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Well, this took a long time to get posted… We are still trying to figure out some issues with our computers here.  But, better late than never… Thanks for your patience.

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(Tuesday, way past bedtime…)

First, let me say thanks to all of you who are excited back home and praying with us.  We felt the power of your prayers today.  We couldn’t have asked for a better first day.  I’m not sure we could have asked for a better ANY day.

After arriving on Monday evening, we learned that we would not be wasting any time on Tuesday getting the ball rolling.  We had a meeting with the government team, Mi Familia (Ministry of Family), at 9:00 am.  During this meeting we met our Nicaraguan social worker, who was very easy to work with.  She explained much about the children’s history, health, personalities, etc.  It was a very helpful time for us, and we were so grateful to “get to know” them at a greater level.  However, the even better news was when she concluded the meeting by saying “the children are ready to meet you, so we’re going now!”

We had hoped to meet them sometime on Tuesday, but knowing we were being taken to them right away was fantastic.  I will save you too many details, but we were taken to an orphanage that was on the outskirts of Managua, and it was absolutely beautiful.  The facilities were incredibly nice and well maintained, and the staff was top notch.  We learned very quickly that our children had been in great care.

After an initial visit with the orphanage team, it was quickly time to meet our children.  Jennyfer (Jenny), Sofia and Jose.  We suddenly found ourselves a bundle of tears and nervous excitement in the few precious moments while we waited for them to come out.  We just felt so overwhelmed that God had done something special… We could hardly hold it together, and we had not even laid eyes on the kids yet!

And the rest of the story is pretty simple.  All the “what if’s” and nervous wonderings melted away the moment the kids came out to us.  It was picture perfect, instant connection, love at first sight kind of stuff – everything we had prayed for and more. We had been told they were excited that they were being adopted, and it seemed very true.  They were as ready to love us as we were to love them.

It was a day we will remember in our minds and hearts for as long as we live.  Our hearts are absolutely overflowing.  But words fall short in trying to describe what a beautiful experience this was for us, so I’m going to let this be enough words and try to give you a better glimpse.  See below.

We love all of you and know that we can’t wait to bring our family home.  Thanks for sharing this journey with us.  We hope you enjoy watching this, and that you’ll find yourself smiling for the next five minutes!

Lee

 

Your response to the video I posted after day one has been overwhelming.  Thank you, family and friends.  As we like to say, our hearts are overflowing and it’s leaking out our eyes!  From your responses, it’s apparent many of you had the same reaction.  How great the Father’s love for us, to allow us this amazing joy!

As we ended day one, we were told that we would be able to go back the next morning and spend more time with our children, enjoying some of their routine at the orphanage with them.  I mentioned previously that it was a beautiful place… As we understand, it’s very special compared to some other facilities.  You can tell they were quite content there.

However, the morning of day two (Wednesday) we were greeted with two bits of news: First, the Momotombo volcano, not too far from us, had erupted for the first time in 110 years.  While it is not close enough to cause concern for our safety, it is yet another first for us! (Last year when we were here, there was an earthquake.)  We were not close enough to see the lava…

…But this is a news photo of what it looked like up close.

 

The second bit of news we received on Wednesday morning was that things had gone so well on the first day that Mi Familia had decided to go ahead and let us bring the children to stay with us.  This was exciting news, as they had originally said it would not happen until day three.  So, off we went to sign some papers and pick up the children!  They were very ready to go with us.  We nearly had to make them say goodbye to their caretakers and friends.

So by lunchtime we were back at our place getting the three of them settled into their new surroundings.  We spent the afternoon fixing them lunch, playing games, taking a walk, and beginning to figure out life together!

It was a great day. Jenny, Sofia and Jose seem to be very comfortable with us.  Make no mistake – we were wiped out by day’s end!  Yet every moment was incredibly satisfying.  We are feeling very fulfilled as we spend these precious moments together with three beautiful creations.

