Visiting SPAI, an Adoption Agency in Italy

My husband and I spent almost two weeks in Italy in June. Our main purpose was to visit some of the twelve Casa de Amor children now living in Italy with their adoptive parents. It was a once-in-a-lifetime trip!

(To read more and see pictures of the children, go to my personal blog, here!)

Found it! Looking for SPAI's office right after arriving to Ancona by train.

While there, we planned a quick side trip to Ancona to visit SPAI, "Servizio Polifunzionale per L'Adozione Internazionale". SPAI is the adoption agency that has placed several of our children into Italian families, the most recent being Juan Gabriel in January 2012. (This year we have had zero international adoptions as Bolivia's government remains unwilling to even consider renewing international adoption agreements.)

Ancona is a nice little port town

Casa de Amor is also very grateful to SPAI for the past several years of financial support. We thought it would be nice to go thank them personally!

Meeting Doctora Clementina Merlan in her office. She would love to visit Bolivia again, but with adoptions currently closed between our countries, we are not sure when that visit would take place - or when we will have grants from SPAI again.

Touring SPAI's office, full of momentos from the countries they work with

I loved SPAI's street, pedestrian traffic only

Whatcha Doin' in July?

Part I: The Year That Everything Changes

Part II: The Week That Changed Everything

  

On Jake’s final day in Cochabamba, he was practically offered a job—a real, paying one! In a third world country, at that!

Not knowing what to expect, we had visited Cochabamba’s Calvert Cooperative School (one of a handful of English private schools in our area) to see if there were any job openings. You know, as if it were a perfectly normal thing to quit your job, pack up, and move to a new job in a foreign country after your very first visit! To the surprise of both of us, they were very positive and invited Jake back for a more official interview.

So that’s how on the morning of Day 6 of his first Cochabamba trip, we found ourselves seated in the office of Calvert’s director as she went over his resume (which he just happened to bring on his South America trip) and listened to more details of what job teaching at Calvert would entail. I was impressed with all the expenses they cover (moving stipend, plane tickets, visa), the salary, and the health insurance coverage. Nice! I don’t even currently know a foreigner in Bolivia who has a PAYING job! How cool is that?

We walked out in kind of a daze. Jake now had to think about quitting a job he loved at the hospital in Washington, board up and leave his beloved cabin in the woods, and move his life thousands of miles south by early August.

I was trying to reign in my thoughts to not think too far down the road. By this point, I had secretely been hoping and praying for some sign of a possible step forward before Jake left. It was incredible to think that he would now be moving to my very city! This could be my greatest dream EVER coming true!!

Unbeknownst to me, Jake had been wrestling with the idea of asking me about the future, and during a chat with God reached a peace to just ask. So I had no sooner driven out of the gate of the school than Jake said he had a question for me. He reminded me of where our conversation had stopped abruptly the night before as we parted. Sensing that this was the moment, I was struggling to stay concentrated on the road! He asked slowly and deliberately, “When I’m back, and living here, how would you feel if we…kept spending time together?” As the question hung in the air, I took a deep breath and said “I think that would be…great!” And the now-famous hamburger exchange immediately followed:

Jake: I eat hamburgers, you know…

Me: I can learn to make hamburgers.
Jake: And I can learn to eat tofu.
Me: I don’t really like tofu, that’s okay!

I could tell that this information seemed to go over well, but only recently learned that Jake found it promising news indeed. He says it showed a responsiveness to him and a willingness to follow his lead. My respect for his preference led him to envision a future for us.

Jake traveled again that night—to La Paz, to Peru, then back to Chelan, Washington, with more blockades causing plan changes. It was a long three days before I heard from him again. I wondered if the past six days were only a dream! But then we struck up our long distance conversations once more.  

On the morning of April 3, I came to a decision, a decision not particularly related to this new friendship. For a couple of months my family had frequently asked me to visit Tennessee in July. My 13 year sister Emma had even sent me a postcard all the way to Bolivia, with a handwritten appeal for me to come. I had staunchly resisted any ideas of a trip, as I had just been there in August the year before. But when I got wind that Emma was not going to be sent to visit me all year (they were withholding her from me!), I recalled the 1 ½ year period not so far back when she had not come and I had not gone, and how awful that was, and I changed my tune. That morning I felt God whisper to my heart that it was just the right thing to do, to go see my family again this year even though it was “their turn” to visit me in Bolivia.

At noon on the very same day I was enjoying a long email from Jake, when I got to the bottom and my eyes suddenly widened and my heart skipped a beat and I probably gasped audibly to read, right before his sign off, “Whatcha doin' in July?” Trying to stay calm, I immediately wrote my family, demanding to know why he asked that, and if anyone had said anything about wanting me to go?! (It had only been a few hours since my change of heart—no one knew yet!)

