On Hellos, Goodbyes and Water Buffalo Meat

I visited Annie in Bogota, Colombia this month! It was wonderful to see her, meet the wonderful team of people she is working with, and get to know a bit more about the ministry first hand. My favorite activity was teaching in the first grade class room. What a riot! They were so cute, so rambunctious and so hard to keep focused. But I loved their enthusiasm and it was fun to see them actually learning to read!

Annie's house (behind the cars and sketchy guys)

At Oma, a cafe.

And some pictures about the city:

On the farm outside Bogota that the ministry owns. This is where they have a couple of houses that are used to help raise kids who have no parents or whose parents can't currently care for them. It was inspirational to see these homes where the kids were so well cared for and loved and instructed.

While I trotted about in Colombia Rebecca was kind enough to come home and stay with the kids. Great trade off for me! They had a great time.

Here are some great pictures she got:

I was worried after doing fun things like hiking and spending the day at the creek they might be sad to have me home. But they were all very excited.

However I've been left with a bit of a bittersweet ache in my heart. Being with Annie, helping in the school, realizing the stresses she is under and the sacrifices she's making, makes it all that much harder to be apart.

And having had Rebecca here for a week, and not being able to be here myself, was also a frustrating experience. Just before I left I'd bought all kinds of fabric to make medieval garb for the kids. This would have been something Rebecca and I could have enjoyed doing together--and she was here for a whole week!

It was really super nice when Rebecca made a short stop at home on Wednesday night on her way to the PAPA Festival. It was so good to be able to give her a hug and drink a cup of coffee together in the morning. She also left us with 2 pounds of water buffalo from the farm--an added bonus :-)

When my kids first left home I was happy for them and eager to see them on their way in life. I've enjoyed sharing their experience vicariously. But I think the coming and going of this month has made me realize more than ever that our old way of life is gone and "Together Forever" has taken on a slightly different meaning.

Anyway, we ate the water buffalo for dinner last night and it was chewy, but flavorful. A bit like life--the good mixed in with a lot of hard work!