Bedtime did come early, because we ended up with yet another piece of news regarding our process and schedule.  We learned that we would need to be up and ready to leave at 7:00 am today because we were going to a court appointment of sorts.  As part of the official process, the older children (our two girls) would need to go before a judge and declare with their own voices that they want to be adopted.  A pretty big question to ask some kids who just came to live with their new “Mama” and “Papi” less than 24 hours ago!  But actually, we received it as good news.  We had been previously told this appointment with the judge would not happen for a couple of weeks.  Another sign that things are moving along quickly?? Maybe, maybe not.  Though we are not sure, we choose to believe the best at this point.  We know God’s got this timeline in His hands, and He can move it along if He desires!

So today we were up early, got everybody showered and fed, and out the door right almost on time.  The girls did well at their appointment.  Though we were not in the room with them as they appeared before the judge, our social worker here confirmed that they gave answers that are positive towards our process continuing smoothly.  To celebrate, the social worker then suggested a stop for some ice cream.  At 10:30 in the morning… Why not??!!  Is it ever NOT a good time for ice cream?

After ice cream, we headed back to fix lunch at the casa.  We did make a couple more stops on the way, though.  At the suggestion of our friend Carlos, who is our agency liaison and driver, we stopped to buy some bread at a bakery and some delicious local oranges at a street market.

We had mac and cheese and fruit for lunch, and then everyone settled in for an afternoon nap.  Everyone except me, that is (including Casey).  I decided I would use the time to send you this update.  We will spend the next few days just continuing to learn how to be family together… Until next week when we will have medical appointments and reports with the social worker.  For now, we are taking things one day at a time, and letting God unveil the plan as we go.

You can continue to pray that we all adjust well to the newness of life as a family of five (and that the language barrier crumbles away quickly).  Pray for continued good days and open doors.  And join us in thanking our Good Good Father for what He is already doing. As a friend reminded us today, we aren’t here with the ability to change the world… But with the Father’s help, we can change the lives of three of His most precious creations in the world – just like they are changing ours.  Sounds like Jeremiah 29:11 to me.

We are blessed.

Lee

 

 

I know, I know… I can’t post photos fast enough for most of you.  I wanted to put some up last night, but we had a very full day and, to be honest, I couldn’t stay awake.  So thanks for being patient until this morning!

We are having a great time.  As all of you parents know, taking care of three kiddos requires a lot of attention and energy.  It rises to an even higher level of challenge when you don’t speak the same language.  Yet we are adjusting to getting up at 5:00 am, finding things to keep everyone engaged all day, and learning to communicate.  It’s honestly gone very smoothly so far.  We have been blessed with children who quickly began to trust us, are overall well behaved, and who don’t get hung up on the language barrier much at all.  In fact, they are already learning to understand many of the things we are communicating to them… They may not be able to speak English, but they do understand more than we realize!  That’s a great thing.  I only wish it were true both ways. Thank goodness for Google translator. 🙂

Here are some highlights of our last day or two:

Jenny, Sofia and Jose have enjoyed various activities around our casa.  The girls have been allowed some time with the iPads, and love especially playing with a “dress up” game that Casey has installed for them.  However, yesterday they also decided to try a “hooked on phonics” app, and it was great to see them sounding out English words and having fun learning.

 

Jose has taken to a “fish pole” magnetic puzzle.  He’s getting really good at matching up the shapes.

For lunch yesterday, a new friend named Tania (from Project Hope) taught us how she cooks rice and beans.  That may not sound amazingly appetizing to all of you, but here in Nicaragua it is the staple for most people.  We wanted to make sure we knew how to cook something that our kids liked and to do it in a somewhat “traditional” manner.

We had rice, beans, and fruit for lunch.  Honestly, I’m not a beans guy, but this was delicious.  This may be a staple for our new family for a good while.  During other meals, the kids have also enjoyed spaghetti, pancakes, lots of fruit, and today we learned they love corn flakes.  Breakfast just got easier… At least some days (insert wink emoticon here).

Yesterday afternoon, we were invited to the home of some friends, Tammy and Travis.  They are missionaries from Missouri who have relocated here to work full time with Project Hope.  We enjoyed some time with their animals, and playing outside with their own soon-to-be adopted son, Antonio.  Their first son, Slaton, wasn’t feeling well so he stayed inside.

 

We also enjoyed some time in Tammy and Travis’ swimming pool.  Another learning point… Our kids are not afraid to be in the water!

