We grieve today with our dear friends Patrick and Christy Lafferty as their precious baby girl Isabella Hope went to be with the Lord yesterday afternoon. Many of you have followed their story through the link on our blog so we wanted to be sure that you got this update. Be praying for Patrick, Christy and their two older children, Seamus and Savannah, as they grieve this enormous loss.  We wish so badly that we could be in Dallas to offer our support and love. Patrick was our single’s pastor in the Sunday School class where Seth and I met and Patrick and Christy walked with us through our dating and engagement. They are dear friends and our hearts are deeply saddened by their loss. Thanks for lifting our friends up in prayer.

A while back we posted about our friends from Dallas, Patrick and Christy Lafferty and their little baby Bella. Check out their blog when you get a chance to see their good news.

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This is going to be a long blog as Seth promised our Santa story and we have to fill you in on other happenings so…grab your hot cocoa and a few Christmas cookies for sustenance and have a read.

Last Sunday we attended the Ambassador’s Christmas party for the children and families at post. The Ambassador’s residence was beautiful and the festivities were more reminiscent of Christmas in America than we have experienced here so far. Jackson wore his little striped Christmas outfit and had he been old enough he would have gotten to ice Christmas cookies, make Christmas cards and open a gift from Santa. He was too little to open a gift from Santa so just before Santa arrived we asked the coordinator if we could snap one quick picture of Jackson on Santa’s lap before the hoopla began. She said she would ask but never got back to us. Santa arrived and all of the families and children gathered around. One of the elves (a marine) read The Night before Christmas. After the reading, Santa got out his list and began to call children up to receive a gift. Just as he was about to call out the first name Santa startled and reached for a cell phone in his pocket. He said he was sorry but he had received an emergency text from the North Pole. He said he heard there was “a little kiddie in the crowd named Jackson and it is his first Christmas”. He asked for Jackson to come sit on his lap. Jackson was so exhausted (after refusing an afternoon nap). Seth took him up and he sat frozen on Santa’s lap not quite sure what to think about all of the hundreds of people oohing and ahhing over him. He made it through without a tear and without having a blowout diaper on Santa’s lap . It was so special!

This past Monday night we had about 15 people over for dinner as a kick off for a bible study that we will be having in our home in the new year. There are about 25 people total that want to be a part of the group. I think we are going to have to split the group before we even get started. There is a great need for community in an international community which was apparent in the attendance and interest from others that could not attend. We’ll see what happens in the new year. We are praying for deep friendships here in Bogota.  We miss our family and friends back home so much and hope that we will find a close community here.
Last night we hosted the church open house at our home. We had lots of people come and go. We have included a few pictures of the party. The church has such a variety of nationalities represented- American, Colombian, South African, Jamacian, Texan- oops…same as American,  British, and so many more. It makes for very interesting gatherings. I am never quite sure what people will show up with in terms of food. Some of the things that we had last night on our “buffet” of finger foods included iced sugar cookies, cheese and crackers, Colombian sugar wafers, some party mix that included potato chips, plantains and pork rinds, Christmas bread and spicy fried puffs-similar to cheetos but so much more exotic. You get the idea!        

And for the grand finale of this blog…Jackson! I realized the last time we blogged specifically about him was when he was 3 months old which was almost 2 months ago. Some of you get regular updates from us so this might be a repeat for all of you. Jackson is almost 5 months old. He is quite a happy little guy. He brings us so much joy through his great personality. He is sleeping pretty much through the night now and going to bed early so Seth and I get to have time in the evenings together. For those of our friends that are about to have babies….hang in there because eventually you will eat a meal together while your baby is fast asleep! (you’ll get to for the first few weeks but good luck after the sleepy times)  Jackson is experiencing stranger anxiety. Last night at the open house he had a few good screaming spells when unsuspecting admirers’ asked to hold him. He was usually fine for a minute until he realized that he had been kidnapped!  We might need to tone down the nightly kidnapping warnings I hope since he is starting this anxiety early it will pass sooner.  He is so social…until passed off to a “stranger”. Really everyone around here is a stranger in some way or another so you can’t blame him. Jackson is holding toys to chew on them, pulling his feet to his mouth and rolling around the room. He loves his exersaucer and loves going outside for walks. We have recently spent lots of time in local parks now that Jack is big enough to try to swing…with lots of help of course. We have included some of our favorite pictures from the last few months!

We hope you are all having a wonderful Christmas season!

In Bogota, we interview on average around 1,300 applicants a day which is why it is called a “visa mill” because we crank out interviews and visas.  And while we are well-staffed, we normally interview from 8 until 3:30.  Which leaves about an hour and a half to get the rest of your work done.  And believe me, like any job, there is always work to be done.

So any time you can get off the “visa line” you certainly don’t mind.  A couple of weeks ago, I was asked whether I wanted to help out with a congressional delegation visit, which I enthusiastically agreed to.  It turns out it was a visit headed by Senator Harry Reid, who is the Senate Majority Leader, and 6 other senators.  My job initially was to make sure a particular room was set up with name tents, water, glasses, interpretation equipment, and interpreter, among other things for a roundtable discussion between the delegation and some labor union leaders.  It was nothing glorious, but it seemed like it would be exciting.

By the day of the visit, I was also meeting the delegation at the airport, and had the opportunity to shake each senator and his wife’s hand.  That was about the extent of my brush with glory, because after that I was mainly behind the scenes.  It turns out though that the interpretation equipment guy showed up about 15 minutes before the scheduled meeting, it was raining, the union guys arrived late, two union leaders didn’t even show, and mercifully the entire delegation was running 30 minutes behind. Thankfully it all turned out well and nobody seemed to know that the room was in chaos only 1 minute before the senators arrived!

This past weekend I was supposed to work another visit, which was led by the Deputy Secretary of State (the one whose swearing in I attended — refer back to a post in February for more info), but it was canceled at the last minute.  That was actually a good thing because we received the last of our household shipment in the middle of the planning for the visit.  And I might have missed Jackson meeting Santa for the first time!

How about that for a teaser…Jackson meeting Santa!  Stay tuned because there’s an ambassador, Marine, and text message involved.