Ok, maybe no one actually noticed that I have been absent from blogland for a few days. But for those of you that missed me, or those just tuning in... we had an amazing weekend adventure.
Last week we heard from Stori Sullivan (check out her blog for great new pics of her boys) that Pastor Loma was in the United States and her family had gone to visit him in Ohio. Pastor Loma, for those that don't know, was Haven's foster father while our adoption was pending in DRC. He, his wife, and their 9 kids, took Haven in, nursed him back to health from a severe case of malnutrition and malaria, and gave him lots of love!!! Without the Loma Family I truly don't think that Haven would have survived.
Pastor Loma is in the U.S doing technology training for the Methodist Church. After Ohio, he was going on to Nashville to continue his training. We decided we definitely owed it to Pastor Loma to give him a chance to see Haven again. To see just how healthy and happy and wonderful he is. Plus, I had never had the opportunity to meet him since Brian traveled alone to Kinshasa. So we jumped in the car and started driving. We made arrangements to meet up with him when he arrived in Nashville. On Saturday evening we met his bus at the church and then on Sunday we went to a church service and lunch with him. We were joined by Betty and Arthur, two other people from DRC going through the training and Bill, Pastor Loma's host while in Nashville.
I wish there was some way we could have spent more time together, or more quality time. But it was still amazing. When we first saw Pastor Loma on Saturday night he said that he didn't think Haven would remember him. But the next morning at church, he gave Haven his bottle and Haven fell asleep in Pastor Loma's arms. It was absolutely beautiful.
One of the best things about meeting Pastor Loma was that he was able to fill us in on more details about the first few weeks of Haven's life and the about Haven's mother. I will share some of that information in a future post. I will also post some other details and pictures from our whirlwind trip.
For now I just want to thank God for having Pastor Loma in our life. Please pray for his safe journey home to Kinshasa on Saturday and for his family. In addition to caring for his own 9 children he will be fostering 3 more babies whose adoptions are pending. These are extraodinary people and they are doing God's work in amazing ways.
