I woke up this morning early feeling so excited! We're finally coming HOME!!! We'll be home for Christmas with our beautiful baby girl! Nadeem gets to keep his position at SunTrust and get a paycheck again soon! Does it sound like a Hallmark movie (or maybe a Lifetime movie, Darcie)?? That's the kind of God we serve! He delights in blessing His children! These are the kind of friends and family we have-ones that stand by us, praying, loving, and believing!
Prior to this trip I prayed the following verse many times: "For my determined purpose is that I may know Him, that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His person more strongly and more clearly." -Philippians 3:10a (Amplified version) God certainly heard and answered this prayer, but not in the way I expected!
As I prayed this for months leading up to our trip, God already started responding. He revealed in many ways that I would know Him as Jehovah Jireh, our provider, and Jehovah Nissi, our victory.
That sounded pretty exciting to me! I really wanted to know Him more! I was already scared about this calling to quit my job and come to Bangladesh to try to adopt a baby without any plan. Knowing God better would be a wonderful reward to look forward to. My imagination went to work, deciding how God would reveal Himself as our provider and victory.
I pictured that God would give me strength for this trip. Up until a week before our trip, I was pregnant, expecting to have a second child in March. We considered this a glorious gift from God to have two children on the way! I was nervous about traveling to a foreign country, let alone traveling while expecting. I pictured that we would come here and easily adopt Kalina, returning home in two weeks instead of three. Before getting Kalina, we would have the chance to spend our time bringing the light and love of Jesus to other orphans and to the child we sponsor through World Vision. We would surely see some sort of miracle, too!
My thoughts and ways are not God's! He has indeed been Jehovah Nissi, our victory, but not in the way I had pictured. God orchestrated the entire adoption journey! He gave us the I600A approval with Nadeem's fingerprint approval, even though this was "impossible." He gave us Kalina, even though it's "impossible" for us as Christian Americans to adopt a baby from here. Today He's giving us Kalina's visa despite so many obstacles. Day after day we saw the victory as God gave us strength and faith to stand firm and not quit.
When thinking of God as my provider, I had specific prayer requests: to have healthy food and water, to have good health, to be able to exercise, to be able to communicate with home, and to have money for our adoption needs. It's interesting to me to look back and see how God answered this. At first, He seemed to answer every prayer. I did have good health. I exercised. We had money. We had good food and water. We had access to a laptop/Internet. As the trip progressed, however, God showed Himself as our provider in different ways-our provider of strength, hope, and faith in the middle of the storm. When I had a stomach bug, God comforted me. When we lost our computer connection for several days, God calmed me. When I became too weak to exercise as much, God gave me the strength I needed. I think that as I grew on the trip, God knew that I wouldn't have to depend so much on the physical provision but instead could lean on Him for greater provision spiritually.
In the book Boundaries, the authors Cloud and Townsend write that everyone has a rock to carry and sometimes a boulder. A rock represents your daily burdens-working, taking care of your family, etc. A boulder represents a heavy burden such as sickness, unemployment, or grief after losing a loved one. The problem is that sometimes we act like our rock is a boulder and expect people to take care of our needs that we need to care for ourselves. Also, sometimes we act like our boulder is a rock, and we refuse the help we need to carry the load.
I fall into the latter category. When I was sick with mercury poisoning, I kept the news mainly to myself and acted as though I were perfectly fine. I had too much pride to ask for help or to share my "weakness" with others. Finally there came a time when I was truly too weak to carry the boulder. My dear friend Leslie brought some homemade soup for me. Instead of feeling like a weak failure that she had to help me, I actually felt good. I felt loved, and I realized that it's okay to let people help.
Nadeem and I both love to give and feel very awkward being on the receiving side. When I pictured God as our provider, I pictured that He would give us all the funds we needed for Kalina and our trip. We had saved and planned as carefully as possible. As new problems arose, I then pictured that God would somehow drop down help from heaven like manna. It never crossed my mind that God would use other people to help. That's God's way-to help us to love one another! Sometimes we're on the giving side, and sometimes we're on the receiving side. There's a lesson in both, I believe.
