If you missed "Part 1,", you
When I left off, it was Wednesday afternoon last week and we were meeting to discuss the next steps to get Xh to Chicago for critical back surgery.
The task seemed enormous, but one by one, God was laying the pieces out like stepping stones, just as they were needed, when they were needed.
The next piece, though, seemed huge. We needed a host family. A family that would be home during the summer. A family that had a spare room. A family where one of the parents would be home during the day to take care of daily needs like cooking and taking Xh to appointments. A family where she could see God's love lived out and feel safe and part of the family when she was oh so far away from her own.
We were in the middle of discussing this in our living room with most members of "Team Xh" when Nathan's phone started playing the familiar Skype ringtone. As we haven't started Daylight Savings Time yet, his weekly accountability group chat was an hour earlier than he was expecting.
Nathan excused himself and went to the other room to join the conference call. He explained to the guys on Skype what we were working on when they rang. At that point, our friend Mark asked if we had considered asking our friends John and Erica (John was president of our student cabinet in our 2nd year at the student center at Asbury and after marrying Erica went on to serve with WGM in Uganda for a couple of years before transitioning to the pastorate). We had completely forgotten that they had moved to the Chicago area about a year before.
Nathan's Skype call ended and our Team Xh meeting wrapped up about the same time. After saying goodbye to our guests, Nathan shared Mark's suggestion with me.
Hmmm, I thought. They might be a possibility! If not them (they have three little ones, and as such are quite busy, I could imagine), perhaps they could recruit someone from their church?
We went on to the next thing though and between Bible study, English class, and feeding the family a late supper, I didn't get to my computer until the next morning. I opened my e-mail Thursday to find a message from Elisabeth that had been sent the night before. [Reminder: Elisabeth had offered to help us search for a host family with her network of colleagues in the Chicago area].
Hey Cydil! I had another idea. Did you know that John and Erica now live in the Naperville/Aurora area of Chicago?? What about contacting them?
He is the pastor at a church there…might be a good lead.
I was fully awake. Did Elisabeth just mention John and Erica too? It couldn't be coincidental.
I may have kind of ordered Nathan to feed the kids breakfast and keep them out of our bedroom until I could send off an e-mail. I set to work composing a message introducing Xh, the efforts to help her get surgery, the deadline we had to get her to the States, the requirements from Shriners to schedule her surgery, and what we'd be needing from a host family -- time commitment, costs, responsibilities, etc. Finally, could they help us in recruiting a family?
I tried not to babysit my e-mail too much. After all, it would be quite early when my message was sent.
I wasn't kept waiting too long. It was mid afternoon and with school done for the day, the kids and I were engaged in a royal Lego mess on the kitchen island while Nathan represented Planters at the annual business meeting of the coalition of evangelical churches and organizations in Albania in Durres. My eyes were getting crossed searching for the pieces we needed. I eagerly dropped on the couch to open the reply.
Erica responded with her characteristic kindness. She had a lot of questions. The kind of questions that someone who was considering jumping in with two feet would ask. They were thoughtful and honest, but at the end, she promised to do what they could to help -- if not host Xh themselves, they would see if they could find someone who could and pray for the process.
I immediately replied, answering as many questions as I could before forwarding her e-mail and my answers to Jorid to include her in the conversation.
I was trying not to get my hopes up, but things were looking promising. After receiving Erica's message I couldn't imagine anyone else hosting Xh. I knew in their home she would feel love, warmth, acceptance and hear Truth.
John and Erica were going away for the weekend to celebrate their anniversary so they would discuss it some more and get back to us when they returned.
Monday morning I woke up bright and early to find a message from Erica in my inbox with the answer we had been praying for. Yes! They would be happy to host Xh and her guardian, Herta.
Team Xh grew by 5 more!
Later that morning we would meet up with the founding members of Team Xh at a restaurant in Tirana for coffee.
To my delight we were also joined by Xh, her mother and father. They had just come from meeting Herta and Jorid said that Herta and Xh really hit it off .
Altogether they had just visited the notary where Xh's father took the very serious and significant step of signing of Xh's guardianship and power of attorney to Herta.
While Xh had her first taste of hot chocolate, we were able to give her the good news that she also had a host family! I showed her a family photo from Facebook on my phone and she smiled.
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I can't imagine the thoughts that must be going through her head. I know she has no way of imagining where she is going or what she is about to experience.
I'm pretty sure she has no idea all that has been transpiring on her behalf.
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After Xh and her parents left to catch the bus up the mountain, we realized that our thinking could now shift to the next phase of the project: securing her visa, as well as Herta's. Then, preparing her for the cultural leap she is about to make.
Keep praying, friends! I look forward to sharing "Part 3", when that happens!
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