China Bound

God is good all the time. All the time God is good. I have shared with a very few that since returning home with Angie and Jose, I have had an overwhelming burden on my heart that God intended another daughter for Betty and I. I have been praying and seeking His wisdom and direction. We recently found out that China would be open to our family adopting a special needs child , and we immediately felt God moving us (OK actually it felt more like a big shove) toward the country of China. We began to work with an agency with a strong China program. We began to look at pictures of waiting children with special needs. Adopting a special needs child is so consistent with the call we have had for several years to adopt the children who are not "wanted". In the heart of God and in our hearts, they are sooooo very wanted and loved. Today we received approval from the Government of china to adopt Emily!!! We are not allowed to post her location or her Chinese name, but we can share her picture. She is absolutely BEAUTIFUL and we feel so blessed to have the privilege to steward her for our Heavenly Father. She was abandoned as an infant and has been in orphanages since. She is now 4 years old and will be 5 by the time we get to travel sometime this coming spring.

The Rest of the Story

Our blog has been uncharacteristically quiet since two weeks before we left Colombia.

We left Colombia under extraordinary circumstances, and at the time we felt we could not post the details of our last days in Colombia. It has now been a few months since the end of the nationwide judicial  strike. We know many people have followed our adoption and we felt terrible not being able to let all of you know the mighty way that God intervened to bring us home- all of us. The purpose of this blog entry it to bring everyone up to date. We feel like enough time has passed that no one will suffer harm if we share the complete story. In sharing this with all of you we will by intent leave out  names and places so that those who helped us will not be at any risk of retribution.

Where to begin....  The last entry of any substance was on 26 October.  At that point we were more than a month into the judicial strike and I (Jim) was scheduled to leave for the US in one more week. As Betty and I prayerfully considered our options we felt that Betty could not come back as scheduled a week later without the strike ending. 

A few more days went by and nothing was resolved with the strike...  By Tuesday, I began to dialog with our agency's in country representative having recognized that we were running out of both time and money to continue to wait on a strike that could continue for weeks to come.  We came to the conclusion that by Friday we would have to return Anyi and Jose to the orphanage and hope that we could return for them after the strike was resolved. Our hearts were breaking. There is no other  way to say it than that. These two children had already become such a part of us that we felt as if we were ripping out our hearts to even consider such a thing. The stark reality of our situation was that we had to do something, and we could not think of any other options. Know that we were on our knees on separate continents pleading with God to bring the strike to an end. As difficult as this was going to be for us,  we knew it was going to be even worse for Anyi and Jose.

Wednesday came and went with no change - and Thursday morning as well. I had placed a call on Wednesday and said we would have to return the kids to the orphanage by 10:00 am on Friday to make my flight on Saturday. By Thursday morning all I could do was watch them through tear filled eyes. This was going to be the hardest thing I would have ever done in my life.  It was clear that God was NOT going to answer our prayer to end the strike. Sometimes God is like that, He answers our prayers with a no.  As when we lost the referral for Carolina and Neydali, I could only answer Lord I will trust you. But still I wept.

I had lunch with Anyi and Jose on Thursday thinking it would be the last lunch we would have together for a long time...  After lunch, we were going to watch a movie together when the phone rang. When I answered, it was our in country representative on the phone. There had been several calls like this with no real results. This was a different call. Lucia said "I have good news." She went on to explain that our lawyer had made arrangements for our adoption to be moved to another city hours away from Cali. In this city a judge had agreed to finalize our adoption even though the strike was still on. In Colombia the term for the final adoption decree is "Sentencia". While you are there you desperately  long to hear this word- Sentencia.  So I told Lucia that this was good news and reluctantly asked her how long it would take to get to Sentencia by moving to a new court (normally, it takes 3 weeks for the court process).  Lucia laughed and said "no, you don't understand, Sentencia is tomorrow morning!" My heart missed several beats as this amazing news sank in. The rest of the call I cried like a baby. Anyi and Jose must have thought I had lost my mind.  Sentencia would be the next morning. I could not fathom how this could be possible. While God chose to answer our prayers to end the strike with a no- He answered the question I should have been asking which was "LORD, what are your plans for us and for our Sentencia".  Lucia gave some more details of how this had been worked out and told me to be ready at 5 am the next morning. I told her I would be ready at 3 am- and I was. I was not able to sleep all night waiting for time to leave.  A short time later our translator called (daughter if the lawyer) to make sure I had the news and to tell me several times "You must be ready to leave at 5am.  I had the impression we would hit this other city kind of like a drive by shooting getting everything signed and blasting right back out of town. Boy was I wrong.

