Peace in the Turmoil
"Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." John 14:27
Okay, so maybe I was a bit harsh in my last post. I'm sorry. I am blessed beyond belief that I have the friends and family that I do. This process can make you a little crazy!
I opened with the Bible verse I did because I feel that last night I had a break-through of sorts. I stayed up past midnight trying to get Peter, our POA in Rwanda, on the phone. I could not make the call go through. Then I started reading the Rwanda newspaper and saw that there was another grenade attack that injured more people. Then I became very worried for Peter. And then all of a sudden I felt sure that we would not be hearing good news about our referral. And the weird thing was that I felt sad but not angry, not frustrated, nothing like that. I felt that God was telling me that this was not the time; I needed to wait.
So, when I received Peter's email the next morning (thank God he is okay!), I was not surprised at its contents.
Here is an update of the actual facts:
* Peter confirmed that the "handover" of Veronique's duties to Jeanne was completed.
* He also confirmed that Jeanne has prepared the letter that must be signed by the Minister to allow her to fax us our son's picture and medical information. This will also allow us to proceed to schedule the actual court date to make him officially our son.
* BUT, he also confirmed that after being out last week at a leadership retreat, that this week and next week the Minister is out of the country. She is not due back in until March 15th.
So there it is, no information for at least another week and a half. And really, people much less important than the Minister have a lot to catch up on when they've been out of the office for 3 weeks, so I have a feeling our file might not be the first thing she grabs when she walks in that morning.
Oddly, my sense of peace has lasted. This does not mean we're not going to do anything to advocate for ourselves, but we will have to let the process work. I sat back and realized that really, other than Veronique not taking care of this in month three of the wait, there is nothing that could have been done. When the Minister was in town, there was no one in the position to prepare the letter and now that there is, the Minister is not in town. So, maybe the week of the 15th we will hit the jackpot and all the little cherries on the slot machine will line up: Minister in town, Jeanne ready with the file, and all office equipment functional to scan and send it! Seriously, I know we don't need luck; God knows how it will work and He will make it happen. We will let Him guide our actions and do our part, but at some point there is just nothing more to do.
Please pray that the Minister becomes aware of our files and that she is moved to action on our behalf. Please pray that my sense of peace does not disintegrate--at least not permanently--and that we are able to face the next week or two and enjoy life without anxiety. Please pray for our friends whose file has been with ours every step of the way; pray that we will continue to support each other in the way that only we can right now. Thank you.
Okay, so maybe I was a bit harsh in my last post. I'm sorry. I am blessed beyond belief that I have the friends and family that I do. This process can make you a little crazy!
I opened with the Bible verse I did because I feel that last night I had a break-through of sorts. I stayed up past midnight trying to get Peter, our POA in Rwanda, on the phone. I could not make the call go through. Then I started reading the Rwanda newspaper and saw that there was another grenade attack that injured more people. Then I became very worried for Peter. And then all of a sudden I felt sure that we would not be hearing good news about our referral. And the weird thing was that I felt sad but not angry, not frustrated, nothing like that. I felt that God was telling me that this was not the time; I needed to wait.
So, when I received Peter's email the next morning (thank God he is okay!), I was not surprised at its contents.
Here is an update of the actual facts:
* Peter confirmed that the "handover" of Veronique's duties to Jeanne was completed.
* He also confirmed that Jeanne has prepared the letter that must be signed by the Minister to allow her to fax us our son's picture and medical information. This will also allow us to proceed to schedule the actual court date to make him officially our son.
* BUT, he also confirmed that after being out last week at a leadership retreat, that this week and next week the Minister is out of the country. She is not due back in until March 15th.
So there it is, no information for at least another week and a half. And really, people much less important than the Minister have a lot to catch up on when they've been out of the office for 3 weeks, so I have a feeling our file might not be the first thing she grabs when she walks in that morning.
Oddly, my sense of peace has lasted. This does not mean we're not going to do anything to advocate for ourselves, but we will have to let the process work. I sat back and realized that really, other than Veronique not taking care of this in month three of the wait, there is nothing that could have been done. When the Minister was in town, there was no one in the position to prepare the letter and now that there is, the Minister is not in town. So, maybe the week of the 15th we will hit the jackpot and all the little cherries on the slot machine will line up: Minister in town, Jeanne ready with the file, and all office equipment functional to scan and send it! Seriously, I know we don't need luck; God knows how it will work and He will make it happen. We will let Him guide our actions and do our part, but at some point there is just nothing more to do.
Please pray that the Minister becomes aware of our files and that she is moved to action on our behalf. Please pray that my sense of peace does not disintegrate--at least not permanently--and that we are able to face the next week or two and enjoy life without anxiety. Please pray for our friends whose file has been with ours every step of the way; pray that we will continue to support each other in the way that only we can right now. Thank you.
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