Category Colombia September 2009

Well, it is a little hard to write this because we are at the airport waiting for our midnight flight and the girls are back at the orphanage but truly we are not sad and the girls were not sad when we left them. We had such a marvelous time that all of our love cups were filled and running over and we know that it is just a matter of time before we are together again. Today we had a lazy breakfast and just enjoyed being together. At 11:00am we went to Madrid to the boys orphanage, Amparo De Ninos. David and Allen had brought several soccer and footballs and we wanted to deliver them to the boys and say hi. It was exciting to see some of our friends from June. Two of Beverly’s favorites, Juan David and Anderes Phillipe were really glad to see us. Everyone asked us to send their love to our team from June. We spent a couple hours there playing frisbee and soccer and visiting. We gave out some Bibles to the new boys who didn’t get one when we were here in June and I was able to read to them out of the spanish Bible and give a short devotion and then it was time to go. We went to a hamburger place and had a late lunch and just talked and laughed and cut up something awful. It was toooo much fun. It was a big family full of love and joy and hope for good things to come. We left there and headed back to Amparo De Ninas to take the girls back to the orphanage. We had many, many laughs on the way. We got to hang out at the orphanage for an hour or so and visit with all of our little friends there. I had worried that the other girls would be jealous or sad that these four had been singled out but it was the reverse. The other girls wanted to know every detail and it was obvious that they were enjoying vicariously what their “sisters” had lived all week. I could see and feel there hope. I had about 25 girls around me for at least an hour talking and joking and telling me stories and asking a million questions. It was wonderful. When it was time to go we gave our Goddaughters our last 20 or so hugs and kisses 🙂 said our last 20 or so “I Love You’s” and “Hasta Luego” (see you later). Rebekah broke down pretty bad as we drove away. She, of course, wanted to bring the whole orphanage home with us. Well if I don’t get on the plane right now I will have to stay in Colombia… Wait, why would that be a bad thing??? 🙂 Oh yeah, they probably wouldn’t let me live at the girls orphanage anyway so I better go!

Love and Prayers,

This morning after breakfast, we gave each of the girls their spanish Bibles that each of us had bought for them with their names embossed on the front. They were very touched. We had our morning devotion and I read aloud to them Ephesians 2 in spanish, with a little help from the girls on the hard words 🙂 and they read along in their new Bibles. I also told them how the love of God in Jesus had come into our hearts because of what God did in Ephesians 2 and that love has overflowed out of our hearts onto them and that God loves them more than we possibly could. At the end Lida offered to lead us in prayer and she prayed a very sweet prayer thanking God for us and for the blessing that we are to their soul and how we have made God’s love more real to them. Today was a much more relaxed and slow paced day and we really enjoyed it. This morning we took the girls to Exito, which is the Colombian version of Walmart. Each girl was able to pick out a pair of shoes, pants, a shirt, and a jacket. Rebekah, Sandra, Antonio, Adela (our driver), Allen, David, and I helped them pick out and try on several things until each girl was outfitted just right. It was so fun to watch their excitement. We left there and went to a mall with a huge bowling alley and enjoyed bowling with the girls. There were more laughs and cheers and shouts of joy than can be put into words. It was a wonderful thing. We left there and went up the mountain for dinner at a very nice restaurant that overlooks Bogota. The girls really revived after a good meal and the ride home was filled with singing and lots of teasing and joking. We sat around the hotel tonight and downloaded and looked at pictures and relived the day and laughed some more. The girls have thanked us so many times and told us so many times how much they love us that they have learned it in English and now tell us in English every time. We can’t give them everything we want to give them right now (a home and a family) but they know for sure that we love them and I believe that we have given them hope that there is more to the world and to life than what they have known thus far and hope is a powerful thing. We will continue to work on the home and family 🙂

Love and Prayers,

I am very sick this morning. My old friend Lupus is waging war on me but God is sustaining me. I can rest next week but right now I am with my little girl and that is the whole world. This morning we had a wonderful time of relaxation and conversation at breakfast. It is amazing how good our communication is in spite of the language barrier. The old adage “Love is a universal language” has sure been proven this week. Every day our group gets more comfortable and as Allen said tonight, “more like a family.” We sat around and enjoyed visiting until about 11:00am and then we took an hour ride out to an animal park. We saw trick riding, a pig race, and a wonderful dog show. We also got to pet several different kinds of animals. We laughed and joked and wore out several sets of batteries shooting hundreds of pictures. Some of the girls had never been up close to animals before. It was very cute to see them pet them. David is so funny. He had Rebekah laughing all day. His Goddaughter, Lida, who is the oldest of the Goddaughters at 18, has been such an example to the rest of the girls this week. It is beautiful to see the way she adores David and looks after his and the girls every need. Genari, Allen’s Goddaughter has been a dynamo of joy and laughter the whole time. It has been enthralling to watch her thoroughly enjoy everything with a infectious smile, ready laugh, and servants heart. After the animal park, we went to the mall and had dinner. Some very sweet things happened there. First, while everyone was ordering their food Heidy asked me to do her a favor. I said “sure.” She asked me to buy her a small loaf of hot bread at a little bakery next to where we were ordering our food. I thought, “this is great, she is comfortable asking her Godfather for things she likes and wants.” I bought the bread and she promptly took it and handed it to a little old man in a tattered hat and tattered coat who was shuffling near us. Then she walked back to me with a huge smile and said, “Gracias”. She had seen him coming and her heart went out to him. It was pretty special to say the least. The second thing was when Marley, Allen’s other Goddaughter, who didn’t get to be with us yesterday because of some paperwork complications (so today was her first full day with us) was trying to say something to Allen and he asked me to translate. I said, “she is saying that you have her heart in your hand.” Allen began to tear up and Marley asked me with a concerned look on her face, “why is Allen crying?” I said, “because his heart is so full of love for you.” Then Marley started crying. So Allen and Marley were crying and laughing at each other for crying :-). It was awesome. Because Marley wasn’t with us yesterday when we bought the girls toiletries, we went to the store and bought all the things that Marley needed. We had fun shopping too (I guess that is another universal language 🙂 ) All the girls have been as good as gold and it has been an absolute joy to be with them. They keep saying that they are afraid that it is a dream and they are going to wake up and find that it never really happened. Another sweet thing was when we pulled up to the hotel the girls all clapped and told us thank you for a wonderful day. We told them, “just wait ’till tomorrow, it only gets better!” 🙂

Love and prayers,

This morning we had a fun breakfast with the girls and then we had an 8:30am appointment with the regional director for ICBF to talk about doing a summer camp where 20 or so adoptable orphans from Colombia could come to Houston area for a week and stay in the homes of host families who are interested in adoption or just ministering to the children for that week. We had a very wonderful meeting and they also told us how excited they were about our passion for the orphans and wanted to help. The regional director told us that his boss the national director was the one we needed to talk to but she was in Peru. However, he got on the phone and set up a meeting right away for us with the national directors assistant. We went over to that meeting and it was very positive as well. We now know what it would take to make this happen and have a list of action items to work on. The girls were so patient and well behaved as they waited for us at each of these meetings. We went to lunch and it was really fun to just eat and talk and take pictures and have fun. After we went to the public library and Heidy read Rebekah a book about a prince and a princess. There were beautiful flowers and fountains at the library and we took some really nice pictures there. We then went to a different mall and just walked and spent time together. Then we went and bought the girls some goodies to eat at the hotel and bought each of them the toiletries that they needed. You can’t imagine how grateful they were to get some everyday haircare, lotion, chapstick, Q-tips, etc. They each hugged and kissed us and thanked us many times and said that now they are rich. We are now at the hotel, just hanging out, eating our goodies, and watching spanish TV :-). What a day! I got Heidy to loosen up and allow some more pictures today!

