Blessings

So most of you in blog land probably already know that things are not proceeding the way we would have chosen.  Today I talked to the embassy and they will not reschedule the interview until we have brought in all the documents.  As of tonight (Monday) we still do not have the elusive passport.  Our lawyer is constantly telling us he expects to get it the next day and we keep not getting it.  We have also learned that apparently the commissioner in charge of the passport office is under investigation which is not helping things progress any quicker.  

Obviously I am disappointed and a little frustrated.  But, I am tired of whining so that is not what this post is about.  Instead, it is to remind me of the moments in the midst of disappointment and discouragement tht I have seen the love of God.

I would be lying if I said I had a great attitude today after talking to the embassy.  To be honest, while not surprised, I was crushed.  I tried to stay busy to keep my mind off things, but that isn't always easy here.  To add to my frustration, I was feeling really desperate to talk to someone, but I don't want to whine to people here...they are going to great lengths to help me feel welcome and supported and I don't want to make them feel bad about a situation that is clearly beyond their control.  Unfortunately, everyone at home was asleep (or should have been) and would not have appreciated that text.  So I was praying, okay whining to God, about this situation when out of the blue, I get a text...from my Daddy just saying that he wants me to know that I am on his mind and they are praying for us.  It was 2:15 in the morning his time.  What love, from both my earthly father and my Heavenly Father.  My daddy also offered to come and stay with me for a time or to send us money to help us with all the added expenses of changing plane tickets, extra lodging, food, etc.

So, later tonight, as things were winding down and I had time to think about all the "stuff" I could worry about, Chris texted me.  I know I am beating a dead horse that seems really unimportant in the scheme of things, but one of the things I have been stressing about is the Disney trip.  It is almost certain, at this point, that Annet and I will not be home for this.  I keep thinking about the huge amount of money and huge sacrifice Chris' parents made to get those tickets and I feel like a heel for "wasting" it.  Chris texted to say that his parents were okay with everything and later texted back to say that they had talked to Disney and they could get their money back except for about $50.  I know this seems so small, but it was such a burden lifted off of me and felt like a gift all wrapped up from God Himself .

That is two BIG blessings in the midst of a rough day and I really feel like they were gentle reminders that, while God hasn't always promised an easy road, He has promised to be with us as we travel the rough ones.  And, not only is He walking with us, He is loving us through them...even though we are totally undeserving.

So today, I am asking for prayers of Thanksgiving for little love notes from God.

And yes, I have a couple of specific requests as well.  Pray for Chris and I as we have to begin making some tough choices about travel dates and whether to have Daddy come or just help out financially.  

Also, please pray for me as I would be lying if I said all my feelings of discouragement have vanished.  And, while I know how stupid and shallow it is, I am feeling really bad about sending my family to Disney without us.  I feel disappointed that I am missing out on the experience and the memories and I feel like I am letting my kids down.

And please keep praying for Annet.  She is doing great, but this is a tough transition for her, especially as her mom keeps having emotional moments that must seem quite weird and random to her.

Thanks for all the continued love and support!

No One Ever Said This Would be Easy

Well, it would seem tht the roller coaster that is adoption has hit a low point.  We have an immigration interview scheduled for Monday.  We had to wait almost to weeks to get this interview...and Monday
morning, I have to call the embassy to postpone it.  Claudia wants me to try to get it rescheduled for Wednesday, and I am going to try with all my might to do that.  But the reality is...it is highly unlikely that we will be able to and that means there is no way we will be able to travel home on the first.

I wish I could say that I have just accepted this news and rejoiced in God's wisdom and timing,  I haven't.  The truth is, I am really frustrated with myself because I am so disappointed and discouraged.  We have known all along that this was possible, although I was worried about the interview itself and not the ability to even get it.  We knew there was no set timeline and we knew there could and probably would be roadblocks.  I am angry at myself for being so easily shaken.  I told Chris this morning (last night to most of you) that I was determined not be down today and was going to kick the devil in the butt by having a good attitude.  And I have really tried.

But the truth is...this experience is teaching me some stuff about me that I don't really like learning.  And maybe that is why we are going through it...man, discipline STINKS!

So, this is what I am realizing.  We have, for the most part had a dream adoption experience.  We have had some ups and downs, but it has been just over a year and we have legal guardianship of our daughter...that is crazy fast from what others we know have experienced.  We have been blessed with a lot of financial support, we have been loved on like crazy by our church family, and we have seen God work out some amazing things!

I have said all the right "holy" things about how faithful God has been throughout this experience and how He has worked so mightily...and he has.  But here is the thing, when things have gotten cloudy his week and paperwork wasn't getting done, my hope has plummeted!  I have said things and thought things like, God has worked everything out so far, He will be faithful in this.  And yes, He will...but that doesn't mean He will do it my way or in my timing.  God is still faithful even though we are losing our interview spot.  God will still be faithful when we aren't getting on that plane next Saturday night.  God is faithful even though I cannot seem to sleep here.  He is faithful when I start freaking about the cost of changing plane tickets and getting two together this close to the holidays.  He is faithful when I start thinking about the extra groceries and trips to Kampala and how to know when to get our tickets changed to.  He is faithful on the days that we don't have much to do and it feels like living three days in one.  He is faithful when I feel like we are putting other people out trying to make us feel welcome or because they feel sorry for us being stuck out on our own.  God is faithful and is with my other kids and family even though I am not.  God is faithful when I want to whine but know that I really need to just suck it up.  God is faithful and worthy of thanksgiving even when I have to reach pretty hard to FEEL thankful.  God is faithful.  But, man am I struggling with that.

To be honest, I keep waiting for my miracle.  I keep waiting for God to "show out" and work out every little detail so I can go around testifying!  I keep hoping for some out of the blue phone call saying the passport guy came into the office on the weekend and signed ANNET'S passport.  But the reality is: He is worth testifying about even without that miracle...He is God, Creator of life, Giver of Hope, the I Am, my Savior, my Hope, the Light of the World, Merciful and Just and Holy...all on His own.  he doesn't need me or my conditional testimony.

And if that isn't enough, I also realize how weak my trust in His grace is.  Because while I know that I know that I know we are saved through grace and that as a follower of Christ, I have not been promised an easy road, I keep kicking myself thinking that it is all my fault...I didn't pray long enough or hard enough, I haven't been faithful enough in my quiet time, I am being punished.  And while I know those arguments are theologically garbage...I am continually fighting the urge to do something to please God
and encourage Him to find favor with me.

So, maybe this struggle has nothing to do with me...or maybe it is my Loving Father's way of "creating in me a clean heart and renewing a right spirit within me."  (Psalm 51:10)

Boy, do I hope I learn this lesson quickly!

So, I really am at a loss to ask you how to pray right now, I guess just pray how the Spirit leads you.  For now, I am clinging to Romans 8:26, "In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness.  We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express."

Today, I am Thankful for the Internet!

I realize after the last, depressing post, you may have thought I had given up and fallen off the face of the earth.  In actuality, I just ran out of Internet airtime.  I know, that is ALMOST as bad as falling off the face of the earth!

