Day 4

WE GOT MAGGIE'S PASSPORT!!
Oh yes, yes we did!  With no errors, which we've heard is a miracle in and of itself!
After being told it would be a week or more (we applied on Tues, and Wed was a national holiday so they weren't even working that day), I was praying it would be Friday or Monday, but knew realistically that it wasn't likely.  We were shocked when the phone rang this afternoon at 2:15 and our attorney said "I've sent Hamza to get you, you need to get down there NOW!"  Well by the time Hamza got here (remember we aren't in town) and we got through traffic, we didn't get there until 4:00 . . . which turned out to be no big deal because we stood around with a whole big group of waiting Ugandans for an hour and a half.  We've decided these poor people must have insane stress levels - everything about everyday life here is so difficult, so chaotic, so unorganized.

I'll post pictures on our shutterfly site, but we all just stood outside waiting to go into this tiny little office to sign for and receive the passports - and the only way you knew it was your turn to go in was because someone would *speak* (not yell) the name out the window.  People were plastered to the wall, trying to hear.  We were so thankful for "our guy" Hashim - he was totally on the situation - had us stand off to the side - was on his phone, monitoring the exact location of our passports (we were waiting with the family from TN), giving us updates - when the thing was signed, when it arrived in the tiny little office, etc.  So at one point he calls all of us in - we go through the crowd of Ugandans into the building, and Mary and Leighton happened to be first, so they were waved in, and we stayed in the hallway at Hashim's direction.  Then some woman who worked there started YELLING at us to GET OUT because we were blocking the fresh air.  ?!?!  We looked at her bewildered, and she continued to yell GET OUT and pushed us out.  Back to the waiting group outside.  Sheesh.  Nothing like calling more attention to us, which we don't really need.

So then we start hearing talk of closing the office (it was closing time) and we were still outside.  My heart sinking, I thought we came THIS FAR and now we won't make it in.  By the grace of our Almighty God, we were one of the last - if not THE last - people called in.  But they wouldn't let Jack and Noah in the door.  So we had to leave them standing with the other Ugandans who were NOT getting their passports - but after a few minutes Mary and Leighton came out and were able to stay with them.  Thank heavens.  So finally inside, we were asked to sign some big book with our name, cell phone and email address (??) to get the passport.  And what a mess - there were papers all over the floor - no rhyme or reason to anything going on in there - people yelling - THROWING passports to each other - total insanity.  I happened to see a box of passports being knocked around - ones that were never handed out today because they closed the doors.  Crazy doesn't describe it.  When we walked out the door with that passport in our hands, I got choked up.  Jack and Noah actually had a conversation with a Ugandan couple who had been waiting there SINCE 11:00 AM this morning (this was at like 5:00!) and never got theirs. 

So while it may seem like no big deal to get a dumb little passport, we can all assure you, this was a miracle by God Himself - no question about it.  We are so relieved.  Oh, and a sidenote - I'm also so relieved I'm not sitting in jail!  I decided to discreetly take a couple of photos of the scene there - WHOOOPS.  Some lady at the security checkpoint at the entrance started screaming at me, and a heavily armed police officer came over to me and yelled "NO CAMERAS!  NO CAMERAS!"  I think I lost a year of my life.  Yikes.  No more photo taking in places like that!

We were exhausted by the time we got back, but Miss Maggie was WIDE AWAKE because she'd slept in the car the whole way back.  Uggh.  So we did what we could to wear her out, but at 8:30 decided it was bedtime.
Ha.
NOT on her itinerary. 
We knew this would happen but on night 3?  We buckled down and put her back in bed at least 15 times (she'd hop out and follow us the minute we turned and walked away).  She was MAD.  Oh so very MAD.  But this is the whole establishing authority thing we've been warned about, so at least we were well prepared.  She finally gave up and went to sleep.

Part of our struggle is she can be so stinking funny when she pulls an attitude, we have to try not to laugh.  :)  She does this funny chicken-wing thing when she's upset and at one point Mark looks at me and says "can I do that right back at her?"  Of course he wouldn't, but oh my word, funny.  And then Jack and Noah want front-row seats to sit and watch because they find the whole thing enormously entertaining.  Of course we didn't let them do that either.  And we reminded Jack that he had similar rebellious/stubborn qualities.  No idea where that came from. :)

So, that's day 4 in Uganda.  Here are the next steps, as a refresher:

• Next we need the "IOM" medical done (not sure what that even stands for).  We had to have her passport to do this, and this part must be done for our embassy interview.  We will go there very early on Monday morning, in the hopes of getting a same-day appointment.  PLEASE PRAY FOR THIS!  This is big, because Tuesday is another national holiday and it won't be open. 
• Once IOM is done, we can go to the embassy and request our interview.  At this point they verify all our immigration paperwork is accurate and complete (and I'm not kidding, we're going to need a PhD to fill this stuff out), tell us what witnesses we may need, and then give us an interview time (which only happen on Mon and Wed afternoons).
• Once the embassy interview is completed, they issue Maggie's visa, which allows her into the U.S.  THEN we can go home.

So please pray that we can get the IOM appointment done Monday!  And pray that we can continue to get good sleep - it's so important here, especially now with a 2 yr old!  And don't forget to GIVE THANKS that we have this passport in our hands!