Category: Other Page 148 of 181

A Postscript

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On July 16, 2009

In Other

Despite the unsuccessful court hearing I wrote about last week, I really need to add that we are actually praising God right now for a number of reasons.

1. Our judge showed up again before August 3rd (which is the date we were originally given when she would return). So even though she didn’t show to that court hearing, we’re still doing better time-wise than we once thought. Plus, we were assured by our lawyer that there are ways to expedite the passport process…so at this point we are still pretty hopeful we’ll be able to do our Home Assignment in October.

If you saw humor in my last post, that’s because we did too! I should have made that more clear.

2. WE FOUND A HOUSE! We actually found it three weeks ago, but have been way too busy with the last three weeks’ activities (which I still need to post about) to write about it here. Plus, it wasn’t totally confirmed until yesterday. But I am thrilled. I really, really like everything about this house except that it isn’t next door to school! But it’s only about a half mile from school, which is still most definitely walking distance (for me, if not for the kids). It’s got lots of space and a massive (and I mean massive) yard. We are moving tomorrow (Friday) and one of these days I’ll get around to posting pictures.

Thanks for praying! God’s grace is amazing!

Adventures in Court Hearings

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On July 10, 2009

In Other

So much has happened in the last two weeks that it will take me a few posts to get caught up. But I’ll start with the court hearing, since many of you have asked about that.

To back up a bit, since not all of you get our email updates, we have been trying to finalize Josiah’s adoption for a few months now. It needs to be finalized before we can go on our Home Assignment in October.

Our first hearing was in April while I was in the States with Grace. That hearing went well: the social worker was appointed “guardian” and told to write a report, which is exactly what we wanted to happen.

Second hearing was June 11th. Even though the judge had picked this date, our lawyer called us the night before and told us that our judge was out of the country on vacation.

Third hearing was scheduled for this past Wednesday, July 8th.

Okay. No problem. Except that we had already scheduled a mini-missions trip with some HOPAC kids last week to an orphanage. Oh, and the orphanage was three hours away from Dar.

Thankfully we’ve had a team of college students here helping us with our events the last two weeks. So we decided that we could go ahead with the orphanage trip and simply leave the night before the court hearing, attend the hearing the next morning, and then drive back to the orphanage when it was done.

I should have known things are never that simple. Everything went great at the orphanage, that wasn’t the problem. But we had decided that instead of driving to our house on Tuesday night to spend the night, we would just find a hotel near the court building and stay there for the night, instead of fighting 2 hours of traffic the next morning from our house.

We arrived at the orphanage on Monday afternoon. We left again in the early evening on Tuesday. We hit traffic on our way into Dar and it was nearly 8:00 by the time we got in. By this point, our children (and us) were tired and cranky and very hungry. No drive throughs. How I longed for a Taco Bell.

We decided to get dinner before trying to find a hotel. We stopped at a pizza place that is supposed to be “fast food,” and 45 minutes (and two formal complaints) later, we had our pizza. By this point it was after 9:00.

Then we set off to find a hotel. You know, I’ve heard warnings before about trying to find a hotel late at night. Not a good idea. I should have listened to the warnings. But I knew that there were plenty of hotels in the city near the court house and didn’t think we would have a problem.

Hotel #1: Too expensive.
Hotel #2: Much cheaper but full.
Hotel #3: Also full. (What the heck? What are all these visitors doing in Dar?)
Hotel #4: An adventure in itself, partly involving going up 8 stories in a parking garage and coming back down without finding any parking, and a parking attendant who STILL insisted on charging us parking fees.

By this point it was almost 10:30. Our children, who normally go to bed at 7, were melting down. So we did what any frazzled person does. Went back to Hotel #1 and paid the ridiculous price.

But we all took very hot baths and had a terrific breakfast. That was nice.

Wednesday morning:
8:55 am: Got to the court house.
9:00 am: Courts open. Lawyer was already there.
9:05 am: Social worker showed up.
9:10 am: Our lawyer came over to us and told us that the judge was not there. Again. Even though our lawyer had a case before this exact same judge last Thursday and had asked her, “You’ll be there next Wednesday for my other case, right?” To which the judge replied, “Why wouldn’t I be?” Humph.

Packed up. Changed clothes. Drove the 3 hours back to the orphanage.

Next hearing is scheduled for July 21st.

Good thing our little guy is worth it. 🙂

Smitten

By

On June 26, 2009

In Other

My little boy has changed.

We thought he had a quiet, serious, stoic personality.

We were wrong. Definitely.

Of course, he still gets shy around strangers and new situations. And he sometimes gets whiney and complainy and throws little fits. But he is so entirely different from the scared little baby we brought home 10 months ago. There is amazing light in his eyes that wasn’t there before. Laughter in his voice. He is silly and goofy and giggles at his own hystericalness. He loves running around like a maniac.

He is so affectionate. When he is held, he sticks his face in my neck, wraps one hand around my neck and holds onto my arm with his other hand. When he is in the kitchen with me, and I bend down to get something, I feel his little hands wrapping around my back, his head leaned against me.

Sigh. He’s got me wrapped around his little finger.


His smile is as one who is deeply loved, and he knows it.

Fathers

By

On June 21, 2009

In Other

I am doubly blessed.

I have a wonderful Daddy. He loved me unceasingly, trained me patiently, and was unfailingly proud of me. He has always been such an example of kindness, and hard work, and godly devotion. He was, and always has been, my hero.

And now he is an amazing Babu.

And I am blessed to be married to a man who is also an incredible father.

He not only just loves his kids, but he loves spending time with them. He loves being silly with them. It’s never a chore for him to play with them.


Yet training them in godliness is also extremely important to him. He is teaching them to obey. He insists they respect me. He works with them to memorize Scripture.

He gets them to do crazy or daring things that I would never think of. He pushes them to overcome their fears. Yet he is also very protective and careful that they won’t get hurt.

He makes them laugh like no one else can.

He cuddles. He changes stinky diapers. He sings silly songs and dances in the living room.

He delights in them.

Like I said. Doubly blessed.

Contrasts

By

On June 18, 2009

In Other

Some evenings these days, Gil and Grace have been going out to take sunset pictures while I am working on dinner. Grace takes her little pink camera and takes pictures with her Daddy.

Usually they walk a little ways away from our house, to an area that overlooks a large blown-out rock quarry. The blasting is done now, so it just looks like an enormous crater. Squatters have started building mud houses down there.

On this particular day, three little girls came up to the road from the quarry and were fascinated by Grace. These little girls really represent the poorest of the poor. My heart especially breaks for the little one on the right who is holding up her skirt because it won’t stay on. When I first saw these pictures, I spent a long time gazing at them, pondering the contrasts. My little girl…the life she could have lived…the life these little girls are living.

Grace took off her shoes because the other little girls weren’t wearing shoes either.

Overlooking the quarry.

The sunset overlooking them all.

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