Last Saturday (December 10th), Kim turned 30. We are grateful for all those who celebrated with her last weekend. As we do live about a thousand miles away from many family and friends, I (Steve) invited those who could not be with us to record a short video to wish Kim a happy birthday. This is that video. It will make you laugh. It will make you cry. It will make you cry because you are laughing so hard. Thank you to all who made videos and Kim, know that you are deeply loved!

*This video is 23 minutes long. #dontsayididntwarnyou

One of the coolest parts of being a pastor is being able to baptize your own children. This past Sunday, November 6th, I baptized Charis into the covenant family. Sunday was, not coincidentally, Orphan Sunday (celebrated the first Sunday of November each year. Here is the video from the baptism. As you will see, she was crying… a lot… right up until Kim gave her some goldfish to snack on!

Six months ago we were just meeting you, wondering if you were our daughter. Today we celebrate your 2nd birthday. We love you, Charis!

I have not blogged since returning from Zambia. I’ll be honest, coming home was amazing, but the past few months have not been easy as we have adjusted to life with 2 toddlers and a huge gamut of issues that accompany adoption.
But, my heart tonight is reflecting not on all the hardships, but on the joys. Jeremiah turned 3 yesterday! Yes, 3 years old…I can’t believe it! We had a wonderful day at the aquarium and then we had some friends over for dinner and enjoyed a Cars cake that everyone (especially Jack & Jackson!) couldn’t wait to dig in to?
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My sweet baby boy (I know, you would yell and say, I’m not a baby, but you will always be my baby),
It is such a joy to be your Mommy. I love that I have the privilege of watching you grow and that I get to know more of your little intricacies than anyone else in the world (one day I’ll have to hand that role off to your wife, but I can’t think about that right now!). You are so smart (many times I worry about the day when you will completely outwit me) and inquisitive. Sometimes your questions get tiring (like when you want to know the names of everyone in the pictures of the book, including their last names), but please keep asking! You are so loving (maybe sometimes overly so when you smother your sister in hugs), but I love that you cherish cuddle time as much as I do.
Buddy, I love you and I can’t believe you are growing up so fast…you’re in preschool already! Anyway, things are kind of crazy right now as we get used to having Charis in our family, but I wanted you to know that I love you even more now than the day that I brought you home from the hospital 3 years ago.
Love,
Mommy

On July 31st, Kim and I celebrated our 7th anniversary. Here is the video I made for her as a gift. I love you, Kim!

We’ll post pictures and more soon, but we wanted to let everyone know that Kim and Charis did arrive home safely on Sunday evening. Thank you to all for your support. Again, more coming soon.

I can’t believe I’m actually on the plane, with our beautiful little daughter sleeping beside me headed HOME! We’re going home! After 10 incredibly long weeks, 4 of them by ourselves, we are finally able to be together as a family of 4! I am sobbing tears of joy because we knew at this adoption was not only God’s will but that he orchestrated every single step and He alone can get all the glory from it. We knew that, and yet there were so may doubts along the way. Every time someone happened, it was hard not to say…really God? Is this you? Are you sure? And yet, in the end, after a crazy week of trying to finalize the adoption and hitting unbelievable delays around every turn, the Lord made it happen and literally it is only by His grace at I am sitting on this plane right now.

Let me explain…

First, Monday was a holiday for the funeral of the former president of Zambia, so nothing could happen. On Tuesday, I went to pick up the birth certificate. When I got there, the lady told me at she had just received my file that morning (even though it was filed for on Thursday) and at I could pick it up tomorrow. I kindly asked if there was anything she could do to help me and explained my situation and she eventually said that maybe I could have it by the end of the day. So, I very sweetly said thank you and that since I had nothing else to do until it was ready, that I could just wait there all day for it. Since having a lady and her very active baby in her office all day didn’t sound so great, I was able to get the birth certificate at 12:15 and I raced (literally) to the passport office to file for Charis’ Zambian passport. I hit traffic and was sure I wouldn’t be able to do it that day because you have to pay by 12:30, but miraculously when I got there, I was able to still pay and file for an expedited passport.

Having been told that it would be ready the next day, we got up very early on Wednesday morning to head to the hospital where our friend said she would meet us with the passport at 8am. At 11am, she came with a passport for my friend’s child, but not mine. Amazingly though, the head nurse was more than kind to me and let me do the urinalysis for Charis without the passport even though they are not supposed to see you at all without it. But, not to worry, the passport would be ready by 3pm. So, I waited, then I was told 5pm and I waited…no passport. But…not to worry…it will be ready tomorrow at 8am…no more delays! (it was going to be a long shot, but I thought if I really could get it at 8am, I could hurry to the doctor, beg them to get me in and still maybe make my embassy appointment at 2pm, which she had told me was the latest I could interview for a visa and still have any chance of getting it on Friday morning before they closed for the 4 day holiday.)

