What a Day!

Today we went to pick up Siguel - he is in the process of being adopted by a family in the states and we have taken him as a foster son to help him with the giant transition that he has ahead of him - moving from the poorest shanty you can imagine to a middle class family in the states!

We were nervous about picking him up due to him extremely violent father who was not happy about him leaving. The mom also had finally decided to move away from him (which was a huge victory!) and we were going to drive her down to her father's house with the rest of the children to live there. Siguel was a mixture of emotions - sad about saying goodbye to his happy - and relief about leaving the situation. The father was there - wanted to meet with and talk with us - and he was civil and peaceful - what a huge relief to us! (We found out later the mom had lied and told him that they were coming back to pick him up and the rest of the stuff the next day so that he would let them leave).

We loaded the families stuff (mom and 4 kids) into the truck and Tristan and Mario drove them to their relatives house about 4 hours away. Tristan said the land was beautiful - all farming and green and a completely different atmosphere then where they were living. Tristan said the roads were so terrible that they wouldn't have made it if it without our big monster of a truck - 4X4 the whole way in 1st gear and still sliding around! Sounds like those roads aren't used much. Tristan got home around 9:30pm - after having driven 11 hours!

Siguel came with Leonie and I and I think we overwhelmed him. Although he lives on a mountain near Tegucigalpa, he's never been in the city. So we went to the mall to buy him clothes and he had almost nothing. He was so excited to pick out shirts and pants, shorts, socks, shoes, etc. He thought the "moving stairs" were really strange (escalators) and since when do counter tops move!?!? (conveyor belt at the grocery store). He asked if the mall was it's own city and pretty much walked around with his mouth open the whole time. We came to our house and gave him the tour which was also overwhelming. To make a long story a little shorter - everything was strange and different. After dinner I asked him to put something in the fridge and he didn't know what it was. He helped me wash the dishes and thought the running water was really fun to play in, and the television was enchanting, my food processor is so loud, and there is a machine that washes clothes!?!? The best part of it all for me was giving him his first shower he's ever had - running water - and then it was even warm water! He was giggling the whole shower and jumping around in circles - it was adorable! oh - and we also had a tooth-brushing lesson and de-liced his head. He starts parasite medicine tomorrow.

Yes Siguel definitely had his hard moments yesterday and it was hard on him to leave his family - but I think he's going to do fine. He's not used to love, to playing, to positive attention, so please pray that he has an open heart to a new life. I feel so honored to be able to help him through this transition. It is so rewarding to do this!

We'll keep updating you!