Not 30 minutes after publishing my last post, I got a call from Claudia and she made me feel so much better, mostly I think I was missing Chris and my kids like crazy!  I woke up to Lamentations 3:21-23 on my heart,


"Yet this I call to mind
and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness"

So, in the meantime, I have gone to Kampala for the passport interview.  Basically, I think they just want to verify that the person requesting the child's passport really is the legal guardian.  Unfortunately, after verifying that, it takes several more days to actually GET the passport, so we are still missing two vital documents in order to keep our immigration interview.  We are praying like crazy that a miracle occurs and we have them by Friday.

I also taught a little school to the missionary kids this week and started "formally" schooling Annet.  That has been fun because she is VERY exuberant...now if I could just convince her that the letter A is not called Annet!

I have been taking Annet out every afternoon to play with some of her friends.  They go to school in the mornings but are usually at the playground in the afternoon.  It has been fun to watch her interact with them and see another side of her.  Today, one of the girls asked me if I was Annet's sponsor.  She said her sister, brother, and her had a sponsor and they prayed every day that their sponsor would come and get them.  It broke my heart.  There are so many children here I would love to bring home with me.

Oh, I cannot talk about the week without sharing my near death experience...and it had nothing to do with driving in Kampala!  I MIGHT be exaggerating a bit, but Monday night, as I was reading our goodnight book, Annet said look at the ??? (Insert word she uses for ant).  I looked at the wall and saw the BIGGEST spider I have ever seen crawling towards the floor!  People, it was HUGE and hairy and VERY scary!  Like any self respecting mother, I grabbed Annet and ran out of the guest house (hey, at least I grabbed the baby!). To my relief, the night watchman came to my rescue and took upon himself the task of spider removal.  He then searched the whole room and the bathroom for me to make sure they were spider free.  Oh, if you could only see me now.  Now that I know there are man eating spiders in the area, I feel the need to do a full room sweep each and every time I enter.  I also no longer sit with my feet on the floor and do a sheet check before crawling into bed.  AND, I get creeped out by every weird noise...as if the man eating spider is going to warn of his presence with creaking sounds.  I know I am being completely unreasonable, but now I know he is out there, and where there is one, there has to be more.  Imagine a whole colony of man eating spiders.  These are the things nightmares are made of!

Anyway, tomorrow, the muzungus are going to get together and celebrate Thanksgiving.  My contribution is bacon wrapped green beans because that is the only Thanksgivingy thing I know how to make that doesn't have canned something in it.  So far my attempts at converting American recipes to Ugandan cooking methods have been less than stellar so we shall see.  I have, however learned how to light the flimsy Ugandan matches and start the stove.  I am still afraid of using the match, though...so
 I improvise.  I light the match then a candle and then use the candle to light the stove.  I am such a nerd (Which according to my fifth grade tridents is a total compliment)!

So, how can you be praying:

Continue to pray for the immigration process and that we will get the paperwork we need.

Pray for Annet as she continues to adjust to her new circumstances.

Pray for Chris and the kids...and his parents

Finally, please pray that I will be able to sleep.  I know that sounds crazy, but I just cannot seem to sleep here.  I fall asleep and sleep well for a couple of hours and then just doze off and on the rest of the night.  I have tried sleeping without a fan and then with one to block out all the different noises.  I have tried reading...I have finished a lot of books because I just keep reading until I am done.  I'm not scared and don't really feel too stressed, I just cannot sleep.  I get up groggy in the morning, drag a lot of the day, and then at night, get revved up again, which is why it is midnight and I am blogging instead of sleeping.  Anyway, I am feeling the effects of lack of sleep, but I just can't find the cure.  Even one good night would be quite lovely at this point!

Ok, hope everyone has an amazing Thanksgiving Day.  I am so thankful for all of you, your prayers and support and friendship and also for the privilege of being a daughter of the King!  Blessings to you all!

Goodbyes Stink!

So, I had to say goodbye to Chris today.  He is out of days off work and has to return to the states.  I feel certain his parents will be THRILLED to see him and will not be able to turn over parenting duties fast enough!

I must confess...he was pretty ready to come home!  He missed the kids like crazy, but he also missed cold cokes, hot showers and American cuisine.  I really didn't expect him leaving to bother me too much.  I know, that sounds awful, but I'm in AFRICA...it is new and exciting and I am with Annet.  But it was HARD to say goodbye today!  It is hard knowing that in a day he will be hugging on my babies, taking warm showers, and getting back to normal.  I know that is whiny but it is true.  I miss my kids soooooo much and I am so ready to have a normal conversation with them.  These days of waiting are tough, too.  The people at the orphanage are great, but they have jobs and lives and "stuff" and the days here can get long!  Really long!

Annet is staying with us at the guest house now, and that is a HUGE blessing.  I think it was confusing her a little spending the days with us and then going to someone else's house at night.  Thursday, we went to pick her up like normal and she fell apart, I mean FELL APART!  She screamed, kicked, cried...you name it for at least an hour non stop, of course, that was also the day that the people from Global Outreach (their umbrella organization) were there for like the first time in two years!  We gave them quite a welcome!  That is when we decided it was best to just let her come on and stay with us.  It has been great!  Such an amazing time with her!  She even got to Skype with the kids with us on Friday.

So, where are we in the process?  We are HOPING for an interview with immigration next Monday.
IF that goes well, there is a small possibility we could head home by our Dec. 1 target date.  However, it is really a miracle that we even have an interview scheduled because we do not have all our required paperwork yet.  The girl at immigration penciled us in but told us that if we don't get the required papers, we will lose it.  Unfortunately, we cannot get the papers until the judge signs the ruling which he has not yet done.   We are meeting our lawyer Monday at the passport office...I'm not sure why because that is one of those things we can't get without the court order, but I am hoping, praying and trusting.

Now, for complete, ugly, brutal honesty.  I came knowing full well I would be staying longer than Chris and that it was quite likely I would have to stay past Dec. 1.  I came knowing that there could be hang ups along the way.  I came after reading a million blogs outlining what could go wrong and knowing we were not in for a smooth, clean ride.  So, I know that we have been super blessed so far and that I have no right to complain.  I really cannot even believe how I am feeling because a part of my heart will always be in Uganda.  But I am so ready to come home!  I am so ready to introduce Annet to her brothers and sisters.  I am ready to show her her room and watch her play babies with Lilly.  I am ready to start school with her and have a normal routine.  I am ready to be able to get in the car and go to the store whenever I need to.  I am ready to just hug on my kids until they push me away!  I am DYING for a Diet Coke (yes, I know that is shallow, but I'm being real, here) and a hot shower and to sleep in my bed.

I did not want to say goodbye today and I do not really want to be here by myself for the next two or more weeks.  For the first time since we have been here, my resolve is slipping.  To be honest, this is so far out of my comfort zone, I don't even know how to process it.  I am blessed with a "git 'r done" husband.  I don't usually have to do the meeting with lawyers and stressful interviews...he does that.  So as I sit here tonight, in a silent room and no distractions, the what ifs are beginning to crowd in.  God has been so very faithful through this whole process and has shown His power over and over, so I don't know why I am faltering.  If we have to stay longer, He will provide the strength to get through.  If our case gets sent to Kenya, He will be with Annet until we can get her.  If we don't get our paperwork in in time...He is still God and is still in control.  And while I know all these things, tonight, I am a little sad and a little lonely and a lot ready to know we have made it through the legalities, I have survived an international flight with a stubborn four year old, and our family is complete and all on one continent.

