Surfer's Wife/Mother's Life

We are finally home after 5 super fun but long weeks in Bogota. The last week has flown by but after 5 long days of appointments, my mom coming out and 1 visit to the US embassy in Bogota, Leidy is finally a Colopy! I can’t begin to explain the feeling! Its been a year of endless paperwork and doctors appointments, and notary visits, etc. I can’t believe she is finally home. It feels so normal yet so surreal at the same time. 

Our last week in Bogota was very bittersweet. It felt nice to finally be finanilizing the adoption and to have my mom there, but I could tell Leidy was heavy hearted. I think all of the anticipation and nerves were surfacing. She was super quiet sort of moping around, understandably. When asked what would make her feel better she requested to spend some time with her best friend from her orphanage, Monica. They were separated two months ago when their orphanage closed. Monica was sent to another foundation while Leidy was placed in a temporary one while she was waiting for us to arrive.  With the amazing work of our rep, Martha, we were able to bring Monica to our place for the weekend. This was of course the perfect medicine for Leidy! The girls had a blast and Leidy was the perfect host to her bff. Monica going home was followed by many many goodbyes. We have met some wonderful people who we will miss. Leidy and I both formed some great friendships. We have told Leidy that Colombia will always be a part of her and her home. We will visit often and try to bring Colombian culture (foods, holidays, etc) into our home. As we say often as cheesy as it may sound, our family is part Colombian now!

Being home has been wonderful. Its so weird to be a family of 5 now. Now onto the small stuff like how to integrate English speaking, (since we have been speaking so much spanish), house rules, school etc. Sometimes I just want to go back to Bogota where I had no responsibilities except just hanging out all day.  We will miss this place and all of the amazing people we have met. 

Just love this face

New glasses at the flea market

celebrating Leidy Colopy with Annilee!

Lunch with all of us. Leidys favorite soup Ajiaco

the girls and Santi

Leidy and Santi have such a neat connection. We will miss this face!

Making chocolates with Fernando and Monica

Lunch with the ladies at our favorite place with our favorite juice guanabana

Saying our goodbyes to Martha. She worked so hard for us. We are forever grateful.

Emmie and her boyfriends Santi and Francisco

Leidys friends came by the night before we left! She is so happy here.

our family at Zuetana

Mauricio our driver! 

Finally on that plane home!

Its been almost a week since Ty and Ira have left and the time has gone by super fast and super slow at the same time. I am trying not to think about how long it has been and just focus on being present here.  Conveniently, I have been out a computer until last night as well. For some reason the electricity here is different, even though the outlets are the same and something burnt out on my computer charger so it has been in the repair shop. 

Emmie, Leidy and I are doing good and keeping busy. We have been watching lots of movies. Leidy is catching up on the twilight series and can’t get enough. Emmie has been into everything as usual, she is starting to stand on her own for about 10-20 seconds. We are loving Bogota! We wish we could travel around more but honestly its been nice to get to know an area/people/restaurants. My mom is coming out in a few days. It will be her first international travel! She will love it. 

Our paperwork has been sitting on the judges desk for about a week now just waiting for a signature. Our rep says that she is expecting a signature next week which is AWESOME. After the signature we have about another 5 business days to take care of US visa/passport etc before we can go home. 

Here are some pictures of the last week or two. In no order

Miss this boy!

On the top of Montserrate

Plaza Bolivar

Soldier guarding the President’s house

Bus ride there.

Making chocolates

Walking to the flea market

Taxi ride… 6 of us crammed into the worlds smallest car. Best day of their lives.

Taxi ride

Plaza Bolivar

Plaza Bolivar

Emmie.. Leidy picked out her outfit!

