Jackson is growing so fast! I know we keep saying that but it’s so true. Those of you that are parents know that that’s just how it happens.

Jackson is nearly 9 months old. He is babbling like crazy. Yesterday he was having a fit about wanting his bottle faster and he started saying “mamama”. It was the first time that he was really trying to specifically get my attention by using a “word”. The temper tantrums are on the rise. Seth threatens jokingly that Amazon has shipped the discipline books (they have shipped but don’t tell Jackson it’s not just a worthless threat! 😉 . Fortunately for him, he tends to look really cute after a fit so I think the follow through might be the hardest part! He is trying to crawl although at this point he just looks like he is dragging himself along the floor. He would much rather roll everywhere. We followed in Ryan and Stephanie’s footsteps and put his favorite cereal snack in front of him as enticement. It took him less than a few seconds to realize that getting to the cereal would require major action! We recorded it so we will post it when Seth gets a chance to edit. To be honest, we would rather him not be a mover and a shaker when we have to fly with him in the coming weeks and months. For all of our friends that are about to deliver baby boys…buckle up! It’s so much fun and you’ll never be bored.

Next week I am going to work in Cartegna (it is on the coast of Colombia). The opportunity came up a week or so ago and we decided it was worth it to get down there. I will be doing assessments for American preschoolers there for 2 days. I am bringing Jackson and Seth along so that someone can enjoy the beach and hotel. Seth is going to fly down with Jackson and then they will have a father-son day on Friday while I work. We are really excited to show Jackson the beach.

Our small group bible study is going well. We now have 17 people. The house is packed each Monday night from about 6:15 until 9:30. It is a fun group with lots of great discussion. We will have to take a picture of the group so that you can see everyone. We have a great blend of people from all around the world. We share a meal and do a study each week. People are craving community here and it is so apparent in the attendance. We all look forward to it each week. Ironically, there are many people in the group with connections to Houston. Each time someone travels to the states we all reminisce about Lupe Tortilla!

Seth’s job as Deputy in the Immigrant Visa Section is going well. He seems to enjoy it. He has to ask lots of personal questions of couples to verify their relationship which can be interesting to say the least. You’ll have to ask him to tell you one of his stories. Sadly, many people get themselves into some pretty elaborate lies to get to the states.

We continue to have lots of outreach opportunities here in Bogota. If nothing else, God is keeping us busy! Here are a few pictures from this last month…

Here are a few Easter shots that I forgot to include last month….

Seth’s parents arrived on the 12th of March. We went out of town for an overnight with them last Friday night to Guasca which is about an hour north of Bogota. We stayed in a beautiful, quaint little bungalow-type place that his parents had read about in the Chronicle. It was in a valley surrounded by beautiful mountains. The rooms were nice with little fireplaces to keep them warm and little vases of fresh roses. We tried their famous recipes for dinner and met the owners from Houston.

As we walked around the first day I told Seth we should just go ahead and stay another night since it was so nice. That was before we went to bed. A man came in to build our fire and we quickly realized that charcoal popping and flames flickering were something we were not used to sleeping with. Jackson was screaming and quite confused by the light show. We finally fell asleep. A couple of hours later I rolled over and saw Seth jump. I asked if he was ok, he said he had just been hit in the head by a june bug that had made a crash landing. We searched the bed and didn’t find it. A little unsettling but we tried to go back to sleep. A short time later I awoke to the sound of another approaching flying bug….I could hear it getting louder and louder as it approached. It thudded onto my pillow. As I laid there trying to ignore our situation I looked up to see the june bug propped up on my sheets right in front of my chin. As we fell asleep again, something caused the guard dogs to get excited and they stood outside our room for an hour “guarding us”. When the dogs quieted down we finally dosed off. At 3:30 AM, Jackson woke up just howling. He was still in the process of cutting his two bottom teeth. He was inconsolable for about an hour. It was about then that I told Seth that if his parents hadn’t been with us we would have loaded up the car and driven back to Bogota in the middle of the night. Their room was lovely and they slept great. Turns out our room had a crack in the wall significant enough that bugs, large bugs, could crawl right in. Ironically, we might go back in the future but we will for sure request a different room. Here are some snap shots from the weekend.

