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.