I replied that I was thinking of going to TN for the 4^th of July, which also happens to be my sister Heather’s birthday and a great time to be with the family. He replied back on April 6, describing his plans for his time leading up to moving to Bolivia: “…THAT being said, how bold can I be? Would it be okay if I was around to visit you for the 4th of July and Heather's birthday? 2nd to 6th (ish)? Texas or Tennessee? :-)”

It’s a good thing I was alone. I actually wept for joy! Every single step forward in our relationship had been initiated by Jake, and every time at the exact point when I was looking for one. If he was happy that I could defer to him on matters of food preference, I was entirely overjoyed at his clear, consistent leadership.

Of course I had wondered how and when and where Jake might meet my family and vice versa, but I wasn’t going to pressure him to make such a big move, no matter how important it was to me. Now completely independent of me, he had figured out a time and place to meet my family before moving to Bolivia. My “dream come true” was only getting better!

And then… April hit. And May. For reasons still entirely beyond me, April and May were the most challenging, terrible months of my life, possibly ever. I was on attack from every front, with two legal cases against me and Casa de Amor at once. I defended my innocence with the help of good advisors and lawyers and very supportive staff, but it was a very draining, confusing period. There were also non-stop medical and legal issues with both my Casa de Amor kids and street and jail “big kids”. Everything just piled up at once in a way it never has. Jake asked if I attracted drama! Encouraging emails from him and my family were sometimes my only bright spot. I read and re-read the prayers he would type out for me, often using all scripture and adding my name to personalize it.

When I had spare moments during the exhausting race to keep up with everything and everyone, I read through and studied Jake’s former blog, and even those of his friend’s, endeavoring to better know and understand this person who had so quickly captured my attention. Relatively speaking, I still didn’t know him that well in spite of such consistent communication, but I never doubted moving forward. God’s peace is beyond human understanding!

On May 11, after nearly two months of uncertainty, Jake was finally officially offered a job teaching High School Science at Calvert...and he wrote me with the news first. :) 

On May 24, on what I expected to be a very low-key day, I actually had the most beautiful birthday day ever! Staff strung banners decorated by the children throughout our house, my door, and my desk. The street kids bought a huge cake and confetti and we had a party. My office staff took me out for ice cream and gifts. CDA II surprised me with a cake. And even though he wasn’t here, Jake figured out how to add a very special spark to my day. He called me from Washington, sent an email with “30 verses for 30 years”, and arranged for 30 roses in my favorite color to be left on my desk. It was almost too much to take in, and after two such very hard months, too!

Early on Sunday, July 1, my parents and I drove to the Memphis airport to pick up Jake, who had flown all night from Washington. Once again, we had six memorable days together. This time we were both travelers though, and this time we toured Memphis. This time back was different in two ways: my shortest visit ever (14 days including 3 of travel), and the first time my family halted their normal work and activities as much as possible to take off and just be with us. And then, well, of course, I’d never had a “special visitor” like this when back, either.

As I look back at the little list I kept of what we did every day, I see that we ate a lot. We also stayed up late more than once, talking and talking with Jake. I learned a lot more about him, and it was great fun to look at some of the pictures he had on his laptop of past jobs and trips, enjoying his lively commentary along with my family. My sweet family really rolled out the red carpet as we visited museums and bookstores and firework shows and ate entirely too many cookies and pretzels from my their Great American Cookie stores…all while trying to keep cool in the vicious southern summer heat. One evening we had dinner with the Whisenants, some of our first and most faithful Casa de Amor supporters as they passed through from Texas. They were very pleased to meet Jake, wondering if he’s the man they’ve been praying for so many years now.

It was all very much like a vacation, and I was so grateful for the opportunity for my family to meet Jake and to get to know him better. And happily, I trust that he’s being honest when he says he liked being with them, too. He had been warned that one “marries the mother”, so he had his own motives for the visit, ha! 

As for my family, it was unanimous approval. My Dad gave his highest praise, declaring, "Well, his head is screwed on straight."

Then Jake flew back to Washington, and the next morning I flew back to Bolivia. We both had a lot to do before living in the same country for the first time, and that was just around the corner—3 weeks away, to be exact!

Some of what I share here overlaps on Jake’s blog. Read his story about the street kids and getting the Calvert job here: http://streetsofcochabamba.blogspot.com/2012/10/new-tribe-in-city.html.

 

Mud Island, July 4, 2012

Exploring the Mississippi River with my family

 

The Week That Changed Everything

In the days leading up to Jake’s arrival in mid-March, I pondered on life as it was, and on how quickly that life could change.

Jake called from Potosi (another city in Bolivia) on March 13 to say he had a bus ticket to Cochabamba and would be here early the next morning. Later I found out that when I answered the phone he wondered why I sounded out of breath, as if I was flustered because it was him calling. I could indeed tell the number was from outside Cochabamba, and although I was just at my desk working, he was right about the flustered part! This was the first time he had called and his comment attests to the fact that I didn’t quite pull off sounding “normal”!

That night at 1am, I was still doing first aid on a line of street kids in the Coronilla. I was sleepy, recalled that my car was on gas fumes, and that within 6 hours Jake would be arriving to our bus station—clearly visible and just down the hill from this street group. So….. I stayed! Everyone was SO excited. A little too much maybe, as very little sleeping was done. A wind and rain struck up, and there were fights, and visitors from other groups, and lots of chatting with the three girls I shared a tiny mattress with on top of rocks. I might have dozed from 5 till 6am.

Early in the morning, just as I wondered where Jake might be, he called. Assuming he had arrived the bus station a stone’s throw from us, it was with a strange mixture of disappoint and relief I heard him say that he was still outside the city, wondering where exactly, and if he should get off and start walking with the other bus passengers. Blockades again! (Read Jake’s blog post for the whole story of his adventure getting to Cochabamba.)

I finally went home and tried to stay focused on what else I needed to do that day. Jake, however, had quite the trek ahead of him. He had no choice but to hike and hitchhike the last 30 miles of the trip due to one of our infamous Bolivian blockades.

(My Mom’s first comment: “Oh, how ROMANTIC!!” My first thought: “Well, if this doesn’t run him off, we have a chance!”)

After several calls throughout the morning, a bit after 1pm he announced that he was in the city! I admit I thought it was pretty great that he had arrived to a seedy area in the south part of town, definitely street kid territory.  What a place to meet!

On the way there, my favorite Hillsongs United CD refused to play in my not-so-great CD player. Instead I discovered a WOW Hits CD I hadn’t listened to in a long time. By the time I pulled up to the airplane rotunda in the south of town, the second song was playing and making the moment feel even more auspicious: “There Will Be a Day”. As if I needed to be more nervous! My Mom had written me, “Can’t wait for you two to meet – hope there are fireworks visible in the whole southern hemisphere :)” Yeah, no pressure!! Then we’d barely said hi and he was thrusting flowers into my hands. I think I was repeating to myself, “Don’t faint, stay calm, don't faint…”

Within minutes of getting in the car, Jake was telling a story that sent chills up my spine and made me realize again how much God appeared to be right in the middle of this unfolding story. A pastor had accompanied Jake, providing company and help with luggage even though it meant going out of his way to do so. The pastor ran into a friend upon arrival to the city and after they chatted a bit, the man on the bike turned to Jake and confidently stated, “God has a new work for you here in Cochabamba”. What a cool thing to be told!! (Similarly, on my first trip in August 2002, a Christian doctor gave me a note saying I would be part of blessing his people.) Could I be part of his new work in Cochabamba, or could it be that Jake would be part of mine?! My mind was spinning!

In another strange (God ordained?) twist of events, Jake’s Compassion child’s birthday was wrong in the system. Jake got all the way to Potosi, Bolivia, only to find out that his little guy’s birthday was MAY 12, not MARCH 12.

Before taking Jake to New Tribe Mission’s guesthouse, we went to eat. That’s how within our first hour of meeting, Jake listened to my order and asked if I’m vegetarian. Something in his tone made me add that I’m not the sort of annoying vegetarian that judges others. This theme would come up a few days later in our most memorable conversation of the week.

The six days that Jake was here were packed! I pushed office work to the side as I showed him around my adopted city and took care of things on his list, too. We visited Compassion International’s beautiful Cochabamba offices, ate dinner with Brandon’s new adoptive family from Italy, had a newsletter stuffing night with all the CDA volunteers, enjoyed a dinner of “zomerstamppot” made by our Dutch volunteer Iris, a street food dinner with all the Baby Home staff, visited a men's and women's jail, dealt with a tire blow-out on the way to hike a mountain (which then didn’t happen, but lots of laughs with the volunteers on the side of the road did!), and went to Cochabamba International Church.

Every evening and some days too, there were visits to my “wild kids”—those who live on the street. You could call that the real test of fire! I have taken several people to the street with me by this point, so have seen all different reactions. It’s really where the rubber hits the road as far as showing love to those who can be, well, hard to love. I so appreciate and enjoy going with those who take a genuine interest in my group, showing respect and kindness and doing their best to communicate—even when it’s a challenge with those who are high and/or drunk.

Jake witnessed fist fights and anti-riot police trouble and nasty first aid and super tight car rides and twisting his ankle playing soccer and even fights where knives were pulled, and he was calm and a help through it all. Let’s just say that if it were a test, he passed with flying colors! EVEN with food that had chicken feet in it, prepared under very questionable hygienic circumstances. I wrote my family that night “Who else would eat soup with me in the Coronilla??? If that’s not a test, I don’t know what is. And he loved it and was given seconds, which he also lapped up, all eyes on him.”

Absolutely everywhere we went, it was assumed we were married or fast on the way to being so. I had never experienced anything like it—doubt that Jake has, either! The childcare staff had barely met him the first evening and was stage whispering to me “Is he married? What do you think? Is HE the father of our kids??” I shrugged my shoulders and pointed out I didn’t even know his age yet! When he admitted he was a bit afraid of babies, of course my kind, understanding staff thrust a baby into his arms. Baby Alex fell asleep contentedly, giving Jake the tia’s stamp of approval.

The street kids were just certain my imminent marriage was now a done deal, never mind that I’d only just met him. The very first night, barely seven hours after Jake had arrived, I was both amused and embarrassed to hear them use EVERY single word that has anything to do with boyfriend, fiancé, or husband, in both regular Spanish and street slang. Even more entertaining was when Jake joined in the fun and bellowed in Spanish, when no one else could hear me over the din, “My novia [fiancé/bride] says to give Cesar a seat back there!” And when they noticed the flowers (how did I forget to take them out of the car?!), that was the end of it!!

Before the end of his first night on the street, the kids were promising everything from extravagant wedding gifts to building us a shack on the Coronilla right next to theirs. Imagine that!

We went to a men’s jail and Jake was promptly asked “When is the wedding?”

Volunteers peppered Jake with questions, and kept asking if he couldn't just...stay?  

I also laughed harder than I had in a really long time. There was one particularly fun afternoon when we accompanied one of my street friends to visit her baby and family in a run down part of town. I felt like we were the neighborhood freak show as Jake got into an exchange in Quechua with an impertinent little boy, and the local women came out to just stare at Jake, working up the courage to ask (giggling) if they could come with us. It was awesome! 

In between and all mixed in were lots of conversations that left me floored at Jake’s maturity, responsibility, and most of all, his heart for the fatherless and to be a good father himself someday—both to his own biological children, and others God might bring along his path. His actions showed it wasn’t just a bunch of words or empty talk: In Washington, he looked out for a widow and her four sons, and he’d even had a stint volunteering at a crisis pregnancy center! Then his commitment to his six sponsored Compassion kids was obvious. And in spite of getting thrown up on during prayer time by one of the babies we took to church, a first as he wryly informed me (with a sparkle in his eyes), he did very well with our little ones.

Neither one of us is especially young - I would turn 30 in May and ten days after that, he would turn 34 - so I appreciated that we had all sorts of comfortable, stimulating conversation on all different topics. I already knew from our email correspondence that Jake had worked at sea for ten years, rising to the rank of captain. Since I’ve never really known a sailor, that provided plenty of discussion as I learned about this whole other world….and that in fact, Jake has been all OVER the world! As another volunteer put it, his single years have been anything but boring, and just as interesting as mine in their own unique way.

In yet ANOTHER series of events that seemed to have God's fingerprints all over it, on Day 6 of 6 of this Cochabamba trip, a door was unexpectedly thrown open for Jake.

Now some questions would have to be asked, and some decisions made...

More soon in Part III!

 

For Part I of our story, click here.

    

March 16, 2012
Visiting "El Cristo", the statue that overlooks Cochabamba from a hill, with the Coronilla street kids.

Time for Family

I didn't plan to go back to the US this year. However, my family came up with a failproof plan to get me there: refuse to send Emma to Bolivia. Hrmph.

Emma herself sent a card all the way to Bolivia to tell me I needed to visit them in July, no matter what. So finally in April, I gave in. Okay, yes, I'm coming!!

It was the shortest trip back I've ever had - just 13 1/2 days, including travel and an overnight layover in Miami - so we made the most of it!

A few pictures of a very wonderful, relaxing trip full of great times with family and friends!

Visiting sister Heather's house. For some reason, the word "museum" always comes to mind when in her spotless, quite perfect room... (Yep, we're different alright!)

At my family's house, with Emma - now 13!!

Sisters! L-R: Sarah, Heather, Emma, Jennifer

Jennifer & Heather playing together for the first time in several years

And everyone all together! The Thompson family + Jake, a new friend who will soon move to Bolivia

Can you believe that there's not a single good picture of everyone, all smiling, no one being goofy... These are the best two!

