GOTCHA DAY ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY

One year later... Look what grew up from that little malnourished kiddo.  Let me introduce our little monster "Ruben".  He has adjusted just fine and loves his family.  Language started out a little slow, with sounds and sign language to get his point across.  Then one word, now two or three strung together.  Ruben enjoys his "school" daycare.  He loves to bring hope papers and say "I make, I make, I make".  He is soooo proud of his work.  He is all "two" and then some.  If you take your eye off him, he will make you pay later, just look what happened when he found the bottle of desiten cream.  Let's just say he was baby butt soft everywhere, and even had that skunk appearance for awhile.  We celebrated his Gotcha Day this weekend.  Ruben's birthday is the day after Christmas, so we thought he should have a special day, besides right after the holiday.  It's hard to believe it has been a whole year since our Colombian adventure.  We are so thankful and blessed that we were able travel when we did.  In the past year, the adoption referrals slowed down significantly.  To all those families still waiting,  Hang on.  Your kiddo/s are out there and will be with you soon.  We still keep in contact with our college friend Mario from Colombia.  He is working on getting his visa and we hope to help him come to Montana and visit.  Our hot summer is finally over and fall is setting in.  I sure don't miss the hot humidity of Monteria, or the cold water showers.  However, we miss all the people that helped us in our journey to bring back Ruben.   Maybe one day when Ruben is older, he will want to travel back to Colombia and visit his birth country. 

ADOPTION REFINALIZATION

 Today was Ruben's big day, he just didn't know it.  We have been back 7 months now from Colombia. Today was our "refinalization of adoption" court hearing.  The preceedings went very fast.  We left smiling, and that is more then I can say for the lady coming out of the courtroom before us in handcuffs. Colombia requires that familes refinalize their adoption in their home state/country.  Also, in Colombia, the child takes the mother's maiden name at the end of their name.  Ruben is now known as Ruben Levi Miller.  This is the shortest name he has ever had.  In Colombia he had about 5 names total.  Ruben has been adjusting well and loves his new life and family.  Especially his sisters.  Ruben loves the outdoors, and cry's when dad has to do yardwork and doesn't take him with him.  You can't take your eyes off him, or off he goes.  Part of this is due to his age, and the other is purely just Ruben. Ruben loves balls. In fact, he can dribble a regular basketball with his left hand for a full minute.  It is quite something to see.  I'm not sure I could do it for that long. Our lives has changed quite a bit since adding Ruben to the family.  Adoption has been a great experience for us.  Tracey and I just wish we were 15 years younger, so we could keep up easier. 

A NEW YEAR!

It has been almost 3 months since we arrived home in Montana. I really have no excuses for not posting, other than being honest. "Two Year Old's are Busy!!!" Tracey and I forgot how much energy is required to keep up with a 2yr old. I don't remember the girls being this way, but maybe it is that I am not a kiddo anymore either. Ruben has adjusted quite well. He has always been very happy and sociable. He is still low on height and weight, but not for a lack of eating. Within a week of getting home, we stopped giving him the formula "Klime" from Colombia. In fact, Ruben likes to feed himself. The hard part, is that a bath is usually required afterwards as well. Language is the area of improvement for Ruben. He says a few words, but mimics about anything and everything that he hears. Tracey and I are both back to work now, so daycare set in. Ruben loves it. There are three brothers at the in-home daycare, and one is about the same age as Ruben. The little guy is setteling in with his new american way of life. The girls taught him to hold his nose when he does a little duty in his pants. It is pretty common to see him run down the hall holding his nose. We really didn't need the extra sign language, as we can usually smell him come a running...
We made the decision to get him circumsized before the holidays. In Colombia, the boys generally are not circumsized. It was a rough day or two, but now he is doing great, and I think he will appreciate it later. Working in the medical field, I can tell you that men that don't get circumsized have a lot of health issues later, not to mention the potential problems and peer pressure he could recieve in school.
The girls are adjusting as well too. As expected, our youngest (7yrs) has had the hardest time adjusting, and often acts out for attention. Bree is my tom boy, so I try to spend a few extra minutes here and there throwing the football with her in the yard, as Ruben watches from the window waiting for his time to shine.
We had a great holiday season with all of us here. Ruben celebrated his birthday 12/26 a week later, as Christmas was overwelming. I think he would have been happy as a pig in mud, just to play with the box's and wrapping paper. Nothing too new to report. We did have our first post-adoption visit this month and again sending off the paperwork for apostille and then to our agency. We have 3 more to go. We have started the legal adoption process to "readopt" Ruben in Montana. This way he will get a Montana birth certificate and be able to drop my wife's maiden name. Colombia puts the mother's maiden name at the end. So currently Ruben's name is: Ruben Levi Miller Rongholt. That is still shorter then the five names he had in Colombia. Well, enough for now. Will post more developments later.

