Here is a very quick update for you all. As many of you may have heard, we have a homecoming date on the horizon, provided that all goes well. I will be flying home Sunday so that I can get back to work. If all goes well at the Embassy and they get their visas, Jennifer and the boys will join me in the US of A on August 12th. We have really enjoyed our time in Uganda, but we are looking forward to being back in our home town.
Jennifer and the boys have an appointment at the Embassy next Wednesday, August 7th. Please pray that everything will go well and that they will be approved for visas and a trip home. Thank you all for praying for us and helping us with our adoption.
Wednesday, July 31, 2013
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
Observations from Morgan
We have been in Uganda for 16 days now and we have plenty to reflect on. I (Morgan) want to try and capture some of the things we have observed both in our boys and about this beautiful country.
One of the first things I noticed about Elijah is that he kept saying to me in Lugandan, "Ya coco va mboko" with a huge smile on his face. I could always tell when he was really happy because he would say it over and over again to me. I thought it must mean something sweet like "I love you" or "Thanks for adopting me." Come to find out it actually means "I'm going to beat you with a stick!" So yeah, Elijah is quite the little jokester.
On day 1, I was shocked beyond belief when our large child, Nathaniel, cleaned up after himself without being asked to. After many days with him we now realize that he greatly prefers cleanliness and order and he is not a happy camper without those things. He will never be the kid who is always in trouble for having a messy room.
When Elijah gets angry because he was told "no" or because he doesn't get his way, he will sometimes strip off all his clothes and lie down naked on the floor. One time he even sat naked in a plastic wash basin for like a half an hour. I wonder what goes through his little head. "I'll show them. I will take off all my clothes. That will really sting and then they won't tell me no anymore." Son, all your doing is creating fodder for blackmail later in life. Can you imagine when he brings a date home?
Nathaniel is pretty independent. But I see a lot of a battle within him between the felt responsibility to be a caretaker for his little brother and to just relax and be a kid. I see more and more of the latter, for which I am very thankful. I want him to rest in the fact that he now has a mom and dad to care for both he and his brother.
Speaking of rest, we had one of the most peaceful times of the entire trip Saturday night when we went to eat on the shores of Lake Victoria. When I say on the shores, I literally mean sitting at a table, on the beach, 10 feet from the gentle waters. Around us were palm trees and all kinds of beautiful plants. There was candlelight, peace, quiet, a cool breeze and good food. I felt like I could live there on the shores and be completely content.
The next day I preached at a church in a small village about 2 hours from our guest house. I greatly enjoyed the privilege of teaching Sunday school and preaching the gospel with these loving people. God is certainly at work among the villages and people of Uganda.
There are so many more observations I could make about this experience. It really is one of the hardest but also one of the most rewarding things I've ever done.
One of the first things I noticed about Elijah is that he kept saying to me in Lugandan, "Ya coco va mboko" with a huge smile on his face. I could always tell when he was really happy because he would say it over and over again to me. I thought it must mean something sweet like "I love you" or "Thanks for adopting me." Come to find out it actually means "I'm going to beat you with a stick!" So yeah, Elijah is quite the little jokester.
On day 1, I was shocked beyond belief when our large child, Nathaniel, cleaned up after himself without being asked to. After many days with him we now realize that he greatly prefers cleanliness and order and he is not a happy camper without those things. He will never be the kid who is always in trouble for having a messy room.
When Elijah gets angry because he was told "no" or because he doesn't get his way, he will sometimes strip off all his clothes and lie down naked on the floor. One time he even sat naked in a plastic wash basin for like a half an hour. I wonder what goes through his little head. "I'll show them. I will take off all my clothes. That will really sting and then they won't tell me no anymore." Son, all your doing is creating fodder for blackmail later in life. Can you imagine when he brings a date home?
Nathaniel is pretty independent. But I see a lot of a battle within him between the felt responsibility to be a caretaker for his little brother and to just relax and be a kid. I see more and more of the latter, for which I am very thankful. I want him to rest in the fact that he now has a mom and dad to care for both he and his brother.