The day finished with pizza, cookies, and some play time at their house while the adults enjoyed a good visit…  A very full day, resulting in three tired little ones!

Thank you for continuing to pray for fun days and good steps forward.  Now that we’ve had a few days together, the kids are getting comfortable enough to “push a few limits” now and then.  Nothing more than every other family experiences, but somehow it makes things seem a little more real.  We get to be full fledged parents now – but that’s a good thing.

One last thing… Our favorite moment yesterday happened at lunch.  We’ve made sure we set the example of praying at each meal and before bed.  Even though we are praying in English, they are used to praying at the orphanage and know exactly what to do.  But this time, José expressed he wanted to pray.  Before we hardly knew what was happening, our three year old boy was voicing the prayer outloud, and leading the older girls to repeat with him.  Oh my goodness!  We don’t know everything he said (other than “gracias Señor” – thank you Lord) but that was enough!  The tears started rolling.  I know we were talking to God… but I desperately reached for the phone to snap a photo.  I didn’t get to it fast enough, but I did manage to capture a similar moment this morning at breakfast.

Kids praying = full hearts. We are blessed.

Lee

 

Hola amigos y familia!  Thanks for checking back for more updates and photos.  I have been working throughout the day to get some photos uploaded… We are having a lot of troubles with our internet connection, so it has taken me several hours to get the photos to go through.  However, I’ve made arrangements for different internet service, which we will hopefully get to try later this evening.  Praying it will be better!

The last couple of days have simply been good family time.  We won’t have any “official” adoption happenings or appointments until later this week, so for now we are just enjoying being together and having fun each day.

Saturday we spent some time outside enjoying an amazing weather day.  We did some coloring and working with Play-Doh, and Jose got to enjoy riding a Big Wheel he borrowed from Antonio.

Then, we set up a table under the cabana and went to work on the oranges we purchased a couple of days ago.  We all had fun working together to enjoy some fresh squeezed orange juice.  Then, some of it went into ice cube trays to make frozen orange cubes.  Yummy!

We also did laundry, played outside, and had some time on the iPads.  After dinner, when it was time to take showers and get ready for bed, we told the kids we would be going to church the next morning.  They shouted with excitement!  They have been to a church with their friends from the orphanage, and apparently they learned to like it a lot.  That does Mama and Papi’s hearts good!

Sunday morning, we headed off to church at International Christian Fellowship.  It’s a church primarily for English speaking families who are here for various reasons.  We enjoyed a good time of worship, and the kids got to spend some time in both worship with us and Sunday School with other kids.  They had a great morning, and their time even resulted in our very first refrigerator art!

Lunch after church was at a local favorite called “Tip Top.”  It’s kind of the only real fast food chain around, and it’s primary cuisine is Fried Chicken.  However, here it’s served with fries OR refried beans and tortilla chips.  Kind of a cross between KFC and Taco Bell.  It’s good food and they also have a playland – which means good fun for everyone!

Sunday after nap time, Casey got out her new selfie stick she brought with us.  First time using it!

At meal times, we are still enjoying the kid’s desire to pray.  It has now turned into somewhat of a competition over who gets to pray.  So sometimes, we have more than one prayer!  In fact, last night the kids prayed in Spanish, but then specifically looked at us and requested that we also pray in English.  We love that they are learning that prayer is really important in our family!

One other note about last night… We decided to have breakfast for dinner.  We bought some bacon from the grocery store after Tammy told us it was really good – even better than bacon in the states, in her opinion.  We think she was right!  The kids gobbled their bacon… Like “Tio” Josh says at home, everything is better with bacon!! (And these kids love eggs, too!)

Our experience as new parents has not been all perfect fun.  We’ve had our moments of crying, pouting, etc… And for whatever reason, Jose decided to get up at 2:45 last night (well, this morning).  He was wide awake, turning lights on, and trying to wake up his sisters when we discovered it.  So, Papi got to sit up with him until he went back to sleep… 90 minutes later!!  I know, I know.  All of you seasoned parents are just grinning right now.