On Friday morning we slipped out the front door of our hotel while the desk clerk slept on the lobby sofa. The rest of our day was to be no less like a spy novel than the way we slipped away unseen from our hotel. We drove through beautiful countryside to a small city in one of the coffee growing regions. I tried to explain to Anyi and Jose that today in the eyes of both the laws of Colombia, the United States and in the eyes of God they would be our children Siempre (forever). As we arrive in the city, we were told to go to a coffee shop and wait. We waited more than an hour before the lawyer called and said she was on her way to get the judge.  In another 20 minutes, we received another call and were told to move to another coffee shop near the court house. Several minutes and many back streets later we arrived at the next coffee shop... and waited.

After a time the lawyer came into the shop and greeted us... Then she point out a man in the doorway with his back to us and whispered  "that is the judge". He was there just a moment and then he was gone and soon our lawyer followed. .. and again we waited.  From where we sat out the doors of the coffee shop we could see the strikers on the steps of the court house. There were  speeches and chants and I understood none of it.  Eventually, they formed a march and headed off into the city leaving only a few picketers on the steps of the courthouse.  Eventually the lawyer returned, but stayed outside the coffee shop waiving  frantically but not coming inside. She called my interpreter and spoke briefly by cell phone. The interpreter leaned over and whispered, " we can't do Sentencia here. The others in the coffee shop are strikers!"  My heart sank and I had knots in my stomach as I watched the lawyer walk away yet again...  and we waited. 

it seemed like an eternity, but finally the lawyer slipped in the shop and leaned across the table pointed her finger at me and said, "YOU, just you come with me". Without hesitation, I stood up and walked away leaving my two children and all of my valuables with the interpreter not having a clue where we were going. In moments like these in your heart and in your mind, it is solidified like no other times, that faith and trust are verbs. But it seemed the waiting was over.

We walked several streets away to yet another "very" backstreet coffee shop with 3 tables. It looked like the sort of place we see in action adventure movies when somebody eventually is going to start shooting!  My lawyer had me sit down across the table from a man who started passing me papers to sign. I asked no questions... I just kept signing everything that was put in front of me. Faith and trust- they are verbs. As I signed, I noticed the papers were already signed by the judge and the man across from me was signing as the Secretary of the Court. Everything was said in a whisper with everyone constantly looking over their shoulder. These people were worried about being caught.  And I wondered, why are your risking all this for me a gringo from thousands of mile away who you have never met and will never meet again. Why? Once we were finished signing the papers, the lawyer left and I sat across the table from the Secretary of the Court. For 15 minutes he just looked at me with an expressionless face, and never said a single word to me. I looked around, there was an empty table next to me- so close I could touch it. At the only other table in the shop sat two men quietly talking. One of them eventually turned to me and said "muy Spanish" - just like that one word in English and one word in Spanish. I said "no, yo hablo un pocito de Espanol, no mas, no mas (no, I speak only a little Spanish , no more, no more). He sort of shrugged and turned back to the other man and continued his conversation. The man at my table continued to stare with the same expressionless face. After a time, the lawyer returned with another man, she gave him a wad of my cash (a wad of Colombian pesos is not really very much). The man, my cash, and my lawyer all dashed back out again. And the man with me just stared. After another 5 minutes, the man stood up, said nothing turned and walked away. I remember thinking, this could be the place that I die, but Lord, you brought me here and I will trust you.  My heart sank when the man from the other table got up and came to the table next to me and sat.