Cable car up to Montserrate

View of all of Bogota

Church of Guadalupe

Our amigo Fernando

President’s home

Colopys are still good. We haven’t been able to travel much because we have so many appointments, so we are looking forward to doing and seeing more next week. Leidy has had two doctor apts and we have also had to visit a notary for Tyler to sign over power of attorney to me so that I can complete the adoption since he has to go home in a couple of weeks. In Colombia they do what is called an integration week. This is the first week we spend with Leidy. When the week is complete we will have a meeting with our attorney and representative to sign paperwork saying we still want to adopt and Leidy will have to say she still wants to be adopted. After this then our paperwork can be sent to court. So essentially this whole first week has not really been anything but us spending time together:) 

We have met so many friends here. Most of them are adopting as well. Tim and Annie are adopting Santi he is 9 months, and Ruth and Decklyn are adopting Francisco 11 months, he comes home today actually. It has been so so special to be a part of their family begginings. Adoption is such a beautiful thing no matter what age. To see these first time mothers holding their new babies is so neat. Tyler and I feel so blessed to have been able to witness these beautiful moments. 

I am reading Kisses From Katie again, SUCH a good book and so inspirational. One part I love… (sorry for the length)

“Adoption is absolutely God ordained, but is also about the most unnatural way to grow a family. And it comes with huge heartache and huge God-wrestling.  How do I tell a child that I love her when she doesn’t know love? How do I expect her to trust me when all she has ever known is broken trust? I prove it. I earn it. I remind them over and over again with words, actions hugs, and kisses. I remind myself over again that Christ incarnated in the parent is the only hope incarnating Christ in a child. When a child bites me, hits me or looks into my eyes and tries to shove me away so she can hurt me before I hurt her, when a child over eats to the point of vomiting because she was once so hungry and is afraid of that hunger or she hides food under her covers “just in case”, when my child cries out for her birth mother or birth father who was abusive? What then? I love anyway. I get on my knees and cry to God about the hurt they have experienced and I ask Him why? And then I remember that a good God who wants good for His children can give only good. I remember that all of this, even this hard part is working for the good in their lives, for the good of God and his kingdom. I rememebr that these hardships are gifts that He is using to strengthen us as a family and in Him so that he may transform us into his likeness.  We cherish the grace that is this unique family. And to the questions and the comments and the compliments, this is my reply:  ” These are the children that the Lord saw fit to bless me with.”

My prayer is that I can be a mother and Ty a father that exlemplifies this. We feel so blessed to have been given this opportunity to extend our family through adoption. Thank you for all of your kind works and prayers and encouragement. Thank you for donating your time and money to help make this happen. It means the world to us. 

Leidy and I at Francisco’s welcome party

Ira and his cake

Sweet Emmie

Making traditional Colombian empanadas

My not so happy cook

Ira 

Love them

Driving in our first car ride with out car seats! Apparently its normal here, we have been getting crazy looks for taking the time to install them so we gave in. Don’t judge :)

Ty and Ems with Tim and Santi

Ira attempting crossfit at the park

Leidy making my favorite! Fried Plantains

Ira putting on Leidy’s clothes

Here are some pictures of Leidy’s birthday party we had here yesterday.  We are having quite the week here with her birthday and our anniversary so we have been celebrating every chance we get. 

Leidy, Ira and Emmie couldn’t be happier. So far Ira and Emmie have been extremely comfortable around their new sister and Leidy has been taking her older sister role very seriously. She is so helpful and loves to play with both of them. Thursday will be one week since we have had her so we will have a meeting and hopefully find out a little more information as to how long we will have to be here but so far we are having a lot of fun. Bogota is an awesome place. There are lots of things to do. Per lots of requests I will keep the pictures coming. Thanks for all of the love!

Leidy insisted that her candles all be clumped together which of course caused the largest bonfire in the middle of the cake. The staff were panicking!

Friends

She got to skype with her siblings who live in Italy who were adopted by a family in Italy last year.

Flea market

birthday cupcakes

lunch break

We are finally here and I can’t tell you how good it feels to finally be a family!

Things are going good. We have felt God’s protection and peace more than I could have ever expected. From many travel mercies with luggage and rental cars and even staying with my family in Ft Lauderdale on the way.  I have never had a relationship with my dad, but in the past have been able to see his brothers and sisters and my cousins but it has been a long long time, so it was nice to reconnect with them. It was also nice for them to meet Ira and Emmie.

