Home, Health, and Hope

So... a WAY late blog post. Going from 2 to 3 children seems to increase the workload by 150%. No excuses though. On to the show.

Welcoming Max home:



And yes, that's my Grandpa Brander, at 88 years old, greeting Beck and Max at the airport at 10 p.m. A true man of God, he literally would pray on his knees for us every day. He could teach the rest of us a thing or two about prayer and faith. Thanks Grandpa- for everything.

Beck, Ally, and Beck's mom had a long day of travel, but fortunately were able to catch all their connections (and the all-important one in Houston/immigration/customs), and had a greeting party meet them in Grand Rapids. It was a great homecoming, and we are so thankful they are back. Ally had a couple days of school before her Christmas break, and Will was also excited to have his "play buddy" back home. Now we get to hear them scream as they run around the house as Will wears his new knight costume (it was his 3rd birthday on the 19th):

Max is settling in nicely. He got to meet the sleep Nazi (in a good way) on day two of being home, and like the 2 siblings before him, lost. Becky has an amazing way of getting kids to understand that when it's nap time, you sleep. So, Max slept. And has been sleeping well ever since- only one or two wake-ups during the night since we've been home, and he's also had a cold, so that's a pretty good sleep-to-wake up ratio. The kid has an always-there smile, too- you look at him, and he pops his toothless grin. He's a chunk. His thighs are reminiscent of a bowl of Jello; wiggly and jiggly. And he's got a belly to match- there is no doubt that Los Pisingos took great loving care of our son. :) We're blessed to have him home, and are looking forward to watching him grow.

So this Christmas season, we are thankful. We have our health as well, and thankfully our children don't get sick often (knock on wood). Health is good, no? We've seen many people sick, from the common cold to what seems like an epidemic of cancers. We live in a broken world, but thankfully we still have Hope. Our pastor, Ron Kool, had a sermon about it a couple weeks ago, and it's true; without hope, life borders on impossible. I read this quote recently: "The wings of hope carry us, soaring high above the driving winds of life." ~Ana Jacob

So here we are, at this point in our journey. It's been an interesting 7 or 8 years for us. The day that we said our vows on June 20, 1998, if you would have told us that in 2011 we would have 3 children from Colombia, we would have told you that you were nuts.

But that was our journey, and thankfully so; from the disappointments of infertility we had early on, to the sheer joy and excitement of our first trip to Bogota for Ally, to the incredible blessing of adding Will into our family just last year, and now having Max home for his first Christmas... man, what a blessed, blessed life we have. Sure, it's not always easy, but when we step back and take a look at the big picture, I just can't imagine it any other way. We've been told how great it is that we selflessly adopted these children, but that's not true. It's we who are blessed by their smiles, their personalities, and their love. I can't imagine it any other way, nor do I want to. Every single day I thank God for bringing us to this place, and although there have been moments of fear, frustration, and not understanding, all along it's been His plan. He knew where we would be the day we met in the hallway 0f Grand Rapids Christian High School back in 1991, with me wearing my sexy overalls and all... :).

When we had begun our struggles and gone through one of the most difficult times in either of our lives, we were given a gift. It was a gift given to us by my sister, and each year it reaches the highest point on our Christmas tree (just above the half-eaten marshmallow lady, Cathy :)), and it's our sign of Hope:

A kneeling angle sits atop our tree every year, and will until the day we die. It's our symbol of Hope, and reminds us of not only the trials and tribulations, but also of the blessings we've been given. Because believe me, there are 3 of them in this house ages 6 years and under that bring us hope every day, and FAR outweigh what we've been through. It's a popular verse, but very apropos. It's Isaiah 40:31: "but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength.They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary,they will walk and not be faint."

Honestly, it goes back to Hope. We can't control the day to day things that happen to us. We can't predict the future, so we rest our Hope. On Him. We've been given the ultimate Gift, and in this holiday season, I'd invite you to remember and reflect on that. No one is perfect, and He knows that. Only One has ever been perfect, and that was 2,000 years ago. But we have Hope, and when things don't go our way, as they often won't, we need to remember our Hope, our Savior, and His sacrifice. 2,000 years ago He was born, and 2,000 years ago we were given Grace.

It's now Joy, Unspeakable Joy:

We first sang that song in church, and when I saw Chris Tomlin's name on it, I had to look it up. Amazing song, and an absolutely phenomenal song. It's unspeakable, isn't it? Grace? Joy? Salvation? What would life be without it, and how empty. Sure, we can fill it with Things, and will, to some extent, this holiday season. But still, it's about Hope. Without it, life is much more difficult, and I think that He wants us to know that we need Hope. It is our hope that, through these last few years, you've enjoyed our journey. We've been so blessed, and have family, friends, and people that have helped us beyond what we deserve. Our adoption journey may be complete (or may not be; only One knows the absolute answer to that), but we are fortunate to be surrounded by incredible family and friends. If you've followed us since Ally's adoption, thank you. If you've only begun following our path with Max's adoption, thank you, too. We've had fun, and are looking forward to the next part of our journey. God has blessed us immensely, and for that we are thankful. Our hope is that you have been blessed in one way or another by and through this, our journey.