additional pics/memories

We have been home a few days now, and starting to hammer out some type of routine. The weather is vastly different then what we experienced in Colombia. I feel like my first cold is coming on. Ruben is doing great. He is a real Ham, when it comes to being around people, especially girls. I might have to start calling him "pork chop", instead of pequeno hombre "little man". Tenley's class at school has been following the blog and pictures and Tenley had a "show and tell" day. We brought Ruben in and the kids loved it (so did Ruben). Kids just tell it how it is. We answered a bunch of questions at the end. The first question was "how long did Ruben play around the toilets". The picture I posted in Cartagena with the budee (sp) really caught their eyes.
A few things I might have forgot to mention, that I thought were interesting points about our trip.
1. If you go anywhere in Colombia, you might want to make sure you have some toilet tissue or tissue handy. Colombia's sewer system is not what we Americans are used to. Generally speaking, you roll up your tissue or toilet paper and put it in the garbage (not the toilet). Also, some public facilities will charge you to use the bathroom. Just by chance at the bus station, I had some spare change in my pocket. They willingly let me in, but there was a girl at the exit and wanted me to pay 700 Colombian pesos to leave.
2. Population: I asked our interpreter's about the populations of cities we were in during our stay. Monteria had a population of around 600,000 . Cartagena was somewhere between 1-2 million, and Bogota has roughly 9,000,000 people. That is almost 7-8 times as many people as live in all of Montana.
3. Traffic, seems to be my favorite adventure topic in Colombia. Colombians drive on the right side of the road. However, they often drive on the left, middle and all directions as well. A majority of the taxi's we were in had their gas meter on "E", empty. I finally asked, and at one point a taxi went to a gas station. The taxi's often times use natural gas and it is piped in to under the front end of the car. Apparantly, it is quite a bit cheaper and those little cars can go a long ways.
4. Food, generally another favorite topic of mine. As mentioned prior, "Mexican" food that we are use to in America is hard to find in Colombia. I did not once see a Taco Bell. Eggs, empandas, fruit, soups, bbq meats, and of course Coffee are very popular in Colombia.
4. Construction. except in the very large cities. You generally don't find the large technical equipment that we are use to in America. In Monteria, the roads were taken out and replaced, mostly by hand and a lot of tears and sweat. That is one job, I would not want to do. TOO HOT. However, the work hours are a bit better. They start early, often before 7am and work till 11:30, then have a "siesta" time until 2:00 and work until 6:00 or 6:30.
5. The people. even though the language is often fast and difficult to understand. If you make an honest effort at trying spanish, they make a honest effort to try and figure out what you are saying. In general, Colombians are very warm and affectionate. It was very common once somebody enters the room to greet and kiss everyone on each side of the cheek as you hug them. I would strongly recommend for anyone adopting, to try and learn some basic spanish. I had rosetta stone I and II edition. This was more then adaquate to get me by. Adult education spanish I class's are also a great refresher.
Well, that is my top 5 for the day. I will start cutting back on blogs, and just do updates time to time with of course new pictures. Our adoption travels were a great experience and we have many memories to look back on with Ruben. Someday, he will probably like to go back for a visit to his homeland, and if possible, we would love to take him. (in the winter here in Montana of course).