Speaking of rest, we had one of the most peaceful times of the entire trip Saturday night when we went to eat on the shores of Lake Victoria. When I say on the shores, I literally mean sitting at a table, on the beach, 10 feet from the gentle waters. Around us were palm trees and all kinds of beautiful plants. There was candlelight, peace, quiet, a cool breeze and good food. I felt like I could live there on the shores and be completely content.
The next day I preached at a church in a small village about 2 hours from our guest house. I greatly enjoyed the privilege of teaching Sunday school and preaching the gospel with these loving people. God is certainly at work among the villages and people of Uganda.
There are so many more observations I could make about this experience. It really is one of the hardest but also one of the most rewarding things I've ever done.
Saturday, July 6, 2013
Blessed
Words cannot express how truly blessed we feel right now. We can see example after example of how God has been preparing us for this and and for these specific boys for years. This place is very similar to Jamaica, where we have done several mission trips.
So on Tuesday we went to court. It was an interesting experience full of God's blessing. We got up at 5am and left the guest house at 6. We fit 16 people in an suv designed to fit 5 then drove an hour into a smog filled city. We tried to get started on our medicals but it didn't work out so we got to go out for breakfast. Our boys can eat! By 12 it was time to go to the courts. We went into a large waiting room with no idea how long we would be there. It ended up being 8 hours! And yet, our boys were wonderful. There were no tears, no whining and a general sense of blessed contentment, despite having no meals and very little to do. There were impromptu naps and cookies shared, so it wasn't all bad. When we were called back to the judge's office we expected to be grilled for a long time. I prayed God would give me the words to say and that the judge would find favor with us. God said "I'll do one better!" For the first time ever the judge didn't question the adopting family. He said he used us as an example to show that he could hear a case in 20 minutes. We had gone earlier that day and donated to the the tribal kingdom to which the judge belongs. He thanked us for our generosity and said he would make his official ruling next week and sent us on our way. I could not have imagined it going that well.
Now we wait for the ruling ruling and then we apply for the boys' Ugandan passports, then their visas, then an exit interview and we go! The only problem is that it can take weeks just to get the passports and getting appointments at the US embassy takes awhile. Please pray that we can get our passports in a timely manner and the US embassy side of things also moves quickly.
Thus far things with the boys are going extremely well. We are quickly learning their personalities and gifts and a little bit of their hearts. Elijah is a happy child who loves to walk around singing and dancing. He started singing Jesus loves me last night and it just melted our hearts. He is big on hugs and cuddling. He has the cutest accent, and he seems to find lots of reasons to squeal with delight.
Nathaniel is a typical first born who likes rules and order. He immediately cleans up after himself. He loves to play with us especially if it involves a ball. He also likes card games. His drawing skills are great for his age. He is a good caregiver who looks out for his little brother. He loves playing on the kindle so we quickly figured out that we can use it as both reward and punishment when appropriate. He likes listening to stories when I read. Perhaps he will be our reader. :-)
As of right now we still have no idea when we will be home. But we are prepared to spend most if not all of July here. Though we can't wait to come home and start our new family in in Chattanooga, we see the benefits of being here in Uganda with the boys for a while. It is their turf and where they feel comfortable. Because of that and especially because of God's incomparable wisdom and faithfulness, our family is being strongly bonded right before our eyes.