Much love to all, and thank you Lord, for our beautiful children.

Scott, Becky, Ally, Will, and Max

Happy Endings and New Beginnings

Well it's official. I got the visa today and we are coming home on Sunday!

Today went really smoothly. No glitches, no hitches. Thank you again, God!

We have been having some fun with Mom and Cathy these last couple of days...















Here we are the last day at the markets....a typical sight here in Colombia...the double stroller. Oh, how I won't miss you! :) Or the sidewalks!

















Yesterday, we traveled to Monseratte. Although it rained, we still enjoyed the view!
















Another view from Monseratte.















And for the past two days, we have been celebrating by going to Crepes and Waffles. So good! This is one thing I will miss the most! (Ally will too!!)

So as I write this blog post, I can't help but reflect on the past four weeks. Colombia has become a part of our lives and our family, and I can't help but think how our lives would look without our children who have come from this beautiful country. I am going to miss it. I will miss the mountains, the food, the people. And I will miss this country that has given us three wonderful children.

But as I am sad to leave, I am also so excited to begin our lives as a family of five. We have been apart for two weeks (and only two weeks, thanks be to God) and it's time to be reunited once again. We will have some adjusting as we learn to all live together again, but I can't wait to go home for the holidays. We are so blessed and can't begin to express our thanks...but I will try.

First and foremost, my thanks goes to God. Without whom, none of this would have been possible. Thank you, Jesus.

I want to thank Isabel, our rep here in Colombia. For such a small woman, she is so large in personality and tenacity. She fought for us numerous times and we are so thankful for all of her help. After three times here, she has become like family. Thank you, Tia!

Thanks to all of our friends and family who have followed the blog, sent emails and prayed us through this process. Your thoughts, kind words and prayers kept us going throughout the weeks. We couldn't have done it without you!

Thank you to all of you who took care of Scott and Will while they were home. Just knowing that Will was safe and loved while we were gone was so comforting...thank you!

To my mom and Cathy for coming to Colombia (even without luggage and showers) and helping with Ally and Max and for providing moral support. I think I may have lost my mind without you guys here! :)

And to Los Pisingos for matching us with the sweetest boy we could imagine. Max, we are so glad that you are part of our family. We are so blessed to have you!

I also want to ask you all to continue praying. There are a couple of families still here that are experiencing issues with courts, judges on vacation, and no plane tickets available in order to go home. John and Sonia are among these families, and our hearts ache for them as they all want to be home for Christmas. So please pray that this will happen for them as well.

So tonight, I will sign off from Colombia. From this land that has grown our family. Excited to get home to become a family. Sad to leave, but looking forward to going all in one breath. The holidays are going to be so sweet this year. Merry Christmas.

Con mucho amor,

Scott, Becky, Ally, Will and Max

God strikes again!

Another quick update...another jam packed day! :)

We started the day by heading to ICBF to get a letter needed for the US Embassy. Aside from the traffic, all went well and we got the letter we needed. Isabel then informed me that we had an appointment at the US Embassy at 2pm. I would be picked up by 1pm. We traveled to the Embassy and aside from being soaked by the rain, again, things went perfectly. They are closed tomorrow for another holiday, but we can pick up the visa on Friday at 330. There is still a chance that something could go wrong with the Visa, and I won't feel completely comfortable until I have the visa in hand, but as of right now, we are coming home on Sunday. God has been working miracles all throughout this process...it has gone off without a hitch. Even in switching the flights. Scott tried to switch the flights earlier today with no luck. We were thinking that we would have to fly home Monday. Then, after calling again and being put on hold, he was put on the line with an angel. This man got us flights on Sunday AND waived the change fee! We couldn't believe it! Again, praising God for His ultimate goodness...we are so in awe!

Another blessing, the luggage came today! (so no worries, Nikole and Leanne, Cath has her vitamins! :)) My mom and Cathy finally got to take a shower and are feeling much better this evening!

So tomorrow, we are doing some sight seeing...finally able to enjoy some down time here in Colombia! I promise to post some pictures tomorrow night! Feeling beyond blessed tonight as I sit here with my mom and sister in the country that has blessed me with three amazing children. And praising God again for his goodness. And wondering how I am deserving of all this.

From Colombia for only a few more days,

Becky, Ally, Max, Mom F. and Cath

A Quick Update

Wanted to write a quick update...it has been an exhausting couple of days so I need to get to bed! :)

My mom and Cathy arrived safely last night around 230am. Without their luggage. Please pray that they get it soon...it's so hard to be in another country especially without being able to take a shower or change your clothes! We are hoping for word this evening.