This man began to talk to me in broken Spanish and English. We began to have a bit of a conversation, and much to my relief, this was a really nice man and we had a pleasant conversation- as best we could as two men knowing very little of each other's language.  But I was sure I was safe. Eventually, my lawyer returned and came to the table smiled at me and said, " I see you have met the judge".  All along I had been with the judge but didn't know it. Apparently, our lawyer must have told him about the evidences she had seen of our faith in God, because the first thing the judge asked her to ask me was. What type of Christian was I?  I assumed he meant denomination so I answered "Yo soy Baptista." The judge smiled and said "yo soy Christiano". Inside of me a light went on and everything made sense. God's plan was revealed.

I took the judge by the arm and said to him, "Mi hermano en Jesus Christo, muy bien, muy bien." Which means - my brother in Jesus Christ, very good, very good. This brother whom I had never me smiled at me from ear to ear, raised his hand into the air and said "Jesus Christo es el senior"!!!  This is a common praise expression which literally means, Jesus Christ is the man. I don't remember  what else we talked about, but I remember my brother several more time raising his hand towards heaven and saying, "Jesus Christo es el senior." The man who had been given the cash returned as did the secretary of the court and all the documents were now signed and had required seals on them. Copies were passed around to the right people, and quickly hidden from sight. The whispers stopped and you could see the relief on everyone's face... it was done, we had gotten away with it. And so God used these 4 men, brothers in the faith, to accomplish His plan so that we could be a family, in a back street coffee shop, thousands of miles from my home. One man was a judge, one the court Secretary, one a legal assistant, and one the social work or advocate for the children. These four men, my brothers in Christ risked so much to help us to be a forever family for Anyi and Jose. We called for the children. They came and we took pictures with the judge- that I promised would never be posted on line. We enjoyed the brief moment of celebration together- and it was over. I shook hands all around (and hugged!), spoke many thank-yous in English and Spanish. Then we turned and started to walk away back to the car. As I walked and was overwhelmed with the emotions of the day- I wept.  As I slowly walked away choking back the tears, I heard the now familiar voice call out "Jesus Christo es el senior" I could not look back, I know that if I had, I would have seen the judge standing with his hand pointing to heaven, and a bright smile that was broader that any I have ever know.

The next day, we left for Bogota and met up with Betty. She was to take care of the remaining steps to finally GO HOME. I left on Sunday and have stories to share with my grandchildren and great grandchildren of how mighty is our God and how able He is to answer prayers and changes live, anytime and anywhere that He chooses.

Where to stay in Cali, Colombia

Anyone trying to decide where to stay in Cali Colombia? Because of the legal strike, we ended up staying there a really long time. I want to recommend:

Hoteles Suites House

Yolanda Godoy
yolandagodoy@hotelsuiteshouse.com
cell phone 310 226 3122

The accomodations were absolutely great and the staff was very friendly and helpful. Staying there made all the difference in our unexpectedly long stay in Cali. Several of the staff speak English. The accomodations are 2 bedroom apartments with 2 and a half baths, equiped kitchens (no oven) with 4 burnner cooktop and microwave oven, fridge and living room. They will pick you up at the airport and they take you on an outing every Friday at no cost.

This place is three blocks from a mall that has a small grocery store. The baggers will push the grocery cart all the way to your room if you ask for about 2000-3000 pesos.

Very pleasant stay and I recommend them without hesitation.

Home

Our blog has been very quit the last few weeks- sorry. I do want to let everyone know we are all back home now. Anyi, Jose, and Betty arrived home last Friday. We are not able to talk about how this happened other than to say that God granted us a miracle. We paraise Him and give Him the Glory.

