Email Sent April 4th

Email sent April 4, 2008

Hi Everyone, My blog is not working so i am sending a mass email to you. This email is bittersweet. I am coming home! That is the sweet news. i am a little giddy at the thought of seeing my family again. The bitter in this is that The kids will not be coming with me at this point in time. They have been declared non ugandan and so are not considered citizens of uganda. Even though it is stated in the court decree by the high court that i am their guardian and they are allowed to travel abroad and they will remain Ugandan citizens, the immigration office doesn't agree and honor the court's decision. I won't go into detail at this point how they determined this verdict as it really irks me and would call for more space than i have here. So yesterday, i spent a good part of the morning praying and crying about what to do. My family needs me in two parts of the world. That afternoon the answer came. i had been conflicted to leave the kids here and didn't really have anyone to leave them with. i didn't want to send them all the way back to Rakai either. But God in his mercy answered my prayer. He opened up a door for them to go to school here while i return to the States for amonth to recuperate and tend to my other kids. most of the schools here are boarding schools. The mission here has a couple of schools they run and yesterday i was offered that as an option. i talked with duane and he felt like it was good idea. The kids are excited they are going to school and understand that i will come back for them when i return in may. i will be returning in may also to finish up Isaiah's guardianship and are not expecting the passport problems for him. so we will be coming back to the usa with all three kids. though i don't understand why god has this plan, I am trusting him. I leave tuesday the 8th. The kids will start school on monday. i do not believe My stay over here has been in vain. i believe God has had me here to learn not only some spiritual truths but to adopt isaiah and to pave a pathway for others to eventually adopt from this country in a more smooth and shorter manner. There are some other things that i am not at liberty to share right now but the big picture is becoming clear to us why i have been here so long. My kids and husband have all grown spiritually too and it thrills my heart to hear what God is doing in their lives while i hae been away. Monday morning, I am meeting with the director of citizenship and immigration to see if we can get a fast solution to this problem. He has already promised me he would help me. that the situation did not look grim. Hopefully by the time i return, My attorney will have my passports in his hands forme. anya got her passport for Micah but then had visa problems bring him to the Usa so she is having to leave hima nd return til she can get his immigration figured out. so, I just wanted to let everyone know We are surprising the kids. duane is picking me up at the airport and then We will go home. the kids know nothing. so if you talk to them, SHHHHHHHHHH! don't spill the beans! Well, better run. gotta go to bed. thanks for your prayers and encouragements and oh, for those of you who have told me what an amazing woman i am, i am blushing but really, I am not. I am just a child. who is weak and frail. there is asong i have always loved by Twila Paris and it says, this warrior is a child. no body sees the the child who falls down and crys at the feet of her father. They only see the strong. i am only a child who has cried many times at the feet of her Father weak and despaired. but he always lifts me up, bandages up my battle wounds, loves on me and strengthens me for the next battle. We all are like that. We just have different battles to fight. so if you are fighting something right now, i just want to say, You are amazing because you have the Heavenly father to care for you and to lift you up and carry you through. Blessings, Melissa