And so much to be thankful for!!! For many years we have been drawing a paper tree and everybody puts leaves on it in Nov. Each leaf has something we are thankful for on it. I put up the first leaf with just Tatiana and I and she said she was thankful for regals, presents. Later Daniela added her first and she is thankful for comieda, which is dinner and food in general. So sweet to see their little hearts start to sense blessing as being there. Thank you Lord for all these blessings you give us that we don't have to worry about not getting tomorrow. Salvation, a home, a bed, clothes, food, friends and family that love us. We are so grateful !! As we think on this line we can't help but think of all the people that have given: time, money, clothes, gifts, prayers, and love to our family during this process. A great big thanks to God for all of you. May He bless you all richly!!!
Wow, it has only been a week!! Time has a way of becoming irrelevant. There have been so many changes. When we left Cali we were all wearing shorts and flip flops. We traveled last Sat. for 14 hours. We left the hotel in Bogotá at 12 noon to be 3 hours early as required for an international flight. We stood in line for a long time!! Thank you Lord for the really nice lady next to me in line because, my escort in Bogotá spoke hardly any English. The representative started to ask questions out of the normal train of thought and he had no idea how to get me to understand what they needed. The credit card run through on the phone that I had given to pay for the change in schedule had not worked and I needed to pay for that again. Ivan was by my side curious and watching everything. Melissa had pulled the others over to the side to sit in a group with all the maletas(backpacks).
We flew out of Bogotá for Panama City and Tatiana was quite scared. We bought Chicklets and all three kids were chewing away like crazy. I sang them the flying song from Peter Pan which they have watched and loved and they really did quite well they gave us lunch. The flight was less than 2 hours.
When we arrived in Panama City we had one hour to switch flights. We did not know the language, had no help and we were the last off the plane. We hiked / ran through the terminal after a bathroom stop and when we got to the gate they told us wait. So we sat on the ground. They then told us the gate had been switched so we got up and ran another 5 gates or so and got to the right one. They would not let us sit down until we were searched. So once again they went through all of our stuff. They took a bunch of Melissa's cosmetics and wouldn't let the kids have water. Once we got through we sat for about 5 minutes before it was time to board.
There was a fight for the window seat, we only had one. The lady that was sitting with us left after less than 5 minutes. Another window seat, a gift from God. People on this flight were MUCH LESS understanding. We hadn't even taken off and this big guy in front of Daniela had turned around 2 times and finally said "can't you make her stop kicking the seat?"
My thought was, "you should be glad she isn't screaming at the top of her lungs."
We spent the 6 hours trying to get the kids not to kick the seats in front of them. After they served dinner, Tatiana fell asleep on my lap. Daniela switched from Melissa in the middle of Ivan and her to next to mom and fell asleep on the other side. I spend the flight with both arm rests up and trying not to move, but very very grateful because no body was screaming and that was my personal fear. Ivan fell asleep on Melissa and when we landed in Dulles at 12:20 PM all three were asleep. We had to wake them and carry 6 carry-ons. Melissa got 2 and I carried Tatiana. They did so well, they just wanted to see Dad. We didn't get to see him for more than 1 1/2 hours. We had to wait in a long line to get through customs, give them the paper work, wait, pick up all our luggage 6 LARGE pieces, along with carry-ons and sleepy kids and go through a second line. Right at the end Tatia started whimpering Popi, Popi. When we saw dad she hid behind my legs and would not greet him.
We then proceeded outside. This was the biggest shock of all!!! I had been telling the kids frio, frio, which means cold. I had a talk with Ivan and explained the seasons and that it snowed in Virginia. I had told them that it snows in January, but not often in Nov. We got hit with temp. in the teens when we walked through that door to outside. All six kids fell asleep on the ride from DC to our home in Richmond. Matt has grown at least an inch or two, and he sat next to Daniela, the energitic, physical child and did great!!! We got home at 4am. Everybody woke up and the kids wanted to bike ride. Hint for anyone trying this later. Don't put the bike on the front porch if you are getting in the middle of the night. Daniela went right to exploring. She went upstairs and straight into Nikki's room, since it was first and stuck her hand into the fish bowl. She responded with a bewildered look. All three LOVE the fish!! (breaded, fried etc.) Matt & Nikki each have a Beta. We all finally got to sleep and the kids like clockwork woke at 6am. OK, it was probably 6:30. I woke up also being programed to do so.
We all ate desayuno(breakfast) and by 9 decided to try church. The kids were up for it and we had gone every Sunday in country, so we showed up late, sang sweet precious worship songs that we could understand in English and when they dismissed the kids, Matt went with Ivan, Nikki with Daniela, and Mom with Tatiana. Melissa was home in bed. She had inadvertently locked her door and we assumed(wrongly) sleep was her highest priority. The kids did great considering everything!!! One of the first people we saw was a young lady that had graduated from college for speech therapy and was fluent in Spanish and she greeted Tatiana in my arms in Spanish. I saw her wonder and relax some. Thank you Tara, Thank you Lord. The Wesner's were on puppet ministry and Soraya is from Mexico and was also able to help Tatiana not feel so scared, but after about 20 minutes she said she wanted to go home and ride her bike. We checked in with the other kids and they all said they were tired. surprise, surprise so we left. The rest of the week was a blur, lots of sweet friends stopped over to greet us, made meals for us and welcomed us all home. Friends have done so much!! Hats and gloves so needed Sunday night gifts from the Johnson's. We tried to keep it low key for the week, but the kids had classes and despite advice to stay home we went out Tue. to take Matt to Spanish class, the teacher had Ivan read the memory verse and he was so proud. Wed. to chemistry lab Chris thank you for your wonderful hospitality it was so fun!! Thursday Tatiana stayed with Dad and we took Matt to History co-op and older 2 to Walmart and the local library. They got a card and there is a section of children's books in Spanish. Another great big Thank you Lord. We have so much to be thankful for!!! We are very aware of God's grace and kindness towards us as we all adjust to these huge changes.
