Day Nine: Our Miracle

"For this child I have prayed, and the Lord has granted me my petition..."

1 Samuel 1:27

First and foremost, we thank God for Daniel Forrester! What an amazing day! God has truly blessed us with an amazing son and answered many other prayers.

Thank you to all of our family and friends who have prayed for us. We can tell you that God has listened.

Our Gotcha Day, or Encuentro as it is called in Colombia, was at 2:30 p.m. on May 30, 2011 at the ICBF office located near the El Dorado Airport.

We took our luggage to La Lanthana bed and breakfast and unpacked earlier in the morning and met Lucia, our escort to assist us through the adoption. After a quick lunch at the bed and breakfast, we headed to ICBF.

We were escorted to a room that was decorated with baby blue balloons and a colorful sign saying "Bienvenidos." We sat down on one of the sofas and chatted with Lucia while waiting.

Within a few minutes, a representative from ICBF and Daniel's nutritionist entered. His nutritionist said she had known Daniel since the beginning. We spent about twenty minutes talking with them about Daniel's routine, background, health and had an opportunity to ask various questions. One answered prayer was we received all of Daniel's records,which most of the time they do not provide. We also received photos from every month since his birth.

"He is very social, has a lot of energy and when you hold him he won't stand still," explained the nutritionist. "He'll try climbing up your chest and loves jumping up and down. He is a sweet boy. He loves hugs and kisses. He plays and crawls a lot."

After we asked all of our questions, they asked for my camera and left the room and disappeared into the adjacent office. We waited nervously.

A couple of minutes later, the nutritionist appeared holding Daniel. What an awesome moment! With tears in our eyes we were ready to hold our baby. He is our miracle.

Daniel was alert but obviously nervous. He was bundled up in a hooded jacket, tan pants, boots and holding a small blue ball. His dark brown eyes were wide open and taking in every detail.

Claudia and I held him with huge smiles on our faces. Honestly, I think we were all three a little nervous. I sat down on the sofa and let him stand up on my lap. That's when the ice was broken.

Daniel began to jump up and down on my lap. He stomped one of his feet and then the other. Then bounced up and down, showed a huge grin and began to laugh.

The rest of the day we spent at Lanthana, mostly in our room. Daniel continued jumping. laughing and totally washing away our concerns about his ability to transition.

He can crawl, clap his hands, babbles and completely breaks down when you tickle him. Claudia has played traditional Colombian games for children with him that his foster mother obviusly did too because Daniel already seems familiar with them. Our attachment process seems to be going very well and is another HUGE answered prayer.

I'm sure we'll make mistakes. We already fed him a bottle for 10 minutes, looking at each other approvingly of the method, only to realize that the bottle was closed and Daniel wasn't actually drinking any milk.

Our Family Adventure is just beginning.

Day Eight: Culture and Questions

We promise to share Colombia's culture with our son, but the question is how?

On the day before our Gotcah Day, we spent the majority of the day catching up with Claudia's college friend Lliana and her family. We went to a Construction and Home Design Fair, which was at Corferia Exposition Center.

Claudia spent a lot of time talking with Lliana's mother Miriam about our big day. Lliana's brother Ricardo let us borrow a small camera, since mine is a little too large and showy to be flaunting around the streets of Bogota.

After the fair we stopped by La Campina, a local ice cream shop. While we enjoyed ice cream and cake, Claudia spotted a 7-year-old selling trash bags on the street.

It's common to see desperately poor or disabled people either selling random items like telephone chargers, candies, flowers, etc. or walking between cars at intersections asking for charity. Life in Bogota is separated by two worlds: the haves and the have-nots.

Before settling down at the apartment there was still enough daylight for a walk around the neighborhood. While walking, we asked ourselves if we were prepared for Gotcha day. We passed by a man riding a bicycle & cart who was returning home from a day selling his food on the street. On top of his cart were two children about five and seven years old. Several taxi cabs zipped past the man and his children.

Before we knew it, we were walking in Santa Fe Mall.

We went to the third floor where the food court is located. We went outside on a patio and looked at the Autopista (a busy road that connects most of Bogota from north to sout). Five or six taxis, buses and motorcycles passed by. A taxi peeled off the road and stopped to pick up a passenger before jumping back into the trafifc. People walked along the sidewalk. Numerous vendors were selling their merchandise on the street.

