Feliz Cumpleaños Mommy, Max is a Michigan Fan, and New Friends

So, today is Beck's birthday. As I mentioned before, I hooked her way back in 1991 with an amazing ensemble of clothing my sophomore year of high school, and ever since, she couldn't keep her hooks off me. OK, so maybe not, but that's how I remember it. My in-laws will remind me of a few times that I may have parted ways with her, as they do about every month or so, but the fact remains that we're still together after 13-almost-1/2 years of marriage (and over 20 years total. Yikes I'm old!), and she's more amazing than ever.

Tonight for dinner, Juanita made burritos, and we had birthday cake for Beck that Valeria made for dessert. It was awesome! Here are pictures of the Birthday Girl with some of the people I've been posting about lately:

Beck with Katya, the owner of Hotel Paris:



And with Guillermo, the night watchman, and my good amigo:




And the cook who brings us the BEST meals everyday, Juanita!




Here is a quick clip of everyone in the hotel singing Beck a merry Happy Birthday:




And earlier today, we had a quick opening of presents with just our family. Nothing special, but yesterday Ally and I made a run to Maku and bought Beck a bookmark and a nativity scene for Christmas. The funnest part is yet to come: I'm sending Beck and Ally to Noberto's together for a pedicure, hopefully tomorrow. Here are some pics of the birthday girl with each of her kiddos:

Overall, it was a great birthday for Beck. She's an amazing mom, and wonderful wife. We're blessed to have her as our mom/wife!

An incredible thing happened today. We found out the Max is the PERFECT match for our family. The older kids, Beck, and I were playing Go Fish, when suddenly I turned to check on Max, and this is what I saw:

I don't know how it happened or when, but right then and there I thanked God for making another perfect match for our family. Max is a Michigan fan- Go Blue! Sorry Papa and Aunt Kris, but you've lost another one. This country truly is amazing with how incredibly intelligent the kids are. At 5 months old, Max knows what the best schools are, and that Green, White, Blue, and Gold are moot. Or manure, I can't remember which one he told me (yes, he's talking already after 4 days with us. Amaizing!).

Ally and Will have been having fun with some other kids here at the hotel. Pictured below are Parker and Payton from Wisconsin, who are leaving tomorrow. We've gone to parks together, ate almost every meal together, and just had fun together. We'll miss them as they return to Wisconsin:



There was a couple from South Dakota that left this morning as well, but fortunately there is a couple here from Lakeview, MI, a couple from North Carolina, and various others from Spain, Italy, etc. Ally and Will actually played for awhile with 2 girls who don't speak a lick of English after dinner tonight. Their parents do and said they'll be here for awhile as well, so that was good to hear. It's funny how quickly kids pick up on other languages- when Ally was using the restroom before bed tonight, she couldn't reach the toilet paper so she yelled: "Ayudame, Ayudame!" (Help me, help me). Too funny!

Tomorrow we go with Tia Isabel (our incredible Colombian representative here) to get some paperwork notarized. No date scheduled yet for ICBF (or Defender of Minors), which is when our case formally starts, and the countdown commences. Please pray that we have that one early next week, so we can be together as a family for Christmas.

Lastly, I had to include a couple vids of my older kiddos. They can be hilarious at times, indicative of these 2 vids right before dinner:

Kids are freaking hilarious sometimes, and we're blessed to call these 3 ours! Until tomorrow...

Scott, Beck, Ally, Will, and Max