Discouragement and Celebration - 2 Different Days

Well this is different! It’s been 2 days since the blog has been updated, I’m doing the blog instead of Karen tonight as she has been busy and overwhelmed with the activities going on. I skype Karen every morning at 6am EST which is 1pm in Ethiopia. She has been updating me on her days which I will do the best to sum up. She didn’t want it to go another day without an update but was skyping Kate til 10:30pm tonight and didn’t have the energy to write one. Well, Tuesday started like normal as any other morning, the usual routine for breakfast, bath and playtime. Unfortunately the day would get worse . Heather and Candy were notified that their letters of no objection were received and would now go with the passports to apply for the visas in Nairobi. Karen waited but no call for her. Her patience is growing thin. She called Martha to inquire but much to our displeasure, Martha had not received our letter and therefore could not forward on to start the visa process. The letter of no objection comes from the Ethiopian courts to the Canadian government who reviews and then returns the Ok to Ethiopia so the visa can proceed. Karen emailed Mission of Tears to understand the delay. MoT contacted the ministry but was awaiting a response which MoT would let us know when they get it. As you can imagine, this upset Karen very much as the timing could not be worse given the Ethiopian New Year starting on Wednesday. Karen and I emailed back and forth but I could do nothing to help her feel better. Karen was not in the mood to write the blog and went off to bed as it was going to be an early morning. I waited for a response from MOT but did not see one so I called them before their office closed in Toronto. I expressed my confusion, that we all went to court together, we all completed birth certificates together, we did passport application together and received passports together. Why did the other couples get their letters and we didn’t. MoT was able at least to shed some light as the reviews that are done here are provincial reviews. Each province may review differently and the amount of workload may diff which affects it. I was told that it should be more than 2 weeks from the time they received. That would mean we should get by end of this week. As I said before that would mean that at the earliest, our paperwork will not be in the Ethiopian hands til the 16th when the government offices reopen because of the New Years.  Karen was able to talk to Jake before she went to bed. As Karen was sleeping I emailed Karen the sad news. I knew that is not the news she would want to wake up to but that what it is. We just have to remember that it’s God’s timing – not ours!! That will not make it any easier, knowing that most likely our visa will be one week later than the other couples. This will likely also mean, Karen and Ibssa will be a week longer, and be alone as the other couples will be returning home. I ask all to pray, for speedy paperwork as Karen’s booked flight is Sept 25th but of course this will be tight and we will likely have to re-book. Wednesday was an early start. Getcho was picking everyone up at 5:30am for the New Year trek. From an earlier blog, Karen mentioned about getting the boys bikes and feeding the homeless. This was the day. Karen & Ibssa must have been up at 4am or they wouldn’t have been ready. They loaded up the bikes on top of the van and headed out. It was just the girls that went along with Ibssa and I believe Faith. The men stayed behind to babysit. They arrived at the boy’s place to quite a sight. The boys were up most of the night cooking the goat that would be distributed to the homeless people. Just inside that gate, there was the head of the goat sitting on the ground – yummy!!! The meat and whatever else was prepared was put into baggies so they could give out. The food and everyone loaded up and away they went. I’m not sure where they went but once there, the ladies were advised to stay in the van and let the boys give out the food. Karen mentioned that she got out of the van so she could help. That’s my wife. She told me that they fed about 70 people. I forgot to mention, the boys were very thankful for the gifts of the bikes. These boys are unbelievable!! Giving back to where they started. God has taken care of them and they are helping take care of God’s people. They returned back to the guesthouse around noon, so she skyped me this morning which was around 1:15 their time. She mentioned Ibssa was already napping due to the early morning but he got up a couple minutes later. We were only able to talk for about 10 minutes as I had to go to work. I could see she was in better spirits but obviously still not happy with yesterday’s news. Karen mentioned that he was testing his limits and hers the last couple of days. She also told me about another Ibssa moment. While she was in the bathroom, Ibssa came in and decided to rinse off the TV remote in the sink. Oops – not sure if that’s going to work again. I’m not sure what Karen did for the rest of the day but I know she talked to a couple people over skype which included Kate. Hopefully a talk with both her kids over the last 2 days hopefully lifted her spirits even the slightest amount. Stay strong honey. I know it’s easy for me to say being back in Canada . We both know everything happens for a reason and God must have a reason. We may never know what it is, but you can bet that Ibssa is worth it. Stay safe, I Love You Chow for now Paul