"I love the activity of the big city. There is so much going on at any given location. It's similar to walking around the streets of Chicago," I said. "What do you miss about living here?"

"My friends," responds Claudia.

"That's all," I ask.

"Yes," she confirms.

Life in Bogota is hard for the majority of people. The street child selling trash bags and the man riding his bicycle & cart with children are obvious reminders hard to ignore.

We can celebrate holidays and cook food from Colombia, but we can't transplant the smells, noises or people in Bogota to Nashville.

"Our son is going to have a very different life," I commented and Claudia agreed.

We finished the day packing our bags for our week stay at La Lanthana. One of the last things we did was write down a list of questions to ask the social worker about our son's life and medical history. The list was important because we wouldn't have another opportunity to get information about his past.

Day Six & Seven: Family, Faxes and Fun

The calm before Gotcha Day/Encuentro has allowed us to enjoy the past couple of days without needing to run around Bogota for errands.

Friday we were invited for breakfast with Claudia's aunt Martha and cousin Natalia. They live in a condominium that's part of a two-tower residential project about ten minutes from our condo. The majority of the units were still under construction.

We enjoyed Tamalitos for breakfast and had a great time talking and catching up. After breakfast, we went to the top of the building for a fantastic view of the city. Time passed so fast that before we knew it, we were ready for lunch.

We took a short walk to Centro de Commercial Panama and ate at the Restaurante Panama. The Colombian diet includes A LOT of meat. Most restaurants serve Parrilla, which is an asortment of chicken, pork, steak, sausage and vegatables yuca and plantain. Complement the meat with arepa and fresh fruit juice.

Afterward we received a call from Lucia, who needed us to fax a copy of my passport to her office. We said our good-byes and headed toward the nearest Internet Cafe and sent a copy of my passport. We took it as a good sign our Encuentro was still on schedule since it was almost 5 p.m. on Friday.

During the evening, Claudia and I enjoyed a trip to Unicentro Mall, which has historically been Bogota's higher-end mall. The facility has recently been remodeled, we believe, because of increased competition from Santa Fe. We had dinner in a very popular restaurant named Crepes & Waffles. They have several locations around town and more times than not there is a line of people waiting for a table.

Saturday started off with rain. The good thing is we slept late and missed the downpour. That didn't bother us at all. After the rain clouds left, the blue sky and sun felt great.

Claudia's uncle Alberto picked us up and we were off on a day trip to Sopo, Colombia. The town is about 30 minutes outside of Bogota and its name means rock or strong mountain. Its main industry is livestock and Alpina Factory, which is a huge dairy factory.

The town is nestled at the foot of a large mountain. As you drive through the town, there are several men and women flagging passing cars hoping to direct them to their family-owned restaurants. Weekend lunches are a huge business for many families in the small communities outside Bogota.

We toured the town square and stopped by Alpina, which operates a small mercado full of different traditional deserts. Almost all the deserts are made with fresh cheese, yogurt, fruits and arequipe (similar to caramel).

The desert was tasty and a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon. After being in the city for a week, it was fun to head out to the countryside for fresh air and a change of atmosphere.

Day Five: Gotcha Day Confirmed!

Early Thursday morning our wait for a Gotcha Day to be confirmed ended.

Lucia said Gotcha Day is set for Monday at 2:30 p.m. It has been a long week not knowing when we would actually get to meet our son.

Little Baby Forrester still has bronchitis. It's a common sickness for infants in Bogota because of the cold temperatures, rain, and air pollution.

Time moved about as fast as a child riding a tricycle with square wheels. We were still glad to have come down as originally planned because we were able to accomplish several things we needed done.

Thursday we didn't have anything to do. We relaxed at the condo during the morning and walked across the street to have lunch.

It was a good thing we didn't need to go outside because we've had scattered showers the entire day.

Day Four: Passports, Ajiaco and Delays

Today we had a check list of things to get done in hopes Thursday would be our Gotcha day.

We went to Movistar to complain about their service and try getting either reimbursed or receive a month's service. Fortunately, Movistar said we would have service by noon Thursday.

Afterward, we went to a notario to sign our power of attorney document for the legal representative during the adoption process. The line wasn't very long and we were able to knock it out within about thirty minutes.

