Colombia Bound!

At long last, we finally have our travel dates! We leave for Colombia on February 5th and will get Jean Carlos on the 7th - just two more weeks! Jean is SO excited. On our Skype call yesterday the social worker asked him "What is the first thing you will do when you see your family?" His answer: "I will cry tears of happiness!" Oh! Me too mi hijo, me too!

This boy is a charmer and has a great sense of humor. For the past several months we have been paying a tutor to teach him English. I asked him what his favorite word in English is, and he responded "Mom." Be still my heart! And when I asked him his favorite sentence, he said "That's a lotta pepper!" This is an inside joke from when he visited in July. He had just told me that he didn't like spicy food, then proceeded to take the pepper grinder and put copious amounts of pepper on his meal. I said "That's a lot of pepper," trying to gently warn him, and he immediately imitated not just my words, but also my inflection, to great effect. This phrase became an ongoing joke, repeated at almost every meal to peals of laughter all around. The fact that he remembered this and without skipping a beat, said this is his favorite sentence - well, all I can say is what a joy this boy is, on so many levels.

We are bringing Nathan and Zachary with us to Colombia. They will stay for the first two weeks, then Tom will fly home with them while I remain in Colombia with Jean Carlos for another week or so to complete the process. We are so grateful to St. Jerome Academy for supporting this - they recognize that the boys will likely learn more in Colombia than they would at school during those weeks, getting to be immersed in Colombian culture and history and the Spanish language. They are SO excited! What an opportunity for them! And Jean is also so glad they will be there, he misses them so much.

Jean asks about everyone in the family on every Skype call. He wants to know all about everything the boys are doing at school and with extracurriculars, what kinds of projects Tom is doing at work, and how Grandma and Grandpa, Nana, all the aunts and uncles and cousins are doing. And our neighbors too! He has NEVER had an extended family. Even when he was with his mother prior to being placed in foster care, she had no extended family herself, so this is just an absolute wealth to him - it must feel like winning the lottery or something, a literal dream come true. It's hard to imagine what that must feel like. We take having a family, being wanted and loved and belonging somewhere for granted, and rarely think to be grateful for these blessings.

FUNDRAISING UPDATE

I know a lot of people are eager to hear how the puzzle fundraiser is doing. Great news - the puzzle is complete! While all the pieces have now been sold, we have had quite a few more people wanting to still donate, so I have matted the puzzle and we are writing those names on the back of the mat surrounding the puzzle. We showed it to Jean on a recent Skype call and he got quiet with tearful amazement to see all the people who wanted to help him get home to us. He just cannot believe that there are that many people that care about him! So if you had intended to participate in this but have been putting it off, it's not too late. Tax-deductible donations can be made to our AdoptTogether page, or, since at this point, since we will be applying for our AdoptTogether grant money soon, it's better to either PayPal us (to my email address, friends and family option) or send a check.

We also just had a very fun and successful painting party that was attended by 40 people. So far we have raised all but about $2000 of the $40,000 amount we need to be fully funded. We have saved up $25,000 of what we need, and $13,000 is from the various fundraising efforts, as you can see below. We are amazed by the generosity of so many who have contributed and participated in our various fundraising efforts.

Please keep us in your prayers! Pray for safe travel, for everyone in the family as we adjust to new family dynamics, and for Jean as he feels the mixed emotions of happiness at finally having a family and grief from leaving everything he knows.