Today was another day of running and running. We got a lot accomplished. We were able to get Max's Colombian passport and we made it to the embassy doctor to get the clearance that we needed from him. (Not without many comments about how "gordo" Max is :))

The final two pieces are a letter from ICBF (which we should be able to pick up tomorrow morning) and Max's U.S. visa. This last piece is the piece that is still up in the air. The U. S. embassy is proving to be quite difficult to deal with, so we have no idea if we will be able to make an appointment tomorrow or not. If we can't make an appointment tomorrow, it will be a little more difficult to travel by Sunday. We would love to travel by Sunday, but know that again, this is in God's hands and we will be home in his perfect timing.

Thanks again to all of you who are praying us through this process. We appreciate it more than you know! I'll let you know how the day goes tomorrow!

Good night with love,
Becky

Max is Officially Ours

Yes, you read that right...we have Sentencia!!!!

I want to first take a moment and thank the great God that we serve. He is the one who moved the judge and the attorney to sign so quickly. And He is the one who made all of this happen. I am moved to tears by His goodness and His kindness to us in this entire process. I can't even put into words how grateful I am to Him...All praise and All glory be to Him!

Now I will start at the beginning. I woke up early this morning, anticipating a long week ahead without knowing if I would be traveling home for Christmas or not. As I lay in bed praying, I decided to put my total trust in God. He gave me a peace that all would be ok and I cherished that throughout the early morning hours. The kids woke up and I checked my email as I usually do. In my email was a message from my sister in law, Kris. She told me that she was also experiencing a special peace and I started to wonder what the day would bring. She told me to, "be still and know that God is God"...so I had that song going through my head all through breakfast.

After breakfast, we were back in the room, and Hermann came and knocked on the door with a telephone call from our rep, Isabel. She was calling to tell me that she didn't respond to my emails this past weekend because her internet was down. We chit chatted and she said she had no news on my case. As we hung up, I thought, "That's ok. Plenty of time to get sentencia, and I have God on my side." After taking a shower, I was drying my hair and heard another knock on the door. I thought it was Ally, so I ignored it...thinking that she would just come in. But the knock came again, so I answered it. It was Hermann again with the phone. My heart skipped a beat a little, and when I answered, it was Isabel, saying, "Are you sitting down?" She then informed me that the judge has signed the final decree. I honestly couldn't believe it...so fast! (neither could she...she was very surprised) She told me she would pick me up at 1:15 and we would go to the court together to sign the papers saying that Max was officially ours. Could this really be happening? I walked back into the room and fell to my knees...thank you, God!

The rest of the day was a whirlwind. Without boring you with the details, things could not have gone any smoother. We got in and out of the court within an hour and we were able to get to the notary to have Max's birth certificate changed to have our names on it! (A big thanks to Johnny our driver, whose wife knew someone at the notary and called ahead. It was mass chaos when we got there, but we got to go to the head of the line because of Johnny! Another miracle today!) I almost feel guilty with how well this is going. I don't know why we deserve this. Please pray for our friends, John and Sonia. They have been here a week longer than us, and don't have sentencia yet. We know that it should be soon, but still would love prayers on their behalf...they want to go home too!

So tomorrow, we are off to get Max's Colombian passport as well as a letter from Los Pisingos and a trip to the Embassy doctor. Please pray that things continue to move smoothly as there are still a lot of things that could go wrong. If all goes well, there is a chance that we could travel home by Sunday, but that is yet to be seen. We will continue to put our hope in the ONE who is leading us.

I want to close this post by saying thank you. Thank you to all of you who have prayed for us. God heard your prayers and we will be home for Christmas. And Will's birthday! :) And a BIG thank you again to my heavenly father. I can't say it enough. Thank you.

With Love,
Becky, Ally (and now officially :)) Max

Another Weekend in Colombia

Happy Sunday Everyone!

Sorry that I didn't post last night....we were without internet connection here at the hotel. So I'll get you up to speed on the whole weekend.

Saturday was one of those days you don't want to have to relive. I woke up on the wrong side of the bed and then it rubbed off on the other two. Weekends are hard here because there's not much going on, and this one was especially hard because of a couple of things. The hotel had run out of water on Friday around 2pm. This was when I chose to do my laundry because we were getting quite low on essentials. But, with no water, no laundry. They promised me it would be fixed, "mas tarde." For those of you who don't speak spanish, that means, "later". So, in the morning, I checked my sink to see if the water was running, and it was. I thought I was in the clear. After breakfast, I went to take a shower, and turned on the faucet. Out of the faucet came a brown, oozy substance...but no water. Needless to say, this made my mood even worse. So no shower. Then, as I was putting on my jeans (and my last pair of clean underwear), a button popped off. With no needle and thread here (or an insty sew is more like it in my case :)) I put it on the counter to put in my suitcase later. A few minutes later as I was making a bottle for Max, I accidentally slid it off the counter and into the toilet (of which a certain 6 year old had forgotten to flush) Bye bye button, hello even worse mood. This continued through lunch (Juanita, the cook has the weekend off, and let's just say, we should have gone out to lunch..I know better!) and into nap time....until I got an email from my friend Kristi. She is a fellow adoptive mom and knows how long some days are here in Colombia. She told me that she was praying for me and she encouraged me to read her blog. In it, she was reminiscing about her last adoption, two years ago, that day.