Please pray: For comprehension and communication. We need to understand each other. For health, Dad getting over bronchitis, Mom & Melissa hot summer to freezing cold and kids totally new everything. For grace for all of us to desire to lay down our lives and serve one another with love. For mom to find a schedule that works for all. OH YEA!! another evidence of God's kindness. The Monday after we got home it snowed big puffy beautiful flakes. We all rejoiced, rushed to dress and bundle and by the time we got outside there was no more snow falling. We were able to make a few small "balls" from the cars. So lovely and the first time they had seen snow in their lives. I know this is really long and if you are still reading. thanks for caring! May the Lord fill your lives with His love, peace and joy, Rejoicing In-Christ, Shirlene for the Jones' Aside: Ivan is pronounced with a long e sound, the v sounds like a b, and "on" on is the final sound. More like E-bon'.
The Jones family will be united tomorrow at Dulles Int. Airport as Shirlene and Melissa escort Ivan, Daniela and Tatiana home to the good ol' US of A! It's adios Colombia and Hola! America. Dad , Nikki and Matt will be traveling to Dulles to pick up 5 passengers, 6 large pieces of luggage and 6 carry-ons.
All this is made possible by the Richardson's volunteering their 15 passenger van for our jaunt. The Richardsons voted to see if they wanted to lend us the van. Present for the vote were Craig and Donna, Blair, Brynn, Grant, Kam, Kendall, Hayley, and Corby. Instead of waiting for Jori's absentee ballot to arrive, Craig announced that his vote counted as 10...thus ending the suspense and speculation of voter fraud and disenfranchisement.
Shirlene suggested that I not drive on the way home because los niños will want to spend time with me. Following the 2 hour drive we should be arriving home at about 4AM Sunday morning where a slumber/pajama party is planned in the family room. Everyone is invited! BYOP (bring your own pillow) We will understand if you can't make it.Besides, the kids will be asleep!
Also our home phone number 320-5551 will no longer be in service. We are using mobile only from here on out. Bill 814-5726 and Shirlene 512-9734.
Hi everyone! I just talked with my lovely wife via land line. Internet use for them in Bogota is not reliable. Shirlene and Melissa et. al. arrived in Bogota Monday morning and had a full agenda to find a place to live and get the kids in for their final physician check ups. She found them a lovely one room hotel to live in until the kids get their visas from the embassy. They thought they could do that today (Tues.) but the American embassy was closed in observance of Veteran's Day. They were assured it would be completed by tomorrow so Shirlene called the airlines to get their tickets changed. Unfortunately, COPA didn't have any available flights until this coming Saturday at 4PM. Which would put them touching down in DC at 1AM Sunday. It should be an exausting week for them as they are living in tight quarters with no food provided. Then the long flight home followed by passing through US Customs. Please continue to pray for my Shirlene's and Melissa's strength, stamina and endurance. If anyone is currently praying for patience for them...please stop.
Hey a bit of a rough day. We all were very excited about flying out Sunday and Ivan did not get a birth certificate so was unable to go get a passport. He had a bad day. I think it was rejection or something. Daniela woooo woooed the whole way home in the taxi and when we got back. Tatiana refused to walk. It was a bit exausting. I also was hoping to fly out Sunday. GOOD NEWS we were able to get the last birth certificate and 7:30 am Monday morning we will go down to the office and get the final passport. So we should fly out to Bogata sometime Monday. YEAAAAA!!! Feeling a need for change we all went to a park on a hill. It had a lot of booths and we were able to view local artists. Fun and more relaxing. I brought bubbles for the kids and we all were able to turn around to laughter. Coming home soon can't wait!!!
Thursday Nov 5th. Progress- Elana is to travel to the cuidad(city) of birth for the children to get new birth certificates. The older two were born in Tuala and Tatiana in Armenia. Tuala is on the way to Armenia. Elana's trip was able to get the one from Armenia, but it was late in the day and she was only able to get one from Tuala. Please pray for the final birth certificate to be accomplished today Friday. IThe plan was to get the children's passports today and fly out to Bogata on Sunday. The kids are aware of this. It will be dissapointing for them if we do not fly out Sunday. If we don't get it today we will do a passport Monday morning and fly out afterwards. I am supposed to meet Lucia in Bogata at 2PM on Monday. Pray for God's timing. It will be a big change for the kids to fly out. They have never flown and Tatiana is scared. We all have become close with the ladies here. Bogata will be the beginning of a very big adventure for them. They have a tendency to resist with a firm "no" when feeling upset. Please pray that the Lord gives us creativity and extra hands to get all three where we all need to be. Ivan has been amazing as a help in all this and I believe he is already starting to comprehend English. Smart as a whip!! Evenets- We usually take a morning trek and an afternoon one. Today we got to go to Agua Blanca. I have been asking to. The lady whose house we are staying in is a teacher at this school. Two days before we came she had a bad fall and has been recooperating from surgery the whole time we have been here. I was able to encourage her today that there is a time for all things and that rest is a gift from God. She misses teaching. The school is in a very poor section of the city. We usually stop the car and all get out. She backed the truck into the kitchen and barred the doors before we got out. They feed the kids there. For some of the children this is thier only meal of the day. We saw 41-five year olds in a circle on the floor with the desks pushed back. They said good morning to us in English. So sweet. They were otherwise quiet. They use a Montissori(I know that is spelled wrong)approach. And we also saw about 35-11th graders. Thier English was even better. What an amazing thing. By the way they only have 11 grades then graduate. The number of children in the school was astounding. They were all respectful well mannered and doing hard work. The space was tight. It isn't a large building! They has a shop where they taugh woodworking and a kiln with clay for art. They had a computer room with seats for about 30 to have a terminal each. They are funded by local governmant agencies, gifts from a Baptist group in Germany and a Catholic group in Belgium as well as others. I was so moved to think of all the lives they are able to lift and bring hope to. What a neat experience. Ivan started asking about school in the car on the way home through Carmensa. This is difficult to talk about becauSe they have no idea what homeschooling is. So I told them that because of Christmas school was not so much of an issue until January. PleasE pray for our decision and communication process here also. We went to the pool in the afternoon. The kids love the pool. It is good for them to get exercise. Running away from the mommie monster gets old after a while though they do not yet seem to tired of it. Thank you all for all your love, support and prayers!! We are so thankful for so much!!!
It is Wednessday Nov 4th. I can't believe it we are actually looking at the end of the process. Yesterday I went to court with our lawyer Elana. that was an experience. It is downtown. The streets are crowded with people and vendors. I was driven into the middle of a mob to meet her secretary. I got out of the car and stuck like glue to this lady in jeans who spoke no english. We got through some vendors to an elevator crammed in with lots of others and went up to a office. They pulled a file and showed me were and I signed. They then pulled the papers from my offical file and the secratary walked out with them. We went back and tried to find the car. We did manage to and my lawyer went over the papers with me. In one place it said I was from Italy and had the wrong passport numbers, she send the secretary up to "fix" it. WOW things sure work differently. Now the kids are offically by Colombian standards ours!! Celebrate!!
Estas palabras son de una canción me encanta que captura el amor que Dios Padre tiene para mí es el mismo amor que tengo para ti
these words are from a song I love they capture the love that god the father has for me it is the very same love i have for you
Dios diría "mi amor es superior, su bajo, su interior, entre en su las veces que usted duda de mí, cuando usted no puede sentir las veces que ha cuestionado "esta es de verdad?" las veces que has roto, los tiempos que se enmienden las veces que me odian y los tiempos que doblar así mi amor ha terminado, por debajo de su su interior, en su entre, estos momentos sanación que está y cuando su corazón se rompe las veces que usted siente que ha caído de la gracia los tiempos que está perjudicando los tiempos que curar las veces que pasan hambre y trató de robar en tiempos de confusión y el caos y el dolor im existe en su dolor bajo el peso de su vergüenza im existe a través de su dolor im existe en la tormenta i mi amor te mantendrá en mi poder por sí solo No me la atención cuando has caído, donde se han Yo nunca te abandonaré mi amor nunca termina, nunca termina
i hear you say "my love is over, its underneath, its inside, its in between the times you doubt me, when you can't feel the times that you've questioned 'is this for real?' the times you've broken, the times that you mend the times you hate me and the times that you bend well my love is over, its underneath its inside, its in between, these times you're healing and when your heart breaks the times that you feel like you've fallen from grace the times you're hurting the times that you heal the times you go hungry and attempted to steal in times of confusion and chaos and pain im there in your sorrow under the weight of your shame im there through your heartache im there in the storm my love i will keep you by my power alone i dont care where you've fallen, where you have been i'll never forsake you my love never ends, it never ends
Papi te ama a mis hijos No puedo esperar para celebrar de nuevo
I can't quite get used to the traffic laws here in Cali, or should I say the lack of observance of the traffic laws. In the USA, traffic signals, stop signs and double yellow lines have special meaning in the minds and pockets of it's drivers. I'm not sure of the reason, whether it be the Colombian police force being busy with more important things or just indifference to the laws by the general public, but it seems as if laws became guidelines then guidelines drifted to suggestion in a way that has made ground travel within this country a whole new way to trust God.
Take for instance our recent 2 day vacation to Armenia, the birth place of one Tatiana Jones. We decided to take a 2 1/2 hour bus ride to get away from the city and stay in the beautiful rural Colombian countryside. It turns out that our bus was actually an extended minivan. The trip was mostly two lane highway in which our driver seemed to have some sort of death wish with oncoming traffic. Time and time again our van passed slower moving vehicles by crossing double yellow lines in clearly marked "Do Not Pass" zones. He passed on blind corners, cresting hills and directly into oncoming traffic as if he had recently seen a James Dean movie.
So brazen were his feats that I caught myself reminiscing of my paramedic days recalling numerous drunk drivers emerging virtually unscathed from horrific fatality accidents. Studies find that their bodies are so relaxed at the point of impact that the kinetic forces of the collision are evenly distributed over the entire surface area of their body, thus reducing the chances of isolated major organ trauma.
OK. Maybe I wasn't reminiscing as much as I was distracting my mind with the laws of physics.
Anyway, the chances of me being inebriated enough to survive an imminent head on crash were more remote than the areas we were traveling through. So I tried thinking happy thoughts. I thought so many happy thoughts that I think I started to fly. Not wanting to alarm my wife and kids by flying around the inside of a careening van I decided to try and relax my entire body instead through some sort of mind over matter dreamlike state in which the goal was to convince my body that it was asleep whilst my mind entertained regrets of not getting our wills in order before we embarked to this country.
Alas, try as I might, my thoughts kept returning to a Jack Handey quote. "When I die, I would like to go peacefully, in my sleep, like my grandfather did. Not screaming and flailing like the passengers in his car."
