We have liftoff . . .

As Melody said many times today, she is coming to America. We finally made it through the passport office! Amazing it was done without bloodshed. "Made it through" still comprised two hours and one person going above and beyond to demand the passport be personally delivered to him at the front office. We received it and Melody spontaneously began yelling that we had the "passcort" and that she was coming to America. People were looking at her laughing and enjoying her joy. She wanted to tell everyone. We called mommy leala and Melody told her the same news. I took the phone back only to have it grabbed from my hand by Melody as she wanted to show mommy a helicopter (she called it a plane) that was flying over.

We thanked those that helped us and proceeded to the US embassy. At the embassy the consular representative said that he should be able to get the visas for us tomorrow and in time for us to fly home as scheduled. What a blessing and answer to prayers. We received a text message later in the day that the consular representative wanted to meet with us around 1130am on Friday presumably to give us the visas. He did not indicate anything was out of order in the paperwork and it looks like we will get the visas, have a quick weekend of packing and preparing to leave, and fly out Monday.

Our driver's name is Abdullah. Abdullah is a very nice man. He asked me today about my house in America. We had pictures to show Melody so that she could become more acquiainted so I showed him those pictures. He queried why there were no gates or courtyards on any of the houses in the pictures. He asked me, "Do you not have thieves in America?" To which I responded, "Oh we have thieves in America." He thought for a second and then asked, "Do you have mzungu (white person) thieves?" Of course I said "yes." He erupted in laughter and giggling in utter disbelief that we had mzungu thieves in America. We had a great laugh about it.

Tomorrow we will proceed to the embassy hopefully for visas. At that point, it is as sure a deal as it can be in Uganda. When we returned from the embassy, everyone was so excited. The mamas congratulated us and hugged us repeatedly. When Melody said goodnight to me, she gave me a hug and didn't want me to give her back to the volunteer to put her to bed. That was a great feeling as it was the first time that she wanted to stay with me. Joey was a pleasure today. He walked with me, held my hand, went to me when Ditte told him to, and even laid his head in my lap and gave me a hug when I was trying to get him to slap me five. Things could not be better right now. . . amazing what 24 hours can do in Uganda.

As always, your support and encouragement is appreciated. This would have been so much harder, if not impossible, without all of you. Thanks. Congrats to Todd and Jenny on leaving Uganda with two kids in tow.