Preparing to Meet Miriam

After leaving Minneapolis on Sunday, I finally arrived in Kigali Tuesday morning. Soon after, Paul, the team from our church and I got into vans for the three hour drive to Goma. With a lot of waiting around and a delay at the border crossing, we arrived at the Heal Africa hospital for a short orientation. It was then time to take our bags to the place we are staying--before the lights turned off and we couldn't find our pajamas.

It was a good sleep the first night, anticipating today...the day I will meet Miriam for the first time. We will go to her house after she finishes school.

We are now at the Heal Africa computer lab, making arrangements for the day. The passport has been acquired, and we're having one of Paul's Kinshasa relatives pick it up for us. We need to get copies of Miriam's passport photo for immigration. Paul is the process of translating the adoption decree for the embassy. We're also going through all the documents necessary for the immigration process, and planning to leave on Friday (with Miriam) for Kinshasa.

It feels somewhat awkward trying to figure out when to bring her with us. We know we will take her (for good) on Friday, but until that time we are likely going to leave her with her mother. It's also difficult to know how prepared Miriam is to depart. She knows she's leaving, but at 6 years old, she has no idea what that really means. This will probably be her first time out of the Goma area, first time on a plane, first time in Kinshasa...with an innumerable number of firsts to follow.

Thank you for your prayers. Please include her mother, Godelive, as you pray for us.

I will post tomorrow, and hopefully be able to include a new photo.