Presentation Day

The day has arrived!  Our travel into Bogota went off mostly without a hitch.  We found a very loving and supportive group of people in the FANA staff, our drivers, El Refugio staff, and other adoptive families staying here at El Refugio.  We know we are in the right place!  After a near sleepless night, we arrived at FANA for the big day.  We were anxious and nervous, but so excited to meet our little boy.  Emanuel was ushered into the Green Room with a host of FANA staff who obviously love him dearly.  He was tentative at first, as can be expected, as our Skype sessions could only go so far to introduce us to him.  With some old hits performed by us from the Harris Variety Show Act Vol I - V, he gradually warmed to us.  As the day went on, he started to relax around us more, and we were able to coax a few beautiful smiles out of him.  He is an energetic boy; walking, kicking balls, batting balloons.  He also loves his stackable balls (thanks Steph & Chris) and eats like a champ.  Mama and Papa feel so lucky to have this beautiful son.  It's been a long and glorious day.  We hope that the whole family can muster more than a few hours of sleep tonight. We are so thrilled to be his family and can't wait for his little personality to unfold further.

We were unable to get a family picture at the presentation.  Hopefully we'll capture one soon.

All for now,
Leah, Jeff & Emanuel

Adios Old Man Winter

Hurray!  Jeff and I will be arriving in Bogota Wednesday evening.  We had one last Skype with Emanuel today, in which Luis confirmed our presentation will be Thursday.  Let the adventure begin!  We are anxious, nervous, and THRILLED!

 

Harris Variety Show, Act 3: Conejito y Perro

We have had several "busy" Skypes with Emanuel.  It is a near impossible task to capture a 17th month old's attention.  Mom and Dad busy themselves by employing a variety of set changes.  These include:  singing and dancing, playing a variety of musical instruments, stacking then knocking over blocks, reading a book in Spanish, running a choo-choo train, and show casing Westy's tricks, which are rather limited.  Emanuel is most drawn to the Goodnight Moon Bunny dancing across the screen and the choo-choo train whistle.  During these Skypes we have learned that his current favorite occupation is playing with balls and he has just learned to kick.  We are speculating Emanuel might be the next Pele, however he would have to trade in his overalls for soccer shorts and cleats.

Here is another photo of Emanuel, age 12 months.  We're hoping to receive clearance to travel in a few days so that we can finally be together as a family.

The Preparations

As we are getting extremely anxious to travel to Colombia, the preparations to leave, especially the unexpected ones, have kept us nervously occupied.  Jeff and I thought it would be a relatively easy project to paint Emanuel's room.  What were a few spots to scrape off loose paint mushroomed into layers of 80+ years of paint coming of the wall in sheets, down to the plaster.  Oh the joys of owning an older home.  All four walls in Emanuel's room require scraping, sanding, priming, re-mudding, sanding and priming again, then painting.  After days of working on this, we decided to hire a professional, Hank.  Hank now has the flu and we are wondering if Emanuel's room will ever be finished.

A Blizzard Babymoon

An anticipated peaceful babymoon trip to Chicago to obtain our visas from the Colombian Consulate turned into the "Amazing Race" due to historically treacherous weather conditions.  The day we flew in, a foot of snow dropped in Chicago.  And to think I wasn't going to bring my winter boots.  The next day (the day of our consulate appointment) there were -50 degree wind chills and the governor of Illinois declared a state of emergency, in which all government building were closed.  Luckily, the consulate was open and we were able to obtain our visas with little complication.  Flying home proved to be another obstacle,

as a majority of underground fuel lines at O'hare had frozen.  However, we made it home.  Mission Accomplished!

Our Storks

It is funny the details you remember during moments of complete surprise (understatement) in the ordinary happenings of your daily life.  The night Jeff and I got our referral it was just another evening spent making dinner after work.  Followed by:

• Phone call from Dana.  Jeff making plans to meet Chuck and Dana out for dinner before going to the FANA Camp of Dreams dance the next evening.
• 5 minutes later, a knock on the door.  Westy (our dog) going nuts.  Jeff in a panicked voice "put the dog in the backyard NOW!"
• Myself thinking:  "That is strange, it must not be a solicitor.  My hands are covered in bacon grease, I smell like bacon, the house smells like bacon.  What are those little people voices I hear?

Joaquin and Tomas delivered the best news of our lives:  "It's a Boy!"  Since then there has been much celebration!  Including a trip that night to the Frozen Yogurt shop with Chuck, Dana, Joaquin, & Tomas.  Later that week we celebrated with the other Ochocki Family in our lives (Chris, Stephanie, Chelsea, & Aubrey) with a delicious "It's a Boy" chocolate cake.  That too was a surprise, well sort of, until Chelsea Bear announced instantaneously upon our arrival, "there is a surprise in the refrigerator for you".

This Thanksgiving and Holiday season has been a true blessing for Jeff and myself.  We are tremendously grateful for the support and generosity of family, friends, FANA families, neighbors, and colleagues.  We have realized that not only do you need a village to raise a baby, but you need a village to prepare for a baby.
Thank you all!  We love you!