A Great Day At FANA.....

Before I begin to tell you about our amazing day at FANA today, I wanted to share the picture of the candy store with my niece, Morgan. She and I share a love for candy and I just wanted her to know I am doing well here in Colombia and still getting my fill of gummy sour candy. But anyway we had a great day today touring FANA and learning more about this wonderful place our son called home for seven and a half months. We included some pictures of the beautiful grounds where the air was filled with the sound of children laughing and playing. We aren't able to post any pictures of the children for obvious reasons, but they were everywhere. You'll notice the picture of the large window with the beautiful scene of children playing. This is what greets you when you enter FANA. We began our day at FANA by speaking with Johanna, the treasurer for FANA. She was telling us of this wonderful program being conducted at FANA by an international company I believe that is headquartered in Spain. It is a sponsorship program that is very new where this company sponsored several children at FANA for a three month period. They covered the costs for those children for such things as food, clothing, medical care, etc. Luke happened to be one of the babies sponsored by this company. So Johanna requested a picture of the three of us to present to this company. We then began our tour. I'll do my best to recall things appropriately but forgive me if I'm a bit off, it was a very overwhelming experience. We were shown where all the files of FANA children are kept. The reason: to see just how many children have lived at FANA in the past 38 years and to see how many have been adopted. Fifteen thousand children have lived at FANA and 9500 of them have been adopted. Pretty amazing isn't it? We learned more about the programs that FANA offers including: protective services for children who are placed at FANA due to poor situations in their home, the adoption service, the care/counseling offered to the birth mothers, and the preschool (more to come on that). We toured where the toddler age children sleep and play, followed by seeing the infant/baby rooms. I think right now FANA cares for 75 children and 50 of them are under the age of 2 or 3. We had the opportunity to see where Luke spent the first few months of his life, where he slept, was fed and played. We were able to meet some of the staff who cared for him. I had a difficult time with this since I felt I could never say thank you enough for the love they gave to him while he waited for us. We were able to see some of the other children Luke spent time with. We met with the physical therapist who works with all the children, including Luke. He seemed to recognize her and gave her a smile. It's hard to imagine that just two weeks ago Luke was one of those children sitting on the floor playing while other families toured. Now he's one of those children touring with his new mom and dad. We then saw the preschool which has opened rather recently. The preschool not only educates children of FANA but also children from the surrounding area who come from low income, disadvantaged homes. It's nice for the FANA children to interact with children from the community. Overall the tour was incredible and we learned so much. One common theme we noticed everywhere was how happy and content the children/babies were. Everything was so clean and the children were so well cared for. We noticed volunteers among the staff helping to meet the needs of the children and giving them lots of love. We were told from the beginning by those who have come before us that our son or daughter would be very well taken care of and not to worry. And they were absolutely right. We are so blessed to have been led to FANA and Luke. It is a remarkable place full of remarkable people who dedicate their lives to the well being of the children. And this is so evident everywhere you look. We always thought we understood the fundraising for FANA. When we received Luke the importance of raising funds for FANA became even more clear. And now, after seeing firsthand how truly remarkable FANA is, it has become crystal clear why supporting FANA is so critically important. We also received our social history today on Luke's birth family. We are forever grateful that this brave young woman chose life for Luke. Her love for him is so evident. We pray for her each day that she will have peace and know how loved he is and what a wonderful life lies ahead of him.