AAAHHHH!!!! Eli and I will be leaving for India on FRIDAY!!!!! We'll meet Kyle there Saturday night and we will be meeting Runa on MONDAY!!! It's so crazy that after such a long process we are finally almost there! I'm excited and overwhelmed and anxious and happy and nervous and...and...and.... The last couple weeks and specifically days have been such a whirlwind of news and decisions and nervously just deciding to take a couple chances and pray God will work it all out exactly how it needs to be worked out. At this point in my journey I was hoping to be filled with the 'normal' feelings that come with almost getting to meet our daughter for the first time, but of course we have a lot of technical things that are keeping my mind busy and overloaded.
We were told that Runa's passport is expected to be ready for pickup on June 20th, but no promises because this is the first international adoption they've dealt with so they did not want to tell us to come before it's in their hands if they can't guarantee it will be done right and on time. Since Kyle's students leave India days before the passport is supposed to be ready we had to decide if we wanted Kyle to come home just to have to pay for a ticket for him to go back a less than a week later (lots of extra money and exhaustion), or if we wanted to chance him staying and us meeting him there and the passport perhaps not being ready. We're taking the chance. This actually wouldn't be a hard decision to make--we'd stay the whole summer in India waiting, but with Charlotte back home with grandparents it's really hard to just jump into this.
We also knew we were doing this with the director of our agency being in India herself which definitely has pros, but she'd also be busy with other things and it might be a little more difficult for all involved. And then things have gotten even crazier for her. If you didn't see my facebook status a little bit earlier, please check it out and be praying for all involved--I can't imagine the heaviness and fear they're dealing with right now. There are hundreds of people aware of this and are praying for them all over the world and Pat has said that they are definitely feeling everyone's prayers and feel a peace about everything which is an answered prayer in itself. And even with all that she's dealing with she's still staying on top of our case and working things out for us. And with Kyle over there right now he's able to get things worked out that Pat and I can't do easily.
We also just found out the "Bureau of Consular Affairs is experiencing technical difficulties" which means at this point they are not issuing US visas to anyone in the world. I'm assuming they have the best of the best in the world on this, but there is no timeline of when this will be fixed, and then we have to wait for the backlog. They are saying they are prioritizing adoption cases and are trying to issue those visas with few delays, but that is a lot of adoptions all over the world right now and I'm not sure what "few delays" means exactly.
Anyway--it's a lot on my mind right now, so instead of lots of paragraphs, I'll do a list of prayer requests. (Who am I kidding? I only do paragraphs so these will be long too--sorry! :))
--First and foremost for Runa as her whole world is about to be turned upside down in a week and she has no idea. I know they are preparing her as well as they can, but that's a lot to understand for a 2.5 year old (or any age!).
--For the Kyle, Eli and me as we prepare to meet her and take her from the orphanage. It's more emotions than I could possibly even understand myself and I don't know how to even begin to really be prepared for those first moments/hours/days.
--For Charlotte as she stays here with grandparents--that she handles us being gone and all the emotions she'll be dealing with back at home. And for her when she meets Runa that she'll embrace big sisterhood really well.
--That Runa's passport will be ready by the 20th because everything is carefully planned to the day (minute in some cases) and if it's not ready it will mess up the planning of the whole trip.
--That the Consular Database stuff will be fixed IMMEDIATELY and the backlog will be caught up quickly--for sure by the time we need to go to the Embassy to get her visa. I bought plane tickets the day before we found out about this happening and only allowed one extra day in case there were visa issues before our trip home.
--And to go with those that the timing of everything will work out perfectly. Thankfully we only had to pay around $750 for Kyle's plane ticket since we just had to pay for the change fee and price difference, however, if we have to change his plane ticket again we'd have to pay that much or more. The kids and my plane tickets would only have to pay the price difference which is really nice, but still would be hundreds/thousands of extra dollars.
--That I can get everything done before Friday without feeling too
overwhelmed. There are things to buy, pack, plan, copy, organize. I still have in
country plane tickets to buy and hotel rooms to reserve. And many other things that I keep remembering and forgetting before I find a pen and paper to write it down.
--And
to go with the previous request, that I can sleep and not keep myself
awake all night thinking of things to do. My mind is already a blur and
lack of sleep is making 846 times worse.
--And for Kyle and Pat as they're working on things in India. They are busy with other things, but they are putting everything into making things go as smoothly as they can help and it's a lot to do.
--For safe travel. Our family will be split up between Kyle and Runa in India right now, Eli and I flying together, Charlotte back home--and my anxiety about it all is a little high. So maybe I should be saying to pray for that mostly. :)
--That I can slow down and enjoy this time. It really is an exciting, special time...and the last bit of time with just Eli and Charlotte and I want to cherish it all. My emotions are running so high but mostly I'm just overwhelmed with the all the good in my life. I don't want stress to overshadow that. I want to continually feel the HOPE of Jesus and His promises that I've felt throughout the last two years. Sometimes I saw the hope as a flame and a many times it was just a tiny flicker, but it was ALWAYS there, and I want to follow it all the way to Runa.
