God is sending our approval to the embassy here!

We've received news that our approval/fingerprint clearance has left the USCIS and has arrived at the International Visa Center. Next stop...US Embassy in Bangladesh! When it arrives here, we can then go to apply for Kalina's visa. That part should take 2-3 days. Our wonderful friends at Senator Isakson's office will contact the embassy here to stress how urgent this is. We have all of the required paperwork in place ready to present to the embassy, and the embassy employees are ready to help. We just need the approval to arrive here. By the way, it doesn't have to be FedEx'd. It comes via computer. Praise God! Please continue to pray over every step of this process. We'd obviously love for the approval to arrive here quickly! The embassy opens again on Sunday after the Bangladesh weekend of Friday and Saturday. We've heard that this can certainly happen, but nobody wants to promise us anything! I'm sure you can understand why.
Thank all of you so much for your outpouring of support and joy! We've received the most postings on our blog ever in one day, and we've also received numerous emails congratulating us on the amazing news. Many of you have talked about celebrations when we arrive home and how you've been talking to each other about how happy you are that we should arrive home soon. My friend and blog photo poster, Angela, said that she drove by our neighborhood the other day and wanted to drive through honking her horn like crazy. We're coming home!! My eyes fill with tears as I type these words.
Nadeem and I rejoiced and praised God when we heard the glorious news yesterday! Then when we prayed, we prayed that God would guard us against the enemy's desire to steal our joy and create doubt and conflict. This may sound crazy to pray like this instead of focusing on the joy. Believe me, we've focused on the joy and are bursting with happiness and gratitude and excitement! However, we've been here long enough to experience first hand the spiritual battle that takes place. Just this week alone, we had tremendous difficulties in getting Kalina's packages. (The second one was released to us yesterday! Thank You, God!) Nadeem and I faced overwhelming discouragement as we heard news that still there was confusion and difficulty in approving us. In two days, "Pharaoh" let the packages go! In two days, we got our approval! That's a huge victory!!!!! Go God!!!! We love You!!! Remember that there's a battle going on that's bigger and uglier than what we can see. Don't you think this angers the enemy?
Here's how it played out in the natural. Nadeem and I were jumping for joy in our bedroom here over the great news. We'd received messages of praise and thanksgiving from home. We talked to my mom on the phone and shared our delight over the long-awaited news. Then life went on as usual. I spent the day taking care of Kalina. Nadeem escorted the ladies to shop and visit a friend. The servants cleaned. The crows cawed. The day was hotter than usual. Nobody cheered or rejoiced with us. People here don't see God's hand in this in the way that we do. People see how humans have either helped us or harmed us. People here don't have a vision of us returning home. Many don't speak English and aren't even aware of what's going on with us. Our joy was brought to a screeching halt. It almost felt like nothing had happened. We're still here. We're still going through the same motions and routines. The sounds of rejoicing from the other side of the globe faded into the distance.
I like how John Eldredge describes this in his book Walking with God: "The world's version of battle and joy is striving and indulgence. Push hard, and then reward yourself with a little something. Work like a dog, then buy yourself a big-screen TV. It's a cheap counterfeit of battle and a cheap counterfeit of joy. If you walk with God, you will find yourself called up to the real thing. Intense battle. Authentic joy. The battle will find you. But you have to be intentional about the joy."
"The joy of the Lord is my strength!" People cannot take away my joy. God's Word IS true! He IS our deliverer! He IS sending us home....not in 9 months but right away! When I look to God, I see the joy!