Looking Back...

WE MADE IT... One month to the day, and we our back home in Montana. Friday was a very long day for various reasons. Looking back, I have very different emotions, most of which are positive. I won't kid you, Tracey and I are pretty exhausted. Living out of suitcase's for a month is not an easy task. However, it is all worth it. To get off the plane and come down the escalators and see the smiling faces of Ruben's sisters at midnight made it all worth while.
The first thing we did is go through a drive through and eat a late american dinner. Our day on Friday started by getting up at 4:45 am in Bogota to be picked up at the adoption house at 6:00am and off to the airport with Andres. We made it through ticketing, and 2-3 more screenings and we lifted off at 9:30 am. The first flight was suppose to be the easiest, but 4 out of 5 hours was spent with Ruben screaming, restless and wanting to get down and run on the plane. One hour he slept in Tracey's arms. We landed in Atlanta and to hear people speaking in english was incredible. We were told that we needed 3 hours for immigration and customs. However, we made it through in less than an hour and had plenty of time to eat lunch at 4pm and catch the connecting flight to Salt Lake at 7pm eastern time. This flight went good. There were about 4 other babies and toddlers on board. All of us were in the back of the plane. Coincidence? I think not. A family behind us were returning from Alabama with a 7 day old baby girl they just adopted. Ruben did great, he flirted with the girls and ladies on board. We landed in SLC with one hour to hop into a different terminal and catch our last flight home at 10:00pm. No time to eat dinner. We got on board a small plane. As soon as we took off, a slight change in odor presented. At first, we thought it was the guy behind us that drank pretty heavily before boarding, but it didn't take long to realize that all the cherrios we gave Ruben decided to leave him. We, and the rest of the plane waited it out and we landed at 11:45.
I didn't blog yesterday, mainly because we were just exhausted and just spent time visiting with family and letting Ruben get to know his new surroundings.
I think my brother said it best, "to think what a life Ruben would have had in Colombia, versus the new life and family and opportunity he will have now, is amazing". It makes you wish you could help others, and hopefully there will be other families doing the same. Tracey and I have been asked a lot in the past, and maybe even in the future," why don't you adopt kids from America". I hope some of those people can see the pictures and conditions that Ruben left behind, and realize that it doesn't matter what color your skin is, or what money you come from. We are all human and start out with nothing. We are very fortunate to live in America, where opportunites and rights are easier for us to obtain, because of the surroundings around us. Tracey and I have not been any happier in our lives, then now. To see Ruben's big eyes light up today at his sister's cheerleading during a basketball game was incredible. It's like he was in a trance staring at all the lights, kids, and balls. You could just tell that he is going to be very happy in his new life.
As you can tell from the various posts. I took a lot of pictures. I added a few of various places and events. I will add a few more tomorrow.

Museo del Oro

At last, the last full day in Colombia. We have been here a month. Tracey was a little tired and didn't feel like any more adventures. However, there was one last thing on my list of must dues, while here in Bogota. I took a taxi across town about 20 minutes without traffic. I made it just in time for the english tour. I haven't been this lucky the whole trip. Me and a couple from England had a tour through the whole museum. If you are a history buff, or interested about the early colonization times, then this would be well worth your time. Gold "oro", was very valuable to the various inhabitants. Not only for the monetary value, but for the spiritual value. The ancient civilizatons believed that the sun was the "all powerful", god, and the shamens were very powerful and used various plants "coca", and different allows of metal ie. gold, copper, and silver to grind down into powders to inhale to tell the future. This was used before battles, and other important events to accurately forsee the future.

