Christmas 2010

Unknown to all our friends and family who have logged on to get an update of our lives the past year this is a sentence that has been started, deleted, started and deleted again. These types of writings are very difficult to write. As the writer I want you, our friends and family to get a picture of our lives. Although sometimes as these things go, they portray a perfect life. I will be the first to tell you that being thrown into parenthood with two girls one who is now 7 and another who has just celebrated her 5th birthday is hard and rewarding and challenging and fun and tiring and exciting. As parents Ken and I have had to learn how to make time for ourselves (although I am not sure we have that completely figured out) how to make time for family things and of course discipline. Yes our kids do need to be disciplined. :)



Tatiana.



She is full of life and vivacious. She went though a period of time when the thought of being in a room without myself, Ken or even my mom could bring her to tears. Her little world has been rocked quite a bit. She was and is still in the process of learning to trust us that we would not leave her which we all understand and we can process in our minds. The hard part of it is to have the patience with her when she bursts into tears when you go to the basement to get something or even just walk into the adjacent room. With myself taking the year off we have really seen a difference in Tatiana, there is a lot of consistency which is what she needed. Taitana loves singing she has been singing Jingle Bells at every spare moment. She has had it stuck in her head for the last week. I have tried playing other songs, and teaching her other songs and she will incesantly go back to Jingle Bells. It has become a joke for all of us which she thinks is very funny. Tatiana thinks and talks about Colombia a lot, we told her we are going to go to Florida after Christmas which triggered her memory to Colombia, when we came home from Colombia we landed in Orlando to meet Ken's family. So she automatically thought that we would also be able to go to Colombia. She said she could show us where she lived and she could see her birth mother and her foster mom again.



Katherine.





Katherine has had the luxury of having a big sister to take care of her and be with her for her entire life. Because of that we have seen little of the fears of abandonment that we have seen in Tatiana. Katherine went through a period when Tatiana went back to school when she simply didn't know what to do with herself because she was accustomed to following her big sister. She has now learned to play and entertain herself. She especially likes when she can have the cat in the house with her, she will take it in her arms like a baby and cradle it and "read" stories to it. Yesterday she asked Tatiana and I to watch her while she danced with the cat. She really likes playing songs on the piano and will sit the cat on the keys while she plays. Sometimes I feel a little sorry for that cat. :)

Ken and I have felt very blessed with the family that God has allowed us to have. We wish everyone a very happy Christmas.

Ken, Sherri, Tatiana, and Katherine

questions

Hot Chocolate!!!

The girl's first experience with snow.

Heading out with papa to pick out a tree.

Katherine making chocolates with Dan and Erica.

Tatiana modeling one of her new outfits from the church shower.

This Christmas I had these great ideas running through my head, I would send a picture card I would update everyone and I would still have time to do those fun things that you do at Christmas with the girls. One of those things had priority beyond any of the others, making memories with the girls. Experiencing firsts. Everything else got the back shelf for a while. I got the picture cards the day before Christmas, it was somewhat my fault and somewhat the photographer's fault, but we did get them and I was not about to let them sit at home after we had paid for them. Since we came home on November 2nd we have had so many experiences. Friends and family have come to visit, Katherine had a birthday, and the girls now think if there is a present around it will automatically be for them. In a short 2-3 months people have made up for every missed Christmas and birthday they ever had, plus some. Through the holidays I got to talk to a lot of people who had been following the blog while we were gone and were a little annoyed with me for stopping when we came back home. First of all I never thought I would be a "blogger" but I thought with us being gone for that length of time it may be a nice way for friends and family to stay in touch and get to know our little girls. So now here is the update that some of you have asked for.

How is the adjustment going? Are they sleeping well? Do they like our food? What are you doing about school? Are they learning English? Are you getting used to having children?

These questions are questions that we hear every time we venture out into the public. Rightfully so, I completely understand that people are wondering how we are doing and what has been going on in the last 2-3 months. I would be hurt if people wouldn't ask.

How is the adjustment going?

The adjustment is going well, the girls take everything in stride, they usually are excited when they hear that we are getting company. They get tired, but usually they are not too grumpy when they are tired, we love it when Katherine says that we need to go home because papa is tired, she usually tries to reiterate that she is not tired, just papa. They love routine, or maybe that is just me, though at the beginning of the day they will make a list of what we are doing that day so they know what comes next.

Are they sleeping well?

