Stepping out of the boat

After finding out that we needed more paperwork for embassy on Friday and pretty much reeling with the news all weekend ( seriously, Lord? Can't at least one part of this go smooth?) We made the decision to go ahead and make our plane reservations for June 12th -19th. We decided that it was time. Our kids have been over there waiting since meeting us in January and its just time. We decided that we would go on faith that God would provide the embassy appointment we need, when we need it.

Greg will fly home on June 19th and hopefully we will all be with him, but if the kids have not gotten their Visas, I will stay with them until they are cleared for travel. It may be another week or just a few days, but regardless they will have their mommy and daddy there in Ethiopia on June 14th for Gotcha Day.

I have had total peace about this... in spite of our agency giving us a worse case scenario ( stuck in country for longer) I still think we need to go. Greg does too and last night I began preparing a list of items needed for additional time in ET, thinking of ways to keep the kids entertained as we wait on embassy, imagining in my mind getting through a 17 hour flight and customs alone. I woke up feeling like, with God's help I can be brave and for the kids, I can do this. We called grandparents and airlines this morning and began planning to leave the 12th.

My phone rings around 11 and it is AWAA and I am thinking to myself they have gotten the email telling them we are going no matter what and here comes round 2 of worse case trying to talk me out of it. Instead she says, "Your family must have been praying hard last night because the document that should have taken until June 8th to be submitted was actually submitted last night!"

It is a faxed copy of it, but the original is on its way back to the city . Hopefully embassy will take the faxed copy and clear us tonight (PLEASE PRAY THEY DO!!) but either way the document is found and on its way to Addis so they can submit the original if need be! Please pray it is also what embassy needs to clear Micah. Sarah Faith is good it is just one document for Micah they are requesting.

Now, we still haven't cleared and we still don't have an embassy date, but the fact that the Lord allowed the document to be submitted a full week ahead of time is a big deal to me! We are still leaving on the 12th cleared or not, embassy date or not, but I am hoping and praying the Lord will allow us ( and our kids) to know we are cleared and with a solid date by the time we leave on 6/12/11.

If so, we will arrive home on June 19th on Father's Day. How cool is that!? Greg would have all 5 of his kids together for Father's Day and my dad and his dad will be at the airport to meet us. The first time we have all ever been together on Father's Day.

Stepping out of the boat is not an easy thing for me to do, but with God in charge we feel like it is the right thing to do.