Still here

So much for that last post...Lily, AnnaMaria and Sharon are still in Guatemala City. It’s a long and boring story of many hours waiting at the US Embassy. Since 9/11 there is some type of photo recognition software that is used (I think) to match the passport and visa photos. Every so often there is a problem with this and AnnaMaria’s visa was a problem. We were promised the visa on Thursday at 3:30, but it was not available. We were told to return on Friday. We were at the Embassy from approx. 7:30 to noon and still no visa. Reportedly there was a team of people working on the “computer glitch” in DC, but there was nothing the Embassy here could do until they received an email from DC. It could have possibly cleared this afternoon, but we won’t know because the US Embassy closes in Guatemala at noon on Friday. Funny….I’ve been a government contractor for 15 years and I have always been told that we DON’T miss deadlines. Apparently the Embassy employees here feel free to go home when the job is not complete.

I must admit that I’m very disappointed with our government. We’ve had a much easier process with Guatemala (a third world country!) than the US. We’re supposed to be the strongest nation in the world and a silly computer issue causes me a 4 or more day delay in a foreign country. Where are all the safety nets and fall back plans? Having said all that, we are truly at peace with being here a few more days. There’s nothing we can do about it, so we might as well try to enjoy a few more days. AnnaMaria has been so very tolerable. Lily is very disappointed to not be with her friends on vacation, but she is really hanging in there with me. There is a reason we’re still here; we just don’t know what it is!

I read a friend’s blog last night. She said she saw a phrase on another blog and copied it. It said something like…Don’t tell God how big your storm is; tell the storm how big your God is! I’m not sure if she got that from an earlier post from my blog or somewhere else, but it really hit home with me! I have that on my home computer screen saver. It was something I needed to remember today as we missed our flight!

We are now at the Marriott. We’ve enjoyed visiting with other families in the baby room. The pool is nice and there is lots of public space to roam. There will be more families here who we know this weekend. We really can’t complain. We are in a beautiful place at a lovely hotel. We are ready to come home, but a few days aren’t going to make that much difference.