Just More Waiting.

It has been 8 days since the phone rang. "Prepare yourselves" she said. That was last Wednesday.

Even in the bad news I see God taking care of us. If there was ever a day to receive gut wrentching news, last Wednesday was a good day for it. I had already arranged for Cara to be with my mother for the day so that I could do all the final shopping for the cabaret. Bill was done work at 1:30pm (as opposed to Tuesday or Thursday where he worked 7am-10pm). We had already planned to take a long drive together up to Chester to pick up the Rocky Mountain Chocolate basket. It was as if God knew we would need this time and space to process.

Thursday was like the eye of the storm. When Lisa (our social worker) had called Wednesday morning I was too shocked to ask logical questions. She said she was going to make calls, I didn't even ask who they would be calling. However, we made the decision not to ask any more questions until the phone rang on Friday. It wouldn't change the outcome. We decided just to rest in God's peace and trust that everyone was doing everything they could. We experienced peace while we waited.

Friday was they day they were calling back. I had no idea what time. Bill was working a long day and then we were all meeting up at Destiny Arts to set up for Saturday's fundraiser. Bill had decided to fast for the day and he took a long walk by the river and talked to God during his lunch break.
He sent me this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbNK50T35wY of Chris Tomlin's song "I Lift My Hands".

My neighbor, Val, was incredible. She took Cara in the morning so I could finish up some things for the cabaret. A few hours later the girls came to play at my house which was a great distraction and Val stayed to keep me company. As it got closer to noon I knew that meant the end of the day in Uganda (they are 6 hours ahead). I checked my phone every 10 seconds. Val invited us to join them on a trip to run errands and perhaps stop by a Chick-fila. It was a great distraction. By 2pm the knot in my stomach was nearly unbearable but somehow there was still peace in my heart.

It was around 2pm that people started texting "any news?"....nothing. Cara went down for her nap and I waited for the phone to ring. A good friend stopped by to drop off a needed item and she had been fasting for us as well.

Eventually it was time to start packing up all the baskets for the fundraiser. One of my college students had brought her van and we were halfway done when the phone rang. I passed Cara off to her and went on the back deck to answer the call. "We haven't heard from Uganda but I didn't want you to wait any longer."  It wasn't good news but it wasn't a closed door either. Just more waiting.

I was able to talk with Lisa and ask some of the questions I was unable to form two days before. Most of my questions she didn't have answers for but she did share with me two things that gave us the hope we needed to get through the weekend. I don't feel comfortable sharing them here because they are pieces of Simon's story for him to learn when he is ready, but I felt much more hopeful when I hung up the phone on Friday.

The cabaret on Saturday was amazing. We enjoyed a day hanging out with good friends and they put on a remarkable performance that night. It was wonderful to watch everyone participate in the raffle and to see people win the items they had been hoping for. What an incredible gift it was for us to still be able to give during a time of our own greatest need. (More on the cabaret as we get photos up)

Monday an email came by 1pm. No news.
Tuesday I checked in...still nothing.

Wednesday, one week after the phone first rang, I got an email from Lisa saying that Ken (the orphanage director) and Alice (our lawyer) had talked. Simon's mother had told them the exact opposite information. Apparently this is not unusual because people become very nervous around lawyers. Lisa told me that Ken was setting up a meeting with Alice and Simon's mom so that the three of them could get the truth out. She has no idea when this meeting will take place.

In Lisa's words "it's not good news or bad news, just more waiting."

Please continue to pray for Simon. My heart breaks for this little boy that (hopefully) has no idea the delicate web he is tangled in. I wish we had more details to share with you. Thank you for waiting with us.