Final Thoughts

Well, here we are back in Wisconsin. It still seems so weird to be home, and I am definitely not used to doing all of our own cooking and cleaning:) Our days are so busy with me taking care of our two beautiful kids and Mark back to work. I decided that I must sit down tonight and try to wrap up our blog (although Mark says we should keep it going, we'll see).
Our final days in Bogota were spent at Hotel Paris. It was a nice place with good food, but we were missing the staff at Las Palmas and actually went back to say our good-byes a couple times. Below is a picture of us with our Danish friends (Allan, Sidsel, and Jonathan) as they were leaving to return to Denmark. Also included in the picture is another couple from Denmark who had just arrived a day earlier, and our dear friend Jeaneth, the manager at Las Palmas along with Maritza and Luciola. We had been through the ritual of standing in front of the guest house waving good-bye so many times and this would be the last time. So many good-byes that were always both happy and sad.

Below is a picture of our room at Hotel Paris. We never really unpacked completely because we would be leaving soon.

Here we are the happy family posing for a picture.

I love this picture of Dana. "Whatever you think I may have done, I didn't do it."

So when we were picked up early Sunday morning by Santiago and Louisa to fly home, we left this city that had been our home for 8 weeks. Someday we know we will return to take Dana to her country of birth, but it was sad to leave. Colombia is now a part of who we are because it is a part of this incredible girl named Dana Valentina. Being Colombian is something we want her to always, always be proud of. We certainly had our set-backs and frustrations during our stay (don't get me wrong), but when it all comes down to it we saw so many beautiful and interesting places, we learned so much, we met some of the nicest people we will ever meet, and we were united with our precious child. God has truly blessed us. And this adoption journey has once again led us to the child that was put on this earth to be with us. I have to share what Andy said one night in all his 4-year-old wisdom: He was explaining to us that there are two heavens. One where people go when they die, and the other where babies wait until they are adopted. Andy has always thought that he came straight from heaven, and I really think that he may be onto something. With adoption, you cannot help but feel certain that God has a hand in it. It is so hard to put into words, but you can feel it in your heart.

So now our job is to live our lives fully and raise our children to be good people. It is really that simple.

One final picture of Dana Valentina McCoy happy in her home with her forever family: