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.
Monday, October 27, 2008
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Andes Sunday
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 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.
Friday, October 24, 2008
Recess!!!
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.
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Sunday
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.
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.
Friday, October 17, 2008
Melissa's Note
Hola Everyone!
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!
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!
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Colombia Update
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.
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