So, for those of you that have not gotten sick of my whining, my specific prayers tonight:

*safe travel for Chris and rest during the flight.  He will get into Nashville around 6:30 Sunday night and has to be at work Monday morning

*continued presence with the children and with Chris' folks who have gone way above and beyond caring for them

*Annet as she continues to adjust to a million changes!  She has been a trooper, but I know things are tough and a bit confusing right now

*our immigration process.  MY desire is that we will get the paperwork, have a good interview and be able to fly home as scheduled...this is almost impossible, but we serve that kind of God.

*strength during the waiting and a willingness to accept His will when it differs from mine

*PRAISE-little Richard that I mentioned in the last post is doing SO much better, it was prayer, folks so keep 'em comin'!

He Sets the Lonely in Families

For the three of you that have not already heard, we are a family of seven!   Yesterday, we were appointed legal guardians of our sweet girl.  We know many of you are waiting on pictures...we will post them soon, if we can get them to post, but we aren't sure if we have to wait for the written ruling, which we will receive next week.  Just to be safe, we are waiting until then.

So for those who like details, we headed back to Kampala for the third time yesterday.  Our court time was 12:00 but we have learned that that is really just a suggestion!  Our lawyer wasn't there right at twelve and another group beat us in to the judge.  So the wait began.  This time, it was about three hours or so.  Finally our lawyer got there. He went in to check on how things were going.  Evidently, that is where some confusion arose.  He told us later that he said that he was going into the court room and when we saw people start to leave to go in there.  None of us heard that.  We saw people start to leave and Claudia frantically began to text and call him.  He didn't respond.  Chris was asleep on one of the benches and we were watching the doorway waiting for Isaac (the lawyer), when he walks through the door asking why we didn't go in.  We had no idea what he was talking about!  He then informed us that he had had to jump up and kind of push in front of the lawyers for the next case before they stared to argue the case, otherwise we would have been waiting another three hours.  So, the judge just read the ruling to him...we weren't even in the courtroom!

The funny thing is, Claudia was questioning him and chastising him because we weren't there and he was chastising us for not being in there and Chris and I just kept asking for the ruling.  Finally, we just gave up trying to find out from Isaac and read it ourselves!  Not exactly the court experience we were expecting but all that matters is that the sweet girl is ours!

She also did great both Thursday and yesterday when we took her into Kampala and Thursday it was just us so I think we are making progress!

In other news, in my last blog I mentioned one of the children, Richard.  He has sickle cell and has not been doing well.  He was in the hospital in Jinja all last week and came home a couple of days ago.  Thursday, he was very lethargic and Friday, they made the decision to take him into Kampala.  He did not get a good report.  He is a very sick little boy.  Please friends, you have done so much for us praying for this adoption.  We are now asking you to bombard Heaven with prayers on behalf of little Richard.

Our next step is immigration.  We have to wait to get our written ruling and her passport, which we will probably not get until Friday so we are hoping o get an interview the following Monday.  Chris will be gone by then so I will be on my own...well except for the BEST adoption advocate ever, Claudia.  This is the stage I am most nervous about so please continue to keep us in your prayers.  Hope everyone has an amazing weekend and please remember Richard in your prayers.

Off Roading, Court & Grasshoppers

I know, the updates are few and far between...let's chalk it up to African time.

We have had a lot of noteworthy experiences since I last blogged.  The first came on Saturday when we went with a group of teenagers to a new church plant.  Two of the GSF staff members are starting a plant in the village of Buundo where GSF is located.  They found a building to rent at a good price that someone had begun to build and run out of money.  The structure itself was fine, but there was just an unleveled dirt floor and lots of plants grown up around it.  We went with the group to help level the land and get ready for the services that will start this Sunday.  The site is close enough to walk to, but since we had lots of tools and water, we drove.  Oh, how I wish I could adequately describe that drive. It began on a bumpy dirt road...the pastor of the church was standing next to the road to guide us.  Suddenly, he instructed us to turn.  Chris and I looked at each other...turn where?  It just looked like woods to us, but as we turned, we saw we were on a tiny trail that went around someone's field.  We began driving through this overgrown area, only to find the trail growing smaller and smaller.  The missionary finally stopped to put the car in four wheel drive.  It was unreal, if you have ever gone on the safari ride at Animal Kingdom, it doesn't even come close to what it was like driving through what Chris describes as the bush.

Sure enough, out in the middle of people's potatoes and cassava stood a mud brick building with an opening for a door and several openings for windows.  The teenagers began slashing, which is basically the Ugandan method of mowing the lawn.  They take their slasher and swipe it back and forth, cutting down the growth.  In the meantime, some of the men began hoeing the dirt inside the building.  We soon discovered that the teenagers were not trimming grass, rather they were cutting down someone's potato crop.  Tis was discovered when they excitedly found a potato they had slashed up...and began EATING it!  A hard, raw potato!  And they were so excited, like an American kid who found a hidden stash of candy!  They stopped the kids from that task but before long the men(Chris included) had the ground leveled...I was shocked at how quickly it went, and they began pouring water on the dirt to pack it down.

We decided to walk back to the orphanage with a small group.  It was FASCINATING!  We would be walking through the "woods" when all of a sudden, there would be a small clearing and a mud hut.  Sometimes several children would be sitting outside watching us go by.  The young boy guiding us showed us his hut and explained that his roof was leaking, so a little way down, he had begun constructing a new hut.  He showed us the skeleton he had completed and was waiting to collect enough mud to begin filling in the walls.  He also showed us an oven where they bake the mud bricks and showed  us a field of grass they use for the thatch roof.

On Monday, we made the two hour trek to Kampala.  We THOUGHT we were just going to court, but Claudia, who is helping us with the Ugandan side of our adoption, had many more plans.  First, let me just say that driving in Uganda is unlike any experience I have ever had.  Leaving the orphanage, we drove on a red dirt road for close to an hour.  because of all the rain, the road is filled with bumps, potholes, dips, etc.  I'm not entirely sure how cars even keep any sort of shock system around here.  There are also pretty much no traffic laws and there are usually about three cars driving side by side in one lane.  At the same time the body bodas ( motorcycles that people hire to get them places) are weaving in front of and between all the cars.  It is CRAZY and a little scary!  I feel really blessed that we made it to Kampala alive!

We started out going by the American embassy to pick up a form to get a medical exam.  We then went to a mall to get pictures made for her passport and for the medical exam.  We also exchanged money while we waited for the pictures.  We left there and headed to the place where the medical exams are done.  The place was PACKED!  No worries, hurricane Claudia stepped in and let them
know we needed to get to court and they got us in!  We left there and went to the courthouse and
stopped by a little cafe for some takeout samosas...delicious!

And then began the wait!  We arrived at the courthouse at about 2:00, our case was presented at 7:00.  But I am NOT complaining, apparently, that was a good day.  About 6:00, the lawyer came and told us we could go ahead and go to the courtroom, the judge was in the middle of a case when we got there...I do not have the time or space to describe that experience, but it was interesting.  While he was finishing up, Claudia leaned over and told me not to be surprised if he postponed our case until the next day.  My heart sank.  The thought of another day like this was hard to accept...so I stared praying.  We didn't know it, but there was actually one more case ahead of us.  That lawyer took her seat, the assistant read the case and the judge immediately told them it was late and he was postponing their case until the next day.  I prayed harder!  Our case was then presented to the judge...and he began to ask questions, I was so relieved when I realized he was going to hear us.  I don't know why he cancelled the case I front of us and heard ours, but I'm pretty sure the prayers being raised up all over the place had something to do with it.

