Happy New Year from our Home!

Happy New Year to all of you! As you can see we made it home! We arrived in Miami, Florida on Wednesday, December 19th. It was absolutely wonderful to see everyone at the airport and especially nice to get a huge hug and kiss from Sean....okay, and Gary too! :) Obviously, it has been quite a bit since I posted, but it has been very busy since we got home. Between getting Isabella settled and celebrating the holidays, it has been pretty hectic over here. But we are loving every minute of it. We truly enjoyed celebrating Christmas with the kids, as well as watching them get to know one another. They are doing great, and having fun with one another. It's just so cute to see.

As I write this, we are approaching the new year in about an hour. We are so thankful to have had a wonderful year last year, with it ending with the adoption of Isabella. Our hope is that we have an even better one next year, with lots of happiness, good health, and wonderful memories. Our hope is the same for all of you. Thank you to each and every one of you for your support, love, and of course comments and emails. Our adoption journey was even more special, as we were able to share it with you.

I am going to sign off to get ready for the new year, but please know that we will continue to post to this blog and give you updates on our family. Happy Holidays to all fo you, and have a wonderful New Year.

Hopefully we'll get to see you all soon, and introduce you to Isabella.

Lots of love -

The Lees

Gary, Deborah, Sean and Isabella

Muchas Gracias Colombia!!

I can't believe this will be my last post from Colombia. Wow, it has defintely been an exciting journey and a wonderful adventure. As I write this, it is very bittersweet for me. As much as I have wanted to come home, I am very sad about leaving Colombia. This place will always be very special to us. This country gave us our children. Colombia will always hold a very special place in our hearts for that very reason. I remember that when I signed off from our other blog, when we were adopting Sean, I wrote that I knew we would be back for a sibling for him. Well, this time, it is different. We don't know if we will be back for more children or not. We will have to see what life holds for us. But I do know, that we will be back to Colombia someday. This is Sean and Isabella's country and I know that we would like to bring them back here and show it to them. So, on that note, I will not say good-bye.... I will just say, we will see you again one day.

With all of my heart, I am signing off from Colombia. Thank you, Muchas Gracias, y Mi Todo Amor (all my love).

Buenas Noches from Colombia

Besos (Kisses) y Abrazos (Hugs),

The Lee Family

Gary, Deborah, Sean and Isabella

Visa - Check!

Now that's one tired girl. After all, she had a very busy day today, and had to go to the U.S. Embassy to apply for her Visa. Thankfully, everything went well and I will go back tomorrow afternoon to pick it up. Isabella will stay home with Nana, and will enjoy her last day in Colombia. But I think she is so tired from her busy day, plus her excitement to go home and see Daddy and Sean! And she's not the only one.... both Nana and I are extremely excited. We have most of our luggage packed, and will finish the rest tomorrow. Our day will be begin very early on Wednesday, and our driver will be coming to get us at 4:45 a.m. Yikes! But hey, we don't care...we're just so excited to go home.

So, tonight's post is going to be very short. We're feeling like how Isabella looks in this picture. It was just too cute, that I had to take the shot. She had just gotten done drinking a bottle and just fell asleep. She didn't even care that I was changing her diaper and trying to put her in some PJs without waking her up. And of coure, don't forget the sock, it is half off....and that is usually the state they are in...she is always trying to take them off.

Well, I better get to bed. I'm tired. I hope you all had a wonderful day. Stay tuned for tomorrow's post, as it will be our last one from Colombia!

Love you all.

Buenas Noches from Colombia

Sunday Walks

Over the many weeks I have been here, you have heard me talk about going to the market/fair on Sundays. I had posted some pictures of the fair before, and the hotel where they hold the fair, but I thought you might like to see what our "walk" is like. I mentioned in a previous post that they close some of the streets on Sundays (to cars) and allow the space to be used for walkers, joggers, rollerbladers, and even kids learning to ride bikes. So, today, we did our usual walk to the market/fair and I took some pictures of the road for you to see. If you look at the pictures, you can see that one side of the road is closed, and that is where everyone is walking, etc. (And if you look close enough, you might even see Nana and another Mom walking with the babies in their strollers.) On the other side of the road, you can see all the cars driving. It's actually pretty neat. It would be great to see them do this in U.S. so we would enjoy the same thing. I don't see it happening, but hey, it's an idea.