A small little evening activity...

This picture insists on loading upside down, but now you can imagine how it was to piece it together from the wrong side of the table!!

Very enjoyable dinner with longtime Texan friends (and GOAL board member) Ben & Betsy Whisenant!

Jake & Jen by the Mississippi River

Visit to Mud Island on (a very hot) July 4th! But hey, I was escaping Bolivia in the very coldest part of what's been an unusually cold winter, so I wasn't complaining (too much!)...

And one of the events I was most looking forward to - July 4th in the US, ALSO my sister Heather's birthday!! Here we are at Collierville, Tennessee's celebration, with most of the town!

First July 4th fireworks I've seen in eight years and it was spectacular!! As many fireworks as I constantly see around town in Bolivia (they love them and there are practically no restrictions), there was NO comparison to these!

Sarah (left) is so happy now! The last time I was with my family, they had just moved and Sarah was struggling. She's a completely different person now!

So my briefest time back turned out to be one of the most memorable as we took advantage to the maximum! I'm not quite sure how the cookie stores kept running because my family only ran in and out briefly, spending the bulk of their time with me and our visitor from Washington state, Jake. It was like we were all on vacation. In fact, it was so nice, this has been a harder separation than usual. I love being back where I feel completely at home, Bolivia and Casa de Amor and the street kids, but sure miss my family!! I'm looking forward to their visits to me - after two years in a row of visits to the US, it's definitely their turn to come to Cochabamba. :)

Happy 4th!!!

Thoroughly enjoying my first "fourth" in the USA since 2008... :)

learned, 2.

While on my 25 day long US trip,


I learned that…

…Memphis summers are really hot and really humid (HELLO frizzy hair!!)

…Baking in the kitchen all the time for “old times sake” doesn’t seem like such a good idea when your family practically lives in cookie stores…and bring home plenty to taste!

…My favorite cookies are still all the “chewies”, YUM!


…I really seriously need to be in North Texas more than just a couple of days the next trip (shout out to Texas friends!!!)

…Even though I could talk about Casa de Amor in my sleep by this point, it was an interesting, new challenge to communicate the street work

…Memphis churches are passionate about local city outreach and are finding innovative ways to make a difference

…Road trips with family are still fun!

…US weddings are very lovely, very special, unique affairs (until my cousin’s this month, I hadn’t been to one since the 90s)

…never thought I’d say this, but Target is definitely a cool place to shop :)

...I am very fortunate to have lived in the same house 6 years and counting as a single (as my sister prepares to move for a 5th time, 5 years in a row)

…while it was wonderful to be with both parents again, in the same country, at the same time, the bond between sisters is extra special and I sure wish we could all four be together more often

learned.

On July 19 I celebrated seven years living and serving in Bolivia! Since early last year I even have my permanent residency visa, which is WONDERFUL! This means I never have to apply for a visa again as long as I’m not out of the country for extended periods of time.

Right now is one of my ever-rarer trips back to the US. I have a week more visiting my family and this weekend we'll attend my cousin’s wedding in Texas!

As I add more and more time in between trips, it becomes a little like visiting a foreign country! The United States changes, my family changes (changing houses right now), and I change. The main reason I feel different since my last trip is all that I’ve been privileged to experience and learn in 2010 and 2011.

I’ve learned how to…

…Drive stick shift

…Care for triplets! (In a phrase, it’s exhausting, rewarding, and definitely felt like a once-in-a-lifetime blessing!)

…Lead a worship team at church

…Be part of a leadership team at church of university students and young professionals

…Make a real Bolivian “torta” (birthday cake)!

…Administer first aid (second aid?!) for many and various urgencies and emergencies

…Stitch minor wounds

…Give shots (to humans…before I’d only given them to goats)

…Choose medicines for various complaints and illnesses

…Coach soccer :)

…Get out ID cards for Bolivians

…Deal with macho police on a daily basis

…Speak and understand many, many legal and medical terms I had no idea of before 2010

…Speak “street slang” (literally dozens of new phrases and words in my vocabulary…some usable, others—well, NOT!)

…Go to a beautiful Christian wedding in the maximum security prison

…Enter the three main jails plus juvenile detention facility in Cochabamba

…Get someone out of a holding cell…or jail

…Navigate far reaching corners of the huge valley that is Cochabamba as I take street friends to their families

What other country and job would allow me to learn all of THIS in 1 ½ year’s time?!

I LOVE learning, what about YOU?

It's a...boy!

SO.... I leave Cochabamba for the first time since 2009 and even while I'm traveling, administration agreed to take in a 6 day old beautiful baby BOY!!