We arrived in Bogota on Wednesday night and are staying in what is called an adoption hotel. It is a big home with separate rooms and apartments where  families “in waiting” are staying with their kids. So far we have met a family from Holland who are on their third adoption from Colombia, and a couple from France who are adopting a 6 month old girl. Last night a couple from Portland checked in. They will be picking up their baby boy (who is exactly three days older than Emmie ) on Tuesday. We are really excited to be with them because it looks like they will be here for the same amount of time as us. Her husband will be leaving around the same time Tyler is leaving so we will be hanging out and helping each other out. She even does Crossfit!! I know I know.. call me lame, but I am so excited to have some one to work out with! We will be doing WODS in the park!

We picked up Leidy yesterday at the ICBF offices in Bogota. She was so nervous as were we, but so excited. She is now staying with us until our court date in which she becomes legally ours and then we can go home. We will find out in a week or so which court has our case. Some courts take longer than others so we are praying for a quick court. It can be as long as 8 weeks or as short as 5 weeks.  Yesterday afternoon the staff here at the hotel threw a party for Leidy welcoming her to her new family. It was really special. They said its because they want us to remember this day always. This week we have a lot to celebrate. Tomorrow is Leidy’s 14^th birthday and Sunday is our 6^th wedding anniversary!! 

Thanks for your prayers and support! We will keep the updates coming. 

First family pic… sorry its so blurry

Leidy’s welcome party

walking to dinner at Crepes and Waffles

Ira eating his favorite meal

My flowers from the staff here for being a new mama!

Ok folks! Its finally done.. at least the paperwork. We have finally sent our formal approval from Colombia to our the US immigration. From here we wait for them to approve it, which typically takes up to 3-4 weeks. Of course every day counts and we need it approved literally yesterday if we want Leidy home for Christmas. Our agency says that we will need to be in Colombia by November 15th to be able to bring Leidy home before their courts close for the holidays. From this point its a LONGSHOT but not impossible. There are some other road blocks that are completely out of our control. Some of the courts in Colombia are on strike which means that they might not be finalizing any adoptions before they close in the middle of December.  ALSO, Leidy’s current orphanage has closed so she has been moved away from the only home she has known since 2008. Please pray for her and that we can bring her back to her real home soon. We can use all the prayers we can get. I know that this is not too hard for God, however I trust in his plan and if thats waiting until January to pick up our daughter than thats ok too. 

All that to say, yes we are a little stressed and tense around here, but hopeful and at peace at the same time. 

On a happier note, we have been featured on the Hannah James blog. She features one family per month to donate 45% of the profits to. Check it out and maybe shop a little… :) 

http://www.hannahjamesblog.com/

click on shop. 

I will keep the updates coming. Thank you thank you thank you for your prayers! 

These two faces bring me so much joy. 

Oh and here is Ira putting the finishing touches on the accent wall in Leidy’s room.

We are still hanging in there.. playing the waiting game. As the end of the year approaches we are getting more and more anxious to bring our Leidy home. We don’t have much of an update other than this:

Our dossier was approved by Colombia and now we are moving forward to submit the final paperwork to our government. This process can and usually takes up to 4 weeks. Since the courts in Colombia close in mid December we have been told by our agency if we aren’t in Colombia by November 15th we will not be able to bring her home for the holidays and her birthday in January. We will then have to wait until January or February to travel. So our prayers are that our paperwork will move quickly though the system and that we will be on that plane in a matter of a few weeks!

In the meantime we are getting Leidy’s room ready. (Its been so fun to create another girl space) and enjoying our time as a family of 4 (but eager to make it 5!) We are continuing to fundraise and apply for grants as there is still quite a bit more to raise. 

I do not have words to describe how amazingly supportive everyone has been. We have no doubt how much our community will love and welcome Leidy. THANK YOU!

More pictures….

Hey Friends! For all of you that have been asking (thanks for asking :)) we are going to be doing some fundraising over the next month or two to help us bring Leidy home:) Now that the bulk of our paperwork/grant writing is done we are finally able to focus on the financial part of this whole journey. 