Hope it keeps on! We went to Tatiana's birth place. A place called Armenia. Cali is in the Cauaca River Valley and Armenia is north in the Quindio River valley. It is a coffee growing region. It is also beautiful. We took a bus there on Wed, a 2 1/2 hour drive. It was one of the scariest rides I have ever been on. The roads were twisting through the mountains and the bus driver would whip through at a fearsome rate, passing on blind curves. We had kids asleep on us that we were trying to keep on our laps instead of flying through the air. We were glad to see ground when we stopped. We got picked up at the bus station and brought to our finca(hotel). It was beautiful!!! What a breath of fresh air. literally, Cali is pretty polluted. The scenery was breath taking and after a relaxing lunch we visited a Mariposa (butterfly)farm. It was beautiful and relaxing. We went back to the Finca and the kids enjoyed the pool on the edge of the moutains. When we woke up in the morning the kids were facinated by the parrots. Ivan tryed to hold 2 of them. One nipped. A little later a man came out and fed the and showed them to the kids. We had breakfast and left at 10. The kids got in 2 more rounds at the pool in the AM. Determined not to rush we went to the Coffee Park. It is a combination museum and amusement park. Looking for a push cart for the kids we got on a sky ride to the far side of the park where the amusement rides were, and never saw anything else. It was a bit of overload on the kids so they did a good bit of acting out between huge spurts of fun and a torrential down pour at lunch. Bill and I finally got some coffee. The plants are short compared to most. But the fresh fruit and coffee (mandarins off the tree), topped off a great time. By the time we got picked up for the bus ride home, Tatiana was in full scream. She soon fell asleep. I wish I could have. Grueling, but worth it. We got home after 9 on Thursday eve. We have been told never go out at night. The kids had slept the whole ride so didn't go to sleep until midnight. Dad and Melissa crashed. Friday was spent running around to finalize things, and we all got up to a bit of a tearful parting on Sat. We would have liked to leave together. Bill should be in church Sunday if he isn't too dead. Progress on the adoption: We were told that our case was transferred to Paraja because of a strike in Cali. We found out after our return on Friday that the case had remained in Cali and put at the top of the queue so in a three part process we have part 1 finished. Part 2 is a sign off and part 3 is getting new birth certificates. The sign off was completed before Bill left. Shirlene, Melissa, and the kids are now waiting in Cali until the 2 places the kids were born issue new birth certificates. Our lawyer is supposed to leave on the trip to get them Tues. Please pray that this goes through quickly. Once that is done we fly to Bogota for the final leg. Supposed to be less than a week. Today while driving home we passed a police station. Our host pointed out that it had been bombed a year ago and the neighboring buildings flattened by FARC. Amazingly only one person was killed. Please pray for the people of Colombia to come to peace. We miss you all so much and send our love and prayers!!! Shirlene for the Jones' in Colombia.
We love to share with all of you the things that have been taking place in our lives and in our hearts. It is getting more and more difficult to do so. The language barrier is great between us and the kids as well as us and our caretakers. Our interpreter, Joanna, went back to Germany 5 days ago and there is really no one to take her place. The "honeymoon" period is pretty much over with the kids and we are now finding it very hard to deal with the effects of their past as it relates to their behavior patterns now. The day begins at 6AM and for all intents (intense) and purposes doesn´t end until 9PM. We have very little left over for sharing with our friends and family. The videos have helped but even they are requiring more work than there is energy for at this time. Please continue to pray for strength, courage, wisdom and bridges for all 6 of us as we labor to let love rule in our hearts and our words as well as our actions.
I love Sundays ! We went to the Baptist church compound and were blessed with brothers and sisters in Christ that know how to preach the gospel to our children. This has been the biggest barrier to language that we have been unable to overcome. Last week the Sunday school story was Daniel and it was the Garden of Eden today. I do not know a lot of what was said, but trust that God worked through it. The worship was a challenge to enter into, but sensed The Lord´s presence. It was comforting and encouraging. One man spoke some English and had a neat old car (a 57 chevy for the guys sake). He asked us to lunch, but our ride was taking us back to the B&B and the cook was preparing a meal so we declined. After Lunch we were taken up into the foot hills of the Andes. Our driver/translator/neat lady Carmensa lives there with her husband on the weekends. It was incredible. The air was fresh(huge break) the scenery was lovely and there were flowers every where!! Azalas, Glads, Dalias, lilys, orchids, and lots we didn´t know what were. Some trees were green & leafy and others were bare. They said they just kinda drop and a few months later rebloom. Bill got to take a walk in the jungle. Carmensa´s husband collects orchids. He had a guabaya tree that had 60 orchid plants on it. The guys found a small one on thier walk, and lots too big, or too high to get. We took several walks and stayed until dark when the city below slowly lit up like a Christmas tree. Tatia slept in the car on the ride home. TOTALLY CRASHED!! Fun, Beautiful and once in a life time day. I love Sundays!!
Bill´s Jungle Trek Ricardo suggested that he and I take a "small" jungle walk at the top of the ridge at Andes range one. He said it´s about 2 kilometers above sea level. Well, growing up in the woods near Jamestown NY, I knew my way around in the woods. After all, at first glance, this so called jungle looked merely like some of the dense vegetation my cousin Scott and I used to spend hours in near Dewitteville. So we left our party 9 sitting at the ridge and entered the wood. Oh. My. Word. I tried to camcord my walk but lost my footing in the first 20 feet and tumbled into a tree...thank God for that tree because the incline would have sent me headlong to a sudden decceloration injury before I had time to say "Mogli look out!" When I recovered, Ricardo led me thru some of the deepest dense forrest I have ever seen. In the Andes they call it jungle. The floor was alive with green and unique vegetation. Ricardo often searches and recovers small and rare orchids with vines to plant in his garden. There would be no plant gathering today as we needed both hands to navigate the steep incline. He usually brings a satchel to collect plants.