After the tour, I walked around the nearby shops, then waved down the first taxi I could see. Little did I know, that my last day here was about to take a very different turn. Traffic seemed to be getting worse. The horn honking was picking up. After about 15 minutes, and only going 6 blocks, I made my best attempt at asking how long it would be before getting to the adoption house. The driver, which did not speak english, said about an hour. A few minutes later, I noticed many people holding picketting signs up in the road. The local public school system was striking.Traffic went to a dead standstill. We started going the opposite direction and then there was a loud thump that I could feel on my rear passenger door. My first Colombian taxi accident. We had been hit, at first it seemed bad, but after my driver got out and stared down the other car. The car backed up. My driver didn't even look at the damage right away. We drove a few more blocks, then he pulled over. He shook his shoulders and got back in. It must not have been too bad, or the driver didn't own the taxi and really didn't care. After an hour more in the taxi, we finally got closer and I started recognizing buildings and the grocery store "Pomona" that we have been using. I told the driver "aqui, aqui". He pulled over, I paid him the 15,000 peso's, and walked the last 3 blocks to the house. Again, I just looked up and said, thanks God for getting me home in one piece. I walked in to our room, and got that oh too familiar look from Tracey. I tried to explain, but she didn't really want to hear my excuses for taking up half the day. After about 15 minutes, I brushed off my taxi jitters, and we called another taxi and went to the mall. Nothing like a trip to the mall to get out of the dog house.

After shopping, we caught another taxi, and home in one piece. We had some good laughs with our French family friends, took plenty of pictures, and exchanged emails. Bags packed and paperwork in order for our very long day of travelling home to Montana in the morning. We leave the house at 6am. Leave Bogota at 930. Land in Atlanta around 330pm. Hopefully, get through immigration and customs with out difficulty, then connect to Salt Lake, then home to Billings around mid night. Well, better get to bed. We are excited to bring our son home, and some great memories and pictures of our adventure.

Excitement in la casa

Last night our social worker from Children's Hope International flew in. We finally got to visit face to face with Nichole. It was a short visit has she had to fly out to Medillion to be part of another families court process in the morning.

It has been 3 1/2 weeks not working or having to use our medical background. That changed abruptly. We were in the main living area, when one of the kitchen staff came out of the kitchen in a hurry, and I could tell it wasn't to ask me if I wanted any more eggs... One of the staff was dizzy, and slumped over. Quickly myself and another person got this person to a nearby bed. The person was not responding and had an erratic pulse. I found out a short while later, that this person had a heart history. I asked someone to call an ambulance. Tracey came in as well. My natural instinct kicked in, but I was a long way from home and any medical equipment that I was use to. We were just hoping the ambulance with come and take over. This person did not worsen, but with the history we received, new they needed a further work up. The ambulance showed up 25 minutes later. I gave them a report through another staff that could translate. The translator told them that we had medical background and what had occured. By this time the patient was doing better, but I was expecting a gurney and a trip to the local ER. Some basic tests were done, they showed me the rhythm strip, and the paramedics left and said the patient was ok. Tracey and I couldn't believe with the history on this person, that they would just leave. I forget that we are not in the states, and things are done quite a bit differently. I checked on the person and later family came and I was told that they did take this person to the hospital. Tracey and I felt relieved that finally this was done. After all the excitement, we didn't get a chance to say good by to Nichole, as she was rushing to the airport. Tracey and I took Ruben and went for a walk. We found "El Corral", a good burger joint. Where was this in Monteria? Burger, fries, onion rings, and a chocolate shake. Not something I want to do every day, but boy

did it hit the spot.

We walked the 4-5 blocks back to the house. Andres picked me up and another trip to the US Embassy. After a short wait, I went to the window, and received Ruben's passport, and the "packet". Basically, this is all the paperwork needed by immigration in the US for Ruben to be a citizen and enter the US. The most important thing, is NOT to open this. Immigration in the US would not be very happy, and who knows what they would say or do. Now we just wait and pack tomorrow.