You Know The Mayor?

This old photo of our four oldest

was taken 40 years ago

still melts my heart....

When we lived in the Philippines we welcomed two of our children home through adoption.  We went through two court hearings and endless confusing paper work in order to get the official documents.  Just a couple weeks before we were to leave Clark Air Base, we still had not received our final papers from the Filipino lawyer regarding our adoptions of our daughter and son.  We kept calling and visiting the lawyer's office with no results.  If those papers did not arrive by our scheduled departure date,  I would be left behind with the two babies, while Joel went home with our older two.  It was more than a bit stressful to think about.

We had been praying because we knew this Filipino lawyer wanted money under the table before he would hand over the papers.  Problem was, we were not willing to do that for more than one reason.  First of all it was unethical and second of all, Joel could be put on "international hold" for agreeing to such a thing.

With just a week left before we flew home, I headed to my Interdenominational prayer group which was being held at the base commander's house on Clark.  Around 35 women gathered that day and I explained our dilemma, asking for prayers that it be resolved quickly.  We needed to all go home together!

During prayer time the base commander's wife came over and tapped me on the shoulder beckoning me to follow her.  We went upstairs to the bedroom and she handed me the phone saying she had called the Embassy in Manila and I was going to talk to the Ambassador.  The base commander's wife carried some clout!  I did explain our situation to him and he told me he really could not help me, that we needed to contact someone like the mayor in Angeles City where the lawyer was located. They would be able to get it resolved.  So the base commander's wife got on the phone again and called the Mayor of Angeles City. I soon was talking to him and telling him our situation and the name of the lawyer.

Two days later Joel received a phone call from the lawyer telling us the papers were ready and we could come pick them up!  When Joel went into the office, the lawyer apologized for the delay.  He then asked, "You know the Mayor?"  Joel replied, "No."  The lawyer went on to say....."You did not tell me you knew the Mayor....I did not know you knew the Mayor!"  Evidently this dishonest lawyer had gotten into trouble with the Mayor and he could not figure out how we even knew the guy.

We left Clark Air Base on schedule with our 4 children in tow.  We have never forgotten how God intervened and used a woman of faith, who happened to be the base commander's wife, and made it possible for me to talk with the Ambassador and the Mayor who got things resolved quickly.  God is sooooo good.