Events of today

So much to write about tonight!  Our hotel takes us on an outing every Friday. Today we went to a small museum of Natural History. We got to hear an abbreviated version of evolution in Spanish.  Then again, I didn't need a tour guide to enjoy the displays of the wonders of God's creation here in Colombia. The biodiversity He spoke into existence here  is more remarkable than anywhere I have ever experienced. Really enjoyed the museum.  Then we had lunch is a small cafeteria there.  I had about half an hour to share with Yolanda my faith in Christ , and the many ways God has worked in our lives over the course of these three adoptions. I think God used this testimony to touch her heart.  After that Yolanda, our host, took us into the children's section of the library that was in the same building as the museum. She came and told me that Jose had  asked the librarian to show him where to find the books about God! She said she was impressed with how the children were doing with us. Gave me a chance to talk to her about there being nothing special about us, but rather is was about God who is in us. People down here cannot fathom the concept of 15 children, we keep using this to point to the great God whom we serve and what he can do with a willing heart. Pictures tonight include one of Jose and the first book he picked out today.

We were watching a movie tonight and Anyi tells me about a friend from the orphanage who was bitten severely on the head  by a dog.  she obviously had very positive feelings and memories about the time at the orphanage.  I did a quick search for a utube video Betty and I had watched when we learned the name of the orphanage several months ago. I found the video and we watched it together.  A couple of minutes into the video she got very excited "mi hermano, mi hermano Hamilton"  I did a rewind and then paused. The video had Hamilton playing soccer when he was 11 yrs old. This is the same older brother Betty and I met who we wrote about several days ago. So then we rolled the video again, and Anyi is naming all the people in the video . Then she tells me it is me it is me!  there was a clip of several girls sitting on a floor clapping and singing. I pause and sure enough there was my Anyi! She said she was 6 in the video. Facial feature told me - absolutely my Anyi! She told me many things about the people in the video- always with a sparkle in her eyes. She was obviously very well cared for there and has good memories of her friends.  Probably a dumb thing to do, but I google translated and asked her if she was happier to be in a family now.  Much to my relief, I got a very enthusiastic YES!!! The patriarch of the orphanage was the daughter of the founder of the orphanage. was in he 80s or 090s in the video. Clearly LOVED by everyone in the video, and she clearly has a special place in Anyi's heart.  Then Anyi told me she went to be in heaven a few months ago, on a Sunday.  We will somehow copy this video for them when we get home. If there is anyone out there that God burdens to raise up support for an orphanage- I have a recommendation.  Oscar Scarpetta Orphanage in Cali.

We continue to covet your prayers. Likewise I pray God's blessing on you.

Jim

 

Our thanks

First, today I give thanks to the Father who has blessed us in more ways than we can count. He has been our constant companion and have met our needs in ways we may never even fully known.

Second, my thanks go out to our friends the Steinbachs who set up the ucare site when the strike began to help us to raise the unexpected costs of being delayed here in Colombia.

Third we thank those of you who have helped us along the way in our three adoptions. Because of each of you Jason, Tatiana, Luke, Makenzie, Isaiah, Anyi, and Jose have a home. And.. we have the privilege to share the love of Christ with them.  Almost all of the contributions to the ucare web site have been anonymous donations. I am so humbled by this. I will never have the opportunity to thank those anonymous donors is person or with a thank you card. So let me from my heart thank you here on this blog for helping us to bring Anyi and Jose home. As you have given in secret, God's word tells us you have stored up treasure in heaven where rust and moths can not destroy. I pray God's blessings on you.

Jim

Judical Strike Continues

Still waiting on the strike to end. Last night Betty and the girls headed home. I returned a couple of days ago and am waiting with Anyi and Jose for the strike to lift. It was very hard on Anyi when her momi left for the airport. Much crying by everyone, but especially Betty and Anyi.  She has perked back up to her normal self by bed time. These two hijos of mine are very sweet, lovong and complianct- I know we are in the honeymoon phase, but this time around things are much easier. Perhaps God knew in His infinate wisdom that this is what we need/ can handle for our 14th and 15th child in our 50's!!

We heard the strike lifted in one of the departments yesterday (equivilent of a state). I pray that if this is true, it will be the match that lights the fire of court reopenings. We need to get these two HOME so their lives can begin to normalize.