This post is getting REALLY long, so I'll just get to the good part.  After interviewing the momma and the daddy and me ( yes, I was scared to death), he announced that he would render his ruling on Friday. That is AMAZING!  One of the missionaries here said they had never heard of a ruling going that quickly.  Claudia said that she feels good about getting a positive ruling, so we are praying and expectant for good news Friday.

NOW, for the really interesting part, on the way home from Kampala, Claudia discovered a road side vendor selling fried grasshoppers....evidently, November is grasshopper season.  She had told us that any visitor who comes during grasshopper season HAS to try them.  So, she made sure they had been fried with onions, bought a panful and passed them around!  Yes, I tried grasshopper and yes, they were actually pretty good ( by the way, apparently, they remove the legs and wings before frying).  I'm not sure if I could have eaten them if it hadn't been dark, but peer pressure got the best of me and I popped one...or two...or three in my mouth. AND CHEWED AND SWALLOWED!  I now feel I have really had the Ugandan experience, I hope I still have all my friends when we get home.

So, things are going well and your prayers are being heard!  A few specifics you can keep praying for:

Pray that things go smoothly and favorably on Friday and then pray as we begin the immigration process, I think I am just as nervous about that.

Also pray for our sweet girl.  She has left the toddler house and is staying with Claudia.  We are spending as much time with her as we can but she is VERY shy and really not sure about all this.  Yesterday, we took her into Jinja for some shopping.  I think everything got to her, but she had a MELTDOWN in the middle of one of the shops and was crying for Auntie Claudia.  Two muzungu in a shop with a screaming African toddler is a rather frightening experience.  We left the shop and took her for a brownie and soda and she calmed down, but we realize that this is going to be a really tough transition for her...and us.

Please, also keep the children of GSF in your prayers.  There are four teens here that are about to age
out and are in the process of being resettled back into their home communities.  This is a hard transition.

Also a little boy Richard who has sickle cell is having a lot of health problems.

Thanks again for all your prayers and for caring about what is going on with us, we love all of you and can't wait for you to meet our sweet girl!

Welcome to Uganda!  It has been an interesting few days.  There isn't much to say about the flight except it was LONG!  All went smoothly and we purchased the all important stroop waffles in Amsterdam...they definitely lived up to their reputation!  We got into Entebbe, Uganda about 10:30 Wednesday night.  We stayed in a beautiful guest house and got a good night sleep.

Thursday morning, we got up and headed toward Kampala.  We exchanged money there, bought phone minutes and wifi access, had our first unsuccessful trip to the embassy (no adoption business on Thursdays), and went grocery shopping.  We then headed toward the orphanage.  We stopped once at a nearby market for vegetables.  I think this is a must when traveling to Uganda.  We sat in the car while a mob of vendors swarmed us with their goods.  Claudia was amazing...evidently having LOTS of experience in this area.  Which was a good thing, because I truly believe I would have ended up  somehow purchasing the whole market!

We arrived at the gate at GSF and were welcomed by singing, dancing and drumming.  It  was here we were privileged to meet our sweet girl for the first time!  She was a bit shy and not sure about us, but we did get a smile or two out of her!  We tried a fresh, organic pineapple that was amazing and I had my first ever mango (I know, I am sheltered)...it was not yet ripe and not so amazing, but I am told that I HAVE to try again when they get a ripe one.  We have also been told that it is grasshopper season in Uganda and that we cannot leave the country until we have tried one.  They have assured us they are delicious!

Thursday night we got settled in and went to one of the missionary's houses for dinner.  Then we headed back to the guest house for bed!  We slept in Friday morning and took a nice FREEZING shower because we are not smart enough to figure out how to get the hot water heater to work!  The
bathroom is the epitome of the Ugandan experience because not only do we get to enjoy freezing showers, there are some "pet" lizards that like to hang out behind the toilet.  Every time you flush, one of them jumps out and runs up the wall.  I know it is going to happen every time and it still scares the begeebees out of me!

Yesterday we walked around and toured the orphanage  and spend some time with our princess in the toddler house.  There is really no way to describe the toddler house.  Think of the scene in Toy Story 3 when the kids come in from recess and find new toys.  That is about as close as I can get to the experience of a muzungu (white person) entering the room.  The kids go NUTS!  They crawl all over you.  They love Chris' bald head and they love my long hair...what is left of it after they have taken the "necklace" (rubber band) out of it and "washed and fixed" it for me.  Believe me, a part of me IS staying in Africa!

We also got to eat lunch on the porch while watching monkeys jump and run from tree to tree...amazing!

Today, our girl is sick! She is running fever and not feeling well.  One of the aunties in her house had all of the other toddlers sing to her and pray for her.  This afternoon, we are going t o help get a building ready for a church plant that some people from the orphanage are starting.

Next week, we will have our first court date and we are going to start helping at the orphanage.  I am going to be he helping to home school some of the missionary kids and I may get a chance to teach some classes in the primary school and Chris is going to help get a mentoring program started.

We will try to keep posting but the Internet here is very temperamental so it may be several days
between posts.  Thanks for the continued prayers!

We are Leaving on a Jet Plane

In less than an hour, we will begin the journey to bring our little girl home.  I cannot even begin to tell you the thoughts going through my head, but they sound something like this:

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

I really do not have time to even be sitting here.  But I cannot leave without just praising God for all He has done to get us here.  We have been blessed beyond measure by Him and His church.  If you are reading this, you are probably among those.  We have people schooling our kids, bringing meals, transporting and just loving on them while we are gone.  We  have had people donate money, give much needed advice and best of all pray like crazy!

Thank you to every one of you.  In the craziness, I have probably not written a note and I may not have adequately expressed my gratefulness.  But the kindnesses have not gone unnoticed or unappreciated.

Please, do not forget us now.  Keep bombarding Heaven on behalf of our sweet girl so we can bring her home.  And, please pray that we would be bold and faithful in pointing people to Christ throughout every step of this process.  It is because He took me, an orphan, in that we have the power to do this ourselves.  This is not about us and I never, ever want that to be what is noticed.  There is NOTHING good in us, so any good, any blessing, any smile, any chills....they come from Him and to Him be the glory!

Blessings, friends and we will try to keep you posted...from AFRICA!

9 Days and Counting

For those of you who are Facebook friends with us, you will know that the last week has been full of uncertainty.  We have gone back and forth on whether to keep our court date or wait until January.  We have been back and forth on how long to stay in Uganda, what tickets to buy, where our children will stay....you name it.

I finally got tired of calling people back and telling them we had changed our minds again and just stopped giving updates.

So, we have finally settled on a plan.  Chris and I will begin our travels on Oct. 30.  Chris will stay in Uganda with me for about two and a half weeks and will then have to come back home.  HOPEFULLY, by that time, we will have been granted guardianship of our sweet girl and possibly have been to immigration.  I will stay until the beginning of December.  The director of the orphanage feels like we may be able to complete everything by then and bring our girl home!!!  However, it is possible that our case could be sent to Kenya for review.  In that case, I will probably return home and will return when we get immigration approval.