After writing the former, we decided to have dinner. The girls had asked us to buy hot dogs and all the fixin’s to have at the hotel. So we asked the nice lady at the hotel if she could heat them up for us. She got us plates and cups and napkins and heated our hot dogs for us and we had chips and soda and lots of other bad stuff 🙂 Genari and Lida served us all like we were at a restaurant. After dinner we were looking at pictures on the computer and Heidy and I were writing each other love notes via my translator on my computer when suddenly Lisa, Beverly, Brooke, and Mercy signaled that they were on video chat and wanted to talk to us. We answered and to the utter amazement and joy of the girls we were suddenly talking to and looking at the family on the computer screen. Absolute chaos ensued as everyone tried to talk at once in spanish and english. Rebekah and I had our hands full trying to rapid translate both ways at once. It was one of the most beautiful things I have ever witnessed. Heidy got to meet her Godmother and tell her that she loved her and when Lisa answered back in spanish to tell Heidy that she loved her, Heidy screamed and jumped up and down. Lida told Beverly in clear english that she remembered her, that she was her friend, that Beverly was beautiful, and that she loved her very much. Rebekah had been teaching her english all day while we were in the meetings with ICBF and it paid off! They all told Mercy how beautiful she was and that they wanted to talk to her more. They love Brooke because she has dark hair, eyes, and skin like them! They showed off all of their gifts and Genari did a puppet show with Lida’s pink duck trying to eat my nose and ears. Mercy responded with her pink duck and they kissed and danced with each other through the computer screen 🙂 Finally, it was time to call it a night but suddenly Lisa said, “no goodnight until Heidy sings to me.” So Heidy starts singing some beautiful Latin love song while Lida and Genari wave their arms behind her like palms for effect. Then suddenly all the girls were singing song after song and then not to be outdone the Bullen family was singing worship songs with Beka and I helping out on harmony from our side. Needless to say my face hurts from smiling and my stomach hurts from laughing and with Heidy crying tears of joy on my collar a couple of times today, I would say that we have experienced nearly the full gamut of human emotions 🙂 Marley, the other Goddaughter who wasn’t able to stay with us at the hotel last night showed up shortly after and we had a great reunion with her. She is now here for the rest of the time. It would take many more words to go into detail of how God has protected, guided, ordered, and favored us on this trip so far. Only eternity will tell and I believe there is much more to come of our connection with Colombia.

Love and Prayers,

The Lord opened a door for us to go to Colombia this week to spend some time with our Goddaughter and work on some ministry issues with the Colombian government. My 20 year old daughter Rebekah, our compadres in the orpahn ministry, Allen Pate and David Richardson, and I arrived safely last night. This morning the wonderful couple, Sandra & Antonio, the dentist and Engineer who have become our liaisons here in Bogota had set up a meeting for us with the defender of the girls at ICBF, which is the equal to our CPS. We also picked up two workers from the orphanage that know all parties and wanted to be part of the meeting. We were praying very hard for this meeting as we had no idea what to expect. The defender started out by asking some tough questions about our intentions for the girls and as we and our Colombian friends began to explain who we were and what we do in ministry and about our families and our children, the defender began to get very excited and said that she was very happy to meet us and very touched by what we were trying to do. God’s presence in the room was unmistakable. We were The defender asked when she was going to be invited to Texas to come and see what we are doing in ministry. I told her NEXT WEEK 🙂 if she wanted. We all hugged. When we left the meeting the words “miracle” were on several lips including those of our friends Sandra and Antonio. And this was all before lunch! Next we went to a new, tiny, orphanage with 51 boys. They all live in a single house with 6 bedrooms and lots of bunk beds. The dining room was smaller than the breakfast nook in my house. The place was immaculately clean and very organized. The boys do all of the work. They pay $900.00 US a month for rent. The government only pays for food. This is one of the places that we will try to help on future trips. At last we finally made it to Amparo De Ninas, the orphanage, where our Goddaughters live. We pulled into the gate and were hardly out of the van when I heard an ear piercing scream and little Heidy leaped over a hedge and jumped into my arms. It was a moment I will remember to the day I die. The response from the other Goddaughters, Lida, Genari, and Marley were the same. We spent about an hour standing next to the van just hugging all of the orphan girls that we know there and taking pictures with them. When it was finally explained to Heidy and the other Goddaughters that they needed to go pack because they were going to get to stay with us for the rest of the week, they could not believe it. We left and went straight to the mall. Our first stop was a large video arcade and we played air hockey, race cars, motorcycles, etc. etc. It was so fun. I don’t know who were the bigger kids, David, Allen, and Myself or the girls! We left there and went ice skating. Actually all the girls skated while the old guys sat and took pictures and video. It was amazing. Heidy and Rebekah tried to learn and teach each other how to ice skate and it turned into some spectacular crashes. Only bruises, thank goodness :-). Then we had pizza and soda and headed for the hotel. There were many hugs and thank you’s and many smiles from our girls. David, Allen, and I agreed that the hand of God had dramatically guided our day and we couldn’t think of anything better in the world we would rather be doing than this.

Love and Prayers,