We enjoyed celebrating Navidad Colombian style today!!!
Tia Isabel and Tia Carmen invited us to Isabel's Casa! It was such a rich time with Isabel R.'s sister, daughter, and grand niece! We experienced it all...
Good fellowship...
...lots of singing of Colombian Christmas songs, and American Christmas songs...below our Isabel sang to Tia Carmen, "Away in the Manger" and she thoroughly enjoyed that. Tia Carmen loves music, has a beautiful voice, and taught our kids the traditional Colombian song they sing while reading the "Novena." In Colombia, families gather together to read, sing, and pray together every night, 9 days before Christmas. We experienced this today...
...and they again, generously gave our children each an authentic Colombian Christmas gift. Silas was thrilled with his new "caballo!"
The kids also were entertained by Tia Isabel's grand niece, Carolina...
...below you see Tia Isabel reading the "Novena..."
...they passed it around to all of us. Isabel really enjoyed reading it, and was the only one in our family who understood it, seeing it was all in Spanish. She explained it to us later that it was about "Maria y Jose" coming to the hotel and found out their was no room in the Inn...tomorrow the reading will be about the birth of Jesus...and between each paragraphs we would sing "Come, Come, Come...Jesus come into our souls..." Except it has a better ring to it in Spanish!
Our Isabel kept wanting to sing more Colombian Christmas songs, so, after dinner (well, I guess, it wasn't actually a dinner...Colombians feast each night for 9 days throughout the night of reading the Novena, singing, and praying...
...below, Isabel is finding yet another song to sing...
Muchas Gracias Tia's Isabel and Carmen for making our stay in Colombia so wonderful...letting our Colombian/American family understand more of it's rich traditions, warmth, and culture from our children's birth land! This is a day we will never forget, and so blessed to have been in Colombia just once to celebrate Christmas!!
We also said good-bye to our dear friends (even though we could not communicate very well, we grew to love them)! They headed home to Italy today! The hotel is now completely empty, as 2 families, from the Netherlands, who came back for a heritage tour, and meeting of birth mothers also returned home. So, the hotel is quiet!!
We are glad to have the hotel to ourselves tomorrow so we can celebrate our own family Christmas as we would at home! Katya is bringing in the famous Colombian Aijaco soup for lunch (my favorite), as it is tradition to have that on Christmas Eve.
...below you see Tia Isabel reading the "Novena..."
...they passed it around to all of us. Isabel really enjoyed reading it, and was the only one in our family who understood it, seeing it was all in Spanish. She explained it to us later that it was about "Maria y Jose" coming to the hotel and found out their was no room in the Inn...tomorrow the reading will be about the birth of Jesus...and between each paragraphs we would sing "Come, Come, Come...Jesus come into our souls..." Except it has a better ring to it in Spanish!
Our Isabel kept wanting to sing more Colombian Christmas songs, so, after dinner (well, I guess, it wasn't actually a dinner...Colombians feast each night for 9 days throughout the night of reading the Novena, singing, and praying...
...below, Isabel is finding yet another song to sing...
Muchas Gracias Tia's Isabel and Carmen for making our stay in Colombia so wonderful...letting our Colombian/American family understand more of it's rich traditions, warmth, and culture from our children's birth land! This is a day we will never forget, and so blessed to have been in Colombia just once to celebrate Christmas!!
We also said good-bye to our dear friends (even though we could not communicate very well, we grew to love them)! They headed home to Italy today! The hotel is now completely empty, as 2 families, from the Netherlands, who came back for a heritage tour, and meeting of birth mothers also returned home. So, the hotel is quiet!!
We are glad to have the hotel to ourselves tomorrow so we can celebrate our own family Christmas as we would at home! Katya is bringing in the famous Colombian Aijaco soup for lunch (my favorite), as it is tradition to have that on Christmas Eve.
On Christmas Day (as in Colombia it's just another typical day-everything is celebrated throughout the 9 days of Novena through Christmas Eve ) we are taking a 3 hour taxi ride to Girodot. This is Katya's vacation home that she is letting us stay at (I think it's easier for her to close the hotel down and not have it staffed over the Christmas break)...so, we are fortunate to have a 5 day vacation where it is very hot (90 degrees) and a pool! The kids are beyond excited, asking every day how much longer...so, we are signing off for a week!! We'll share more when we return!
Prayer requests...that we all stay healthy...John and I both feeling the icky stomach something come on tonight... Our prayer is that time in the pool would be a wonderful way for our kids to bond more, as Silas and Caroline still really struggle with each other!!
Have a Merry Christmas! We love you all!! And appreciate all your prayers and emails as we work to bring our girls home!! Until next week...
Sooooo sweet! What an experience you are having. You are learning so much. We pray you have a fun AND healthy Christmas enjoying each other and swimming in the pool :)
ReplyDeleteLove and hugs - The Holwerdas
Feliz Navidad, Vandermass Family! Thank you for sharing the special way your were able to celebrate. Have a beautiful day with your family.
ReplyDeleteLove, The VPCs
Feliz Navidad! We are thinking of you on Christmas day! What a wonderful celebration with Isabel, Carmen and family and nice to have some quiet time this morning as a family. We are praying for good health and a great week together. We will be going thru withdrawals here without word from you! :)
ReplyDelete