Waiting, but busy...

I have received word that the Visa investigation is done and the paperwork is being processed for our son!!! We should have his Visa on Wednesday and we should have our Visas on Wednesday as well!!! God has blessed us so much and we are so thankful for our family and for our adoption group from One World Adoption Services. We have also been blessed by Joshua's pre-K class at Covenant Christian School. They have committed our adoption to prayer this school year and they are almost as excited as we are! We are so thankful for them!
We are taking orders for pictures from others who have adoptive children at the same orphanage. It is exciting to know that we will be able to bring joy to their hearts as we bless them with photos of their beautiful children! And we can't wait to love on them ALL!!!
As of now, we are still on target for traveling on April 7th. We will fly out of Pensacola, on to Chicago, then to Brussels and then to Kinshasa. All in all, about 34 hours of travel one way...:)
If you talk to us and we don't seem to be listening, please forgive us, it is only because there are about 200,000,000 things going through our minds...lists, schedules, items to get, etc...
And if we answer you when you haven't asked anything, please just nod your head in agreement, it is only because we are a bit crazy right now with all the planning and such, so we are actually probably talking to ourselves...:)
We are blessed to have such faithful friends as you! Thank you!

WOW!!!!

God is at work! TODAY...we got news that the Interview went very well... and then we received our letter of invitation to enter the DRC... and then we made tentative travel plans... and then we sent off for our Visas!!!! Wooohooooooooo!!!!!!! Praise the Lord! God is good all the time!!!! If all goes well and we receive Isaiah's Visa, we will be flying the friendly skies on April the 7th!!!! We hope to return on April the 14th... SOOOOOO, we need your prayers! We need God's people to step forward and pray for our trip. We know He will rise up mighty prayer warriors for this mission He has called us to. So, please, please, please remember us in prayer...THANK YOU!!!!

Depending on the Lord...

Well, I wish I could give you certain information, but as we have discovered for the last 19 months, there are no certainties when dealing with the DRC.

Here is what we know right now. Our Embassy Interview appt. that was supposed to be this past Monday will now be this coming Monday. One week delay. Not too awful bad. Once the interview takes place, the US Embassy will conduct a brief (hopefully) investigation to make sure everything is on the up and up before they issue our son's Visa to enter the US. Just b/c we have adopted him, does not guarantee admittance to the US.

While this is happening, we will apply for our Visa's from the DRC Embassy in Washington, DC, which has a 3 day turnaround. We will make tentative travel plans and we will get paperwork copied off. We will reserve a place to stay (St. Anne's Parish). We will register with the US Embassy in Congo so they will know when we are planning to come.

The coordinator at the Embassy feels as though it is probably possible for us to travel on April 7 and very possible to travel on April 14. So, in 2 weeks, we could be on our way and in 3 weeks we most likely will be on our way. Whew! So, there you have it.

Basically, we are praying and asking God to take us there on the date that He wants us to go. We want to travel when He wants us to travel. We are okay with whatever He so chooses.

We are washing clothes, cleaning house, and packing up. We are preparing the fields for the harvest...and we are soaking in God's goodness in bringing us to this point...what a joy to be His child! What a joy to be loved by Him!

Hallelujah!!!!

Well, Praise the Lord! He is our provider!

God has provided Isaiah's corrected passport. It has been sent to the Embassy. Now, our coordinator will need to just drop by with our son for an interview and we are on our way to the finish line!!!

Once the interview is complete, we wait for the letter of invitation and then make tentative travel plans and apply for our Visa's and wait for our son's Visa to be issued. We make reservations at St. Anne's Parish and make our travel plans permanent. We confirm that our son has had a medical evaluation and send our itinerary to our adoption agency.... and in 2-4 weeks...we fly!

Woohoo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Needing prayers...

Apparently, the corrected passport has not come in yet. Ugh! So we will have to be rescheduled for our Embassy Appointment. The good thing is that the Embassy Coordinator will get us back in asap, even during the week, which is not usually the case. The bad news is that we don't know when the passport will be ready. I have to admit that my frustration level is up... kinda high. I know that I have to trust the Lord with this and I do, but emotionally, I am just pure frustrated. I know I can do nothing to change things and that I need to rest in God's comfort, so that is what I intend to practice... I thank you for your prayers as we wait...

Passport Error

Okay, so Isaiah's passport did come in, BUT there was an Error in the spelling of his name! It has been sent back and we are praying they will be able to make the correction quickly and have the new one by early next week... Thank you all for your prayers!!! They really do help!!!

We are celebrating!!!

Hallelujah and Praise the Lord!!!! Isaiah's passport is in just in time for the Embassy Appointments next week!!! YAY!!!!! Thank you all for your prayers!!! Now, we must pray that the coordinator is able to make it to both of the Embassy Appointments and all will go well. March 15 is the document drop off date and March 19 is the day when they "Interview" Isaiah to make sure he is the child that they say he is... :) Once this is done, they will process his VISA!!!! YAY!!!!

Please Continue Your Prayers

As we approach our Embassy dates, it becomes more and more important that Isaiah's passport come in. At this point we believe that our Congo coordinator has not applied for it yet. She has been extremely busy and has had some issues of safety.

DRC is a very dangerous place filled with corruption and greed. Our agency is a very reputable agency's orphanage in the DRC, but can also be a target for the corrupt individuals and groups. Our agency refuses to give into threats and to give bribes. This does make things a little harder.

At this time, we are praying that our son's passport will be in before our Embassy dates of March 15 and 19. If it isn't, our Embassy Appointments will have to be re-scheduled. Please pray with us that our Coordinator (Teetee) will be able to get the passport and attend the appointments. Thank you for your prayers!