Should've waited a day more to leave, shucks. ;-)

I love his name too...those who know my email can write me to ask me what it is, but it begins with G.

Can't wait to meet this little fellow when I'm back in 3 1/2 weeks!!!

Some pictures that Tio David emailed me this afternoon, made with the camera we were able to purchase thanks to the donation of a special kiwi friend... :)

Casa de Amor's Car!!!!!!

In all of Casa de Amor's 6 1/2 year history, we have never had our own vehicle.

We have transported CDA kids in
taxis
in buses
in my car
in my family's car when they lived here...

in BOTH of the Holman family's trucks while they were on furlough (thanks!!!)....

Record number of people in the Holman tank for a trip to Pairumani Park

...But now we have OUR VERY OWN MINIVAN!!!!!

We are so grateful to the kind-hearted women who form part of the NGO "Circulo Viviente" in Austria for responding to this need

Some of the ladies who visited us in June with CDA staff and babies



The founder of Circulo Viviente, a Bolivian who lives in Austria, attaching a label from an optics company that donated towards our vehicle



The kids and staff of Casa de Amor II checking out the new car!



Gotta love our license plate...KUK??



Volunteer staff members Kaley and Elena trying out the wheel...


While the Austrian group's donation was very generous, Casa de Amor is still covering expenses totaling over $3000 for paperwork, license plates, insurance, etc. If you can help out with these expenses that cut into our regular budget, donate via paypal here, or write us for more options!

TEAM!!!!!

This is what we're up to this week...

{ orientation }

First Baptist Church McKinney "Bolivia All-Out" Youth Mission Trip!

Back online later...

of homecomings, honking horns, and heaps of papers

Could you hear the squeals of joyful children?! My ears are still ringing with “TIA JENNY!!!!!!” At every house they attack me with hugs and questions and slobbery kisses.

As aforementioned, I’ve never been away 10 weeks (never even away from my home, wherever that may be, for 10 weeks), and it’s been wonderful to study every baby and child and see how they’ve changed and matured since October. First off, the most dramatic change is that FIVE one year olds are now walking and 2 year old B (moderate CP) can stand alone!!! No one wanted to be left behind. And that’s just in the Baby Home! Elsewhere, two others are walking. Most of those are from the flood of newborns of July—October last year, so it’s easy to get all sentimental remembering them at 5 or 6 pounds and seeing them toddling around now with toothy grins! They are so proud of themselves too. One after one they show off for us, savoring the applause!

Then the faces of some of the older kids, particularly the boys, seem to have changed. Several 3, 4, and 5 year olds have improved much in their speech. Since I left a speech therapist has started making visits to the Baby Home, so we can now afford to have more children take classes. Others have shot up in height. Some are just all grins and so incredibly happy.

I guess that being able to actually note so many changes at once helps ease the sadness of what I missed while gone.

There are other changes around the homes, like a surprise the tías had for me at the Baby Home: an industrial oven donated a couple weeks ago by World Vision! Wow!

I am so grateful for how everyone kept things running very smoothly. I truly have a wonderful staff who has “caught the vision” of caring for these kids with excellence and making every decision based on their wellbeing. Of course, loving them so much really helps, too! And how they love us… Five year old S. started to cry tonight just remembering when I left. It was hard getting that train turned around! Hopefully letting her and her brother A. fall asleep on me, one hugging my neck and the other touching my feet, helped a bit. (I'm so grateful to Savannah for bringing S and Baby F, pictured above, to the airport to get me!!! While I held my two girls, she and David struggled out with the suitcases, wheelchair, my killer heavy backpack, and the other carry-on which was a well-stuffed diaper bag.)

It’s a little nuts coming in so close to Christmas! I can't believe how close it is, and tomorrow a volunteer arrives too. Talking about making a list and checking it twice! Rosa, Maria, and David have really worked hard on the staff gifts and end-of-year paperwork, and making sure that each child is covered at Christmas, but somehow I have my own heap of things to prepare. Today we finalized what time we’ll have Christmas (meal and gifts) at each house and now it’s time for detail work.

Of course, just unpacking, sorting through things, and catching up will take days. During an all-morning-meeting I pretty much got the lowdown on paperwork, health, and any family member situations of the 42 kids (quite a feat!), and tomorrow will hear about each staff member from the administrator. I also have this huge stack of papers to read through…10 weeks of psychological reports, October and November staff/volunteer reports (that would mean over 40), school report cards, important papers in kids’ files, memos from the court and social services, notes from staff and volunteers….which actually makes me REALLY happy after so long with so little paperwork. Just hope to read it all before next year, ha!

