We End at the Beginning

Were you wondering if Paul and Miriam ever made it back? They did indeed (and so did my luggage). We all, including Paul's parents, were at the airport to greet Miriam. We have a great photo--which I will post as soon as I locate the cords for the camera from among our mass of dirty clothes and Congolese souvenirs. We came home to have dinner together with my sister's family. She has a girl who is Miriam's age, and they became fast friends. Sometimes language doesn't matter.

She slept great last night, not coming out of the bedroom until I went in to get her. It might have had something to do with the fact that she's terrified of our dogs. Hopefully it won't take her too long to adjust. My exuberant German Shepherd is dying to get in her face.

Today I registered Miriam for school, so she will begin Monday. We toured the school with the ELL teachers, met her first grade class, and went to the grocery store. How's all that for culture shock? Tomorrow I will be joining her on the bus, in order to get her acclimated to the big yellow thing that will be her new transportation to school. She was beginning to tire this afternoon until Jacob came home from school. He's made it her personal quest to teach her as many words as possible.

I have been thinking that this blog would be drawing to a close since Miriam is finally here. It's rather ironic, because now we are merely at the very beginning.

I am so grateful for the thought and prayer that you have all put into our lives. It made all the difference in the world. Please continue to remember us, and especially Miriam as she adjusts to her new life.

With sincere thanks,
Andrea

p.s. Don't forget to look one more time. I'll find that camera cord soon.

Homecoming Interruptions

I got home yesterday with one small snag. My luggage didn't arrive with me. There's no telling where it is. I just hope it gets here soon. I was expecting to be picking up Paul and Miriam on the same flight today. They checked in with their e-tickets at the Nairobi airport. The took their boarding passes to the gate, but were not allowed on the plane because Miriam has a Congolese passport, which means she needs a transit visa to be able to enter the Amsterdam airport (be thankful for your American passport). Northwest/KLM would not budge in any way to change the routing of their tickets to London instead of Amsterdam, where a visa would not be required. They had two options: Stay over night in Nairobi and go to Holland's embassy in the morning or buy new tickets home, via London. Since the process of acquiring a visa normally takes a few days, and since they would have had to buy new tickets anyway because they had to forfeit theirs, there really was no option. They bought new tickets, flew to Heathrow, took an hour long bus ride to Gatwick (never heard of it) and flew from there. They are due home at 3:20 today. I'll believe it when I see it.

Miriam's arrival just happened to coincide with a class trip that all 5th graders go on. Charis really wanted to stay home to be at Miriam's homecoming, but I sent her anyway. They will have to wait until Friday to meet.

Surreal

Hi Friends,
I'm in the Amsterdam airport waiting for my flight back to Minnesota. Paul and Miriam will leave Kigali in about 5 hours.

I've been keeping a journal for Miriam for about a year. I wanted her to know how it was that she ended up with us. I read through it yesterday, feeling so amazed at how God led us step by step through the whole process, from beginning to end. I am so in awe of it and tremendously grateful to God for how near He has been through it all. Yet even in the midst of this feeling of thankfulness, it almost seems as if it never really happened--like it was just a dream. Here I am, returning home empty-handed. It's very strange.

Paul just texted me to let me know that Miriam "put him to shame." They had just eaten breakfast and she asked him, "Why don't we pray anymore before meals?" She's very sharp. She'll be very tangible to me soon.

I'm about to run out of time on the computer, so I better post this now. Thank you for praying for us.

LONG JOURNEY HOME

Miriam and I began our long trek back to Minnesota yesterday. It’ll be another 32 hours before we actually get on our first International flight.
As you know, we began our Sunday morning at the crack of dawn, with the three of us in Kinshasa. Miriam and I boarded an 8 AM flight for Goma, while Andrea waited for her 10:45 flight to Nairobi. It was a very different flight from the one we had taken just a week earlier to Kinshasa, where Miriam cried for her mother for a good chunk of the trip. On this last trip, she asked lots of questions (she’s very inquisitive and aware of her surroundings). Hearing that were would land in Goma, she asked a few times if her mother would be there to meet us. When I informed her that would not see her, she seemed to accept it without any problem. (I had spoken to her birth mother the night before, and we both agreed that even though we could make it happen, emotionally it would make things harder for everyone).
We arrived in Goma about noon, and Jo and Lyn Lusi from Heal Africa assisted us in getting thru the border, to an awaiting cab. The cab took us on a 3 ½ hour ride to Kigali, where we spent the night. I connected with a Congolese family friend and his American wife and family in Kigali for dinner, before retiring for the evening.
As much as I would have loved to have stayed on the same itinerary as Andrea, in some ways this time alone with Miriam has been a blessing, as we are able to spend extended time alone getting to know each other. She spent most of the day with her little head nestled in my chest, or her hand firmly planted in mine. The trust that she is developing for the two of us is very apparent, and although we know there will be challenges ahead, we are savoring the gift God has given us in Miriam.