Just Love Coffee is a really cool company that sells fair trade, organic coffee from all over the world. If you order your coffee from them a portion of the proceeds go to our adoption fund. Its a great and simple way to help us out if you are interested. Also it makes a great gift! Holidays are coming up;) AND… who doesn’t love coffee??? 

Here is the link to our account. 

www.justlovecoffee.com/colombiancolopy

Yesterday was a good day. We haven’t been able to skype with Leidy in a while due to poor internet connections at her orphanage so we were all very excited to see her yesterday. She seems to be doing well. She is always very quiet but smiley.  We don’t usually get much emotion from her. She is super introverted and is very guarded (understandably) so most of the time when we tell her we love her and miss her she will say “bueno”. Yesterday she replied to those statements with “yo tabien”!! Can’t tell you how much it means to us to hear that!

When she was living with us last Summer (a year ago) it was a bit easier to break the emotional barrier. All we needed to do was lay with her and hug her, Its amazing how much can be said with no words at all. But now since its most of our conversation has been over the phone with a language barrier and bad signals we haven’t been able to really connect. We do write her letters and are constantly telling her how much she means to our family and that we miss her but it is just not the same.:( I cannot describe how much we long for her to be here. Time is seeming to move by so slow, but we are begining to see a light at the end of the tunnel and are hoping to get to travel to Colombia soon. 

Also, without Leidy knowing, Yisel (our favorite lady at her orphanage) sent us some pictures that Leidy took of herself. She is growing up so fast! She looks like she is 27!

Its been quite the Summer… and as we are moving further along in this adoption process, I figured its time for an update. We are so honored by all of your support and prayers and thanks for always checking in to see how everything is going.  For those of you that have inquired there is now a button on the blog to make donations towards our adoption. We are just beginning the fundraising process as well as applying for grants. God has been so faithful and continues to provide for us. 

I know I haven’t been super consistent on my blogging but to be honest a lot of the process so far has been rather mundane. So for all of you that are familiar with the international adoption process I will give a brief rundown…

We have submitted our I800 and have received our I797. This basically means that we have been granted permission by our government to bring Leidy into our family and for her to have citizenship.  The last step as far as paperwork goes on our end is to submit our Dossier. This is basically a big packet of notarized documents that we have been working on obtaining. (doctors notes, psyc evals, employment letters, certified copies of birth/marriage certificates and references)  After that is all completed we will head to LA to get the whole packet apostilled (think of it as a notary of a notary) and then we submit it to our agency. When they approve it it will be translated and reviewed by the Colombian government. We will then wait to receive a referral to travel. gosh… I am confusing myself. Sorry… it is a process, for which in a way we have become grateful for. Although complicated its nice to know that they are making sure people are who they say they are and that they are adopting for the right reasons. 

Looking ahead we have much for be excited about. We are praying to be traveling to Colombia in late October or early November. If not then we are looking at January since most of the courts in Colombia are closed in December. Leidy will be 14 in the beginning of January and we would love to have her home to celebrate her birthday and Christmas so we are working hard to be able to finish everything before then.  Ty and I and the kids will all go. The average length of time spent there is 5-6 weeks. The reason we are there for so long is because we are finalizing the adoption there. When we arrive we will pick up Leidy from her orphanage and she will live with us as we wait for a judge to see us. Once we go before a judge and the adoption process is finalized we will then get Leidy a passport and a ticket home. Ty will have to go home after 3 weeks so please be praying for me as I brave it with 3 kids alone :)

We are also “skyping” with Leidy once a week. She is super excited and continues to ask how long until she can come home, we always tell her we are working as hard as we can. Tyler and I are working on decorating her room. She says she wants pink and black with hearts. I will post pictures of it once we finish. 

More updates to follow..  Here are some recent pictures of my Loves! 

Poor Ira, he will hate me for this but its just so cute!

Come bowl with 6 amazing kids from Colombia. Please spread the word. Help them find families. See you Sunday. 

