In Case You Were Wondering...

Here is the latest on Christine's adoption:  a week and a half ago we went into the government office to check on the status and they told us there is another family who is in the exact situation as us (wanting to adopt a known, older child) and that she wants to "advocate" for us both at the same time, so she is waiting to get that child's letter- just like the one Christine had to write.  Then she also told us that they need a document stating she is a genocide survivor. These come from the village/area you were born in, which meant a town 3 hours away from us.  Grandma Julia (my mom) was flying in the next day for a visit, so without much choice because we didn't want more delay, the day after Grandma arrived we took a family trip for a few days.

Miraculously we were able to get the document we needed within just two days time.  Thank God for that- especially because we needed to get back to Kigali to get ready for a mission team that arrived last Saturday.  We took the document in on Friday and were told, Oh, there's more documents you need.  A letter from her orphanage, a letter from a doctor, and a letter from her (consenting to the adoption).  So, now we are working on those.  And the clock keeps ticking away the days until we leave...  Only 5 weeks!?

On Monday our son Michael went in to the US Embassy for his visa application to come with us to the US this summer.  We were all heart broken when they denied the request.  They place a great burden of proof on applicants: you must prove that you have undeniable ties to your home country that will compel you to return & not immigrate to the US.  Yup, that's how it is & the letter we presented was not enough to convince them.  I keep thinking about it everyday, all day, I think about how could we write them a letter to help them understand that he is our son & the reason he will return to Rwanda is because we are returning to Rwanda.  If we reapply we have to pay the visa fee all over again.  Please pray for us all with wisdom in this & faith to believe that God can make a way where there seems to be no way.

Mike (Sr.) has been sick with a nasty chest cough for over 2 weeks now.  It's one of those things were you keep expecting it to get better the next day, but it never does.  He gave up today & went to get some antibiotic from the pharmacy.  I thank God that our family has been relatively sickness free in our time here.

It's been nice to have my mom here, though she leaves tomorrow after only a 9 day visit.  Time has gone by so fast.  I can't believe it's almost Easter too.  Again, as with other holidays, it doesn't "feel" like it, but I did bring Easter baskets and an egg dye kit with us, so we will keep a little tradition with us here (and Grandma did bring some Easter candy too- he he!)

After 2 frustrating weeks of "it'll be fixed tomorrow" our Suzuki (the small blue car) is finally seeming to run fine, and we hope that the person who expressed interest in buying it will follow through with some money soon!  We have been renting a styling ride while the team is here though--  Nate loves the blue color, Michael (Jr.) loves the sound system, Christine thinks it's cool, while KaLia & I just cringed & said "noooooooo!" when it showed up in our driveway.  And I think Mike (Sr.) and I just laughed too.  Yeah, it's pretty funny.  ;)

Aw, yeah, dat's how we roll!  (It says "Jabez's Prayer" on the mirror & mud flap, by the way.)

Thank you for keeping us in your prayers.  Things are really busy right now with the team, but great things are going on.  I will post more on the TTI blog soon I hope-- oh yeah, my computer crashed too.  Not sure if my data or programs will be able to be recovered, and a little scared to have it worked on here...  (where people profess to know what they're doing but sometimes they don't- case in point would be the Suzuki....)

That's our crazy life right now- God bless it!

Lisa