When Fear Becomes Faith, Miracles Happen

Yesterday started out as a normal Tuesday. I went to work, went to ninja, and then ran a couple of adoption errands. We leave on Friday for Ethiopia, and everything was falling into place. We just needed our PAIR letter, which if you don't know, is a special letter that is an agreement between the Ethiopian government and the United States Immigration saying that the child to be adopted is truly classified as an orphan, and can enter the U.S. The PAIR process is a huge investigation on both ends of both countries and we received notice that we had passed PAIR two three days before we received our court date. The PAIR letter is sent through the mail, so we had been waiting for it to arrive. Monday afternoon I had called USCIS (immigration) and left a voicemail for my case officer, inquiring about the status of our letter, as it had not arrived. The PAIR letter needs to go to Ethiopia with us, and be given to the Ethiopian court/embassy, so basically, without it, we can't travel. And can't have a court date. 

You already know where I am going with this, don't you?

Around 11am yesterday, I received an email from our immigration officer:

"Dear Ruper Family,

Your PAIR letter is currently pending approval of your Form I-600A update. Once I receive confirmation of payment of Olivia's biometric fees, I will enter her information into the system for scheduling. It can take the Dallas Lockbox approximately 2-3 weeks to send confirmation of payment after it clears. So once you see it clear your financial institution, you may either screen shot it, or attach a copy of the cancelled check and send via email. It must be cleared, not pending, show the Lockbox information, amount, and have either your name or your spouse's name on the screen shot. 

Once I am able to issue the updated 600A approval, I will issue the PAIR letter."

Insert. Panic. 

#1. I had paid Olivia's fees weeks ago. Why didn't they have record of it? The check had been cashed on March 7th.

#2. We didn't have our PAIR letter. We can't have a court date without PAIR. And we had already paid for flights, totaling $11,000, and were booked to leave Friday. 

#3. Ethiopia is closed to adoptions. We can't be rescheduling court. 

#4. Fingerprinting with immigration requires requesting an appointment, waiting weeks to get an appointment letter, driving 1.5 hours to the office, and then waiting a few weeks for the clearance letter for that. So five weeks absolutely minimum. 

We didn't have five weeks. We had three days. IF we were over-nighted the approval letters. 

I tried to breathe. I pulled up my bank account and found the completed transaction. But when I clicked on the check image option, and error message occurred. I tried again. No luck. Trying to not freak out, I scrolled down to multiple other check transaction and clicked on the electronic scanned images. All of them immediately pulled up. All but the one for the biometrics fee. I called Abe and had him try it on a computer, since I was on my phone. He got the same error message. I asked him to send me screen shots of everything he could, including the error message. Apparently, since it had been processed as an electronic transaction, the physical check had not been scanned into the system. I called Olivia, who was home, and asked her to send me photos of my carbon copy of the check. Then I attached all the images (at this point, like 10 screen shots, proving we had paid, that it was my account, and that it had been cashed) to my officer.

And then I called immigration. 

I held on the line for what seemed like an eternity before my officer answered. Now over the years, we have probably had six different officers on our case. Praise JESUS, this one had been with us for about two years, although we almost never even have contact with them. They answered and I blurted out out the situation in one breath. I was trying not to yell at them (it's not THEIR fault) and I was trying to be clear and make sense....but instead I started to cry, while begging them to help us. 

I could hear the sympathy in my officer's voice. "Don't panic!!! Please, don't panic. Listen, I know your case. I know it very well. Look, I am going to talk to my supervisor and see if there is something we can do, okay?"

We hung up and I sent out SOS prayer texts to the kids. I told them, "Guys, this is SO important. Pray. PRAY. We need a miracle right now." Then I emailed our agency, freaking out and begging for help. They responded almost immediately, with concern and worry....and with the terrifying realization that they had no power in this situation and could not help us. There was nothing they could do. Olivia had to be printed (againnnnnnnnnn), before we could leave, and we HAD to get the letters, or no Ethiopia, no court, no Micah, and a LOT of lost $$$. I knew they were afraid and upset for us, but they were helpless. 

I called Abe and tried to explain what was going on. And then I lost it on the phone and started bawling. I RARELY lose it, but I was starting to freak. I hadn't slept more than 2-3 hours a night for the whole week, the kids emotions have been everywhere with the reality that we are returning to Ethiopia (so many positives, so many negatives; another story, another time), and everything was going down the drain. Poor Abe was trying to calm me down (he's not used to me losing my crackers), and he had to get off the phone for a work meeting. 

I hung up, and my fighter instinct kicked in. Crying was not going to get me anywhere. I had stuff to do. God was bigger, God knew what was going on, and God was going to fix this. I had to pull it together. And I had to show my faith NOW.  And I knew I needed to give God the glory and honor and power NOW, and call on Him to get us out of this mess. So I sent the agency a quick email. 