We walked about 10 blocks to this park in the city yesterday. Melissa got a break as we let her stay home, if you can call doing her John Tyler studies on the laptop a break. The playground was fenced off with barbed wire at the top and padlocked. We had to ask one of the families with children nearby to open it for us. Security is very high in Cali and very important. Unlike the USA, security guards are well respected and well equiped to handle any unrest. They augment the police department to free them up for emergency response and regulating the streets. While we were walking near our home recently, I was questioned by police as to our reason for being in Cali, where we were staying and for how long, and if I was carrying a weapon. All this while we were with our escort. Speaking of emergency response, while at the mall or most public places you won't find fire alarms. What you'll see is every 100ft, a hose and nozzle to put a fire out. Everyone has access to them. Imagine, instead of pulling an alarm and waiting for the fire department to arrive, you simply put the fire out yourself in it's early stages. In a somewhat related story, fire related damage to buildings in Cali is extremely low.
Hola Everyone! Today (Sunday) has been an interesting day. Carmensa took the day off, and our new escort was a college student named Camilla. She was very nice, and very good at speaking English. She brought us to the only non-catholic church we could find; a Baptist church. Mom took the kids to Sunday school, and dad and I stayed in the service. The singing was neat, though hard to understand. ;oP A man named Fernando that had lived in the US for 34 years but was born in Colombia sat next to Dad and interpreted for him. It was a very kind thing to do, but unfortunately he was not one of the privileged few that was born with the gift of whispering, and so he wasn’t exactly inconspicuous. All I could gather (I couldn’t hear the interpretation enough to understand it) was that without Jesus there is death, but with Him there is life. ;o) My great word for the week. About halfway through the service, I felt really sick, so I left and sat outside. We left as soon as it was finished, and when we got home I skipped lunch and went to sleep. Dad, Mom, and the kids took off for the pool, and they were back when I woke up. We mostly just hung out after that. The only noteworthy events for the rest of the evening were my first empanadas, which I am now officially in love with, and the eating of chocolate ice cream, which is extremely hard to obtain in Colombia, since it usually melts by the time it gets home. Not to mention it was nine dollars for like…two pints. Just makes me appreciate it all the more.
Please pray for our integration meeting tomorrow at ICBF which is the official adoption authority in Colombia. We are meeting with social workers and lawyers to see if both we and the kids are wanting the adoption process to continue. If so, the paperwork will be filed with the court system and we will begin our wait for our case to work it's way through.
Bienvenidos (Welcome) to my first note from Colombia.
Day 1 was short- we arrived at about 3pm (4 pm in the US) exhausted from six hours of plane travel. We got set up, explored the house, and got to know the people here. There are two other adoptive families staying here; one is two parents who adopted a 15 month old named Gaspar, he is VERY cute, and they leave on viernes (Friday). The other is a single dad adopting a boy, Marlon, who is just Ivan’s age. Somewhat to our annoyance, especially mine, he watches TV constantly. Let me tell you- there’s nothing more annoying than the Power Rangers in espanol (Spanish). Anyways, Tuesday night was trying-about fifteen minutes after I got on the internet, it died. We later found out the entire city of Cali was down, we didn’t get it back ‘til Thursday afternoon.
Day 2 was much better. That probably had something to do with meeting the kids for the first time, which was totally amazing. ;o) However, we didn’t meet them ‘til around 2:30, and it was SO hard to wait. I tried to do school, and I got one journal page done (my fellow sufferers in Gileskirk Humanities know what I’m talking about), but I simply could not concentrate on anything else. We got there before los ninos (the children) and had to wait in another room where they couldn’t see us, signing papers. Those must’ve been the longest ten minutes of my life. Then they took us into the playroom and there were the kids. I was the last one in, and so when I got there, mom and dad were already hugging Ivan and Tatiana, the oldest and the youngest, and Daniela was just standing there. I dropped my grocery bag of candy, ran over, and took her in my arms. ;o) It was so sweet. Then I hugged Tatia, and Ivan last. We gave them presents and played with them for a little while, and then it was time to go. So we all crowded into the back of the car- there are no seatbelts in the back anyway. Tatia on my lap, Daniela on Mom’s, and Ivan on Dad’s. The rest of the day was spent getting to know them and trying to communicate. Ok, and trying to connect to the internet. I really wanted to tell people! ;o)
Day 3 would be today. It seemed very long. Once again, I got almost no school done…I should probably journal again before I go to bed. I probably won’t. Evil me, I’ll regret it I’m sure. There were lots of tears today- the girls are very emotional and kept bursting into tears for no apparent reason. Once when Daniela was sobbing uncontrollably, huddled on her bed, I asked “Que es?” (What is, which is the closest I can get to what’s wrong) The only word I could discern from her was pelo, which means hair. I can’t imagine what about her hair was worth such drama, and I still haven’t figured it out, but Ivan asked her too, and she answered the same again. He just looked at her for a second, and then walked away, unconcerned, so I think it probably wasn’t too bad. ;o)
The kids are all very sweet. When we met them Daniela asked what was the name of her other sisters. We told her Nikki y Melissa. All of them have been calling Mom and Dad Momma y Poppy, which is SO adorable, and I just melt everytime they do. But it’s nothing compared to how I feel when they call me hermana (sister). ;oD
So yea…I’ll go through them all. Ivan, for those of you who don’t know, is a boy. ;oP He is almost nine. He’s very quiet, and doesn’t talk a lot, although his laugh is ADORABLE. (I need more synonyms for cute) He has wonderful manners, always saying Gracias (ya’ll had better know that means thank you) and Pardon (I think you can figure out what that means). He’s not as openly affectionate as the girls, but I can still tell that he loves us. One of the first things he played with was Mom’s MP3 player, which has songs in Spanish on it. He now goes around the house singing “oh, la gloria de la cruuuuuz!” (oh, the glory of the cross) at the top of his voice. I love it. ;o)
Daniela is not quiet. At all. In that respect, at least, she is the exact opposite of Ivan. She’s totally rambunctious. She reminds me of Clare Rose when she was little. (she’s six) ;o) Yes, it does get annoying (and it’s only the second day…) but the good thing is, she’s very physically affectionate, hugging and kissing, and she goes around singing “May-lee-sah, May-lee-sah.” And I just want to scoop her up everytime she does. She’s very endearing.
