Change of plans!

We wanted to let you all know that we will NOT be leaving for Uganda this weekend.  

We received a call today telling us that we need to postpone our court date so our lawyer can do a bit more investigating on a few issues that came to light just yesterday.  We are obviously bummed but we also want what is RIGHT and TRUE for Drew and our family!  We will keep you all updated as these next weeks pass.  

All of our adoptive friends who have gone before us have told us that this is a difficult road and there are lots of bumps and bruises along the way.  This is definitely one of those days:-(  

Today, we unpacked our bags, cancelled our flights and grieved the loss of seeing our new son in a few days and the loss of moving our family to Uganda for a month (which we were all so excited about!!)

Now, we wait and pray as our lawyer does more investigating and seeks to determine the truth and what is best for everyone!  We are so thankful to have an amazing team in Uganda that is diligent in seeking truth and fighting for the innocent.  We are in good hands and we trust what God is doing even in the midst of disappointment!  

We will praise Him...no matter what!

Thanks for all your love, support and prayers!

Stay tuned...Erin 

Court Date!!

Hi friends and family!

I hope you all enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving time with your family and friends! Every year we go to Sunriver, Oregon with Jeff's side of the family.  We have lots of great memories of playing games, Christmas movies, plenty of food, staying up late and hot tub time!

This year was the MOST special of all... 

When we woke up on Thanksgiving morning, there was an email from our agency letting us know that we got a court date for December 14th!  That is the day before the court closes for a month.  We are so excited that we got in and are able to hold our little boy in less than 3 weeks!

It has been amazing to see God go before us in every way possible!

Needless to say, we are in fast forward mode.  We secured our flights yesterday for our whole family (which is a miracle)!  Thanks for air miles, we were able to get a majority of our plane tickets covered! What a great relief!

Now, it's time to pack and the count down is on...we leave in 14 days!

It is definitely overwhelming trying to pack for a family of 6.  We also need to bring enough other supplies to live there for a month and donations to leave for Drew's babies home and another great non-adopting orphanage that we will spending a lot of time with!

Thanks for joining us on this adventure!

2 weeks from today we will be flying somewhere over the Atlantic!

Thank you for your prayers and support!

Erin 

Pray...court date coming!

I received an email today saying that our lawyer has filed our paperwork and thinks he can probably get us a court date before the courts close on December 15th.  Can you believe it???  We were told a few weeks ago that we were probably looking at a court date in late February or early March!

Could you please pray with us that God will go before and and we will have a court date asap?  We are just dying to get over to Uganda and love on our little son who is desperately needing a family!

My brain is definitely on overload of all the things that need to get done!  I am also the type that can shut down when I am overwhelmed so I am praying that I will take a deep breath, calm my mama's heart and He will give me a clear mind!

Thanks for all those are standing in the gap with us and have supported us during this adventure the past 2 years!!

Stay in touch and we will keep you updated!!

What kind of legacy...

What kind of legacy will you leave?

This is such a powerful story of a mother's love and sacrifice and how that lives on after she's gone...a must watch!

http://ordinaryheroblog.blogspot.com/2012/11/beths-story.html


Enjoy each and every day!

Erin 

Dossier in Uganda!

Our dossier is officially in Uganda and now we are waiting for our lawyer to file in court and then we wait again for a court date!  I thought it was hard waiting for a referral but that is NOTHING compared to how it feels to know who your little one is and not to be able to hold him in your arms!

I know that "Drew" is in a wonderful babies home and he is being well cared for, loved on and prepared for our family but it is SO HARD not to have him here with us.  We want to be loving on him, taking care of his needs and teaching him about a God who loves him so much but that will have to wait for a few more months.

Right now, the wait for a court date is around 3-4 months.  So realistically, we probably won't hear anything about our court date until end of February or March. That seems soooooo far!!

I know with the holidays quickly approaching (and life with 3 kids is already very busy) these next few months will fly by BUT when someone from your family is missing it definitely takes a toll each and everyday!  We are doing all we can do now to be ready to leave ANYTIME!

A few weeks ago we all got our shots (Yellow fever and Typhoid) and that made it very real to the kids!  Man, that Yellow Fever vaccination stings so bad!  No one could lift their arm for the next 24 hours:)  We tried to have fun with it and of course, treated ourselves to Frozen Yogurt afterwards!