Today, our friend Tammy surprised us and brought the kids some costumes to play “dress up” with.  What child doesn’t like to dress up as a fairy tale character?  Ours certainly enjoyed it.  We went straight from pajamas to costumes!

We also played with sticker books and then watched “Frozen.”

Again.

This afternoon, it was time to get out in the sun and have some fun with the hose.  Our kids love agua!

You can tell we are having good days, and we feel the power of your prayers for our family.  Thank you for keeping up with us, and for so many positive comments coming our way.  You have been a sweet encouragement to us as we have missed being home this week!  Pray for our days to be filled with plenty to do, and for Mom and Dad to feel God’s strength a little stronger each day as we are away.

Isaiah 41:10 – Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.  – We know God is with us every day, and every step of our journey!

Hopefully the internet service will get better, and we will be able to keep the updates coming.  We have a visit from our social worker to see how things are going sometime later this week, and we will certainly keep you updated.  To our church family in Blue Springs… Thank you for celebrating with us and praying for us again in yesterday’s worship services.

We are blessed.

Lee

 

 

 

It doesn’t take an understanding of another language to know what a sad face and holding your stomach means.

Along with fever…

And then the mess to clean up on the couch cushions…

Hate it for the little guy.

I’m actually not getting this posted until the morning of December 10 (Thursday)… But that’s because our internet was not working again last night, so my hands were tied.

As I told you Tuesday night, our little one came down with a fever and wasn’t feeling so good.  After our initial “stomach episode” that evening, he didn’t seem to have any more tummy troubles – mostly the fever and some stuffy head.  In fact, we think the tummy problem was mostly caused by some drainage.  Along with some medicine, he slept all night, and rested much of the day Wednesday.

I know it sounds bad, ’cause he was sick… But he looks adorable when he’s sleeping.

That thing he’s holding is a plastic martillo (hammer).  It has become his favorite toy since being with us, and he doesn’t like to do much of anything without it.

The good news is that, by yesterday evening, he was perking up and getting his energy back.  We got him to eat a little, and the smiles and silliness started peeking through.  Those were good signs.

The bad news is that both of the girls have now shown signs of the same sickness.  Towards the end of last week, we were around a person or two that had a bit of a head cold-type thing (I never know what really constitutes actually having “a cold”).  We think they may have just all caught a tiny bit of it.  Sofia had a short round with some fever yesterday, but it didn’t amount to much.  This morning, Jennyfer woke up with it and is coughing quite a bit.

Whatever it is, the encouraging thing is that it doesn’t seem to be lasting long.

Meanwhile, I took a little time on Tuesday to go with Miss Tammy to a local market to get some fruits and veggies.  It’s cheaper to buy them at market then at the grocery store.  This was my first time visiting a market, and I wish I had gotten more photos.  However, you have to guard your phone closely.

There is anything and everything at the market.  If you need it for everyday living, someone sells it a booth.

Yesterday we spent most of our time just taking it easy, since not everyone was feeling up to speed.  I took the chance to do some cleaning around the casa, and Casey got to go have a little friend time with Tammy over lunch.

One “official” update, however… Yesterday afternoon we had our first home visit from our Nicaragua social worker. I told you previously this was a good thing because we weren’t expecting it this soon.  In our opinion, the visit seemed to go very well! She appeared to be pleased with what she observed of the children, and with our answers to her questions.  Some of her responses seemed to indicate that she might even have been a bit surprised (pleasantly) at how well the children have adapted to us so quickly, and at the strength of our relationship with them after just the first week.  At times we are surprised by it all, too… But then, that’s just how God has been working through this whole process!

She left asking us to email her a handful of photos of our time with the children because she wanted to present them to some of the officials who are reviewing cases.  I’ll have more info on that later, but for now we were excited that she seems to be keeping things rolling for us.

We ended the day on Wednesday with everyone feeling good enough to have a special treat.  I had gotten them the night before, but with Jose getting sick, they got put on hold.

Our love to all of you who are reading and following our progress. Depending on how everyone feels, we may be trying to get out and do some fun things today.  Check back soon…

We are blessed,

Lee

 

 

¡Buenos días! Hopefully all of you have had a good week, and are looking forward to a nice weekend.  We are missing all of you at home, but we know that we are right where we belong at this time.  Thank you for praying for our family when you think of us!