Tatiana, or Tatia, is very sweet. She’s the just turned four year old, and there aren’t enough beds right now, so I sleep with her at night. She has the cutest little curls and chubby cheeks, and she reminds me of a moorchild. And when she doesn’t get her way she pouts, and crosses her arms, sticking out her lower lip by at least an inch. Which is naughty, but so cute I can’t help but laugh whenever she does it, and of course, that doesn’t help at all.
The word we hear most right now is Chocolate. We gave all the kids candy on the first day, and almost every minute since then they ask to have some.
The name of the lady who’s house we’re staying in is Reyna, and she broke her leg hiking in the mountains, because she fell, two days before we came. She’s close to sixty, I think, or maybe older. Two women came to pick us up at the airport. Carmensa is Reyna’s hermana. She’s very pretty. She said she was fifty-six, but she certainly doesn’t look it. She’s a petite, thin women, probably shorter than me (which is saying a lot!) Joana is our interpreter. She’s twenty-three, a student from Germany who majors in translation. It’s really cool, because she learned English in Europe, she has a heavy British accent. She’s really nice. She laughs a lot, and is really smart and really friendly. Actually, I keep thinking that she reminds me of Faith’s sister, Bethany.
There’s lots more to say about the house and the food and the city, but I think I’ll save that for the next note. We’re all doing great, and I miss everyone. I love it here, but can’t wait to get back home. Love you all!
We spent the night at Allison S. parents home in DC. They are gifted in hospitality and got us up and out to Dulles by 5:59 AM. We spent 7 hours traveling and 2 hours waiting in lines. We got to Cali and our new home at 3PM Cali time. After a wonderfully prepared Colombian dinner at 6PM we visited with our attorney to set up tomorrow's meeting with Ivan, Daniella and Tatiana. Please pray for our initial meeting tomorrow at 2PM.
Thank you so much for keeping up with our adoption journey. We are currently counting down to the much anticipated "gotcha day" scheduled for Oct 15th. Ten million phone calls lining up rides for Matt. Nine little toys collected to give to kids. Eight people sitting around the dinner table. Seven days a week surviving without parents. Six 50lb suitcases filled up with things. Five girls in our family. Four: the age of the youngest Three bedroom setups for new kids. Two weeks from tomorrow we fly out of Dulles for our Colombia stay. One trip to Washington DC to get our visa. And here we go.
World magazine's September issue gave a report of the US government shutting down ALL adoptions between the US and Vietnam. The suspension took place on Sept. 1 and is indefinite. The decision dashed the hopes of hundreds of families that were waiting in line to adopt a child from Vietnam. We pray for these families as we also sing His praises for the work he has done in our adoption process. You see, a little over a year ago, Shirlene and I chose Vietnam as our country to adopt from.
We had originally chosen China, but that country also shut down adoptions in a similar way at the beginning of 2007. We then "got in line" in Vietnam along with hundreds of other American families that had been shunned by China. Because of the overwhelming number of applicants, the wait for Vietnam would have been 3 years. I say, "would have been" because last fall our adoption agency contacted us and offered the opportunity to leave our place in line and start the process moving to adopt from Colombia.
Our answer initially was a resounding "NO". This was not what we wanted. Shirlene had desired to adopt a little girl from China since she was a teenager. This path was becoming something we never would have envisioned. But as we prayed through the offer we sensed God was directing our path to Colombia. Then our adoption agency offered us 3 children instead of just one. And now, instead of essentially starting over, we leave for Cali in 2 weeks to receive our beautiful gifts from God. Hasn't He blessed us, time after time..
Meet the newest members of our family! Ivan Daniel is 8, loves the chance to go to school and wants to be a great doctor when he grows up. He is really good at math and loves dance. Daniela Andrea is 6, wakes every day at 6AM and bathes and dresses herself for school. She is known for always being in a good mood and is extroverted. She doesn't really care for vegetables in salad.(she'll fit right in with the rest of the Jones kids). Angy Tatiana is almost 4. She is intelligent, active, happy, helpful, affectionate, sweet and sociable. She is very active and loves running, jumping, playing and marching.
Our children are coming from the streets of Cali where they were not being given a proper home. Ivan, Daniela and Angy were taken off the streets by the local government and placed in foster care to provide education, food and safety for them. Their mother initially protested...but later when faced with making changes to provide a dignified home and basic welfare for her kids, abandoned these three adorable children to the system. The children express desire for a loving family and a chance for an education.
We are now preparing for departure to Colombia on October 14th. We (Bill, Shirlene and Melissa) will meet our children on the 15th and take immediate custody of them. Bill will be staying for about 3 weeks in order to complete the paper work which will allows him to leave. Shirlene and Melissa will spend the remainder, of about 4-6 weeks, getting to know our new children while waiting for the paperwork to be completed. They all will be in Cali part of the time and part in Bogota. If all goes well, all should be home just before Thanksgiving.
We are currently following a series in our church which encourages us to ask questions about our beliefs and our faith. The latest installment asks, "Why rest?"
We, as a family, have decided to explore the depths of this particular question.
The Jones family is resting up from our fundraising efforts and from making the home ready for our newest children as well as resting to be ready for the many needs and challenges required of us for the upcoming season of change. Although with the start of the 2008 school year, Melissa and Matt would challenge the notion that they are indeed resting.
