A Love Story Continues

On March 4, 2007 I wrote a post entitled "SNOW!".  It was a story about Joseph's love for his wife, Sai, and God's love for His children.  That story has been continuing since then and I want to share just a bit of it with you.  Sai has been on a path to U.S. Citizenship since she came to America in 2006.  It has been a long, expensive, arduous journey with many twists and turns.  When Joseph and Sai left for Thailand in 2012, there were many steps she had to complete in order to be able to be out of the country for a long period of time and maintain her status.  God worked everything out and when they came home last October, she was to the point that she could take the citizenship test and become a naturalized citizen of the U.S.

Joseph made many attempts to schedule a time for Sai to take the test and get sworn in while they were here for three months.  I had no idea that you had to schedule an appointment to talk with someone at the United States Customs and Immigration Service in order to speak with someone about scheduling an appointment.  The red tape is truly insane.  The bottom line, they were told they could not move Sai's application to the front and she would be notified when to appear to take the test.  Joseph tried to explain that they would be going back to Thailand at the end of December and how expensive it would be if she had to fly back on short notice.  It did not matter, there was nothing they could do to expedite her application.  We all prayed and eagerly checked the mailbox daily for that letter from Homeland Security with her appointment date.

Needless to say, it never came and Joseph, Sai, Makaila and Joshua returned to Thailand.  I believe it was two to three weeks later, and, you guessed it, the letter arrived.  Sai's appointment to take her test was Thursday, February 13, 2014.  If she did not appear she may have to start the process all over.  So, Joseph had to buy her ticket at an outrageous price so she could come back to America.  He and the children had to stay behind which was a first for him to be left with the kids for that long and for Sai to be away from the kids for that long.  As the time drew near for Sai to arrive in Atlanta, I became a
little antsy because all the weather reporters were predicting a major snow storm.  As I am prone to do, I began playing the 20 question game with Joseph.  What if the city is shut down and we can't get to the appointment?  What if I can't get out of my subdivision.  What if we have to re-schedule and can't get an appointment for weeks?  Joseph and Sai kept saying they weren't worried.  Sai was very confident in God's plan for her life and she was not going to stress over it.

Well, if you were in Atlanta that week in February, you know what happened.  We got snowed in.  Sai arrived Monday night and the snow came Tuesday night.  I kept telling Joseph it was bad, but he was in Thailand and had no idea how bad it was getting.  I am sure you remember what we woke up to.  This photo was taken Thursday morning, the day of  Sai's appointment with immigration.  I was really nervous, but this was Sai's Facebook post that morning: " Wake up with a beautiful snowing day! Thank you God. God's will be done, Amen!"

She was so excited that God had blessed her with the opportunity to get to see snow.  She had total faith that He would work things out and she refused to worry about whether or not we could make her appointment that day.  But that was OK because I was doing enough worrying for both of us.  We somehow had to get to Gwinnett County by 12:30 noon.  We could not get a straight answer as to whether the Immigration Office would be open or not.  One website said they were opening at 11:00 am, but we were told on the phone they were closed.  Joseph was calling from Thailand making arrangements for someone to pick us up in their 4 wheel drive vehicle to take us to Gwinnett.  Sai's dear friend Amy and her husband Anthony came to pick us up and off we went on an adventure to Gwinnett.

Well, we got there and you guessed it, they were closed.  We immediately got on the phone desperately trying to plead our case with someone in an anonymous phone bank located who knows where.  At the same time, Joseph is in Thailand clicking on the UCIS website repeatedly while praying that a cancellation will come open for the next day so we will have an appointment to go talk with someone about making an appointment.  Low and behold, he found a cancellation for the next day, Friday, 2-14-2014, Valentine's Day.  During the entire escapade, Sai was so positive and thankful that God was working everything out in His timing.  I have to admit, there were many things that came together that day that could only have occurred by His hand and timing.

The next day, Sai and I made the trek again praying that someone would listen to our story and help us to work things out before she had to return to Thailand.  Talk about praying without ceasing, every moment I wasn't speaking with Sai, I was whispering prayers and pleadings that everything would work out for her good.  And guess what?  He had it all worked out way before we even got there.  We told our story to the clerk and he immediately went to his supervisor.  We were told to sit and wait.  After about 10 minutes, we were told we would be going upstairs soon to get Sai's photo and to wait for her to be administered her test.  What?  We were just there to talk with someone about getting an appointment to talk with someone and here we were being ushered upstairs to be photographed and tested.  Talk about seeing miracles before your eyes.  And of course, Sai passed the test with flying colors and we were told to come back the following Wednesday for her swearing in.

I am am pleased to say that in spite of all the bureaucracy of our Federal Government and it's red tape, there are some people working there who actually care and treat people like people and not numbers.  Sai had her very own private swearing in ceremony and we were able to facetime with Joseph so he could watch.  If this had been a group ceremony with many others as it was originally scheduled, this could never have happened.



So, you might ask, where is there a love story in all this?  If you go back and read the original post from March 2007, you will read about the lengths Joseph went to in order for Sai to see snow.  Even though there was a near zero percent chance, they woke up on the final morning of their trip to snow on the ground and more falling.  You see, Sai loves the snow.  She didn't get to see any when they were home for three months and she was so very thankful that her Heavenly Father cared enough about her and her love for snow that he rearranged all our plans to fit His plan for her life.  He gave her an amazing gift of love on of all days, Valentine's Day.  The day she passed her test to become a citizen of the United States of America!  She was finally an American Girl!

Then there's the story of her loving husband who from the other side of the world was doing everything in his power to move heaven and earth to insure this would happen for his bride.  He would stay up practically all night attempting to reschedule her appointment and  stay up late in to the night in order to witness her swearing in.  He even fixed burnt hot dogs for the kids while she was gone!

Some may scoff at all this and say that God doesn't care about these little details in our lives.  He is too busy dealing with the world's problems to concern himself with whether or not I get to see snow, or my appointments get cancelled and rescheduled.  But that couldn't be further from the truth.

  Psalm 37: 3-5 says "Trust in the Lord, and do good; dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness; delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.  Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass."  NKJ

These verses do not mean just because you desire something, God is going to grant your wish like a fairy godmother.  If we delight ourselves in the Lord and feed on His faithfulness, the desires of our heart will line up with God's desires for our lives.  His desires become ours.  When we commit our ways and trust in Him, He is faithful to bring good things to pass in our lives.  This is not a promise of a trouble free life, but a promise of His faithfulness to us no matter what the circumstance.

God gave Sai a dream to open a bakery in Thailand to help support their ministry there.  As only He can do, He is making the way for that to become a reality. I cannot wait to see the miracle He will bring about in this adventure.  If you would like to know more about Joseph, Sai and their ministry, Light for Asia, you can follow them on Facebook or their website, www.lightforasia.com.
   

I pray that if you have not experienced that trust in the Lord and His faithfulness, that you will commit your ways to Him.  Sai and her faithfulness is such an inspiration to me and I know that once you get to know her, she will inspire you also.  God bless you all.

In His Love,

Pam