Good Friday

Tonight I attended the Good Friday service at Gaba Community Church. Gaba is the church from which the Babies Home was born (no pun intended). I almost didn't go because it's kind of a hassle taking a taxi, and walking to the church while lugging a baby and gear BUT I'm glad I did. (By the way, I get a LOT of stares walking around with Gideon--1) men in Uganda generally do NOT care for children, 2) I am a white man with a black baby, and 3) No body here carries their baby in a Baby Bjorn on the front of their body--BRING ON THE STARES!)

It's been kind of a quiet day. My housemates went to a local resort to stay for the night and our power has been out since 4am--it's still out at almost 11pm. The service was NOT quiet. It was an upbeat celebration of what Christ did for us on the cross. It was so nice to worship. Things have been discouraging lately so it was good to focus on God and his goodness and provision.

The preacher tonight spoke from Ephesians 1:3-14. This is a great passage that speaks of how we are "adopted" by God (v. 5). Coincidence? I think not. It was funny because when he started to speak about v. 5 and mentioned adoption, Gideon screamed out loud. It was like he was saying "AMEN".

Another meaningful part of worship was the Michael W. Smith song "Above All". Now, normally, I am NOT a MWS fan. I may have even openly mocked his voice! BUT the lyrics really spoke to where we are in this process: "Above all powers, Above all kings, Above all nature and all created things; Above all wisdom, and all the ways of man; You were here before the world began....." You know the rest. Basically, this was meaningful because it was a reminder that God is sovereign above every step of this adoption process--including the waiting and frustrating parts. Good reminder for me!

It was a great night of worship. I sneaked a video of some of the singing. I hope to post soon, when I have more power. By the way, the pictures are from the area of town called Gaba, where the church is. It's about a 10 minute taxi ride from our house. It's on the banks of Lake Victoria. We took these one day when we went to explore the market.

Thank you Loving Hearts

Even though I'm not close to coming home yet, we hosted a small party for the staff at Loving Hearts Babies Home to show our appreciation for their work and ministry in caring for our Gideon. This morning I made some square cupcakes and one of our housemates helped me make the icing. Another adoptive family joined in and gave bags of rice to the staff as a thank you and a way to bless each of them.
Not all of the staff could be there today. Apparently, since this is a holiday weekend, children are out of school and many people are at home preparing for the Easter holiday. Each of the staff members who were there went around and each said a word of encouragement for our family. We also sang together. I read a thank you note that Mary had written to the staff. I got really choked up reading it and I mumbled a few words afterword. I cannot explain how awesome it has been meeting the "aunties" and other staff who have cared for our son from the beginning of his life. This is a special place with some special people.

On the court date front, we found out that we will not have a court date before May 1. Please continue to lift our family up. We know that God has a purpose in all this. Pray that we would be found faithful no matter our circumstances.

Bye Mary.

As I write this, Mary has been traveling for about 26 hours and is probably about an hour from landing in Memphis. This included an 8 hour layover in Amsterdam. Let me just say that my wife is AWESOME. We already miss her so much here. The minutes and hours have just creeped by. BOOO! Wish she could still be here but glad she will be home with the boys in a few hours. We are still waiting for things to move here--we're just kind of stuck in judicial limbo. We hope to hear some news tomorrow (Thursday). We are praying for God to move mountains for us.

The many names of...

So many of you at home know our newest addition as "Gideon"...and this is what he will be called once everything is finalized and we are all in the US together as a family. What's funny is that to just about everyone who has known him here, he is "Moses". This is the name he was given at the Babies Home (LHBH) when he first arrived. Unlike many of the children there, he has been there from the beginning of his life--probably at a day old or less. He came to LHBH because he was found under some bushes near a police station. A "good samaritan" discovered him, turned him in to the station, and the authorities turned him over to LHBH. You can see the similarities between our "Moses" and the biblical Moses.

We'll probably tell that story again at a later time but about the name... So now, anytime we are around anyone who has known our guy for any amount of time, he is Moses. For us and the other families we are staying with, and anyone who asks, he is Gideon. I actually came up with the name G-Mo because I said that he had an identity crisis. This didn't help because now we also call him G-Mo from time to time...it's become a joke!

REGARDLESS, our GIDEON (Moses/G-Mo) is precious and he'll know his name soon enough!

By the way, say a prayer for Mary. Her flight just left Uganda and in about 30 hours, she'll be back in S'port! Of course, then she'll be a "single" mother to our boys back home and I'll be a "single" dad to Gideon here. Praying for the day when we are all under the same roof!

The view from here.

Kampala, the city where we are staying, is the capital of Uganda. The terrain in and around Kampala is hilly. In fact the name Kampala means "seven hills" because the original city was founded on seven hills. It is a very green city with lots of trees. Here's the view from the balcony on the house we are staying in. The next 3 pictures are our attempt at a panoramic view. They are in order from left to right. (as you can see we have a pretty green yard to play in.)

(we also have a big 'ol fence to keep out the bad guys!)

Note the house under construction in the neighboring lot. Yesterday, we noticed a goat on the second floor of the half-built house. He was checking it out.

The next thing we noticed is that he took a flying leap onto the ground. We hope he was OK but we didn't go check to see. Sorry, goat!

We continue to enjoy the city and the adventures we are having BUT our primary task is to bring Gideon home. We hope to have news tomorrow (Tuesday) of our new court date. Please pray!