Uncle Randal's homecoming

It's late. I'm tired. In nine hours I'm leaving for the airport. But tonight I heard that a good family friend passed away from cancer a few days ago. And how will I be able to sleep now?

Uncle Randal is in heaven with his Saviour. I know that. And his death isn't sudden. We've known he was dying for several years, in fact. But this fall it suddenly became a reality to me, as though I hadn't known it before. And this past month, when I knew his time was particularly short, I kept hoping he'd hold on until I got back to my husband. I wanted to have someone to grieve with.

And instead, I'm here in an empty living room, crying by myself, with no one to hold me or comfort me.

Never have I felt so alone.

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This is a photo of Uncle Randal (centre) and his wife & children.

Forced Exile, Day 22

First, let me assure the world at large that my sister is a fantastic mom. She knows what she's doing, and she's great at what she does. She has patience that I could never hope to have, and she sure loves her kids.

Now that we've got that cleared up...

It's funny having an infant in the house with two pre-schoolers running around. This is an entirely new experience for me. Naomi asks Josiah, "Do you want to pet Ethan?" When Ethan squirms, Naomi says that he wants to "play and run around." Yesterday Josiah offered Ethan a piece of white-chocolate-covered pretzel, and we had to explain that the baby will only be eating milk for several months.

And Lisa leans over and says, "So this doesn't make you want to have babies?"

It's not that I don't want to have babies. They are cute and cuddly, and I'm sure when I have my own infant, I'll think he's the best thing that ever happened to me. Sure, apart from the being exhausted all the time and cleaning up poop and spit-up and waking up all during the night to breastfeed, babies are great!

No, it's the little kids that unnerve me. It's the Naomi shouting, "No! I don't want to!" and running around the house, refusing to take off her ballerina outfit to put on pajamas. It's the kicking and screaming when it's time to wash their hair in the bath. It's the "I don't like broccoli" and "I don't like pizza" and "I don't like that." It's the gooey stickiness on the furniture after Josiah disobeys and rubs his face on the couch after dinner before getting wiped... Oh boy.

So someday I'll have kids, if God grants them. But in the meantime, He's gonna have to work really hard on my heart to prepare me for motherhood!

But there's nothing sweeter than hearing, "Ish!* I want to give you a hug and kiss good night!"

So maybe I'm on my way... :)
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*"Ish" somehow came from "Aunt Saralynn" when Naomi started talking three years ago.

Forced Exile, Day 18

I have a new nephew!!

Ethan Andrew Gertz was born at 10:59pm on Wednesday, December 20. He weighs 7lbs, 10oz, and is 19-1/2 inches long. And he's just adorable. (Unfortunately, I've got this awful cold, so I can't even really hold him.)

My sister Lisa is doing fine, recovering a little slowly as she had an unplanned C-section. (I'm sure she appreciates prayer.) She was glad to have the baby before Christmas, especially considering the docs originally wanted to deliver him on New Year's Eve, which is Lisa's birthday!

And even though I'm down with a cold, I'm glad I could be here! I was at the hospital when Ethan was born, and what a joy that was! And I'm really glad I can be here to help watch Lisa's two kids while she's in the hospital. It turned out well.

But I'm still horribly homesick and eager to be back in Jos. I leave a week from today!! :)

I'll be home for Christmas, but only in my dreams

My passport & visa arrived today from the Nigerian embassy! Yay! I now have permission to return to my husband. They'd told me at the embassy that the visa would be ready by Tuesday, but you never know for sure, so I'd already bought my ticket for after Christmas...

So the good news is that I have everything I need to get back to Nigeria. And I'll be home with David on New Year's Eve.

And the bad new is that I still can't leave until the 29th.

Sannu!

So I'll be here in rural Virginia for Christmas, but I'll be dreaming of a brown Christmas at home.

Forced Exile, Day 11

I left home eleven days ago, and I have another fourteen to go. I'm taking bets on whether or not I'll make it another two weeks without a nervous breakdown. Anyone willing to put money on it?

I had a fine trip from Nigeria back to the States, including a layover in London. I got to stay with my friend Vikki, a med student who spent a few weeks in Nigeria in 2005 and knows my husband David a bit. I got to see a lot of London in the dark. :)

I spent 2 days in San Diego with my grandparents, and then I came here to Virginia to stay with my sister Lisa and her family (husband Steve and two kids, Naomi - 4-1/2 - and Josiah - 3). They live about three hours south of DC, so I decided to go in to the Nigerian embassy in person to deal with my passport situation.

