Return delayed by pandemic, Mount Prospect woman is now home for good after a 3-year deportation

Edgardo Bartolome in 2019, holding his wedding photo on the day of his wife’s deportation to her native Philippines. Julita Bartolome was approved for an immigrant visa and returned home last weekend. (Esther Yoon-Ji Kang / WBEZ)

Last Sunday morning, Edgardo Bartolome stood in the pulpit at Filipino Immanuel Baptist Church of Chicago on the Northwest Side. The 68-year-old pastor began singing an old worship song:

“In his time, in his time. He makes all things beautiful in his time.”