the magic word

Today was THE day - visa interview day at the embassy!

After completing an amazing amount of paperwork...
After meeting the kids and growing together as a family...
After being awarded legal guardianship by the national court...
After purchasing our return tickets...

It was still entirely possible for the kids' visa applications to be denied. I don't know how this is possible, but it is (and we have met a couple who has experienced this...they are now living in Uganda so that they may finalize their adoption here before moving back to the US. They are 6 months into a 3-year timeframe). So were we a little nervous going into the interview? Yes.

We dropped off our mountain of paperwork before we met Ibra's great-aunt and Julius for lunch and returned to the embassy for the interview. The kids did well, even with our rookie parent mistake of ordering them spaghetti for lunch (given the choice between ordering them something that we know they'd like & is still somewhat ok for them vs. ordering them a soda and a plate of fries...I think we made the right move. We'll just remember to always bring bibs with us in the future).

Our interview was at 2pm, and the man who interviewed us reminded me of a guy that I used to recruit with - very even tempered, gracious, and 100% on top of his game. He asked us some questions about why we wanted to adopt from Uganda, why we wanted to adopt these kids, and how did we find out about them. He reviewed our papers with us and was pleasantly surprised when my rock star husband had an extra, blank copy of a signature form that we needed (yay Andrew!).

At one point, Interview Man asked about a relinquishment form that he didn't see in our paperwork. Oh gosh. Fortunately, Julius was right there with us and was able to help point it out for him. Whew. And then he said the magic words: "Congratulations. We'll have your visa paperwork for you soon."



That. Is. Awesome! Just about everyone we know has experienced at least one hiccup with the visa process, and the Lord took care of everything the first time. Even Julius, who has seen quite a few of these, was surprised. He turned to Andrew and said, "You are one blessed man."

Yes, sir. That is true. Thank you, Jesus.