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.

Photos

Joanna working English with Enock. Francis, Ali and Enock at the river.

The River

If you didn't know, Kinshasa is situated on the Congo River, which is the largest river in the world that starts and ends in the same country. Yesterday morning Francis and his friend Ali picked us up to spend some time down by the river. The spot we were headed to was about a 30 minute drive away but we were next to the river after 15 minutes. Seeing the water Enock lit up as he had not really seen the the river before. We ended at a park that had a fishing pond in the rainy season, basketball court, vollyball and lots of trees and places to hang out. We took a fifteen minute walk down a hill and across a huge area of large black boulders that are under water in the rainy season. Next to the water was a nice place to sit a relax and Francis comes here when he is stressed out. We could see and hear men breaking rocks by hand to sell for construction use, and my body hurt watching them. We could also see the Republic of Congo, which was about 200 yards across the river. In this spot the current was quite fast with massive boulders creating very rough water. We then took a drive into town and had swarma's at CFC. Traffic continues to be a challenge, witht the road construction every where and the thousands of cars in such small area. Today I am not stressed. I am enjoying Congo and looking forward to Enock's visa being issued. I have begin to work from here so I can jump back into work when I get home. Continue to pray for a visa by Friday. Grace and Peace, Michael & Enock

The weekend

The weekends can be tricky here when you don't know what to do with yourself. No house cleaning, no yard work, no baseball to see, no football to watch, so what to do? Saturday was hot and I say hot I mean Africa hot. We need a couple food items do I had the brilliant idea to walk tot he grocery store. I don't know why I showered before we left, 50 ft. from the house I was in a full sweat. With the road contruction along our route, dirt was heavy in the air and my sweaty bald head provided a nice place for the dirt to land. Oh well...Walking to the store means that once again we play human frogger on the blvd. If you lose here, you are probobly dead or atleast not walking away. Suffice to say we have won all three games of frogger. Here, don't expect a driver to stop, because 99 out of 100 will not stop, so don't guess that one van bearing down on you is that 1! Barry and Anja continue to be amazing hosts. They are a joy to be around and Barry is contiunually teaching me the finer points of rugy and cricket and I explain to him baseball. I think baseball sounds as confusing to him and the others do to me. Sunday morning I awoke to Barry watching the ruby world cup game of South Afirca vs Australia. Barry is South African and there was no doubt who he was rooting for. Unfortunatly for Baryy SA lost a close game. (Typed Monday, posted Tuesday due to lack of internet connection) Enock and I went with Barry and Anja to the Kinbanseke 3 corp(church). Still in Kinshasa, it was and 1.5 hour drive that felt like we were in the bush. The corps building was made out of sticks for support and palm branches for a roof that wasn't totally covered yet. Service was filled with music and a high light for me was the mens choir singing "Sweet Low Sweet Chariot" in English. Barry used the parables in Luke 15 to share a message on the size of God's love for us. That He will allow us to wander off, but He will be waiting, looking, watching for us to come back and when we do, HE runs to use and fully accepts us! What love! How deep the fathers love for us, so vast beyond all measure... We had a Cogolese lunch after the service at the Corps Officer's (pastor) house which was right next to the corps building. I told Enock to enjoy the food because it would be the last time he had Congolese food for a while. He passed on the cassava but took care of the fish...fish head and part of the body. He asked me if we had fish in California, yes but not like that in our house. Our journey to church got us back home about 4pm and we spent the rest of the day relaxing. Enock expecieced crepes and jello for first time liking the crepes more that the jello. It now Monday morning and Francis is here to hang out. I think we are going down to the river today. I will try to upload pictures to the blog later today. Please continue to pray for Enocks visa, we are schedule to leave on Sunday. Grace and Peace, Michael & Enock.

good morning (day 13)

