November is National Adoption Month

It's National Adoption Month and we have had some great opportunities this week to tell our family's adoption story.  On Monday, Mary and I shared with the MOPS group at our church.  On Wednesday, Mary shared with a MOPS group in Monroe.  Last night, I got to share with our students about adoption and talk about our adoption as children of God.  At the beginning of worship, we showed this video.  It gets us every time!

Also, randomly, we are one of the featured adoptive families in the November issue of Red River Moms--on page 21, if you're interested.

We are just so thankful for all the conversations we get to have about Gideon and God's work in our lives.  Hopeful that God will continue to use our lives and little Gideon (& Jonah & Seth & Abram) for His glory!

P.S.  I changed the "About" section of our blog to reflect current reality!!!

Support the Ribbens

When we were in Uganda, we had the privilege of sharing a house with some great families.  As you can imagine, we got to know these families pretty well and fast.  The shared experience of Ugandan adoption helped us gain some great friends.  One of these families...Andy & Sara Ribbens have been in Uganda for about 7 months and are still there trying to finalize the legal guardianship of their daughter.

Another one of our former housemates, Stephanie, has decided to make and sell ornaments to help support the Ribbens.  You can help the Ribbens by buying one (or more) of these ornaments at Stephanie's blog HERE: 1 for $12 or 2 for $20.

Please help our friends bring their daughter home. Thanks!

A treehouse...sort of

A while back I trimmed some branches from a tree in our yard.  Take the branches, add a ladder, a folding chair and some random junk from the garage and TADA...you have a fort!

See, even Gideon gets in on the action!   We are so thankful for our boys and how Gideon has transitioned so well into our family.  Can't imagine life without him!

Happy First Birthday, Gideon!!

I believe that I have now overcome my case of blogging fatigue! And the big news that has pulled us back into the blogosphere is that Gideon is now ONE! His birthday was yesterday, August 12 and, unfortunately, we all had to celebrate by taking a 16-hour van ride from Glorieta, NM. I think we'll bust out the cake tomorrow. OH, we recently took some new family pics. Here I am with my little men.
To catch you all up to speed....Gideon has transitioned so very well since arriving home on May 28. In a nutshell, he's sleeping through the night, eating well, and growing on pace with his others his age.

When we returned from Uganda, he was scooting. It wasn't long that he was crawling and NOW he's been walking for about 2 or 3 weeks. I mean REALLY walking. He loves to get around!

Little Gideon loves his brothers, and the feeling is mutual--except for a little jealous acting out by Abram from time to time. The boys play well together and Gideon responds especially well to big brother Jonah. Jonah likes lending a helping hand with his littlest bro.

We couldn't be happier with our little gang of boys. Life here is tiring and crazy but oh so sweet. Looking forward to what this next year holds for our littlest man!

Arrival Video

For some reason, I just saw this video for some reason. Thanks to Allen Hendrix for being there to capture this moment and for posting it on our Facebook Group!

The Chair is Filled from J. Allen Hendrix on Vimeo.

LOTS OF LOVE!!

Just had to post this picture of the boys!! Since Jamey & Gideon got home, it has been all smiles and love!! The boys are so proud of their new brother!! Thank you, Jesus!!

HOMECOMING!!!

Just heard from Jamey.....VISA IS DONE!!! Jamey & G are coming home. They will be in Shreveport around 6 PM tomorrow night!! Praise God!!! We are so thankful!!

Packing.

I'm packing right now. I'm packing even though I don't know for sure if I will leave tomorrow. First thing in the morning I will wait outside of the US Embassy for one piece of paper that I need. I will then go into the Embassy and talk VERY nicely to the people who will decide if I get my visa tomorrow. If I get the visa, our flight will leave at 1130pm and I'll arrive in Shreveport at about 530pm on Saturday--a mere 27 hours of traveling. The fact that it is even a possibility for me to leave tomorrow is a miracle. Whether I leave tomorrow or have to wait another week, God's hand is very evident. I'm anxious and hopeful and thankful.

Visa Update

I anxiously awaited Gideon's Ugandan passport all day today--it never came and I thought that I would have to delay my visa appointment until next Wednesday. However, our contact at the Embassy told me to come back as soon as I had the passport. I heard from our attorney that he got it late this afternoon. SOOOOO...I'm going in the morning to give it another shot. Still shooting for a Friday departure. We'll see. Please pray!

Ready to say goodbye to....

One of the challenges of being away from home for so long is that you have to make due with what you have. I mean, you can only fit so much in your suitcase. I need to preface this with the fact that I am very thankful for the things I have here at my disposal--I'm not trying to be a complainer! That begin said, I am ready to say goodbye to....