I was going through my documents Monday when I realised I didn't have David's passport with me. Oh crud. When he gave it to me before I left, I was terrified of losing it. He looked at me and said, "It's okay. I'm giving it to you. You have my permission to lose it." If only he'd known! Grampa & I went to photocopy his passport in San Diego last Friday, and I left it in the photocopier!! An emergency call to Grampa alerted him to the situation. He called the shop and called me back with the news that they had the passport in their vault, so he would send it immediately. Phew. Thank God for honest people!

Fortunately, I had all the copies I needed, so Lisa & I decided on Monday to drive into DC that afternoon and spend the night with her friend Uta, then go to the embassy in the morning. So we packed some clothes & blankets, jumped into the car, and headed to DC. When we arrived, Uta helped us a find a parking spot where we could leave the car overnight.

...Or so we thought. When we got up the next morning and went out to where we'd parked the car, it was gone! We looked at the parking sign and discovered we'd misread it - all three of us had misread the sign! So instead of going to work, Uta helped Lisa get the car back (it turned out it had only been towed to a quieter street a few blocks away). And I walked about 2 miles to the Nigerian embassy. (It took me an extra twenty minutes to find because there was no street sign at the correct intersection!) And once I got there, they told me I'd forgotten to make some necessary copies. Oops! I begged and pleaded, and they finally made the copies for me. Phew!!

Lisa & Uta pulled up just as I was coming out of the embassy, so we dropped Uta off at work, spent an hour or two on a driving tour of the monuments, and headed home, with a quick stop at Borders for coffee.

And then I had to decide when to try and return to Nigeria. I could assume I'd receive my visa when promised, and leave before Christmas, or I could play it safe and purchase a ticket for after Christmas. This became a family decision because I'm super indecisive. And I cried and fasted and prayed. What a nightmare.

But we finally decided to get the ticket for December 29th, getting me home on Saturday, the 30th. So I'll miss my first Christmas as a married woman.

To add to the mayhem, Lisa is about 37 weeks pregnant and will be delivering probably while I'm still here. We've started putting together freezer meals for her to make after the baby's born. This is a madhouse. Lisa and both kids have colds. I'm depressed because I'm apart from my husband, especially at the holidays. Wow, what fun. Did someone say something about Christmas being a time of joy? Praying for joy in this household is like praying for world peace. Someone just has to keep praying, but somehow we don't expect to actually be answered.

...The story of my life.

Wedding links

Until I have time to write about the wedding, here are some links to keep you happy.

Photos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/blyth/

A slideshow my dad created using a song my brother, sister, & sang in the wedding:
http://www.ecwaevangel.org/videos/wedding_400.wmv (7.6 MB) or
http://www.ecwaevangel.org/videos/wedding_224.wmv (4.6 MB) or
http://www.ecwaevangel.org/videos/wedding_120.wmv (2.4 MB)

Eye of the hurricane

I've been married for two weeks now! And perhaps someday in the near future I'll write about it. It was an eventful day, obviously, with highlights including being attacked by a swarm of teeny flies (no-see-ums?) during the photographs and being dressed (twice, mind you) to look like a Tiv bride. Phew. Quite a day!

And now the honeymoon's over, so I get to relax a little, move into my new house, and start living the married life...

...or not.

Nope. My life recently has been a whirlwind - but for a few days here and there on the honeymoon, also about which I'll have to write at some point in the near future - and it doesn't stop here.

I found out a few weeks ago that I might have some trouble with my visa and immigration, and since then we've been scrambling for a solution... to no avail. It seems that the only solution to my problem is to return to the States and reapply for an altogether different type of visa. Actually, this was made quite a bit simpler by the fact that I already have a return ticket to the States (I had to purchase a round-trip ticket to get my current visa). So I'm leaving Tuesday morning, the 5th, and flying back to the States.

When will I be back?

I entirely sympathise with the song "Jet Plane." I don't know when I'll be back. I'm leaving my new husband without a return date in mind. We're all hoping and praying it will just be a few weeks. And I don't imagine I'll be gone very long. But my fate will rest in the hands of the embassy employees. What a relief that God's made plans for me that I don't know about - plans to prosper me and not to harm me, plans to give me hope and a future!

So maybe I'll have a white Christmas after all.