For most reading this your day had just begun, as for me we are moving toward the end of the day. This mornings meeting at the consulate was huge! They needed to establish if Enock could be classified an orphan under US guidelines. To do that they needed to interview the biological parents individually. That happened at 9:45am DRC and we were done by 10am. I had a chance to speak with Danielle who is the adoption coordinator for the consulate. She was very encouraging and told me not to worry about the visa, that they just need time to do their process. She told me the visa would be issued next Friday at the earliest, so I am going to believe that God can make that happen and I have changed our tickets(again) to depart on the 16th. Every change costs money but the biggest expense to change was our Delta flight from Washington DC home. It ends up being cheaper to cancel the ticket and book a new one and I will do that once I have Enock's visa. Now we are back to the waiting game. I have decided that I am going back to work from here. I have email, internet, ipad, my bible, paper and my brain, so I have everything I need. I need to be productive and and get my eyes off the clock. The Schwartzs', have been so gracious to let us stay as long as we need. Great people! Barry has run over 40 marathons and countless ultra marathons. He has also done a 100 mile run that started in Lake Tahoe! He normally runs from Salvation Army Headquarters in Kinshasa home, very cool. Last night we stayed up and talked about the struggle with the why questions when it comes to God then finished off the evening watching CSI NY. Enock is drawing right now, Joanna brought him a sketch pad and colored pencils and he spends time here and there drawing. When I am done here, we are going to spend some time working on the French/English flash cards. Thanks for your prayers, please continue, Grace & Peace, Michael & Enock Thanks: BL, PP & KG your were a big help yesterday. Joanna - Great talking great talking to you this morning. Amazing how much better I feel after talking to by best friend. Give the kids a lov'n for me and make sure the dogs don't forget me. My love to you!

Change

I only have a few minutes to type so I will be brief. I was informed by the colsulate yesterday that a decision on Enock's visa will come at the earliest next Friday. This is not the news I wanted to hear. Obviously, we are not coming home Sunday, which is disheartening. This morning, there is a pivitol meeting with the consulate with regards to Enock's orphan status. If he is deemed not an orphan by US law, then the visa will be denied. Please pray...will update more later. Grace and Peace, Michael & Enock

Day 11

I has almost been 2 weeks since Joanna and I left home together and it feels a lot longer. Not in a bad way, but life in Orange does seem far away (kinda of is distance wise). I was able to get money out of the ATM (yes there are ATMs here dispensing US $) to pay our I-600 fee. Wasn't expecting to pay that so money ran short. With that fee paid, there really is nothing to do with regards to the visa, except wait. My favorite! Francis needed to get his sisters kids to the doctor Enock and I spent the afternoon at the house. The people whose house we have been staying in Came home last night. That have been so gracious to let us stay here and it was nice to have some good English conversation. Francis came back in the evening and we went out for Shawarma at CFC. Good to get out again, being in the house so much gets us a little stir crazy. It's Thursday morning here and I could really use some good news on Enock's visa. When I think about it, my heart starts pounding and I try to think about something else. Continue praying, Michael & Enock

Day 10

Todays plan was to pay a fee to the consulate then see some sights outside the city and hit the grocery store. Francis was to pick us up at 10am..then noon...then not sure, (he got tied up in a meeting) so we ended up hanging around the house all day. I was able to watch game 3 of the Rangers v. Rays series as well as watch Monday night Football on Tuesday afternoon. With food mostly gone and drinks gone except for one Coke and one Fanta, Enock and I headed out for a walk to the store about a half mile away. Our little journey took us down the main road which is under construction. The air was hot with a breeze that kept a nice layer of dust hitting us. The smell was that of dirt combined with the exhaust of vehicles that would never pass CA emission laws. Enock was feeling good at the store grabbing things he want and putting them in the basket. We had to pause for a minute so I could explain the concept of asking and the concept that money does not come out of an endless pocket in my jeans. I think he thinks I am strange which is good because Nate and Davina think the same thing. Back home I fixed Enock's favorite meal of chicken, rice and fried plantains. I think we have had that meal almost all the days we have been here. Enock's palatte has not been exposed to a wide range of food so once home he/we will have a lot of experimenting to do. We continue to work on his English with flash cards and me repeating phrases in English and French. Now when I talk to him, I speak the phrase in English a few times to let him hear it before I explain it in French. I then get him to repeat the phrase a few times to work on his pronunciation. He has taken a liking to my ipad that I need him not to get used to! He loves the movie Dispicable Me and has watched it numerous times. He likes the Mario game on his DS, but he doesn't understand the Star Wars game. I know that his brother will help him out when we get home. Everyday Enock is counting down the days until we leave, I hope we leave as scheduled. Tuesday done in Kinshasa...Lobi. Grace and Peace, Michael & Enock