I also took a couple pictures of a Church that we pass every week. Several families from our hotel have gone to this Church for mass, and then they meet us at the market/fair afterwards. It's on the way, so it's very easy for the families to do. You can also see that they have some artwork displayed outside. This artist is there every week, and he makes out pretty good with everyone walking by on the closed street on Sundays. Then, the last thing I took a picture of was some dancing Santa Claus'. One of the shopping centers had it out on display on the street, and they defintely got some attention from all the little kids going by.

Other than our trip to the fair today, we didn't do very much. We have started some packing, and are definitely getting excited to head home. Tomorrow, I am taking Isabella with me to the U.S. Embassy to apply for her Visa. (We will then pick it up on Tuesday.) Nana is going to stay at the hotel tomorrow while we do that. We should only be gone in the morning and then we will come back and hopefully head out to a nice coffee shop we heard about. We are going to go with another Mom who got here on Saturday (from another region in Colombia) who is adopting the cutest 16-month-old little boy. They are here to do their Visa paperwork and are also hoping to head home (to Chicago) this week too.

Well, I better get to bed. Our driver is coming to get us very early tomorrow. Hope all of you had a nice weekend!

Love you all.

Buenas Noches from Colombia

Relaxing, Lazy Day

We were pretty lazy today, and just enjoyed a nice day indoors. We had planned on going out, but unfortunately it was a rainy day here so we weren't able to go anywhere. But it wasn't a wasted day. We had fun playing with Isabella and watching her try to turn over. (As you can see in the above pictures) She was so cute and so determined. She didn't do it yet, but it is definitely not for lack of trying. We also had our laundry done and got some goodie bags put together for the staff here. We want to make sure to leave them with some little gifts to thank them for all that they have done for us. The staff is so warm and accomodating, and have truly made our stay here very comfortable. We have gotten so used to having all of our meals made for us, bottles sterilized, laundry done and room cleaned. I am not sure I am going to remember how to do all of those things when I get home! :)

Well, we just got our laundry back, so I am going to start to pack some things up. We are hoping to get out tomorrow to go to the market/crafts fair that we go to every Sunday. This will finally be our last Sunday of going. It will be nice to go again and browse - just to make sure there isn't anything new there that we haven't seen in past weeks. Then on Monday, it's back to adoption paperwork, and then before we know it, we'll be on an airplane back home!!! :)

Love you all.

Buenas Noches from Colombia.

Plane Tickets Booked!

Today was a busy day, and Isabella was a busy girl! :) All for good things, though. Our day started with Isabella getting a bath, as you can see in the first photo. She doesn't care for the baths too much, but loves to play in the towel afterwards. Once that was done, we headed out with our driver to get Isabella's passport photo taken. She had to wear something dark to contrast the light background, so we chose a beautiful dress that Grandaddy (Gary's Dad) picked out for her. Great job Grandaddy! She looked absolutely adorable in it. And just for you I took a few pictures of her in it. She was having fun in her dress and was kicking her legs up playing too. So, once she had the right outfit (because you know girls are all about their outfits), she was ready for her picture. Okay, so it took a few tries, but they finally got a good shot that they could use for the passport. I took a picture of her passport photo for you to see. Isn't she just the cutest thing?!

After the passport photos and then getting her passport, we came back to the hotel for lunch and a litltle rest. Then later in the afternoon we went to see the U.S. Embassy doctor for her check-up clearance. Everything went well, and the doctor even said my face seemed familiar. I told him we had adopted Sean two years ago, and he was happy to see we were back. He asked how Sean was doing, and was joking with us on how his world is going to completely change once he has a sibling at home. haha But the doctor was very nice and it was a good visit with him. He said Isabella was great and to take her home! Yeah!!! And for those of you that are curious, she now weighs 13.2 pounds. She's a growing girl! :)

Once our busy day was over, Isabella was pooped and ready for bed. So, one of the last pictures is of her in one of her PJs that Nana bought for her. It looked so comfy and warm, and she was having fun playing in it. So, I had to take a picture.

