Our children are from a small town near Cucuta, Colombia. Most all of the adoption was handled through the Cucuta ICBF offices with the exception of the signing of the sentencia and changing of one child's birth certificate from Pamplona, the town they're from. The older two birth certificates were handled out of Cucuta. We were politely told we should be cautious while in the town the children are from due to the amount of relatives the children have there. We were strongly advised to deter from being anywhere in the proximity of that town with the children in tow. I'm still wondering about this because the older two tell me they have no relatives there in Pamplona. My kids talk of having many, many relatives from around Bucaramanga which is much further down the road (80 miles I think), so that doesn't make too much sense at all. Anyways, Rick was the only one to go to the town of Pamplona to sign sentencia and while there that afternoon he took many movies and still pictures of the town and different landmarks. Our plans were to save them for the children to preserve their memories of their homeland. Rick took random pictures of different landmarks as they traveled through the little streets. People walking along the sidewalks appeared in just about every picture.
Last night the kids openly engaged conversations of their past life and I felt the urge to share the pictures of Pamplona their dad had taken while there. We moved through the first 10 pictures nicely and they thought it was a great treat to relive some of their fonder memories and point out different buildings, their school, the store, houses of their friends, etc. Then we came to the 11th picture and what a surprise that brought about! Of all things, there was Luis Alejandro's birthfather standing there just as plain as day. The kids screamed out his name and I recognized that name from our paperwork. Then I enlarged the picture and could clearly see so many distinguishable facial characteristics of my son. Wow, what a God-thing!!!! I mean for Rick to be leisurely traveling through the town with a population of more than 65,000 people and popping off about 40 random pictures of town landmarks, and one of those contains a clear view of Luis' birthfather talking on his cellphone as he was standing on a curb... just amazing!!!! Then, at that moment, I just bawled as I gave thanks to God. The kids didn't quite understand at first but upon explaining the nostalgic importance of the picture, and not to mention they know their mami cries when she's happy, I think they gathered more of an understanding. I have to see the pure blessing in this that we now have a picture of our baby's birthfather and one day if our boy is curious to know where he gets his looks from, he'll be able to see for himself. WOW, what a remarkable gift! So hard to believe!!! I wish so much I had a picture of the kids' mother. At least the older two still remember her, and they are mostly good memories, and for that I am grateful. We still say prayers nightly for the birthparents and I hope to keep this tradition going so they can remember them.
The kids are opening up more and more about their past and so far have not had any real problematic times with revealing their past lifestyle and situations that brought them into ICBF's care. Again, we are truly blessed and they have made great strides. So much credit is due to the excellent care they received while in their foster homes. They were just wonderful women who loved my children in ways I'll always treasure!
This is just another example of how God's hand was ever-present during our adoption! I'm so amazed at God's wonders -- how He could stage the coming together of two unlikely subjects, then preserve that moment with a picture -- and not just any picture, but one that might hold answers to so many future questions our little son might have later in life.
It's almost funny now looking back at how discouraged I got throughout the adoption process. I didn't always see God's hand at work and I grew weary and lost faith many times from not having a visual perception of how God was orchestrating the timing and the plans for our family. Now I see so much more of the picture He was painting and what a wonderful, elaborate work of art it's turning out to be! And the glory is that God has so much more in store for us! What an awesome God we serve!
My message to so many of my blogger friends who have been waiting for so long to receive the little bundles of joy that await them in beautiful Colombia. Just KEEP THE FAITH! Your days ahead be filled with many blessings! God is so good!
Genece
WEATHER IN CUCUTA
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6 comments:
Oh Genece that is amazing! You must have been shocked. God is so good! :)
Dios te bendiga!
Wow - that is awesome! I too wish we had pictures of our children's birthparents. Our two oldest have described them to us, but over time, memories fade. Angie will never remember what they looked like. We were hoping to go to the little town where our oldest two had their birth certificate, but it was 4 hours away and we were advised not to go for safety reasons. A representative went for us, but I wish we had pictures of the town they first lived in. What a blessing for God to provide that for you!
Genece--what an incredible story! There is no doubt that God led Rick to take that picture, and how priceless it is and will become. I desperately hope to know more about our children's biological parents. And if we are unable to find out verbal information, I hope God will lead us to something so wonderful as what you have experienced!
Traci
HOw wild is that!!! Hahah! Thanks for sharing the updates! How awesome! Will you share a picture of the two on the blog? I have always wondered if we go back to Florencia will we recognize our children's BM if we pass her...our friend from Colombia, Milton Hill, the pastor, says that we could most likely pay anyone a few dollars and they would tell us where we could find her...said everyone knew everyone or could easily find out. But then, I thought...what would I say? Would I hug her and want to bring her home with me? Would I cry? Would she want her babies back? I just have so many mixed emotions...I wonder if our children remember...they don't talk about Florencia much...just that they want to go back to Colombia and visit. They don't talk about people there. We show them pictures of when we stayed in Refugio, they don't even remember who some of the ppl they played with were...anyways, it's neat to hear your children's perspectives...thanks for sharing!
That is so cool! Amazing isn't it how the things that stressed us out so much during the adoption process just don't seem to matter now that we are home with our children. All that wasted energy and frustration.
That is just amazing. WHat are the chances? God is good! Brian hasn't mentioned his birthparents or his brother or sisters yet. We don't want to ask him about them. We just figure when and if he is ready to talk about them, we will be there to listen. Thanks for the updates.
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