Here is my journal entry for August 6th, 2013 (the most harrowing day of my life thus far, hands-down). Background: my wife and I were in Kyiv, Ukraine finalizing the adoption of our 3 newest children. We had been in Ukraine at that point for 12 weeks (4 weeks longer than planned) WITHOUT our natural children who were at home in the U.S. To say the least, we were fit to be tied. The names have been changed for comic relief. Today we were making our last preparations to go home: full medical check and applying for immigrant visas for the children. Eduardo picked us all up at our apartment and drove us to the medical clinic where we met Lucretia. Shannon and the kids went inside the clinic with Lucretia while Eduardo and I went to the U.S. Embassy so that I could drop off the documents for review prior to the immigrant visa appointment. The guy I was giving the documents to told me that one document was missing: the original court decree revoking parental rights for the birth parents. This is the very document that caused so much trouble throughout this whole process. So I had to wait outside the embassy for Shannon and Eduardo to return. I had given my phone to Shannon, so I had no way of letting Onesimus know about the problem so he could begin working on finding the court document. I waited for about 1 & 1/2 hours in the baking sun wondering if the document had been lost, and not knowing how critical this document actually is. I was fighting a battle with fear, and God arranged it so that my only means of communication was prayer to Him. Im not sure how well I handled it; I mostly remember praying, God, please help us! Please, please help us! It felt like I was walking through the valley of the shadow of death, tempted to fear evil. But I was comforted with Psalm 112:7, He will not be afraid of evil tidings; his heart is steadfast, trusting in The Lord. I was also comforted with the thought that God is the One who made heaven and earth, and that this is a small matter in His eyes. I was helped to submit to His will, even if it meant staying in Ukraine even longer. When Shannon and Eduardo finally arrived we called Onesimus to let him know about the missing document. Then Shannon and I went to the front door of the embassy where we were politely told that they were not allowing anyone inside because of an anti-U.S. protest happening down the street. But Lurlene, who we had spoken with earlier (she works in the embassy) called the security officer and instructed him to let us in. We were able to finish filling out paperwork for immigration, and we had to wait for things to be processed. After about an hour we were able to sign the documents in front of an immigration officer, and we were informed that the kids immigrant visas were approved and would be processed and printed shortly. Two of them were printed out, but the third one didnt make it before the end of the business day. The third visa should be printed out tomorrow, and we are scheduled to fly home the next day. God, please be gracious to us and help us the rest of the way. Thank you for helping us this far! If I ever write a book about our adoption, this will be the source of one of many climaxes.
Posted on: Wed, 06 Aug 2014 03:02:55 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015