On Sept 11th we landed in Houston, thrilled to be back in the United States!! We had a packed week visiting with Seth’s family. We ate our fill of Blue Bell ice cream and made sure to get to Lupe Tortilla!

We took Jackson to his first Astros game! He was so excited and actually payed attention more than we anticipated.

national anthem

Jackson had lots of fun time playing with his cousins.

We spent a day in Galveston….We thought Jackson might get his shorts wet but we never anticipated him wanting to dive in to the ocean! He loved it!

ready to feed the seagulls on the ferry

We visited with Seth’s grandmother, Mimi, at the nursing home.  After visiting Jackson said “Mimi, old lady”

One morning, out of the blue, Mia spotted a snake in the backyard.  Turns out it was a coral snake.  Check out the video if you don’t believe us.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RBjptynLx4]

At the end of our time in Houston we made our 6 month stop at MD Anderson. Another all clear check up which was an answer to prayer! Jackson was a trooper when the IV took 3 attempts.

After the MRI Jackson was groggy for maybe 20 mins and then he was ready to get moving!

Well, it is good to be able to post on this end of things having had survived our packout. It took weeks of prep with our things being divided between storage, DC short term (our things for the next 8 months), DC long term storage, Bern and giveaway! I threatened after this packout that next packout I might take Jackson and Owen away and let Seth do it! Jackson was more than enthusiastic and helpful which made things interesting. The movers were in our home for 3 full days, not because we had that much stuff but because in true Colombian style our packers were late, didn’t show up and worked like snails! We were so relieved to see the trucks drive away.

Here are a few pictures!

Jackson on his last day at school. He carried in bouquets of flowers for his teachers

saying good bye to Sonia and Santiago

saying good bye to our guards and getting the chance to hold the walkie talkie and wear the official hat

helping with the luggage.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5JJKZ4XfA0]

his backpack was so heavy he fell over carrying it!

Our traveling family. USA here we come!

This drum roll has gone on obnoxiously long and we apologize. A while back we promised pictures and the name announcement for our new little guy but we have gotten WAY behind!

We have decided to name our new son Owen Seth Kolb. We chose Owen for a variety of reasons. We both really liked the name to begin with. Seth had a youth leader in junior high and high school who made a big impact on his life. His name was Owen Payne. He passed away from cancer. One of my favorite patients when I worked in Early Childhood Intervention was Owen.  So we both had an affinity for the name. Thus, Owen! And Seth of course because of his amazing daddy!

If you had seen Jackson over the past month or so he would have given away the surprise of the name. He frequently talks about his brother Owen and often checks in to ask if Owen is sleeping or playing in my tummy. When there is a really loud noise he will say “too loud for Owen!”.

Here are the most recent pictures!

19 Weeks

21 Weeks

23 Weeks

The next 4 are of Owen at 19 weeks.

As of yesterday Owen is doing great! He is moving all of the time to let us know he is doing well. He is 27 weeks old tomorrow. Time flies! Pray that he stays cozy in there for a while longer! We have had anxiety with traveling and just want to make it safely to my doctor in DC!

We lose internet in a matter of minutes.  We lose our U.S. phone at the same time.  We fly out from Bogota in a matter of hours.

Almost two years ago, we arrived in Bogota.  Married less than two years.  With a two-month old.  We leave Bogota having been married for almost four years, with a two-year old, and one on the way (around Christmas).

Due to the internet being cut off pronto, we won’t go into too many details and reflect too much.  But we’ve enjoyed our time, made a lot of memories, and met some very special people.  At the same time, we can’t wait to get back to the United States.  Where our home and family are.  Where we feel comfortable and understand the language.  And where the food is fantastic.

So with this post, we let everyone know that we’ve G.T.T. (Gone To Texas) and we’ll be posting more about our soon-to-be-born boy and the rest of our travels.