The first night we were home we were all so excited and so tired, the girls explored their new room and they decided that they wanted to sleep in their beds that night. We put them to bed and in about 20 minutes they were fast asleep. That went on for about a month and in the last month for some reason Katherine has been scared. Sometimes we would have to hold her until she was asleep. One night the main light had to be on before she would sleep. So now we have a mattress over in Tatiana's room which seems to help, she will come down to see us about once a night, but then she wants to go back to her bed in Tatiana's room.

Do they like our food?

Yes and no, they love chicken cooked almost any way. They like fries a lot and Kathrine eats ketchup like it is a side dish. Tatiana likes Amishy noodles. They eat any kind of fruit and usually treat it as a dessert. Ice cream is still at the top of their list, although we have learned that they have had it before twice, once for Tatiana's birthday with their foster mom and once for Katherine's birthday with the foster mom. Tatiana told us that they did not have birthday's at their birth home. They do not like mashed potatoes or creamy potatoes of any sort, and they are not keen on anything that has spice. After pizza one evening Katherine wiped her tongue with her napkin because the peperoni were too spicy.

What are you doing about school?

As I am writing this Tatiana is probably laying awake in her bed so excited because she is going to school tomorrow. I hope she sleeps tonight. In Colombia, I was positive that I would teach her for the rest of the year, but we came home and she started asking about school. So we visited and she got so excited we decided it would be a disservice to keep her at home. I am not sure how Katherine will react to all of it, she was acting out today, I think it could have something to do with her big sister going to school.

Are they learning English?

Actually we have had some people ask us if we are teaching them Dutch!!! So in order for the girls to be able to communicate and gain friends in the United States, we are teaching them English first. (imagine that) They are picking up English quickly. It took a conscious decision on our part to speak all English to them, we started one Monday about two weeks after we were home. The first day was so hard for us because we feel like this is just one other thing that these girls have to go through. But by the end of the week, we would has them to do something and they would be on their way. A lot of the time they will listen to what we say and then they answer in Spanish. They are understanding more and more.

Are we getting used to having children?

We have waited for a long time to have children in our lives and the pitter patter of little feet in our house always brings a smile to our faces. We love sharing our lives with our daughters. We miss taking our walks together, but we think we will have a solution to that problem once we find another treadmill. As a whole the transition has been smooth. We love being mama and papa.

USA

Our plane touched down in Orlando and tears came to my eyes, I can't explain all the feelings that I was having... excitement, anxiety, sympathy for the girls going through all these new experiences, and happiness for finally being on American soil. We got to meet Ken's family that lives in Florida. The girls were a little shy to begin with, but spending the night and eating, and swimming together was great for breaking the ice. The hotel we got had a swimming pool and a regular bathtub. This was very exciting for all of us to see how they react to all these new things. At one point I went into the bathroom to check on the girls and the door to the bathroom was dripping from all their splashing, oops!! So this morning Ken put the swimsuit on the Tatiana, she danced for us a little while before putting on the rest of her clothes for breakfast.

The pool... Tatiana was really scared to begin with, but she warmed up to it very quickly. It probably helped a lot to have her cousins swimming like fish in the pool. Kathrine did not seem to be scared at all, she has this trademark face slap she does to herself when ever she gets wet, which entertained the family who was watching. She also wanted to swim by herself, us holding her was not really to her liking.

Now the last leg of our trip, Orlando to Canton to home!

Thank you to everyone for your support and prayers during this journey, it seems like we are at the end, but really, this is a beginning, continue to pray as we begin our lives at home.

First Airplane Ride

When we explained to the girls that they will be riding an airplane to Bogota, they both squealed with delight. We thought that it could be a time that could really scare the girls. We went to the store to buy some new notebooks, colored pens, and snacks that they could have on the plane. We took them to the airport, which in Pasto, is small, one plane lands and then we all will get on that same plane and go back to where it came from. I am not sure how many planes land there in a day, but we were there for about two hours and the only plane that landed was ours. At the airport, since we were, American, the officials pulled us aside and then in a ledger notebook wrote our names and passport numbers. At that point we sat down and as you would guess the girls got really tired of waiting, as most people do in the airport. Once the plane landed, their eyes lit up and they watched everyone get off, then we got on. Tatiana sat by the window and I sat in the middle. They ate snacks and looked out the window, and drew in their new notebooks. When we landed they asked what day we will ride in an airplane again. They loved it!

Introducing the new Hochstetlers

It is official, after almost four weeks together, Tatiana Fernanda and Kathrine Estephinia are Hochstetlers. All this paperwork took a long time but it was worth every minute. We gain two girls on Ken's birthday, how is that for a birthday present?

Note: we have been very busy, and will post more about the last phase of our adoption soon. Keep commenting, they still make our days! :)

Random Photos

About a dozen people have set up a typewriter on the street, most of them are actually busy!

