Some people have bucket lists. But I’m not one of those people. In fact, I mostly have a list of things I hope never to do. I like a decent adventure like camping, hiking, or visiting some caverns. But nothing crazy. If I get an invitation to skydive, climb a frozen mountain, or swim with sharks, my answer will be no. Those would be on my reverse bucket list – my list of things that I hope I never do.
When I realized that God was calling us to adopt from Colombia, I put off thinking through the details. This kind of trip would have definitely made it on my reverse bucket list if God hadn’t been the one leading.
The plan was for Brandon and me to take our three boys to Colombia for about a month where we would finalize the adoption of our fourth child. During a global pandemic. During a nationwide Colombian protest.
Slowly as paperwork progressed and the reality of the trip came into view, I prayed and reminded God that I don’t handle crazy adventures well. But as I prayed, I began to realize how futile it was to try to talk God out of a crazy adventure. For, our God LOVES crazy adventures and ridiculous ventures.
The Bible brims with these accounts. I think of Jesus’ own mother Mary who was nine months pregnant traveling cross country on a donkey and having a baby in a stable. Crazy adventure. I think of Moses and the Israelites and how God parted the Red Sea and then allowed them to wander in the wilderness for 40 years. Crazy adventure. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and how they didn’t really plan to be roasted in a furnace and come out alive. Crazy adventure. Daniel who spent the night in a den of lions and hollered out the next morning that he was alive. The apostle Paul who set out to preach and got thrown into prison, shipwrecked, snake bitten, and healed. As I recollected these stories, I slowly began to let go of the thought that maybe God would listen to my concerns and agree our trip to Colombia might be too crazy of an idea.
Just as it was useless to try to talk God out of a crazy idea, it was just as futile to explain to God that I was unfit because I’m not adventurous enough. For God has a history of calling and using the most unqualified people. I think of Noah with no mention of special building ability, and yet, God called him to a 50+ years ark building project. Unqualified. Young, inexperienced David walking out to fight armored Goliath. Unqualified. Paul, who previously murdered Christians, called to write most of the New Testament. Unqualified.
My head was spinning as I realized how futile it would be to try to talk God out of going to Colombia. So, I took a deep breath and dove into the details of our trip.
The trip was overwhelming even before we left home. Packing was a monstrous task. Our plan was to spend most of our time in Bogotá, Colombia but also travel to a little town called La Mesa to do court proceedings. The weather in Bogotá is moderate (temperatures usually in the 60’s) and rainy. But La Mesa is tropical and hot. This meant some warm clothes and rain gear for Bogotá and summer clothes and swim gear for La Mesa.
I didn’t get very far into packing before realizing my kids’ clothing options were sparse. I began packing at the end of last year. 2020. The Covid year. The year nobody went anywhere. Add in the fact that we live on a farm, and I hadn’t thought much about clothes at all. As our kids grew, I had just bought overalls online in the next size up.
After telling my kids to try on their “good clothes” that hadn’t been worn all year, I was chagrined to realize they were all too small. My boys had absolutely nothing presentable to wear in Colombia. That’s when packing led me to shopping. I spent so much time shopping online as dressing rooms were still closed because of Covid. Not only was I shopping for my boys, but I was also buying for Mila. After several months of online shopping, trying on, keeping, and returning, we finally had enough suitable clothes for our trip.
Clothing: Done.
But then we had to pack toys and crafts for we were to spend much time in a hotel room with four children. And then there was bug spray, sunscreen, nail clippers, toothbrushes. There were laptops, tablets, cell phones, and chargers. There were floats and goggles and handheld fans. There were medications, thermometers, and creams. There was a travel stroller and ergo baby carrier. We had one designated hallway upstairs where we piled things to be packed.
Somehow. Someway. A day or two before we were to leave, we stuffed, weighed, and locked five checked bags, two carry ons, and five backpacks.
We made arrangements for the farm animals and pets. We packed the van. And on the morning of May 20, 2021, we left our house at 5am.
You already know the next part of the story. We arrived in Bogotá that same day and the following day was encuentro, the day we met Mila. You know how we struggled with her sickness right off and how we had ups and downs those first few days.
In my next post, I’ll tell you about how our family survived spending over 3 weeks in a hotel.
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