Happy Birthday Hugo! and other reflections

On Monday we called Hugo and Leidy to wish Hugo a happy birthday. It was pretty momentous -- the girls had not heard their voices since our farewell visit in February in Bogota. We sang to Hugo, and then the four kids talked for maybe 15 minutes. We were amazed at how happy and excited Wendy and Fer were to tell Hugo and Leidy all about their life with us. Wendy actually referred to us at one point as "mis papas" -- first time in my hearing, she has usually called us "los padrinos" -- and at another time was saying how "mi mama" has allergies when Leidy asked why we don't have a cat! Leidy especially had lots of questions, wanting to know about the girls' school, their friends, the dogs, the house, and so on. It was a little hard, knowing that Hugo and Leidy are on this call in one of the offices in the orphanage, and that so much is unknown to them about what their life will be like in the United States. At the end I had a chance to speak to Hugo briefly and told him that Julei is working hard on the papers and is doing everything she can to move the process along, and that we are so excited to welcome them to the States when they come. I also told him we would call again soon.

That night Wendy had a really hard time going to bed -- maybe just one of her nights, but maybe it had to do with the call. It's hard to tell. And while Fer seemed very happy about the call and didn't have any overt reaction, I think it also brought up for her some fantasies that somehow Hugo and Leidy will come to live with us. When she visited me at school on Wednesday, she was drawing on my blackboard and wrote on the board "Wendy Weeks Fer Weeks Hugo Weeks Leidy Weeks." I had to tell her no, Hugo and Leidy would have a different last name, and spelled out Julei's last name for her so she could see it. She has also been writing in her notebooks about how all the family loves Hugo and Leidy, and how much she loves Hugo and Leidy.

Fer said something so sweet the other night. I was cooking dinner and she was in the kitchen with me, and she kissed my arm and said "Thank you for adopting me, because I didn't have a mom." We were talking at dinner and she said it again -- "Thank you for adopting me, because we didn't have a family. And now we have a very good family."

Wendy has become so much more attached to us as well. She is often in my arms and calls me "Mami" maybe 80% or more of the time. Tonight as she was going to bed she said "Mami I like to be with you and I don't want to go away from you." On the way to school this week she spontaneously took Chris's hand, and that has happened a few times since. When I think of the prickly little girl who told me that I would always be ugly to her and she would call me madrina for the rest of her life, I'm just amazed! And so very, very thankful for all the blessings we have that have made this new life possible.