Personalities

We have had all this time with no other obligations to get to know our daughters and their likes and dislikes. One adoptive mother told me it takes about a year for the true personality to come out, but in the meantime I will do my best to learn as much as possible about these two girls.
Tatiana:
She has been sleeping much better now, we do not make her take a nap during the day, which helps her at night. She loves playing with playdoh, she will make "food" for us for hours, she even made some for my mom and brother on Skype the other evening. She really like to mimic the waiters here at the hotel when she serves us our "food". She loves watching TV, English or Spanish, she doesn't care. She will play with the first toy we gave her, an alphabet leap pad everyday. Sometimes she will listen to the abc song for a half an hour. She likes being at home, usually when we go away she will ask when we will go back to the "casa". She loves attention especially from her dad "papa".
Kathrine:
She is almost always happy. When we are at the park she bounces from the swing to the slide. She will do anything for a laugh, when Ken does push ups she will get down on the floor and stick her little butt in the air giggling the whole time. She wants to nap in the afternoon. She loves to dance, anytime we hear an upbeat song, she is dancing. She writes left handed. She also really likes to play with playdoh, she usually makes whatever her sister makes. She will ramble on in Spanish for a long time with us, but she usually doesn't talk much to the staff at the hotel, even though they would be able to understand her.

They are the prefect match for us, both a little stubborn like uh both of us, Tatiana has bonded very well with Ken and Kathrine has bonded very well with myself. We love them very much and feel so blessed that we get to be their parents.

A video of landing at the Pasto Colombia airport

I found this video on You Tube and thought it was some great footage of what it is like to land at the Pasto Colombia airport. Just click on the following link to watch the video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0H8D3XLG6I

Market

Yesterday we got to go to a Farmers Market, what an experience! The Dutch family that went with us asked us if we have anything like it at home. What a difficult question to answer. We have Mount Hope on Wednesdays where we can go and get produce and it is full and somewhat dirty, but to compare Mount Hope to the market that we went to, seems, well, ridiculous.

Our interpreter took us in the front door and we saw rows and rows of fruits and vegetables, some that we would see at home and some that we have never seen before. There was one lady who had what looked like wheat or rye that was picked out of the field that morning. Little children who are no more than eight are walking around carrying small bags full of goods; oranges, avocados, flowers, anything that you could sell. It was at that point when Franko the little boy the Dutch couple adopted decided he needed to go to the bathroom. The Dutch wife wanted to keep walking around and our interpreter told us absolutely not, he would not be able to find us again. The couple is tall, they are both about a head taller than anyone we have seen here. I thought it would not be possible that he would not be able to find us. At that point I had seen about an 1/8th of the market. Once we were all together we were taken to the chaos. Big baskets full of chickens, guinea pigs, rabbits, cats, and everywhere. Most were alive, some were close to dead, and a couple were dead. It made my stomach turn being in that space. We were taken out to the potato area where there is nothing except potatoes, people pushing potatoes on carts, people selling potatoes in small baskets and some people in front of whole rooms full of potatoes. During all of this you are walking through paths of mud. Then we were taken to a room where there was a peculiar smell. I thought it smelled bad, but Ken didn't seem to mind the smell. There were tan blocks everywhere, all of it sugar before it was refined. One lady gave us a taste, everyone thought it was fine, I thought it was horrible. We had been seeing these blocks in the supermarket before and we wondered what they were, now we know. According to the interpreter, all the fruits and vegetables that come to Pasto come from this market. The people from the country bring the brightly colored buses filled with goods from their region and then they also take a bus full of goods back filled with the things that are not common for their region. We are so glad that we got to visit the market.

Dancing - by Dad

I've been pushing off the idea of writing a post for a while now since my wife has been doing a great job and there is no sense in me interfering with that. But alas it is time for me write about my feeling in this whole experience (something men tend to do so easily ha ha). While the last three plus weeks have been some of the greatest memories that I will ever have there have been challenges as well. However, last evening was definitely one of the highlights for me. After our late dinner we came up to our room around 9:30 and decided that we would listen to the radio on the Internet so we could enjoy some American music. Of course the girls decided that it was time to do a little dancing. At first it was just the girls showing off there moves, until mom and dad decided to get in on the action. So here we were in our little 6 x 6 open floor space dancing to the music with big smiles on our faces even though they couldn't understand the music and we couldn't understand the girls. While we were dancing I thought about how happy the girls were living in our tiny hotel room and just spending time doing anything with us. They could care less about about the home we live in or what kind of car we drive or what jobs we have. They are feeling loved and that is all they care about. If we said that this is our home for the next ten years they would just go on with life happy as the moment before. I don't know at what point we as adults think that we need things to make us happy, but I certainly just want to be a kid again and get back to dancing.

