She'll Be Coming Around the Mountain When She Comes

There's an old folk song often sung by children in the United States that carries whimsical lyrics and a catchy tune - the air of the folk song lends towards something hopeful...that "something" that is highly anticipated, sought after...just around the next corner. Hopefully.

We returned to the USA from Costa Rica during the 1st week of July - just in time to watch some fireworks and enjoy a small-town Independence Day parade in Georgia. We then drove to Louisville, Kentucky to participate in the quadrennial "Nazarene Youth Conference" - where over 6,000 teenagers from Canada and the USA met together for a week of serving others, worshiping God, and developing as young leaders. Followed by this amazing an event was a time set aside to speak in several churches throughout SW Ohio and Indiana - thanking churches for their faithful giving to World Evangelism and to generate prayer and financial support for our ongoing ministry.

Our intent was to hopefully be interrupted during this time by a phone call from Mexico - telling us that they were ready for us to bring Paulina home.

Instead, we received news that her paperwork was held up - yet again. The news also included the information that the government office that held her paperwork had inexplicably closed for a couple of weeks.

Then, (we can't make this stuff up!) we received a call from the US government informing us that "our fingerprints had expired." We knew this was a possibility, but did not anticipate our journey reaching this inevitable moment. After a few phone calls of attempted negotiation, we were told that we would need to have our fingerprints renewed in El Paso in the middle of August.

All of our highly tentative plans were no longer tentative - they were obsolete.

We WERE planning to return to Costa Rica to complete our final 8 weeks of Spanish language school - with Paulina sitting next to us on Flight #1247, Seat 25B. That could still happen.

THE FAQ (frequently asked question) we receive is, "When is Paulina going to be with you?"

Our answer: "When her little legs are dangling under our dining room table."

So - for now, we're on our way back to our El Paso home to have our fingerprints scanned once again and to spend some time with our little girl in Mexico.

She'll be coming around the mountain when she comes!

(For more information on the background of this song, visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/She'll_Be_Coming_'Round_the_Mountain ).