Today we are continuing the struggle to overcome the fever that has made it’s way through the kids.  Although it has not been full-fledged flu or anything along those lines, every time we think it’s gone it rears it’s head again.  Jose is past it, but the girls have still had some fever last night and this morning.  They don’t feel bad enough to want to stay in bed, so we are continuing to do some things together.  But you can tell today that the usual energy is not quite there.  🙂

I will have to say that we probably aren’t very good parents.  We should have stayed home yesterday and made sure that everyone was resting and not pushing it.  Nope.  Not us!  It seemed everyone was feeling good at the time, so off we went to the movies with miss Tammy and her boys!  Honestly, our kids did great.  Probably just a bit too much-too soon in hind sight.

Nevertheless, we had a really great afternoon.  This was the first time our kids had ever been to a movie theatre.  Such a treat for us to get to share in this experience with them!  We went to a cinema located at The Galleria (Galerías Santo Domingo), which is the only large shopping mall in Managua.

We saw the movie “The Good Dinosaur.”  While the entire movie was in Spanish, even Casey and I enjoyed it.  Regardless of the dialogue language, we could easily follow the story line.  The kids seemed to really enjoy the experience, even with a few little scary parts.  Movie theatre popcorn was a great treat, too!

After the movie, miss Tammy’s boys (Slaton and Antonio) asked if we could go to the arcade.  Again, another first for our bunch.  Talk about lots to take in!  They couldn’t seem to finish one thing before becoming mesmerized by another.

By the time we were done, they were tired and ready to go home! After dinner and showers, they went right to bed and slept hard.

Today we have enjoyed breakfast together and then went out for a walk around Hope Central.  It’s a beautiful day here, and it’s good to get outside each day and take advantage of the grounds here.  However, our kids love being at the casa and hanging out together.  So after our walk, we came back inside and did a project together making bracelets.

We will spend the rest of the day staying close to the casa to make sure that everyone can take it easy and get over any remaining fever.  But Papi is going to do a little shopping with Tammy later while everyone else stays here and rests.  Sunday is Sofia’s birthday, so I need to get some things so we can have our first family birthday celebration!

You know, this may sound silly, but yesterday I actually teared up watching “The Good Dinosaur.” If you haven’t seen the movie, I’ll try not to spoil too much.  But at the end of the movie, one of the final scenes depicts an orphan being taken into a new family.  You need to see it to fully understand the story line, but most people would tear up because the scene also included a friend having to say goodbye in order to go be with his new family.  But I teared up because the new family was a Mom, Dad and three kids, offering a new – better – life to the orphan as he became part of a loving family.  He was sad to leave a friend, but so excited for the new life that awaited.

I just couldn’t help it but to see our family in those silly cartoon characters, and to think, “That’s what God just did for us!”  He created a bigger family so that these three little ones could have a better life than what they’ve had.   And that’s what the Father also did for each of us when He made a way for us to know Him, and to become His children through salvation.

It’s so cool to watch God’s bigger plan unfold, and I’m grateful He chose us to help make it happen!

We are blessed.

Lee

 

 

“The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.”  (Isaiah 40:28)

Father, help us to lead our children to see this in our lives, and to make this the theme of their own.

 

December 13… Sofia’s 7th birthday!

On Sunday we went to church in the morning, and enjoyed an afternoon of napping.  Everyone is on the downside of the sickness – Jenny’s fever just won’t go away, but she seems to feel pretty good and the runny noses and coughing are all getting better.  You can tell everyone is feeling more normal because the energy levels are rising.  This is good on one hand, but tiring for Mom and Dad on the other! A few down days and suddenly these kiddos have lots of silly energy stored up!

But that’s all part of the deal, right?  Kids will be kids… And we wouldn’t trade it in for anything.  🙂

Last night we had a little family birthday party for Sofia under the cabana.  Enjoy the pics… They are kind of dark, because there is not bright lighting under the cabana.  But in real life, it was perfect for an evening celebration!

We now are the parents of  three, seven and eight year olds!  Thank you, Father, for family.

We are blessed.

Lee