Getting ready to go to Africa for a month with only a few day's notice is a bit overwhelming. We are scrambling to take care of lots of last minute details, but oh so excited. We leave on Sunday afternoon and arrive Monday night. We should get to meet Tommy on either Tuesday or Wednesday.
Our court date is July 2nd, probably in the morning. Time there is UTC/GMT +3 hours, or 8 hours ahead of CDT and 10 hours ahead of PDT.
It would not be unusual for the Judge to ask us to gather more paperwork and come back in a few days. After whatever day he decides to hear our case, the wait for his ruling will be (hopefully) one week. Then we will be gathering paperwork, getting his passport, and getting a visa. Due to problems at the American Embassy, this may take longer than usual. I am currently planning on six weeks stay (up from the original plan of four to five weeks). Jeff will leave after two weeks, and my mom will arrive that same day to stay with me for the duration.
For the initial part of our journey, please pray for:
- Safe Travel
- Safety in country
- Bonding with Tommy
- That our court date will not be postponed, and that the the Judge will be satisfied with our paperwork the first time around
- That the judge will look upon us with favor
We love you all and have been so blessed by your comments, emails, and Facebook posts.
I need to run and pack but I just have to share this story:
I emailed a friend of mine about collecting clothes for our orphanage and mentioned that we didn't have much for Tommy and that the last thing I was feeling like was shopping. A short while later, a man came up to her at our church, where she works, and told her he had a bunch of baby toys and things to donate. He brought them to another church in our area, but they didn't have a place to store them, so they sent him to our church. She told him about us and he decided to donate them to us! So now we have some toys and books to take for Tommy, and we have a big bag of girl's shoes to bring to the orphanage. Best of all, most of the toys are very light, so they will travel really well. I was pretty overwhelmed by God's goodness to us.
Our court date is July 2nd, probably in the morning. Time there is UTC/GMT +3 hours, or 8 hours ahead of CDT and 10 hours ahead of PDT.
It would not be unusual for the Judge to ask us to gather more paperwork and come back in a few days. After whatever day he decides to hear our case, the wait for his ruling will be (hopefully) one week. Then we will be gathering paperwork, getting his passport, and getting a visa. Due to problems at the American Embassy, this may take longer than usual. I am currently planning on six weeks stay (up from the original plan of four to five weeks). Jeff will leave after two weeks, and my mom will arrive that same day to stay with me for the duration.
For the initial part of our journey, please pray for:
- Safe Travel
- Safety in country
- Bonding with Tommy
- That our court date will not be postponed, and that the the Judge will be satisfied with our paperwork the first time around
- That the judge will look upon us with favor
We love you all and have been so blessed by your comments, emails, and Facebook posts.
I need to run and pack but I just have to share this story:
I emailed a friend of mine about collecting clothes for our orphanage and mentioned that we didn't have much for Tommy and that the last thing I was feeling like was shopping. A short while later, a man came up to her at our church, where she works, and told her he had a bunch of baby toys and things to donate. He brought them to another church in our area, but they didn't have a place to store them, so they sent him to our church. She told him about us and he decided to donate them to us! So now we have some toys and books to take for Tommy, and we have a big bag of girl's shoes to bring to the orphanage. Best of all, most of the toys are very light, so they will travel really well. I was pretty overwhelmed by God's goodness to us.
Posts
2 comments:
YEAH! God works in mysterious ways! If you are going to stay for 6 weeks, then we will be there! We arrive July 22nd in the evening. Email me, and we can co-ordinate meeting up. I'm sure it will help to have the support and prayers of each other while we are there! Let us know!
Praise Jesus for your little Tommy. You are going to be such great parents! So Blessed!
~Kathryn
Did I miss a post somewhere? This is the first I've heard of Tommy, but so very happy to hear of him! Safe travels to you, and can't wait for the updates. On a side note, we have a Tommy too. Too weird...two families with parents Jeff and Amy and a little Tommmy!
Post a Comment