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Daniel Patrick Flynn Welcome to our Newborn Web Page. It has been provided to keep people updated about our little one. 
Daniel Patrick Flynn (aka Andres Felipe)
Born: March 29, 2004 Weight: 6 lb 2 oz Length: 19 inches Alexander Patrick Flynn welcomes his brother Daniel Patrick to the world and to join his family ~ Proud parents Shari & Pat are thrilled too!
Journal
Wednesday, June 23, 2004 2:14 AM CDT Today was a monumental day.
First, Shari, Alex and I toured the FANA orphanage. It is beautiful, spectacular, in fact. It was heartwarming to know that Daniel spent his first 2 ½ months in such a place.
The most emotional part of the tour came when we met some of the older children (toddlers, school aged kids) who reside there. They were wonderfully spirited kids, well cared for, but still, I’m sure, missing a major component of a happy childhood, which is a loving family of their own.’
As the father of a 7-year old, I am fortunate to be able to watch (over and over again, in fact) some of the great cinematic masterpieces of American film, such as “Milo and Otis”, “Space Jam” and of course, Disney’s “Hercules”. Who needs Casablanca when you’ve got those. Anyway, one of the best of the lot is “Like Mike,” in which a 13 year old orphan (played by the rapper Lil Bow-Wow)who is pretty much the runt of the group home receives a pair of beat-up sneakers that may have once belonged to Michael Jordan (who doesn’t appear in the film, but about 20 other major NBA stars do). Anyway the shoes make him unstoppable and through a weird series of fate, Calvin ends up leading the LA Knights (really the Clippers) to the playoffs. After he leaves the team, the star of the team, with whom Calvin has had an up-and-down relationship, comes to the group home and adopts Calvin. As the two are hugging in the yard, Calvin sees his best friend, Murph (played by Jonathan Lipnicki, the kid from Jerry Maguire) turn away in disappointment, knowing that he is about to lose his friend. Anyway, Calvin turns to Tracy and says “You know what today is., don’t you? It’s 2-for-1 orphan day. You see, you take one orphan you get another one free.” Tracy also adopts Murph and they all live happily ever after. I dare you to watch this and not have a tear in your eye. Anyway, that’s what today felt like. If only you had enough room, if only you could afford it, if only you could figure out the logistics of a school-aged kid who speaks only Spanish fitting into your family where there is only a bit of Spanish spoken, then you’d open the door and bring them all home with you. They were so terrific, I cant sleep. I pray that those kids find a family to give them what they deserve
After the tour, we learned about Daniels mother and abit about his father, and even saw a photo of his mother. The emotion of learning about her, and how she came to decide to release Daniel for adoption, was more than I can describe. For the FANA families, you’ve been there and know how it feels.
Then we actually were able to share the joy of two other couples, one from Connecticut, the other from Norway, who had their dreams come true by receiving beautiful baby girls from FANA (I got to video one presentation and photograph the other). Amazing to be a part of that special event.
Then we had our Bienastar interview. We brought Alex, who was a little intimidated by the prospect of a government agent asking him questions about his brother. But instead of shying away, what he did was remarkable. As we were sitting in the room, and the official was preparing to interview us, Alex just stood there showering Daniel with kisses and hugs while Daniel sat in Shari’s lap. The guy might as well have just sent us on our way without any questions. A few brief questions later, and the man was congratulating us on having our son and sending our papers off to court. Now it’s a matter of waiting for the paperwork to clear. It doesn’t sound like we’ve been assigned the most favorable court, so the wait may be above average, maybe up to three weeks we’re told, but if that’s the worst thing that happens to us then we’ll just count our blessings.
Finally, we joined the Jennings at the home of Betty and Rafa for a celebratory dinner that was the mix of good food, good fun and great company that we’ve come to expect here.
In all, a momentous and wonderful day in Bogota
Good night and God Bless
Pat
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