So on Tuesday we went to court. It was an interesting experience full of God's blessing. We got up at 5am and left the guest house at 6. We fit 16 people in an suv designed to fit 5 then drove an hour into a smog filled city. We tried to get started on our medicals but it didn't work out so we got to go out for breakfast. Our boys can eat! By 12 it was time to go to the courts. We went into a large waiting room with no idea how long we would be there. It ended up being 8 hours! And yet, our boys were wonderful. There were no tears, no whining and a general sense of blessed contentment, despite having no meals and very little to do. There were impromptu naps and cookies shared, so it wasn't all bad. When we were called back to the judge's office we expected to be grilled for a long time. I prayed God would give me the words to say and that the judge would find favor with us. God said "I'll do one better!" For the first time ever the judge didn't question the adopting family. He said he used us as an example to show that he could hear a case in 20 minutes. We had gone earlier that day and donated to the the tribal kingdom to which the judge belongs. He thanked us for our generosity and said he would make his official ruling next week and sent us on our way. I could not have imagined it going that well.
Now we wait for the ruling ruling and then we apply for the boys' Ugandan passports, then their visas, then an exit interview and we go! The only problem is that it can take weeks just to get the passports and getting appointments at the US embassy takes awhile. Please pray that we can get our passports in a timely manner and the US embassy side of things also moves quickly.
Thus far things with the boys are going extremely well. We are quickly learning their personalities and gifts and a little bit of their hearts. Elijah is a happy child who loves to walk around singing and dancing. He started singing Jesus loves me last night and it just melted our hearts. He is big on hugs and cuddling. He has the cutest accent, and he seems to find lots of reasons to squeal with delight.
Nathaniel is a typical first born who likes rules and order. He immediately cleans up after himself. He loves to play with us especially if it involves a ball. He also likes card games. His drawing skills are great for his age. He is a good caregiver who looks out for his little brother. He loves playing on the kindle so we quickly figured out that we can use it as both reward and punishment when appropriate. He likes listening to stories when I read. Perhaps he will be our reader. :-)
As of right now we still have no idea when we will be home. But we are prepared to spend most if not all of July here. Though we can't wait to come home and start our new family in in Chattanooga, we see the benefits of being here in Uganda with the boys for a while. It is their turf and where they feel comfortable. Because of that and especially because of God's incomparable wisdom and faithfulness, our family is being strongly bonded right before our eyes.
Monday, July 1, 2013
Day 1 in Uganda
We have made it through our first day with the boys. On one hand it feels like we have been with them forever and on the other hand there is still so much we don't know yet so it feels brand new. So here are a few of the things we learned about our boys today...
They both are right handed
They both are excellent eaters...and both don't like the skins on their apples
Nathaniel is all muscle and a born athlete. I think he'll be playing fall soccer
Nathaniel's English is very good. He understands almost everything we say. He knows his colors, letters, numbers & shapes in English
Nathaniel is already a tech junkie...We are having to put time limits on his time on the kindle :-)
I greatly underestimated how tiny Elijah is. I brought 3 T clothes for him & they are falling off. Our friends brought their 3 year old and he towers over Elijah.
Elijah likes to sit down and color and has great coordination for his age (artist maybe?)
Elijah's new favorite word is Mommy... which is followed by lots of other words in Luganda
Elijah has a wonderful giggle
Nathaniel is a wonderful big brother who has compassion on all the other young children
Tomorrow is our court appearance and our medical appt. Please pray for both things as well as our passports and visas which are the next big things we need to do in order to bring the boys home.
They both are right handed
They both are excellent eaters...and both don't like the skins on their apples
Nathaniel is all muscle and a born athlete. I think he'll be playing fall soccer
Nathaniel's English is very good. He understands almost everything we say. He knows his colors, letters, numbers & shapes in English
Nathaniel is already a tech junkie...We are having to put time limits on his time on the kindle :-)
I greatly underestimated how tiny Elijah is. I brought 3 T clothes for him & they are falling off. Our friends brought their 3 year old and he towers over Elijah.
Elijah likes to sit down and color and has great coordination for his age (artist maybe?)
Elijah's new favorite word is Mommy... which is followed by lots of other words in Luganda
Elijah has a wonderful giggle
Nathaniel is a wonderful big brother who has compassion on all the other young children
Tomorrow is our court appearance and our medical appt. Please pray for both things as well as our passports and visas which are the next big things we need to do in order to bring the boys home.
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