So, Thursday morning we were at the passport office before it even opened, expecting that as soon as they unlocked the gate, we would be able to get it and be on our way for the day. Well, given the rest of this saga…you can already predict that it definitely wasn’t ready at 8am! I was told it was across town at the printers and was being driven there and would be there by 10am. Well, I thought, I still have a chance. So, I waited. 10:30…the man bringing it is at the flyover bridge…just rundown the corner. 11:30…the man shows up…oh, I delivered it yesterday…it is here. Everyone scrambled to look for it…at least by this time they realized how long it had been waiting and wanted to help! No passport…can someone please tell me where my child’s passport really is?! As it turns out, the driver had been lying for 2 days, so finally someone drove my passport from the printer to the passport office and I finally got it at 12:55 pm…5 minutes before the window closed and I wouldn’t be able to get it until the next day! So, in the midst of the waiting I had been on the phone begging and pleading with the head nurse at Lusaka Trust Hospital (the embassy approved doctor) to still try and squeeze me in to see the doctor before my embassy appointment. He had told me that the doctor doesn’t even see patients at all on Thursday afternoons, but when I told him I finally had the passport, he pleaded with the doctor to stay well into his lunch hour to see me…amazing! Knowing I could no longer make it to the embassy by 2, I called and explained what was happening and again, amazingly the consular said we could move my appointment to 3pm…still possible!

Dr. Mulenge was a very nice older gentleman and finished the exam in 5 minutes (even though Charis was terrified) and even let me wait until I get to our doctor in the states to have her vaccinated! (If I had had to get her vaccinated, I wouldn’t have made it to the embassy). So, with my envelope of medical papers in hand, we headed to the embassy at 2:30…finally a few minutes to breathe…we even arrived 10 minutes early! The gigantic American embassy (basically a castle on a hill) was completely deserted. I was literally the only non-worker there! So, the consular reviewed my papers for almost an hour and I was starting to get worried, but kept praying and saying Philippians 4:4-9 in my head…yes, girls from last fall’s Bible study…that memorization paid off…the word stuck with me when I needed it most!

Finally, I was called to the window for the visa interview. With Charis sleeping on my back in the chitange the whole time (yes, I can’t believe she slept for the whole interview…amazing!) I patiently answered the consular’s very in-depth questions. Every time I thought she looked like she was going to say…I’m sorry, I can’t issue this visa, you have to go back to court and start over…instead she just looked at her watch and kept going down the list of immigration law statutes and checking each document on the list. Only when she finally said, “Mrs. Jeantet, I’m happy to say that I am approving this visa” did I finally understand God’s timing in our whole entire adoption. All the waiting, all the frustrations, were all because if I had gotten to the embassy a few days ago or even at 2 pm instead of 3 pm, I wouldn’t be on this plane right now. Because it was the end of the day, the day before a very long holiday, the consular decided against a more in-depth orphan investigation and decided to just approve the visa with the documentation that we already had.

Awesome, God! And, even more amazing was that the visa, which normally takes 3-4 days, was ready at 11am the next morning…less than 24 hours from my interview! Unbelievable!

And…the icing on the cake? I’m almost hesitant to write this because you might kick me…but this morning when I got on the flight (we had booked the last seat on the plane) there were no more seats by the baby cot (a place where you can lay lap children down) even though we had paid a lot to be able to do that. I didn’t mind too much though because I am just glad to be going home! Anyway, I ended up getting moved around a few times so other families could be seated together. After I was moved the third time, the angel of a flight attendant came up to me, got my luggage and quietly whispered…come with me…I’m taking you to first class…I’m so sorry we’ve had to move you around! So, yes, I’m sitting in British Airways Club World with my daughter peacefully sleeping in the empty berth next to mine! My first time in first class…ever!

Thank you, Jesus for seeing to every minute detail of this adoption and not missing a single beat! To You be all the praise, glory and honor!

For all the ups and downs of this process, there is one thing we knew: God has a child for us. It’s hard to believe, but it’s now been two full months since we met Charis and were quickly convinced this beautiful little girl was God’s gift to our family. While the process has been long and twisty, we have had Charis with us and have had the wonderful opportunity to start to get to knew our daughter. A week ago, we really didn’t know how long this process was going to take. Even though it looked like there were steps forward, they were slow and it often felt like one step forward and two steps back.

God, in his graciousness and mercy, saw fit to move the process quickly this week. On Tuesday Kim picked up the new birth certificate listing her adopted name of Charis and showing us as the parents. She immediately turned around and applied for the passport. We thought she would receive the passport Wednesday morning… then Wednesday afternoon… then Thursday morning at 8:00. At 11:45 on Thursday, she finally received the passport and raced out to the medical clinic so Charis could get the physical required of all US immigrants. A doctor amazingly volunteered to work through his lunch break to get them in. From there, they raced over to the US embassy, which has offered to move their appointment from 2:00 to 3:00, but said that was absolutely the latest they could do. Kim made is to the embassy and was interviewed for almost two hours, with every piece of paperwork being meticulously reviewed. Finally, Kim heard that wonderful words: they would approve the visa!

When Kim finally told her, I fell to my knees in tears. They were coming home. Yesterday (Friday), Kim picked up the completed visa while I locked in their plane tickets. And now? Kim and Charis are in the air on their way to London. And tomorrow they arrive in Tampa at 4:45pm! I left a full month ago today. Tomorrow, our family will be together again! Praise God!

Thank you to all who have read this blog, prayed for us, supported us, blessed us with gifts, cared for Jeremiah so I could work, prepared (or bought) meals for us and so much more. We are so grateful. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. If you are able, we would love to have you join Jeremiah and I at the airport at 5:00pm tomorrow (Sunday) to welcome them home and celebrate.

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PS> For all our excitement, our hearts are heavy for our dear friends, the Larkins, who travelled with us to Zambia but are still separated. Just when it seemed they were finished, some paperwork sent them back to the drawing board and it may be another couple of weeks. Please be praying that God would move quickly to reunite their family and bring Isaiah home with his family. Thanks.