Chris' parents will be coming to our house to stay with the kids.  If you really want to see the Christian community rally around you...adopt!  We have had love completely lavished upon us this week by so many people that I cannot even begin to describe.  I have had friends step up to home school my children while I am gone, friends offer to keep the children, people offer to transport them where they need to go (not an easy task with four kiddos), I have even been loaned long skirts to wear while in Uganda.  We have even had precious friends offer to bring meals three days a week to our house to ease the burden on my mother in law.

Even total strangers who have been through adoption have offered support, advice, prayer and love to us this week.

This weekend has been a mad rush of travel preparations.  Our bedroom is beginning to look like a small department store with bags covering most open space.  And our to do list seems to grow by the hour.  Each time we leave a store, we think of three or four things we should have gotten while we were there.  Walmart is going to LOVE us!

Despite all the crazy.  I feel so incredibly blessed.  We serve such a mighty God, and in those moments where I feel I cannot hold up under the stress anymore, I know I can just cling to Him.  None of what we are doing or will do has taken Him by surprise!  He isn't worried!  He doesn't tremble in fear at what might be!  His timing is perfect and His love is eternal and as undeserving as we are...He just keeps pouring it on us.  So, I am trying to just relax and enjoy the ride (somedays are a lot more fun than others)!

How can you pray this week?

Pray for us as we continue with last minute preparations.  I am scattered under the best of circumstances  so if I am supposed to call you back, send you a message or remember anything you tell me...odds are against it right now (just being honest here, folks).  Praise God for a detail oriented husband that makes a list and then remembers to look at it!  We may at least make it to another country with all our paperwork in order.

Pray for our lawyer, our judge and the immigration people.  Pray they would have wisdom, clarity, humility and a willingness to put our child before their pride.

Pray for our sweet girl as she faces many, many new experiences and life changes.

Pray for our children and Chris' parents while we travel and they try to keep rolling along!

Blessing to all of you!  We will try to keep you posted while we travel!

We Have A Court Date!!!

I went on a Faithwalk weekend this weekend.  As a side note, it was AMAZING! and I highly recommend anyone who has never done a Faithwalk type experience to sign up!  Anyway, part of the weekend was no phone, no computer, no watch, etc.  Chris was actually able to get one piece of info. to me.  Our court date.

Having the date was amazing, not knowing anything else, not so much!

Anyway, let me tell you what we know.  We have a court date for Nov. 5.  They have asked us to be in country four days early...that means we will be traveling on Oct. 31, Halloween, wow!  We have two and a half weeks to buy plane tickets, find substitute teachers for...everything, get our girl a wardrobe, gather documents, get money, plan school, figure out how to keep the kids home schooling while we are in another country, find Halloween costumes for kids, find people to take the kids for Halloween, gather costumes for the musical Lilly will be in (that we will not be here to watch), etc., etc., etc.

We may or may not be slightly overwhelmed!

We are super excited and cannot wait to see and meet and hug and love on our precious little girl.  However, I would be lying if I didn't confess to being both scared to death and stressed out completely. Our biggest issue is when to set up travel dates.  I know this is going to sound crazy...but Nana and Papaw's Christmas to the family is DisneyWorld.  The tickets are for Dec. 10-17 which means we are to leave town Dec. 8.  Nana and Papaw were so gracious to do this for the children and the children are so excited.  However, the stateside representative for the orphanage has told us to expect to be in country 4-6 weeks and he has NEVER seen it happen faster than 5 weeks.

So, here is our dilemma.  If we postpone the court date, it will be no sooner than the middle of January due to the courts taking a break (something they evidentially do quite frequently).  Doing that will mean we will be out of the country for Lilly's birthday.  If we keep the court date, we will get to meet our sweet girl and spend time with her, but there is no guarantee she and I will make it back to the U.S. in time to go to Disney.  I know that seems like a very small thing, but Chris' parents were SO generous in getting the tickets and the thought of just not using them is awful.  The older children are also very worried about me not going (they know I will ride the scary rides with them)  Usually they are trying to get away from Momma so the fact that they really want me there makes me want to move mountains to be there.  The third alternative is to go for the original court date, return to the states and go back (again the middle of January) and get our princess once immigration stuff has cleared.  This is a tough option because I cannot imagine leaving that sweet girl once we have been granted guardianship AND it would add quite a bit of expense that we have not budgeted for.

So, we have decided to go forward with the original court date and start praying.  The possibility of getting guardianship AND immigration and getting back to the U.S. by the beginning of December is, in reality, not very possible.  BUT, we do not serve a God who is limited by possibility.  We serve the God of the impossible.  So, we are asking our friends to start praying for us.  We are praying that the judge will listen to our case and rule favorably and quickly...we have heard that sometimes they purposely drag things out.  We are praying that an immigration miracle will take place and that our paperwork will go through quickly, be approved and we will be able to travel by the first of December. This will be unheard of, what an opportunity for God to show up!

If things do not work out, I will probably fly home the first of Dec. to be with the family at DisneyWorld and fly back to Uganda in January.  This, of course, is not our favorite choice and will require some additional fundraising, but it is a possibility...I just don't want to miss Lilly's birthday!

So, prayer warriors, wanna be prayer warriors, future prayer warriors, and anyone else who prays.  We are asking you to bombard Heaven on behalf of our family for a miracle.  We are asking you to plead our case before the Judge of all things, King of kings, our Father in Heaven.  No matter what happens, we know He is faithful and His mercies are new every morning and His timing is SO much better than ours.  So we pray that His will is done and in all things all glory and honor and power belong to Him!

Coming Soon...A Court Date!

We can almost see the finish line!  A few weeks ago, we sent the last of the paperwork in and began the wait for a court date.  We really didn't know how long that might take, but after a couple of weeks, we got word from the orphanage that this was where the patience really was needed.

About two weeks ago, we were blessed to talk to the stateside representative from GSF.  He was so amazing!  He gave us lots of tips and information about what to expect and  how to prepare for traveling.  He also warned us that things just take a LONG time on the African side.  If they say it will be a week, expect at least a month.  So, we buckled down and got busy waiting.  And then, we heard this week that a court date MIGHT be imminent.  Like MAYBE even this month!

When we read the email, my mouth dropped to the floor.  All of the sudden, things seemed VERY real!  Only moments after reading the email, Adam asked me what we would do for a bed.  You see, we are having a bed made for the girls to share and it wasn't completed.  A PRECIOUS man is making the bed for us as a ministry for just the cost of materials (HUGE BLESSING), so we were just waiting for it to be completed.  Lilly immediately offered to let our sweet girl sleep in her bed until the other was complete.  Sometimes, I really like my kids!  Anyway, my sister has been planning to come visit this fall and was planning to come in November.  I realized I needed to call her and tell her not to buy a plane ticket because we might not be here.  I sent Adam to get the phone.  He returned telling me something freaky just happened.  We  had just received a voicemail telling us that the bed was ready!  That is NOT freaky, my friends, that is God!

We now have pieces of the bed all over the garage as we rush to try to get it painted.  Hopefully by the end of the weekend, the bed will be totally finished and we can get the girls' room ready for another occupant!

We are so excited, but we also realize that, when adoption is concerned, nothing is certain.  We were hoping to hear Friday whether or not we had a court date and we didn't hear anything.  That is in no way unusual, but that doesn't stop me from obsessively checking the email all day every day in hopes of that elusive message.

So, how can you be praying now?

