We're Coming Home!!!

In this process to bring Nati home God has provided for us in some of the most extravagant ways. 

Brandon and I have continually prayed that things would happen in a way where only God could receive the credit. 

We have seen him answer this prayer so many times over the last couple years.  

And today He did it again…

At 4 pm today I started clicking refresh in my email approximately every 5 seconds waiting anxiously to hear from our agency that the medical clearance had been issued. At 4:05 PM I received an email stating that our agency had not received the medical clearance and was told to come back tomorrow at 2 PM. 

To give you a little perspective on what this means I will try to explain the system the best I can. The embassy is only open Monday-Thursday from 8AM-4 PM. Each agency is given 2 days per week when they can submit documents. Our agency’s days are Monday and Wednesday. Also, there is the fun little detail that on these days they are to submit the documents between 8AM and noon. So, essentially they have 8 hours a week where they can submit documents to the embassy. 

So you have probably caught onto the fact that this one day delay on the medical clearance would actually end up costing us another week in country.

We were pretty upset. There were tears. Lots of deep breaths and saying “It’s ok”, to ourselves and each other, even though it didn’t feel ok.

6 minutes later our agency emailed the embassy requesting special permission to file all of the other documents except for the medical clearance in the morning and to bring the clearance in the afternoon to add to the file. We didn’t know if it would work but at this point it was the best chance we had at trying to fly out this week.

17 minutes after that we received an email letting us know that our agency rep  had been called back to the clinic and told to come get the medical clearance.

We were so excited!!!

I immediately emailed our travel agent we have been using to get the quickest, cheapest airfare possible. She said that there were only two seats left on the Friday night flight out of Addis and they had went up to $8,000 EACH!!!

She asked me if I wanted her to grab them to which I replied in a dignified manner “NO WAY!!!”.

She started looking at other flights but was having trouble getting us a good rate and a seat this weekend. It appeared that after all the initial excitement I would still be here until next week.

Our agency then sent us another email putting us in contact with a woman who had met Nati several years ago. She had fallen in love with him (as most people do) and wanted to help. She wanted to pay for the airfare to get both of us home.

She even had a couple flights researched that could get us home a little quicker. 

She is flying us first class all the way home.

.    .    .

In case there was any doubt in your mind, tears are flowing freely as I type this.

“I don’t think the way you think.

    

The way you work isn’t the way I work.”

       

 God’s Decree.

“For as the sky soars high above earth,

   

 so the way I work surpasses the way you work,

   

 and the way I think is beyond the way you think.”

Isaiah 55:8-9

Throughout this process there have been three things we have tried to hold to in the good and the bad.

He is Good. He is Faithful. He is Able.

We’re Coming Home!!!