Not as we hoped...

Well, today did not go as well as it did in my dreams and it has been a rough day for us.  We did not pass our visa interview.  We arrived at 7am and waited in the very long, rainy line outside the Embassy.  Around 8:15 we finally got inside and waited to present our documents.  We left around 10:00am without the magic "blue ticket" to return for the visa.  The lady that interviewed us said that we had all of the proper documentation and proof, but that in order for her to process her visa she wanted to interview the birth mother.  We could not have provided her more paper proof than we did, she was set on a face to face interview.  We don't really know what she wants to ask her, but we are assuming that the Embassy will make sure that the birth mother knew what she was doing when she relinquished rights and that she fully understands the significance of that.  We are already legally Emmanuella's parents so that cannot change, the Embassy just wants to make sure that everything at the relinquishment is legit and there was no coercion.  (we thought the proof we brought in should have been enough!)  It's hard to understand the "why's" of it all, but we realize they are just doing their job.  We know of many cases that made it past their interview with the same documentation we had ... it just wasn't our day.  Our agency contacted the Dept Of Social Welfare in Ghana right away and they believe they have located her birth mother and she may be able to come to Accra yet this week for the interview.  (they would see her on any Monday, Tuesday or Thursday)  But, after weighing the odds of that happening plus the visa actually being printed anytime soon we decided that we will travel home as planned tomorrow evening.  Well, not "as planned", we planned to have Emmanuella with us when we booked it all.

We stopped over at Andy & Katie's again after our interview because they are staying only a few blocks away from the Embassy.  We enjoyed lunch with them and it was nice to be able to discuss it all with them.  We got to also share in their joy when their email arrived that their daughter's visa had finally printed.  (and it was handy that our driver was there and could quickly get him over to the Embassy to pick it up!)  They have been in the country for 2 weeks now and have 2 boys back in Montana so it has been really hard for them to be stuck here waiting for the computer program to be fixed.  While we were devastated (and frankly a little shocked) that we didn't pass we could still experience great joy for them.  They are on a plane home tonight and will be reunited with their family tomorrow.

Emmanuella had a hard day all around.  She was tired from getting up early so was already not very happy even before the interview.  You are not allowed to bring food, water, or electronics into the Embassy so even though she had a little breakfast in the car she got hungry inside the Embassy and this girl's mood changes considerably when she is hungry or tired.  Then, after we explained to her that the Embassy did not say "yes", they said "not yet", she shut down even more.  She perked up slightly with some lunch but then shut down for quite awhile again this afternoon.  Tonight was nice though, she played and was happy all night.  (we watched "Frozen" tonight - she liked it but the concept of cold and a snowman to a Ghanaian child is missed!)

While we surely do not understand the reasons behind us not passing the visa interview, we are trusting in God's timing.  We will still go to her school tomorrow morning and drop off all of the gifts we brought but then we will have to leave her at her foster mom's again.  Hopefully I will return to get her in just a few days, but it could also take a while, we have no idea.  In the meantime, we will try to place all of our trust for the timing in Him.