The Pages We Skimmed

In the last post I skipped over a few pages to get to the good part. Today, it's time for the whole story. Here's the details of the road ahead of us for the next two months. We are securing a court date, which we hope to land in the first week of March. Let you know when we find out. Once we get a court date, we will travel a couple days ahead of time to arrive the day before the court date. We go to court with our lawyer, Maggie and anyone else he deems an integral part of persuading the judge. We sit before the judge as he hears our case. An alloted 7 days later (at the minimum) we will receive our ruling. Being that the judge will undoubtedly grant us guardianship (no room for doubt here right?...positive thinking goes a long way...prayer goes even farther) we will then be given an appointment for our visa interview with the US Embassy consular. The consular will undoubtedly grant us a visa (I reiterate the sentiments of the previous parenthetical statement here) and we will be on our way back to San Diego in a quick two weeks with our amazing daughter!

Yes, yes, it could all go down this way. We pray it does. If reality kicks in, here are some of the hang-ups: our lawyer doesn't have all our paperwork correct, the judge doesn't grant us guardianship, the judges mother dies and he drops all cases for the next two weeks, the newly assigned judge just doesn't show up, the embassy denies our request for a visa, the embassy conducts their own investigation of Maggie which takes weeks because they are "busy" and the case is "complicated", the embassy takes a holiday, the embassy defaults and sends our case to Nairobi...do I need to go on? We are thoroughly aware that we are working with corrupt government in a 3rd world country and an American government that is cracking down on immigration. Yes, yes, we know. We also know that we believe in a God who is going ahead of us. We believe in a God that holds all things together. We believe in a God who has knit this family together and will bring all things to completion. And yes, we believe it will be in his timing. We pray that our watches are set to the same time zone.

[Appendix]

A few months ago I was looking through photos and came across a heartwarming find...six or seven photos of Maggie from 2008 to the present. Though blurry then, trying to see them through tears, I watched as my little girl grew up right before my eyes. I, unintentionally but somehow maybe prophetically, captured memories of her simply because she caught my eye. Only months ago I skimmed through these like they were nothing special, no amazing composition, no popping colors, no emotional lighting, no "stopping" factor whatsoever. Knowing what I know now, they are a treasured keepsake. This one is a favorite. You can almost hear her laughter. Maggie is the one in the red dress, the one with that adorable smile and glimmer in her eye. Yep, this one is a keeper for sure.

From San Diego to Uganda with a heart full of love (especially because yesterday was Valentine's Day),

Ali