So, like I said before I am not very good at this blogging thing, but I want to get better at it so bare with me:) Between the two kids and this mountain of an “international adoption” I am finding that there is not enough time in the day.  

The adjustment to two kids has not been without its challenges but as we approach the third month its seeming to fall into place. I have resorted to things I never thought I would like now letting Ira have his pacifier in public and letting Mickey Mouse Clubhouse repeat all day in my house… The good news is Ira is no longer smothering Emslie or throwing bowls at my head while I am nursing her. He is less enthralled by her and is starting to get used to having a little side-kick. She is super mellow and is starting to smile, even laugh. Nevertheless, we are having fun and enjoying the craziness.. looking forward to adding to it:)

The adoption is slugging along. Imagine endless paperwork that requires notaries and certified originals of everything… We are doing everything as fast as we possibly can and hoping to travel to Colombia in November, but if I am honest we are pushing it. We speak to Leidy often and sometimes we can even skype, depending on the internet connection at her orphanage. She is so excited and is constantly asking how much longer until she is with us.  Its a little bittersweet talking to her. Of course we love hearing her voice and getting the update on her life, but at the same time its hard because it just reminds us how much we want her here. 

We have finished our home study and have now began our dossier, which is a whole new process with more paper work/references/psychological exams/FBI clearances etc. We are also writing for grants as there are amazing organizations out there that offer grants for international adoptions. If anyone knows of any please send them our way. We can use all of the help we can get:) Or if you know anyone who as adopted a teenager or any blogs/literature that would be helpful I would love suggestions. 

Thats about all I will say today. Here are so random pictures I have taken lately.

beach night

finally using the toilet

sleeping with the pacifier

Love her…

I am so behind.. the worst at blogging, but I promise to get better. Especially as we move along in this adoption process. In the meantime Happy 4th of July! 

Missing our Leidy… 

We are home and officially a family of 4. Emslie Mae Colopy arrived on April 10th weighing 8lbs 13oz, 20 1/2 inches long.

So far so good. Ira seems to love his baby sister and gives her plenty of kisses. Thank you for all of your prayers! We are so happy to have Emmie here, but we are still missing our Leidy. Can’t wait to welcome home the 5th Colopy!

Here are some pictures from the hospital…

Ira arriving to meet Ems… 

Emslie Mae Colopy

Headed home

big brother.

Gosh its been so long… sorry. So much has happened. I will try to explain it below:)

Most of you already know but we are expecting a baby GIRL!! We cannot be more excited. Let me rewind back to my last post. Back in August we said goodbye to Leidy. Not a day goes by that we don’t think about her and miss having her as a part of our family. Adoption has been a topic of discussion since Tyler and I have been dating, we both have felt that it was something we wanted to pursue at some point. Although our plan was to just host when we signed up for the Kidsave summer miracles program last summer, we couldn’t help but consider adoption once we spent 5 weeks with Leidy. We fell in love with her and it felt so fitting to have her as a part of our family. A few days before Leidy left I found out I was pregnant. This was such a surprise and although we were super happy, we had heavy hearts knowing that the timing to adopt Leidy may not have been right. Usually when you are pregnant adoption agencies like you to wait until your baby is at least a year old before you continue to move forward in the adoption process. There was also another lady interested in adopting Leidy and was certain she wanted to move forward. After much prayer and consideration we decided that the time was not right for us. 

Now… 7 months or so later, how things have changed!!! We are super excited to announce that indeed we will be moving forward with adopting Leidy. God has completely opened the doors and has provided us with a peace that transcends all understanding. We just recently received approval from ICBF adopt Leidy, which in itself is a miracle since we are expecting a baby in 3 weeks. A special committee was formed to review our Letter of Intent to adopt Leidy, given that our situation is not the most conventional. Our amazing adoption agent informed us in her words “the meeting was exceedingly and abundantly more that we could think or ask for”. The whole ICBF (Colombian government representatives for adoption) social workers, Leidy’s representative, were all present. They approved us on the spot, pregnancy and all. This is something that rarely, if ever happens.   

