Back to Bogota

                           

As I stare at the screen right now, we are exactly 24-hours from departing Colombia en route to the U.S.  At 11:19 PM tomorrow our Colombian trip prepares to close.  The past six days in Bogota have been packed.  Two orphanage visits, tons of paperwork and doctor visits, trips to the embassy, church with a missionary family, State Farm work and tons of time with SEVEN of us packed into the back of a small car in Bogota traffic. I’ll share some of the neat highlights.

BIG NEWS FIRST

Nola’s name is no longer Nola.  No kidding here :) She is now Sela Mercy Damkoehler . . . pronounced “Say-Lah.”  Why?  All of our children have names that we have prayed about.  We really want God to have a say in the matter (names are a big deal for Him in the Bible!).  Luke means “bringer of light”, Clay means “formed in the hand of God”, Kole means “victory of the people” and Nina means “from grace.” 

For the past three weeks in Colombia, we have been praying about Nola’s name.  The other names we had felt led to were Nora, which means “of noble birth” and Sela that is Hebrew for “God has made me a rock.”  As we were driving through Bogota two day ago, we were all sitting in the back seat feeling very car sick . . . but not Nola.  She was smiling and clapping and shaking her head all around (while sitting backwards).  As I watched my daughter, I thought about her life . . . how she came through multiple intense illnesses as an infant, how she spent her first four months of life in the back room of a tavern, how she has moved four times in the last three weeks and left her foster home . . . all these intense life experiences in such a short amount of time . . . and there she is in her forever mama’s arms keeping her joy and a good attitude (seriously . . . how would YOU do in that situation J ?).  I looked at her and said, “Nola, you are a rock.”  And in that moment I knew . . . “Nancy . . . her name is Sela . . . that’s who she is . . . that’s who God has made her.”

So now you know how we named Sela Mercy Damkoehler.  And you know why she’ll someday have a daughter named “pebbles” :)

How we’re doing

Good, but still struggling in feeling well.  The children are feeling great . . . Nancy and I . . . not so much.  VERY tired with some pretty strong headaches we are trading, but think it’s a combination of altitude, extremely bad air pollution (Bogota is beautiful, but has some of the worst air in the world . . . literally) and fatigue . . . but we are in great spirits!  Only “getting sick” episode was two days ago on the way to the U.S. Embassy.  Hot . . . stop and go traffic . . . tons of fumes and smog . . . seven of us in the back seat.  Kole threw up in his hat and then in Clay’s hat (I would have throw up too, but we were fresh out of hats!).  His comment afterwards . . . “I told you I shouldn’t have eaten my eggs!”  So true.

Sela still wakes up at night in distress.  But she calls out for "mommy" . . . which is very good.  We've also discovered she's afraid of loud planes and thunder.  She tucks her head in Nancy very close.  Very sweet :)

Where we’ve been living

Two places . . . Casa Lanthana and the Zuetana Hotel.

Casa Lanthana

Casa Lanthana is where we stayed our first five nights.  It’s a home on the north side of Bogota that caters to adoptive families.  In Colombia, Italians adopt the most children, followed by the French and then Americans.  There were two French couples staying at Lanthana while we were there.  Matthieu and Nathalie and Laurent and Valerie.  Matthieu is a teacher and reminds me a lot of my friend Tom Waterson (a guy on the teaching team at my church).  Very sweet couples.  Nancy spent a lot of time talking and reaching out to Nathalie.  We had a chance to pray with them before we left.  We also spent a lot of time with the three ladies working at Lanthana.  Rosilia was my favorite.  When she found out I was a pastor, she got pretty excited . . . “Jesus es mi Salvador y mi Protector!”  She spoke no English and us muy poco Espanol . . . but we had some great conversations.

Just yesterday morning, we got a call from Claudia (remember her from our very first blog?  She was the owner of the Zuetana Hotel where we stayed our first night).  She called to see if we could get together before we left Bogota, because she had very good news for us.  A German couple that was adopting had just moved out of one of her properties, so she invited us to stay with her for our last two days.  So we packed up and moved to Zuetana.

Jason, Nancy, Mattieu, Nathalie, Adel, Valeria and Laurent at Casa Lanthana

Pray for Adel (he had the flu!)

Nancy and Rosilia (my favorite!)

Backyard of Casa Lanthana

Miracle on Calle 106

Claudia and Nina

So what was the good news?  This is AWESOME!  When we came to Bogota 24 days ago and met Claudia that first morning we asked if we could pray with her for anything.  She told us she had been trying for a very long time to sell her family home, but with not one prospect.  She needed to sell it right away otherwise it would go into foreclosure (Colombia’s housing market was hit hard in 2008 as well).  So we prayed that God would bring the perfect buyer right away. 

Fast forward to yesterday . . . we walked into this BEAUTIFUL hotel (which is actually a modified home).  Claudia comes out to meet us.  “The day after you prayed for me,” she tells us, “a buyer came and offered me a great price to buy my home . . . it can’t be a coincidence . . . I know it was God answering the prayer.”  Praise God for the way he moved in Claudia’s life!

Sunday with the Missionaries

Before we came to Colombia we looked up missionaries who worked in the country.  The Kautz family and the Ridpath family, all missionaries in Colombia, were huge blessings to us!  On Sunday we were privileged to spend the whole morning at a local church where Bruce Ridpath was the guest preacher.  The people were so honoring.  As a pastor and wife, the treated Nancy and I with great respect . . . we were both very humbled.  And Bruce spoke that morning on one of my favorite subjects . . . the importance of the husband’s role in the family.  It was powerful.  I had a chance to pray with a bunch of people.  SO many people were crying at the end of service . . . tough looking guys repenting to their wives in tears . . . very moving.

