What a day in Ghana! (Thursday)

It is 4:00am on Friday morning as I type this and I am too wound up to sleep...not the best predicament with my current state of exhaustion and a couple of long days of travel ahead, but awake nonetheless. I look forward to sharing about Thursday in Ghana.

I woke very early feeling anxious and excited about the pending 8:30am appointment. I spent some time reading countless messages from many of you. I cannot tell you how much all of your messages have encouraged me! I am overwhelmed at the outpouring of prayer and support and so incredibly blessed that God has allowed me to be a small part of His plan to inspire some of you. I can assure you when you write to me and say things like "you are amazing", you are giving 100% glory to God because this girl is nothing without Him. He has been so good to me!

One thing I have been so blessed to learn these past few weeks and months is how good He is in the hardest times. I remember my best friend often sharing about the intimacy she had with God during some of the hardest times in her battle with terminal liver cancer. I got a taste of that this week and I have had to smile through my tears and praise Him in the toughest spots. Circumstances may look, taste and feel bitter from the outside but when God is present He makes it so, so sweet. I have felt anxious, challenged, fearful, incompetent, alone, confused, frustrated, angry, hurt, sad and yet almost the entire time I have felt perfect peace in the deepest part of my heart. Countless times I have said (out loud and in my head), "God loves me so much!"He always shows up and gives me just what I need when I need it. It is VERY overwhelming and perfectly wonderful! (I now understand why Kristen was radiant with joy and peace even on her hardest days. How can you not be when God is constantly amazing you with his tender care!??)

One of the things I realized as I read many of your messages in the morning was how I had messed up the time that I asked you to pray. In my blog post from the night before I shared how the appointment was at 8:30am which would have been 3:30am on the East Coast. I put 5:30am. I really don't know why I did that as the math is not challenging and I usually have no problem figuring it out even in an exhausted state. Regardless, as I read your messages "I have set my alarm to wake up and pray for you at 5:30am", I was OVERWHELMED with your willingness to do that for me and I was struck with the reality of my error. At that point I knew that there was some reason I would need the prayers at that time in the day. I didn't know if I would ever find out why but that didn't matter.

Our amazing friend that we are staying with escorted the children and I into the Embassy and we went to the U.S. Citizenship Services. The very kind lady told me that the Consular Section doesn't not allow walk in appointments and I should email them. I told her that I have been emailing them for months and I still have no information. I asked her to check on the file and she did. When she returned she said that it was still being processed and they know that I am here. I should keep emailing them. She's sorry. Gabriel looked right at her and sweetly said, "I want to go." She had a sympathetic and kind face. She helped me reassure him that it wasn't because mommy didn't want to bring him home (that's what I get to hear all day long) but because the paperwork takes a long time. We all left the appointment feeling a bit deflated and disappointed. We hit the U.S. Embassy playground for a few minutes so the kids could experience a swing and slide for the first time! That was a hit.

When we got home I called Adam and shared the disappointing news and then I checked my email...."Gabriel Thompson's case has been completed!" Are you kidding me!?!?!?! "You or your POA can come to the Embassy any Monday, Tuesday or Thursday at 1:00pm to discuss your case." I bawled my head off, I hugged our friends, I called Adam and then ran up the stairs to our hurting boy to tell him. "It's done! The visa is ready! We are going to America! We get to go home!!!!!!!!!!!"I wish I had a video of that celebration. Daddy was on the phone....Gabriel's face was lit up like the 4th of July...He had his arms tightly wrapped around my waist as I sobbed and Adam sobbed. We all jumped up and down and whooped like a bunch of crazy people. It was awesome.

After things calmed down I re-read the email and started to feel a little funny in my stomach. The funny little feeling turned into a massive punch in the gut. The wording was SO DIFFERENT from the email I received when Debo Grace's visa was ready. Her email said "Debora's case is competed AND her visa is ready to print. Please have your POA bring in her passport any Monday, Tuesday or Thursday at 1:00pm" Oh my! What have I done!?!? Is his case going to be denied?????? How can this be??? Lord, please give me the strength. I don't think I have ever cried so hard in my life or felt such a sickness. (For those who are not fully informed on Ghana adoptions, these things do happen and families have to basically start over to get the children that they have already officially adopted home.) I hid myself from the children (which is a miracle in and of itself) and began freaking out. There was no real thought of the heartache, time, money and effort that would go into starting over and getting him home. That could be done and would be done. That was just logistics. My heart was aching because this little boy has been through so much and now I have told him he gets to go home and I might have been wrong. I couldn't take the burden of that error. It was more than a mama's heart can handle. I thought my heart might explode. The lovely friends we are staying with did their best to encourage and support but mostly they just cried with me (which was awesome). I talked to Adam a few times during this battle and realized it was 5:30am EST....the time I had inadvertently asked hundreds of people to pray. Seriously this makes me cry just typing it and reading it again and again. God loves me so much!! (By the way, He loves you too!!!!)

The next few hours were some of the longest I have known. Gabriel was packing, planning his shower for 5:00pm because dad left for the airport at 6:00pm so that's what we will do too and he needs to be clean ;-), making a bag of all his clothes to leave at the orphanage since he has "plenty" waiting for him in America, talking about seeing his dad and siblings and flying on an airplane.....All while I am wrestling with the wording of this email and the knowledge that children have been denied visas. 1:00pm could not come quickly enough!!!! You were praying this whole time and I know it because I could not have made it without you! Thank you so much!!!

We went to the Embassy a little before 1:00pm and then we waited awhile. Our kind friend who works at the Embassy came and sat with us while we waited. What a wonderful surprise and sweet, sweet, gift. His small talk was just the distraction the kids and I needed and Gabriel was able to sit in this kind man's lap while I held Debo Grace. I think he needed that so much too as he misses his daddy so much. When we were called to the window a very nice lady asked for Gabriel's passport. THANK YOU, LORD!!!!! He asked why his was green and mine was blue and she smiled and said that he could have a blue one very soon. THANK YOU, LORD!!! She then told me I could pick it up in the morning at 7:30am. THANK YOU, LORD!!!! We left with the tears flowing and praises to God. What an incredible relief! What a long day!

We will be flying out on Saturday night at 10:10pm through JFK and should be landing in Atlanta at 9:00am on Sunday morning. We are hoping that the airport welcome can be low-key with just Liz and Cael and Adam and Granny meeting Gabriel and Debo Grace and me. However, we would be honored if you want to welcome us home and meet our children from the comfort of our driveway/cul-de-sac as we drive in on Sunday morning. :-) We are anticipating an arrival of about 11:00am for those who are interested. Please don't skip church or feel at all obligated to be there. The love and support we have felt is so amazing and we don't need a big welcome home crowd to feel it. Every night when I type my blog Gabriel asks me what I am doing. Now he says things like, "how many people do you think are praying for me?" Phew! I have no idea, buddy but it is A LOT!!! ;-)

I have been asked if we would be willing to live-stream the homecoming at the airport and the driveway for all the sweet people who want to be there but can't. Apparently there is an app on the iphone called Bambuser that accommodates this idea pretty easily.  If you live in Atlanta and would like to provide this "service" for people then you would be welcome to come to the airport and give it a try. Alternatively, someone could videotape it and then share it on youtube if desired. Please let me know. It is so overwhelming to me that people care that much. We are so abundantly blessed!!!!!!

We are coming home!!!! Glory to God!