Nevertheless...we are resting. Resting in knowing that God has just the right children for us at just the right time. Resting in knowing that He is sovereignly in control of all events that are leading us to our newest family members. And although we are tempted to be anxious in this season of waiting, we know that "He is working all things together for good" just as He has promised. God has never given us reason to doubt His faithfulness to His promises. And so we rest secure in the knowledge that His timing is perfect.
We just received this e-mail from our case worker. The e-mail is followed by a short video of a ministry in Bogota. The video is not our specific information, yet it captures the heart of God at work in Colombia.
Hi, Bill & Shirlene. I'm happy to be able to tell you that your dossier has been sent to the Valle regional office (the city of Cali) where there is a sibling group of 3. That's all we know at the moment. We don't know ages or genders or names or anything. Just that there is a specific group that your dossier was sent for.
Lucia tried to check on it, but the director of the Valle regional office is on vacation this week and due back sometime next week. Hopefully we can find out from her by the end of next week what kind of a timeline they are looking at for making the assignment. Sometimes regional offices will tell us a little about the children and sometimes they won't, so I won't promise you that, but at least we should be able to get an idea of when the assignment will happen. I'm very excited for you. Good thing we already got you started working on those FBI and medical letters! Hopefully you'll be putting them to good use very soon.
We're off to school again. A bit earlier than usual, Matt started his Spanish class this week due to the expectancy of his teacher (a new little Pond on the way,congratulations!!) Melissa starts her dual enrollment classes at the local community college on the 25th. Please pray that the professors will be willing to work with her missing 6wks. of class for our trip to Colombia(their policy is if you miss 3 classes you automatically fail). If they will not, we will have to withdraw her the first week of class and find other options. If we need to find other options please pray that God would open doors for where He would have her. Praise!! Melissa was able to get her driver's license so that will make commuting for co-op/classes much easier. We are currently not sure when we will be leaving, but when we do Matt will need to continue his studies at home and Melissa will need to continue her studies abroad. Please pray for both for logistics, grace and favor to work out all the details and to not "loose school time". Also when we get back for us all to adjust to each other to extend love and grace as we "find normal" and get into a routine of how to spend our time and energy. Please pray for Shirlene for wisdom to guide the transition academically, language wise and functionally for our home. Pray for God to provide the right tools needed for the "new children's" school year. Thank you all for partnering with us in this journey through your support and prayers! May the Lord be glorified! Bill, Shirlene, Nikki, Melissa, Matt, ?,?,?
HOORAY!!!!! August has been a busy month as far as new information goes. First of all, the 2nd yard sale netted $1500 nearly matching the 1st one. Also, internet sales of the items "too good" for a yard sale are nearing $2000! So by the end of July, through the generous contributions, by you, of gifts and "junk" we were only $7000 shy of our estimated goal of $18,000. The first week in August we heard from one of the adoption grant fund ministries. They told us that they wouldn't be able to help us. That was a setback in our hearts as we were tempted to waiver in our faith. Last Sunday we were talking about adoption finances and what to do next. Through our conversation it was apparent that God was increasing our faith that He is indeed Jehovah-jireh (God will provide). The next day Matt checked the mail and found a letter from Steven Curtis Chapman's adoption fund, Shaohannah's Hope, granting us the remaining $7000!
God is good! Even if no finances are available, God is good. When we finally receive our children, God is good. If, tomorrow, He decides to take it all away...He is still good!
Secondly, we were supposed to hear from Colombia by 8/6/08 concerning our dossier. We would be approved, denied or more info would be required of us. That day came and went as our anticipation turned to anxiousness. Our adoption agency began calling Colombia every day to find out why the deadline had passed with no resolve. Last week it was discovered that the person who was handling our dossier had an illness in the family and was taking substantial time off of work. In essence our paperwork was just sitting on her desk. God is obviously in control of all events and is orchestrating them to provide the children He wants to be matched with us.
On Monday, 8/18/08, we received this e-mail from our adoption agency:
As of Friday, your dossier review was complete and your file was on the director's desk for her signature. Yeah!
The next thing they'll do is look to see where there is the right sibling group and then they'll send your dossier out for assignment. They may have one ready right away. Or we may have to wait a few weeks while they locate children who are legally free for adoption that match your criteria. But at least the review is over and you have been approved. Be sure you go out and celebrate!
God bless, Julie E.
Please continue to keep us in your prayers specifically: That God would grant mercy unto salvation to these precious children that will be Jones'. That God would prepare them for the tremendous changes that are about to take place in their lives. Travel mercies for all six of us That God would use us to His glory in the lives of people we contact along the way.
Pray also for provision for physical needs that are not directly related to the cost of the adoption. Some of these are: We need to sell our 7 passenger van and find a bigger one, Bedroom furniture, Kitchen/meals prep items, Downstairs bathroom renovation, Age appropriate homeschool supplies, etc.
We want to take a couple of minutes to update you concerning our adoption process. We were anticipating hearing from Colombia about our referral (specific information about the children; names and ages etc.)in the beginning of June, instead we received a request for more information. This means additional time and $ will be required in the process. We were initially tempted to discouragement but soon realized this was God’s timing so we could raise the funds needed to complete the adoption. All things are indeed accomplished by God, in His time. By God’s grace Shirlene was able to fairly quickly assemble the needed paperwork. It was received in Colombia the 1st week in July. We are now anticipating our referral. We were told to look for it after 3 weeks. When that happens, we will be traveling 4 -6 weeks later. Please pray that God would adjust our hearts to rejoice in His sovereign timing.
Since our last update, we have seen God at work in numerous ways. We have been blessed with knowing you are praying for us. This continues to be our greatest need. We are very grateful and blessed by so many of you who have given of your time for both fundraising and the readying of our home. And we have been greatly encouraged as we watch God providing our financial and travel needs through you, our friends and family.
