Ciao Colombia, Hello California!

And so, our journey to the land of our children is coming to an end. Visas were ready today and, after much hassles, we have our tickets to fly home. It is no fun to buy so many tickets within less than 48 hours of travel but you do what you have to do.
We definitely haven't been to Colombia as tourists this time around. In fact, except for one trip to the mall (and only because Juan David needed shoes), we haven't ventured much outside. The mall was a zoo, too much for us to handle. Since I have forgotten that we are so close to Christmas, I was surprised to see so many people. Shoes, oatmeal, bananas, an ice cream and we were out.
As I said with Cartagena, and we've said it before, this country is so rich and diverse that we will need to visit in the future. Departures from almost anywhere are bittersweet. This is no exception. We've been taken excellent care of and we have nothing but fond memories of this beautiful country.
Tomorrow, Lulu and I will do a little sightseeing because she likes seeing 'old things' and wanted to go to a musuem. There is a famous gold museum so that's where we'll head.
We've spent close to a month as a family and we've already grown leaps and bound but we have so much more to go. We've missed so much of our children's lives and, time that we'll never get back. But, slowly, we hope to learn little bits, as they feel more comfortable and can share. Today, for example, Juan David was telling us of a time he fell, showed us his scar on his knee and told us what happened.
We pray and hope that the new children are not overwhelmed with all the new family, friends, surroundings they'll be exposed to shortly. Although there are negative aspects to being away from home, one big positive is that we've been together and with no other distractions during this time. So, please do understand if we don't go out much once we get home :-)
Thank you for following our journey to Colombia. If time allows, I'll try to update this blog a little once we are settled. For now, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Season's Greetings to all. This year, we don't have presents to wrap. We just need to get them buckled up in in plane :-)
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Asi como llegamos, nos vamos.
Los cinco duendes duermen tranquilos. Es nuestra ultima noche en Bogota, en Colombia. Maniana la pasaremos en el cielo, volando hacia casa. El vuelo a Los Angeles dura casi ocho horas. Somos optimistas y pensamos que van a dormir :-)
Hoy recogimos las visas y compramos los boletos para ir a casa. Eso era lo ultimo por hacer. Maniana empacamos, Lulu y yo pasearemos un poco, los demas correran en el parque....y a esperar que se lleguen las 9:45 para irnos al aeropuerto.
Siempre que uno viaja, hay parte que se quiere regresar a casa y parte que se quiere quedar de vacaciones. Aunque estas no han sido vacaciones, es el mismo sentimiento. Una alegria inmensa por regresar a casa, lo conocido pero una tristeza por dejar este bello y rico pais, a quien le hemos 'robado' cinco preciosos tesoros. Ya no tenemos mas planes de adopciones. Sabemos que regresaremos a Colombia, como turistas, pero no sabemos cuando. No hemos podido hacer muchas cosas turisticas pero sabiamos que a eso no veniamos. Vinimos a conocer a nuestros nuevos hijos, a empazar nuestra integracion como familia. Esa meta esta cumplida. Ahora seguimos con la integracion y conocerlos mas. Tenemos tanto por aprender y aunque tenemos el resto de nuestras vidas, no podemos esperar :-)
Excepto por Lulu, los demas tal vez no esten muy concientes de lo que dejan atras. A ver que fotos toma Lulu maniana!
Tristeza por dejar a Colombia, felicidad por regresar a casa y por enseniar a Juan David, Josue y Santiago cual es su casa, su nueva familia, nuestros amigos. Les pedimos un poco de paciencia y entendimiento. No sabemos como van a reaccionar ellos con tantas personas y cosas nuevas.
Gracias por seguir nuestras aventuras en Colombia. Si el tiempo lo permite, tratare de poner fotos, historias. Si no, envienme un correo, busquenme en facebook, y les cuento. Feliz Navidad y esperamos verlos pronto!