colombia travel journal

The photos have moved!

If you are looking for the Daniel photos, check out his new page!

12/20/04 10:15 p.m. - mst

Well, we've been home for a little over a week now and we are getting settled in. The day after we arrived home, we had an open house and were amazed at the number of friends and family that showed up to see our new bundle of joy. Even our new friend, Fernando came over with his family.

Our house has become a giant playroom full of toys, blankets and baby food and containers. Sunny (our dog) was a bit jealous, but she is beginning to really love her little brother.

Sunday we went to church and announced that we were home. Everyone was excited to see Daniel. Judy Miller got teary eyed once again as she held Danielito.

This week I'm back to work and thankfully things are a bit slow at the office. I've been able to settle in and get back in the work routine. Meanwhile, Karen is learning a whole new routine with Daniel at home.

Tonight I added some new photos of the little tike on his personal page... Check them out!

12/08/04 6:05 p.m. - mst

This week has truly been a flurry. Karen and I have been traveling all over Bogotá getting documents in order for Daniels return home. Things have progressed faster than we thought they would and believe it or not.... we may be coming home THIS FRIDAY! Yes, Friday the 10th of December. We have moved our flight tickets and if all goes well tomorrow at the US Embassy, then we will be on a plane headed home Friday morning.

Our flight is scheduled to get in late Friday night. There is another flight connecting from Atlanta earlier than ours and we may be able to get on it. But there is no guarantee. If we get the early flight, we should be home around 6:30 pm. If it's the late flight, it will be around 11:30 pm.

There is also a remote possibility that our visa for Daniel won't be ready tomorrow. If that's the case, we will be stuck here until early next week. We would then probably return home on Tuesday evening (assuming we could get flight tickets).

Everyone has been asking.... "When can we come see Daniel!!!?" Well, Shannon and Blake have been helping us coordinate a little "Open House" for Saturday morning. Family will come early (9am) and then we would like all of our friends to come over anytime after 11 am. Who knows how Daniel's schedule will be with taking naps, but we figure that everyone would just as well see him sleep if possible.

So, check your email Thursday night or Friday morning to make sure we are still on track with the visa, and if all is in order, we will see you Saturday! :-)

12/05/04 4:27 p.m. - klt

As the weekend is coming to a close, we are very anxious to find out the status of our paperwork tomorrow. We are eager to get things rolling so we can start planning our return home. It is nice to have this time away from reality; no errands, no bills to pay (we did all that before we left), no traffic to weave through. But at the same time, we are eager to get Daniel settled into the house and get prepared for Christmas. We have yet to buy one present for anyone. Well, I take that back, we have bought a few things for Daniel, of course.

Anyone who knows me well knows that I can't sleep without a pillow over my head. I've learned to get over that while we have been here and Daniel has been sick. I'm always in a partial sleep while listening to his breathing at the same time. I don't get great sleep that way, but I guess that is what parenthood is all about. I think that is why I nap every time that he does during the day. I woke up before him from our morning nap and he had the baby blanket over his head. I pulled it back, went into the bathroom and when I came out he had it over his head again. Guess he gets that from his mommy!!! Wherever he gets it, at least while he is sick, I'm not loving it.

Daniel is quite the talker. Or should I say yeller, screamer, and shouter. He loves to lie face to face on the bed and grab at our faces and SCREAM!! He likes for you to repeat his sounds. It makes him giggle ecstatically. I'm sure anyone that walks past our room and hears us thinks we are absolutely crazy.

I talk to my mom several times a day on instant messenger and every time that I do, I get more and more excited for her to meet Danielito and visa versa. I think that is one of the reasons I am so homesick, I miss my mom. I can't wait to see her when she picks us up from the airport. However cute she thinks he looks in pictures, I think she might actually pass out when she finally gets to see him. Everyday she asks me the same question, "When are you coming home?" and I tell her the same thing everyday…..WE DON'T KNOW YET! "Worst Case Scenario Peggy" is having a hard time with us being so far away and not being about to be nurse to Daniel. However many times I assure her that he is getting better and we are taking perfectly good care of him, she still worries. I guess that is only natural though.

Well don't worry Mom, we will be home soon enough! At least we hope so.

12/04/04 1:57 p.m. - mst

This morning I went with David to the Salt Cathedral while Karen stayed with Daniel in the room. It's a salt mine that has been turned into a cathedral. It was very cool. I took alot of photos, but they didn't come out that great. It's pitch black in the mines except for a few dim blue lights.

While I was out, the doctor came back to the room to see Daniel again. No real update for that, Daniel is still sick, but doing a little better. The doctor did tell us to take him in the bathroom and turn the shower on as hot as we could get it so it becomes steamy. Then pat his back to try to loosen up the infection.

12/03/04 9:54 p.m. - mst

Seems like I'm always one day behind on these updates. Yesterday we had a doctor come look at Daniel. She diagnosed him with bronchitis. As bad as that sounds, Karen and I are thankful that we know what the problem is and that we can now treat it.