Usually children aren’t told of a family that are adopting them until the family’s home study is completed (which would mean another 2 months for us, since we haven’t started it yet). Well this meeting went so well they decided to call Leidy into the room. Honestly its a miracle in itself that this meeting happened at Leidy’s orphanage, but nothing is coincidence. They asked her if she would like to be adopted by Amber and Tyler. They said her face lit up and she said “yes, I gave my heart to Amber and Tyler a long time ago”. (I have no words) She was ecstatic and said she promised to be a good girl and her rep said they don’t want you to be a good girl, they want you to be you. They then went on to explain why we haven’t called and that we are having a baby girl in a couple of weeks. Leidy then said she was so happy because she lost her brother and sister (they were recently adopted by a family in Italy) and now she is gaining a brother and sister. WOW! 

This is a brief run-down but honestly I am overwhelmed by how good God is and how much he loves Leidy. Thank you sooooooo much for all of your prayers and support. I can’t tell you how much it has meant to Ty and I just to hear that you all have been praying. We know that you all love Leidy too. We feel so blessed to have you as our community and support. 

Next step, we start our home study and all of the endless paperwork and fundraising. Its still and uphill climb but now more than ever we truly believe that anything is possible with our AMAZING God. 

With that said.. I am now 5 days over due, and am anxious to meet our baby girl! If I don’t go into labor on my own, I will be induced on Tuesday :) I will keep you all posted.

Here are some recent pre-baby pics.. and our last photo with Leidy at the airport.

Today has been a tough day. We had to send off our little Leidy back to Colombia. I knew it was going to be hard, and thought I was preparing myself for it all, but of course today totally threw me off guard. I never imagined it would be so hard to say goodbye to someone that you lived with for 5 weeks. Leidy had begun to feel like family and the house feels completely empty with out her. She is an amazing, transparent, resilient, strong, courageous, and adventurous girl and I pray that I get to be around somehow to see her grow up into an even better woman. 

A couple of days ago my Great Aunt Grace sent Leidy 10$ to buy some candy or something for the plane ride home. When I asked Leidy what she wanted to buy with the 10$ she said Me, Ty and Ira! Oh how I wish she could:)

Thank you all for your support and prayers for her and us. Leidy was continually blown away by all of your love. She continually asked me how I have so many friends, and why they love her so much. I pray that she will never forget that love. 

Tyler and I will be able to keep in touch with her via skype and phone, but are not sure how often. We are hoping for as much contact with her as possible.

Here are some pictures of her with all of her friends here as well as our last couple of days. 

Leidy and I made these for a bake sale fundraiser my friend Marcie was having to raise money for Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. If you are a red velvet person you must try these. AMAZING! And the frosting is sooo much work, but sooo worth it!

I got the recipe off of the Pioneer Woman website which has become one of my favorites!

Here is the recipe 

Our Kidsave event on Saturday was a success. The kids had a blast bowling and playing games. After the event some of us headed over to a Colombian restaurant in Burbank, Cafe Colombia. The kids were so excited to share a bit of their world with us, and we were excited for our first colombian food experience!

The food was awesome. Tyler ordered a meat dish called Bandeja Paisa and I ordered a soup called Ajiaco Santafereno. Both were amazing! Leidy wanted me to try her favorite which is sort of a staple in Colombia, called Arepa! Its basically a corn cake with cheese in it, super yum! After dinner we headed home with a car full of Colombian teenagers, blasting reggaeton and screaming tengo chichi (I have to pee) every 5 mins!:)

Meri and Carolina are still here and its been quite the experience. Nothing like three girls giggling while watching youtube videos of Justin Beber, eating ice cream, and laughing until 1 in the morning. Ira is beside himself with all of this female attention. 

Here are some photos from this weekend. 

Brian’s birthday breakfast

my big boy!

Colombian lemonade.. so good. Fresh squeezed lemons and water, you have to add your own sugar. 

Ty and his ladies!

Justin Beber…

watching A Cinderella Story

breakfast..

Meeting baby Ryland. Leidy was obsessed! 