I just wanted to leave you with a AWESOME song that has meant alot to me lately as we think and pray for Drew, but we remember God is there with him and He has never and will never leave him!

3 Weeks since referral!

Well, it's has been 3 weeks since we got our referral of Drew!

The first few days Jeff and I couldn't stop looking at his sweet little picture with those adorable brown eyes staring right at us.  I have constantly been clicking on my phone just to see his face and to be reminded of WHY we started this adoption process in the first place.

Just one word.

OBEDIENCE.

We felt God asking us to step out in this HUGE step of faith and to trust Him throughout this WHOLE process.  I remember when (almost 2 years ago) that I felt this leading and was scared to death.  Adoption had NEVER occurred to me before.  I had not known anyone growing up who was adopted and no one in my family had ever adopted before so it was very foreign to me.  Over the past number of years God has brought precious friends and families across our path who have lead by example, encouraged us and have been sweet to share their private stories with us.

I also remember "telling" God that He had better show up and give me a heart for adoption and a passion for the child that He would place in our family forever!  2 years ago I was scared and nervous  and honestly didn't even want to adopt and TODAY my heart is overflowing with faith, trust, hope and love beyond what I thought was possible!  He is so faithful!

So, we have finished all the paperwork.  Waiting for our dossier so we can get it notorized and then send it off to Uganda and then wait for our court date!  We are praying our court date will be before December 15th.  The Ugandan courts close December 15th- January 15th.  We would love to squeeze in before the courts close so Drew can be home for Christmas.  If not, we should be going mid-January to pick him up and bring him home.

Thank you to everyone for your prayers, support and offers to be involved!

Keep in touch!

Erin 

Precious referral!!!

We got it!!

You got what, you ask?

The MOST PRECIOUS referral we have been waiting for the past 15 months!!

We can't share alot but... here is what we CAN tell you...there is a sweet little 2 yr old boy who lives in Uganda that needs a mommy, daddy, brother and 2 sisters in his life!

In John 14:18, Jesus says..."I will not leave you as orphans.  I will come to you."

God ordained from the beginning of time that he would choose baby Drew (nickname) to be part of our family!  We have prayed for months that God would care for and love our little guy until that time came and NOW the timing is PERFECT!

We are hoping and praying that we will travel December or January to meet him and bring him home. Jeff & I will do our best to keep you all updated as we move forward with paperwork, packing, court dates and of course...the homecoming!  

Thanks for all your love, support and prayers as you have walked this road with us!

 Erin 

Summer is coming to a close in a few short weeks.  I CAN'T believe that these months have gone by so quickly and now we are approaching fall and the new school year soon.  I say all that with such different emotions flowing through me.

First of all, I am READY for a schedule!  Hubby keeps reminding me how much better I do with an organized schedule and my calendar all filled up with what and where we need to be.  We have had a awesome, fun-filled summer but it's has also been relaxed and VERY unscheduled!  So...the time has come to organize!!  I have 3 kids going in 3 different directions so we have pulled out the calendar and it is starting to fill up.

Secondly, I have mixed emotions about school starting.  We were REALLY, REALLY hoping that we would have travelled to Uganda with the family this summer.  But it didn't happen, so now we enter the fall and school with still no word about our "little brother".

We were preparing to travel in the summer...we had the time, kids out of school and we were very excited to head to Uganda to meet our little brother! But, here we are with the school year starting with no brother and STILL no travel plans to Uganda.  (Sigh)

My girlfriend posted this on FB the other day...perfect timing for me in my moment of self-pity:)

Official waiting list...

It is shocking that I have not updated this blog since February!  Shame on me : )

Oh well, here I am!

We are well into our summer vacation from school and all our other activities (except softball, of course!)  We have had fun days of swimming, sleepovers, VERY late nights, softball tournaments, BBQ's, time with friends and family.

To top it off, we travelled to my home country to spend time with family and friends.  We packed our car full to the brim and sped way up north to Calgary, Alberta to see cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents.  It was a great 10 days filled with paintballing, swimming, movies, lots of food, soccer games, wild animal park and a day trip to Banff (unbelieveable...you must go if you have never been there).  Phew!  I'm tired just thinking back to all that we accomplished!