Twenty-four families donated “stuff” for our yard sale and numerous others gave of their precious time to help us prepare and administrate it! That Saturday, God provided a little over $1700.00. Some of the items people donated wouldn’t have made as much at a yard sale as they would on-line, so little by little we have been posting these items on eBay and other sites so far over $800 more has been added to the total. God has been amazing our family with His kindness!! Nearly 50% of donated items were sold and our garage is holding the remaining donations. Therefore we are having ANOTHER yard sale. Saturday, July 19th we are hosting the Jones’ Second AdoptionYard Sale! If you are interested in donating anything, feel free to drop off between this Saturday and next Wednesday at our home. If that is too far you can drop by the church office, anything that would fit in Nikki’s Pathfinder.
Please continue to pray that God would meet us as He continues His story and testimony on that morning! A growing number of people have been used by Him to minister to us and to people whom we don’t even know. Many people who came to the yard sale would ask questions about the adoption, which resulted in some neat opportunities to share of God’s love for us and His heart for adoption! Total strangers were affected to tears and offered to pray for us. Over and over, the yard sale mindset of “get the lowest price” was abandoned by our neighbors as they offered several dollars more than we were asking for an item. Thank you for your prayers! Feel free to email back if you have any questions.
In Christ, Bill, Shirlene, Nikki, Melissa, Matt and ?, ?, ? Jones
Greetings from the Jones family! Wow, summer is almost here. It’s hard to believe time has flown so fast. We thought this would be a great time to catch you all up with what is happening with our family. We know everybody wants to “keep up with the Joneses” so ……..
The latest news is that we are in the process of an international adoption for a sibling group of three children from Colombia. We have had quite a journey to bring us to this point. We were originally considering China, and then Vietnam, but we finally decided on Colombia. We are excited about all that we have learned and all that God has shown us along the way about faith, patience, trust and perseverance. We have been “in process” for almost two years. We collected all the needed paperwork, got it approved, and sent it to Colombia. Upon receiving it, the adoption agency communicated to us that, due to the specific need of sibling group adoption, they would be expediting our paperwork. We were just recently told it could be as soon as a week or two that we get our approval andreferral (specifics about the kids). This news was a bit of a shock. The normal time frame for approval and referral is 4-5 months. Needless to say, we are excited and challenged by this new time frame. There is still much to do, so much that we cannot do it on our own. We believe this is by God’s design.
Our faith in God is strong, and we believe that since He is bringing children into our family, He will work out all the details and open all the doors, making a way for our new children to join us. Yet, we need to prepare and position ourselves to do His work in the lives of these precious children. We need “our family” to help and support us in various ways. There are so many ways to get involved in the adoption process and there is such a huge need. We believe God wants us all to be involved in the lives of those in need. We believe just as strongly that all levels of involvement are equally important. We would like to ask all of you to join us in this journey as you feel led by His Spirit. Here are some of our needs.
1)For prayer.
*For travel mercies. Our agency assures us that Colombia is safe.
*For our stay in Colombia, that all six of us (Bill, Shirlene, Melissa and the 3 new children) would bond together.
*For a bridge across language barriers.
*For the new three to adjust to all the changes in family, country and culture.
*For God’s grace to reign in our home and that He would give Mom and Dad wisdom.
*For the gospel to be our daily strength and for the salvation of our newest family members.
2)For finances. We have almost half of our expenses paid. We have all the rest hitting at the same time. We estimate the remaining costs to be appx. $16,000.
AWe will be fundraising to help meet this need. If you feel led to volunteer ideas or help manage a piece of this process, that would be a tremendous blessing.
We are planning a yard/bake sale June 14th and other ideas such as a silent auction . If you have items or services todonate to the yard sale or for fund raising purposes please call or contact Shirlene to arrange for pickup.
BWe need people to come to our yard/bake sale and buyJune 14th at ourplace.
CIf you would have it on your heart to donate money, please contact Jeff or Kathy Johnson. They have graciously agreed to be our liaison forthe funds. Please e-mail us for their contact info.
DWe are going to need to buy plane tickets for six people. Mom, Dad, and Melissa will travel there. Bill will return after the legal process releases him. Shirlene, Melissa, and the three new children will be flying home once the entire process is complete. Delta Airline offers a special ticket that allows for a flexible date of return since it is hard to estimate the time it takes for paperwork. If anyone has Delta frequent flyer miles to donate, that would be a huge help. The tickets are one of the largest expenses.
EWe have applied for grants and no interest loans. Normal channels take months, which we don’t have because of the expedite, and we are no longer eligible after receiving the children. Please pray that God would provide.
3)Equipping our home for three more children (furniture, clothes etc…). Again it is hard to tell what we will need before we have the referral. Once we know ages, sizes and sexes, this will be more clear.
4)While we are in Colombia, Nikki and Matt will be here by themselves. The current estimate is 4-6 wks. If anyone would be able to have them over, that would be a break, for Matt in particular. Nikki would be at work during the weekdays so Matt would be by himself. He is 15 and able to stay home alone, but it would get lonely.
If you have any questions about anything, please feel free to e-mail or call us. We will try to get back to you within a week. Also please feel free to forward this to anyone who might be interested.
This is a lot of information along with many requests. It is very humbling to ask for help in this way. We trust that no one will feel burdened by this note, but that each one of you will respond as you feel led to, and God will work through it all to accomplish His plan and provide a home for these children, because He is the Father to the fatherless and the Great Redeemer, who places the orphans in families and blesses the unworthy ones, like us. At one time, we were all orphans, apart from the family of God. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. Galatians 4:4-5
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