• Pray that we will be content with God's timing and not try to rush things along or grow impatient in waiting.
• Chris checked this week and plane tickets are twice as expensive as what they have been and what we have been budgeting for.  Please pray that we will have enough money for all the upcoming expenditures or that a miracle will happen and the price of tickets will go down before we travel.
• Pray for us as we prepare our children for some time away from us.  Continuing studies is going to be tough with momma, the main teacher gone for 4-6 weeks.
• Pray for all the family, including our sweet, waiting girl, that our hearts will be prepared to love each other through the ups and downs of the coming weeks and months.  Pray that bonding will happen.
• Pray for our girl as her life is on the brink of HUGE changes.  Pray she will adjust and know that while things will be very different for her, she will recognize the love we all have for her.
• Pray for our children as they adjust to another sibling...especially Cooper as he will have to make a HUGE adjustment to not being the baby anymore.

Thanks to all...hope to give a BIG update soon!

Referral!!!

Yep, for the three of you that do not already know, we received our referral about a week ago (on the 14th).

We had big plans about how we were going to open the referral...get the family around the computer, film it so she could see it later on, etc.  We had already talked to my family in Idaho about Skyping and Facetiming and had talked about going to Chris' mom and dad's so everyone could be a part.  What we didn't expect was that the referral would come on Saturday morning, the day of Chris' parents' 50th anniversary and while Lilly was gone to church camp.

We decided that Lilly needed to be a part of opening the referral, so we would wait to open it until Saturday night when she got home.  We had a super busy but fun day with a reception honoring Chris' folks.  Lots of family came in and we saw tons of friends we hadn't seen in a long time.  We then went and celebrated our nephew's birthday at Jason's Deli.  All of that was great because it made the day pass in a blur!  Lilly met us in town at Jason's so we were all together.

However, the out of town friends and family wanted to visit back at Chris' folks' house, so instead of heading home, we headed back to their house, which was totally fine because it included a piece of "to die for" strawberry cake!  By about 9:30, we were still visiting and Chris just couldn't wait any longer.  As we sat visiting in the living room, he passed me his phone and asked me if I would like to meet my daughter.  He had just gone ahead and read the referral and passed it to me.  Our little girl is a beautiful, chunky 4 year old that we cannot wait to meet.  We have been told she is a little quiet but very sweet and playful...which is good if she is going to be able to hang with Coop!

We called the other kids in and shared her pictures with them and then introduced her to EVERYONE that was at the house and to my family via texts.

So...we have no videos or special memorabilia...but I think it is precious that we got to share the moment on another momentous day (there aren't a ton of 50th anniversaries anymore) and with so many people that are special to us.

We are now awaiting our next step.  We are in the process of retaining an attorney in Uganda and he will get us set up with a court date, etc.  Hopefully sometime this fall, we will be traveling and bringing home our little princess!

Thank you so much for your continued prayer and support!  Please keep our family in your prayers.  Some specific requests:

1.  Pray for Cooper as he will have a big adjustment to make as we bring home a "baby" that is just 6 months younger than he is.

2.  Pray for our sweet girl as her life is about to change VERY dramatically.  We are so excited to be blessed to be her forever family, but we also know that this will be a huge transition for her.

3.  Pray as we get final details organized and as we try to raise the last bit of money for the adoption.  We are ALMOST there but could still use a little more money in our adoption account.  I know that God is a gracious provider...he has been so faithful every step of the way and He will not leave us without provision, I don't doubt Him a bit...but sometimes my human faith is weak.

Blessings to all!

Acceptance!

After several weeks of rather impatient waiting...we FINALLY received the elusive email!  We have checked email rather obsessively, perhaps 137 times per day.  We have fretted over the fact that we might not be approved and quietly wondered what we would do if we were denied.  We only sent one email to the orphanage begging for news...but Sunday night, the wait ended!  We have been officially accepted by the orphanage and are now awaiting a referral!  We have no idea how long that might take but we are  now actively praying, not only for our little girl, but for the leadership team at GSF as they seek to find a child that meets the requirements of our Homestudy.  Please join us in prayer that God would work out all the details and that "at just the right time" we would be allowed to meet the child God wants to place in our home!

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

We reached another milestone on Monday with the completion of our Biometrics Appointment.  In case you are wondering, that is the exact same thing as the local fingerprints they took a few months ago but it involved taking off work, driving to Memphis and paying about 5 times more.  But I digress.

We are expecting Immigration approval sometime next week and we will be ready to get everything together and send to Uganda! Yay!

Except...we talked to our stateside representative yesterday and he did not have a lot of good news.  First, we had been assuming that we had been approved by the orphanage (I guess that is the "no news is good news" syndrome).  In actuality...they haven't even LOOKED at our paperwork yet.  I cannot fault them.  I know they have far more important things to do, like caring for over 90 children.  But I still felt a little disappointment, mostly because we have rushed so much to get everything in and this is something we have NO control over.

He also told us the news that I am struggling the most with.  At this point, there are no children that are adoption eligible to be referred to waiting families.  So, even when we get approval, there will not be a child to refer.  He has been honest with us from the beginning, so this shouldn't have been a big surprise but the sadness I feel is still there.

I have to admit that I have struggled with this a bit since hearing the news.  I tend to live a bit inside my head (very typical for introverted souls like me) so I have this ongoing dialogue and argument taking place all the time.  On one hand, I feel so sad and angry at the fact that extreme poverty has thrown so many millions of children into this very situation...in orphanages because their families cannot afford to care for them and yet no possibility of being placed in a loving family because they are not a true orphan.  I know this is not the fault of anyone in particular, but it is the source of great frustration for me.  I would not want to take a child out of the country if they have any chance of ever being reunited with their families, and yet my heart breaks at the vicious cycle they are thrown into because of the rampant poverty.

On the other hand, our representative told us to join him in praying that more available children could be identified and brought to the orphanage so that they could begin referring them for adoption.  As of yet, I just have not been able to pray that prayer.  In my mind, I am sure that there are children out there that could be adopted...and I want to do that.  I want to bring our little girl home.  And yet, the thought of praying for that feels wrong.  The truth is...I don't want another child to be without a family.  I don't want another child who will always live with the grief and loss and knowledge that they are an orphan.  As unreasonable as it is, I cannot make myself pray in that way.  Yet, I know those children are out there.  So I wonder...where is my little girl?  Is she suffering somewhere right now?  Does she have enough food and is there anyone around that is loving on her?  I have always imagined her in the safety and comfort of Good Shepherd's Fold.  I have imagined her learning about Jesus and being told she is special.  And now, I know that, right now...she isn't there.  Has she already experienced the grief of losing a parent, or is that sorrow yet to come?  I desperately want her to be identified and brought to the orphanage so we can bring her home...but at what cost to her?   Aaaaaagh!  This is the way my mind has gone today.

I wonder, are we doing the right thing?  Have we spent all this money and time for the right reason, or would we have been doing more if we found a way to give money to those 90 children who cannot be adopted?  I just don't know.  So, today, I am not celebrating a milestone as much as trying to figure out how to pray and where we go from here.

It probably does not help that Chris is out of town and we cannot communicate in any way until he comes home on Sunday...that is why the bloggy world gets to see the craziness of my thoughts that I usually reserve for him.

