We're Off & Arrived!

We had some technical difficulties getting this posted earlier today, so here goes an update:

As I write this, we are in flight to Atlanta from Harrisburg, PA! Here we come, Jona! Less than 72 hours now separate us from our little hijo, and we can hardly wait!

Our trip today was rather uneventful (a nice change from some of the more recent events of our lives!). I think it was Genecee(sp?) that mentioned in one of her comments that the enemy loves to have field day...that is no joke! So true! Dave and I found ourselves pondering this several times in the past week or so. Sometimes life is just a rough road. Anyway, it is quite a joy to finally be in Colombia!

Here's a pic of Dave as we are arriving in the El Dorado Airport!
This evening we are staying at El Refugio with the Adelman's and several other families, although we have only run into one other family from France who are completing an adoption of two girls, I believe age 2 and and 6...could be wrong on that!

At any rate, here is a fun pic of Debi and I posing just outside our room shortly after we met; the beautiful blanket in hand is from the Adelman's (hand-made by Debi) for our precious Jona! (Thanks so much, Mark and Debi; what a wonderful gift!)

Being able to catch up with and hang out with the Adelman's is definintely another super highlight of our trip to Colombia as we have been journeying together in adoption over the last several month. (Mark and Debi are also a Colombian CHI family who will meet there dear little hija on Monday morning in Bogota…Alejandra, you are one special little girl with two pretty amazing parents!)

We will be traveling to Pereira tomorrow so our visit together will be short-lived; although, who knows, maybe an arranged meeting in a couples weeks will work out!

I (Sheila) am super excited to finally be in Colombia (the traffic isn't as bad as we have heard...sort of reminded us of our trips to Philadelphia...fast, aggressive driving...lanes seem to be optional here; this would be the major difference)! It still feels a bit surreal to be meeting Jonatan on Tuesday. I continue to wonder what he is thinking…what he is doing at this moment…how is he being prepared for Tuesday…what is his foster Mom, family, thinking and feeling themselves. I wonder what our introduction as a family holds for Tuesday. And I especially wonder what God is already doing in the heart of someone so young and just starting out in life.
It was so very wonderful to sit with friends and talk a bit about this journey over a late night dinner last night…fun to see Dave so very excited himself…in not just finally journeying to Colombia to meet his son…but to travel to a place that has given him such fond and rich memories.

As a side note for my work family at the hospital: You guys are such a blessing! While I am not the best at publicly conveying in words all that my heart feels…I am so very appreciative and humbled by your care and generosity in helping us to provide for Jonatan! (For those of you who do not know what I am talking about…my coworkers pulled together a big feast and surprise baby shower at work…so fun and a super surprise!) I can’t wait for you to meet Jonatan yourselves! Oh, he has no idea how big his family is actually becoming!

We plan to continue to ‘journal’ through our travels in Colombia and will be sure to post pictures of our experiences while there. For those that are reading this for the first time, please feel free to post comments here or email us at dsderr4@msn.com . We would love to hear from you and will do our best to keep up with everyone while we are away!