English

The girls are learning more and more English. These are a couple of the words(phrases) that they know, some, thanks to Dora.
1. How are you? (They are also able to answer it with... good)
2. Clean up- (they usually sing the cheesy classroom song)
3. Song- The Itsy Bitsy Spider
4. Beautiful
5. Brush your teeth
6. Good Night
7. I love you
8. We did it
9. Oh man
10. Young lady (Tatiana picked that up first, it could have something to do with her attutude) :)
11. I'm the map
12. apple
14. They are working on the abc song, it still needs some work
15. jungle- The first English word which they still think is very funny!

Weather

Pasto is sitting on the Equator but the elevation is at 8,000 feet. The weather is unpredictable, to say the least. If the sun is out it is hot. If the sun goes behind the clouds, which it does quite a bit, you need that sweater or jacket right away, which explains why the girls are always wearing the one sweatshirt that we brought in every picture. We have actually run into a problem because the laundry service here takes a day and so the girls didn't have a jacket for a day while we had them cleaned. The last week or two the weather has been really nice in the morning but by the afternoon there are thunderstorms and a lot of rain. The girls are actually from a region south of Pasto and most of the people say it is very cold there and that is why they have the red cheeks. We are thinking it could be the cold, but it may also have something to do with the agressive way they wash their face.

Moving

This is the bathtub that the girls will sometimes spend an hour in at a time. They are very disappointed when they don't get to take two baths a day. Are we spoiled or what?

View from the corner of our room (I had to stand on the bed to take the picture.)

Tatiana on her bed and Kathrine in her bed, Tatiana sleeps in a crib without sides. Sometimes her feet are hanging through the wood posts. Kathrine sleeps in a crib and it doesn't seem to bother her at all.

We finally got to move, although it wasn't to Bogota as I have been wishing. The French family who has been living across from us got to go to Bogota on Sunday and the hotel owner asked us if we want the room that they had. It is just a touch bigger and the girls now have floor space so they can play on the floor. When Kathrine woke from her nap I stayed in the old room and Ken was in the new room and the girls carried our things across the hall. Every time Kathrine would get something new she would walk over and say "dormae papa". She stretched out the papa and the last syllable would be pitched a little higher than everything else. Very cute to hear! I am thinking she was saying papa's bedroom, but my Spanish friends will have to confirm that.

La Cochia

About 45 minutes from the city there is a beautiful lake called La Cochia that we got to visit. Our hotel owner set up a little bus with guides who speak some English. Then us and a Dutch family who also speak English went to the lake. The town is really interesting because the houses and the inn that we stopped at have some Swiss influence. The elevation of the lake is quite a bit higher than that of Pasto. The "highway" according to the tour guide was a good road though it was gravel most of the way and one of the most bumpy gravel roads that we have ever traveled on. The town is set up for tourism with people beside the road selling thier goods. The guides told us we would probably need warm coats and rain jackets because it is always cold and rainy at the lake. We had a few drops of rain and it was warm and sunny most of the day. Perfect weather. From the little town we got a boat (glorified canoe) ride across the lake to a island with a rain forest and we hiked to the back of the trail to a place with a 100 meter drop off into the lake, with a beautiful view. We ate lunch, the speciality, Rainbow Trout, agian with the heads attached and again Tatiana ate it, she actually cleaned her plate, I have no idea where she put it all. I got a couple fish bones and had a hard time finishing my trout becuase of the bones. The heads must be pretty common, because the Dutch couples little boy also ate his own, his mom's and my fish head. Maybe we don't know what we are missing.

Saturday in the Park

Here, it seems like everyone will go to the park on Saturdays. The park we went to today has a couple soccer courts, basketball courts, they have a climbing wall, one of those huge blow up jumping things that people sometimes rent for a party. Some people will also bring a bunch of the little cars for kids that are battery charged that kids can pay to drive around. Today Tatiana and Kathrine drove their first car. Ken decided he is not looking forward to the girls turning 16. According to him they don't pay attention to where they are going. They ran into a light post, almost ran over me, and drove in circles for a while. Thankfully they chose a gutless car in which we could easily run after them.

