The Gutierrez Gang

I wrote this a few nights ago, and was able to jump online long enough to upload this. But, since I wrote it, we also need prayer for Nathaniel who is suffering from a bad-salad parasite and some weird head-ache which we hope is just a headache and not something that needs more medical attention.  

Tonight (April 20th) marks two weeks since we arrived in Bogota. I still can’t believe we are here – that we actually made it – we actually raised all of our support and are now finally on this part of the journey to missions. The whole last month has been a whirlwind. With only 18 days notice that we were leaving, our entire lives revolved around moving to Colombia. There were goodbyes and packing and shopping and packing packing packing and then more goodbyes. It was such a highly emotional time that it almost felt anti-climatic to actually get on a plane and move to Bogota. I kept on thinking that we were just going for a short visit and we’d return to our little condo in north Georgia with our car, our family, and our routine still there.

But no, we are here. We live here now. We are residents complete with special “cedula” (our Colombian ID) numbers and all.

I remember when I was in college and thinking about marriage, I used to ask myself, “what if he was the only person who you knew? Could you stand that? Would that be okay and happy, or does the thought of that make you cringe?” Ultimately, when I fell in love with Nathaniel, the answer to that question became “yes!,” but it hit me really hard two weeks ago when we were de-boarding the plane and walking through customs that the only people at that moment who I knew in the whole country of Colombia was my little family right there. Just Nathaniel and the children we’ve made. It was a strange realization, filled with emotion, but it was also okay. Even though I felt very very small in such a big, busy, Spanish speaking place, I had my Nathaniel by my side, embarking on this journey with me. It really is an honor to serve in missions with him.

Our flight to Bogota wasn’t bad – except for when Gabriella choked on a piece of cheese and threw up all over us. But, let’s be honest, it wouldn’t be a flight with our kids if it didn’t include vomit somehow. It was only about 41/2 hours – shorter than from Atlanta to Seattle – and amazingly enough, all 24 pieces of luggage arrived safely and with no trouble from customs. We were expecting to have issues getting through with 6 giant footlockers and 6 giant duffle bags, but they just let us pass on through, and almost immediately on the other side part of our new missionary team was waiting for us with smiles and hugs and a mini van to get our stuff “home.”

We were so graciously invited to stay with the Parsons who are on the team here and have children very close in age to ours. It was such a blessing to have them host us, dedicating most of their time to getting us settled and introducing us to Bogota. We made instant friends with them, and Jeremiah is crazy about their children, or “the kids,” as he calls them, and their dog “Snacks,” whose real name is Max.

The whole team has been amazing, we can’t emphasize that enough. The day after we arrived, another couple on the team came to say hi with a bouquet of flowers to welcome us! I’ve also been treated to a manicure by another team mate, been treated to several meals, been taken around town for various errands, and been thrown a birthday party. We feel so loved. We couldn’t believe the Parsons inviting us to stay with them, knowing fully well just how long it takes the average person to rent a place around here. Especially since we were running on a tight-ish budget, needing a furnished apartment, needing a flexible lease, and not having our cedula id ready yet. The Tuesday after we arrived here, Nathaniel sent out a prayer email to our supporters asking specifically to pray about us finding an apartment. That afternoon we went to look at one, completely skeptical that it would work out or that the landlord would be reasonable.

Why do we doubt what God can do!? We had decided beforehand that if this place was decent, we would just take it, and not do the usual Gutierrez thing where we look at a million options and then finally decide. And when we walked in, we quickly saw that it was more than decent and more than what we had expected. The furniture was perfect for us, and pretty much our normal style, it had two bedrooms and two bathrooms, fully furnished kitchen with plates, cups, pots, pans and silverware, sheets on the beds, plenty of storage for what little we have, and within walking distance to part of the team and almost any store we could need to get to. It is in a safe neighborhood and a security guard monitors the door so closely that we can’t even leave the apartment building without him pushing a button to unlock it.

And we instantly noted how kind the landlords are. They are an incredibly sweet couple, both doctors, one a laser eye surgeon (hello! Yes, please!), and have been so flexible and kind to us, even dropping a monthly administration fee from the lease. They brought me a cake for my birthday, have brought by more sheets and plates for the kids, and last Saturday when we were at the big home store picking up some extra things for our apartment, we ran into them because they were there buying stuff for us! (at which point we sneakily took stuff out of our cart after seeing what they were getting for us.) They’ve been by to fix a few minor things like the leaking ceiling/sky light, and are hopefully coming by soon to fix the oven door which has fallen out. They’ve also promised to give us a map with all of the best doctors for adults and children near us.

Anyways, so we saw the apartment on Tuesday, signed the lease on Wednesday, and moved in on Thursday (my birthday!), less than a week after arriving into Bogota. We are so blessed.

