Happy Thanksgiving

There's an awful lot for us to be thankful for this year. 

• Sophia.  What more can we say?  Our prayers have been answered and we are now a family of three with a beautiful baby girl.
  
• Our families.  Ryan's parents for giving our first baby, Mocha, a place to stay while we're gone.  Darrick, for watching the house while we're gone.  Emily for Sophia's cute Thanksgiving outfit.
  
• Our FANA family in Minnesota.  The Minnesota FANA group is one of the largest reasons we chose to adopt from Colombia.  They truly are an amazing bunch of people and really are family.  They took us under their wing (thanks Lois and Dale), and showed us just how special this community is.  Having other adoptive couples that have gone through the same thing is extremely comforting.  It's also very exciting to have families to turn to for questions and for Sophia to have other children to relate to growing up.
  
• Our new FANA family in Bogota.  Without the amazing work done at FANA, we wouldn't be here.  The FANA campus really is world class, second to none.  Mercedes and Elena and all those working at FANA have done such amazing work.  We owe all of them so much and hope to get to the hogar while we're here as well. 
• All of the well-wishes from friends and family back home.  We miss you all and are so grateful for all of your comments and email!
  
• A wonderful place to stay in Bogota.  We wouldn't have had a place to stay in Bogota if it wasn't for all of the help from Flor and Maria Teresa.  Since all of the adoptive family residencias were full, they were able to find us a comfortable apartment in a great location to stay at until somewhere had an opening.  We'll be moving into El Refugio on Saturday and the owner, Carmen, invited us over to celebrate Thanksgiving (Colombian style) last night.  There was live music, dancing, drinks, turkey, and even pumpkin pie!  It was an experience we'll never forget!
  
• The other Minnesota couples currently in Bogota.  Dana and Chuck, Sarah and Brian; it has been such a great experience thus far.  We really are thrilled to be going through this experience with you guys.  Dana and Chuck are also staying at El Refugio, so it'll be fun to see little Tomas and Juaquin more too!
  
• Celine Dion.  Yes, I know...I should be ashamed, but her Christmas lullabies have helped put Sophie to sleep even when she's been really cranky.

God's blessings have been so visible over the past year, and we need to remember to give thanks every day.