In addition to the daily parenting, Bill and I have been on an exhausting journey of planning, waiting, wondering and trusting. There are still some big "what if's" looming ahead of us. It is hard not to hope and wonder and wish for an ideal circumstance. It is even harder not to worry about the worst case scenario. Most days we are able to hang onto our faith and look just for the very next step. Other days are harder .
This Thursday was a great challenge. We heard from the family that filed for their passports with us. They had received their passports on Wednesday and were already moving into Kampala and scheduling their medical examinations. Our files were right on top of one another. How could it be that they had their passports and we did not?
I'll confess that I stared to despair. As I hand-washed our laundry, I was thankful to be on my knees. I knew all the right things in my head but my heart still sank a bit. The only thing I could do was cry out to God and use all of my strength to trust him. "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding."
We contacted the lawyer and he told us that there had been an error in our file but we might expect news today (Thursday). However, when we asked him if we should make our way into town he advised us to wait "just in case" it didn't work out.
Every beep or buzz on the phone caused us all to jump. Even Cara knew that if we didn't have our passports in the next 24 hours all hope of us flying home together as a family would be lost.
Around noon we got the call that the passport was in and waiting for us at the lawyers office. What happened next felt a little like the Amazing Race. I ran into the restaurant and explained that we would miss lunch, "Do you have any bread we could take now to make sandwiches for the kids?" Meanwhile, Bill was on the phone contacting our driver as well as finding out if we could schedule our medical review for Friday. We were told we had to be at IOM by 3pm in order to get an appointment. That meant our driver had to get to us and get us into Kampala FAST!
We quickly packed bags and gave the kids a quick lunch (thank God for peanut butter!). Bill organized our paperwork and double checked everything. By 1pm our driver was here and we were jumping into the car. The kids quickly fell asleep on me as we weaved in and out of traffic toward the lawyers office (which had moved since our last visit). We sent a quick message home though we expected everyone was still asleep.
We arrived at the lawyers office by 2:15pm. Bill and our driver rushed inside while I waited with the sleeping children. What they don't show you on the Amazing Race is all the waiting that happens in between each leg of the journey. Soon Isaac and Cara were awake and crawling around the car while a woman was trying to sell me mangoes through the window.
By 2:43pm Bill and Raymond were back at the car and after paying for parking we were off toward IOM. It was on the other side of town but our driver knew a short cut through some residential areas (which were quite nice if we had had the time to notice them). Bill was organizing the additional paperwork and photo copies in the front seat while I was finding a snack for our driver who was having low blood sugar (he skipped out on his lunch to pick us up).
WE pulled up to IOM by 3:10 and quickly ushered the kids through the security check point. We were surprised to find it vastly empty. The very kind woman at the desk said we were too late. They had already taken the files for the Friday appointments (at 2:30, even though we were told 3 on the phone). We did our best to smile and kindly ask for her to reconsider, but there did not seem to be much we could do.
Thankfully all of Bill's organizing had gone well and we had all the correct paper work with us to schedule an appointment for Monday. We stopped to take a moment and appreciate the fact that for many families our timeline would be a blessing. We have moved very swiftly through a very difficult process. It wasn't our goal, but we weren't leaving empty handed.
The drive back to Mukono was less eventful. We sat calmly in the afternoon traffic and marveled at the fact that we had Isaac's passport in hand. The passport is a step that can delay families by weeks and ours had taken 8 days, even with a mistake. We were thankful.
We now await the next big unknown step in our journey. The IOM process can be a predictable 3 days or it can quickly turn into weeks worth of testing. The reasons why are lengthy and have many variables. In the end we can only take the next step. We are choosing not to worry about what's around the bend while still faithfully preparing for several scenarios. This is not an easy thing to do and takes surrendering our circumstances again and again and again.
At this moment, even with a quick IOM process the standard timeline places our Embassy interview on the day we are scheduled to fly out. We were told that it takes 48 hours after the interview to issue Isaac's Visa. This would mean Cara and Bill fly out as scheduled and Isaac and I remain behind (hopefully catching a flight on January 31st and not waiting for the next one on February 4th).
It has happened where things move quicker but we know that whatever the plan it will all make sense in the end.
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