As I was reading her blog, I was reminded again, why I am here. I am not here for me. I am not here to be selfish. I am not here to feel sorry for myself. I am here because the God of the universe wants me to be here. This is how God has chosen to grow our family and I am forever grateful. And I wouldn't have it any other way.

I spent some time in prayer, asking God to forgive me for all of my thoughts earlier that day. I then picked up a great book that I'm about half way through (called One Thousand Gifts by Ann Voskamp...a great read if you're looking) and was reminded again to look for the blessings and the good in all circumstances. Life isn't about getting to the next thing...it's about living fully in the moment, and finding peace and joy and God in everything.
So, God used that horrible day to bring me closer to Him. And for that, I am forever thankful. I'm not going to lie. I would love to go home soon to be with Scott and Will again. And to be home for Will's birthday and for Christmas. But I know that God will bring us there in His perfect timing. So for the rest of the day, I rested in that.

Today we went to the markets...it is Sunday! We walked with a bunch of other families from the hotel. We enjoyed the sunshine and bought some gifts for people back home. We decided to go out for lunch (got smarter today) and went to Presto, a local burger place. The food was not much better than what we may have gotten at the hotel, but this restaurant had a large play area, where Ally, Julio and Steven (Julio and Steven are two biological brothers, 7 and 11, being adopted by an American couple here) could play to their hearts content. And they had a blast. It was a little too gross for me to watch (I would never have let Ally play on something like this in the states, but you do what you have to do) so Max and I enjoyed their laughter from a distance.

So all in all, we had a really great weekend here in Colombia. We are very excited to be welcoming my mom and Cathy late tomorrow night. I am really looking forward to seeing two of my favorite faces in Colombia. And we'll see what God has in store for us in the coming week!

With love,

Becky, Ally and Max

What else?

Today was another good day! Max let me sleep for 5 uninterrupted hours which hasn't happened in a couple of weeks. For that I was grateful! :)
Another great thing...the sun was shinning when we woke up! And it kept shining until 1pm...what a treat!
So what do you think we did? We went to the park of course! What else?
Here's the view I see everyday of Max...that's true, but I also couldn't figure out how to rotate this picture and it was too cute too not include!
















And here's Ally at the park climbing:















And more climbing with Alex not far behind:





















John and Sonia (Alex's parents) heard today that they should have Sentencia by early next week. We are rejoicing with them as they have been here for four weeks and would love to go home!
No news on our end. Still resting in God and trying to be patient. At last count, there are only seven more business days in which to get sentencia, otherwise Max and I will be spending Christmas in Colombia. We covet your prayers and know that God has us all in His more than capable hands.
Happy Weekend,
Becky, Ally and Max

All About Max and Indoor Play

As many of you know, it's not supposed to be the rainy season here in Colombia, but someone forgot to tell the weather forecasters...it rains EVERY day! So, needless to say, in an effort to stay sane, we have been trying to find indoor play areas for the kids...not sure if it's working! :)















Not much had been going on here at the hotel. It's a little difficult to do any day trips or sight seeing with two kids by myself, so we've been going to parks, hitting the mall and spending some quality time bonding. Here are two of my three cutie pies, all bathed and having some "tummy time" as Ally likes to call it. She laughs hysterically at Max because he gets so tired, and ends up face down on the bed. To her, it never gets old.















After 2 1/2 weeks, Max is really coming out of his shell. He smiles all the time...he is just the happiest little boy (when his stomach isn't bothering him). And he is content to just go with the flow, which includes lots of in his face from Ally! I'm not sure how we got blessed with this little bundle, but he really is more than we could have ever asked for. We are still getting to know this little person, but he continues to bring joy to us everyday!


















He loves to eat...as you can tell!

















This is his new trick. He thinks he's pretty cool!




















How can you resist that face? I know I can't!

Tomorrow is Friday, which means that my mom and sister are only four days away. I can't wait!
It also means that if we don't hear anything by tomorrow, we have to wait until the next week for news. I also found out that Wednesday is a holiday (of course) so we could really use prayers that we hear something by next week. The deadline is growing ever near, and our hope continues to be in God to unite us all by Christmas.

From my precious kids here and from the one I am missing terribly at home,
Good night!
Love,
Becky