So, how can you pray...clearly, I am not sure.  I guess for God's direction and for his hand to be on the people of Uganda and on the children of Good Shepherd's Fold; that children who are adoption eligible would be identified so that they could be placed in loving families; that children who are not adoption eligible would be given opportunities like being place in places like Good Shepherd's Fold where they will still be loved and cared for and told about a loving savior; that people would come alongside these families and they could find ways out of the poverty that permeates the country so that their families could be reunited; and that I would not have a nervous breakdown before Chris returns on Sunday!  :)

Love you all!

A Quick Update

Hi, all!  Thought we'd share a quick update of where we are along this journey.  We haven't really had any real news to share since we mailed our I-600A form to USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services).  The I-600A is the Application for Advance Processing of Orphan Petition.  I know, what?  In a nutshell, it's a process by which the U.S. government determines whether we, as prospective adoptive parents, are qualified to continue with the international adoption process.  Our application was delivered on March 19 and we received our Biometrics appointments about two weeks ago.  So, on Monday, April 23, Star and I will travel to the Homeland Security Office in Memphis to do our Biometrics, a fancy way to say that we'll do another round of fingerprints.  Once that's complete, we'll await our USCIS approval.  Then it'll be time to put our dossier together and send it to a land far away.  So there you have it, our journey continues.


We continue to covet your prayers.  Some specific ways that you can pray for us are:
1. Pray for our precious little girl wherever she is in Uganda.  Pray for her safety and good health.  Also, pray that she'll be loved unconditionally by her caretakers.
2. Pray for our upcoming biometrics and USCIS approval.
3. Pray for us as we prepare our dossier.
4. Pray for our fundraising.  We are close but not there yet.  Airfare is very expensive so pray that we'll raise the additional funds to cover that cost as well.
5. Finally, pray for our friends at Good Shepherd's Fold, the children, missionaries, and staff. 


Finally, we'd like to take this time to give a big shout out to some of our special friends who have given unselfishly to our adoption.  You know who you are.  We are humbled by your graciousness.  Know that you are an incredible blessing.  More importantly know that this little girl will forever be a part of your family also.  And to the ladies of the Angels group at Cherry Ridge Baptist Church in Bastrop, LA, your willingness to sell "lots" of paper bead necklaces was unexpected.  We cannot thank you enough.  You too are a blessing and we can't wait to share our little girl with you.  Please know that you have also helped the women of the Kyangwali Refugee Settlement to provide a sustainable income for their families.


In closing, I wanted to share a picture with you.  A simple picture but one that has such great significance to our family because...this is where our heart is.

Approved take two!

We are now REALLY home study approved!  Yahoo!  We received our addendum on Friday afternoon and had it at the post office before closing!

Of course, that was a Friday so, while it had reached the USCIS office Saturday, it could not be delivered until yesterday.  We must have checked the USPS confirmation site 20 times yesterday...not an easy feat since we are having internet issues and only get connected about 1 out of 5 tries.  By 3:00, they STILL had not updated their website and I was getting edgy!

Chris finally called and got confirmation that it had, indeed, been delivered!  Now, we just wait some more.  We have heard rumors that the process is going MUCH faster these days and we will probably have approval within a month.  I refuse to get my hopes up too high, though, because our luck has not been great in this area so far.

As soon as we get immigration clearance, we can begin assembling our dossier and get our paperwork in country, hopefully in time to be considered when they do their next referrals in June.

Please continue to pray for the process, the fundraising, and for the orphans and people of Uganda.

Home study in Hand...Almost

We have reached another milestone!  Sort of!  Last week, we got an email telling us that we should be receiving our approved Home study at any time.  We excitedly (perhaps obsessively) began checking our mail...back door...front door...garage door, etc. for the "golden" package.  Finally, on Friday afternoon, it arrived.  We began to make plans to get it in the mail along with our I600A form to send to USCIS.  Friday evening, Chris finally got a chance to begin reading through it (It may or may not have been during the Science Fair awards ceremony).  Unfortunately, he found a mistake.  Five little words that were left out.  Evidently, five very important words.  Words assuring that he had been cleared in a background check.

Worried that that could cause a problem down the road, we sent an email to our agency.  Of course, it was the weekend, so nothing could be done until Monday morning.  We naively thought that they could just amend the words and email us a new copy that could be switched with the other.  We were wrong.  Because that would be simple.  And if we have learned one thing in this adoption process, it is that NOTHING is simple!  We were told that we would need to get an addendum to be added to the original document.

SO, we are now waiting on our addendum.  We have again been told it should be here any day and Chris got a very sweet call from our social worker apologizing for the mistake.  Our I600A is all filled out and is just waiting on a completed home study so it can be mailed off.  We can ALMOST taste the victory!

As excited as we were to send off our paperwork to immigration, we were also excited to be able to begin applying for grants.  Unfortunately, we have learned that, because we are doing an  independent adoption, we will not be eligible for most grants.  On the upside...we will also have a cheaper adoption than if we were going through an agency.  All in all, what that means is another almost.  We are ALMOST there financially...but not quite.  It would be nice to have about $5000 more to make sure we had all expenses covered.  We do have a couple of other fundraisers planned, but we will probably not be quite there, even then.  We are looking at a couple of possibilities and hoping that, perhaps there is SOMEONE out there who will help support an independent adoption.  I guess that is where prayer comes in.  God has been completely faithful up until now and I know that He will provide in His way in His time.

Hopefully, next time we are on here, it will be to say that we have a mistake free home study in hand and that we are moving on to the next phase.  Thanks for all the support and prayers!

Pure and undefiled relegion is this...

Good Shepherds Fold

Aerial view of Good Shepherds Fold - Jinja, Uganda

This is where our heart is!

Getting Closer

Hi, this is Chris.  I'm not the writer that Star is but thought that I'd give you guys an update.  Star has mentioned our "water issue".  The first time that we treated our well, we were careful to follow the instructions exactly as prescribed.  So, you can imagine our surprise when the results returned positive.  After receiving positive results for the second time, I gave this whole water treatment thing more thought.  We had been careful to run water through every inside and outside faucet, showers, tubs, and washing machine.  So, what could be the missing link?  I finally realized that we have a water source heat pump.  The heat pump pulls water from the well and pushes it across the coils to produce heat.  The night that we treated our well was a rather brisk night so the heat pump ran all throughout the night.  Therefore, all of our bleach ran through our heat pump and was gone by morning.  No clean water but our heat pump is now nice and clean.  So, off to the store for another jug of bleach.  This time though, we outsmarted this whole water treatment process by turning off the heat and spending the night with Nana and Papaw.  The kids loved it and, snap, we had clean water.  Finally, after 2 1/2 gallons of bleach and three water tests, we received an all clear on our water on the morning of February 7.  Just in time for our last home study visit, that night.  Isn't it amazing how God's timing is always perfect.

Star and I traveled once again to meet our social worker for our last visit.  What a great time.  It's been a pleasure working with her.  She is every bit as sweet as Star has mentioned.  I've really enjoyed the whole home study experience because it causes you to really take a look at your entire life.  Every little detail from your physical appearance to your finances to your child rearing philosophy to your testimony to an autobiography of your life to your water.  You get the picture.  They even want to see your dog's vaccination records.  I described the home study to a friend as being similar to walking around naked in public.  That's what they want to know, everything!  It's been a blast.

This brings us to today.  We heard through email that our home study agency now has our FBI clearances.  Yes, that's right.  All three of our oldest family members passed the clearance.  Just doesn't sound right for a redneck family.  We are very excited because this means that our home study is near complete.  It's only a matter of our social worker putting it all together now.  Pray that it will be soon so that we can move on to the next step along our journey.  There's a little girl in a land far away who's depending on it!