Leidy is adjusting very well and has really made herself at home. Here are some recents pics!

First farm tour

First “live music” experience :) Lately she has been blasting Reggaeton, so I don’t think she got the whole Irish band thing, but I think she appreciated the experience. Ira for sure did!

Kidsave event.. Leidy with all of her friends.

we tried..:(

Flying a kite

Love this pic!

Hey Friends…

Our neighborhood is  having an ENORMOUS garage sale on the weekend of July 30th and 31st. Tyler and I will be having one too! Proceeds go to Kidsave. 

If you have any items you would like to donate that would be AMAZING! Let me know and I am happy to come by and pick up anything. 

Here is a pic of Ty taking Leidy on her first surf trip!

After many many failed attempts we have finally found something that Leidy likes to eat, besides fruit.  She is very kind and usually tries everything, but we can tell that most of our food is “no bueno”.

I love to cook, but I am NOT a morning person, except the other morning I woke up feeling a bit domesticated so I thought I would make some pancakes. A good friend of mine from Mississippi, Kate, gave me a recipe for pancakes from scratch.  Turns out they were a big hit!! (Mucho Gracias Kate!)

Anyway, since Leidy isn’t familiar with syrup we had to get a little creative. Of course it involves fruit! Soooo yummy!

Here is the recipe. Give it a try, I think I may like it better than the traditional syrup and butter. 

1 1/4 cup flour

1 egg

1 1/4 cup buttermilk

1 t. baking powder

1/4 cup cooking oil

pinch of salt

1 t. baking soda

2 T. sugar, or honey

*top with chopped mango and sprinkle with a little powdered sugar! 

A friend of mine referred me to this website. Its AMAZING. I am in awe of how much this family is doing and how simple their lives are. Its a neat story. Check it out. 

Give Every Day

So its looking like Ira has a new best friend.. I continued to be shocked by the way he has opened up to Leidy. For those of you who know Ira, you know he is not the warmest child out there. He reminds me of a cat. He doesn’t just love you, just because. You actually have to earn his affection, and earning that usually takes a while. Its very rare that Ira will let any of my friends hold him, let alone be in the room with him without me there. He has been this way since he was 6 weeks old. But with Leidy, there has been some special connection. The day we arrived home from the airport, he went straight to her,  sat on her lap and laughed. It was the start of a special friendship and now they are BF’s!! Its been so awesome to watch. 

So with all of the craziness, but fun stuff going on, I totally forgot to post my finds from the Irvine Antique Market. For those of you who are interested its every first Sunday of the month! I will be there next month if you want to join me :)

I don’t know where I am going to put it or what I am going to do with it or what color I am going to paint it, but its cool and it spins around!!! I call it my lazy susan coffee table. Oh and I had to squeeze the little guy in here somewhere, in his cool pajamas and bed head:)

Couldn’t resist. 

10$ can you believe it? (don’t answer if that answer is a yes;)) I can’t decide if I want it inside or outside, but I LOVE it. 

There you have it! More to come….

Please come or spread the word… 

Picnic

Hosted By Ocean Hills Church & Kidsave 

Meet Older Orphans in Need of Adoptive Families 

Food, Crafts and FUN for All! 

Sunday, July 10th 

11:30AM—3:00PM 

32222 Del Obispo Street 

San Juan Capistrano, CA 92675 

Please RSVP  

Pat Drewes at (949) 487-7979 or 

Nicole Miovsky at nicole@kidsave.org 

For more information, please visit www.kidsave.org 

This will be a part for me to record the moments I don’t want to forget. 

Yesterday Leidy, Ira and I were on our way home from the Goodwill. We were looking for a movie for Leidy to watch in spanish. (we found Legally Blond, by the way and she loved it) As we approached our street there were some young kids selling lemonade. Leidy asked what they were doing so I told her. I told her that I didn’t have any cash on me but we could see if we had any change. We drove up to the kids and saw that the lemonade was only 50 cents. I found two quarters and the kids gave Leidy her lemonade. 