Yesterday Nadeem repeatedly tried to call Delta to book our tickets to come home from Dubai. We had prayed for God to help us with securing the right flight. Truthfully we were a little concerned since it's the holiday season. We really wanted to be home in time for Christmas and for Nadeem to return to work and keep his position. Nadeem couldn't get through. Finally he called his sister in Florida to see if she could help. She and her husband fly Delta often for work. We had open tickets for one year since we couldn't use our original tickets back in September. Would you believe that Delta now says that the tickets are no good? They were only good for 30 days. Somehow there was yet another mistake made on this journey. Are you surprised? Would you be surprised to know that God already had a huge blessing ready for us? Nadeem's sister Nadia and her husband Sean have given us tickets for a first class, direct flight to Atlanta arriving in time for Christmas and Nadeem's job!!!!
We are truly leaving! This is our last day in Bangladesh! The next time you hear from us, we should be in transit or at home. We plan to spend Christmas with our family, and then we hope to hear from you all and see you as soon as possible! Plans are still being made for the Celebration of Praise and Worship. Here in Bangladesh the phone or the doorbell is always ringing with visitors. Let's bring some of that back home! We love you all with the love of Christ! Thanks for praying for us! During this holiday season, please remember the miracles of God and give thanks!
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Who is worthy to be praised
"I will love you, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; My God, my strength, in whom I will trust; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I will call upon the Lord who is worthy to be praised; so shall I be saved from my enemies." -Psalm 18:1-3
If you had been here this morning you would have heard me singing these verses over and over to God. Every once in a while I wonder what I would think if I were in your shoes reading this blog-at home getting ready to celebrate the holidays, praying for this family who's stuck in Bangladesh. We've been in a fierce battle again lately. We have been weary beyond words.
We've had so many praises and victories these past few days, really the whole month of December, but every victory has required a battle. Nadeem has been out doing active battle while I've been in the home doing battle as his prayer warrior. Two days ago I spent time with God while Kalina napped, and I just couldn't connect with Him. I sat reading the Bible, but the words had no life. I turned to different books still with no result. Finally I heard God in this verse: "You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ." (2 Timothy 2:3) I read it over and over. Yes, we can relate to this verse! That wasn't all. "The Lord stood with me and strengthened me.....the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and preserve me for His heavenly kingdom. To Him be glory forever and ever." (2 Tim. 4:17,18)
That night I told Nadeem that God had given me a word of encouragement and shared the verses with Nadeem. He said, "What else do you have?" I guess it's like giving a soldier facing an entire army one pistol and that's all. Nadeem needed more weapons than this! This was his response after our earlier victories this week, just to give you an idea of how difficult this has been. Please give God so much praise, but keep praying for us! We need your prayers to stay strong!
Ayesha and Someira left this morning to go to India. The teenage servant left a couple of days ago to start a new job. She was only supposed to work here while we were here. The apartment felt very empty and lonely. It's now winter here in Bangladesh, much to our surprise. The temperature is around 70 degrees during the day and 60 at night. I've found, to my sadness, that the winter is not much better than the summer. You see, in the winter, the sky turns gray and stays like this for a month. The sun looks like a fuzzy white ball covered with fog and haze. By late afternoon it seems like nighttime. In addition, the floors here are hard tile, and they feel quite cold. Gray chilly days tend to bring me down, and that's what we're having here.
Nadeem went by himself to the passport office this morning to try to get the needed corrections to indicate that we're Kalina's guardians, not her birth parents. He was very nervous because he doesn't speak the language here. Yesterday Hasan's parents and Nadeem had gone to the home of the director of the passport office to seek his help. He indicated that this was not a simple matter to correct but that they would try to help today. We had no idea how long this would take, what would be involved, or if it would actually be done. There was talk that they might need to get my signature as well on the revisions. Also, at first they wanted to wait to receive their official copy of the "no objection" certificate in the mail.
