Visa Review

Friends, It's been a while since we updated you, but up to this point nothing had changed. We received word today that a review of Enock's immigration visa has begun. We don't know the process or the timing, but we are encouraged that something is happening. We are asking you to pray with us that God's will be done on earth just as it is in Heaven. We are praying that the reviewer would have compassion on our case and approve the visa without any further paperwork. So many of you have been praying for us daily and we can never thank you enough. Please continue! Looking forward to a great celebration when our son comes home. Michael, Joanna, Nate, Davina & Enock

Peace

Right now I am at peace, not that I am happy with the situation, but I know that God will bring Enock home to Orange. Francis did an excellent job translating and really helping me communicate to Enock the situation and what the next period of time would look like. Once he heard that I was leaving, he burst into tears because he knew that he wasn't coming with me. He pulled it together, he needed to, he needed to hear and understand. I assured him how much Joanna and I love him and that I wil be back once we get the visa figured out. Couldn't say it with out my own tears flowing like the Congo river. We hugged and cried, then went into our bedroom and I got down, looked into his eyes and told him that I loved him so much and he said that he loved me. We hugged again, then time to move on. From that point on, no more tears. He is going to be staying with a Salvation Army family in Kinshasa, a family that we met in the course of adopting our beautiful daughter. He will go to secondary school in the morning Monday through Saturday (normal) and then go to an English school attached to the British Embassy. He is very excited about going to school just to learn English! We told that this will really help him in the US and to work really hard. Wonder if he will have a British accent... Tomorrow I fly home and will get home sometime on Sunday. This is not how I dreamed this trip would end but I trust that God is not done yet. I am at peace because I can't do a thing about this situation. The picture was taken right before I left him, this is how I am going to remember him and I hope you will too. I will update this blog after I am home to let you know how things are progressing. Please keep praying for the Freeman family in Kinshasa and in Orange. Thanks for all your support and prayers and may the God of all Comfort,

comfort us all. Michael.

Painful day

The highs and lows of this trip have been difficult to deal with. Today started with the high of flying home and rapidly decended once at the consulat to pick up Enock's visa and being informed that they changed their mind on the approval. I am not going to go into the details of why nor do I really want to talk about it at all. At the end of the day (Thursday) I received a call that the case has been requested by the US consulars lawyers in Washington DC. They are going to make the decision which we will have in 30 to 90 days! Needless to say, I can't stay here that long. I now need to find a safe place for Enock to live until we can get the visa worked out. I have a lead on a Salvation Army family and am going to speak with them tomorrow. I am relieved to have a decison made but no happy with the results, it's not a denial so we still beleive this will happen. There is so much more I could and maybe should say, but I just don't feel like it right now. Pray for Enock, he is so dissapointed that we did not travel today and I can only image how the news of me going home without him will be taken. Pray for understanding for him, and hope that soon he will be in California. I am not sure when I will be home, the earliest is Sunday, but more likely Wednesday or Friday next week. I need to make sure Enock is taken care of before I worry about myself. Not sure how much more I will post, keep checking in, keep praying that God's will be done on earth just as it is in heaven. God is still at work, Michael & Enock. Blessed be your name when the road it marked with suffering, when there is pain in the offering, blessed be your name.

Thursday

Here is where things stand Thursday morning at 7:30: We are packed and headed to the consulate and then the airport. Yesterday was an extremely stressful day of waiting. I have been assured that I will pick up the visa this morning and be on our way. This is great news, but I feel like I have heard this before. Hopefully the next post you read will be from Ethiopia or Washington DC. Keep praying, Michael & Enock.