And last but not least, I couldn't end this post without reiterating the title of this post.... our plane tickets are booked!! Gary helped us and he called the airlines and we are officially booked on a flight for Wednesday morning (12/19), and we arrive in Miami at 12 noon!!! Woohoo!!!

Well, I better get to bed. Tomorrow we are going to do some laundry and do last minute errands, and then maybe go out to dinner to celebrate.

Lots of love to all of you.

Buenas Noches from Colombia.

We Got Sentencia!!!!!

Well today started out like any other day. We woke up and it was a sunny day, so we decided to head to the mall to do some....yep, you guessed it... shopping! After the mall, it started to rain a little so we took a cab back home. As we were getting out of the cab and getting ready to walk into the hotel....the hotel owner came runnig out and had a huge smile on her face. She held her arms out (like for a hug) but I still didn't know what she was doing. Finally I just said, "Sentencia?" and she screamed "Yes!". Everyone started screaming and before you knew it, we were running full speed!!

After lunch, our favorite driver, Mario, came to get me to go sign our sentencia. The weather was nice by then, and we were soon on our way to downtown Bogota. We went into the courthouse and we finished up all of the paperwork there and then we were ready to go. But while we had been in the courthouse, it began pouring rain. And no, we did not have an umbrella, raincoat, pancho or really anything! :) So, we sat there waiting for the rain to die down, and finally we were able to make a break for it. It was still raining, but it was not a downpour like before. So, picture this, Mario and I are running through downtown Bogota, in the rain, carrying very important documents. Thankfully, one of the stores nearby gave us a plastic bag to put the papers in so that we could keep them covered as we ran to the car-- which was down the street and around the corner. Needless to say, it was a memorable trip to the courthouse. Mario and I had fun, and you can be sure I won't forget that trip!

After the courthouse, we had to go to the notary office to get Isabella's birth certificate changed (to have our names put on there). We got there around 4:30 p.m., and thankfully we were able to get in. Technically, they had stopped working at 4:00 p.m., but we had a very nice lady at the window that did the work for us. This was huge, because if we had not gotten that done today, we would have had to add that to our "to do" list for tomorrow. So now, tomorrow, we will take Isabella to get her passport photos done, and then she will have her doctor's appointment at the U.S. Embassy.

During the weekend, we won't be able to do any paperwork, but things will start up again next week. The plan is to go to the U.S. Embassy on Monday to apply for Isabella's Visa, and then we can pick it up on Tuesday afternoon. If all goes well, then we should be able to fly home Wednesday or Thursday!!!!!

So, I think I will sign of for the day, as it has been a busy one, and tomorrow will be too. But I wanted to make sure to thank all of you for your prayers, good thoughts, support, emails and comments to our blog. All of them mean so much, and we are so thankful to have all of you as our family and friends.

Lots of love to all of you.

Buenas Noches from Colombia.

P.S. I took some pictures of our hotel room. I thought you might like to see some shots of our "home away from home".

Rain Rain Go Away

Hi everyone. Sorry we didn't post yesterday. It has been rainy around here the last couple days, so we have just been having some lazy days. I took some pictures of the view from our window for the last couple days. Can you see the mountains through the rain? I have to admit, I love looking at them. Obviously, we don't have any mountains in Florida, so I am enjoying seeing them everyday in Colombia. But I could live without the rain, since we get plenty of that in Florida. :)

Yesterday we didn't do very much. As I said in my last post, we were going to go shopping again. We went to Maku and picked up a few things to take home. I picked up a couple t-shirts for Sean and Isabella, and a couple stocking stuffers too. It was a nice walk, and it was good to get out of the hotel. After the trip to Maku, the weather was bad, so we just relaxed in the hotel. We also did the same thing today, and didn't go out anywhere. The weather was gloomy all day and we were afraid we would get caught in the rain.

Things around the hotel are pretty much the same. There are still many families here, but they have all gotten sentencia already. They are just working on getting their last few documents done and they should all be leaving soon. We are the last ones here without sentencia, but we are staying postive that it will happen soon. We really believe we will get sentencia before the courts close, so we are just staying hopeful for that. In the meantime, we are still enjoying our time here. Isabella is a doll, and she is definitely worth the wait for sentencia. We are having such a good time with her, and she helps make the days pass.

