CLEARED!!

I'm not gonna lie - the last few days have been brutal!  Today, however, I am breathing a HUGE sigh of relief. 

On Tuesday at 3:30 in the afternoon, Addie's birth relative had an appointment at the embassy.  He lives very far from Addis and it is quite a journey.  Early Monday morning, we found out that he was already in the city for Tuesday's appointment.  That was great news.  That also began an emotional battle within me as I realized that this was it for him - the final step in a process that he initiated over a year ago so that Addie would be taken care of.  My heart aches for the hard choices that had to be made in both of my girls' lives.  Adoption is complicated.  While it is a beautiful thing and an incredible blessing, it is not without sacrifice - on the part of each person involved.  I will forever be grateful to the precious families in Ethiopia who have entrusted their baby girls to our care. 

I had held out hope that we might hear something regarding our case yesterday.  As business hours came to a close in Ethiopia, that hope dwindled. I decided to go in and bake last night knowing I would not be able to concentrate today.  I was busy making pies when I looked up and saw a police officer looking at me through the window.  I waved and wondered what that was all about.  The last time a police officer had visited the pie hole, it was after one of the local banks was robbed (in our small town, that is a BIG deal!)  Pretty soon, there were several police officers in the building - with guns drawn.  Ummm....okay.  Apparently, they were in search of an armed gunman in the vicinity.  Super.  A little more stress added to my day was just what I had in mind.  For the next hour, they searched the building (which is really a block of buildings that are all interconnected with numerous places for an armed gunman to hide and I am told that Abraham Lincoln once slept in one of the rooms upstairs, though I cannot confirm the validity of that rumor.)  Apparently, the search was fruitless because the guns were put away and the officers departed the premises before my pies were even out of the oven.  Whew.  That was fun. 

Last night, we set the alarm for 2am and for the next 6 hours and 31 minutes, I checked email A LOT.  By 7am our time, I was beginning to worry that something wasn't right, so I sent an email to the embassy inquiring about the status of our case.  And I waited.  And cried.  And waited.  And emailed our case manager.  And posted on Facebook.  And cried.  And email our case manager.  And my friend, Sara, called and prayed with me.  (Bless your heart, Sara!)  And cried.  And then...at 8:31 am, an email arrived with the subject line: appointment slot.  Huh?  I read the email and it said they were ready to schedule the visa interview in our case.  I called our case manager to make sure this was it and it was!!  My heart had been racing all morning and my mind was formulating all sorts of possibilities and then, just like that, all was well.  ADDIE IS COMING HOME!!  Thank you, Lord!  And forgive me for being such a goober.