Day 8 & 9

Just typed up the whole blog then Internet Explorer took a dump. Typing is tiring, I am sweating... Let me sum up the last two days...relief. Interview with the Consulate went well and now we wait the decision on Enock's visa. I have to go tomorrow to the US consulate office and pay a fee and then I am done. We took care of the medical today amd the consulate should have the report tomorrow or Wednesday. Nothing to do but wait, great! We hope to have the visa by Friday so that we can travel on Sunday as planned. If not, then... As I type Enock is asleep in my bed by his request. The past week he slept in his own room, but I think that might have been the first time that happened in his life. He was excited to hear that he would be sharing a room with Nate. The sharing is not a problem but the talking in his sleep (in Lingala) and the waking up at 5:45pm could use some adjusting. Missing Orange, especially those on Elmwood Street. Graace and Peace, Michael & Enock

What day is it? Oh yeah #7

Great success with a dose of sadness today. Sadness first...Joanna left...enough said about that. Success? We (Francis, Enock and myself) arrived at the passport office as told at 9 am this morning to get the much promised passport. Unfortunately the passport department was in a meeting that did not end until 12:15. Once the meeting was over, there was a discussion on how to deal with another department that was somehow responsible for adoption passports that did not want want Enocks passport released. A $50 expiditing fee later, we left at 2pm with his passport! 5 hours in a parking lot waiting is a bit excessive, but it is finished. Cool thing was that I was able to text Joanna just before she switched her phone off on the first leg of her journey so she could celebrate with us. Starving, we ending up at CFC, again, for Shawara and cokes, its been our ususal mid day meal. Good to sit down in A/C and get some protein and sugar in us. We hit the grocery store next door and picked up an few things to get us by the next couple days. Enock is very bold is grabbing things that he wants but I have had to tell him no a few times because of price or practicality. He has taken no well, like he knows it can't hurt to ask. We spent the evening relaxing, me reading and Enock playing his DS. He continues to have a very healthy appitite, he is eating more than me and I can eat. I think Joanna mentioned in the last update that did not have water, well it came on late last night. Enock was exited this morning to discover it on and told Joanna and asked if he could shower. He likes being clean, if fact when we came home this afternoon he wanted to bath again. I told him he still smelled good and could clean up tomorrow. Joanna was happy for water so she could cleanup up one more time before the long journey home. As I type this, she should be on her second flight from Ethiopia to Washington DC. She has 17 hours on that plane, oi! The plan going forward as the best I know is as follows: - translate 3 documents into English - church in the morning (Kintambo Corps) - Francis coming over for dinner - Doctor first thing Monday for Enock's final(hopefully) checkup - Consulate interview about 1pm After the interview, the consulate verifies all our information and does investigating where necessary. At some point, hopefully before Friday, they will make a decision and grant Enock his Visa. If you have been praying, thanks and contiunue. If you haven't, please start. To be honest, I really wanted to come home today with Enock, if was really hard to see Joanna go. Well so much for being brief, Grace and Peace, Michael & Enock. Nate & Davina - Not sure what to tell you other that I really love and miss you guys. I have been gone like this before, but this trip has been a little harder for me. Do me favor, when you see mom give her a huge hug from me. Continue to take care of grandma and grandpa.