The Bumbo seat. Bumbo, you have come in handy when it's time to give my little guy some baby food BUT I'm so sick of having to sit on the floor and wrestle Gideon to sit still. Why can't you magically transform yourself into a high chair so I can strap my little guy in and feed him at eye level! While you're at it, can you make high chairs appear at all the restaurants in Kampala. Eating is always better when you can use two hands. Goodbye...boiling bottles EVERYDAY. Bottles, I am sick of you. I know I need you but I'm tired of looking at you. Why are there only 4 of you? Where are all your friends? Why can't there be more of you so I don't have to boil you EVERYDAY? And finally....GOODBYE (hopefully soon) Baby Bjorn. I will not miss the aching back you give me. I will not miss the sweat spot you leave on my shirt. I will not miss the kicks in the crotch. Goodbye and good riddance!

Gross. Not Gross. (part 2)

These are grasshoppers. This is food here in Kampala--not bait, not lizard food, people food. There is actually a street that several guys stand alongside with big buckets full of these cooked grasshoppers for your enjoyment. Gross. My friend Josh bought some and we gave then a try.
Josh actually cooked them again--lightly breaded them, stir fried them, and added salt. The Southern way! I tried them before we cooked them and after we cooked them.

The taste was described to me as a juicy french fry. The description is actually pretty accurate. After we recooked them, they were just crispy like an overcooked french fry. In all honesty, they were not that bad. Not good enough for me to go back for seconds though.

Don't you love the fact that Gideon is checking out what I'm eating! On the same night, my housemates made Mexican food--at least our closest Ugandan approximation. NOT Gross! Somebody had even found some tortilla chips at one of the grocery stores. It was quite the feast.

Still praying that I will get my passport tomorrow so I can head home on Friday.

Muyenga Baptist.

Gideon and I were able to worship again today at Muyenga Baptist Church. The church is just about a 15 minute walk from our guest house--a short but hilly walk!
I think I mentioned before that the church is on the side of one of the hills here. From the doors and windows you have a great 180 degree view over the surrounding area. This little guy is playing one of the drums used for worship.

It's funny...African men do NOT take care of children. So I often have African women trying to take Gideon and care for him. They're just trying to help. Even the kids try to lend a hand. The girl with the white earrings is Grace. She is the pastor's daughter. She has sat by me for the past two Sundays. She really likes Gideon. She is very sweet.

Here she is dancing with Gideon after the service. Isn't he big stuff.

Here I am with my new friend Edson. He is a college student. He lives and helps out at the BMU where I am staying. He goes to this church and has been my host for these past two weeks. I've really enjoyed getting to know him. He's a great guy....helps me stay connected to college students!!

Pray that I would be able to get Gideon's passport by Tuesday. This is the vital step to insure that I will be able to leave on Friday. Otherwise, I'll have to wait another week.

More Gideon pix.

Yeah, he's a cutie!

Welcome to the family!

While we still have the adoption process to finalize in the US, as of today, we have legal guardianship of our Gideon. He is officially a part of our family! Now we can post all the pictures we want of the little guy...thought I would start at the beginning. This is a picture of the very first time we met Gideon at the Babies Home. Mary me him first and he was a bit apprehensive with both of us. He kept checking us out...looking us up and down.
I looked a bit rough. We arrived only a few hours earlier after a 30-something hour trip to Uganda. BUT we were so excited to meet this little guy that we couldn't wait.

This was a few days later when we were out and about...only 1/2 of the family. Looking forward to reuniting with the other half.

We still have some things that have to be done before we get home but these things are not "if" things but "when" things. Hopeful that everything will fall into place and I will be on a flight next Friday. We'll keep you posted. Wonderful day!

Hopeful.

Tomorrow is our ruling date. This is where the judge will tell us his decision. We are counting on a positive ruling but will not take that for granted. Please pray and I hope to bring good news tomorrow.

Hello. I am your brother.

It was a whirlwind the four days right before we left for Uganda. In the middle of all the chaos, the boys wrote these notes to their new brother. Jonah was the first...we attached his pic after he gave it to us. This was totally unsolicited.
How awesome is that? Next is Abram's. We had to give him a little help with his.

Super sweet. Finally, there's Seth.

He included an illustration:

And this is my favorite part....

" I AM SETH"....just thought you should know Gideon. Can't wait for all these guys to meet in person!

Good News.

Fourth time's a charm! Saw the judge today and have a ruling scheduled for Friday. It was an exhausting experience and I'm thankful that it's over. I'm celebrating by eating some oreos that I bought today. Good times.

