Some of you may know the story about the man, R, that I worked with in Iraqi while deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003/2004. But for those out there that do not, I want to share a bit of the back story before I share the great news.
My unit relocated to
Mosul in January 2004 from down south. Mosul was occupied by the 101st AA Division led by
GEN Petraeus at that time. Under his expert, exceptional, amazing leadership (can you tell I am a BIG fan of the guy?), Mosul was a relatively peaceful city quickly progressing to pre-war functionality. From my point of view, the system that GEN Petraeus and his commanders set up was to flood the local population with money (for services provided) to help assist in a quick return to normal life. The idea is if "they" are not hungry, "they" will be less likely to help the bad guys. So, men in the thousands would report everyday to the several different base camps throughout Mosul to work for "good" money moving dirt, cleaning offices, organizing equipment, pumping fuel, parking vehicles, building buildings etc. By good I mean Iraqi good not US good just to be clear. One of my job was to keep my unit fully supplied so that the mission could be accomplished successfully - nothing like creating a link between toliot paper and victory (
Classic This American Life episode on this point). In the beginning, it was possible to go to the market and buy various supplies with no problems except the mass of excited children asking for "Mister, Mister Pencil Please."
When the 101st returned home and the troop numbers continued to drawn down...much like the support back home...things started to change. Iraqi's were left to defend themselves against the quickly increasing number of increasingly sophisticated insurgents coming into their country to kill Americans. The best way to sum it up the position we put these good people in is "if you can beat them, join them." Needless to say I could no longer go to the market to pick up a few printer cartridges. This is how I met R. He came to our base one day and offered to pick me up a few things. The relationship developed and soon he took over my job. If toilet paper really is mission critical, this man was the key to our mission success. Seriously, without R my unit would not have been as effective and your son’s & daughter’s would have surely done without on many important fronts.
After my unit returned home, things for R quickly turned south. He received numerous death threats, his wife was sexually assaulted, his car and house were vandalized all because he supported the US lead war effort. He and his fled to Jordan and then Sryia hoping to get asylum in the US. Fat chance in 2005. Don’t you remember “we declared Victory in Iraq and there should be no reason for Iraqi citizen asylum in the US” (direct quote from Sen. Obama’s office). Nice.
Things have started to turn a corner for those
Iraqis living as refugees in places like Syria. For R and his family hope abounds. The Syrian UNHRC is working to get R a travel date for official immigration to the US. He had is official US immigration physical last week. R and his family could be in Chicago in less than two weeks!
Can you imagine starting a new life in the US? Going from refugee to life in the US – what a transition. Brian and I are praying that God will use our family to help R in a big way. I don’t know what that will look like but join me and pray for this family. Pray that they get granted asylum in the US. Pray that the next few weeks everything falls into place. Below is a picture of his sweet daughter - I can't wait to meet her.
4 months of waiting down and hopefully only more 4 months to go (I won't complain if it comes sooner). Many, many Children's Home Families received their long awaited referrals the past two weeks. It is so awesome to see their joy and excitement on our agencies online forum. I can't wait to read about their travels this summer to Ethiopia. It is always so cool to see families meet their babies for the first time. The emotions are so strong and wonderful. One of the best things in life if you ask me. 
