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Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Prayer Request from Ethiopia

First off, thank you all for your kind comments on my blog. It helps
to have the connection of the internet!!!

We have a prayer request: It seems that the USCIS office from Oregon
mistakenly cabled the US Embassy in Ethiopia that we are approved for a
female. Not sure why this happened since we have NEVER requested a
girl, and our original approval was fine. They made the mistake when
we updated our fingerprints in April 2008.

Because of this we are going to fratically try and get them to cable
the corrected information ASAP, but there is a real possibility that we
may have to stay here a few extra days. We are hoping that they will
take care of it immediatly because it was their fault...now if we could
just get them to pay to change the plane tickets and the extra nigths
in the hotel... :-)

We are a little frustrated (and nervous) and now that we have our son,
it would be nice to go home on schedule.

Please pray with us that this will get all worked out!
Thank you!
Paul, Holly & Nathaniel Mesfin
 
PS I seem to be having problems sending emails, but I can reply to them.  FYI

16 comments:

Moviegirl20 said...

You poor things! We'll be praying.
I love your pictures!

Anonymous said...

Paul and Holly - We are all praying! And so is the KDOV staff and listeners...Hope Pres...and anybody else I could think of to call! Love the family picture!! Love to the three of you

the Steiger's said...

We will be praying as well. I sure hope this will get fix by Friday so you do not have to stay extra days.
the Steigers

Mrs. Q said...

Ola familia, we are praying and crying (Mary)for all to go well. God is good all the time.
Your mom is here printing your blog Holly, for dad (Brian). She's adorable.
Los fotos estan muy lindos. (cute)
Pinch that chubby cheek for me.
Love - Amor and Hasta la vista!

Apryl said...

Praying that things get resolved quickly and you get home on time! I understand how you feel, our 'we might be here for a while' only lasted a day or two and then we were back on track--God is bigger than USCIS :)

Congratulations!
apryl

Auntie She-She said...

Okay sister, brother and nephew, I got your phone call. I am going to tell you all of this on here because you said your e-mail is not working. Everyone in Rogue River is praying and calling the congressman. Meesma called Pastor Brent and I have talked with Brian.
I need you to get a message to Denise Racnelli of Senator Gordon Smith's office. In it you need both you and holly's passport #'s, full names, DOB's, baby's name, and the name of the embassy there. Then you need to write a little message granting her permission to pull records and asking for the senators help. Then she can use the senators name to pull strings. You should be able to e-mail from the embassy there if your e-mail is still not working.
e-mail: denise_racnelli@dsmith.senate.gov
Fax #: 503-326-2900

In the meantime I am looking for the name and phone number of your adoption agency so I can call and light a fire from here. When Aunt Carmen and Uncle Gery were stuck in Haiti, Charity called their agency and they were home by the end of the week (and we all know how much I can be like Charity!!).

Paul turn on your phone I am going to try and call you in your morning. Jesus will make this ok.
Mom and Dad love you and are praying.

I Love you, sister

Anonymous said...

"Sister,"

I don't believe Paul & holly can actually read the comments on here... I don't think they can access this website in Ethiopia. I may be wrong on that, but I think they had to set up a special email account where they could send their posts in order for it to post here...?? I hope I'm wrong on that. So, anyway, I'm just saying I don't think they can read what you just posted yet. Maybe they've figured out how to do that...

Anonymous said...

When mom said everyone she could think of she meant me too! And my friends who know you guys are there! Everything is going to work out for God's good! LOVE YOU ALL!!!

LucisMomma said...

Hey, Katie--it goes to their email, so I'm hoping they got that help from sister.

Now, you New Parents--Nathaniel is adorable!! You all look so right together. Praying like crazy for USCIS to "move it." God is using this time as your "labor pains" and that homecoming will be so sweet!

pbs17 said...

Hey, we are praying for you from Oak Town! Jesus is still on the throne!

Pastor Brent

Anonymous said...

We're praying for you guys!
Love the pics! So adorable!
~Amy & Dietrich

Auntie She-She said...

Here is an update. I have talked to the US Embassy, the national visa center, the dept. of state for passport, the US CIS, and the secretary of the Senator for Oregon. All of these people said for you to immediately contact the US Embassy or Consulate in Ethiopia and they will expediate everything. I have also sent you a note on your e-mail about all of this. If you still get a hold of the Denise Lady, she can also be your spokes person from here.
In the meantime I am still trying to get a hold of America World. If any of the other adopting parents are readig this and could post the phone number for America World here to help me out, it would be greatly appreciated.
I love you, sister

Anonymous said...

Pastor, Holly and Mesfin;
Your communication has been great.
The pictures are beautiful.

We are sorry for the mixup but we are praying that the difficulty will be corrected soon.

We are all praying for you here. We are calling a special prayer meeting on Wed. Eve. We will bee praying that there will not be any more difficulties, but that you will be home on schedule.

We miss you all and are excited about your return with Mesfin.
God bless you and keep you safe.
Pastor Short & Jan

Anonymous said...

Okay, you've got Presbyterians praying for you now! Yikes! I am so sorry you've had to deal with these stresses in the midst of your first days with your BEAUTIFUL son! You've got some great people on your side, but what's more, you've got Him on your side! Our Lord handled the wind and the waves, blindness and leprosy, Satan and sin and death -- so I'm sure a bureaucratic glitch shouldn't be a problem!

God bless you three!!! I hope you can find peace enough to relax and enjoy your time in your son's homeland! You are all in His hands!!!

Love you,

Brian

Rob and Candy said...

Sister- AWAA's number is 1-800- ONE-CHILD

Holly & Paul, I'm praying
xxoo
candy

Danielle said...

We are praying and rooting for your precious family from Indiana.

Danielle