Home Visit Complete

Yay, our next milestone is complete!  Tuesday night we welcomed our social worker into our home for the home visit.  We had asked a lot of friends that have been through this what to expect and all said the same thing...Don't go on a cleaning spree.  They aren't going to do the "white glove" test.

At first, we began that deep cleaning anyway...you know, just to be sure.  Then we realized, we have four children.  If we deep clean Saturday, by Tuesday afternoon it is sure to be worse than when we started.  SO, we focused our efforts on making sure that we were "safe".  Everyone told us they would check for fire extinguishers, check the smoke detectors, etc.  We were a little concerned about what they would say about the pool and wondered if they would fault us for not having a fenced yard.

So, we bought an extra fire extinguisher, tested the smoke detectors...a few times, made sure the pool door was locked, etc.  I did have a plan for a quick run through to straighten up.  I teach at the tutorial on Tuesdays so I knew no one would be there to mess up too much.  Monday was CRAZY and there was no way we could work cleaning into the mix so my plan was to straighten up as much as possible before tutorial on Tuesday morning and then when we got home, have everyone pitch in to vacuum, dust, etc.

She was scheduled to come sometime Tuesday afternoon or evening after a visit with another family in town.  I figured we had two or three hours after we got home to get it all arranged.  SO, imagine my surprise (and panic) when at 12:30, while I was still at Tutorial, she called and said she was about an hour away and would be at our house at 1:30!  I was very calm and level headed...or not!  I began running around like a chicken with its head cut off rounding up kids and bags and heading for the door!

My precious MIL had kept Coop that day and had texted saying she had made pizzas for the kids at her house.  We flew to Nana's where I made the kids inhale their pizza and even forbade them from eating the required bowl of ice cream (a Nana necessity).  We got home and I ordered the kids to straighten their rooms, and we vacuumed the kitchen...that is as good as it got!

Our social worker arrived and completely put us at ease.  She really is very sweet.  We talked for a long time, she interviewed the kids and then we began our house tour...where she didn't even ask to see our safety stuff...we just volunteered it like a preschooler who is proud of their art picture!  "See, see our fire extinguisher!"  "Look, our smoke detector works!"

By the time we got upstairs, Coop figured out what was going on.  He took over as tour guide from there and proudly showed her his bed, his hippie, Sissie's room, the bathtub, the pot AND the toilet paper...He is nothing if not thorough!

Anyway, I think all went well.  We will have our final interview on the 7th and HOPEFULLY we will have passed our water test by then (we are re treating this weekend) and will have our fingerprints.  If so, we will just have to wait for the completed write up and final copy of the home study and will be one step closer to our sweet little girl!

Baby Steps

A little progress this week!   After a couple of weeks of just waiting and not much going on, we have made a little progress this week!  We have sent off for our passports and are hoping to have them back in four to six weeks.  We have a little bit of trepidation about this because apparently the laws changed in 2011 and they want your parent's full names on your birth certificates.  Idaho...back in my day, didn't put the full middle name, just the middle initial.  Getting this changed is a MAJOR project and the lady at the records department acted like that was complete new information to her and said that they had no thad any influx of  people needing their certificates revised...so, we took a risk and just used the original, here is hoping we don't  have to go back and redo everything!

We also had our first home study meeting this week!  We met our social worker in Corinth at Subway...Chris is totally accusing me of making the plans because I am the only one in the house that truly appreciates the deliciousness of a good Veggie sub...or any other sub for that matter.  Anyway, I had nothing to do with it...but I didn't complain!  :)  I totally meant to take pictures, but I guess nerves got the best of me and I forgot.  The meeting went well.  We met our social worker in person for the first time and she is a little bitty, sweet, talker!  We talked for about 2 1/2 hours and it was not at all nerve wracking, more like just talking to an old friend!  Our next visit will probably be our home visit...would love that to be next week but we haven't heard back from her yet so not sure about that yet.

Thursday we  got our local fingerprinting done...that will probably take the longest and, in hindsight, we wish we would have gotten on that a little earlier because that will probably take several weeks and our home study can't be completed without them...live and learn!  We talked to a very sweet lady who did the fingerprinting AND we will soon know if Brooks has a criminal past we don't know about!  (I kid!)

Finally, we got our well tested.  We had no idea you were supposed to get your well water tested (apparently once a year....ours was last tested in 2001)!  We got the results back today and we have no bacteria...but we do have high levels of chloroform...REALLY, chloroform...I had no idea.  ***Update, Chris just called with a revision of this report, he misread and we do NOT have chloroform...we have coliform, which is totally normal and harmless!  Makes me think back to a certain court case I was obsessed with this summer, but I digress.  Anyway, we now have to use some bleach to treat the water and retest in 7-10 days, simple enough I guess...except for the whole no access to water for bathing, drinking, cooking, etc.

We are now, once again just at a waiting point.  Hopefully we will talk to the social worker today to get our next meeting scheduled and get our education set up.

Please pray that my passport application will be accepted, that we can get our water up to standard and that we can continue to keep things moving along.  We are still committed to getting everything on our end in as quickly as possible.  We also talked to our stateside representative for the orphanage and they have received all of our "stuff" so they are just waiting for our completed home study to proceed!  Every day brings us a little closer to our sweet girl!  Thanks for the prayers!

A Bump in the Road

They said this process would be a roller coaster.  They were right!  Last night we had a great time at our first fundraiser!  A dear friend from church opened her home to several families in the process of adoption. We each set up a table and were able to raise a little money for each of our adoptions.  We have now sold our whole first batch of paper bead necklaces, Yay!  But even better was the sweet fellowship!

Today, has been a bit of a downer.  We contacted our stateside representative that we are working with for a very simple question.  We received some unwelcome news.  In a nutshell, he told us that the adoption process in Uganda is very up in the air.  Due to a lot of corruption, etc. the laws are changing...at some point; we just do not know when or what that will mean.  In all likelihood, one thing it will mean is Uganda will probably become an agency only country.  We are not using an agency because we are working directly with a specific orphanage.  Our heart is really with this orphanage and we would prefer to continue working with them.  However, if we continue on the with the process we are currently using we run a fairly high risk of the laws changing and not being able to proceed.  If we change now and go with an agency, we will no longer be able to work specifically with the orphanage that we have been using and currently sponsor a child at.  It is also fairly certain that things will slow down quite a bit regardless.

After talking to a few people today and thinking about things, we have decided to proceed as we have been but with much more determination...we have been told the quicker we can get everything in and processed, the better.  I have also contacted an agency that will be willing to work with us and transfer our information in the event that the laws change mid-stream.  We are feeling a bit discouraged and a bit frustrated, but we were warned that this journey would be full of ups and downs so I guess we are not totally surprised.

We have our first home study interview next week and I am hoping that we can fit all of the meetings in fairly quickly and get the ball rolling as much as possible.  So much is out of our control right now, but we can at least try to tie up all the loose ends on our side!

Anyway, for those curious for updates, that is where we are right now.  When you think of us, please pray that we will be able to clearly see the direction that we should be going and that we would make decisions wisely.  Pray that our faith would be strengthened and that we would use this entire process...including the down days, to just glorify the Father.  Thanks friends!