Bringing Lolis Home!

Martita and Lolis - together at last!

First of all, sorry for being a day late on this blog. I promised it to you on Monday, but we lost electricity on Sunday night until nearly noon on Monday, which means we also lost internet service because our router needs electrical power. By the time the electricity came back on, Victor and I had left on our once-a-year-marathon-Christmas-shopping-session! But, here is the story you have been waiting for!

Victor and I enjoyed nearly four hours on the road alone with Martita on our way to our state capital, the city of Toluca, early Thursday morning. With twelve children, we relish the one-on-one time that we get with each child! Martita's younger sister is named Maria Dolores, after the girls' birth mother who passed away shortly after the infant Maria Dolores was born. However, now, Maria Dolores likes to be called "Lolis", pronounced "Lo-lees". She has been living for the last two years with an uncle and aunt and their three boys. The uncle is one of the girls' father's 15 siblings!

We arrived at the family flower shop, which was still closed and, as we were turning the van around to go and look for the uncle and aunt's home, one of the girls' cousins came walking up to the shop. So, he got in the van and took us to their home. We had to park a little ways away from the aunt and uncle's home and walk through some paved alleyways and up some steps to get to their home. As we were walking through the alleys, Lolis came around a corner and nearly ran straight into Martita! They both stopped dead in their tracks and stared at each other for a bit, trying to believe that they were really seeing one another! Then, they quickly engulfed each other in a huge hug! They had not seen each other for nearly two years! Needless to say, tears of joy were shed, even by Victor! (I kept myself busy taking pictures or I would have been sopping wet in my own tears!)

Martita and Lolis hugging each other for the first time in nearly two years!

Lolis was dressed in an old pair of jeans, shoes too big for her and had on an old skirt on top of the jeans. This is typical dress for handwashing laundry, where we assume she had just come from. We all climbed up to the aunt and uncle's home and were welcomed by the girls' aunt. Lolis quickly went to take a bucket shower while we visited in the small living room.

Martita and us have been trying to convince this aunt and uncle to let Lolis come and live with us for the last two years and they have never been willing to do so. However, on this visit the aunt's attitude was totally different! In fact, she kept praising herself and her husband for all they have done for Lolis and how much they were going to miss her, but that it would be selfish of them to keep her when they know that the girls really want to be together! Despite the fact that this attitude and even what she was saying did not coincide with all that Lolis had told Martita by phone (that she would be doing laundry until 9:30 p.m. for her cousins, outdoors and in the cold; that she didn't go to school for a long time after living with them, etc.), we went along with all the aunt was saying so as not to rock the boat and be able to get Lolis out of there as soon as possible.

Within an hour we had left the aunt's home, with Lolis, and all of her personal belongings. They all fit in a plastic grocery store bag! As we were walking back to the car, I gave Lolis a side hug, not wanting to overwhelm her with a front hug, and she immediately wrapped her arm around me and locked on! I told her how we had loved her even before we knew her and how happy we were that she was a part of our family. She did not let go of me until we got to the van and even then I had to unwrap her arm from around me so that she could get in!

Martita giving Lolis make-up tips within an hour of being together!

From there, we drove about an hour to the girls' home town, where their grandfather, uncles and aunts live, including the uncle with whom Lolis had been living. (He and his wife, the girls' aunt, have been having some marital problems and he is back in his hometown, rather than in Toluca with his wife and boys. However, it is these marital problems that drove them to their willingness to let Lolis go. Truly the Lord works out all things for the good of those who love Him!)

After meeting several family members at a local flower shop, we drove down a dirt road and stopped alongside it in an area where several more family members live. Soon, we were having an impromptu family reunion in a ditch between the dirt road and a cornfield! Several aunts, cousins, the uncle and grandfather were all present. As soon as we got out of the van, Lolis came to my side, put her arm around me and laid her head down on my shoulder. Ever since her first hug and first look into my eyes I got the feeling that her heart was saying: "Where have you been my whole life? You are finally here! I finally have a family again!" Martita and Lolis ran off to visit another aunt's house nearby as Victor and I continued our conversation with the rest of the family members. Within a few minutes, the girls' uncle (with whom Lolis had been living) was praying to accept Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. Quite a few of the girls' family members are Christians and this uncle knew about Jesus, but had never wanted to make a decision to follow Him. However, his life circumstances had driven him to utter desperation and his realization that he truly needed Christ!

Martita and Lolis with some of their extended family members.

Before leaving, this same uncle signed over informal guardianship of the girls to us, as he was the one with guardianship of them. In a little bit we were back on the road heading home!


When we got back to the city of Toluca we splurged and ate at Applebee's! We had seen the Applebee's on the way into Toluca and decided to eat their on the way home. There are only about 5 Applebee's in the whole country and it had been YEARS since Victor and I had eaten at one.


Martita ordered baby back ribs with french fries and Lolis decided on a hamburger with french fries. (I think because there was a picture of one in the menu, and trying to read the menu was a bit overwhelming.) Martita ate her french fries first, so Lolis did too! Then, Lolis said something to Martita that I couldn't hear, but Martita responded: "That's your food, too! Eat it!" Lolis was asking about what to do with her hamburger! She didn't know how to eat a hamburger! So, we showed her how to pick it up and bite into it.

Martita, Lolis, Julie and Victor in Applebee's

Our experiences on Thursday reminded me a bit of Jesus Christ coming to earth as God in human flesh. He was seated at the right hand of God Almighty on his Heavenly throne and then came to be born as a helpless baby in a dirty stable. During Jesus' stay on earth, he was as comfortable among fisherman and shepherds, as around religious leaders and the elite of the city! We experienced a small glimpse of that on Thursday as we sat in a cornfield visiting with the girls' relatives and then, within two hours, were seated in Applebees with the elite of Toluca. (Applebees is an upper class restaurant here.) What a contrast! Yet God's presence, power and peace remain the same wherever we are and there are people in both places that are thirsting to have a drink of the true Living Water.

We got home around 9 p.m. on Thursday night and Lolis was greeted by very eager young siblings and rather hesitant older siblings. But, praise the Lord, by the next morning the Zaragoza family ship had begun to settle once again. Friday morning, Lolis went to open air market with Victor and Angie (our family fashion consultant) to buy some clothing and Friday night she got a new haircut by Angie (also our family hair stylist!).

Angie giving Lolis a haircut.

Lolis is a huge bundle of energy that bounds around everywhere! She tussles with the younger ones and doesn't stop hugging EVERYBODY! She wants hugs, hugs, hugs and kisses, kisses, kisses. Although Lolis is 12 years old, she has the social and emotional maturity of about a 7 year old! From what Martita has told me, she repeated first grade two or three times and was sent to third grade based on her age. So, next week I will spend some time evaluating her educational needs to see what grade we will start her in.


In the meantime, she gets to spend her first Christmas with her new family! Rosa has gone to buy material to sew her stocking and Victor went to go purchase her Christmas present - a new bicycle!

Christmas began with the gift of life - the gift of Jesus' life! So, it is only fitting that our family receive the gift of a human life this year - Lolis' life!