Out of Congo--Not Yet Out of Africa

Wow, what a wild few weeks it's been! Thanks for coming along with us.

Paul (with Miriam) and I left Kinshasa this morning. I went to Kenya. My layover was 32 hours, so I'm at a guest house in Nairobi. I just had a big glass of passion fruit juice with my dinner. It was heavenly.

Paul and Miriam flew to Goma, crossed the border after getting a visa into Rwanda for her (she has a Congolese passport), then got in a van for a 3 hour drive to Kigali. I don't know any details, but I got this text message from Paul:

"Things are really good w/Miriam. Goma was not hard. She asked about her mom a few times, but it's different from before. More questions of curiosity than anything. There will certainly be grieving, but I think she'll do okay."

Paul will blog more details after Miriam goes to sleep tonight. You'll probably read it before I do.

Yesterday Miriam's uncle who lived with her family until last December came to say farewell to her. We hadn't told her he was coming. She was elated at the sight of him. He told us that all of his family was very moved that we wanted to adopt her, and they saw it as a gift from God. After he left, we let her call to say good-bye to her mother. She cried a little bit at both farewells, but something changed in her. It seems like she understood a little better what was happening. She went to sleep in a cuddle.

We got it -- Praise God!

I got another one of those 3:00am text messages reading "We got it!" In the middle of the night (their day time) the visa application came through at the embassy in Kinshasa. The woman that they had been working with at the embassy went in on a Saturday to look and see if it had been sent from the U.S. God has truly been orchestrating things for Miriam' trip home to the U.S. They will be leaving as scheduled, Andrea on Monday & Paul and Miriam through Goma on Tuesday. I think they both are exhausted and ready to return home.
Please continue to pray, now for safe travel and especially for Paul & Miriam. They will have to go through Goma which may upset or confuse Miriam. Even though they will hopefully be going straight from the Airport to the border, The volcano that devastated the city in '77 & 'o2 makes it look like no other place on earth. She will most likely recognize the city. Please hold them in your prayers.
Even though the trip home is happening on schedule. Please pray for no snags as they go across the border in Rwanda, fly through customs in Amsterdam, & U.S. It's still a really long trip and it can seem even longer when you're waiting to sleep in your own bed.
Everyone here in the Blomberg/Tshihamba homes is not so patiently waiting to meet the newest member of the family.
Praise God the Author and Creator of all things (including adoption)! Who but God could have made all of these incredible miracles happen. If you didn't believe before, Know now, that He is Sovereign!
Blessings on you all,
~Billie Blomberg
noahsbigboat@gmail.com

Keep on Praying.....NOW!

Today we showed up at the embassy for the interview at 9am. It went very well. We paid for the visa, leaving Miriam’s passport to be processed. We told the head of the department that we were waiting to buy tickets to Kigali until we knew the visa would be available. She told us to go ahead and buy the tickets. She said the visa normally takes a few days, but she would rush it to be ready in time for a Monday flight. She would call us when it was ready to be picked up.

The visa had to be approved in Washington, DC—it’s all done electronically, but Kinshasa is 7 hours ahead of DC— 3pm is 9am in DC. 3:00pm came and went. At 4:15 we called to inquire. She told us she would be at work for one more hour. If it had not come, she would return to the office in the morning (the embassy is not even open on Saturday) to see if it had arrived over night. She didn’t call. 5:15 came and went. We had to hang around the area of the embassy all day, just waiting for the call, because transit is so congested and going anywhere takes a very long time.

Miriam is officially a Tshihamba. The visa is the last piece of the puzzle, and it’s missing—Don’t you hate when that happens? If it doesn’t come tomorrow, we incur the cost of changing 2 tickets to Goma, and 2 tickets back home. We also have to worry about there even being two open seats in all of the flights.

So we wait and we pray. My faith feels weak. How could that be, just one day after I saw a miracle?

Miriam is delightful, has a great sense of humor, and she's laughing a lot now. She and Paul are very funny together.

Thank you for holding our situation before the Lord.

I’m still leaving on Sunday, arriving in Minneapolis on Tuesday.