like Jim said, "Busted!!!"

I'm going to close. Windy just came in and wanted to pray for the children at Casa de Maria... I know the Lord has great plans for her!!!

Chao,
Kathy