Exodus 14:14

When Moses was leading the Israelites out of Egypt, they were very afraid.  The Egyptian army was in hot pursuit of the Israelites with a massive number of soldiers, weapons, and more as the Israelites were approaching the Red Sea.  Moses told the people, "Do not be afraid...the Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still."  And we all know the rest of that story.

Yesterday, the Lord FOUGHT FOR US.  Big time.  I can barely hold my emotions together as I write this!  It is SO UNBELIEVABLE what has happened in the last 24 hours.

Thursday evening after meeting Hope, the sister at the orphanage told us she didn't think the police were going to show up to do the police clearance for another 10 days or so.  Mind you, the police station is about 5 minutes away from the orphanage.  Then, after that, we could apply for the passport.  To make things worse, we heard that passport processing has been very delayed, taking 4-8 weeks to process.  Do the math.  That's like 8-10 weeks total that we'd have to STAY IN INDIA waiting on this stuff to get done.  When we heard that news, Wes and I prayed like never before.  We had no connection, no hook-up, not a single person to call to help us move things along.  I barely slept Thursday night as God woke me many times to pray.  I literally prayed the same thing about 200 times.  God, only you can do this.  We have no power here.  God, you have to do this for us.  We cannot be in India for 10 weeks to make this happen!  God you hold the world together!  God, please MOVE and FIGHT for us!

So, we waited all day Friday to hear something.  Nothing.  Around 3:30 I just felt like the police had shown up.  I asked Wes to call the orphanage to check.  Sure enough, THEY HAD!  Praise the Lord!  We got clearance to come Saturday morning to take Hope with us.  BUT THAT'S NOT EVEN THE BEST NEWS!

We arrived Saturday morning at 8:30 at the orphanage.  Since they weren't expecting us until 9:00 a.m., Hope wasn't ready for us.  The nun came in to talk with us while we waited.  She was speechless.  She said that when the police came to do the clearance the day before, he was really moved by seeing the kids at the orphanage.  The sister explained to him that, in Hope's particular case, her parents were already here in India waiting to take her.  She told him that we were going to have to wait here 8-10 weeks for passport.  He told her, "m'am, I will see to it myself that this passport gets expedited."

THEN, she said she got an email confirmation THAT SAME NIGHT that the passport has been processed, approved, and is ON THE WAY TO US!!!  We should be getting the passport by Monday!  Are you even hearing me right now?  This passport got processed in 1 day!  1 day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  By a man who we have never met, spoken to, or had any contact with!!!!!!!  I'm sorry for the completely improper use of multiple exclamation marks, but ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!!!  Can anyone not say that this is the Lord fighting for us?  It is because of all of your prayers that this is happening!  I am truly so shocked.  Wes and I both burst into tears when she told us!  I really can't even comprehend how God made this happen.  He is showing off big time!  To God be the glory!!  So, if we get the passport Monday, it will take a couple of days to do our Embassy appointment for the visa, vaccinations, etc.  But I think we're definitely coming home a lot sooner than we thought!!

So now that I've completely overwhelmed you with exclamation points, I will tell you about our first day with Hope!

The time at the orphanage today was sweet; Hope said goodbye to her sweet friends.  Sister let us take a picture of her 4 best friends so she'll be able to remember their faces.  I certainly won't forget them!  Hope is in the middle in the polkadots; the boy to her right is her best friend.  I heart him.  My heart breaks that we are taking his best friend away.  I pray that if/when he gets a family, we might be able to reconnect them.  Sister promised me she'd let me know if he gets adopted and then help put me in touch with the family.

Then Hope said goodbye to all the nuns after another cake and tea celebration.  Man, these people like their cake! :)  And they don't take "no thank you" as an answer.  "You're too skinny; you need to eat!"  Gotta love Indians.  They tell it like it is.  Feelings?  What are those?

But on a serious note, it was obvious the sisters loved Hope very much;  they all bought her a goodbye gift of some kind.  They even had little gifts for Priya.  It was very moving and so thoughtful of them.  They really do love these kiddos so much.  May God bless them and reward them for their work!

 A quick family photo before leaving...

So, when we finally got in the car with Hope, she was SO excited.  The first thing she said was, "U.S.A.?"  We laughed so hard.  "No, Hope, not yet.  We're staying in India for a few days."

Priya snapped these 2 photos on the ride back to the hotel.  She loves Kaki, by the way!

So, the scene at the hotel was pretty adorable.  She walked in the lobby, looked around, and said, "woah, very nice.  U.S.A.?"  "No, sweet girl.  We're not in the U.S.A. yet."  Then we went up to our room.  First comment, "oh, very nice.  U.S.A.?"  'No, honey.  We're still in India.  We're going to the U.S.A. later."  "Tomorrow?"  "No, baby, not tomorrow."  This girl is READY to come to the U.S.A.!

Hope was fascinated with the bathtub in the hotel.  Priya got so excited and asked if they could take a bath together.  Before I could even say yes, Priya was butt-naked in the tub.  Hope was staring at her like she was nuts.  Hope was NOT getting in there.  I finally convinced her to put her hands in.  Guess what she said?  "Oh, very nice.  U.S.A.?"  LOL!  A few minutes later, Hope rolled up her pants and put her feet in.

What happened next I was NOT prepared for.  Homegirl got in the bathtub WITH HER CLOTHES ON!  Her pants are beige so you can't see them, but they're on her body!  Fully clothed.  Wow.  Not expecting that.  Priya laughed for a solid 5 minutes.

Then, I couldn't get the girl out!  She kept saying "very nice, very nice" about 100 times.  Priya was cracking up.  I bribed her out with food.  After lunch, Priya read her a story before rest time.  Hope loved that!

Immediately after dinner, Hope asked to go "swimming" again.  She thinks the bathtub is a pool.  No wonder she thought Priya was crazy for getting in naked.

So, here are the girls "swimming" in the bathtub. Gotta love these smiles!

We had a sweet time with the girls today!  Priya is so happy to have a sister!  Hope is very joyful and is so intrigued by everything around her.  She has a LOT of energy, so I need to find a playground around here really soon.  They can't just swim in the bathtub all day!  She loves Wes very much and is constantly looking for him.  She didn't want him in the bathroom during bath time, but she kept calling his name to hear if he was still around.  Sweet girl.  Priya's prayers have really been answered because I don't see an ounce of fear in Hope when she's with us.  To God be the glory!