Us: Cómo estás? (How are you?)
Jean: Bien. (Fine.)
Us: Cómo es la escuela? (How is school?)
Jean: Bien.
Us: Cómo esta su familia sustituto? (How is your foster family?)
Jean: Bien.
Us: Cómo está la clima? (How is the weather?)
Jean: Bien.
Us: Que hiciste durante el fin de semana? (What did you do over the weekend?)
At least this question elicits more than a one word answer! However, it is still always the same week after week:
Jean: Fuimos a la misa, jugué fútbol, vi televisión, jugué videojuegos. (Went to Mass, played soccer, watched TV and played videogames.)
Us: Qué comió para la cena anoche? (What did you have for dinner last night?)
Aah, now we're getting somewhere! He looks up, thinks for a bit, and tells us. (It sounds like his foster mother is a wonderful cook!)
And .... that's about all we can come up with without a translator. The awkward silence ensues while we each try to think of something to talk about. Which is difficult. So we end up resorting to things like this:
Or this:
But no matter what, it always ends like this:
ADOPTION UPDATE
In other news, some big
things are happening and things are speeding right along. Our dossier was
approved on 10/31, only one business day after translation was completed. This
is almost unheard of for approval to happen so quickly! For one thing, the stack
of paperwork that must be reviewed is at least an inch thick. And frequently
there are requests for further information that delay matters.
I know one thing that
is helping is that the Colombian governmental family welfare agency (ICBF) has
decided to allow La Casa de la Madre y el Niño, the orphanage in Bogotá that
coordinated the Kidsave hosting program, to handle the processing of the
subsequent adoptions. This helps immensely, since La Casa already approved our
pre-hosting mini homestudy and medicals and one of their psychologists stayed
with us for 5 days during Jean's host visit, and of course they debriefed Jean
after he returned to Colombia. They know us already, and they know Jean and how
much he desperately wants to come back to us. This personal element helps so
much. Add to this all the prayers coming from family and friends, and we are
set to break the record in how quickly a Kidsave child comes home to their
forever family!
Another exciting
development is that late last week, Jean was transferred from his foster home
to La Casa. He will live there for the remaining couple of months until he
comes home to us, where he will receive intensive English classes while the staff
psychologists help prepare him for the transition. They will help him with any
grief he experiences due to the separation from his foster family, and they
will help him learn more about what it is to be part of a family.
At this point we are
waiting for the official referral, which will contain a more complete file of
his history than what we previously received. After we accept that it will be
about two more months of paperwork with the U.S. government and getting visas
for Colombia. So at this point it looks like we will be traveling mid to late
January! It will depend on how much things slow down with the holidays as far
as paperwork getting processed.
FUNDRAISING UPDATE
The puzzle is now 83% complete! It has been so exciting to see the
puzzle picture gradually disappear as we flip purchased pieces over to write
donors' names on the back. So this time in the photo I am including the
box cover so people can remember what the finished puzzle will look like.
We are so very grateful for everyone's support. It is especially timely as later this week we need to make a $22,000 payment - yikes!!!
If anyone else would like to make a tax-deductible contribution, more information on how to do so can be found here.
We are so very grateful for everyone's support. It is especially timely as later this week we need to make a $22,000 payment - yikes!!!
If anyone else would like to make a tax-deductible contribution, more information on how to do so can be found here.
Muchas gracias!