Anyi shares new nuggets about her life almost daily now.  Yesterday out of the blue she tells us she has a half sister who is 21 yrs old and attending a university one town away from Cali. Palmeria (sp?). This is a half sister on her fathers side. The case study we recieved at referal did not mention this sister at all.  Later, I let them pick a movie to watch- they picked Apple Dumpling gang of all thisgs. They have watched this at least twice before since we got them. A favorite I guess. Anyway, in the part where the indians attack the train, she points to the TV and tells me "indians",  pauses for a minute and then tells me her birthmother was an indian. We had suspected Ayni had South American native blood based on facial features- I guess we just should have asked. I think she was trying to tell me her mom was fully indian. 

No news on the stike yet....

 Much walking to get out of the apartment!

 Braiding hair

 

An Eventful Couple of Days.

We have had an eventful few days, although not in positive ways.  My husband had to return to the U.S. and go back to work yesterday early in the morning.  He took 4 of the children with him.  I kept 7 with me.  We thought I only had a couple more weeks here. Little did we know that only hours after he left, the Judges in all Colombia would go on strike. For us this means we are just stuck in the process until the strike is over.  It could be a few days, weeks, etc.  no one knows. We can progress no further in our adoption.  Please pray that they resolve this quickly and we can continue in the process  towards home.  Our family is now split between two countries for an undetermined time and we so want to be all back in the same home again.

Fruit Market

Friday we went to the fruit market. This trip was a gift from our hosts- they made sure we tasted many fruits that were previously unknow to us. Hope you enjoy the pictures as much as we enjoyed the experience!

Yes those ARE eyeballs looking at you. One of the hosts said they are primarily sold a food for animals. We are not going to eat anything that is looking back at us!!

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A visit to the country

Getting  a little ahead on the time, but I will first post about today and then go back and post pictures from yesterday's visit to the fruit market.

While we were at the fruit market yesterday, the owner of the hotel invited us to be his guests at his country club today. I (jim) was a bit reluctant to go on an outing two days in a row. But... seeing it was very important to our hosts that we go we agreed. WOW- most enjoyable day here yet! We drove out of the city about 50 minutes to a country club that has golf, tennis, swimming and more. You will see below the amazing view we had and all the fun we enjoyed. When it can time to eat, we had a fabulous meal that included salad- well both trips we have totally avoided lettuce as it is one of the most likely places to pick up intestinal "issues". We ate the salad - and it was amazing! Pray with us we don't regret the decision by getting sick!

How was the weather back home today?!

Story of an amazing young man

In our lives there have been many dificulties and many trials. Of coures there have also been many times when our hearts over flow with the joy of our LORD and the blessing he pours out upon us. Our time with Anyi and Jose have been one of those times of great joy and blessing. And yet even in those places in life where we seem so fulfilled we can at the same time experience such unimaginable sorrow. Today was such a day- I would even go so far as to say this has been one of the hardest and perhaps sadest days of my life.

Let me share with you the story of an amazing young man. His name cannot be listed nor can we show you the photos we took of him this morning. He is in the care of the Colombian government (ICBF) and their laws forbid us from sharing his name or photo. I will only leave this post up for a few days because I would never want him or our new children to stumble upon it. You see, this young man is the almost 16 year old brother of Anyi and Jose. I mentioned in a previous post that he has sacrificed much for them. He had one simple request when he was asked to agree to their adoption. He wanted to meet the new parents so that he would know that they would be ok. This sort of meeting was also very much on our hearts. Today we had the meeting- and we wept together for this remarkable young man. We were joined in our tears by our translator, and his psychologist. We spent an hour with him and truely our lives will never be the same.

First we met with him and 2 psychologists, the head of the Cali ICBF, and our translator. His first concern was to know if we would ever let him contact them again. And we said we would. ICBF will be the filter through which we communicate. He wanted to know what our home and family was like, as I described these things, he seemed very pleased. Then I asked to speak to him and told him the same thing I told Anyi and Jose on Integration day. I first told him my spanish was poor, but then said, "te quiero usted hermonos, siempre, siempre y siempre"  I will love your brother and sister always, always and always. This is when most of us began to leak around our eyes. This young man gave me a broad smile though we saw his grief in his eyes. Honestly, I'm not sure what else was said in this group setting, but seeing it was going well we were left for the next 45 minutes to talk with just him and our interpreter.