I’m also having fun remembering how one drives in Bolivia! Guess I drove in the states more than I thought. In some ways it seems easier there because you assume that everyone will follow the rules. It's so predictable you could fall asleep. Here you'll be killed if don't locate your horn and drive aggressively assertively! Still I thoroughly enjoyed getting to honk today at a wayward bus. (I should probably be worried.) Probably my biggest problems came when I gave the right of way at the wrong times, trying to let cars go in front of me and stopping for pedestrians (that last got ME honked at as no one expects it, and the family didn't cross anyway, oops).

I didn’t even mind all the speed bumps and pothole mud puddles as I just savored being HOME.

Oh and today Wilson received his wheelchair!! AND since some kiddos were giving me no peace until I took them out in my beloved car...which has been having troubles I hear but behaved perfectly for me today...tonight Savannah and I loaded up 7 ages 2-5 to drive through downtown and see Christmas lights. It was fun to watch Savannah and the 5 oldest decorate Christmas cookies earlier in the day. (Read all about it here.)

So surprise, surprise, my first full day back was a gloriously packed day! More later, after I make some lists...

run that by me again?

Tomorrow morning we'll be off to the early service at Central, then to the airport!!!! It reminds me of 5 years and 5 months ago today when I went straight from church to the airport, moving to Bolivia.

By the time I get back I will have been gone 10 weeks. Unbelievable, when I've always found it hard to be gone more than a day or two.

That is, if they let me back in. (The country, not the Baby Home!)

I will travel on an expired 2 year Bolivia visa, an unsigned and undated indefinite visa, and have an official, thoroughly stamped and signed piece of paper from Bolivia immigration granting me 60 days out of the country (which expired last week). So how will I get back in the country without losing 1000s of Bolivianos worth of paperwork? Easy. I have a verbal approval from someone in immigration to a lawyer who told my lawyer who told me via skype.

The same approval they refused to give on October 8. Perfect. This should be an interesting trip.

(Currently I also travel with two passports - the voided one with the last vigilent visa, and my new valid one with the visa-in-progress.)

Prayer requests: the obvious, that all is good with immigration, but also for grace with American Airlines and Aerosur during the 26 hour trip! I will attempt the unattempted (at least for me), to check 2 full bags, carry on 2 bags, and beg on Wilson's wheelchair. While Christmas is the season of giving and holiday cheer, something tells me that the mood in the airport on the Sunday before Christmas will be anything but. Happily, there's an acceptable back up plan, which entails the 2nd suitcase getting brought back to my family's, stuffed into a 25 kg flat rate FedEx box, and being sent directly to Cochabamba at a deep discount, arriving about a week behind me.

Lastly, please pray that I arrive to Cochabamba on time!! And no this is not only for my sanity because I am liable of exploding if I do not have at least one baby in my arms very shortly after 2:30pm tomorrow, but because at FOUR PM we will hand out Christmas gifts to all the staff, who will converge at the Baby Home before several take vacation time. I don't want to miss it and have gifts for them myself (thanks to Emma's friends - blog post forthcoming).

Thank you and if you live way south of this border, hasta PRONTO!!!

taking steps

It all started in late October, a couple weeks after I got to the US. I was catching up on Bolivia news and read this article titled "Wilson, el niño con parálisis en las piernas, ya es un bombero" which translates to "Wilson, the child with paralyzed legs, is already a firefighter".

Somehow Cochabamba firefighters (of which there are few) found out that Wilson has a fascination of firefighters and wants to be one. They invited Wilson to ride in their truck and made him an honorary fireman at the ripe old age of 7. Wilson has muscular dystrophy that is obviously advancing rapidly. From what I read, his future is bleak, and even bleaker when you add in where he lives and a family with minimal resources.

At the end of the article, a plea went out for help for Wilson...and a wheelchair.

So, we took the first step. Joni & Friends is the favorite ministry of my sister Emma. I asked her to look them up and see about the possibilities of a wheelchair for Wilson. After a few days and not hearing anything, I took another step and rang the fire station in Cochabamba. I asked if they really wanted a wheelchair for Wilson (yes) and if he had one yet (no). I told the fireman "I live in Bolivia but am currently in the US and think I can get a wheelchair donated and can bring it back when I return".

He got so excited over the phone, actually skype, he was practically shouting! He kept saying "what do we do? how can we help? who can we call?" I told him to leave it to me since I speak English. ;)

After emailing and calling more people with Joni & Friends, I reached someone in their "Wheels for the World" division who immediately started explaining our next steps. It sunk in that this meant they were indeed going to help! I was actually requesting two wheelchairs at this point, remembering little girl V who also had an article published in the newspaper pleading for help some time after her stay with us. In the end, there wasn't time as we deliberated if a wheelchair would even work for a child in her very advanced condition. (I'll look into that more when I'm back.)

