hero of the week

Meet Katie.  (And me.  With both of us in lots and lots of sparkles. Ohhhh kappa kappa kappa gamma…. 🙂  )

Katie, one of my dear friends from William and Mary, lives in NYC and has graciously been our eyes, hands, and feet in the city this week.  Because of Sandy, our visa applications and passports remain in the city.  The Mission wasn’t answering any phone calls and was presumably (and understandably) closed all week.  As we looked forward to yet another week of uncertainty (especially with our new flights now booked for next weekend), we solicited Katie’s help.  And help she did.

Leave it to Katie… she showed up to the Mission’s office that looked closed, and yet she knocked.  And waited.  And was eventually greeted by a kind Congolese gentleman who let her in.  I knew… I knew… that if Katie could get in, she’d work her magic. 🙂  Apparently, Katie just started chatting it up with these Congolese officials for 45 minutes.  In the process, she pretty much became BFFs with the first counselor of the Mission DR Congo who asked why she wasn’t going to Congo with us (good question, Katie.  wanna come?  I bet he’d hook you up with a visa!) and promised that his secretary would prepare and mail our visas and passports back to us on Monday!  He went so far as to give her his personal business card and asked that she call him back on Monday to check on the status of our passports.  And… get this… he insisted that they take a picture together with the Congolese flag!  Ha!

Grateful today for wonderful friends who are willing to inconvenience themselves and walk the streets of a still-recovering NYC for the sake of our adoption.  Thankful for the awesome work God continues to do in this never-dull process of bringing Elizabeth home.  And praying that our FedEx package is easily located in the large stack that has inevitably gathered over the past week, and that our visas and passports make it back to us early next week.

Thank you, Katie!!!