Vinny has another buddy besides Stanley. His name is Gefte. Here he is in Nov. 2012 sitting by Davinsly in class (pic taken by our pastor, Brian)…the one on D’s right side.

(an aside here: we will be changing the official spelling of our boy’s name to Davinsly when we re-adopt him in MN b/c Davinsly is how D spells his name- Davensly is what is on all his paperwork. This is a common theme in Haiti 🙂 and we will stick with what D is already comfortable with…sorry for the confusion caused by ME when I switch back and forth!)

Back to Gefte… he has been a student at A New Arrival Center for the last 3 years. Through circumstances beyond his control, he started living at the orphanage/school with Stanley and D the same day we left from our visit in June.

Gefte has been gifted by God with a beautiful voice.  He was chosen by his peers on a few occasions to sing a solo for our group and would hop up front with no fear.  Turn up your volume and check this out:

 

Fast forward from June 20 to December 22…in these months God was orchestrating a way to bring Gefte to Minnesota (is here on a student visa). To the same community as us. To the same church family as us. To a core group of dear friends we share. He was strengthing the friendships between Gefte, Stanley and Vinny as the 3 of them lived together those 6 months. He is living with our friends the Rodriguez’s.  Amy, Richard, and Will (who is a good buddy of our Willy- same age and grade). Granted, it is not an all unicorns and rainbows story- there are threads of loss and change and hard in his story, just like Davinsly’s and Stanley’s. But, in the hard and uncertainty there is the beautiful of friendship and familiarity and trusting God for whatever the future holds.  For the boys.  For us.

So… 1 boy here.  2 boys to come! We- and the Haroldsons- received word on Tuesday that we are on to our final stage which is to get the visa and come home! We don’t know the timeline for this.  Again- we have learned leaning on a timeline gives some hope but also can leave us feeling very sad when weeks go by after what we were anticipating.

In the meantime, we have hung out with Gefte a few times…Will and I went sledding with Amy, Gefte and Will Rod for his first time. It was a blast!  Gefte played cards with Amy, Sara and me as we celebrated Amy’s birthday.  He came over to see our house and the boys’ bedroom. They played hide and seek and basketball while here. He misses his Haitian buddies and really wants them to get here NOW!  He loves to play soccer and legos with Vin. I already LOVE this little dude who is my boy’s friend. And he is here.  He gives us a glimmer and hope of what’s to come. And it is so good.