As we pulled up in our driveway, Leidy jumped out of the car and ran upstairs. When she came back down she had her 1 dollar bill that Tyler had given her at the airport, to buy candy. She handed it to me and I told her that it was my treat to her, that I didn’t want her dollar. She argued back in spanish. I had to call my friend Lauren to interpret, as she was very insistent. Lauren told me that Leidy told her she wanted to give her 1 dollar to the kids as a gift!! I about DIED!! So Ira, her and I walked over there and it turns out the kids spoke spanish. Leidy was able to tell them she wanted them to have her dollar. They were so excited. Leidy just smiled. This is just a little piece of how sweet her heart is…. 

We are having a blast!  Leidy is loving all of the new things in her life, with the exception of our food and her big bed. She told us today “thanks for the room I love it but the bed is too big for my body”. I don’t think I have ever heard that before:)

Yesterday we celebrated July 4th at my friend Lydia and Doug’s house. Leidy loved swimming and riding around in the Escalade. Ira loves his new bf! 

My spanish has improved over the last two days. Now I can say about 5 words and Te Gusta? All I do all day is point to things and ask Leidy te gusta? I have learned quite a few things about her….

All I can say is this girl loves her some fruit and that is one thing we don’t stock up on in Colopy household. We are not big fruit eaters. Leidy chose the strawberries over all of the cookies and cupcakes at the party yesterday. I picked up on that, so today I went to the store and bought all sorts of fruit. She has already eaten 15 strawberries and 2 peaches!! I made tacos for dinner tonight and she ate a few bites but then wanted string cheese. She put it in a cup and microwaved it, then ate it with a fork. I am taking mental notes on what she likes. So far, melted cheese, fruit and chocolate. 

Today we went to the beach. It was the first time Leidy has ever seen or touched any ocean. I think she was a little scared at first, but within 15 minutes she was in the water swimming with Ty. She didn’t want to leave and made me promise her we would go back. I told her that would be a tough promise to make;)

We dropped off Adriana (the chaperone) today with another family. She will rotate between all of the eight families hosting children. Leidy loved having her here and has been a bit sad since she left. I can tell she misses her home and friends, but she seems to enjoy hanging out with us. 

Here are some pics from 4th of July and the beach. 

My love at the beach today. He wanted to be in the water with Leidy and Daddy.

Leidy and Ira yesterday at the party

swimming

taking a ride

Watching the fireworks

so tired on the way home

crescent bay beach, laguna

yay!

Leidy is here and settled in. We picked her up today at LAX. She is doing great and has managed to win Ira over instantly. Although shy and timid, she is very loving and happy to be here. We love her already.

Thanks again for all of your prayers and support. Here are some pics from today. 

So tomorrow is the Irvine Antique Market! Thanks to my friends Brittney and Jenny, I now am OBSESSED with this place. How did I NOT know about it for all of these years? We went last month and I was immediately regretting not getting there right when it opened and staying until close. Its small but full of treasures. I will post some of my finds tomorrow. Here is my love from last month, 20$!!

(yes this is how we spend out Saturday mornings… )

Oh and an update on Leidy…

We got to meet her via skype a couple of days ago. She is beautiful and super sweet. We can’t wait to meet her TOMORROW!!!! 

So much has been going on in Colopy land.. what better way to share it than creating a blog? Very original right?  Well I couldn’t resist it and since we will be doing a very cool thing this summer I wanted a place to document it for all of you who are so interested in our lives that you just can’t help yourselves :)  

We are hosting a little girl from Columbia for 5 weeks this summer. Her name is Leidy and she is 12. She is a sweet, and loving girl who is in need of a permanent family. Ty and I have taken on the role of her support and advocates to help her find a family. It is through a fantastic organization called Kidsave.  Check out their site here  http://www.kidsave.org/summer.shtml. 

Leidy will be here Sunday and we are sooo excited to meet her and introduce her to our friends and family.  Check in for more updates on our summer with her and some other fun treats. So there you have it, my first post! That wasn’t so bad right? 

I will leave you with something beautiful.. One of my favorite pictures Ty has taken.