While Nadeem was gone, Kalina and I were here virtually alone with only our sweet older deaf and mute servant. The apartment seemed dark, cold, and eerily quiet. Then suddenly we heard shouting and chanting outside. The riots had started! Off and on all morning we heard this. I felt this tremendous loneliness and fear overcome me. What if there were an emergency? I was alone with Kalina, unable to speak the language and without any phone numbers to use to call for help. When I took Kalina out of our bedroom this morning, she did her happy dance and started squealing because she expected to see everyone. Instead she found silence. She looked around, puzzled. It's one thing for me to deal with loneliness, but I certainly didn't want Kalina to feel sad. I tried to play with her and get her to laugh (fortunately not a hard task) and meanwhile I sang to the Lord. Then I opened my Bible to pray His promises aloud since I still felt very troubled, and I knew Nadeem needed prayer support for his mission. This is when I found the Psalm.
I prayed and sang and walked Kalina through the apartment. We sat for a moment by the phone which rang just then. It was Nadeem calling to say that he had the passport after only 2 hours (way ahead of the time we thought we might get it if all went well), and he was on his way to the US Embassy. At this point it was noon. The US Embassy doesn't even open for visitors until 1:00. He had plenty of time!
At 1:30 Nadeem called with more amazing news! They accepted our "no objection" certificate and revised passport and told Nadeem to pick up the visa tomorrow (Monday, December 22) at 2:30 p.m.!!!!!! He asked the lady who has been helping us if she was sure or if they needed any more paperwork. She laughed and said no, this time it's really true. Nadeem plans to pick up the visa tomorrow and head to the Emirates airlines office to try to book a flight home!!!! HOME!!!! PRAISE GOD!!!!!
Please pray for us as we get the visa and book flights home during this busy holiday week. We will fly on Emirates from here to Dubai, and then we'll use Delta to get the rest of the way home. Forget Santa! God gives much better Christmas gifts....from Bethlehem to Bangladesh, from long ago to the present.
Thank you for praying for us and celebrating with us the miracles of God!
If you had been here this morning you would have heard me singing these verses over and over to God. Every once in a while I wonder what I would think if I were in your shoes reading this blog-at home getting ready to celebrate the holidays, praying for this family who's stuck in Bangladesh. We've been in a fierce battle again lately. We have been weary beyond words.
We've had so many praises and victories these past few days, really the whole month of December, but every victory has required a battle. Nadeem has been out doing active battle while I've been in the home doing battle as his prayer warrior. Two days ago I spent time with God while Kalina napped, and I just couldn't connect with Him. I sat reading the Bible, but the words had no life. I turned to different books still with no result. Finally I heard God in this verse: "You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ." (2 Timothy 2:3) I read it over and over. Yes, we can relate to this verse! That wasn't all. "The Lord stood with me and strengthened me.....the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and preserve me for His heavenly kingdom. To Him be glory forever and ever." (2 Tim. 4:17,18)
That night I told Nadeem that God had given me a word of encouragement and shared the verses with Nadeem. He said, "What else do you have?" I guess it's like giving a soldier facing an entire army one pistol and that's all. Nadeem needed more weapons than this! This was his response after our earlier victories this week, just to give you an idea of how difficult this has been. Please give God so much praise, but keep praying for us! We need your prayers to stay strong!
Ayesha and Someira left this morning to go to India. The teenage servant left a couple of days ago to start a new job. She was only supposed to work here while we were here. The apartment felt very empty and lonely. It's now winter here in Bangladesh, much to our surprise. The temperature is around 70 degrees during the day and 60 at night. I've found, to my sadness, that the winter is not much better than the summer. You see, in the winter, the sky turns gray and stays like this for a month. The sun looks like a fuzzy white ball covered with fog and haze. By late afternoon it seems like nighttime. In addition, the floors here are hard tile, and they feel quite cold. Gray chilly days tend to bring me down, and that's what we're having here.
