Huge Answer to Prayer!!

Last Thursday night, I posted this status on Facebook:

"Huge prayer request friends -- Angie and I go in for an interview tomorrow morning at 9:30 with immigration. Lord willing, afterward, she'll be a U.S. permanent resident!"

By Friday morning there were a lot of likes, and quite a few comments, as we went in for our meeting with a very nice immigration officer. As nice as he was though, he did not grant Angie permanent residency, on the contrary he actually had some doubts and told me he'd need to research it further, and he'd let me know in a couple months.

I was, of course, dejected, and made a comment on the status above that we hadn't gotten residency that day. But most people didn't notice my comment, and many MANY people continued to "like" and even comment throughout the weekend, as if the interview were still in the future. Honestly, it got a little annoying. I don't think I've ever had 133 people "like" anything I've posted, let alone something that was so frustrating and disappointing. But for some reason, I didn't just erase the status, as would have made sense. 

This morning, the immigration officer left me a voicemail, which reignited fresh hope, and I dropped to my knees in prayer as soon as I heard his message. When I opened my eyes, I immediately saw the file containing some of the documents we'd been looking for! 

I'll spare you the laborious details of the following hours (during which I ambushed the nice man on his lunch break) and instead show you the result:

Angie Was Granted Her U.S. Permanent Residency!!!!!

I think that warrants some caps and bold font. It's been a long road, Baby! One where we moved back to Bolivia for four months to fulfill the requirements, and have been filing paperwork since our return last December.  One where no local lawyers would touch our case with a ten foot pole, so we navigated the muddy waters on our own.  And one where we made some mistakes, including a $1500 error in timing our trip back to visit Bolivia last month. 

But now the horizon looks pretty clear, the citizenship and Jon's adoption of her, seem like smooth sailing compared to the obstacles we've already overcome.

On Sunday, we leave for the trip to Bolivia we had planned for July. Thank you so much for your prayers, even the ones that came after the interview, when I thought they were useless. It just proves that God is timeless, and His timing is not always ours.

If you read my last post, you might be wondering if I revisited my knees to thank God for His goodness, as I had so easily sunk to them in petition. I did, but it was hard to stay down there, as I'm light as a feather with relief, and feel much more liking leaping for joy than holding still!!!

If you're interested in supporting our work in Bolivia, or here in the US, please partner with us here. As always, we covet your prayers.