It’s Thursday morning and the rain is coming down in sheets. Our friend told us there are two seasons in the Congo—the rainy season and the dry season. This is definitely the rainy season.

We are sitting on our little porch, watching the rain and watching Ezra take pictures with the iPad. When he’s not taking (unflattering) pictures of me, he’s looking at old pictures—ones from our trip in 2014 and ones Knox and the girls took back at home. He’s watching the videos Knox made of exciting NBA and NFL Play Station games. It’s funny what entertains a five-year old.

Besides the aforementioned ball-kicking and papa-wrestling, Ezra has been busy. He has drawn a colorful squiggle on several sheets of copy paper. We’ve hid Easter eggs with the twelve plastic eggs I brought from home. We’ve found one of his favorite things to do is to imitate us. For example, I almost fell off the bed on the first day here. Ezra replayed the scene over and over, cackling like a crazy person at the end of each mini-play.

Brent and I both had a hard time sleeping last night. My brain was spinning with what needs to be done before we leave and what will happen once we’re home. I finally dozed off around 3:00 am, just about the time the rain started to fall on the metal roof above our little room. Maybe the gentle tapping of the raindrops gave me something else to think about.

We still wait for news about Ezra’s exit letter. We met with our lawyer last night. He all but promised it would be done today. I can’t think of any piece of paper I’ve ever wanted to see more than this letter. Ever since September of 2013 when the DRC government said they would stop issuing them, it’s been on my mind everyday. We appreciate all the prayers for this to finally come true!