A Roller Coaster

I love riding a roller coaster.  The feeling of exhilaration as you climb the first big hill, then your stomach remains at the pinnacle while your body is in the first valley.  Usually, sometime by the end of the ride you're all in one piece again.  I especially like the ones that drop you fast, and twist you around then run you into a loop before turning you around backward and somehow bringing you back to where you began...that is fun at the amusement park...not so much in life.  We knew that the process of an adoption would be filled with ups and downs.  We knew that working in a foreign country with a much different culture would be downright infuriating.  We knew when we left earlier in March that there was a possibility that we would not be home before Easter, but we booked our return flights and hoped for the best...well, today was a roller coaster of a day.

We had arranged for Carlos to pick us up this morning and take us into Tegucigalpa for a morning at Chiminike (a children's play museum that we had visited back in July).  When Carlos arrived, he told us that our lawyer had received word that the adoption was officially registered in Tegucigalpa and she wanted to meet with us so that she could plan for the next step which is her traveling to the birth town of the children.  The meeting was planned for 5:30 in the afternoon...so the roller coaster was climbing with anticipation...

We went to Chiminike and had a great time.  We didn't do the bike course this time, since we have a bike back at the apartment.  The children had more time to play, and were more interactive with us this time, since they are much more acquainted with us.  They also loved having Carlos' son, Noah with us.  This time, they also had the opportunity to go outside and climb on a huge rope structure.  They are both great climbers.

After Chiminike, we had lunch and some shopping, and then returned to the apartment for a brief rest for a few hours before Carlos returned for our meeting with Jenny.  We told ourselves that we were still probably not going to be home before Easter, but in our hearts the roller coaster seemed to be telling us that we were going to make it.  Jenny showed us the registration, and told us that she was hiring a driver to take her out  to the birth town for the children, which is not La Cieba as we were originally told, but rather about an hour from there.  She will hope to be back in Tegucigalpa by the end of the week. (Please pray that they have all of the paper, ink and supplies to print the new birth certificates).  We were hearing words of immediacy (which is very unusual here), and inwardly, we were growing in anticipation...then, the fast and stomach wrenching drop as she very bluntly told us that the process is going well, but we will not be home before Easter.  Lord willing, we will meet with her on Monday to get the new birth certificates and everything we need to complete the process with the US Embassy, and we will seek to get their Honduran passports, but she told us the process will not move that fast.  Barring a miracle from God... (and I do believe that God can and does do miracles, but His miracles are solely in accord with His will, not mine, and I will not presume that I know the mind of God regarding the timing of our return to the US.  We simply need to trust Him and have peace)...OK...Barring a miracle from God, we will be here a few more weeks.  Please pray especially for Ashton as he has been asking more about going to the US and has in his mind that we will only be here ten more days.  Also, pray for Alicia as the time away from our older daughter has been hard on both of us, but especially on her.  Thank you to those who have taken the time to drop an email or post a comment on the blog, or through Facebook, etc..  We may not always respond, but we have read them all and they are a great encouragement to us.