This Reminds Me

Keith and I are now in our room in St. Pete.  The weather is gorgeous – cool, sunny, just beautiful.  He’s foraging in the neighborhood for a currency exchange office before purchasing a few much-needed Diet Cokes and bread.  Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are tonight’s pieces de resistance.  I’m nesting – putting away clothes, papers, toys, snack foods, etc. in our one smallish bedroom.   (Note to Sharon:  NIce appointments!  It’s a “cotton” Marriott fer shure.) My very favorite rolling bag got completely destroyed between Zurich and St. Pete, along with some of its contents.  Keith thinks it went airborne.  Not a tragedy in the great scheme of things, since the flight was plenty bumpy and we managed to stay airborne.

We’ve already met with our local Buckner workers.  The small mountain of paperwork we’ve assembled over the last 22 months is now a larger mountain of translated paperwork here.  They’re preparing us for court at 12N on Wednesday….that’s 3 a.m. CST, in case anyone experiences insomnia and feels the need to pray that our 10 days are waived……

We will get to see Guanna-to-be-Julia tomorrow.  She knows we’re here.  She’s happy we’re going to be a family, but sad about having to leave her friends.  That thrills us.  If she’s bonded to them – she can bond to us.  We know that she will have to mourn losing those friends she’s with 24 x 7, and admist the doctor’s appointments, registering her for school, learning English, getting her used to “family” –  we’ll help her through that mourning.  She’ll have to fully realize what she’s lost before she can appreciate what she’s gained.

Earlier today – when my M&M wrist watch was reading “Sunday morning” – I had my own silent praise and worship session on the plane using music on my Rio.  A few lyrics from Chris Rice really hit me -

And like a newborn baby
Don’t be afraid to crawl
And remember when you walk
Sometimes we fall…

This whole journey has been a walk of faith, and believe me, time has crawled.  If our 10 days isn’t waived and we “fall” for the duration…. we’ll make the best of it.  It’s 10 more days for us.

It’s Guanna-to-be-Julia’s whole life.