As grateful as we are about this place, now for the full disclosure: it is small. Really small. It is a sprawling 62 square meters, which is about 667 square feet – for the four of us. Thankfully there are parks nearby and the kids will hopefully be enrolled in a pre school/nursery for half the day while I go to school. And it is only for a year or less. You can do anything for a year, or less.

We still don’t have internet in our place yet – which is making me CRAZY!! – do you know how many kind birthday wishes I received that I still haven’t been able to respond to, and how many people I have wanted to talk to? But it has truly made us branch out and not depend on our “American” life, but to go out, explore the area, and read books, not surf Pinterest.

So far we’ve had a really good time here. City life in a city this big is overwhelming at times, and we are tired a lot – the 8,500 ft. altitude doesn’t help – nor does it help our egos when we get winded tying our shoes! We walk or take the bus or a taxi almost everywhere we need to go, and have one of those handy pull carts to load up our 2 or 3 days worth of groceries. We are getting the hang of the 1,700 pesos to a U.S. dollar ratio – which can be so confusing at times, like when baby food costs about 2,300 per jar.

The kids are adjusting well, although the other day I almost burst into tears when Jeremiah asked if we could “go home.” But today I told him that soon he is going to go to school and now that’s all he can ask me about, so maybe he’s not going to feel so lost anymore. Gabriella has cut two teeth since we’ve been here. Babies shouldn’t be allowed to teethe on the mission field. But, I’m happy to say that she’s finally starting to eat food – not just nurse – and all week while we’ve had meetings we’ve left the kids with sitters, usually five hours at a time, but I was just a block away if she really needed to nurse. But today, we were across town looking at language schools and I left her for the longest time ever in her life – 6 hours – and she did great – not even upset at all. This is a huge relief because I didn’t know how I was going to put her in childcare while I went across town to school for four hours a day if she needed to eat every 2 hours. Little stinker just wanted to nurse because she knew she could if I was right there.

Anyways, I could go on and on and on about our life here – but I’ll stop. If you’ve read this much you are a very good friend. Hopefully our internet will be connected soon so that my updates don’t have to be so long and comprehensive. Thank you for your prayers and kind words and love. We really need them right now, and have felt a strength that only comes from God. We had no idea even 6 months ago that we’d be spending 2012 in Bogota, but here we are, 15 years after Nathaniel first felt called to missions, 8 years since my call, and 18 months of support raising. It’s been a long journey, but the reward has been sweet, and as always, an adventure.

They are going to need visas.  And if you give a missionary visas, they are going to need luggage.  And if you give a missionary luggage, they are going to need to fill it with stuff…..

I can’t believe in a week from now we will be getting ready for Sunday morning….in Bogota.

So much has happened in these last few weeks since we got the okay to buy plane tickets that I can’t believe we are still standing.

Last week we went to Atlanta to get our Colombian and Peruvian visas/passports/citizenship and our pre-departure visit with MTW.  Here’s how those two days went: woke up early to drive to Atlanta.  Got to the Peruvian consolate where they started to process the kid’s citizenship.  Ran over to the Colombian consolate to hand in our paperwork for our visas there.  Ran back over to the Peruvian one, finished up the process there, got to MTW just before people started to leave, spent a few hours there, grabbed dinner, visited friends, got to the hotel and slept.  The next morning we finished up our business at MTW, ran to the Peruvian consolate to get the kid’s passports taken care of, ran to pick up our visas at the Colombian consolate, grabbed lunch and drove home.  Exhausted.

We were so happy with how smooth (albeit busy) those two days went, and were so grateful for Nathaniel’s dad who came along with us.  He was incredibly helpful.

On Monday, Nathaniel’s sister and brother arrived in town and we were all excited to see them and we wanted to celebrate together what would have been Nathaniel’s parent’s 38th wedding anniversary, and a month since her death.  But Jeremiah started acting strange and felt hot and was complaining about his tummy hurting so I sent Nathaniel alone and later that night was glad I did when I was catching his lunch in a garbage can.  His flu didn’t last long, but it was so hard not to be able to be with family when they were in town.  Thankfully by Wednesday, he was totally better and could accompany us as we signed our will – something required by MTW before departing for the field - and we could join the rest of the visiting family

We’ve been spending a lot of time gathering things for Peru and Colombia.  Vitamins, eye contacts, makeup, clothes and shoes, random treats for the kids, and the list goes on and on and on.  We even got Gabriella a big girl bed and bedding for when she is too big for a crib and we are in Peru.  It takes a lot to plan the next four years of your kid’s lives.  But, there was only so much we could afford to buy or even want to, and we know that while we have a lot of the comforts of American life packed away in our container, we are also going to proudly embrace the Peruvian way of life and wear their clothes, eat their special treats, and decorate with their decor.  It’s all about immersion.

