It's not what you know. It's who you know.

(Greg here)
Many moons ago when I was a young pup and knew absolutely everything there was to possibly know, I had a wise friend (hi'ya Bob) remark to me one time, "It's not what you know. It's who you know". Now, you have to understand. This was back when I was in high school. I was generally earning straight A's, I was taking literally every accelerated and advanced course that my high school had to offer, and was making an ultimately unsuccessful run at being valedictorian. I was also earning a paycheck at a local pizza joint while maintaining a varsity sport. So as you can see...I pretty much knew everything there was to know. So when my good friend (an adult with a heart as big as Texas to guide high school youth down proper paths) remarked to me one day that it wasn't always what I knew but was often who I knew that was important, I scoffed. I did so silently because I greatly respected him, but I was sure that all that work I was doing in high school would be way more important than simply knowing certain people.

I once thought the thing he taught me originated with him. I later learned that he was passing on wisdom that he had gleaned elsewhere. That may have been my first clue that perhaps I really didn't know everything after all. Over the years, I became more and more aware of the truth of that statement. At times it makes me sad. At times it makes me mad. This morning, it made me ecstatic.

We have mandatory medical appointments that we need to have Sneha attend while we are in India. The appointments must be 48 hours apart to allow for proper TB reading and must take place prior to our US Consulate appointment where we can obtain her visa into the US.

Allegedly, we are supposed to be able to call the med center and make the appointments. That didn't work. Then, we were supposed to be able to send them an email to schedule the appointments. That didn't work. Then we were supposed to be able to engage the assistance of the US Consulate. That didn't work. Then we got a phone number to a specific person who was supposed to be able to help us. That didn't work. We tried several of those routes several times. Nothing worked. Time was ticking.

After trying to do everything in our power, we went to Plan H. We contacted the director of one of the adoption agencies for whom I contract as an adoption assessor. She is from India. She returns there fairly regularly. Late last night, I emailed her our dilemma. She got up first thing this morning and got to work trying to solve the problem. Soon enough, she was able to successfully schedule our appointments on the very days we were trying to get them set for. Yaaaaaaaayyyyyyyy Rima. Thank you Thank you Thank you.

She then asked if there was anything else for which she could provide us assistance. As a matter of fact there was. We have been hoping very much to be able to visit the orphanage to be able take pictures and video and to try to interview people who may have known our little Arilyn Sneha. I was able to link her the information from the orphanage website that included phone numbers. She called back a short while later stating that she successfully reached Sister Regina (the head mistress) and secured permission for us to visit on either March 30 or March 31...again, the exact days we were hoping to be able to make that trip. We expect to go on March 30 in the morning during the 10-12 window in case we want to go back later that day or the next.

We are so excited about both prospects. The medical appointments are a necessary step toward bringing her home. The orphanage visit is a fantastic opportunity for us to gather some historical information with which to provide her as much of a background as we possibly can.

There are also obvious parallels from the title statement to God. I have been thinking about man's wisdom versus God's wisdom. I have been thinking about what I think I know versus the God I know. To know and be known...what an amazing thought.