Nadeem went by himself to the passport office this morning to try to get the needed corrections to indicate that we're Kalina's guardians, not her birth parents. He was very nervous because he doesn't speak the language here. Yesterday Hasan's parents and Nadeem had gone to the home of the director of the passport office to seek his help. He indicated that this was not a simple matter to correct but that they would try to help today. We had no idea how long this would take, what would be involved, or if it would actually be done. There was talk that they might need to get my signature as well on the revisions. Also, at first they wanted to wait to receive their official copy of the "no objection" certificate in the mail.
While Nadeem was gone, Kalina and I were here virtually alone with only our sweet older deaf and mute servant. The apartment seemed dark, cold, and eerily quiet. Then suddenly we heard shouting and chanting outside. The riots had started! Off and on all morning we heard this. I felt this tremendous loneliness and fear overcome me. What if there were an emergency? I was alone with Kalina, unable to speak the language and without any phone numbers to use to call for help. When I took Kalina out of our bedroom this morning, she did her happy dance and started squealing because she expected to see everyone. Instead she found silence. She looked around, puzzled. It's one thing for me to deal with loneliness, but I certainly didn't want Kalina to feel sad. I tried to play with her and get her to laugh (fortunately not a hard task) and meanwhile I sang to the Lord. Then I opened my Bible to pray His promises aloud since I still felt very troubled, and I knew Nadeem needed prayer support for his mission. This is when I found the Psalm.
I prayed and sang and walked Kalina through the apartment. We sat for a moment by the phone which rang just then. It was Nadeem calling to say that he had the passport after only 2 hours (way ahead of the time we thought we might get it if all went well), and he was on his way to the US Embassy. At this point it was noon. The US Embassy doesn't even open for visitors until 1:00. He had plenty of time!
At 1:30 Nadeem called with more amazing news! They accepted our "no objection" certificate and revised passport and told Nadeem to pick up the visa tomorrow (Monday, December 22) at 2:30 p.m.!!!!!! He asked the lady who has been helping us if she was sure or if they needed any more paperwork. She laughed and said no, this time it's really true. Nadeem plans to pick up the visa tomorrow and head to the Emirates airlines office to try to book a flight home!!!! HOME!!!! PRAISE GOD!!!!!
Please pray for us as we get the visa and book flights home during this busy holiday week. We will fly on Emirates from here to Dubai, and then we'll use Delta to get the rest of the way home. Forget Santa! God gives much better Christmas gifts....from Bethlehem to Bangladesh, from long ago to the present.
Thank you for praying for us and celebrating with us the miracles of God!
Friday, December 19, 2008
Treasure in Surrendering
For those of you who have followed our blog for a long time, you'll notice that certain themes continue to surface such as faith, surrendering, and hope. That's probably because you don't simply master an area in your walk with God or stop facing the challenge. For the past week Nadeem and I have again been dealing with the issue of surrendering everything to God. The HR department contacted Nadeem's boss to find out whether or not Nadeem will be back at work by December 24. At that point he loses his current position at SunTrust and will have to apply for a new position. Nadeem loves his job and doesn't want to lose his position. We deeply long to be home for Christmas. We have been challenged to give up all of this to God-our desires, our wants, our plans.
There is an inspirational story that has circulated the Internet about a father and his young daughter. The father gave his little girl a necklace of plastic beads to wear when she played dress up. She loved this gift and kept it with her at all times. Every night during the bedtime routine, her dad would ask her if she loved him. She was very close to her dad, so she always replied with a hearty YES! Right after that he'd tell her that if she loved him then he wanted her to give him her cherished necklace. Every night she would refuse and hold the necklace a little tighter. Finally one night when the father went to tuck in his little girl, he found her sitting in the bed crying. When he went to her, she held out the plastic necklace. She was ready to give it to him. He hugged her and produced the real treasure-a true pearl necklace. He said that he had been waiting for that moment to give her something even more precious.
When I first read that story, I didn't like it very much. I thought the dad was cruel to torment his little girl like that. Why not just give her a nicer necklace as a gift? Why put her through all of this agony? Over time I've come to really like the illustration. I think we often see our Heavenly Father in this incorrect way, as tormenting us and holding out on what's good and precious, as trying to take away what we really love. The story tries to illustrate the truth of the treasure in surrendering.