Well, Isabella is already asleep and Nana and I are on our way to do that too. We hope each of you are well and enjoying the holiday season. (Oh, and speaking of holiday season....check out our one holiday decoration that we have in our room...it's the poinsetta in the picture above. One of the families that left this morning gave it to me. Now how can you not enjoy the holiday season - when you have a poinsetta in your room? :)

Lots of love to each of you.

Buenas noches from Colombia.

Expoartesanias 2007 - Corferias Bogota

Guess what we did today? We went shopping. Imagine that. :) Now, I know I have said this before, and by my recent blogs, you may not believe me. But I really don't like to shop. Just ask Gary - or anyone else that really knows me. So, I felt I needed to clarify in tonights post because many of you have been teasing me about all the shopping I have been doing. :) Yes, we have been out shopping quite a bit, but that is just because we are running out of things to do here. You either eat or shop. haha As you know, I went sight-seeing when Gary and Sean were here. But now we are just trying to keep ourselves busy during the week to help the days pass. So, we have been to many stores, shops and markets, but I am really not buying that much. After all, I need to be able to get all of these things home in my suitcases! Typically we are just going out for the day and walking around and I guess doing more "window-shopping" than anything else. So, to all of you know that I hate to shop...don't worry...I'm staying true to that! :) In fact, I told my Mom the other day that I didn't think I could do anymore shopping....but apparently that didn't last very long... as we did go out again today. But I guess the thing that is keeping me going is looking at all of the different things here in Colombia, and enjoying buying a few special things for Sean and Isabella from their birth country. So, on that note, let me tell you about the shopping we did today. haha

Today we went to "Coferias" in Bogota, and they were hosting "Expoartesanias 2007". If you are interested in seeing what it was like, here is the link to their English site: http://www.expoartesanias.com/en/index.cfm?lang=en I'm not sure how much you will be able to see from the site, but it was a very nice day trip. The Coferia was only 30 minutes from our hotel and we spent almost 3 hours there. It is similar to any Expo you have been to in the states, and a little like an indoor flea market, but much nicer. They had several buildings (about 8-9 of them) that were divided into categories (children's items, house decor, leathers, regional and international items, and of course plenty of food). We had a great time wandering around, and it was definitely worth wearing comfortable shoes. Mom picked up a couple things and I picked up some little things for the ladies that work here in the hotel. We had a nice time and it really helped the day pass.

We're not sure what we're doing tomorrow, but I think we are leaning towards going back to "Maku" which is a local artesan store with crafts made by Colombians. Pretty much everyone that stays at this hotel goes to this store at least once while they are here. This will be our second trip and we want to pick up last minute gifts. We want to make sure that once we get Sentencia, we can get out of here, and not have any last minute errands to run.

Well, that's it for us today. We hope you all had a nice day too.
Lots of love to each of you.

Buenas Noches from Colombia.

Street Performers and More Shopping

Another Sunday, and another trip to the local market & crafts fair at one of the nearby hotels. As usual, we had a good time there today. I took a picture of the hotel where we go every Sunday. The market/fair is in the courtyard of this hotel. Like I've said before, they have many things there to buy, from artwork, crafts, purses, clothing, jewlery, and much more. Also, while we were walking back today, we saw a street performer and I just had to take a picture. There are many street performers in Colombia and we see them many times at the major intersections.

After we went shopping today, we took it easy in the hotel for the rest of the afternoon. There was a thunderstorm, so we just decided to stay in. Then later in the afternoon we had a man come to the hotel that was selling emeralds. He had come earlier in the week and said he'd be back today to bring us some more things to look at. He had a lot of nice things, but my Mom and I didn't buy anything for ourselves. We didn't see anything that we absolutely loved. However, Isabella made out pretty well. I bought her a pair of emerald earrings. I always said that when we were adopting, that if we got a girl, I would want to buy her some earrings from Colombia. They are a tiny little pair that will look so cute on her.