The church we attended . . . packed little building in the middle of the north side.  VERY genuine people!

Bruce explained something to me that brought me great understanding.  He said the reason Mary (mother of Jesus) has been elevated to a status of worship in the Latin American culture is because of her role of a suffering woman.  He said that it is common for the majority of men in Colombia to have one or more women “on the side.”  Their wives suffer and look to the suffering Mary endured when her Son went to the cross and find similarity.  The other problem created by this is what happens to the “women on the side.”  Because the are not the wives of these men, they go unprovided for and often have children from the relationship.  A huge percentage of these children end up on the street . . . a few lucky ones make it into an orphanage.

Please pray for Pastor Jorge, his wife and this great church.  Also remember the Kautz’s and the Ridpaths.

Two Orphanages

We were privileged to spend a couple hours going to two orphanages in Bogota.  One was a beautiful, privately funded orphanage . . . the other was a state-funded orphanage run by the Bienestar Familiar (ICBF).  Both were staffed by huge-hearted professionals.

Outside the ICBF Orphange

The ICBF orphanage was a major tear-jerker.  We bought a bunch of toys before we went 

and spent about an hour there.  Because it is an emergency center where children in desperate circumstances are brought, I was not allowed to take any pictures, but I can tell you what Nancy and our sons and daughters saw.  It was very clean and well run with about 80 children between 0 and 12 years . . . over 50% had been sexually abused by a relative.  That 50% includes little boys and girls and one 3-month old girl.  I know . . . it’s incomprehensible . . . but unfortunately, common.  Two of the mothers that were there taking care of their newborns were only 12-years-old.  Most of these children will never be adopted because they are older than 5.   Pray for 27-year-old Laura who runs this orphanage and others with over 600 children under her care.

"La Casa" Orphange

The other orphanage boasts a similar story but with amazing statistics . . . in it’s 70-years, this orphanage has seen 95% of it’s children adopted . . . over 8,000 children!  I was able to shoot pictures as long as I didn’t show any children.  If you want to see some beautiful children that need a home, come by our home sometime . . . we’re allowed to show these pictures to friends . . . just not online or through email.  So much more I could say on this.

Thousands of photos line their halls of children adopted from the orphanage

Inez and family . . . Inez has been with "La Casa" the private orphanage for 42 years

ASC, Doctora Martha and the ICBF

Just a quick plug for our U.S. agency Adoption By Shepherd Care . . . Nidia, Joe, Claudia, et al . . . they have huge hearts.  This Christ-based agency and staff are awesome!  We have also been privileged to spend a week with Martha Del Castillo, our Colombian contact . . . I have met few people like Nidia and Martha with such a passion for the fatherless . . . truly an honor to spend time with these people!

We also had a chance to visit the ICBF headquarters and meet the people who approved us to adopt Sela.  Incredible people!!!

Appointments everywhere

We have been on the move all over the city.

Sela checked out great at her official doctor's appointment with the U.S. Embassy pediatrician.  She was very interested in all his "doctor stuff."  

Getting checked out by the U.S. Embassy pediatrician

Sizing up Sela

Not too happy about her TB test!

We picked up Sela’s U.S. Visa at the sprawling U.S. Embassy today.  I shot some video of the embassy yesterday when we went there to apply for Sela’s Visa . . . a police officer saw me doing it and made me erase the video!  It’s an extremely impressive, highly-guarded compound.

Outside the U.S. Embassy with Doctora Martha

On the way back from the embassy today we drove through the center of Bogota.  Nancy and I have never seen such poverty.  Five years ago when we adopted Nina from China, we saw some really bad stuff . . . but this trumped that.  I took my camera out to shoot pictures and Mauricio, our driver, stopped me . . . too dangerous.  The traffic stopped a lot and people didn’t take kindly to pictures.

Entering the city center

Heading home

So tomorrow (today really) we head to a church in the mountains for the morning, pack and board a plane at 11:18 PM.  JFK by 6:04 AM and Chicago O’Hare by 10:30.  Clear customs at 11:30 . . . home by 2:00. Nancy, Luke, Clay, Kole, Nina, Sela and I will be at the Bloomington Airport from 5 to 6 Friday evening if you want to say hi J 

In advance, please don’t be offended for us not letting you hold Sela . . . adoption experts say Nancy and I are the only ones who should hold her for the next two months or so, with the occasional exception of a family member . . . this is to ensure bonding with Nancy.  Hard for a two-year-old J

Please pray for our safe flight home.  One last quick post tomorrow before we leave. 

Tons of pix below!

Gloria de Dios!

Shopping has no language barrier . . . pray for the men of the Damkoehler family!

Mauricio and Nina

The church we are visiting tomorrow

Ladies in waiting

Bogota is a sprawling mountain city in a valley

We found a McDonalds!!!!

Dad doing State Farm work . . . Kole doing multiplication tables

With Doctora Martha outside the ICBF

The ICBF staff that reviews every family profile sent from the U.S.  They gave initial approval of our adoption of Sela.

Nina and Sela in the ICBF office

Playing at Casa Lanthana . . . Nina was making bouquets with the grass.

Soccer

Getting Sela's Passport Photos.

Lunch at Frisby's

Buying toys for the orphanage

Sela's impression of Nancy :)

Nancy and Nathalie

Ridpaths, Pastor Jorge's family and us!

Nancy and Lisa Ridpath