Last year God called me to give up my teaching job that I loved with no idea of how or when we would become parents. It made no sense. I didn't want to do it. I cried every day. Every time I cried I thought of this story and believed that God had something better if I'd just obey Him and surrender. Please look at the two recent photos of our precious gift! If I had held onto my job, we wouldn't be here with Kalina. Trusting God can be so very difficult, but faith pleases God. God loves to bless His children.
Nadeem and I have struggled mightily with surrendering. We constantly have our own ideas of how everything will work. If we surrender our finances to God, then He will surely send us home before Nadeem's paycheck ends. If we surrender our desire to have our own children to God, surely He will bless us with our own biological child. If we surrender our fears about the trip to Bangladesh to God, surely He will bring us back home after three weeks (or even two!).
God's ways and thoughts are not ours. Praise God for that! He knows what is best for us. He only asks us to trust and obey.
Nadeem and Ayesha returned from the Home Ministry office this morning with....drum roll please....the "no objection" certificate! Yahoo! Praise God! Applause! Cheers! It's actually a small piece of paper with a pretty green and red emblem at the top. All this work for a tiny piece of paper! God already said, "I have no objections to you bringing Kalina to the USA! In fact, it's My plan!" Now we're seeing His plan come to fruition in the natural.
Tomorrow Someira and Ayesha leave for their trip to India. I've told them that I'll say good-bye once we're on the airplane to come home. They, however, plan to say good-bye today. So many of you have written to tell us how amazed you are at the kindness of this family. We feel the same way. God has used them as His hands and feet to help us get Kalina and to welcome us as family for all this time (15 weeks now if you're wondering). We hope to be home soon...but we also hope to surrender the timing to God who already knows the perfect plan.
Thank you for praying for us and standing in faith!
There is an inspirational story that has circulated the Internet about a father and his young daughter. The father gave his little girl a necklace of plastic beads to wear when she played dress up. She loved this gift and kept it with her at all times. Every night during the bedtime routine, her dad would ask her if she loved him. She was very close to her dad, so she always replied with a hearty YES! Right after that he'd tell her that if she loved him then he wanted her to give him her cherished necklace. Every night she would refuse and hold the necklace a little tighter. Finally one night when the father went to tuck in his little girl, he found her sitting in the bed crying. When he went to her, she held out the plastic necklace. She was ready to give it to him. He hugged her and produced the real treasure-a true pearl necklace. He said that he had been waiting for that moment to give her something even more precious.
When I first read that story, I didn't like it very much. I thought the dad was cruel to torment his little girl like that. Why not just give her a nicer necklace as a gift? Why put her through all of this agony? Over time I've come to really like the illustration. I think we often see our Heavenly Father in this incorrect way, as tormenting us and holding out on what's good and precious, as trying to take away what we really love. The story tries to illustrate the truth of the treasure in surrendering.
Last year God called me to give up my teaching job that I loved with no idea of how or when we would become parents. It made no sense. I didn't want to do it. I cried every day. Every time I cried I thought of this story and believed that God had something better if I'd just obey Him and surrender. Please look at the two recent photos of our precious gift! If I had held onto my job, we wouldn't be here with Kalina. Trusting God can be so very difficult, but faith pleases God. God loves to bless His children.
Nadeem and I have struggled mightily with surrendering. We constantly have our own ideas of how everything will work. If we surrender our finances to God, then He will surely send us home before Nadeem's paycheck ends. If we surrender our desire to have our own children to God, surely He will bless us with our own biological child. If we surrender our fears about the trip to Bangladesh to God, surely He will bring us back home after three weeks (or even two!).
God's ways and thoughts are not ours. Praise God for that! He knows what is best for us. He only asks us to trust and obey.
Nadeem and Ayesha returned from the Home Ministry office this morning with....drum roll please....the "no objection" certificate! Yahoo! Praise God! Applause! Cheers! It's actually a small piece of paper with a pretty green and red emblem at the top. All this work for a tiny piece of paper! God already said, "I have no objections to you bringing Kalina to the USA! In fact, it's My plan!" Now we're seeing His plan come to fruition in the natural.
