Two weeks ago, I visited my friends one last time here in Columbus before they moved on to their next adventure near Nashville, Tennessee. They just finished up a year of serving as houseparents at New Song Mission, and now Zayde has accepted a job as a new Dual Language teacher at a school not far from where her daughter and new son-in-law live.
We met over e-mail shortly before heading to Colombia for the second time when we arranged to work/volunteer at El Camino Academy in Bogotá while we spent a whole month with Julian. Zayde was in charge of the English summer school program at the school, so she and I exchanged several e-mails ahead of our arrival.
Little did I know that we'd be staying in the same apartment complex where she and her husband and daughter lived and that we'd basically be doing life together that entire month. They got to be part of our adoption journey, meeting and getting to know Julian and being so very present in our fight to reopen Juan David's adoption that summer.
The adventures of the Alspaugh/Lopez family had only just begun. Now looking back over the last 13 years, we've built quite a few memories that have bonded us together like family.
- Bogotá
- Los Cipreses (the apartment complex)
- ECA (the school)
- Julian
- Juan David
- An afternoon together at a picnic in a park with both Julian and Juan David
- The Salt Cathedral in Bogotá
- Human hamster balls
- A dinosaur tour
- Teaching English as a Second Language
- Renacer (the Baptist Church in Bogotá)
- Merceditas (a lady from that church who knew and loved Juan David and Julian as children)
- Apulo (a weekend in paradise)
- Villa de Leyva
- Pozos Azules
- The emergency clinic in Paipa
- Swimming in Bogotá
- Juan David's adoption
- Staying with them our last week in Colombia
- Crepes and Waffles
- Santa Fe mall
- Ayuelos mall
- Church picnic
- COVID (Zayde got stuck in the U.S. while visiting her daughter)
- Colombia Adoptions Group where Zayde gained a lot of clients for her online Spanish/English tutoring business
- Spanish book club
- Columbus, IN
- Our first overnight guests in our new home
- New Song Mission (school and summer camp)
- Occasional lunches after church
- Fiesta Latina
- Teaching kids how to make arepas
- Terrace Lake Church
- Desserts and Decaf with the ladies at Terrace Lake Church
- Christmas lights in Madison, IN
- 4th of July celebration at our house
- Bilingual teaching
- And many more!
Sometimes it's just pretty crazy to see how God weaves our stories together and connects us in ways we never could have imagined. So although I felt a tug of sadness in my heart giving them that last hug, I knew it wasn't really goodbye. So I wrote in a card, "Until the next adventure!"
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