On Sunday afternoon we all went to the market in Usaquen. Joe met his first pig head and our beloved camera took a fateful fall. We bought an oil painting and “kind of” captured a picture with the painter.

I made a comment to Seth that the more we leave “home” for our adventures, the more home feels like home. One last funny story on the home front…this week we requested a rug from the Embassy housing dept because Jackson will soon be crawling on our hardwoods and we want him to have a soft area to crawl. We were pleasantly surprised when the day we requested it they bustled over with a rug. I was on my way out the door so they convinced me that it was new and in great condition, we signed for it and rushed out the door. When we got home to roll the rug out it was more than damp. Sonia said, “they specifically said it wasn’t wet”. Now why would you ever think to say something is “not wet”. After a day and a half of propping the rug on 6 dining room chairs we called in and got them to switch out the “not wet” rug. Only in Colombia! Beware of people who warn you using such words.

So as you can expect driving is an adventure here in Bogota. When our car arrived a few weeks ago I had visions of spending a few weeks doing leisurely Sunday drives with Seth encouraging me sweetly from the passenger’s seat. Now he has been sweet and encouraging but the practicing in this crazy city never occured. A week into the car sitting in the garage, I had a crazy morning and decided there was no way we would make it through the day without me driving. So, Jackson and I headed out. Not only is the traffic pretty heavy here, the people don’t have awareness of lines on the road, motorcycles don’t use lanes and you have to pull in backwards to every parking spot in case you need to evacuate your location quickly. The parking is a challenge because the spots are super tiny. Anyhow, we had a very successful first adventure and have had a few since then.

Today, however, I had my first “Colombian fender-bender”.  No fender was bent, no dent made, no scratch evident. But when a taxi cut me off, swerved in front and slammed on his breaks my car “tapped him”. There wasn’t actually a noise. My bumper is basically plastic. We (Sonia and I)  watched as he jumped out, saw that I had diplomatic plates and the drama began. I wouldn’t say he was a great actor but he drew a crowd nonetheless.  A homeless man without legs “rolled on over” (to quote Michael from the office) to offer his support. He, along with the cars full of people in the two lanes we were blocking, kept telling me that the guy just wanted my money. The taxi driver threw his arms up in the air a few times, pointed to a dent 5 inches above where my car was next to his (my car didn’t reach high enough to touch his car there unless I did a wheely that I wasn’t aware of). He kept demanding that I pay him. Finally, I said in Spanish, “sir, if you want to talk about this I will call my security guard from the Embassy and he will be happy to talk to you. But, sir, he is honest (implying that this man was not) so I don’t know if you want me to call him”. He threw up his arms, did a huge 3 year-old huff and ran back to his taxi.  Sonia stood trembling and the homeless man let out a cheer for our victory.  We actually have security guards that drive around the city in case this kind of situation happens.  If only they had driven by! I’m not sure the legless homeless man could have defended me much if I had needed that. He was encouraging but not ready to throw any punches.

We have collected a few pictures over the last few weeks of signs here in Bogota just to give you a feel for the driving culture.

This sign can be seen from our apt window. We continue to look outside and wonder what it is signaling. We aren’t sure if it means that if we watch long enough we will see an accident. Instead of a speed limit sign to present the warning in a positive light they have chosen the negative  warning of “you will crash”.

Another great sign. If you cross the road here, you will likely get hit. If you are a driver people will randomly run in front of you and you will hit them. In the states it’s a mom walking with her school age child. Not car-crashing and pedestrian-slaying.

This isn’t a driving sign but a funny one! We see this sign frequently. Instead of a friendly sign saying that you need to clean up after your dog, they have illustrated it. No one can say, “clean up what?”

These are the things that make us realize that we are far from the USA!