The doctor also told us that he needs to stay indoors at all times. This isn't helping with my cabin fever, but I did get out to the market today to pick up a few things and started reading some of my USA Cycling Coach Manual.

12/02/04 10:11 a.m. - mst

The cabin fever is setting in for me. We would really like to get out and do something, but Daniel can't shake this cold. He was up all night with a cough and runny nose. It's hard to see him in such a miserable state.

We talked with Lucia the other night and she told us that things were going well with the paperwork and everything was approved. So now we sit and wait. She said it could be one day or it could be ten days for the "Final Decree" to come in. Once we have that, we have a few appointments to get Daniel a Passport, Visa, and he has a doctor appointment. Then we will be on our way home!

I haven't taken many photos the past two days because it's been raining and Daniel hasn't felt well. We did get outside for a few minutes this morning and I got a few that I'll probably put online tonight.

11/30/2004 9:05 a.m. - mst

Yesterday we didn't have time to do an update so I'm putting some thoughts down now while Karen and Danielito sleep.

Karen's been fighting off a cold all week and today is the worst it's been. She's been having trouble sleeping because of a runny nose and sore throat. Daniel has a slight chest cold too. You can really hear it at night. Both mommy and baby have been using a Vicks rub on their chest at night.

Yesterday morning we met with our attorney at ICBF after getting some documents notorized. His name is Oscar and seems like a great guy. He thinks that Daniel looks like his dad. He even asked if I had been in Bogota 2 years ago and possibly had met Daniel's birth mother. From ICBF, Oscar went right to see the judge to get things moving. We hope that things will move quickly and we'll be home sooner than expected.

In the afternoon we went out with our international friends and did some shopping. A few of them went to get crapes and waffles at a nearby cafe. Today 2 of the families that Karen and I really connect with are leaving. One lives in France and the other in Norway. The family from Norway is going on a "holiday" or vacation for 10 days. Then they come back to finalize paperwork.

It seems that the American families are pushed through a little quicker than the others. Karen and I can't figure it out. We aren't sure if it's the attorney we have, or the representative or something else.

Last night the Zuetana threw a party for Daniel and another baby girl that came in yesterday. We captured most of it on video and I hope to post it sometime today or tomorrow.

After dinner, Willman brought out his x-box. A few of the guys and I played a few games. Soccer was their favorite game of course. But they also broke out a boxing game and I showed them how it was done.

This afternoon we are planning on meeting another American woman and her family to go check out the mall. There are some 200 plus stores so I'm sure we'll find something.

Ok, I think I've said enough for now. We hope everyone at home and abroad is well and we'll see you soon!

11/28/2004 10:00 a.m. - klt

Yesterday was another great day with Danielito. He let us sleep in a bit longer, 6:30 am. That was good because he woke up almost every 2-3 hours during the night. He and I have chest colds so we were waking up quite often coughing. We had some breakfast and then headed out to walk around and do a little shopping. I think most people were very worried about us coming here because they feared it was a very dangerous city. We have found that much like large cities in the states, there are nice areas and areas to avoid. We are fortunately in a very nice area where we feel completely safe walking around. So, all of our friends and family who are worrying about us, breathe easy…..we are safe. We came back from shopping and had a great visit with Fernando Otera. He is the president of an organization in Indianapolis called SADCO. It is the Friends of Colombia Society. It is one of the largest Hispanic organizations in Central Indiana. It will be a nice tie to Colombia for Daniel over the years. Fernando came with his mom and dad and other family members. We had a nice time talking to them about Bogota and the bad impression most people have of the city. He recommended a few places for us to check out while we are here. He is here on a business trip and is headed to Medellin for a week and will be returning next Saturday. We are going to get together with he and his parents again for lunch next weekend. Since most of the families staying here are from Europe and we are the "stupid Americans" who didn't practice our Spanish enough before we came, it is good to have someone to talk to.

After they headed out Daniel went down for a nap and woke up with quite a "surprise" for us in his diaper. We realized we were going to run out of diapers if he had many more of those so we made a quick trip to the grocery store to get some supplies. It was around 5pm so the store was quite busy. We saw the most interesting thing there. Similar to stores in the states, they had a sample station set up in the store. However, instead of chicken fingers or stuffed raviolis, they were sampling Bailey's Irish Cream. We refrained since we were carrying Daniel in the Bjorn. Didn't think that would look too good if the adoptive parents from the US were hitting the sauce in the grocery store while buying baby supplies. We got a kick out of it though.

At dinner we attempted to feed Daniel some "Pollo y Vegetales" from the jar. It made him gag. So, we gave him the homemade "sopa" (soup). It was chicken and vegetables all pureed together. He loved it. Looks like I might become one of "those moms" that makes homemade baby food. What a spoiled little baby boy we have!