"God has got this. It will be okay. I started crying for like two seconds on the phone, but that's dumb. God got my baby this far; He's not done. Hugs to you all. "

Then I started praying again. 

An hour passed. My phone rang, and I scrambled to answer the private number that I knew would be my USCIS officer. 

"Marissa? What's your availability?"

"Anything. I will do anything. I will go anywhere."

"Listen, I'm here with my supervisor. There is an opening in _______ (a town) today. Can you get there? they have a 3pm opening."

(I was already putting my car into gear). "YES!"

"Okay. Go and get Olivia printed. The results can take up to 48 hours, but I am here until 5pm, so I will start checking every 30 minutes or so after 4pm to see if they happen to come through early. What I am going to do is email you a special appointment letter. You're going to need to download an encryption software and decode and print the letter and take it with you. IF we get the results early, and I can see, them, we are going to make an exception for you. We are going to encrypt and email you the approval letters for your PAIR and I-600A and then mail the actual ones as soon as we can. You will need the encryption software to download the electronic copies and print them. We never do this, but my supervisor is giving me permission and we are going to take care of you, okay? We will get this letter."

I started crying again. "Thank you!!!! Thank you, thank you thank you!!!"

"It's no problem. Everything is going to be okay. Go to the appointment."

I texted Catherine (my sister-in-law). I told her I needed to take her car (mine is broken) and that I was dropping off two of my kids so I could take Olivia to the appointment. It was 12:30pm. The appointment location was 1.5 hours away. I drove home, grabbed the kids, switched cars, and Olivia and I took off. We made it to the immigration office, and got through security with no trouble. It was 2:30pm. We sat in the waiting area, and then the man who does the printing walked by. I told Olivia, "That's the guy who printed Levi last year! He's super nice," just as he turned and saw us. He asked me, "Do I know you?" I told him I had been there the year before with Levi, and maybe that was why he knew me, but he shook his head. "No, it's your face," he said. "I remember your face. Hey, do you want to come in now? I'm free."

We were done with her prints in five minutes. Obviously, we went to Starbucks to celebrate and caffeinate before driving all the way home. The entire trip we checked my email every five minutes. When we got home, I started packing, because I couldn't sit still. An hour passed. It was almost 5:00pm. The girls turned on a worship station on Pandora and suddenly a song came on, the lyrics catching my attention and gripping my heart. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fMFwpUPi4Ag

                      Matter

All of the dreams that haven't come true
And all of the hurt that happened to you
It matters, I hope you know it matters

You felt the pain of a bitter defeat
Where the weight of the grief is more bitter than sweet
It matters, I'm telling you it matters

I started crying. This was for Micah. God was sending this song for my baby. He was speaking to me, sending me comfort, letting me know amid this crisis, Micah was NOT forgotten. He mattered. To the One who made the world and holds it in His hands. 

To the one who spoke and set the sun ablaze
To the one who stopped the storm and walked the waves
To the one who took the tree so He could say
You matter, I hope you know you matter

I know it's not easy, not saying it's fair
But close as a prayer somebody cares
You're a treasure, I hope you know you're treasured

So hold your head high, wait for the dawn
Keep hanging on, your sadness will turn into laughter
Watch it turn into laughter, yeah

My email dinged. 

To the one who spoke and set the sun ablaze
To the one who stopped the storm and walked the waves
To the one who took the tree so He could say
You matter, I hope you know you matter
You matter, heaven knows you matter

USCIS. Two coded attachments. The letters. 

So let the water spill from your eyes
Let it wash the wounds of those lies
Oh, let the water spill from your eyes
All that you are, all that you'll be
Someone put the beat in your heart so that you'll see
You matter

I was bawling again. 

To the one who spoke and set the sun ablaze
To the one who stopped the storm and walked the waves
To the one who took the tree so He could say
You matter, I hope you know you matter
You matter, heaven knows you matter
You matter, I hope you know you matter
You matter, heaven knows you matter 

The girls ran in and we cried together. And listened to the song. Prayed and thanked Jesus for his faithfulness and care for our family. 

And printed those letters. 

An email from the head of our agency twenty minutes later:

"Marissa, You must have a direct line to heaven! I'm shocked that you pulled this off in ONE DAY! CONGRATULATIONS!!!"

This was all God. ALL of it. No one else could have ever gotten this 6-7 week process done in FIVE hours. My heart is so full. This was a miracle that will forever awe me. 

“I am the vine, you are the branches: He that abides in me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit: for without me you can do nothing. ” — John 15:5.