After MUCH prayer, God obviously has us here for a purpose

Hola,

Where do I begin??? Today was a day of excitement, patience, disappointment, and ultimately excitement again. Since we were waiting for phone calls, Jim and I took turns going down to breakfast. Our day began with a phone call early this morning from Isabel (in Bogota) saying that our papers were on the bus and she will see us in Bogota later in the day. Bethany and I were so excited; we were running around finishing up packing. About 10-15 minutes later Racquel (director of Casa de Maria) called and said she did not know whether or not the papers were on the bus. She was confused as to how Isabel would have that information. She said even if the papers were on the bus, it's very possible the bus won't make it in at all today. She said there was a ton of rain in the southern part of the country and some roads were washed out and there were mudslides causing roads to close. Since we didn't know what was going on and needed to stay by the phone ready to leave on a moments notice, we literally stayed in our room, with our bags packed, until close to 3:00 p.m. When it got close to 3:00 p.m., we knew it really didn't matter because the office for passports closed at 3:00 p.m. Around that time, Racquel called and said that the papers never even got on the bus yesterday, but she would call us and let us know if anything happens today. Gloria had to leave for her sister's wedding, so we took a hotel taxi just down the street to get some more groceries. After the girls had some yogurt, Jim took them down to the pool so I could make some calls to Bogota. While up in the room, Racquel called and said that the papers were completed and were in the office at the bus station ready for tomorrow's bus at 1:00 p.m. (she was given a routing number). The bus should arrive in Medellin around 7:00 a.m. Sunday and after the driver sleeps, Racquel should receive the papers around 6:00 p.m. She said she will call us Sunday night when the papers are in her hands.

We will go to the passport office very early Tuesday morning, fly to Bogota, and then go to the US Embassy doctor in the afternoon. As of now, we have a flight scheduled for Thursday night arriving Friday morning. Can you believe another flight change... another penalty. When we changed the tickets to Wednesday night, there was not a difference in airfare. Unfortunately by changing it to Thursday night, there's airfare difference on all four of our tickets (yes, I have a sad face as I type that sentence).

Now, to the exciting part I mentioned in the beginning. We had a TON of prayer yesterday and last night regarding our situation here. Jim and I said this afternoon that it is very obvious that the Lord wants us here this weekend. It's very interesting because after I made a few phone calls, I went to join Jim and the girls down by the pool. Jim was in a conversation with a gentleman in his late 60's that just adopted a 14 year old boy from Casa de Maria a few days ago. His wife and him never had children and she passed away in 2006. He retired as a professor when he was 55, went to law school, and now runs his own practice on Long Island for the last eight years. Sadly, he knows nothing about parenting and is really struggling. The 14 year old lived on the streets with no family until a couple of years ago when Casa de Maria took him in. This teenager is a major, major challenge for this gentleman. He is only in the fourth grade, so the father was extremely interested in learning about homeschooling. We talked a long time about different issues regarding parenting. If he does not get a handle on this boy, it's very likely he will run away when he gets to the States. He has a lot of "street smarts" and feels he can take care of himself. Then we ran into another single man (around our age) from Atlanta that just adopted a seven year old boy from Casa de Maria (Belicia knows both of these boys, so they're having fun). Tomorrow all of us (the two single dads and their boys) are going to pile into Eduardo's (driver filling in for Gloria) Land Rover and head over to Casa de Maria and then to a flea market. Apparently this market is only open the first Saturday of the month and features a lot of hand crafted items. We're not really interested in buying, but it will be a nice change of pace. Get this... the two dads want to get together with us for dinner tomorrow night down by the pool. Could they be part of the reason we're still here....????

I can honestly say that I am very happy to be here. When powerful prayer warriors are in prayer for you, and God doesn't answer that prayer the way we ask, then you KNOW He has more important things to accomplish... things that could be eternal. Even though we may never fully know what it is or to what extent we are used, it is exciting!!

Going to get some sleep...

Hasta luego,
Captive in Colombia