Next, I received the forms to fill out from Wheels for the World. Then I called two of our houses looking for Tia Maribel, our physical therapist, to catch her up on Wilson (who she remembered having read about...and I was like "well he's coming to see you tomorrow!). She said she had never measured a child for a wheelchair before but was willing to learn.

Then I called the Cochabamba fire station and spoke with two or three fire fighters until I was speaking to their coronel. Each one of them became so animated at the prospect of helping Wilson! They agreed to transport him and his parents to the Baby Home the next day so that Maribel could measure him for the wheelchair. A poorly fitted wheelchair can easily do more harm than good. THEN I called the office to inform my staff what was up, and THEN I emailed volunteers Katrina and Savannah with all the details of what we needed to know here in the US, reminding them to take lots of pictures and also sending a list of questions to ask his family.

And did I mention I did the above from the car as we crossed the Mississippi River into Arkansas on our way from Tennessee to Texas?

Once Katrina emailed back the details from the fitting session and observing his condition, the next step was to fax the forms and signatures to Wheels for the World.

Did I mention that our contact's name is Gail Thompson? Half the time when I saw her email address I thought it was my Mom's, Glenda Thompson.

After that, Gail got me in touch with the guy who runs the refurbishing site in a Nashville "correctional development facility".

I should mention here that his last name is Wilson.

It only took him about a week to have the new custom wheelchair ready to go! It then took us another week or two to have a day to devote to picking it up from the jail, 3 1/2 hours away (see picture above).

To complete our pick up day, we stopped off at a Toys R Us to find a fire engine as a birthday present/Christmas present for Wilson, who had turned 8 just the day before and had a party put on by none other than his new fire fighter friends.

(It wasn't all work. As you can see from the picture at right, the trip to Nashville gave us the perfect opportunity to ring up fellow Texan friends who moved here about the time I moved to Bolivia and we haven't seen since. We had a nice catch-up during our mother daughter lunch on a charming historic downtown square while the Christmas parade passed by!)

This is where we now stand:

My staff is letting the family know that we indeed have the wheelchair and that Wilson should have it by year's end. It weighs over 50 pounds and American Airlines will not let me carry it on since it's not for my own use and is too large for the overhead bin. Secondly, I have embargos and strict rules (and NO exceptions) regulating travel to Bolivia going against me as far as checking it in a box or as excess luggage, so it's proving trickier than I had hoped. I have probably 2 suitcases worth of donations, not to mention my own things, so something has to give but I'm not sure what yet. I can already see I'll have to leave a lot of the clothes and shoes and books I brought as I shed weight on the way back.

I'm in the middle of looking into a host of options before making a decision for the final step on my end of getting this to Wilson. From the beginning I've had Christmas stuck in my mind as a deadline. Christmas doesn't seem to mean as much to Bolivians as it does to us westerners (there carnival reigns), but I couldn't forgive myself if I didn't explore every avenue of getting the wheelchair to Wilson by then.

I will let everyone know how the saga works out, and of course will post pictures when I have them!!

the cutest pictures you will lay eyes on this Christmas

Coming soon!!!

Soon to be unveiled: pictures from the 2nd annual live Christmas Nativity at Casa de Amor!! Sadly I was not there to participate this time, so I'm taking Savannah's word on this. :)

I'm almost as excited about seeing this year's pictures as I am about arriving there exactly one week from this hour!!!!!!!!!

I think I can hang on. I think I can, I think I can...

In the US of A!

After quite the trip...

From mountainous Bolivia (and low land Santa Cruz - no pic)...




...to fashionable, cosmopolitan Buenos Aires, Argentina (awesome city!!)...






...to laid-back Montevideo...

...and beach front Colonia, Uruguay....

I'm now with my {cookie store owner} family, yeah!!



Oh, and did I mention going from three countries joyously celebrating spring (and even Mother's Day in Argentina) to cold, brisk FALL weather?!

It's been a whirlwind, all this within 4 days and 4 nights! I wouldn't recommend it to the faint of heart (or the weak of body - my feet are still recovering and it will take a while to get caught up on sleep), but the five passport stamps in a SINGLE DAY was totally worth it!! So much fun! And too many exclamation points in this post, but I felt SO blessed to be able to have that trip and finally take care of some of my curiosity about other Latin American countries.

Ever since first reading about Montevideo in a travel magazine years ago (12?) I've wanted to learn more. Finally, even though I only had two hours to explore the downtown before a 2 1/2 hour bus ride to Colonia, I've been to this rarely heard of little country!