One year ago today was one of the worst days of our trip. We had begun so optimistically; we had a meeting with our case worker and we had been expecting our referral to be ready to pick up based on our converstation with her the day before. That was not the case. It felt like she decided to pretend she didn't know who we were, like we hadn't spoken with her before.
During the trip of the group before us we had heard that some procedures were changing. Their files had actually been completed in court but upon their arrival had been asked to appear in person, this was unexpected and caused some delays but unforeseen. We as a group had traveled knowing we now had to appear in person at our court date in order to "pass court". But on this day we had a different curve ball thrown at us. I hadn't heard of this happening before, and I am not sure if the same has happened since. Our case worker required us to have our document from homeland security notarized and re-submitted to her. We were floored, there is no signature on this document so we don't even know what the notary is supposed to be for. This is the document giving us pre-approval to file for a visa for our child to enter the US. When we inquired more about the notary she then demanded it be notarized by an american.
This sent us on a whirlwind day. The only place we could go was the US Embassy. Let me tell you, the Embassy was not what we were expecting. We learned a lot this day. One of the most important things was to keep our humor, we wouldn't have survived if we couldn't find things to laugh about. We rushed to the Embassy, and our image was clearly only established by movies, can you believe there are no marines standing out front eager to rush the americans right in to sanctuary and help you with whatever you need? There aren't any marines!! :) What we actually found was another security set up. There were 2-3 Rwandan security individuals guarding the entrance to the Embassy. By this I mean you buzz a button to get them to open the door, enter to their desk which can only be passed by their permission and a walk through the metal detectors and a bag search after xray. We had to identify ourselves, our request and present our passports. This was when we found out that no one was able to enter on this day due to an increased security level. We did get a bit distraught, feeling another block to our children (the other couple is right here with us, trying to get their crazy notary as well).
Only because we know God was with us and He had a plan for the entire journey we were on did we see the next step come about. The security guy got the consulate on the phone for us to explain our request. She was unable to get us in because of the policy but she was so kind and she set up an appointment for both our families for the following morning. She asked us a bunch of questions and got things ready to help us quickly the following day. She even gave us her email and phone number so we could contact her if we needed to. Praise God we felt a step forward for the first time on the trip.
I remember 2 emotions that day which are so clear and strong. First the anger, I was so angry about this extra step; why did our 2 families have to jump through this hoop that we had never heard of before. Secondly, the amusement; the 4 of us had such a fun time just giving into the moment after we exited the Embassy. We had hope for completing this the next day and still getting it submitted on time, so we just relaxed. Our group was sharing a van and the others were being picked up when we were at the Embassy so we had a little bit of time while we waited outside them to pick us up again. We just laughed about our visions of the Embassy being so inaccurate, about the process that day, we must have been a bit loopy from the stress and lack of sleep from the flight, we were hysterical. I had some of the most fun times visiting that day. We had some new jokes to tell over and over again the rest of our trip to help break the stress. Tim, we love you and I can still hear some of the off limits words escaping your lips that day!!
It was a hard day but we can now see how God worked things perfectly and we know that the progress was only due to His intervention. So glad that tonight we are completing our 1 year post placement report and that He worked it all out according to His plans. Thank you Father.
Sheri
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