So many people have so little contact with their elected officials! We are POLITICAL JUNKIES!! Been active in CONSERVATIVE POLITICS in Johnson County, Texas for almost 40 years!
Did you know your Congressman has people who do LOTS of things to help constituents?!?!
Great Story:
When Roger Williams was elected our Congressman, he wasn’t my favorite. I had worked long and hard for Dave Garrison, who I thought was more qualified and astute, despite Roger’s business acumen as a trusted car dealer (yes, you can put those words together sometimes!).
Long, convoluted version:
Since we have a birth son with a severe, complete bilateral cleft lip and palate, we later adopted a daughter with a cleft from China. (What do you do with a “normal” kid?!)
WE WERE DONE!!! NO MORE KIDS. OURS WERE ALMOST ADULTS! WE ARE OLD!
But then, ……
We found Joy’s picture online the night Steven Curtis Chapman’s daughter died (May 21, 2008) as we were praying for them! Nguyen Thi Luom was a cute 10-year-old with serious craniofacial anomalies. (Craniofacial microsomia from Fetal Alcohol Syndrome).
As her picture flashed, I knew in my spirit, THAT’S MY DAUGHTER! (I still get goosebumps and cry recalling it!) Mikaylah, our China girl, then about 12, walked behind me and saw the picture and blurted, “THAT’S MY SISTER!” I’m not sure you need any more confirmation from God than that kind of reaction from a girl who had never mentioned wanting a sister!
Such a GOD THING! It took us several years (kid you not!) to pinpoint who she was and what agency was advocating for her (picture pop-ups are great, but ….!) Adoption agencies change staff so often, most of my inquiries went unanswered! I finally called SHOW HOPE, the Chapmans’ ministry to orphans, to see if they could help find her. They pointed me in the right direction, but by then, all countries were CLOSED to foreign adoptions due to CORRUPTION! The Hague Treaty was being PAINFULLY NEGOTIATED, so all kids had to WAIT SEVERAL YEARS to be adopted!!!! Some aged out and lost that opportunity.
So we started the adoption process BEFORE the Hague was ratified, knowing it was a LOOOOONNNNNGGGGG PROCESS anyway. (Remember, we’ve already adopted from China, and that was a tw0-year plus ordeal, and PRE 9/11!)
So….
We were working on an adoption: the FIRST USA FAMILY to adopt from VIETNAM thru the new HAGUE TREATY.
IT WAS A MESS! The rules changed almost DAILY!!! The fees escalated unbelievably as they navigated the necessary framework to protect the kids from trafficking.
During the WAIT, I was in weekly communication with our INS liaison, who had Thi Luom’s file on the top of her “IN” basket, waiting for Vietnam to finalize how they were going to accept and approve applications. The hold-up was Vietnam’s government, NOT US.
One day, after having just talked to the liaison a few days before, we received a letter in the mail informing us that Thi Luom’s adoption application had been REJECTED by INS because the delay was too long!!!! I WAS CONFUSED AND FURIOUS!!!!
So I did what this “Fix-It Mom” always does: I called in my resources!
The Liaison told me that her manager had taken the file upstairs because it had sat in her “IN” box too long! (He was obviously oblivious to the process we’d been working on for MONTHS!)
I called Leanne Ivey, Congressman Roger Williams’ “go-to-girl” and explained what had happened. She told Roger. He PERSONALLY VISITED THE INS OFFICE, retrieved the file, returned it to the proper liaison, and within DAYS, Vietnam approve Thi Luom’s adoption!
What has your Congressman ever done for you?
Ours GOT US A DAUGHTER!!!! Roger and Joy are FRIENDS! When he was Parade Marshall at our Fourth of July Parade that summer (2016), he saw her, yelled,”Is that my Joy?!”, then jumped out of his car and ran to hug her!
Guess who Joy votes for for Congressman every election?!?! ROGER WILLIAMS!
Wynne Loveless Writes 