Last but not least, I had to add some pictures of Isabella. She was playing with one of her toys and I just thought it was so cute.... especially the last picture when the toy covered half of her face. She looked so cute trying to figure out what had happened.

Well, that's it for today. We hope all of you had a nice weekend. Tomorrow the courts open again for the week, so if we're lucky, we'll hear some good news this week. We're thinking positive.

Love to you all.
Buenas Noches from Colombia.

My "Second" Birthday in Colombia

Today I celebrated my birthday in Colombia! It was my "second" birthday here. Okay, so you know I am MUCH older than two, but, it is my second birthday here. I celebrated my birthday here in 2005, as well, when we adopted Sean. And let me tell you, the ladies here can throw a party! :) Well, actually my Mom initiated the whole thing. She was so sweet and ordered two cakes for me for my birthday to share with everyone in the hotel. We all had a great time at dinner, and then of course dessert. I held Isabella as I blew out the candles.

After we had cake for my birthday, the ladies here got a little crazy and started blasting music from the kitchen. Next thing you know many of us are in the kitchen dancing to Colombian music. Then after the kitchen "party", everything moved outside to the backyard. Now, I would love to say that the party continued on because it was my birthday, but that's not the case. Today is actually a holiday in Colombia and they are celebrating - La Inmaculada Concepción - The Immaculate Conception. For this holiday, they light candles outside to light a path for the conception of Mary. It was really neat to see them do this tradition again this year. I was able to see it in 2005 as well. After they lit the candles, then the party began. Everyone was out there dancing and having a great time. Then the next thing we knew, bottles of Rum were coming out and glasses were being passed around. The party was just getting started.

Nana and Isabella had fun too. But Isabella kept a low profile and just watched the party. She sat with Nana by the Christmas tree and watched everyone outside. She must have been having so much fun, that it wore her out. Next thing we knew, she was fast asleep.

Anyway, it was a fun day here. As you can tell the night was a blast and during the day Mom and I went to Crepes & Waffles again. It was just as good as the first time. If we have time, I'm sure we will go again before we leave. Tomorrow we're off to the local market again.

Well, I better get to bed. Lots of love to all of you.
Buenas Noches from Colombia.

Another Step Closer

Today we found out we have finally completed a major step, and have been notified that our adoption documents have been approved and have entered the court system. So, beginning today, we start our wait for "sentencia". The courts close in Colombia for the holidays beginning Wednesday, Dec. 19th. However, like we said before, we should be home for the holidays, but we will be cutting it very close. Although, you never know what could happen, and we may get sentencia sooner than we expect. Either way, we are going to change our flights to get back home on 12/22, instead of 12/15. If for some reason we are able to get home sooner, than it is easier to change them back, then try to get seats on the plane closer to Christmas. Granted we are very anxious to get home, but we know that the best gift we could get for the holidays, is Isabella. So, until we hear sentencia, we are just going to keep shopping. haha Just kidding! Don't forget who is writing this. Someone who doesn't like to shop. :)

Speaking of shopping.... today we went out to look for emeralds. One of our contacts here took us to a mining factory and we looked around for some jewelry. We knew we wanted to do this, because Colombia is known for emeralds. We learned today that 65-70% of all emeralds are minded in Colombia. The place that we went to was very nice, but unfortunately they didn't have what we were looking for. The staff there said they could make it for us and we could come back next week. So, we'll see. It just depends on how things go next week. There is also someone coming to our hotel on Sunday to sell some jewlery as well. So, we will see what he has. But today was nice, it was great to get out of the hotel. I took some pictures from the mining factory and their replicas of what it looks like when the emeralds are mined.

Isabella had fun at the store today too. After all, you have to introduce a girl to jewlery at a young age! :) Just kidding Gary!

After our shopping excursion, we went out for burgers and beer. Since we didn't do it yesterday, we decided today was a beautiful day to do it. Tomorrow, we are going to go back to Crepes & Waffles. Remember my last post on that? If you read that, you know I can't wait to go back.

Hope each of you are well, and having fun getting ready for the holidays. Hopefully we'll get to see you all soon. Love to you all.

Buenas Noches from Colombia.