The notario was located about a block from Claudia's grandmother's house. Her grandmother was cooking a Colombian specialty soup called Ajiaco. It's a soup filled with peas, chicken, cilantro and a small piece of corn on the cob.

We enjoyed spending a couple of hours catching up with Abuela and Claudia's cousin Miguelacho.

At 2 p.m. we headed to pick up Claudia's passport. Luckily we didn't need to wait in a line like Monday (three hours).

The entire day we were waiting for a call to confirm Gotcha Day for Thursday. The call never came.

We finally spoke with our liason Lucia, who said it wouldn't be Thursday. Instead, the Colombian agency wants to wait to allow Little Baby Forrester time to get well.

There was always a chance it wouldn't occur this week, but we were always hopeful.

Forrester's Set Record for Most Expensive One Hour of Internet Service

It is frustrating when you post on Facebook we have Internet and can provide frequent updates, only to wake up the next day and discover you have used your one month plan in an hour.

Our $90 investment was blown within an hour because the mobile phone company, Movistar, failed to provide proper instructions for setting up our Internet service. We feared we had lost the money.

What’s worse, we really don’t have the mental energy to argue with the company to get our money back either. We forced ourselves to wake up early Wednesday morning, go to Movistar and plead our case.

The clerk couldn’t have cared less about our situation. Claudia did the majority of the talking, but I couldn’t help but interject a few times. The end of the conversation went something like this:

“Quiero hablar con tu supervisor,” said Claudia. (I want to talk with your supervisor.)

“El no esta aqui. El esta en una reunion,” said the clerk. (He’s not here. He is in a meeting.)

“No te creo y no me importa si el esta en un reunion,” I said. (I don’t believe you and I don’t care if he is in a meeting.)

Then, Claudia laid down the gauntlet. “If you don’t give us our money back, we’re going to call our bank and cancel this transaction and explain it was fraud. We paid for a service that you didn’t provide,” she said.

The clerk looked at us quietly, and then sheepishly asked, “You can do that?”

“Yes,” Claudia said firmly.

The clerk disappeared only to return saying she spoke with her supervisor and they would provide us with the one month plan again. This time, we were given all of the instructions needed.

We’d prefer not to fight with a Colombian corporation to pass our time here, but it and other activities provide a distraction to allow the time to pass by more quickly.

Day Three: Pasado Judicial Done

Claudia headed out this morning with her grandfather Hernando to get her Passado Judicial, which is equivalent to the United States' F.B.I. background check.

After a forty-five minute cab ride they arrived just in time to avoid the rain. Claudia and her grandfather ducked underneath a canopy. They soon discovered it was raining harder underneath the canopy than outside.

She accomplished her mission after a two hour wait and received her certificate.

Yeah!!! One less thing on the list.

Weather in Bogota

Surprisingly, the weather for the past two days has been very nice in Bogota, a city where chilly, cloudy and rainy days are typical.

We don't take the weather for granted and head out bundled for cold temperatures like many others in the city even though a t-shirt would suffice.

"Enjoy the sun while it lasts, but always take a rain jacket or umbrella," cautions Claudia's friend Lilliana.

The people of Bogota are caught off guard by the fair weather. Many are bundled in heavy jackets and sweaters with a wary eye looking skyward. Still, during the afternoons in the park across the street people enjoy the sun and warm temperatures. Children are playing soccer or fetch with their dogs. Adolecensts huddle underneath a bush wrapped in each other's arms. Others walk with purpose toward their condo crring plastic bags filled with groceries from nearby Santa Fe mall.

People look distrustful upwards. The sky is expected to suddenly become cloudy and rumble with lightening. The heavens should unexpectedly open up with a deluge.

Why shouldn't people trust the weather? There isn't much they do trust. Not their neighbors. Not the people selling things on the street. They rarely wear jewelry that would call attention to themselves for fear of being robbed. Many stores don't accept debit cards, which means people pay more for items in stores because the cashier can't make exact change due to the lack of small currency denominations. They don't trust police or politicians.

So, why not expect the weather to turn on you also?

Day One & Two: Waiting & Progress

One of the hardest things is to be given little pieces of information, such as your son has severe bronchitis and might be sent to the hospital, and not be able to do anything.

