I hardly know where to begin …….the last 5 days have been full of sorpresas (surprises!) The best way I can describe this experience is to say it is very much what I imagine a transatlantic voyage to have been like in the days before the airplane. Long. Rough Seas. Followed by Calm, Beautiful Waters. Sickness. Disorientation. Tight quarters with musty air. Endless Horizons. The Hope of an arrival in a New World. Longing for Home. The knowledge that we will either Sink or Swim, either way it’s together. Lots of Prayer.
And Praise God , as I write this, we are cruising safely along in calm waters with much laughter and relief. For today….
Friday was a fairly good day with Gerard. He was still in a ‘honeymoon’ of sorts with us and we were learning to communicate with a translation app and he repeatedly shared with us that he was ‘happy to be with us.’ BJ has a Karaoke microphone which has been a stitch! Unfortunately he was starting in with a cold. Not bad but made him more tired and ‘loose.’ We also were growing discontent with our apartment in Bogota. It is dirty, noisy, and poor in accessories like clean towels, hot water, and windows that aren’t cracked with pipes sticking through them. Also, all the pans are bumpy and hard to cook with. This was a highly rated AirBNB which has been quite a disappointment. It does however have TV which we are grateful for! Some school is getting done with the older kids and we are reading the Bible and ending each day with the Lord’s Prayer and hugs. Gerard is learning the prayer pretty well! So cute.
Saturday was Judah’s 14th birthday and overall he was very pleased with the well wishes and Happy Birthday messages he received. We didn't plan much except for a dinner out at a fancy Mexican restaurant in Bogota (thanks for the recommendation Dallas!) This, however, was a hard day for Gerard. We stepped out of the ‘honeymoon’ phase into testing boundaries. He wasn't sure where he belonged and the language barrier was becoming more challenging. He began shutting down when he felt ashamed or unsure of what to do. He also misses one particular friend from the institution and is worried that people inthe US won't understand him and he won't make friends. We also started to notice that he was relying on the phone for translation more than necessary. (Each message was followed by 10+ emojis!) His cold also persisted though he was eating and sleeping well (and taking the vitamins I was giving him with ease). Overall, his trauma and the effects of institutionalization were showing, as we expected. Also being a pre-adolescent was sprinkled in for good measure! There was work being completed on an apartment below us and they shut the water off for 3-4 hours in the middle of the day. Really not liking the apartment at this point. Best part of the day was that Gerard told us at the end of the night that ’today was hard but tommorrow is a new day.’ Indeed it was.
Sunday was a great day! We worked on English together, had breakfast together, enjoyed an outing to the park and a great food court we have been frequenting. We ended with dinner at home and a movie! Gerard was happy, engaged, and took well the boundaries and limits we were setting with him. Praises! In the midst of our ‘good day’ we had the water in the apartment just stop running. This time it was a water rationing in Bogota which no one bothered to tell us. Imagine an apt with 6 people, two bathrooms and no running water 😳. Gerard continued to learn more about our ways as a family and join us in all the things. We all ended the day with a smile and a renewed sense of the goodness of the journey!
Then came Monday…..
Five AM kicked off the beginning of household food poisoning. Brae and I woke up to help BJ who was in bad shape. We thought it was isolated to her until 30 minutes in both of us started in too. Then poor Judah. Gerard was expected at the Embassy doctor for his shots and bloodwork to enter the US. We weren’t sure if we were going to make it but Luke and Gerard stayed well and they headed to the 4 hour long appointment with our agency contact Maria. It was a day full of vaxes, poor phlebotomy and lots of sugar. I think I know why God kept me from attending that visit. My stress would have been through the roof if I had to witness all of this. Luke was definitely the man for the job. Gerard returned home crying, in terrible arm and belly pain and not happy with us at all. Thankfully the family began to feel better by mid day, started to eat and drink and Gerard took a long nap which helped him as well. We ended with carry-in dinner (pizza and rice bowls~ if you can believe that!) and a movie. As Gerard says, "Tomorrow is a new day.” Lots of prayers, a few tears, and some serious homesickness. Praise God the sickness came the day AFTER the water was turned off. 3 and 1/2 million flushes later we probably used the entire months water ration in 6 hours!
Praise God Today (Tuesday) has been our BEST DAY YET!
Gerard has been laughing and smiling all day with us. We made some real progress with English practice today. We headed to the park, played football, looked at ducks, kids spun around on merry go rounds ad nauseam, lots of gymnastics, monkey bars and some Colombian coffee from Juan Valdez Cafe….And the joy of booking a new lodging (hotel) for us when we return to Bogota. By now we are totally done with the apartment as you could imagine!
Things we know about Gerard~He is a strong boy with a big heart, he has attention struggles and loves blue hydrangeas. He loves sugar and gets totally loopy when he has chocoloate donuts! He loves having siblings and asks for hugs when he is happy or needs to feel grounded. He likes to say he is shy, but he is definitely coming out of his shell. He is a regular boy who has overcome incredible trauma and now has the new name of Rinehart ❤️
As always, We appreciate all the prayers and have never felt so dependent on them as we do now. We are all being refined by fire, and, despite the challenges, we have never been more connected as a family then we are now. As BJ shared~ she worried this experience may weaken our family bounds because of the stress of it , but actually God has allowed just the opposite to happen. We have lost nothing and only gained more closeness with each other and now a new family member. Glory to the God of Buenas Sorpresas y Fuegos Refinadores! ( translation: good surprises and refining fires🔥)
Clinging to the helm, Caty
P.S. Oh, also, many of you have asked for photos~ we can’t legally share then until we return from Court in about 2 weeks. But rest assured we are taking them and will share as soon as we can!!
P.S.S. We head to La Mesa (2-3 hours outside of Bogota) on Thursday to become ‘residents’ so we can complete the legal court documents for adoption. We will be there for about 2 weeks, then return to Bogota for the last week of the paperwork to travel home. Its been a crazy long 8 days but each day brings us closer back to you! 🙏
By: Caty Rinehart
