Chris's first day in Pereira

This morning I was very excited to leave Bogota - I have nothing against the city, but I wanted to see where our daughters live.

When we started to learn about Pereira, I wondered what it smelled like there. I hoped it smelled like fresh plants and flowers. I envisioned lots of beautiful flowers and deep green plants and trees. I was not disappointed when we arrived! (I even enjoyed the crazy taxi ride - we were some place warm and all the windows were down and the wind was blowing into the car.)

When we pulled into the drive of our B&B, we saw a huge beautiful purple azaela growing over the outer gate. The house is white with lots of windows. When we came to the gate, it smelled like fresh flowers! It was the smell I was hoping for and it made it feel like we were walking into a place as familiar as our home.

The B&B is much nicer than anything I could have imagined. It feels like we are in a resort. Our room is upstairs and at the front of the house. It is much larger than the one last night. We have 2 double beds with white linens, a huge closet (bigger than needed for the 5 of us), a marble bathroom with a nice tub/shower, and we have our own balcony that overlooks the front yard and the pool. I think this is the closest I have ever come to paradise. There are lots of tables outside to each at and a couple covered porches with chairs and tables. One of the neatest things is that the plant that is growing outside our bedroom window is planted downstairs, in the livingroom, in a planter that is inside, but the leaves and flowers are growing on the outside of the house - amazing, just amazing to me.

After we had a few minutes to look over our room, we went downstairs to talk to the attorney (Hector) and the interpreter (Morisio). There was a woman there that I assumed was Rosario, the owner of the B&B. She greeted us and said, "Make yourself at home." A few minutes later I asked if this is her home, she said "It is your home." She said it with such sincerity. I feel at home.

This has been the perfect day. I kept thinking, "Can it get any better?" And you know what? It kept getting better. Here are some more highlights.
- Shortly after arriving, Rosario asked if we had had lunch and if we like meat and potatoes. Before we knew it, the table was set for two and there was hot soup and fresh salad. The soup was wonderful, as was the salad (it had tuna on it). When I was almost finished, they brought us both a plate of more food. This time steak and fries and rice. It was all very, very good. The juice is awesome!
- We found out that Rosaria regularly volunteers at the orphanage. It is very close to her home. She had only good things to say about it and how well the children are taken care of. We were able to ask her questions that we were planning to ask tomorrow at the adoption office.
- Rosario took us to 3 malls. One of them has a place called "Archie's Pizza." She said it is a good place to take your children because they have a place where they let the children make their own pizza. How cool is that?! We love to cook and wanted to get them started right away. I told her that Paul & I really like to cook and she said something to the effect of, "Well, maybe you and the girls can cook in my kitchen." What a treat - I'm looking forward to it!
-Rosario taught us what to expect a taxi to cost. She told us to practice our Spanish with her. She answered every question we had. One funny thing, she was telling us something about Nieva Blanco and 7 little people. I thought she was saying that there is one person who takes care of the same 7 girls at the orphanage. NO - she was telling us that the orphanage looks just like Snow White's house - haha! Cracks me up.

There are so many other blessings from the day and our trip so far. We really appreciate everyone's prayers and we hope you will continue to pray for us.

We are looking forward to our next post.