He wanted us to know the things he thought were important about Anyi and Jose. He asked us about their school- this was an akward moment for us, but we charged ahead and explained we home school- he actually understood the concept and was very excited for them to be home schooled- he said "Cool"! We asked him about family and he filled in some gaps for us. We asked him about his life goal- and he wants to be a doctor. He asked to leave the orphanage and be seperated form his siblings so he could attend a better school and have a greater hope for accomplishing this goal. He explained that when he was asked about his consent for Anyi and Jose to be adopted without him, he told the authorities he wanted them to have the opprotunity to know the love of a family. He told them he knew for him there was no hope for a family because of his age, but he very much wanted it for his siblings. It was here that my fathers heart began to ache like I have never known before.

And he went on and said after meeting us he knew that this is God's will for Anyi and Jose to be with our family and he is very happy for them to have this opportunity. He thanked us for adopting them and said that he thought that they would not get a home either because of their age. Even now as I reflect on this and share it with you I have tears streaming down my face and my heart breaks for him. His assement of this floored me and I responded that that was exactly how we saw things. God had brought us to this point and it was our obedience to Him that had made this possible, and yet in our obedience God was giving us great joy. I told him he would forever be in our prayers- and he will. Please remember him in yours. While he sacrificed himself for them he remained upbeat and optimistic and had much hope for his own future. He told us he longed for a family more than anything else, but thought that it would not be possible. His life circumstance has allowed him maturity and wisdom far beyond anything we have seen before.

This experience is burned in my memory, I will never forget what this 15 year old boy taught me in a one hour meeting on a day in October. It is one of the rare life experiences that changes you forever. And it was not just Betty and I. When he was no longer in sight, Betty, our translater and I  made eye contact and began to weap for him, and we wept. Once the emotions were brought under control, our interpreter told us that she had been doing this for many years, and had never experienced anything like it before. She also said she has never been moved to cry in all her years in this business- our tears together could have filled buckets. My father's hearts cries out tonight, oh LORD my God, bring a family to this young man.

Birthday Cali Style

On your birthday here it is traditional to have your friends crack raw eggs on your head. Nobody we asked could tell us the origin of the tradition- but tradition it is. We aske Anyi Camila if she wanted us to do this for her- she gave us a very enthusiastic yes! So we did.... The hotel staff kindly allowed us to do this in the small parking area.

 

Happy Birthday Anyi Camila

Happy Birthday to our newest daughter. Anyi Camila is 10 years old today. We love you and look forward to many more birthday celebrations.

Momi Y Papi

Integration Day

Yesterday morning we went back to ICBF for our Integration Day meeting. This is the meeting where the Colombian authorities decide if we will continue with the adoption. Up to that point we were having a trial period. At the end of the first week ICBF, the kids or the parents can stop the process. We spent about an hour in our meeting and were actually asked a lot of questions this time- the case worker was very thorough. Anyi and Jose would not talk to him at all. We are begining to think this is a good thing as it means they are much more comfortable with us than with the social workers. We had to answer their questions for them, then the case worker would ask the kids "is that correct?"- then they would only nod!

All in all integration was very smooth and the social worker thought they were doing very well in our family and bonding better that expected. When we got back to the apartment and one a time I held their hands, looked deep in their eyes and told them "Anyi (and Jose) tu es mi hija por siempre, siempre y siempre. Which translates to mean  "You are my daughter (or son) for always, always and always". And so it will be for as many years God grants us.

Then we took 3 seperate taxis to move the whole group to a large mall called Chipichape. We took the kids to lunch at McDonalds while we were there because there was a lagre playland there. Boy did we need the playland.  Spent about 5 or 6 hours walking around the mall. Great day out with plenty of fresh air and walking. Isaiah feed his left over french fries to the pidgeons- he thought it was halarious. Ended our day by visiting Crepes and Wafles for ice cream- our family favorite in Colombia.

God bless and we continue to appreciate everyone's prayers. We now wait for the court date where the judge will finalize the adoption. Pray for a fast court date.

Jim and Betty.