We are good to go

2 more nights -well, 1 1/2 since we have to be up at 4:30 a.m. Thursday morning. YEA!!! Today we picked up the Visa for Carlos. He said Visa now United States and see Angie and Judi, Tia Jeralyn, Abuela, Abuelo, Tias, Tios, Cousins, Amigos, and Amigas. Love our spanglish language! The other night Carlos asked for jugo in the chicken. What he was saying was juice in the kitchen. Chicken-Kitchen- sounds similar!!
Tonight we talked to a caseworker who brought us some information on a 13 year old girl who she is trying to place in the U.S. She has been working on placing this sibling group and has had to split the children up to get them into homes. She thinks that she has 2 homes for the younger siblings, but for Laura - the 13 year old - she is struggling to find a home. This is of course heavy on our hearts, as Carlos is also 13 years old. We can see that Carlos simply desires the love of a family. What a simple desire - to be loved. Laura has been placed on our hearts. We pray that someone will open their home to her and that she too will receive the love of a family. The process to adopt is not quick or easy, but it is one of the most rewarding, life changing things we have ever done. Carlos has brought us so much joy and laughter!! Our process all started when someone mentioned that a 13 year old boy needed a home.....Praying for another home for Laura.

We are coming home!

This morning @8:30 a.m. we received the phone call that we have been waiting for. Our paperwork "glitch" was corrected and Craig was off to the embassy for Carlos' Visa. Tomorrow afternoon Craig will pick up the Visa and we are ready for our return flight on Thursday. When Craig & I first scheduled our flights, we knew that this would be a 4-8 week time frame in Colombia. We "randomly" chose 5 weeks to be our scheduled return date. Random - hu?? God is so awesome!! Once again, we stand in awe of our Heavenly Father and His timing!!

Here is a picture of us at the presidents home in Bogota. We visited the historical area on Saturday. It was a beautiful area with many beautiful old buildings. Off to the park to play soccer......and counting down!!!

Me mucho happy!!

It is Friday night and most of you are enjoying a football game, fall mixer dance, or some other fun weekend activity. Somehow knowing that was easier once we heard "Me mucho happy" come from Carlos' mouth. Tonight at dinner we noticed the volume of the boys to be at an all time high. Looking back at this day-filled with low activity -Craig & I knew we were in trouble. We get done with dinner at 7:30...much too early to retire 4 teenage boys for the evening. The napkins started to fly at the dinner table which gave us the idea of a pillow fight. We started the activity in our room, but quickly realized we were -once again- disrupting the entire home. So we took the game to the back yard. Many times we heard Carlos say "me mucho happy" and "you good Wenke familia". Craig & I enjoyed from the side lines. (P.S. Craig & I will be sleeping on clean pillow cases tonight) Well, they are now showering and getting ready to watch some spanish episode of Power Rangers. I do feel sorry for Austin - Carlos has dubbed him a power ranger as well. We think the purple one.

We received good news today followed by unsure news. Our misdated letter - we believe - has been fixed, but we will not know for sure until Monday morning. We are continuing to pray that Monday morning Craig, Carlos & Carter will go to the embassy to begin the Visa process. On Tuesday we hope to have Craig, Carlos, Austin and Jared go to pick it up. I will be spending time packing. Dream, dream, dream, dream, dream, dream,..... yes the song is playing in my head.

Carlos mentioned tonight that he is looking forward to a pillow fight with Angie and Judi. This note is for them - Be prepared for a pillow war!! Judi you have been selected to be on Carter and Carlos team and Angie with Austin & Jared. Any other neighbors, friends or cousins who want to participate are encourage to practice before they participate as we have 5 more nights to hone in our skills. My understanding is that Angie and Judi can pack a pretty intense punch!! Carlos has fond memories of playing this game one time with Angie and Judi back in Soacha.

