Thursday update

So much has happened in the past two days. Nardos finished with her testing and so we were able to go pick her and Nahom up this morning for good! When we went to pick them up, the “special mothers” at the care center had dressed them both up in traditional Ethiopian clothing. They were so proud of themselves! As we were sitting waiting for the time to leave for the embassy, a tall man walked in. When Nahom saw him, he got up and walked over and gave him a big hug. Then Nardos followed. Our driver came over and asked if we realized that this was their father! Imagine our surprise. We introduced ourselves to him and he actually speaks English! The kids were very OK with the whole thing. We had a good conversation with him albeit heartbreaking. We were able to take pictures of him and the children and all of us together. (We had one of him and the children enlarged and will give it to him tomorrow at our meeting.) After a few minutes, it was time for us to leave for the Embassy and the children gladly came with us and waved goodbye to their father. It was just an amazing experience. I was so nervous about this meeting and the effect it would have on Nardos. God gave us a taste of his incredible mercy today. He is so good!!!

The other big news is not so good. We have really run into a snag with Nardos’s TB test. It’s too complicated to explain because I don’t really understand. We get different information from each official we talk to. But what it boils down to is that they won’t issue a visa to Nardos yet. We have to wait until the test results come back. They won’t be ready until Tuesday. Unfortunately our flight is Monday night. So Nahom and I will be flying home alone on Monday. If the test results are negative then she and Paul will catch the next flight probably on Thursday. If they are positive then we have to apply for a medical waiver. This is just a formality but it takes about two weeks to process. In that case, they will be staying until then. Obviously we are praying that the test returns negative. Please pray with us. I’ll keep you updated, but we probably won’t hear anything new until next Tuesday.

Other than that we are having a fabulous time. Ethiopia is an amazing country. We hope to capture as much of it as possible for the children. They definitely have great reason to be proud of their country. We are in love with it!!!