Wow.... WOW. I am so glad as we start this part of our adoption story that we have an awesome God who is all powerful and is in control of all things. If He was not then I don't know what I would do. (This post will have to be short as I need to buy an adapter to charge the laptop battery.) We arrived Thursday May 21st and by the time we had a layover in Sao Paulo and then flew to Iguasu Falls it was after 4:00 pm. We were met by Lino from LIMIAR. He will be helping us while we are down here. He has been great right from the start. LIMIAR has a gem in him. On Friday at 9:00 am we were at the Judges office taking care of the 30 day custody paperwork. The judge is very concerned about the children in the orphanages. I was asked if I was nervous... I really didn't feel nervous which surprised me. I said "I probably should be but I have never been through this before". Later Rebekah said she wasn't nervous either. When we finished signing we were told the kids were coming in.... and then there they were. All 4 of them. It was a wonderful time of quietly getting to know them. Wellington woke with a fever so he was a little reserved... I think that is his nature anyway. Lidiane was smiling and warmed up to Rebekah faster than to me. Pamela.... let's just say Pamela will probably meet few strangers in her life. She was all hugs and talk... and more talk... and more talk... you get the idea. Gabriel (Eduardo) was very shy and just watched for the first 15- 20 minutes. Then he warmed up and loves to be held by both of us. The kids all watch out for each other. After this time with the Judge, we sent 2 suitcases by bus to Curitiba (they still haven't arrived) and stuffed the rest of the luggage and all 7 of us in Lino's car and drove 7 hours to Curitiba where we will stay till June 30. Lino was surprised at how well the kids have behaved. They were concerned that Gabriel would cry a lot with new people and surroundings. He has done this in the past. I believe all the prayer warriors were busy asking for a good day... you all know who you are... thanks and keep it up. We are staying at a Christian retreat center called Lar Betania. It looks like it will be a great situation for us. We have 2 rooms with a bath between. They will serve us 3 meals/day Mon-Fri, and breakfast on the weekends. But if they have larger groups on the weekends then we can have 3 meals then too. Guess what.... there is a large group here today so we get 3 meals on our 1st full day here, making it easy to adjust... Praise the Lord. Tomorrow, Sunday, we get breakfast and then will figure out the other meals later. There is also a school here... so on the weekends we have access to their playground... PTL. So we have been using it. The kids are good, actually excellent by adoption standards, however, we can see the kids testing us and seeing how we will react. Some are better at it than others. Please pray for us as you remember... we will need it everyday. Also pray for all of our health. Pray the 2 suitcases get here. Not only did they have the kids clothes... they had most of the diapers. The nuns at the orphanage sent clothes in a small bag, so we have clothes for 2 days for them... PTL again. We will try to add pictures later.
Dave