We are counting down the days until we get to see you again! 4 more days of soup, 5 more pillow fights, 6 more nights until our own beds, 1 more Sunday until we can go to our church, 10 more games of soccer, and hopefully 146 hours until we are home. Love to you all

Need Prayers!!

Today Craig spent time completing the birth certificate for Carlos back in Soacha. We were very excited to complete this step, but today when Craig went to the ICBF office to receive the final papers for the Embassy, we ran into another snag. It should be a simple thing to fix, but of course we know that nothing is "simple" with government paperwork. We have 2 papers that say we are capable of adopting however one is dated prior to the other and they are supposed to be dated the other way around. Please pray that there will be an easy fix to this problem. ICBF has already identified they messed up, but what they are willing to do about it is yet to be determined. We know that we have 2 days to fix the problem or we will not be able to return home together. This would be so disappointing!! Please pray that the solution is quick and easy!! We will know more in the next 48 hours, so we will keep you all posted.

It is official: Carlos Wenke, but....

Today we returned to Soacha where we were planning to sign papers at the court house making Carlos officially a Wenke and then to the Registrar Office to change his birth certificate. Well, we were able to make Carlos a Wenke, but the Registrars office was closed until Wednesday. VERY DISAPPOINTING!!! We had calculated in our minds and hearts that we spent our last Sunday in Bogota. Now it looks as though we will be staying until our return flight was originally scheduled - October 8. This will bring us to 5 weeks in Colombia. As long as it may seem, this is to be expected. They had us prepare for 4-8 weeks in Colombia, so we should feel thrilled with a 5 week time frame, but honestly we have seen families come and go at our home here in 3-4 weeks!

The first picture is of Carlos showing us his home town. We were able to see where he went to school and where he lived. He hesitated to show us these areas, but then we explained this would be the last time in Soacha and that we wanted to take pictures for his memory book. It taught us what a strong little boy he has been and helped us understand how the first 13 years of his life were spent.

The second picture shows Craig signing the official paperwork at the court house.

In the big picture: We learned of Carlos less than a year ago. His sisters are celebrating their "gotcha day" on October 1. We are blessed to have the entire process go as quickly as it has!!

In short-we cannot wait to come home, but we love this little boy so much time is irrelevant!

The picture of boredom

Yes, this is our high school student playing the xylophone! He actually is quite skilled with it! Friday and Saturday were long days again at El Refugio, but Sunday finally is here and today we enjoyed going to the market. I love Sundays in Bogota because the traffic is not so present. There is probably only 10% of the traffic that we see during the week-which means the air seems fresher!! They actually close many streets for foot and bike traffic only. The whole city seems to appreciate a day of rest.
Tomorrow we get to go to Soacha for the day. Signing papers and making Carlos an official Wenke will be the only agenda on Monday. We should have a better idea on Tuesday when we may be able to return home.
Once again thank you to all of you for your prayers and notes! We miss you all.

The finish line is in sight!

Yesterday Craig told me that he has stopped praying for our paperwork and has started praying for patience. Well, our prayers for both were answered as today we heard that our paperwork is complete and that on Monday we will be able to go to Soacha (Carlos's home town) and sign the final paperwork. We will start in the morning with signatures and then in the afternoon we will get our paperwork notarized. Monday should mark the day when Carlos is officially a Wenke!
I am hoping that Carlos will let us take a few pictures of places that were important to him, but as of now he is determined that there will be no pictures taken. I know that life was very difficult for him in Soacha, so we will not push him, but still I hope! Tuesday, we will be going to the US embassy. I would think we would be hearing some English there!! (Jared is really missing his native tongue! - I actually fear that he really will kiss the ground in a public place when we get back to the US!) The visa will probably take a couple of days and then we have to take Carlos to a doctor before we can return. The United States requires a doctors visit prior to return. Interestingly enough, Spain & France do not require that step. Anyway, we are certainly hoping to return home by the end of next week or early the following. Time will tell....as for right now we are continuing to pray for patience.