Eight Is Not Enough: Thanksgiving day in Bogota

Why "Eight Is Not Enough"?

When we were younger, there was a television sitcom that was called "Eight is Enough". The television watching world was entertained with the thought of a family with eight children. Most of us were shocked at the prospect of such a large family- myself included! Then ever so slowly, God began to work on our hearts, until we surrendered to Him all of our lives- yes even gave Him sovereign control over the size of our family and He has blessed us immeasurably, with eight biological children. Each of these children have been an amazing gift to us and we cherish each of them. And we praised God for them and felt to ourselves "eight is enough" - at least for a time.

Then God began to stir our hearts. It was as if He spoke to say to us "these 8 precious children I have given to you, but what have you given to my orphans in return?" A burden began to build on our hearts to adopt. We knew that for us God still had other plans for us as parents if we would be faithful to His calling- that eight is not enough. And so, we followed this call to adopted and He has continued to blessed us through adoption. First a sibling group of three from Soacha, Colombia. They joined our family in November, 2008. In May 2010, we adopted twin infants from Texas. In September of 2012 we were privileged to return to Colombia and adopt a sibling group of two from Cali. At this time, we anxiously wait for our travel date to depart for China where a very special girl and boy wait for their forever family. By the time they all reach adulthood, we will have had the amazing privilege to be parents of children in our home for a half century. Our life is full beyond measure, beyond our wildest expectations, yes even beyond anything we could have ever hoped. Truly, eight is not enough. As of late we have wondered if God's plan for us as parents all along was not for eight children, but rather eight plus eight. Our heavenly Father knows and His word assures us "I know the plans I have made for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you." We trust He knows the number of His children He wants us to love and to nurture on His behalf, and whether that is eight or eighty times eight we stand ready and say speak Lord, your servants are listening and are prepared to be father and mother to your fatherless on earth.

Thursday, November 27, 2008

Thanksgiving day in Bogota

We spent our thanksgiving day in Bogota- we stayed very busy today, but did try to keep our hearts and minds on God our Father who is the focus of all our thanks. No turkey, but plenty of turkeys if you know what I mean! Our day started at 6:30 today - progress!

We had a much calmer day today. We, upon reflection, we relized we were so much to blame for the way our new kids were supercharged yesterday. We had been warned that you don't feed a lot of sugar to Colombian children- and boy did we feed them sugar yesterday. Our biological kids have never had the sugar rush that leads to hyperactivity. We eliminated the sugar today and we had a much calmer day.

These kids are enthusiastic about everything they do- We have never in our lives seen such enthusiasm for teeth brushing WOW We hope there will me enamel left when we get home.

We are begining to blend as a family. As you would expect the two groups are most comfortable with their biological siblings, but we are begining to see some coming together. Our new kids came with a photo album from their time in foster care. Last night each of them went around to all their new siblings and mom and dad and explained every photo to us- no idea what the said, but is was very special to see them reaching out and opening their hearts as best they can in addition to all the hugs and kisses! We don't speak the same language yet- however that does not seem to be too much of a barrier. These guys have the most expressive faces and you can read the expressions like a book. They are all beging to say a few English words back to us when we try to get them to- Santiago is the most receptive and Tatiana is the least. We expect to make the most progress when we get home and Spanish is not all around them.

We want to share a bit about life in Bogota. We feel very safe here. There is a security guard at the front door of our apartment building and they are on many street corners. We have walked around a bit and everything is fine. Today we even went down some side streets looking for a park- couldn't find it so Jim asked in his meager Espanol Donde esta parke? We were just a block away and made it fine - fortunately the man we asked only had to point a block over and not give directions we couldn't understand. The streets are always filled with cars- they always seam to honk at each other in the traffic jams - the honking doesn't do any good to get things moving, but it must made the drivers feel better because it is constant!

We spent some time at a park today and we think the kids had a great time - was muddy after the rain so we were limited in the playtime. Still it did everybody a lot of good.

Our integration day with ICBF (social services) is on Tuesday. Once that is complete we are waiting on the courts.

God bless,

Jim and Betty

2 comments:

Anonymous said...: Happy Thanksgiving. We missed you today.

Ryan; November 27, 2008 at 10:53 PM
THE CALDERARO'S said...: All I can say is WOW!! I thought we had our hands full. I guess it is true, the more the merrier. Congrats to all.; November 28, 2008 at 7:22 AM