Early Sunday morning Claudia called our liason, Lucia, to get information about Little Baby Forrester. The only information we received was he had a serious case of bronchitis and they were probably taking him to a hospital. There was a chance we would need to stay at the hospital with him for the first several days, or possibly need to visit a clinic for daily therapy. Lucia didn't have much more information but was hopeful we would have a gotcha day confirmed for this week.

We remain optimistic and hopeful our Gotcha day will be scheduled soon. We have kept ourselves busy organizing our things in the condominium and getting a few things before we meet Little Baby Forrester.

One lesson you learn quickly is things don't go quickly in Colombia. "Hay filas para filas," I say. "There are lines for lines."

Another lesson is this city moves on its feet and in cabs or buses. People walk all over the place, take a cab or bus, and then walk to their final destination. Hailing a cab doesn't take much talent or good looks. It's pretty easy.

We have spent a lot of time walking to various places. There is a major mall named Santa Fe about two blocks from our condominium that's probably 2 million square feet and filled with major brands, including several more U.S. brands than four years ago.

Monday we spent three hours waiting for Claudia to renew her Colombian passport. When she finally came out of the office, she said we needed to return Wednesday to pick it up. We then went on a search, and a short cab ride and long walk, to purchase Internet service. We spent another hour completing that process. But as is typical in Colombia, we purchased the USB modem from Movistar (similar to Verizon) and then needed to go to Santa Fe to wait in another line and pay for the Internet service. Yes, it takes two businesses to accomplish what one can in the United States. Don't get me started on the process to add someone's name to a bank account. That's another afternoon.

The past two days we've spotted parents with their children and our minds immediately are reminded of why we are here. We have walked into children's clothing and toy stores and silently pray for our son. This is the difficult part of our trip right now.

But there is progress. This evening, Lucia said Little Baby Forrester is feeling better and she is hopeful our Gotcha day will be this Thursday. We will get a confirmation on Wednesday, hopefully.

Until then, we'll continue to pray, wait and hail cabs.

Unexpected Call

Every now and then no matter how much planning a person can do, ultimately God reminds us who is in control.

We spent the week buying last minute items and packing our suitcases and coordinating with our respective co-workers regarding our various projects so they can help out during our trip.

On Friday May 20 we sat in the nursery and filmed a short message for Little Baby Forrester saying we can’t wait to meet him on our May 23 Gotcha Day.  

Everything was ready finally and we were en route to Claudia’s parents’ house for the night because they were going to take us to the airport early Saturday morning. Then we received the call.

I’ll say up front that it could have been much worse. But Nichole, our social worker from Children’s Hope International, called at 6:27 p.m.

“Is Brian with you? I need to speak with both of you,” she asked.

“We’re almost home. We can call you back,” Claudia responded.

“Well I’ll go ahead and tell you that I have bad news,” Nichole said.

She went on to say our contact in Bogota, Lucia, had called her late in the afternoon. Little Baby Forrester has bronchitis and was being taken to the doctor. As a result, ICBF (the Colombian institute that oversees adoptions) was recommending we reschedule our flight for a week to allow our son time to get better. In effect, our Gotcha Day for the 23^rd was going to be pushed back and Nichole didn’t have a definite idea when we would meet him.

Our hearts sank. We took a deep breath. God is in control and operates on his own schedule.

The good news is Little Baby Forrester is being taken care of by his wonderful foster mother and doctors. We pray he has a speedy recovery.

It’s difficult to know your child is sick and there is nothing you can do to help him. We would love to visit him, but unfortunately that’s not an option. It hurts that our meeting is being delayed.

Still, we told Nichole that we were going to go to Bogota as scheduled and hope for the best. With us already in the city, hopefully that will help the Gotcha Day be sooner rather than later.

We’re writing this at the Houston Airport waiting for our Bogota flight. We were supposed to be filled with excitement about meeting our son in two days. Now, we console each other and give each other hugs and kisses hoping to see Little Baby Forrester as soon as possible. The date and time is in God’s hands.

Packing, Planning and Praying

With all of the running around buying last minute items, checking documents and packing, its easy to forget that in seven days we will meet our son for the first time.

Our lives have been hectic during the past several weeks as you might imagine. But many of the days have been filled with happy moments.

