Another Hard Day

Asher and I left for Kampala at 6:00 a.m. this morning all by ourselves. Amy needed to be in court with the families at the same time I needed to be at Immigration, so I traveled by myself. I felt independent and scared to death at the same time. After waiting an hour, we were issued Asher's passport, and then we headed to the mall.

While eating lunch and filling out some more paper work, I received a call from Amy saying that the judge never showed this morning for the Doyles' (along with two other families') court date. The judge apparently had a conference to attend, but no one bothered to inform the families. If I hadn't been here five weeks, I might have been shocked.

The Doyles joined Asher and me as we headed to the U.S. Embassy for our exit interview. The Assistant Consular was wonderful: she was kind and helpful and made me feel at ease. Everything went very smoothly until I realized that they had never received Asher's medical papers, and they could not issue his visa without these forms. Apparently the papers had been delivered, but they were lost in transition. We rushed (a strong word for Africa!) to the Surgery, and the doctor was kind enough to complete another set of papers for Asher. Even though the Embassy had already closed, they let us drop off the papers. They also told us that Asher's visa would be ready tomorrow. Thank you, Jesus!

Today was another one of those days mixed with joy and sadness: joyful that it appears I could be going home on Sunday, but sad that the Doyles have to wait for another court date. I know how much Lindsey misses her children and Ryan needs to get back to seminary. They, however, were troopers and chose only to see the silver lining. I need to be more like them!

Tomorrow I go back to Kampala to (hopefully) pick up Asher's visa. This is the last step before the real journey begins...thanks again to all who have walked this trail with us.