Black and White Festival

From January 2 to January 6 the town shuts down to have a Black and White festival. It is a really big deal here in Pasto, the people celebrate the many cultures that are here in Pasto. We went to a museum to see some of the characters that have gone through the parades. The lady that took us through could speak a little English and we actually learned a lot. The cultures that are represented here are the Indian (three different tribes), Spanish, and African. On the 5th of January everyone will celebrate the white culture with white make-up and on the 6th everyone celebrates the black culture with black make-up. The characters for the parades are all made of paper-machie, they sure beat a balloon covered with newspaper dipped into flour and water.

Cultural Difference

Every week night the hotel provides a meal for us. When we first arrived, the hotel owner told us that we are served dinner at 7 every evening from Monday through Friday. Well the first night we decided that 7 was a very rough estimate- within an hour after 7 we would usually eat. So the other night we went down and were talking with our French friends, and the other French family joined us after about a half hour. We sat and talked and talked and sat. Finally at around 9 the hotel owner asked me if the girls would like to eat. I said sure and the French lady also acted very excited about eating. At that point, I thought all of us were eating, because I get confused with all the languages flying around. But a little later the waiter told me that the girls food was ready and they could eat. I helped myself to the bread on the table and the girls let me taste their fish soup. On Friday we had fish and then on Tuesday (the next meal because of a holiday) we had fish soup. By the time the girls were done eating they were more than ready for bed, so I requested my food to be brought to the room since the girls have never been left alone in the room, and I am still not able to explain in Spanish what was happening. Ken stayed downstairs to eat with everyone else, and finally came up to the room between 10:30 and 11:00. We have learned that any times given down here are rough estimates, if you are on time, bring something to keep the girls occupied, because we may have to wait for a long time to be served. It is ok, just not your way right away. :)

Sounds

Just a little picture of the sounds that we hear in our hotel room...
1. Sirens (different from the US, a little more like sirens from an old movie)
2. Bike horn- a guy walks around the street outside our hotel with a bike horn yelling something- I am really not sure what he is trying to sell.
3. Bells- people down here cook with propane and the propane truck driver has rigged up a bell to his little truck which he rings while going down the street, so anyone who wants propane will come out and stop him.
4. Doorbell- If you want into the hotel you have to ring a doorbell and an employee will come and answer the door.
5. Motorcycles, lots and lots of motorcycles
6. Carhorns

notes

After a very rough night in our hotel room, one where Tatiana would simply not sleep and I was completely broken as to what I could do for her besides sob and hold her. I finally got into her bed and curled up next to her until she finally fell asleep. She has completely lost the world that she has known, people that speak her language, her friends at school, a foster mom who she will talk about sometimes, and even food that is "normal" to her. I am here thinking I cannot wait to go back to the USA where I understand the language, the food, the money and the culture. That is me, and I also have an understanding of why I am here and why I can't go home. For little Tatiana I am not sure that she completely understands what is happening to her. Sure, she says that she wants to go to the United States and see "Mickey Mouse", but I think that is probably where it ends, and she is wondering when these people that are taking care of her are going to go away. It will all take time. Usually during siesta time, I will journal, blog or read, but today I actually napped, when I woke up, Tatiana was laying in her bed talking to herself again. I asked her if she wants to sleep next to Papa and she immediately crawled up next to him. I then took the computer into the bathroom where I wouldn't bother her and opened my blog. After that rough night, your comments brought tears to my eyes, thank you for taking the time to comment, it means a lot to us here, in a country, where few people understand our language.

Food

We have had the girls for a week and three days now, we simply can't imagine life without them. They have proved over and over again to be a perfect match for Ken and I. In this week and three days we learned that Kathrine eats really slow, just like her mom, and Tatiana will eat super fast, in fact she will usually be done before anyone else at the table. Kathrine is also a little more picky about what she eats and usually does not finish her meals. So far we have been saying that Tatiana will eat anything. For example they other night at dinner they served trout and here it is custom to serve it with the skin and head attached. When they served it I pulled the skin of the fish back and cut up the meat so it was easier for her to eat. We were all eating when I noticed that Tatiana was really really enjoying what she was eating- the skin of the fish. I told her it was no good and the French lady showed her that she had not finished it on her plate either. That is when her husband asked us where the head of the fish was, we looked around on Tatiana's plate, and it was gone. So skipping ahead to today, we ate lunch at the food court in the mall and I finally found a vegetable pizza, anything I get I usually plan on sharing with the girls. The pizza was delicious, exactly what I wanted, thin crust, no sauce, plenty of veggies and cheese. So I gave Kathrine a bite and she spit it out onto the floor, a little shocking for both Ken and I. Then Tatiana wanted a bite she chewed it and swallowed it, but when I asked if she wanted more she wrinkled her nose and shook her head. The lesson we learned-according to Tatiana, fish heads are better than Veggie Pizza.