Court tomorrow.

Praying that court tomorrow morning goes smoothly. Have to get going by 730am. Court time at 930am. Just another step on the journey.

Worship.

I'm still getting to know the area around the guest house I'm staying at now. Found out that there's a church I could walk to. I didn't know if I wanted to brave getting out with G in the heat and sitting through a couple of hours of a service. Glad I did. The church I had been to before was very large. Today I went to Muyenga Baptist Church. Much smaller but sweet congregation.

The church was literally on the side of a hill up a dirt path. This is the view from the road!

Also, you had to pass an old quarry to get to the church. This picture does not do justice to just how deep it was. The green dot that look like moss or something are acutally big lily pads on the pond at the bottom of the cliff.

On the homefront, we found a snail on the wall of our patio. It was huge. We think the little trail at the top (bottom?) of the snail is a trail of poop. Disgusting and fascinating.

Finally, one of the girls who had been staying at the guest house flew out today and left behind a partial pack of nutty bars. Now, Mary knows how much I like these. That's why we usually dont buy them! Needless to say it was a nice treat!

Repost.

I don't usually repost or forward things that I read BUT tonight I will make an exception. I recently read a post from a blog I follow that connects orphan care to being pro life. It's worth a read.

Oh, today was Abram's birthday party so I got to skype with them while he blew out the candles. Pretty awesome. Not as awesome as being there, but good. Don't know why I'm posting this picture. Just found it and I don't think I've posted it yet. I wonder what the guys behind us are saying?

Thank you, Inventor of Skype.

Thank you, Skype Inventor.....

Okay, so Jamey is usually the one chronicling his African adventures, or lack there of, with each daily post. So, while he is sleeping on the other side of the globe, I figured I would give it a go.

I'll give you some perspective from my end, pretty much the same every day......looking at my husband and son...or the boys looking at their father and sometimes their baby brother through a computer screen. Don't get me wrong, I am thankful for phones, but being able to actually see the person you are talking with is MUCH better!! Abram often kisses and or tries to hug the screen...very cute.

I never skyped until now.

We are all having a good time seeing and hearing Jamey & Gideon through skype...unless there is a power outage in Uganda.....which happens frequently. I remember being on the other side of the screen.....looking at 3 of my boys through the computer, seeing my living room in the background. It made me sad every time I saw it, longing to be home. Jamey is my hero because for 6 weeks now that is all he has seen of 3 of his boys and for the last 3 weeks all he has seen of me....and home.

God is good....every time I skype I am reminded of God's goodness and his ability to sustain even in the difficult times. He provides peace and comfort through just being able to communicate daily with my husband, best friend, and father of our 4 boys!!

Seth asked me the other day if we could skype Jesus. I told him that is what prayer is for. :)

Gross. Not Gross.

This is the bottom of my foot. This is what my feet look like at the end of every day. Gross. It's to the point that my feet are actually semi-stained. Thank you Africa.
These are two of my new favorite drinks that I have discovered while in Uganda. NOT gross. I recently discoverd Lemon with Mint and it's very tasty--it's either from India or the Middle East--but either way, more please! And I have enjoyed passion fruit juice from the first moment I tasted it--I even found a Passion Fruit Fanta. Hard to find the boxes of juice, though. I have to pace myself because I can go through a box very quickly.

Also, NOT gross are Sweet & Spicy Chutney Lays. From India?? Don't care. Want more!

If I have more days where I don't get off the compound, you'll keep getting posts about food. Fair warning!

Looking forward.

Got to have a long conversation with Mary today. Refreshing. I miss that lady.

We told the boys before I left that we would all take a family vacation this summer since we didn't take the boys with us to Uganda AND we've spent so much time apart. Mary said that Jonah's been reminding her that we said that. SO, we are trying to figure out a place and time to go. It's exciting to think about getting away to a place that is NOT Uganda. Don't get me wrong. I appreciate all that I have been learning about Uganda and how it's become my home away from home. BUT, it's going to be nice to spend time together as a WHOLE family. Any suggestions?

Slow day in Uganda. Had to walk into the yard at 5pm just to say that I had gotten out of the house today. The presidential inauguration was today so we stayed close to home to avoid crowds, protests, and any nonsense that might be occurring in the city. I enjoy the peace and quiet that I'm experiencing but I look forward to the chaos of my home--all the boys talking to me simultaneously, jumping, wrestling...you get the picture. Can't wait.

By the way, my webcam has some weird effects...I randomly implement these when I'm skyping with the boys. For example....

I know...I'm really cool!