We officially have a week and a half left in Uganda, and when I say
we, I am speaking hopefully about our entire family. I am trusting
that coming home as a family, which is looking less and less likely, is still a
huge possibility because we serve a God of impossibilities. With that being
said, we also know that our God is not a genie and He does not just grant us
everything we wish, and that He has a plan way bigger than the one we have for
ourselves. So while we continue to pray in faith that we will ALL be on an
airplane heading to the US on August 23rd, we are also praying for God's will
to be done and if His will is for us to not come home all at once, then we know
He has a good reason for it! I just look back and think of all the ways God
blessed us this year by "trapping" us in Uganda. We were praying for
a quick trip from the start, but would have missed out on ridiculous blessings,
awesome spiritual growth, and family time that we would never had the chance to
experience in our crazy busy lives in the US.
A quick update…Daniel’s visa application has been expedited
to the US Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya! We are just waiting for the Embassy to
receive Daniel’s file and then will make an
appointment for the visa interview in Nairobi, but like all things on this
journey, we have no idea how long this will take (it has already been 2 weeks).
Once we schedule the visa appointment we can schedule his medical exam, which
needs to be completed at least 3 days before the visa interview, and then book
plane tickets for Daniel and Jamesdon to fly to Nairobi for these appointments.
Once the visa interview is done, Daniel could have his visa within 3 days! The
remaining process could be finished by the time we need to leave in a week and
a half or it could take another month, but we are super thankful for progress. Here is to God working an awesome miracle for the Kissling’s!
So, just in case our God does have a different plan than ours, we
have to face the reality that I may be coming home with my 3 year old son only
and will be starting work 4 days later (August 28th). This would put me in a
VERY similar situation to our coming home in 2011, only then Nemo was 2 months
old, not 3 years old, which will hopefully make things a little bit easier.
Similar to 2011, we will not have a permanent place to live, and without having
a permanent place to live it is hard to prepare for child care among many other
things! But child care was literally one of the most stressful things about
returning to work last time when Jamesdon was not here and I am trying to learn
from past mistakes. So here is my plea…to all of our friends in Orange County
who work evening shifts, stay at home with their kids, are retired, or any
other reason why your days might be free…would you please consider taking a day
to add babysitting my little Nemo to your To Do List for a day or two! If you
want to volunteer your time please contact Emily Van Herk via email evanherk@rockharbor.org and let her
know what day(s) you are available to help out! We truly appreciate all the
help we can get!