After dinner we headed back to the room, watched Finding Nemo and went to bed early. I put some vapor rub on both Daniel and myself which made for a great night of sleep. Daniel went down at 8pm, woke up at 11 for a bottle and then went back to sleep until this morning. Around 6 am I heard some noises coming from the crib and went over to find a very happy baby with his arms out for me to pick him up. I put him in bed with Matt and I and the three of us just cuddled and laughed for about 30 minutes. It was great. One of those moments we have imagined for a very long time.

Today we are headed to a farm for a party for our in country contacts grandchildren. The farm is 40 minutes outside of the city. It will be nice to get out of the city and see a bit more of Colombia.

11/26/2004 4:29 p.m. - klt

Today has been an amazing day with Daniel. He woke us up at 5 am. A little early for us, but we were so excited to wake up and realize yesterday hadn't been a dream. He is just the sweetest little guy on the planet. So affectionate and full of smiles. The only time he gets a little upset is when he doesn't get his bottle fast enough. Since we started the day so early, Daniel was ready for his first nap shortly after we had breakfast around 7:30 am. He didn't sleep long though, just 30 minutes. After he woke up we played for a little bit and then headed out on a shopping excursion. The area of Bogotá we are in is very nice and very clean. We headed to a market in the area that showcases Colombian goods. We bought a few things for Daniel, ourselves and friends & family. After that we headed to the grocery store to get a few snack items. The grocery store is VERY nice and upscale. We left the market and headed to a baby store. We bought Danielito a cute pair of doggy slippers that have rattles in the toe area. He LOVES them. The food here is great. It is so nice to not have to cook anything for weeks. For lunch today we had the best carne asada. I had some great carne asada a few years ago in San Diego and haven't been able to find anything that came close until today. After lunch all three of us took an hour nap. It was much needed, at least for Matt and me. Now it is just after 5 pm and we are relaxing in the den with some other families getting ready to watch Ice Age with the kids.

Before we left Mark Miller (our friend from church who has adopted two little girls from china and a little boy from Guatemala) called us with a few travel tips. One that he mentioned was to bring Cheerios. He said some kids will have trouble with eating, but that they always love Cheerios. Since Danielito is too small for them and he definitely doesn't have a problem with eating, we gave them to another family here whose little boy, Diego, isn't eating too well. He LOVED them. His parents ended up sharing them with another family who is having the same problem with their little girl Carin. So, thanks for the tip Mark. You helped out two other families and their new little ones.

I don't have any photos ready yet today to post online, but I did put together some video this morning. It's a long download and the quality isn't that great, but if you can't wait to see and hear him, follow this link! http://www.mtanner.com/video/day1-2_0001.wmv

11/25/2004 3:00 p.m. - mst

After a very long day of travel and some intimidating moments at the Colombia airport we were on our way in a taxi with our guide to our bed and breakfast (Zuetana). When we got to Zuetana we found out that they were all booked up, but a family from Minnesota was leaving in the morning. Claudia, the woman that runs the hotel, put us up in a 5 star hotel a few blocks away. The building was beautiful and our room was small, but very nice. It had elaborate wood work (cherry I believe) throughout. The bathroom was all marble.

I didn't sleep too well. With a snoring wife, a hard bed, and about 1000 thoughts going through my head I tossed and turned trying to get some sleep.

This morning a car came to pick us up from the hotel and we went to Zuetana. When we walked in there were adopted kids everywhere with families from all over the world eating breakfast. It was a somewhat powerful moment. We were the only Americans but we all had one thing in common.

One family that I've already taken a liking to is from Norway. They are about our age and have a young boy named Diego. He has a patch on his eye. It's not clear to me yet if it's a temporary thing or not.

Another family that Karen and I talked to for some time is from France. They have the sweetest little boy named Oscar. He's about 9 months and absolutely precious.

Sometime around 10am Lucia's son (David) came to pick us up to go get Daniel. David is a great guy and we talked the entire way to ICBF. He told us about the plans for the highway expansion and pointed out some people protesting. One guy was painted head to toe with gold paint. They were all blowing whistles and kazoos. Weird.

Once we got to CHI's offices we had to show them our cameras and the noted the model numbers. I guess camera theft is huge in Bogota. After that, David walked us to a room that was painted bright colors and had lots of toys in it along with three couches. He told us to have a seat and he would take care of some paperwork and then they would bring in Daniel.

Karen and I sat patiently (because that's all we could do) and waited for David to come back. All of the sudden, about 4 women and David appeared. One woman had Daniel. It was so weird seeing him for the first time. I guess it was just like Karen had given birth to him because we both knew that we'd be spending the rest of our lives with him.

Karen held him first and then I took a turn. It was kind of a whirlwind, David was telling us things that the other women were saying in Spanish. They showed us all of his medical information and a little photo album that his foster family had made. We got to see photos of him at Halloween and from when he was just a few months old.

I was pleasantly surprised to find out that Zuetana has wireless internet! So I can upload photos and email people from our room or the den if I like. This laptop was the best thing I've bought in a long time.