Speaking of the container, it is packed and stored and ready to be shipped to Peru in a year.  We did that on Thursday.   The movers were amazing – packing everything for us.  But even though they did the majority of the legwork, it still took so much to prepare for them to come.  When I wasn’t eating, sleeping, or shopping, I was packing, sorting, weighing suitcases and hemming and hawing over if I should bring this one t-shirt or skirt to Colombia or just send it to Peru.  Also, I kept going around the house and forgetting what things needed to be prepped for an overseas move/year of storage.  For instance, with most moves, you just pack the iron because in a few days you’ll use it again.  On Wednesday night, I was blowdrying the iron to make sure all of the water was out of it so it didn’t mold for a year.  Also, you usually just move your appliances as is, but at 3:30 a.m., Nathaniel was wet-vacuuming our washing machine to make sure, once again, it didn’t sit in mold for a year (hmm, maybe I should have used the wet vac on my iron).  Anyways, everything took more time and energy and decision making.

But even still, on Thursday morning, 7 men came to our house with two moving trucks and lots of brown paper with blue cloth lining and packed and packed and packed.  I had wondered if they would give an extra tape around some of our rubbermaid storage bins that weren’t closing all the way.  No, they didn’t do that, they wrapped every single thing, even the tubs, in brown paper like it was a Christmas present.  Everything.  We now just have a huge load of brown paper things in varying shapes and sizes.  But they aren’t tied up with strings.  Oh well, I guess you can’t have it all.

Nathaniel’s family was amazing those few days in taking both kids so we could concentrate on the move and being at the house with the movers.  Nathaniel’s dad came over to make sure everything was going smoothly and kept an eye out like a father lion watching the herd of men moving our things.  We felt very cared for.

When we brought Jeremiah back to the house to get our Colombian luggage, he kept running around saying, “what happened?” “what happened?”  It was sad.  Poor little guy had stumbled upon massive change and we didn’t even warn him!  At least he had his little Lighting McQueen car to hold on to.

Since Thursday night we’ve been sleeping at Nathaniel’s dad’s house – which is where we lived for the first 6 months after we moved to Chattanooga.  Full circle.  Last time we brought in a 10 month old boy, and this time we are leaving with a 10 month old girl.  Wow.

We still have things to do and people to see and bills to pay before we leave on Friday.  I’m debating whether or not I should get Gabriella in for her well child visit now and risk her being all fever-y after a shot while we travel, or just postpone it until we get settled in Colombia.   I also don’t know when we will really be able to sit down and sort through the massive pile of clothing and etc that we are bringing to Colombia.  We know it is all going to fit, but we don’t really actually know how.

Today we sold our car.  The car that I drove to my wedding in, the car we loaded our two birds and a dog and drove down to seminary (and then back a few times for Christmas) , the car we brought our foster kids and our babies home in, and the car that got us through our support raising journey.  Now it is sold to another lovely family, and hopefully will give them many happy memories.  Moving to another house, watching our things get packed into a moving truck, saying good-bye to friends, that’s all been done before, multiple times.  But, and this may sound silly, we’ve always had our car.  We’ve always had America to drive that car around in.  And most of the time, when we leave, the car stays because we will be back for it soon.  But selling that car was the most final thing we could do in moving to Colombia/ Peru.  That’s it.  We are not coming back.  No one is borrowing the car.  We had to clean it out because it isn’t ours anymore.  Because we are no longer going to live in America.  And from here on out, whenever we are here, we will be just visiting.  We will need to borrow someone else’s car, home, furniture, etc, because our real life and our real home will be in Peru.  It makes me shiver with excitement and nervousness to think about.

I want to write so much more, about how my darling sisters in law threw me an early surprise 30th birthday party last night at my favorite restaurant, Tony’s.   The theme was, “thirty, flirty and thriving,” just like the movie, “13 going on 30,” which we watched last night because today my niece is turning 13!  How fun is that!?  Anyways, I don’t feel like I can do that story justice right now, so maybe I’ll write about it later.  It meant so much to me, and I want to write about it well.

Anyways, so that’s been our life in a nutshell.  There have been several good-byes already and tomorrow is our last Sunday here.  I cannot believe it is real, and I’m so excited that it is finally here.  And I’m tired.  Very tired and very thankful that the moving part of it all is over with so we can spend this week in sweet communion with loved ones in a relaxing and welcoming home – and being chauffeured around!

We have one-way plane tickets to Bogota, Colombia!

We leave April 6th.

That’s in 18 days.  18.

If you were to come over right now, you would have no idea that we are about to move over seas in 18 days.

If you were to see our packet of papers, you would have no idea how they will be ready in 18 days.

If you were to see our faces, you can see that we have all the emotions of people about to move overseas in 18 days.

Thank you to everyone who participated in our “Push for Peru.”  Your prayers and support made this happen.  We still need a little more, but at least we have a set goal… and tickets!

Tomorrow we leave for a visa excursion to two consulates - Peru and Colombia wherein we hope that Jeremiah and Gabriella will become Peruvian citizens without problems.  Please pray for that.

Well, gotta run – that’s kind of what we are going to be doing for the next 18 days!