Well, we made it home. I've mentioned several times that we're learning much about resting and trusting God. Our trip home was quite an adventure. To begin, our flight from Guatemala to Houston was about 4 1/2 hours late. Apparently, when the flight left Houston for Guatemala, they got about 100 miles out and lost cabin pressure, so had to return to Houston. We were supposed to have a 5 hour layover in Houston, so we knew there was a real possibility we'd miss our connection to Reno. This would mean spending the night in Houston and taking the first flight out the next day (8/7), getting into Reno at 11:30am. Not horrible, except the 7th is Nathan's birthday and we really wanted to be home.
The Guatemala airport is currently under construction. Advertised to become the best airport in Central America. From the looks of the plans, it's going to be a very nice airport. However, right now, it's a mess! We sat in the waiting area listening to a symphony of power tools while the lovely smell of diesel wafted in the air! About 2 hours into our wait, it began to rain. So the sound of rain pounding on a tin roof was added to the noise. It's an open air airport, so with the rain came very cool air. Added to this, I had come down with a cold and was feeling miserable.
Anyways, 4 1/2 hours after our scheduled departure time, we finally left Guatemala. Our flight pulled into Houston at 8:05. The flight for Reno was on time (of course!) and was scheduled to leave at 9:05. So, we sprinted off the plane and headed for immigration. We cleared that, grabbed our luggage off the conveyors (it was some of the first luggage off) and headed for customs. We cleared customs in a matter of minutes and dashed over to recheck our luggage. Then it was off to security. We were feeling pretty optimistic until we got to security, where about 200 people were in line ahead of us. But, it moved very quickly and we cleared security with about 20 minutes remaining until our departure. As Rob reassembled our carry-ons, I headed to the flight screens to see which terminal and gate we needed. God is good...our flight was in the same terminal, so we didn't have far to go. We made it to our gate just as they called our row to board.
We made it home for Nathan's birthday and all is good. The trip was a huge blessing. Much answered prayer. Samantha's foster family is wonderful. Her foster mom, Jenny, truly loves her. Jenny is married and has two beautiful children. Her family lives in an apartment over the house Jenny's mom owns. Jenny's mom helps care for Samantha and is VERY attached to her. Jenny and her husband attend a Christian church and the love of God is evident in their family. We enjoyed dinner with them, getting to know them and seeing that Samantha is in good hands. Samantha is their 3rd foster child. They presented us with a little photo album full of candid pictures. What a blessing.
We can hardly wait to go back and bring our precious girl home. Until then, we rest in the assurance that God is not only sovereign, but He can be trusted.
We are looking forward to hearing from the US Embassy in the next few weeks. Then, it's on to the Guatemala court. There are some upcoming things -- elections and holidays -- that could significantly slow down our adoption. Fortunately, our hope is not in the government, but in our God who can do more than we can ask or imagine! Our agency is telling us that Christmas pick-up is pretty optimistic and it may be Spring before we bring Samantha home. As I ponder that, a little voice in the back of my head says, "Trust me." Who knows what will happen as we wait for God to work. Romans 15:13 says "I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit." God is our hope and our confidence.
We'll keep you posted...
