love given & received...

Happy Independence Day Medellin! You are a beautiful city with beautiful people!

Vicky came at noon today and we were off to our favorite spot to eat...the grocery store. It's somewhat like our Market Street in Texas but the fruit is divine...so colorful, fresh and delicious! I'm eating fruit that I wouldn't normally eat. It's excellent. It's also VERY inexpensive! We can eat for $5 each and that includes a full meal. On the second floor of the grocery store the entire level has different restaurants. We plan to try the Italian sometime this week. It also has a spa area on the second floor! Vicky gets a massage once a week...one hour...$15...UNBELIEVABLE! I'm sooo doing this before heading back to the USA.

After lunch we went to a new mall, mainly for the kids. They have been so wonderful, helpful, patient, kind (most of the time) and just great siblings to Valeria/Abi. However, the boredom does set in at times. Inside this HUGE mall there is a HUGE area for kids to play in. It's called Divercity. I didn't actually go in but Vicky said it's amazing. We decided it would be more fun for Josh & Bella if they went with Daddy and Vicky brought Valeria/Abi and I back to the house. It closed at 8pm and if Vicky were to have driven us back we would have had to leave at 4:45...only leaving 1 hr. and 45 min. to play. They say it takes 5 hours to get through the entire kids city. The cost for kids is $6 each. It's truly a little city inside this mall. They choose what area of work they want...banker, store clerk, a baker...many options. After they work, they receive money. After they accumulate their money, they get to go and spend it. Vicky's niece LOVES it...it's for all ages. Medellin is so large (as is Bogota) that you are only allowed to drive at certain times. Your time is chosen by your license plate number. Vicky could not be driving from 5:30-7:30pm today so Bruce stayed to play with the kids and then took a taxi back to our place. He and Josh said the ride home was scary because the driver drove CRAZY. Bella had the best time today....she loved it. Josh enjoyed it but said it wasn't the most fun he's ever had (he's a preteen remember). Bruce said it was a bit of work since they didn't know enough Spanish at times to receive all that they needed or could have received.

With all of that said, Abigail Valeria and I spent the afternoon together! She had a nice long nap and that sounded wonderful to me too. However, there were four men outside our room, literally ten feet away, working on the street...using a jack hammer, shovels, scooting things on the concrete and using a loud truck. She was out. She is obviously accustomed to noise. Also, there is no air conditioning here so we couldn't shut our balcony door or we would have been too hot. It was hot here today. The sun was out for the first time and it was perfect. The mountains had heavy clouds this afternoon so rain may be in the forecast.

After Valeria/Abi woke up, we spent some quality time together...

We played with big legos! We danced while watching High School Musical (1) in Spanish.

We fed each other...she likes Corn Flakes and insists on sharing them with me. She also had a full peach yogurt with granola in it and some fruit on the side. This was just a big snack before our late dinner tonight.

We laughed. We played. I tickled her. And the best part is that we really connected today. While she was eating and sharing her cereal with me, she stopped and gazed into my eyes with a smile on her face. I said, "I love you Abigail Valeria Menefee! You will always be in our family and we won't ever reject you, not ever! You are MY girl!" Then she went on about her business.

After Bruce and the kids came home, Bruce said, "Wow! She's so happy!" YES, SHE IS!!!

Isn't it amazing what God can do? What He can give us? What He has to offer us...a genuine relationship with Him. Isn't it sad that as Christians we choose not to forgive or fully forgive each other? Instead we keep our guards up and don't allow the Lord to change us, or others. Here is this little bitty girl, ready and willing to be loved. She doesn't fully understand what happened to her on the day of her birth. She doesn't know that the woman that birthed her was on drugs and is homeless. She doesn't know how or why she was placed in a foster home. She doesn't know how or why she is now with us. BUT GOD. He knows. He knew when she was in her (birth) mother's womb, she was chosen for us...the Menefee's.

I'm challenged tonight to reach deep inside my heart and ask God to continue His work in me...not as a wife, a mom, a daughter, a friend, an aunt, etc. but just in me, personally. I truly want to live out what He says we can receive from Him...freedom in all areas!

I'm praying for a great night of rest because Valeria/Abi has received so much love today and the bonding process is becoming more and more beautiful.

"Thank You Lord for the beauty of adoption and our complete family! Thank You for love given and received today. I so love You!"