Rollercoaster

I enjoy a good rollercoaster, that slow up with the rapid banking descent, awesome. The rollercoaster I have been on the last couple of days I could easily do withou. Assurance of a visa, travel arrangements adjusted (change fee) then boom, rapid descent! No visa and several hundren dollarrs in changes fees down the drain. Emotions crash, hopes crash, frustration level elevates, anger burns within, you name it we have felt it. Today the rollercoaster is headed backup the hill again. Hope of a visa late this afternoon, travel tomorrow (Thursday) the makings of a really good day. Today emotions are good, hope is growing, frustration is minimal and anger is gone. It was great encouragement to hear that my church was gathering to pray for us last night, means so much. I am still very hestitant of getting my hopes to high for fear of a rapid painful descent. I am believeing that God is bigger than any government system, or anyone person who says they are the decision maker. I am believeing that greater things are instore for us today! I wait with great anticipation to share with you the good news of today. I will post as soon as I can get back to a computer with a connection. Grace and Peace, Michael & Enock.

End in sight?

I want to be an optimist, but my experience here the last 3+ weeks discourages me from being one. There is a good possibility that Enock's visa will be issued tomorrow. Unless the consulate comes up with one more thing, I will recieve and turn in the last document needed tomorrow morning. I have been told that the visa has been approved pending this last document, but until I have the visa in my hand I cannot rejoice. Oh how I want to celebrate, and I will with gelatto...yes there is really good gelatto in Kinshasa. I saw something on the blvd. today that I wouldn't have dreamed of, a cycling race. Decent looking bikes with a police motorcycle escourt down the street. Francis told me that they do it every Sunday, it would be great to be a part of it! Maybe they can get a triathalon started, but I don't know about swimming in the Congo river. With the currant, you would be to the Atlantic Ocean before you knew what happened. Enock is really great kid and these last three weeks have been beneficial in establishing our relationship. Looking forward to getting home and working through the family adjustments. Hopefully I will have a visa by the time the time Orange wakes up Monday morning. Grace and Peace, Michael & Enock.

One more thing

"One more thing" a phrase I would be more than happy not to hear for a while. It seems like there is always something else that needs to get done in order to accomplish a task and yesterday was no different. I was told that there would be a community visit to verify information previously given and this was the final step. I received a call saying that the visit went great, but there was another document from the family service department that was needed. Oi! So an appointment was made with a lawyer the consulate uses this morning (Friday) and some money later the document should be in my hands today. And then, one more thing, a document is needed from the Commune (City Hall) to verify another piece of information. Francis is on that and that should be ready within the hour. That should be the end! WOW. If I get these documents by Saturday, I will have the visa Monday morning. Althougth I have to change flights, for the third time, we won't need to be here another week. Enock is so excited to see his mom, brother and sister. He has seen the pictures of the dogs, he knows their names and says that he is not afraid. That will make home life easier for all of us. The end is in sight, but dont stop praying, Grace and Peace, Michael & Enock

Careful what you say

As soon as I committed to not letting anything take the joy of the Lord away from me, I became a marked man. Got a call from the consulate and they want me to come intomorrow to answer some questions, no big deal. When I asked the chances of the visa being issued Friday, there response was very slim. They need to do one piece of investigating tomorrow and depending how that goes will determine how much more time I am here. If it goes well, the report will be given to the Vice Consulate to make a decision. Is she deals with our case immediatley the visa will be issued Friday, otherwise some time next week or longer. Please pray for huge favor that the investigation is nothing and the visa gets issued Friday. Still joyful. Grace and Peace, Michael & Enock.

New Song

Enock has a new favorite song. It was a Black Eye Peas song, now he is stuck on Darrell Evans' Trading My Sorrows. He has listerned to the song coutless times for the last 24 hours, even using my phone to video himself singing the song. Mo bad word to hear through the house...trading my sicknedd and pain for the joy if the Lord. No matter what I come up against, I can trade it in for something so much better! Come on people, there is nothing better! We need to get over ourselves, stop the drama and swim in the living water of joy that flows from the Lord Himself. So today I commit to what ever happens, I will not let it take my joy away. My joy of the Lord can't be stolen or taken and I am certainly not going to give it away. How about you? Grace and Peace from Kinsahsa, Michael & Enock.