Tomorrow Someira and Ayesha leave for their trip to India. I've told them that I'll say good-bye once we're on the airplane to come home. They, however, plan to say good-bye today. So many of you have written to tell us how amazed you are at the kindness of this family. We feel the same way. God has used them as His hands and feet to help us get Kalina and to welcome us as family for all this time (15 weeks now if you're wondering). We hope to be home soon...but we also hope to surrender the timing to God who already knows the perfect plan.
Thank you for praying for us and standing in faith!
Thursday, December 18, 2008
The Wizard of Bangladesh
Once upon a time, Nadeem and Sherri were living a typical American life in Dacula when suddenly a tornado from God whirled them into a strange land. "I have a feeling we're not in Dacula anymore," they said as they looked at the rickshaws, street vendors, and laundry hanging from rooftops. Just then their eyes saw something precious-an adorable munchkin named Kalina! "Ahh, this is why we came to this land called Bangladesh! We know that there's no place like home, and we plan to take this munchkin with us!" Little did they know that the land was filled with wicked witches and other problems. Not to worry! Good always triumphs over evil!
The couple was confused. "How do we get home to Dacula?" They received these words of wisdom, "Follow God's Narrow Road." "Follow God's Narrow Road?" "Follow God's Narrow Road!" "Follow, follow, follow, follow, follow God's narrow road." Where? Why, of course, to see the Wizard of Bangaladesh! "We're off to see the wizard, the wonderful wizard of Bangladesh." Well, maybe not. That doesn't have quite the same ring. Back to our story.
"Where do we find this wizard?" the Kaisers questioned. They learned that the wizard, who could send them home, resided in the US Embassy. Immediately they set out to find him and return to their home, with their precious munchkin, of course.
Along the way they met three wonderful friends who helped them in so many ways: Someira, Ayesha, and Tayeb. They loved their new friends very much! The friends lived in the land of Bangladesh and knew how to handle many of the trials of this land.
Nadeem and Sherri faced many obstacles along the way: flying demons, flying mosquitos, and flying crows plagued them. They didn't know what to do until they remembered that they carried a weapon, a sword! It was in fact the sword of the Spirit also known as the Word of God. This protected them from evil.
Next they entered a dark area where talking trees threw something at them. What was that? Aaahhh! Flaming arrows from the evil one to harm their faith! Sorrows, and delays, and trials-oh, my! That sword really came in handy again!
By this time, the Kaisers were very tired and weary. They still hadn't gotten help from the wizard. This Narrow Road was extremely long and difficult! Ahead they noticed a field, a lovely place to lie down and rest and quit this whole journey. But alas, the field was filled with a sleeping potion-discouragement, despair, and doubt-to keep the Kaisers inactive. This time Glenda the Good Holy Spirit appeared, ready to offer them strength and hope to continue their journey.
Finally! They had reached the US Embassy! Surely the wizard would help them return home now with their darling munchkin. When they saw the wizard, they didn't receive the warm welcome they were expecting. The wizard spoke angrily and rudely and told them something shocking: before they could get a visa to come home they would have to get fingerprints taken and approved and a "no objection" certificate. These sounded impossible! The wizard was adament: "Either produce these items or you will not return home with your munchkin."
The Kaisers did not know what to do. It seemed all hope was gone. They had counted on the wizard to help them. Now how would they ever return home? Glenda the Good Holy Spirit returned once again to encourage, comfort, and guide them. They learned that they had to defeat the evil which wanted to prevent them from coming home. What a hard task!
The Kaisers threw buckets of Living Water on Cruella de Magistrate, the USCIS, the postal service, and the Home Ministry. They got the documents, packages, and approval they needed! Then they returned to the wizard who shared a secret. He never had the power to send them home, nor did their three wonderful friends. Only God could break their chains and deliver them safely home! The Kaisers rejoiced to hear this glorious news! There's no place like home and no God like our God! Victories, and triumphs, and joy-praise God!
