Passport Day

Dave and I have been awake for periods of the night the last two nights and so our morning felt like it started early, although it was just to meet our driver at 8:30 am. We were picked up and first travelled to the orphanage to pick up Evelyn and an orphanage worker. From there we travelled to the passport office. 

I prayed for big surprises and amazing graces from God, and did we ever get them! We arrived by 10:15 am and started our wait. The first grace God provided was that there are two other families here adopting from the same orphanage. All three of us have girls 5 or 6 years old in our families. So what turned into a 5 1/2 hour day of waiting rooms was an all-day play date for the new big sisters. We shared toys and snacks and the girls ran around, imagining all they could think of and drawing every scene they desired. The appointment schedule is different on Wednesdays, so we were the only families in the building. So when I say they could run around, I really mean we had the entire huge waiting area to ourselves. What would have been an awful, hot day for Kira turned into a great memory.

We moved from one waiting room to another, and around 12:15 pm we were told the desk worker was taking a lunch and nothing would happen until 1pm. During this time, Dave noticed that an AC unit was running in an empty office, and that room became a nap room where all our sweet babies in their tulle dresses could cool off enough to fall asleep in parents’ arms. Another huge grace!!

Around 1:15 when still no one was manning the desk, we got notice that The Minister of State Affairs was coming to visit and they had cleared everyone out for his visit. Also to prepare they turned on the other half of the bank of lights that were off, along with the fans! Another welcome relief in the stuffy building. Clearing out the building of workers seemed to have the opposite effect than the office was hoping for, because the minister asked why no one was working. By the time the minister had processed with his entourage through the waiting area, I watched the the desk worker run and practically slide his desk chair across the floor to get back to work. I wouldn’t have known to pray for a dignitary to visit on our appointment day, but it was the greatest grace of the day because everyone, eager to prove themselves after being found not working, returned to work and we were assured shortly that the passports would be printed TODAY! This is a huge answer to prayer because there was a notice that this step could possibly take up to five working days. Instead it would be completed the same day!! Our adoption representative said she would wait for them and hand them over to us tomorrow at the custody meeting. We all left tired and hot, with filthy children, around 3:30 pm. 

We dropped Evelyn back off at the orphanage knowing tomorrow she’ll be with us for good!! Kira fell asleep in the car and we all enjoyed showers and screen time with room service for dinner. 

Evelyn much prefers her daddy to me. She napped comfortably on him and ran to him, where the sight of me sometimes induced tears. This is common and so we will be patient and give her time to warm up to me. Dave doesn’t mind at all having a daddy’s girl. Tomorrow begins our forever family! We’ll let you know how it goes!