The nursery is almost complete. Claudia spent this past weekend painting the monogram on the wall. We had a wonderful, humbling turnout during our Chick-Fil-A Help Bring Little Baby Forrester Home fund raising event. It was so amazing to see all of our friends, family, coworkers and clients all come out to support us. It was also heart warming to have complete strangers make donations to our adoption. We had an hour long conference call with our social worker to discuss final trip preparations and review what will happen during the trip.

We are so excited and can't wait to meet Little Baby Forrester.

But while we are caught up in the moment of excitement and planning, its easy to forget that right now there is a wonderful foster mother lovingly providing all of our child's daily needs.

What is going through her mind, knowing our gotcha day is a week away? How is she preparing for the transition? Is she savoring the moments more knowing that soon they will end?

For most of our son's life, she has been his caretaker.Bathing him. Feeding him. She knows him better than anyone else at this point. She made note that he enjoys laying in the sun and his favorite color is red.

For her, our gotcha day is a letting go day. As suddenly and permanently as our lives will change with him in our lives, her life will change without him and we will likely not have a chance to ever know her or thank her personally.

For this reason, we ask that you pray for us as we make our final preparations but also please pray for the foster mother and Little Baby Forrester and their "letting go day." May this transition be easy for everyone.

Our Last Road Trip Before Parenthood

We are packing our suitcase and about to travel to Atlanta for a Monday meeting with the Colombian Consulate.

The reason we're heading down is to obtain my Visa, which will allow me to participate in the legal system in Colombia when we are finalizing our adoption of Little Baby Forrester. Claudia doesn't need a visa since she is from Colombia.

Please say a prayer Monday for us. The Consulate experience can be hit or miss. There are examples of employees being very gracious and other times enjoying power trips; and that's being nice.

We are rapidly approaching our Gotcha Day, May 23. While grabbing a quick lunch this afternoon, it dawned on us that this trip, as rushed as it is, will be our last "road trip" before parenthood.

There are numerous moments each day that it occurs to us parenthood is imminent. I had lunch with a friend Friday and described it as a "freight train of blessings!"

Set Encuentro Date, Check

Things are picking up at the Forrester's house and during all the excitement our encuentro date has been set!

We now know that we will meet our son on May 23rd in Bogota, Colombia.

Having the date set means we are now counting down the days to a definite day rather than some ambiguous future day and there is an entire new list of things to do. Yea!

We are set to travel to the Colombian Consulate in Atlanta to get my travel visa. We've bought our airline tickets and are creating a to-do list to make sure we don't forget anything while preparing.

The nursery is finished and waiting for Little Baby Forrester. He has been showered with great gifts from our awesome family and friends. We also have toured day care facilities. Between those things, the reality is definitely setting in.

We can't wait!

Dogs, Walks and other Thoughts

After arriving home from Atlanta, I was ready to spend time with my family.

So much had changed in a short period of time. I was still trying to wrap my head around the news from Claudia and Children's Hope the day before.

The weather was beginning to warm up and our dogs, Missy and Pebbles, needed to go for a walk.

Claudia and I grabbed the leashes and dogs and headed out.

"When do you think we could know more," I asked.

"I don't know. Nichole said it could be any day. It could be this week. It could be next week," Claudia replied.

We kept walking.

"Do you think it will be a boy or a girl," I asked.

"I think it will be a boy," Claudia said after thinking. "Probably from Bogota."

"That would be cool because then we could stay at your parents condo," I said, thus avoiding the additional expense for a hotel during the anticipated six weeks in Colombia to complete an adoption.

There are so many questions unanswered after Nichole's call. Our lives had officially changed just as our dossier was officially accepted.

Counting down

We are in the counting down part now. It is official. We will be leaving to Bogota in about 2 1/2 weeks. It is hard to believe the BIG day is coming up.

"Are we ready," Brian asked me yesterday. "I don't know," I said, "I think we are as ready as first time parents can be." It made me feel better the fact that we are surrounded by tons of love and support from our family and friends. We couldn't ask for more.

We need tons more of prayers now so everything keeps going smoothly.

Please don't forget our event this Thursday (05/05/11) from 5 to 8 pm at the Brenwood Chick-fil-A. We'll see you there!

Click Here to get the invitation and bring it with you!