We got home last week and we have been busy ever since.  One of my dearest friends is getting married in a few weeks and we are busy planning showers, bachelorette party and getting everything ready for the big day!

For some reason, she wants me and our other "bestie" to be bridesmaids in her wedding.  We told her that if she wants "old ladies" in her wedding party then she will just have to bear looking at us in her pictures the rest of her life!  :)  We are super honored and unbelieveably excited to marry her off to an awesome guy loves Jesus and adores her!!  Pictures to come after August 5th!

But the most exciting thing to happen since we have gotten home is . . .

sorry, no referral!  : (

But . . . our agency sent an email sharing some changes in our waiting process.  They have decided to share the once secret "waiting list" for families to help them determine MAYBE how long of a process they should be expecting.  We got our first "official" number last week and we are #4!! Yay!!!

Since we do not know who is before us nor what they have requested, we might actually be the first in line for a 2-4 year old boy, or we may be fourth. God knows.

Jeff and I have such peace about His ultimate timing and when He is ready for us to go and bring our son home. And that is when it will happen! We are excited and anxious but ultimately we have total PEACE!

A couple weeks ago we entered our 13th month on the waiting list and now it seems we are so close to meet and bring home our son! Thanks for praying with us.

My horrible memory!

So, yesterday I was looking for a book and I came across an old journal that I used for my first trip to Uganda.  It was in 2007 and God worked out all the circumstances for me to be able to accompany my hubby on a missions trip to Soroti, UG.  I started to journal a few months before we left.  I don't know why because I AM NOT a journaler.  I wanna be.  But I am not!  For some reason (God), I sat down and wrote out my thoughts and feeling about our upcoming trip.  As I was reading the first page I was stopped dead in my tracks...I couldn't believe it!  Here is what it said:

In case you can't read my messy handwriting, it says..."Jeff & I have started to dialogue about adopting a child from Uganda.  Just thinking about it has changed my whole view of this trip.  Looking at my first experience to Africa through the eyes of possibly being a mom is really life changing.  But in my heart I have released this option completely to the Lord, so we will have to wait and see what His plan is for our trip and our family!"

That was almost 5 years ago that I wrote that down. Honestly, I DO NOT remember writing this at all.  Those of you who know my hubby and I know that we both have horrible memories.  We say that is why we don't really fight and why we have a great marriage because we can't remember why we were mad in the first place!

I love God's timing.  I had been praying for a confirmation from the Lord this past week and a word of encouragement for my heart. That was just what I needed!

 We are starting our 8th month on the "waiting list" with our agency.  We were anticipating waiting for around 6 months and once we hit that the weeks seem to have drug on.  Last week we got word from our agency that they are now anticipating the referral wait to be more like 12 months.  So, realistically we have another 4 months to wait.  But...that is international adoption!

We are at peace and we will continue to wait for His perfect timing to meet our son!

Sweet adoption song- Naleigh Moon

This song is too sweet not to share!

I don't normally post this many videos but there are some good ones out there right now:-)

The Jesus I know!

Those of you who grew up in "church" and got caught up in all the religion and missed Jesus... this gives a great perspective for all He has done and why this Jesus is worth following!

2012 is the YEAR!

What an amazing month of December we had!  We tried to be intentional and SLOW down our busy pace of life...AND it worked!!  We spent time with friends and family, going to the Muppets movie, splurging on frozen yogurt, rock climbing at the gym, crabbing at the coast, playing games, eating yummy food, celebrating Jesus birth and watching Christmas movies together!  I would do it all over again...it was so worth it!

Now if we can only keep our everyday life like that:-)

Adoption update:
Some of our friends who are also adopting from Uganda with the same agency got their referral a few days before Christmas.  What a glorious Christmas present!  But...if I am truthful...which I aim to be in EVERYTHING...it caused my heart to race and I kinda freaked out a little.  Just a little bit.

This whole adoption process became so real for me hearing their story and the precious little girl God has set aside for this awesome family.  It hit me...we could be next!  My faith is being stretched and I have told God how much I need him to strengthen my faith and help me to put all my trust in Him.

So we continue to pray for our little boy that God is moving in his life and preparing him to join our family and preparing our hearts for him too!!