The Mummaus: 38. Easter Brings Hope

August 17th, 2006

Almost immediately after arriving, things began to move quickly for us. Although everything in the government was shut down due to the Holy Week, we were energized to learn that our lawyer truly did have Mia’s birth certificate and that he planned to submit everything to the embassy by Monday.

Our “Angel in the Embassy” was spending her last few days in Guatemala before her transfer back to the states. During the preceding months, Kristina had met her and her child. Mia loved them very much. We decided to travel with her to Antigua on Good Friday to see the sights, hear the sounds, and smell the fragrance of the processionals there. As we traveled , we shared the status of our case with her and asked her how long she thought we might have left. She was fairly confident that we could be done as soon as the following week and at the latest in two weeks.

I called the lawyer early on Saturday and told him I would really like to push things along and try to take Kristina home by the next Friday when I was scheduled to leave. Calmly he replied that this would be impossible. According to him it would be at least three or four more weeks following the submission of the papers until we would get an interview. Then he said it might be two weeks later until we could travel. At this, Kristina numbly responded that she was never going to go home. However, having studied the process for 1 or 2 or 300 hours, I knew he couldn’t be more wrong. I told him to submit the documents Monday and meet us to get her passport as well.

Easter Sunday in Guatemala (c) 2005 Cody L Mummau Sunday wound up being a very peaceful Easter for us as a family. We celebrated the holiday at El Camino Bible Church in San Cristobal II, Mixco. Then we went to a cemetery nearby for a time to rest and relax afterward. Yes, I did say a cemetery. Some of the areas design their cemeteries to be anything but creepy. In fact they are designed for families to come, picnic, and enjoy the area. Many wedding photos, graduation photos, etc. are taken at these locations. It was a great time for us as we prepared for what would be one of the wildest weeks of our life. We had dinner at Chili’s in Guatemala City and then it was back to the house. I told Kristina to start packing…I knew we were going home.