Family

Half a year has gone by since my last blog post. It takes my breath away to consider what has happened since then. God has shown His grace and love in one particular part of our lives. Our family had become committed to taking in four refugee children from Africa into our home indefinitely if their father was unable to join them in the United States before their mother, Bibiche, passed away from her metastatic cancer.

Bibiche's health went from good to bad several times throughout the spring months. Amy, Dave and Juleeta Harvey, Tricia Freshwater (an attorney working pro bono for this family), and several from Northwest Bible Church began doing everything possible to facilitate bringing the father, Raymond, to Dallas from Africa. This required help from legislators, embassies, and consulates because of Raymond's situation of being a refugee from the Democratic Republic of Congo trying to care for his family while they were relocated to Rwanda. Even though Bibiche and the four children arrived in Dallas in September of 2013, there seemed to be little hope of Raymond being allowed to leave Rwanda despite all of our efforts. Bibiche was admitted several times to the ICU but was able to be discharged home each time until April where she appeared she would never make it to her apartment again. Finally, after much prayer Raymond somehow was given clearance to leave Rwanda and landed at DFW Airport on April 6th at the last minute the day Bibiche became unstable in the ICU (http://youtu.be/Eejn79RYPN4?list=UUj5oRYnyHbG6I4_glFTBH-w)! He was finally able to be with his wife and children. Bibiche surprised us and improved to the point where she came off the ventilator and asked to go home. She arrived at her apartment on April 30th. She went to be with the Lord in the early morning of May 1st. We were sad, but it also allowed me to see God's plan. Bibiche's suffering from the pain, paralysis, infections, and other complications were over. God now gave us the opportunity to continue helping her children and her husband who had just come to our country. I never thought God would bless us with all of this and let us share this story with our entire church (http://youtu.be/FU3TAc964Qk?list=UUj5oRYnyHbG6I4_glFTBH-w). The challenges remained in how we could get this family (the Wafodis), now considered a part of our family, everything they needed to survive life in the USA, but God definitely provided. Raymond soon got his social security card, drivers license, and a job a few months later! Their English skills are improving each day. In addition to this adventure locally, the Kahn family also went around the world... literally.

We went to my brother's wedding in Thailand and met up with friends in Dubai. Unfortunately, we have not had much progress on our adoption process. As we continue to pray for our son to be allowed to come home, God has already added to our family with the Wafodis and know He has more planned for all of us!

Hot and Cold

I'm continuing my new habit of blogging once every 6 months... the last time I blogged was when it was freaking hot in Texas. This past week has been freezing cold. I feel my life and my faith can be hot and cold as well. Not long after the last entry, we had huge news regarding our adoption process. However in the last 6 months, we have had very little news to report, and I felt we had loss some of the enthusiasm we started with in early 2013. God has brought other blessings into our lives in the meantime. All three of our daughters were now going to school on Tuesdays and Thursdays in the Autumn. Amy's parents moved to Dallas. My brother, Ben, got married thus I now have a sister-in-law! Our church small group continues to grow closer together and add new members. It's interesting how God weaves together the story of our lives. When we moved out of Vickery Meadows in 2011, I didn't understand why. I knew He would provide us with more chances to serve Him. A year later, we saw that He put orphan care on our hearts. In 2013, we met so many people who had adopted and/or fostered children as we were on our adoption journey. These connections brought us back into a daily relationship with a refugee family from Africa who were living in the same apartment complex in Vickery we had lived in to do missional living in 2011. We are now praying and working hard each day to get the dad's visa and immigration status approved so that he can join his wife and four children here in Dallas.

He cannot come to the USA if his wife dies before he arrives because of immigration laws relating to their refugee status. Amy has done a phenomenal job of organizing help from the church and other resources for this woman who has metastatic cancer. Their kids have stayed many nights at our home when the mom's illness leads her to being hospitalized. We have driven the kids to school and church. We have become closer to the Harveys and others who have joined with us to support this refugee family who had their lives shaken and split apart by war in their homeland. There were many days (especially the first few months) I had burning passion to radically change our lives to care for this family. I have also noticed that I have had days where I have been burned out and just want a little time alone with my wife and my kids. My prayer is that God gives me the desire and vision to see the long term goal so that I would follow Him forever. This knowledge will keep me from going cold. I don't want to be lukewarm either. I want to be on fire for God and stay that way through these next few months as we try to serve this African family and reunite them with their dad. Before I know it, it's going to be really hot again. The Texas summer is approaching...