"Narrow is the road and difficult is the road that leads to life, and there are few who find it." -Matthew 7:14
* * * * * * * *
Updates from Bangladesh: We have the police report! An officer hand-delivered it to the Home Ministry yesterday where they started working on our "no objection" certificate. It requires six official signatures of approval. At the end of the day we had five. The certificate should be ready by tomorrow (Saturday) morning. The next step is to present the certificate to the passport office on Sunday to get Kalina's passport corrected. Then Nadeem can take everything to the Embassy to get the visa. We're thrilled to share these praises. Thanks for praying!!!
The couple was confused. "How do we get home to Dacula?" They received these words of wisdom, "Follow God's Narrow Road." "Follow God's Narrow Road?" "Follow God's Narrow Road!" "Follow, follow, follow, follow, follow God's narrow road." Where? Why, of course, to see the Wizard of Bangaladesh! "We're off to see the wizard, the wonderful wizard of Bangladesh." Well, maybe not. That doesn't have quite the same ring. Back to our story.
"Where do we find this wizard?" the Kaisers questioned. They learned that the wizard, who could send them home, resided in the US Embassy. Immediately they set out to find him and return to their home, with their precious munchkin, of course.
Along the way they met three wonderful friends who helped them in so many ways: Someira, Ayesha, and Tayeb. They loved their new friends very much! The friends lived in the land of Bangladesh and knew how to handle many of the trials of this land.
Nadeem and Sherri faced many obstacles along the way: flying demons, flying mosquitos, and flying crows plagued them. They didn't know what to do until they remembered that they carried a weapon, a sword! It was in fact the sword of the Spirit also known as the Word of God. This protected them from evil.
Next they entered a dark area where talking trees threw something at them. What was that? Aaahhh! Flaming arrows from the evil one to harm their faith! Sorrows, and delays, and trials-oh, my! That sword really came in handy again!
By this time, the Kaisers were very tired and weary. They still hadn't gotten help from the wizard. This Narrow Road was extremely long and difficult! Ahead they noticed a field, a lovely place to lie down and rest and quit this whole journey. But alas, the field was filled with a sleeping potion-discouragement, despair, and doubt-to keep the Kaisers inactive. This time Glenda the Good Holy Spirit appeared, ready to offer them strength and hope to continue their journey.
Finally! They had reached the US Embassy! Surely the wizard would help them return home now with their darling munchkin. When they saw the wizard, they didn't receive the warm welcome they were expecting. The wizard spoke angrily and rudely and told them something shocking: before they could get a visa to come home they would have to get fingerprints taken and approved and a "no objection" certificate. These sounded impossible! The wizard was adament: "Either produce these items or you will not return home with your munchkin."
The Kaisers did not know what to do. It seemed all hope was gone. They had counted on the wizard to help them. Now how would they ever return home? Glenda the Good Holy Spirit returned once again to encourage, comfort, and guide them. They learned that they had to defeat the evil which wanted to prevent them from coming home. What a hard task!
The Kaisers threw buckets of Living Water on Cruella de Magistrate, the USCIS, the postal service, and the Home Ministry. They got the documents, packages, and approval they needed! Then they returned to the wizard who shared a secret. He never had the power to send them home, nor did their three wonderful friends. Only God could break their chains and deliver them safely home! The Kaisers rejoiced to hear this glorious news! There's no place like home and no God like our God! Victories, and triumphs, and joy-praise God!
"Narrow is the road and difficult is the road that leads to life, and there are few who find it." -Matthew 7:14
* * * * * * * *
Updates from Bangladesh: We have the police report! An officer hand-delivered it to the Home Ministry yesterday where they started working on our "no objection" certificate. It requires six official signatures of approval. At the end of the day we had five. The certificate should be ready by tomorrow (Saturday) morning. The next step is to present the certificate to the passport office on Sunday to get Kalina's passport corrected. Then Nadeem can take everything to the Embassy to get the visa. We're thrilled to share these praises. Thanks for praying!!!
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